Samsung Galaxy S3 General Information and Troubleshooting FAQ

[Malevolent123]

Hello

I have an external battery that i have been using with my old phone for about a year now, and decided to get a galaxy S3. I understand that the galaxy charger ouputs at 1000 mA but the max current output of the battery is 700mA. I have already tried using it to charge the phone but it took about twice as long as it does from the charger. Will using this battery with the S3 damage the phone, its battery life or have any negative side effects?

Thanks

 

[Mike 44]

ok my problem is that my AOL email does not show the number of emails on the AOL Icon , unless I actually open email then return back to the home screen .So if you were to look at the AOL icon it would appear you have no email but when you open the app there is in fact email there .Then when returning back to the screen where the icon is the number os emails will show. Did I just say the same thing twice ?

 

[KeiKiH]

I tried reading through all the posts, but only made it through 5 pages, so I apologize if this is a repeat.

I'm new to android, had an iPhone for the past 3 years, and have had my gs3 for about 2 weeks. I dropped my first one and got a replacement a few days ago. Yesterday, the "security and lock" screen started popping up randomly, and often. It's especially annoying when I'm recording a video because it interrupts it. I uninstalled every app that I didn't have on the other phone, I have force quit it, cleared the memory, removed the battery, etc. Am I missing something obvious?

Speaking of obvious, my auto-replacement doesn't seem to work.
Every box is checked in the predictive text screen. Usually the correct word will come up on the prediction bar, but it doesn't automatically change. My first gs3 did.

The security and lock screen has popped up six times while typing this. Please help!!!

I am having the same problem!! I was hoping this would be my solution. Hopefully someone will reply to this and help us both! It

 

[johnnylighton]

By any chance could you be pressing the power button while you hold the phone?

Try going to Settings, Security and Lock Screen and unchecking the Lock instantly with power key check box. Then you can also tell the phone to lock automatically after x minutes of inactivity. Does that solve the problem?

 

[EKing01]

Hello all,

The home button in my samsung galaxy s3 has stopped taking me back to the home page. Also, when I long press the button, task manage has stopped coming up.

What could be the problem here and how do i rectify this?

thank you

 

[jerofld]

Hello

I have an external battery that i have been using with my old phone for about a year now, and decided to get a galaxy S3. I understand that the galaxy charger ouputs at 1000 mA but the max current output of the battery is 700mA. I have already tried using it to charge the phone but it took about twice as long as it does from the charger. Will using this battery with the S3 damage the phone, its battery life or have any negative side effects?

Thanks

No, it'll just take longer to charge. The charge circuitry seems to be capable of adjusting to slower charge rates safely.

ok my problem is that my AOL email does not show the number of emails on the AOL Icon , unless I actually open email then return back to the home screen .So if you were to look at the AOL icon it would appear you have no email but when you open the app there is in fact email there .Then when returning back to the screen where the icon is the number os emails will show. Did I just say the same thing twice ?

I'm not familiar with AOL email, but I believe you can set it up to work through the stock email app, or some other third party app, and get the email notifications to work correctly.

I am having the same problem!! I was hoping this would be my solution. Hopefully someone will reply to this and help us both! It

 

[lonewolfsg2012]

I have a very genuine problem. I reside in India and there is no official Jelly Bean upgrade through Kies for my region but I upgraded to the latest Jelly Bean released by samsung through a third party. I want to specifically mention that my phone is not rooted now or before. Everything went fine and my phone is running smoothly with all the latest Jelly Bean updates changes and around 100mb of increased RAM. The only problem is that Kies has stopped doing backup and restore of my phone data and also doesnt recognises the firmware for future upgrade. It does ajdusts contacts etc though. So anyone who can help me with a third party app on PC that can backup and restore my data of the phone especially application data and settings... kindly help...

 

[viks07]

Just wanted to let you know, I think Vodafone UK will be releasing Jelly Bean for the SIII next week.

I suspect it will be sooner rather than later (i.e. Monday time frame)

Hope this comes true... been eagerly waiting for the official release. Come on Voda/ Sammy... get it out!

