After owning the s3 for about 3 months, I'm not impressed with some things

[tony477g]

I've been having some problems with this phone and they are getting quite annoying, could be an error that I've made but here are some of them

First when going from an area with 1g to 3g to 4g It won't pick it up, It takes forever to finally find the 4g service and sometimes it doesn't, I have to restart the phone then it finds it.

Second is battery, It actually wasnt that bad, I could make it most of the day but now it's getting worse. The main problem i see is all these apps running in the background, for example S suggest, Back up Assistant, (Android system) or another type of Back up Assistant, Allshare service, Maps, Then I have all these ones that I do not force stop because they have the android guy on them.I know i can root it to fix this, but me being not so good with technology I'm afraid I'm going to mess up the phone.

Third Apps, lets face it Apple products own the S3 it could just be my phone but it is starting to slow down, and by that I mean LAG, Before jellybean I didn't have a problem with lag but now I start getting far in a game and it lags and doesn't catch that I swiped up and I die. The other thing is most apps are updated better on the iphone, one example is snapchat, they get video and facebook integration, were still on basic. Plus the app force closes a ton.

Fourth widgets no longer working. Beautiful Widgets will sometimes freeze, by that I mean the clock will stop and the weather won't update. The stock one is a bit better but the weather gets stuck on a date and will never move again. It's been stuck on 1/9/2013, before jelly bean it was stuck in October. The alarm clock widget has stopped working as well, I had to wake up today at 10, tried setting it to 5:40 again and still shows 10, but once i click on it, it says 5:40, and now i cant shut it off just by clicking it.

Fifth A lot of the time the phone will just freeze, I have to turn the screen off and wait for a while until it force closes whatever I was doing.

Sixth why bring out a different phone, instead of trying to update the one already out? We got Jellybean, but what about the next update? With androids past I'm almost positive were going to be left in the dust

When I first bought this phone I was definitely impressed. Now I just don't know, if there are ways to fix it I will more than likely love it again. I don't want to go to an apple product.

 

[mojosodope_2]

I had problems like that with my S2 and went to an iPhone....next purchase will be a nexus 4 tho for me....I don't trust any Samsung phone anymore

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

 

[bjboucher]

You either have a defective phone or have installed one or more apps that are causing issues. I have none of those problems. Your issue with widgets may be caused by beautiful widgets itself, i read reviews that it has problems. Cant blame that on the phone, Samsung doesnt make that app. I would uninstall it and see if your problems go away.

 

[FuzzyB]

I have none of those issues either. I wouldn't give up my s3 for an iphone any day.

 

[Adawg1203]

I've been having some problems with this phone and they are getting quite annoying, could be an error that I've made but here are some of them

First when going from an area with 1g to 3g to 4g It won't pick it up, It takes forever to finally find the 4g service and sometimes it doesn't, I have to restart the phone then it finds it.

Second is battery, It actually wasnt that bad, I could make it most of the day but now it's getting worse. The main problem i see is all these apps running in the background, for example S suggest, Back up Assistant, (Android system) or another type of Back up Assistant, Allshare service, Maps, Then I have all these ones that I do not force stop because they have the android guy on them.I know i can root it to fix this, but me being not so good with technology I'm afraid I'm going to mess up the phone.

Third Apps, lets face it Apple products own the S3 it could just be my phone but it is starting to slow down, and by that I mean LAG, Before jellybean I didn't have a problem with lag but now I start getting far in a game and it lags and doesn't catch that I swiped up and I die. The other thing is most apps are updated better on the iphone, one example is snapchat, they get video and facebook integration, were still on basic. Plus the app force closes a ton.

Fourth widgets no longer working. Beautiful Widgets will sometimes freeze, by that I mean the clock will stop and the weather won't update. The stock one is a bit better but the weather gets stuck on a date and will never move again. It's been stuck on 1/9/2013, before jelly bean it was stuck in October. The alarm clock widget has stopped working as well, I had to wake up today at 10, tried setting it to 5:40 again and still shows 10, but once i click on it, it says 5:40, and now i cant shut it off just by clicking it.

