• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Help New S3

P

Pit_man

Newbie
I just got a new galaxy s3 a few days ago and I have two questions. First I cant seem to get it to charge up most of the time? I will plug it in for hours and it will stay at whatever % its at or only gain a little and sometimes lose a little? Second whats the newest Android version? It says I'm running 4.1.1.. Is this the latest and if not any drawbacks to updating? Sry for the (Im sure silly) questions but I dont know much about this phone or smart phones in general! Thanks, Pitty
 
Hey have you tried draining your battery until its dead? If that doesn't work, put it in a plastic bag and put it in the refrigerator for 30 mins. Remember NOT THE FREEZER. Take it out and wait for it until its room temperature. Then put it in the phone and charge it back up. If all else fails, replace the battery. You should have a warranty on it for a month after your purchase. For your OS, Android 4.1.1 is the latest and official.
 
Pit_man said:
I just got a new galaxy s3 a few days ago and I have two questions. First I cant seem to get it to charge up most of the time? I will plug it in for hours and it will stay at whatever % its at or only gain a little and sometimes lose a little? Second whats the newest Android version? It says I'm running 4.1.1.. Is this the latest and if not any drawbacks to updating? Sry for the (Im sure silly) questions but I dont know much about this phone or smart phones in general! Thanks, Pitty
Click to expand...

welcome to AF!!!!!!!!!

i moved you to the s3 forums where you will get more eyes on your thread.

how are you charging your phone? wall charger? usb charger?

what is your carrier? your carrier will determine what android version your phone will get updated to. jellybean is 4.2, but i'm not sure what is actually available for your phone as i do not have your phone.

you can always check to see if there are any updates available. go to settings/about phone/software update and check to see if you have any updates.
 
Thanks bud.

Im using a wall charger. My phone is a T-mobile phone but Im using Straight Talk for carrier. And ya, I went to updates and it did update to 4.1.2.. Any major changes between the two? Also I read somewhere after a update Samsung recommends that you do a factory reset. Is this necessary or true? Thanks
 
Pit_man said:
Thanks bud.

Im using a wall charger. My phone is a T-mobile phone but Im using Straight Talk for carrier. And ya, I went to updates and it did update to 4.1.2.. Any major changes between the two? Also I read somewhere after a update Samsung recommends that you do a factory reset. Is this necessary or true? Thanks
Click to expand...

no worries.

i would do a factory reset as it might help with your charging issue.
 
A factory reset will basically take off anything you put on the phone (except updates). If you do a factory reset, make sure your contacts are synced and abtr pictures are moved to your sd card.

You won't have to reinstall update, those will stay in place, but everything else wool be gone. It'll be like when you first turned on the phone.

To do a factory reset, turn the phone COMPLETELY off then hold the home + volume up buttons, then press and hold the power button while still holding the other two, and wait for a screen that will be mainly black with tiny letting. When you set that screen, let go of the buttons. You should be able to select "wipe data" (or it could say "factory reset"). That's the option you have to choose to do a factory reset.
 
Bestshoota said:
Hey have you tried draining your battery until its dead? If that doesn't work, put it in a plastic bag and put it in the refrigerator for 30 mins. Remember NOT THE FREEZER. Take it out and wait for it until its room temperature. Then put it in the phone and charge it back up. If all else fails, replace the battery. You should have a warranty on it for a month after your purchase. For your OS, Android 4.1.1 is the latest and official.
Click to expand...

I've never heard that piece of advice before regarding putting the battery in the fridge! In fact, it sounds like it could do more harm than good by allowing condensation to build up inside the battery.

Also, the warranty period differs per region/country and here in Europe the battery has a warranty for six months.
 
How do you save the pictures to the sd card.. or anything for that matter. My old phone would let me save some apps and had a way to move pictures if they wernt on the sd card. I dont see that with this phone. When I first got it I didnt have the sd yet but I got a 32 gig put in yesterday! :)
 
You cant save apps to the card but use a file explorer to move pics, music etc. The included My Files app does the job fine. Internal storage is called SD Card and the card is called Ext SD Card. Change settings in your camera app to save there too :thumbup:
 
ok.. When I move it to My File thingy it will be stored on the ext sd card? I found the My Files app but dont know how to move the pics/vids from my phone to it? It shows its empty when I click Images then Camera, Photo and video. Sry but this is all new to me.

I changed it to store all future pics to my ext sd card so Im set there.. ty
 
funkylogik said:
You cant save apps to the card but use a file explorer to move pics, music etc. The included My Files app does the job fine. Internal storage is called SD Card and the card is called Ext SD Card. Change settings in your camera app to save there too :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Ohhhh I got it!!! Thank you so much! :D
 
So with the new update I cant swipe my contacts to the right to call? I can still swipe left to message tho? This was one thing I rly liked with this phone. Anyway to make it swipe to call again?
 
Anyone else having this issue with swipe to call after the update? I factory reset my phone and still cant swipe to call.. only to message. :confused::confused:
 
Glad it helped mate :D

S3 is a great phone, hope you enjoy it and like i say check that link out, some amazing features on the phone that people figured out and explained how to use them.

:smokingsomb:
 
I have ran the battery all the way dead and charged it 3 times now, tonight will be the 4th. It still wont charge all the way up. Stops in the high 80's low 90's.. I'm not supper worried about it as the phone seems to last a good amount of time on the charge. I was thinking about getting a after market battery for it tho. Any suggestions on a battery that will fit under the stock back cover? I don't want a larger (sized) battery as I have the phone in a Otter Box. What are the best options for a standard and extended battery? Thanks :)
 
rayhipkiss said:
I've never heard that piece of advice before regarding putting the battery in the fridge! In fact, it sounds like it could do more harm than good by allowing condensation to build up inside the battery.

Also, the warranty period differs per region/country and here in Europe the battery has a warranty for six months.
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more.

Also, don't run your battery all the way down when you can help it and never when your phone may be running hot. That leads to battery degradation. No question about that.

Get Gsam Battery Monitor, start it up, go to home, and while off of the charger, turn your screen off for about two hours.

Then see what your phone is doing when it should be sleeping, because yours clearly isn't.

The phone always runs off of the battery, even when charging.

You have something running amok sucking power that's fighting the charger.

A bigger battery won't fix it.

Just tossing that out as food for thought, lots of benefits to a larger battery of course. ;) :)
 
I will try the Gsam Battery Monitor... thanks!

I even read when you buy new batteries they recommend running the battery all the way dead 5 times?
 
My first kowledge of rechargable was the old Ni-Cad ones we used in fast R/C cars lol. They had to be fully discharged or theyd develop a "memory"
Modern batterys should be or are pretty "smart" now so i dont take any special care with it and its fine :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom