sid.16
Newbie
Hello everyone!
This is Sid. I have been using my Galaxy S3 since the September in 2012. I bought it in my home country India (so it is the international version) and have been using as an unlocked GSM phone since (We do not have operators giving the option of contracts, so you have to buy the device. However, monthly plans are quite cheap and you can get all unlimited plans for not more than 15 USD a month!). Since August this year I have moved to the US for studies and thought of sharing my plight in this forum. Since moving here, I have been using the same phone with an AT&T plan (as they are the only GSM operator in my area with a "decent" coverage). I do plan to upgrade to a Note 4 in 2-3 weeks (as soon as I am eligible) but want to make last few days with my beloved S3 a little more pleasant for me and for the little ones in my family who might pick up my old phone when I upgrade.
My beginning with the S3 was not good at all. On the very first day that I bought it, TouchWiz stopped with the infamous message "unfortunately touchwiz home has stopped" and I had to factory reset it to get it working again. Since the last 5-6 months however, my phone has become a nightmare for me and it loses battery very rapidly and gets severely heated at times along with some severe lag. I even switched the battery to a new original one from Samsung and it has not helped even a little. As a result, I hardly use my phone. I hardly browse the internet or open apps like facebook or twitter on my phone. I hardly watch online or offline videos and never really even switch on GPS. My data is mostly off as I use a low data plan and as a result my WiFi is mostly on. However, I have changed the setting for the Wifi to turn off when I am not using the phone except when it is plugged in. To sum it, it is hardly a smartphone anymore. Here are the issues, explained in detail:
1. Battery: My battery, when charged to a 100% lasts for about 2-3 hours with the screen off at most times and the above mentioned usage. The screenshots are shared. In 1 h 13 m since plugging it off, I lost 41% of the battery with ALMOST NO USAGE. You can also see that obviously the WiFi sleep doesn't really work. The screen brightness has been turned as low as possible and I do not use automatic brightness control. With the battery monitor widget, you can see that at a temperature as low as 22 degrees celsius, it loses power at almost 27% an hour. Before I took the screenshots, the only use I put my phone to was read news using TOI (Times of India) for sometime and I did not even open facebook since last bootup, but somehow the app is running in the background. And all this when my battery is hardly three months old.
2. Heating up and Lag: Sometimes for doing something as minor as keeping the phone in my jeans or jacket pocket, my phone heats up to almost 60 degrees celsius (mostly towards the bottom of the phone or the battery) and as a result I lose power at an even aggravated rate (1% in a few seconds). Keeping my phone out of my pockets is an option, but not such a good one when I am out. The lag is another and I guess a very common thing with TouchWiz and I have started using the Nova Launcher to negate it. It did reduce the lag when I press the home button, but the story is totally different when I launch something as simple as the dialer or the settings menu.
I am hoping to get some insight on the condition of my phone from some experts or other users having gone through the same. I obviously do not want to take it to a service center with no warranty and especially when I am so close to an upgrade. Hoping for some help here!
Sid
This is Sid. I have been using my Galaxy S3 since the September in 2012. I bought it in my home country India (so it is the international version) and have been using as an unlocked GSM phone since (We do not have operators giving the option of contracts, so you have to buy the device. However, monthly plans are quite cheap and you can get all unlimited plans for not more than 15 USD a month!). Since August this year I have moved to the US for studies and thought of sharing my plight in this forum. Since moving here, I have been using the same phone with an AT&T plan (as they are the only GSM operator in my area with a "decent" coverage). I do plan to upgrade to a Note 4 in 2-3 weeks (as soon as I am eligible) but want to make last few days with my beloved S3 a little more pleasant for me and for the little ones in my family who might pick up my old phone when I upgrade.
My beginning with the S3 was not good at all. On the very first day that I bought it, TouchWiz stopped with the infamous message "unfortunately touchwiz home has stopped" and I had to factory reset it to get it working again. Since the last 5-6 months however, my phone has become a nightmare for me and it loses battery very rapidly and gets severely heated at times along with some severe lag. I even switched the battery to a new original one from Samsung and it has not helped even a little. As a result, I hardly use my phone. I hardly browse the internet or open apps like facebook or twitter on my phone. I hardly watch online or offline videos and never really even switch on GPS. My data is mostly off as I use a low data plan and as a result my WiFi is mostly on. However, I have changed the setting for the Wifi to turn off when I am not using the phone except when it is plugged in. To sum it, it is hardly a smartphone anymore. Here are the issues, explained in detail:
1. Battery: My battery, when charged to a 100% lasts for about 2-3 hours with the screen off at most times and the above mentioned usage. The screenshots are shared. In 1 h 13 m since plugging it off, I lost 41% of the battery with ALMOST NO USAGE. You can also see that obviously the WiFi sleep doesn't really work. The screen brightness has been turned as low as possible and I do not use automatic brightness control. With the battery monitor widget, you can see that at a temperature as low as 22 degrees celsius, it loses power at almost 27% an hour. Before I took the screenshots, the only use I put my phone to was read news using TOI (Times of India) for sometime and I did not even open facebook since last bootup, but somehow the app is running in the background. And all this when my battery is hardly three months old.
2. Heating up and Lag: Sometimes for doing something as minor as keeping the phone in my jeans or jacket pocket, my phone heats up to almost 60 degrees celsius (mostly towards the bottom of the phone or the battery) and as a result I lose power at an even aggravated rate (1% in a few seconds). Keeping my phone out of my pockets is an option, but not such a good one when I am out. The lag is another and I guess a very common thing with TouchWiz and I have started using the Nova Launcher to negate it. It did reduce the lag when I press the home button, but the story is totally different when I launch something as simple as the dialer or the settings menu.
I am hoping to get some insight on the condition of my phone from some experts or other users having gone through the same. I obviously do not want to take it to a service center with no warranty and especially when I am so close to an upgrade. Hoping for some help here!
Sid
Last edited:
and if you don't want to, then idk lol.