Help GS3 freezes if not plugged in

[anaiya]

My S3 has been temperamental since I got this one (replacement because last one was struggling with reception), but it has been working.
Over the last few weeks it has started freezing more, some days I have to remove the battery 10-15 times a day to unfreeze it.
It was always worse when the battery charge was lower, the threshold gradually got higher from below 15% to below 25, then 50% charge. Today I can't use the phone without the screen flickering and everything freezing up u less it's plugged in.

Has anyone experienced this and did replacing the battery help? I'm set to get the LG G3 in a few weeks, but this phone needs to survive for the rest of the month.

 

[anaiya]

Anyone? I can't use my phone at all unless it's plugged in and it's driving me crazy

 

[aml1025]

It's kind of a low-tech place to start, but have you tried cleaning the battery connections to see if that helps? You can try rubbing them gently with a pencil eraser to see if it makes a difference.

 

[anaiya]

Thanks.
That was my first place to start, the contacts are clean, the ones on the battery themselves are a little scratched.
The battery is old, it's gone through several handset replacements since December 2012, I'm thinking maybe it's just dead, but I don't know enough about phones to know whether that could even cause the issues I'm having -
Flickering screen, freezing (worst when trying to use the camera), lines on camera screen, reception dropping completely (Not registered on network error), phone restarting itself but not being able to complete a restart unless I remove the battery.. but absolutely fine when plugged in, no issues at all.