Fifth A lot of the time the phone will just freeze, I have to turn the screen off and wait for a while until it force closes whatever I was doing.

Sixth why bring out a different phone, instead of trying to update the one already out? We got Jellybean, but what about the next update? With androids past I'm almost positive were going to be left in the dust

When I first bought this phone I was definitely impressed. Now I just don't know, if there are ways to fix it I will more than likely love it again. I don't want to go to an apple product.

Other than the reduced battery life post the jelly bean update, my S3 shows none of the issues your experiencing. Some of your complaints are not due to the phone but specifically software. From your description of things its sounds as though some software may be corrupt. Take it to the store and get it checked out or at least exchanged.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Android Central Forums

 

[tony477g]

You either have a defective phone or have installed one or more apps that are causing issues. I have none of those problems. Your issue with widgets may be caused by beautiful widgets itself, i read reviews that it has problems. Cant blame that on the phone, Samsung doesnt make that app. I would uninstall it and see if your problems go away.

Uninstalled and seeing if finally I'll see a weather update.

EDIT: Still stuck on 1/9/2013

 

[tony477g]

Other than the reduced battery life post the jelly bean update, my S3 shows none of the issues your experiencing. Some of your complaints are not due to the phone but specifically software. From your description of things its sounds as though some software may be corrupt. Take it to the store and get it checked out or at least exchanged.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Android Central Forums

There is no way that I have that much bad luck and got me second s3 and having problems

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

I've been having some problems with this phone and they are getting quite annoying, could be an error that I've made but here are some of them

First when going from an area with 1g to 3g to 4g It won't pick it up, It takes forever to finally find the 4g service and sometimes it doesn't, I have to restart the phone then it finds it.

Second is battery, It actually wasnt that bad, I could make it most of the day but now it's getting worse. The main problem i see is all these apps running in the background, for example S suggest, Back up Assistant, (Android system) or another type of Back up Assistant, Allshare service, Maps, Then I have all these ones that I do not force stop because they have the android guy on them.I know i can root it to fix this, but me being not so good with technology I'm afraid I'm going to mess up the phone.

Third Apps, lets face it Apple products own the S3 it could just be my phone but it is starting to slow down, and by that I mean LAG, Before jellybean I didn't have a problem with lag but now I start getting far in a game and it lags and doesn't catch that I swiped up and I die. The other thing is most apps are updated better on the iphone, one example is snapchat, they get video and facebook integration, were still on basic. Plus the app force closes a ton.

Fourth widgets no longer working. Beautiful Widgets will sometimes freeze, by that I mean the clock will stop and the weather won't update. The stock one is a bit better but the weather gets stuck on a date and will never move again. It's been stuck on 1/9/2013, before jelly bean it was stuck in October. The alarm clock widget has stopped working as well, I had to wake up today at 10, tried setting it to 5:40 again and still shows 10, but once i click on it, it says 5:40, and now i cant shut it off just by clicking it.

Fifth A lot of the time the phone will just freeze, I have to turn the screen off and wait for a while until it force closes whatever I was doing.

Sixth why bring out a different phone, instead of trying to update the one already out? We got Jellybean, but what about the next update? With androids past I'm almost positive were going to be left in the dust

When I first bought this phone I was definitely impressed. Now I just don't know, if there are ways to fix it I will more than likely love it again. I don't want to go to an apple product.

1. Check this setting: Settings --> More Settings (under Wireless and Networks) --> Mobile Networks --> Network Mode. Make sure "LTE/CDMA" is selected, and not "Global"

2, 3, & 5. First, forget about Backup Assistant. It's a resource hog, and not even necessary. Make sure all your contacts are synced to Google, and you'll never need it again. Next, once you've ensured your contacts are synced, do a factory reset. I've said it time and time again, but the standard method of pushing OTA updates may be most user-friendly option, but simply doesn't work very well. Here's some advice I gave in a different thread about doing a reset. I can almost guarantee that will fix a lot of your battery, lag and freezing issues. After the reset is done, just skip over the Backup Assistant sections of the start-up wizard -- you don't need it anymore if you've synced contacts with Google/Gmail.

