Why is the Galaxy S3 a Nightmare?

[PhilPhoto]

DONT BUY an S3. Get an HTC or LG instead, to avoid a big disappointment...a fly in the otherwise delicious soup. My brother's S4 has the same ridiculous problem as well.

It AMAZES me that so few people seem to mention THE major SHOWSTOPPER on this phone! The reason I am on this forum is to hopefully help prevent someone from making the same mistake I did two years ago: getting a Samsung S3 based on the wonderful feature set and ads. I will never consider this phone EVER again!

Why? This phone WILL NOT SEND or RECEIVE images with text without jumping through numerous hoops! Believe me, I have read the forums and tried everything humanly possible to remedy this...and so will you...UNsuccessfully. You may patiently spend 100 hours doing 1000 recommended "fixes" and it will NOT work. Sorry.

Example (typical, try this yourself with a barrowed S3 or simply ask the owner): You are at home in a WiFi area; data is not on. You receive a text message alert and open it to find a message containing a [Download] button. This tells you there is an image attached. You then exit your messaging app, go to settings, turn OFF WiFi, turn ON data, leave settings, open the messaging app, find the message, click on the [Download] button, wait...wait...wait, and then one of three things will happen:

1. You will see the sent image - Congrats!
2. You will see a small image icon and a PLAY button (Yep. Your phone thinks the image is a one-picture slide show!)...or
3. You will not see anything at all, image-wise.

Oh, but you are not finished. Now you have to reverse all those settings steps to get back onto your WiFi. Ridiculous.

Very sad that this phone (and the new S4 as well) has some of the coolest and best features around, but if you can't send or receive a text with an image - a pretty basic and expected function - you've got yourself a boat anchor, paperweight, whatever.

Again, I am AMAZED so few mention this very fatal flaw. It's like owning a Ferrari, but missing one wheel.

No other popular Android phone brand has this horrible problem. Not HTC. Not LG. So why am I whining about it? I'm only trying to help folks avoid getting an S3 or S4 until Samsung fixes this horrible problem.

 

[MLSS]

I know 4 or 5 people who own S3's and they don't have any issues like that......

 

[mobclan]

Is probably the ROM u have

 

[PhilPhoto]

Is probably the ROM u have

Perhaps that is the problem. What is the solution?

As to others not having this problem, I am glad for them. Can it be my model (I747) or my carrier (AT&T)? One thing I failed to mention is that ANYTHING (image-wise) sent to me from any iPhone model never, ever, ever downloads successfully. iPhone users must email their images, otherwise these will not be seen.

So sorry I got locked into 2-year contract with this phone (ending soon). Next will be LG G2 or HTC model. Had an HTC Inspire before this contract and it was pretty great until it started turning off randomly.

 

[mobclan]

Look up liquid smooth or slimbean ROM u shouldn't have no problem

 

[PhilPhoto]

Look up liquid smooth or slimbean ROM u shouldn't have no problem

Thanks for the suggestion, but looks like you have to root phone, reset, etc....WAY above my head, thus time-consuming, and too dangerous (for me) to try. I am not the rocket scientist some of you guys are.

Alas, why cant a phone just work out-of-the-box?

 

[mobclan]

To much bloatware and they try to justified

 

[ilovethebeach]

No issues. Sent text with a pic to my daugther who has a S3 and she sent me one back. Sent one to my son who has a iPhone no answer yet. I am on Verizon. You might want to switch from AT&T. BTW got the MMS from Son with the iPhone.

 

[PhilPhoto]

No issues. Sent text with a pic to my daugther who has a S3 and she sent me one back. Sent one to my son who has a iPhone no answer yet

Hi, thanks for testing this. Your success really makes me wonder what couldbe gong on. Honestly, nobody I know (in this area and using AT&T, if that has anything to do with it) does NOT have this issue with the S3 and S4. Very curious indeed.

Also, please notice that Youtube and forums have many people with this problem and suggested solutions (which do not seem to work). It is fairly common for the S3...and pretty rare for other phones. Again, I am stunned that people as brilliant as Samsung (I mean that sincerely) have created this showstopper of a problem.

 

[funkylogik]

Lmao. Ok you need both a network and mobile data connection to recieve an MMS normally as far as i know (on ANY phone)
Funny post though :beer:

 

[tube517]

Perhaps that is the problem. What is the solution?

As to others not having this problem, I am glad for them. Can it be my model (I747) or my carrier (AT&T)? One thing I failed to mention is that ANYTHING (image-wise) sent to me from any iPhone model never, ever, ever downloads successfully. iPhone users must email their images, otherwise these will not be seen.

