Some people felt it was too big, but the Samsung Galaxy S3 has been selling steadily since it first hit the market back in May. Samsung sold 20 million Galaxy S3 handsets in its first 100 days and it has become the poster child for Google’s Android operating system. Several months down the line, the Galaxy S3 continues to surpass expectations in terms of sales, but no device is flawless.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the biggest Galaxy S3 problems. These are the most commonly seen complaints from people around the world, and in each case we’ll try to offer up a useful workaround or solution.
Update 3-12-2013: We’ve added a couple new problems that have sprung up.
Problem: Random freezes
The Galaxy S3 keeps freezing randomly. A small number of users reported this problem last year, but it has been cropping up far more frequently in 2013. If you experience this problem with a brand new S3, you should be returning it to get a replacement. The bulk of issues being reported now relate to phones that people have had no problems with for months suddenly developing a random freezing habit. This seems likely to be a software problem and could be related to an Android update, possibly 4.1.2.
Workarounds: You can hold down the Power button and Restart or Power off and turn it on again. That seems to work for most people, but it won’t stop the problem from coming back. You can also pull the battery, but we don’t recommend that. You could also just wait, many people report that the issue fixes itself, but it may take 15 minutes or more and it can return at any time. Some people have reported a reduced frequency by turning off Wi-Fi or the mobile data connection, but that’s not convenient. You could try rolling back the software. Some people report success with this, but others say they have only reduced the frequency of freezing.
Solutions: There are only two solutions that people are reporting consistently. One is returning the device to Samsung for repair. In a number of cases a faulty motherboard is deemed to be the cause and replacing it results in perfect operation. If you’re under warranty this might be your best bet. That obviously points to a hardware problem, and yet other people have reported the problem just resolving itself when they ignored it, which would suggest a software problem. We’ll keep following this and post an update if another solution pops up.
Problem: Sudden Death Syndrome
This only affects some 16GB Galaxy S3 handsets and it’s related to your flash memory (eMMC) chip. If you encounter the problem then you’ll find that your S3 doesn’t switch on at all no matter what you do. If you’re worried about your device being affected, you can check if it is at risk with the eMMC Brickbug Check app.
Solution: If your phone is dead, go to Samsung Support and you should be able to get a replacement or get it fixed. Samsung has released a fix for this so as long as your phone has the latest firmware update then you shouldn’t need to worry.
Problem: Battery drain
Disappointing battery life is the Achilles heel of all smartphones, but some people have encountered a surprising battery drain on the Galaxy S3, even when the phone is not in use.
The international version of the Galaxy S3 has a flaw. The battery drain on standby issue is complicated by a miscalculation in the power profile which shows Cell standby eating a lot more power than it actually is. This doesn’t account for the drain it just means that the stats are wrong.
Some people with the U.S. and international versions have also reported an actual excessive battery drain on the Galaxy S3 when in standby. Having apps running in the background and features such as Wi-Fi, mobile data, Bluetooth, and push email turned on is obviously going to have an impact. If your Galaxy S3 is draining fast when not in use, then it can be tricky to find the culprit. It could be down your carrier or that you get poor service in your home; it could be Chrome; it could be email or LTE. Luckily there are some solutions you can try.
Solutions: If you have Chrome installed, fire it up and choose Settings > Developer tools and then uncheck Enable Tilt Scrolling.
Some people have reported huge battery savings by turning off LTE in Settings > More settings > Mobile networks > Network mode. There’s a theory that if you don’t have LTE in your area, the battery drains faster because the phone keeps searching for it. Having Wi-Fi turned on all the time can actually help because it uses a lot less power than connecting to a mobile network, but you have to be in range of a Wi-Fi network or the search for a connection will have a similar draining effect.
Some people believe that Samsung’s preinstalled apps could eat a lot of battery life even if you’re not using them. Some users reported success after disabling their Samsung account and various Samsung apps. Go to Settings > Applications manager and choose the All tab then disable Samsung Account, Samsung Backup, Samsung Apps, Samsung Cloud Data Relay along with anything else on the list you don’t use. The disabled apps drop to the bottom of the All list so you can always enable them again if you encounter any problems.
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