 

[lonewolfsg2012]

Jelly Bean is way way better than ICS. The google now beats siri hands down. Check out the 21questions siri vs google now on youtube. And not to mention project butter smooth screen. Settings have been changed. You can actually download the official genuine version at sammobile.com if you like according to your exact handset configuration. But better wait. Hope they will rebuff Kies too to match the official version and mind you galaxy s3 is almost bricking proof so dont worry to go the extra mile. JB is worth it...

 

[viks07]

The only thing missing now is wireless charging... Samsung is really dragging their heals on this... promised to be soon (est Sept), hope they didn't mean 2013!

 

[fatford40]

Hi all,
I just received my S3 and whenever I click on a link to anything (such as in an email) the brightness goes very dim, almost to the point you can't read it. All of my other screens are bright as usual. Has anyone else had this problem?
Thanks!

 

[Greg Golden]

Great posting overall, thanks.

 

[Greg Golden]

Are you using the Auto Brightness feature? It sometimes gets a bit wacky.

 

[ceejerina]

I keep trying to connect to Kies, but it tells me my device isn't supported by Kies 2.0. I was just connected 10 minutes ago and it worked fine. The only thing I did was change from MTP to PTP and back again. Was that a mistake?

 

[kikitza]

Hey guys! Posted this on the International subforum, but hopefully here it'll get more exposure. I have recently bought a samsung galaxy s3 and switched from a normal sim to a micro one so that I can use it on my phone. I've been getting an annoying problem ever since I bought the phone. It seems I randomly don't receive text from different persons. The problem fixes itself when I restart the phone(I don't receive the missing messages though) and after a while it repeats. Another problem, not so disturbing as the message one, but possibly related is that again, after a while my live wallpaper disappears and the screen behind the apps turns black. Can anyone give me a hint of what's wrong? Might it originate from the phone or the carrier?

 

[Jacobsdad]

Hi all,
I just received my S3 and whenever I click on a link to anything (such as in an email) the brightness goes very dim, almost to the point you can't read it. All of my other screens are bright as usual. Has anyone else had this problem?
Thanks!

Go into your setting and adjust brightness. It happens to me as well. It is annoying.

 

[eray1985]

Problem solved. Couldn't find how to delete my post, sorry.

 

[fatford40]

Thanks for the help. Problem solved. Opened my internet connection and then adjusted settings under Brightness and colors to "uncheck" auto brightness.

Thanks for the help.

 

[fatford40]

I received a message from a friend today and it opens with a download button. I click the download but have no idea where it downloads to. I haven't confirmed what the download or message contained but am assuming it was a photo? Can you just set the settings somewhere to show the item without downloading?

Thanks,

 

[jerofld]

I have a very genuine problem. I reside in India and there is no official Jelly Bean upgrade through Kies for my region but I upgraded to the latest Jelly Bean released by samsung through a third party. I want to specifically mention that my phone is not rooted now or before. Everything went fine and my phone is running smoothly with all the latest Jelly Bean updates changes and around 100mb of increased RAM. The only problem is that Kies has stopped doing backup and restore of my phone data and also doesnt recognises the firmware for future upgrade. It does ajdusts contacts etc though. So anyone who can help me with a third party app on PC that can backup and restore my data of the phone especially application data and settings... kindly help...

It's because the build of Jelly Bean you have is not officially released, yet. You likely got a leaked version. Kies should get updated when Samsung releases the official Jelly Bean update for your region.

I keep trying to connect to Kies, but it tells me my device isn't supported by Kies 2.0. I was just connected 10 minutes ago and it worked fine. The only thing I did was change from MTP to PTP and back again. Was that a mistake?

I would change back to make it work, then use an app like AirDroid to download pictures from your phone.

Hey guys! Posted this on the International subforum, but hopefully here it'll get more exposure. I have recently bought a samsung galaxy s3 and switched from a normal sim to a micro one so that I can use it on my phone. I've been getting an annoying problem ever since I bought the phone. It seems I randomly don't receive text from different persons. The problem fixes itself when I restart the phone(I don't receive the missing messages though) and after a while it repeats. Another problem, not so disturbing as the message one, but possibly related is that again, after a while my live wallpaper disappears and the screen behind the apps turns black. Can anyone give me a hint of what's wrong? Might it originate from the phone or the carrier?

