Samsung Galaxy S3 battery problems

[AC Question]

Hi! I have had my Samsung Galaxy S3 for three years. One year ago my computer broke so I started using my phone more often, even while charging it, although I found out later that using it while it charges is stupid. I've had many problems with it but I never really tried to find out what was wrong since everything got better by itself. First of all, I've lost count of how many chargers I had to change. Somehow, they all broke. I thought it might have been the charging port but if a charger wasn't good, another one worked so I don't think that's the problem. Eventually, my phone stopped charging when used. I tried letting it charge without even touching it. All good. But at one point, I started having more serious problems. One day the phone charged extremely slow and its whole battery percentage dropped incredibly fast. I found the trick with spinning the battery to see if it's broken or not. I'm not sure if it's accurate but mine didn't spin, and it's still not spinning. Again, the problem solved itself after a while. It happend for a few times until one day, the phone freezed with around 5% as battery power. I took the battery out and placed it back in and it suddenly showed 70%. It dropped back to 5% in a few minutes. Again, this happened a few times. Then, a few weeks ago, it happend again. From around 10% to 50%. I decided to use its entire power so that I could charge it properly. When it reached 20% the screen started flashing and the phoned turned off by itself. The battery was dead. I left it to charge without using it and again, it seemed to be better. I started charging it while it's turned off because I heard it takes less time and I can't use it if it's turned off. But everytime I turn it off and plug the charger in, the battery raises again from a low percentage to an incredibly big one. If I open the phone, again, it reaches a certain stage and then the screen flashes and the phone turns off. If I charge it while the phone is turned on, it charges very slow and the battery drains very fast. I honestly don't know what to do..I'm not good with phones and I can't really afford a pricey repair in a store..Thank you for your time..

 

[nahoku]

If this is the original battery, then it's time for a new one. Judging from your post, that's what it sounds like... especially if the battery is 3 years old.

You can get an original Samsung OEM battery for $26.95 HERE. Some people like Anker batteries and you can get 2 of them for $19.99 on Amazon and they even come with a charger. I've never used Anker, but on the forum, there is very good feedback on them.

Android doesn't like when a phone dies due to low battery level. It can cause corruption of the OS, at the worse. You should never let your phone discharge lower than say, 30%. Some people even say 40%. If you buy the Ankers, you'll always have a spare battery to swap in, so its a good deal. I have several spare batteries for my Note 4 and truth be told, I rarely charge the batteries in my phone... I just swap them out. One good thing about swapping batteries is that you get to restart the phone and clear out the ram in the process... the phone is nice and fresh!