4. I've never had an issue with BW, but I've also never used the alarm clock widget either. Assuming you decide not to do a factory reset as I suggested above, at the very least I'd remove all widgets from your homescreen(s), then go into the application manager and clear all cache and data from the BW app, then re-apply your widgets -- it definitely seems that something has gone amuck there. (If you do the factory reset, that will take care of this in the process).

6. In a way Apple does this too, although they make updates available for older phones, they are generally stripped of the actual features that make the update worthwhile, so I'm not sure that counts. The real reason that most phones only get 1 or 2 major updates during the their life time is because the technology moves so fast that by the time any phone is 12-18 months old, it's hardware specs are barely that can meet the minimum for running the latest versions of the OS efficiently. That's just the harsh reality of it, no matter what phone you buy. (NOTE: This is a separate issue from manufacturers and carriers that are slow to release updates that are actually intended for certain hardware -- feel free to gripe about that all you want).

 

[worwig]

Read what paintdrinkingpete said and do a factory reset.
I'm running the update, and my battery life is very good. I'm running BW, and have no problems.

As mentioned, Backup Assistant is a hog. Skip over it totally, and don't log into it. Use Goggle for contacts backup which just works and does not hog the resources.

BTW, BW pushed out an update last month that was a total rewrite for. It was riddled with bugs and caused it to crash often. I couldn't believe they pushed it out like it was. But after a couple of weeks they had it sorted out and it is now fine. This is not a Samsung issue.

 

[Adawg1203]

There is no way that I have that much bad luck and got me second s3 and having problems

Perhaps 3rd one will be a charm. Lol. Trying to add some humor to what I am sure is a frustrating situation.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Android Central Forums

 

[ansextra]

I am also having NONE of the above issues AND I'm running the latest version of Beautiful Widgets without any issues whatsoever. It sounds to me like you want an iPhone back where you don't have as many variables that can cause potential issues. My guess is that 99.9% of your issues are caused by apps in some way or another. Too much flexibility can cause issues for many people.

That said, regarding the statement: "Third Apps, lets face it Apple products own the S3". I don't need to face that since I absolutely disagree with it.

Good luck.

 

[tony477g]

1. Check this setting: Settings --> More Settings (under Wireless and Networks) --> Mobile Networks --> Network Mode. Make sure "LTE/CDMA" is selected, and not "Global"

2, 3, & 5. First, forget about Backup Assistant. It's a resource hog, and not even necessary. Make sure all your contacts are synced to Google, and you'll never need it again. Next, once you've ensured your contacts are synced, do a factory reset. I've said it time and time again, but the standard method of pushing OTA updates may be most user-friendly option, but simply doesn't work very well. Here's some advice I gave in a different thread about doing a reset. I can almost guarantee that will fix a lot of your battery, lag and freezing issues. After the reset is done, just skip over the Backup Assistant sections of the start-up wizard -- you don't need it anymore if you've synced contacts with Google/Gmail.

4. I've never had an issue with BW, but I've also never used the alarm clock widget either. Assuming you decide not to do a factory reset as I suggested above, at the very least I'd remove all widgets from your homescreen(s), then go into the application manager and clear all cache and data from the BW app, then re-apply your widgets -- it definitely seems that something has gone amuck there. (If you do the factory reset, that will take care of this in the process).

6. In a way Apple does this too, although they make updates available for older phones, they are generally stripped of the actual features that make the update worthwhile, so I'm not sure that counts. The real reason that most phones only get 1 or 2 major updates during the their life time is because the technology moves so fast that by the time any phone is 12-18 months old, it's hardware specs are barely that can meet the minimum for running the latest versions of the OS efficiently. That's just the harsh reality of it, no matter what phone you buy. (NOTE: This is a separate issue from manufacturers and carriers that are slow to release updates that are actually intended for certain hardware -- feel free to gripe about that all you want).