I would start by factory resetting your phone. Maybe switching your SIM card caused some software goof up.

I received a message from a friend today and it opens with a download button. I click the download but have no idea where it downloads to. I haven't confirmed what the download or message contained but am assuming it was a photo? Can you just set the settings somewhere to show the item without downloading?

Thanks,

I've never heard of this. Try resetting the messenger app in Settings > App Manager > All > Messenger. You'll lose the message in the process, but you can ask your friend to resend.

 

[javamann]

Hi,

When I get notifications for email or text messaging, the icons appear very similar --like for a email.

Is there a way to change the messaging notification icon to the old gold envelope?

try LiteFlow. Controls the lights and uses diff colors for diff funtions.

JM

 

[pazchiro]

Thank you for your helpful thread. I just got the Galaxy S3 to replace my S2. I am over 40 and wear reading glasses so I was excited to "upgrade" to the new S3 screen which is larger than the S2 BUT THE ICONS ARE SMALLER!!! I'm so disappointed that I find the S2 easier to read all around. I have already enlarged the font but that seems to do nothing for the notifications bar or the icons/writing below the icons. Even the digital number on the clock is smaller than on the s2! Please help while I can still return my phone for just the restocking fee if I have to.

 

[killerhngover]

Hello, I am having a problem with the media players of my GS3, both the video and the audio. I have several movies and a lot of music on my external micro sd card, I have had both the phone and the card for about 3 months now, I have watched every movie on my phone multiple times, and listened to every song multiple times. a couple of days ago while re-watching one of the movies about 3/4 of the way through it froze up and would not play it anymore. I had to reboot the phone a few times to finally get it working again. then today while I was listening to the music player, half way into a song it started skipping track after track, sometimes it would skip them one after the other and sometimes it would stop and play one for a few seconds and then skip it. Then after stopping the music player I decided to try and watch a movie. This is where it got really strange, I clicked on a random movie and it said "unable to play video" did this with several movies, then it started to play one for about a minute then froze up, the wierd part is that it is never the same movie it will try to play, I did a reboot and tried the same movie that attempted to play and it no longer would even try, but one of the ones that would not try to play earlier started up, then froze. I don't think my sd card is corrupt because it recognizes it being there and reads that there is data on it. It almost seems like it is reading the card intermittently, anyone have any idea why it is just now acting this way? if it is not reading the card all the time would a factory reset help? Also I have not dropped it or gotten it wet.

Edit: just as I finished this post I looked at my phone and there was a notification saying "sd card unexpextantly removed", then while typing this edit I unlocked the screen again and got a notification saying "preparing SD Card"

Edit: I ran the sd card on my pc, worked just fine, did a scan disk and no errors. I completly removed the card and battery, pressed down on the card holder with my thumb, placed card back in and it played a whole movie, then froze ten minutes into the next. I don't know if the card reader is messing up or if it is something else going on, going to try a different card tonight and see what happens, if anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them, also the card is a 32gb class 4 micro SDHC SanDisk and I bought it brand new from amazon when I got the phone

Update: my other card was not compatible, so I reformtated the origanal card, and did a factory reset, so far I have watched one whole movie and am half way through another, with no problems, other then a little annoying click every few minutes in the headphones, but the videos have not froze yet. Hopefully it fixed it, if not I think I will take it to att store and see if they can have the card reader worked on.

 

[christinak]

Hello everyone, I updated today to the latest software and I noticed that even tough I have all the correct settings checked (like I had before the update) haptic feedback is not working at all. Phone and message vibration etc is not working for all notifications, rather randomly. Can anyone help please?!

Thank you!

 

[bokster]

hello all,

this is my first time to post here.

I got my S3 a few months back and everything was working perfectly until i updated my ROM via kies. After the update, the camera started acting weird. If i take a picture in portrait mode, in the phone i can see it a portrait, but if i download it to my pc, it is shown as landscape. This also happens with landscape pictures, being shown as portrait.

It is very irritating and additional work to rotate the pictures. Have anybody else come across this issue? If so, what to do to resolve it.

Btw, this happened while i was still in ICS and now i am in JB, but still the same problem. I've also factory reset my phone. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!