So sorry I got locked into 2-year contract with this phone (ending soon). Next will be LG G2 or HTC model. Had an HTC Inspire before this contract and it was pretty great until it started turning off randomly.

That's probably the issue. I've had several different Android phones (never EVER iphone) and my bro and sis in law in California (both have iphones) try to text images to me and I've never gotten them without issues or sometimes never get them. This isn't an S3 only issue. I wish I could tell you what it is but I can't.

 

[richmatthews76]

You know after many years in IT I have seen more than my filling of incompatable functions when going from one o/s to another. Most of the time its a proprietory issues from different manufactures. Over the years standards have not always been some companies strong points (no names mentioned). Point being I feel its often intenional from a sales prospective. Look at our two big O/S companies Microsoft and Apple and at one point IBM with OS2 and Lotus? I am sure this practice is not going away anytime soon??

 

[funkylogik]

i think the problem is that iphones use their own messaging service whereas android uses the universal standard.
A lot of problems happen when someone moves from iphone to android but doesnt change the service so imessages dont get converted to the standard SMS or MMS

 

[ahomelessguy]

i have no problem with my S3, in fact i have replaced the phone twice (getting ready to replace for the 3rd, first 2 times was a diff carrier) when i moved from Sprint to TMobile, i got the phone again....

only issue ive ever had with the phone is i somehow seem to loose my volume buttons ROFL (your thinking WTF? !!! IKR?)

i have encountered the "Multimedia Style" image thing, and its usually coming from either an iPhone or even some older versions of Android (seems to be limited to anything ICS or before and the it depends on the Carrier ROM of ICS)

 

[PhilPhoto]

Well, thanks for the comments.

To clarify a bit it's not just an issue with iPhones...while sending and receiving between S3 and iPhones is an exercise in futility (i.e., you are wasting your time), I have issues with other phones too: Cannot send or receive unless WiFi is OFF (and of course data is ON), and when sending or receiving is successful, a single image is almost always interpreted as a freeking video (which by the way cannot be saved as a still image or pinch zoomed etc).

As far as I can tell, this is very unique to Samsung Galaxy phones. Oh well, tried hard. Regretfully going back to HTC, I guess...way less cool stuff onboard, but at least they work when you want to send a photo with a text to anybody with any kind of smartphone.

 

[nytmare]

I'm not as tech saavy as other people here, so don't know if I can explain why, but... I've had my S3 15 months and have not experienced any of the issues the OP relates. I've text messaged many images (or had them sent to me) from many people either via wireless or wifi (actually, they're both on all the time) and not had a problem with any of them. This has been the case through all the related updates in ICS or JB. Most of the people I message with are on some kind of Android phone, but some of them must be on some version of iPhone. Actually, I'm certain one of my buddies is using an iOS phone 'cause he's a huge Apple fan and he sends images via text fairly often. I don't recall having issues with the images he sends. I'll have to check to be sure though.

I use the stock messaging app, although I've recently been thinking of checking out WhatsApp or GO SMS Pro.

PhilPhoto - What kind of messaging app are you using? I'm guessing it's the stock messaging app, otherwise you would have mentioned that you're using another type. I don't know if it would help, but have you considered swapping to a different app?

I know these kinds of issues can be very frustrating, so I hope you're able to find a way to get it to work. Good luck.

 

[GTWalling]

Example (typical, try this yourself with a barrowed S3 or simply ask the owner): You are at home in a WiFi area; data is not on. You receive a text message alert and open it to find a message containing a [Download] button. This tells you there is an image attached. You then exit your messaging app, go to settings, turn OFF WiFi, turn ON data, leave settings, open the messaging app, find the message, click on the [Download] button, wait...wait...wait, and then one of three things will happen:

This is not what you stated in your original post.
As stated earlier Data Must be on at all times to receive MMS.

Well, thanks for the comments.

To clarify a bit it's not just an issue with iPhones...while sending and receiving between S3 and iPhones is an exercise in futility (i.e., you are wasting your time), I have issues with other phones too: Cannot send or receive unless WiFi is OFF (and of course data is ON), and when sending or receiving is successful, a single image is almost always interpreted as a freeking video (which by the way cannot be saved as a still image or pinch zoomed etc).

As far as I can tell, this is very unique to Samsung Galaxy phones. Oh well, tried hard. Regretfully going back to HTC, I guess...way less cool stuff onboard, but at least they work when you want to send a photo with a text to anybody with any kind of smartphone.