So if i do a factory reset will i lose pretty much everything? Should i pull the memory card before i do this?

 

[scott32746]

I found that an app called Daily Cardio Workout FREE caused a lot of the same problem for me. Time and weather was not updating. Phone was very slow Removed app all is good
I also disable things I exchange mail, media hub, Verizon sync and others

Verizon. S3 JB

 

[MrDoh]

So if i do a factory reset will i lose pretty much everything? Should i pull the memory card before i do this?

A factory reset will not affect your "external" SD card.

Yes, you'll lose pretty much everything when you do a factory reset, but after reading about your problems, I also agree that this is the smartest thing to do.

I've also disabled and uninstalled everything that I don't use, and go and stop apps that are running that I don't use. Every so often email and the video player will be running, and I just stop them. I only use gmail, and hardly ever use the video player. Also, maps will be running sometimes, and that's another app that I use, but not a lot. So I kill it as well, it'll be restarted next time I actually need it. While I respect the phone trying to keep things cached and ready to run, I appreciate it more when it's things that I actually use frequently.

I'm about to root my phone so that I can get a good backup...I'm used to pretty effortless complete backups from my iPhone, but it seems that the only decent backups that you can get on an Android phone is by rooting it and using something like Titanium backup. I tried MyBackup Pro without root, and found that for things like "google authenticator", it would not backup the app settings, so when I had to do a factory reset, I needed to go and set it up both my gmail accounts in it all over again. This time I saved the qr codes to do that next time, but still, it is a pain. Backing up my phone with iTunes used to take care of that, when I restored the "google authenticator" app using iTunes, it was perfect, picked up where it had left off.

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

So if i do a factory reset will i lose pretty much everything? Should i pull the memory card before i do this?

Yes. See the link in my thread above for advice on backing up as much as you can prior to doing the reset, such as making sure contacts are synced to Google and use My Backup to grab your SMS/MMS messages, etc.

As far as I know, a factory reset will NOT erase the SD card, however since I've been rooted so long I can say that with 100% certainty. May not be a bad idea to remove it first.

Doing a factory is reset is a huge pain, but honestly, Samsung and/or Verizon *should* have required it prior to updating from ICS to JB -- there have been way too many issues with folks doing it via OTA with no data wipe. They don't because they know folks would complain to no end, but it's a huge update and frankly, all that user and app data is just asking for corruption during the process.

 

[MrDoh]

Yes. See the link in my thread above for advice on backing up as much as you can prior to doing the reset, such as making sure contacts are synced to Google and use My Backup to grab your SMS/MMS messages, etc.

As far as I know, a factory reset will NOT erase the SD card, however since I've been rooted so long I can say that with 100% certainty. May not be a bad idea to remove it first.

Doing a factory is reset is a huge pain, but honestly, Samsung and/or Verizon *should* have required it prior to updating from ICS to JB -- there have been way too many issues with folks doing it via OTA with no data wipe. They don't because they know folks would complain to no end, but it's a huge update and frankly, all that user and app data is just asking for corruption during the process.

I did a factory reset recently, and, as I said, it didn't touch my "external" SD card. On the other hand, I had backed up the contents of my SD card to my PC in case it did erase it, but I didn't need the backup. And yes, doing the factory reset was a real pain, but worth it in terms of results.

 

[tony477g]

what about the apps I've bought? Will they get wiped out and I'd have to buy them again

 

[nexusisneecesary]

what about the apps I've bought? Will they get wiped out and I'd have to buy them again

They are tied to your gmail account you used to buy the apps in the play store so,no it won't affect your apps.

Sent from my Nexus Asylum

 

[ansextra]

what about the apps I've bought? Will they get wiped out and I'd have to buy them again

You won't have to buy them again BUT you will need to reinstall them and configure logins, etc. that you currently have. They will be just like the first day you bought them.

 

[LazrRocketArm]

You won't have to buy them again BUT you will need to reinstall them and configure logins, etc. that you currently have. They will be just like the first day you bought them.

AND restart any progress on games with local save data. Angry Birds, GTA, etc..


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