Samsung Galaxy S3 4.3 update issues and more

[maliciousbuthot]

Ok here goes.

I started with the HTC Droid Incredible after a year it started acting up freezing, shutting down on it's own etc etc. I then upgraded and brought the Droid Incredible 2 renewed my contract ( 2 more years ) and still paid $200 with a mail it rebate ( which got declined because I brought the phone and had one day to mail it to them even with the sales manager's note on the paperwork I sent in ) so after 7 months the phone I did the software update- the phone started dropping called, wouldn't let me connect to the internet, died randomly even with a new battery and would get over 101 degrees ( which tech support saw because they used remote log in to mess with the phone ).

I went back to the store they wouldn't do any but upgrade my phone again BUT this time they used the free upgrade that was on my son's phone  ( I have 3 phones on my account and that was the only one with a free upgrade ) I once again had to buy a new phone this time it was the Samsung Galaxy S3 and once again I had to pay $200 and got a $50 mail in rebate. So, Now 8 months later - today exactly- my galaxy down loaded this new update and the battery drains ridiculously example - I turned the phone on it was at 87% I swiped to unlock it and the battery drained to 57%.......... I text a friend and again the battery drained but this time down to 23%. I put the phone back on charger at 23% leave it alone for 47 mins and checked on it to see the battery actually drained down to 18% while CHARGING!!!!!  so forced stopped a lot of useless crap and turned off even more useless crap didn't help. I did a factory (HARD)  reset, hoping it would go back to the off version or at least see if it was apps draining my battery.

I will be taking the phone to the Verizon store in the morning, I will not be doing yet another upgrade to re new my contract, I do have insurance on the phone however, I am not going to paid the $100 brand new phone when the past two times I've done this I have gotten screwed over. I have been a loyal customer for over 8 years now my bill every month isn't cheap roughly $200 a month for 3 phones. ( I know I can do WAY better with a different company ) It seems to me that Verizon makes a LOT of money on this people this happens to.  I think Verizon selling phones that seem to have update issues is very bad for their business.  This problem needs to be resolved.

In their statement posted on the Verizon site -  According to the statement dated 18 November 2013 at 15:37

the link- http://www.sammobile.com/2013/11/18/samsung-delivers-official-statement-regarding-galaxy-s3s-android...

Samsung has temporarily suspended the upgrade service and the Android 4.3 update (I9300XXUGMG9) has been pulled from FOTA and Samsung KIES. So you won’t be able to update your Galaxy S3 to Android 4.3 at the moment.

----

IF this was actually pulled from the FOTA how was my phone able to download it today Jan 13, 2014 and how did it install? Where is Verizon in this mess? Since Samsung's statement why hasn't Verizon made sure this wasn't pushed to their loyal customers? Why is Verizon pushing Faulty updates?

If you can answer this questions that would be fantastic. I am loading this messing along with videos of my issues  to my blog and facebook page ( in case someone on this site removes this or ignores my questions  😉  ) so that these issues and the questions I have asked do not get brushed to the side. I am also added a video displaying all of these issues.

[katalinagirl]

>>Post removed; discussion of rooting/hacking devices is prohibited on this forum.  Please review the <<

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[maliciousbuthot]

This is SAD !!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel like I am being DUMPED by my longest committed relationship 😞

[jbmcdroid]

My relationship with Verizon goes back thirteen years (wow) to 2001. Like many of my human relationships, some times were wonderful, some rocky, and some adversarial. Through it all, compared with friends' carrier experiences, Verizon has provided the best coverage and service in my greater St. Louis, Missouri area on both sides of the Mississippi River.

Now, concerning the 4.3 update oninage my S3, it's been both a joy and a major disappointment. I was as anxious as the next S3er to experience the much touted last of the Jelly Bean Android operating system (4.4 KitKat being a transitional OS between Jelly Bean and Key Lime Pie 5.0) and admonished those posters who constantly berated Verizon for delaying update releases with lengthy (needless, as some commented) testing. But, with all of the bug-riddled early 4.3 releases in Europe and Asia followed by release halts and hapless restarts, I for one was grateful for Verizon taking a wait-and-see approach with their typical pre-release tests to the extent that I optimistically posted my "just be patient, Verizon will release the long-overdue OTA 4.3 update before the end of 2013" loyal Verizon customer statement.