 

[dynomot]

I think the OP has the modern day disease of trawling the Internet for an answer and only getting more and more frustrated and confused, it's easily done.

First thing first to send it recieve a multimedia message on any make, model you need to have the correct settings from the carrier the SIM card in it is registered to. Call them and ask for the "configuration texts" to be sent to your phone. If you change the SIM card to any other carrier, you need to do this. Do it anyway to make sure your phone knows where it is sending any text or multi media message. They will come as text messages open them (there will be two) and when the phone asks save them.

Now pick a picture from your gallery and either send it to yourself (long press to mark it, share icon at top looks like a <, pick messages to send or the envelope icon) or a phone sat next to you. It will compress it and send it. When you or the other phone recieve it in your messages long press the preview (if it is a slide show - that's the networks fault not the phones, procedure is just a stage longer) and save the thing, it will go to downloads in your phone memory.

The OP should refrain from blaming the device, regarding it as rubbish, because he or she has not got the information needed. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the SMS and MMS applications on any Samsung Galaxy SIII. The networks sometimes play silly so and sos with MMS, but that is not the devices fault.

 

[dynomot]

Added to add, mobile data must be on to send or recieve a multimedia or text message, neither work over Wi-Fi on any phone. You can get it to work through Wi-Fi using an app that connects to a service that re broadcasts them, but even that is not strictly speaking using Wi-Fi only.

 

[MicroNix]

Thanks for the suggestion, but looks like you have to root phone, reset, etc....WAY above my head, thus time-consuming, and too dangerous (for me) to try. I am not the rocket scientist some of you guys are.

Alas, why cant a phone just work out-of-the-box?

It does work. And I never have to mess with wifi settings. Now I'm on Verizon. Perhaps there is an issue with AT&T's setup of the phone but I'm here to tell you that you are the only one I've ever heard of with the issue and I know a number of people that have/had the S3. Its the best Android phone I've ever owned to date.

The only thing I can attest to is the slide show "playing" of images from certian devices. Happens rare enough for me that I never bothered to figure out what device it was coming from.

 

[PhilPhoto]

Wow! It seems my failure to explain well has made you guys as frustrated as I am...and, c'mon, OF COURSE I know data must be ON for the MMS to work. But it doesn't, at least very often or very well - that is the point. Ok, on the rare occasion when it works (not talking iPhones now), you either have sent or received a *&*%^ movie/slideshow after getting a download button which may or may not work. What a pain!

In my examples, I was trying to to show different situations - not the SAME situation - resulting in the same problems. Please accept my apologies for muddying the water.

Let's just assume from now on, data is ON and WiFi is also ON. MMS does not work unless you leave your messaging app and then turn WiFi OFF. Seems to be no way around that - it is simply not automatic (on my phone and many others) as some have stated. Forgive me for trashing the whole product line. It appears this phone/provider/sim card/whatever is the exception then.

By the way, I'm trying to work with the included messaging app, but have tried others such as Textra, Chomp, Handcent, and GO SMS with same results.

I went to the mobile provider this morning to have the sim card examined and show/demonstrate the problem to them. They are stumped as well and admitted that several (but not all) of their Galaxy S3 and S4 customers have exactly the same issue. Huh?! Why didn't they tell us before?! These folks are just an AT&T partner and reseller that started out as the local landline telephone company, and maybe they do not have all the tech horsepower needed (although they seem sharp to me)-- but at least they are local in this town of 35,000.

Do you think I should go back and insist on a new sim card? I would like to keep the phone if this could all be resolved.

 

[dmcjr22]

What it sounds like to me is data connection meaning that your service area where you may be sucks i experienced that as well not all the time but occasionaly on Sprint network

 

[mydian]

I have never experienced any of the problems in the OP. My wife and I text and MMS images of stuff all the time. Even while at home I don't have any issues or have to disconnect from WiFi. It just works. I also have several family members & friends with iPhones on every carrier and have never had any problems. This is not a S3 issue. This sounds like a rom or carrier issue.

 

[TheBigKahuna]

My S3 does not have the same issue as the OP.

 

[richmatthews76]

Lets put it this way. I have 3 Samsungs, Two Tablets with Android, 1 Tablet with Windows, 1 cell with Windows. They all have good and bad . My sister has a Iphone and I have had two. I am now and will forever be a Android fan. Windows, Apple, are in my past. I after more than 30 years am over propritory computers. MY sister is married to Apple to download anything. I personally have Microsoft devices and if I could would dump them tomorrow if I could. Then again I have the luxury of being retired.