So, when my S3 got the message that 4.3 was available for immediate download, I quickly backed up all of my files and drove across town to my physician's office building where their free patient Wi-Fi could be accessed clearly from the comfort of my car parked next to the building. The download went flawlessly for 15-30 minutes. While connected to free Wi-Fi, I additionally restored (from Google Play Store, not from backups) my essential apps that I used with 4.1.2 OS; the remaining apps would be restored later after I tested the new 4.3 OS.

Back home, I explored the new features of the latest S3 Jelly Bean operating system and, for the next couple of weeks, was completely thrilled with the higher performance compiled by AnTuTu and Vellamo benchmark apps. Verizon's delay and drudgingly long testing period seemed vindicated, for awhile at least.

Then, shortly after Christmas, I discovered that taking pictures with the stock 4.3 camera or with my alternate camera apps Camera Zoom FX and Snap Camera in both flash modes (auto & on) would immediately and completely lock up my S3-4.3 without completing the picture. The only way to reboot the 4.3 OS was to remove the battery, reinstalling the battery and backcover after 30 seconds, and restarting the OS either by long-pressing the power button or by entering the Android System Recovery Mode by simultaneously long-pressing the power button + the volume-up button + the home button (this latter method preferred by many developers).

The 4.3 camera bug? (absent in 4.1.2) persisted through repeated comprehensive tests using the stock 4.3 TouchWiz Launcher and my long-trusted Nova Launcher, in both regular mode and in System Safe Mode (recommended whenever viruses are suspected), and after multiple hard factory resets.

In the following weeks, the many-reported 4.3 update problems of unusually high battery drainage and 4G/LTE or Wi-Fi interrupted connections started on my S3-4.3 that I reported to Verizon, Samsung, Android Authority, and Drippler to no avail. Finally, Verizon's level-2 technical support agreed that these issues were well-documented and my only remedy was to replace my troubled S3-4.3 with a new S3 of identical make & model that would have a factory-installed 4.3 update (assuring me that its updated operating system was better than the OTA updates). Okay, I thought, now we're getting somewhere.

The very first thing that I looked for after my new factory-installed 4.3 replacement arrived in one day as promised, was going straight to the system settings to check the model number and OS number. When I saw the OS was 4.1.2 and the message to download the available 4.3 update, I felt betrayed and angry. I immediately called Verizon Technical Support and asked why what was promised only one day ago was completely ignored only to be 'lectured' by a young supervisor that no one can offer that promise with their FIFO (First In First Out) warehouse policy.

After an hour of heated discussion, I realized that this supervisor held all the cards and I reluctantly agreed to updating this replacement OTA with another Wi-Fi connection with the declaration that I would contact the regional Verizon Executive Officer should this replacement model (after its 4.3 update) be defective as the one being replaced. So far, I'm happy to report that the camera-flash problem is fixed (for now at least), but the battery and the interrupted connection problems persist. Being that the camera issue was of the highest concern for me, I can live with the other issues until a fix is made available.

After 13 years, I'm not yet ready to jump ship particularly as I have less confidence in the other carriers. I do, however, respect the opinions and actions of my fellow S3 users.

[aka-neo]

Well stated. The biggest issue I have is the fact that it's been over 6 weeks and not one company (Google, Verizon or Samsung) has come forward to address that 4.3 has issues. If I knew a fix was coming and had an ETA I be happier than I am now. But the first step is admitting there is a problem. Paying for high service plans and not having a device work as designed is a huge issue for me. My phone is used for business and personal. If I don't have access to a charger I'm in trouble after a few hours. Prior to this 4.3 update I could go all day without charging. Same story...just another day passing with no support for the paying end users.

[MetDetDJ]

In November 2013 Samsung admitted to major issues with the update for

another carrier and suspended the distribution of 4.3 at the time. Then a

month later the update was released for Verizon.

It is nearly laughable that the offshore Verizon tech support people will

lie to you that they are unaware of ANY issues with the update and that you

are the first person to call about it!

The S4 I have now from TMobile doesn't have the update and I'm not going to

download it at all. After being given the runaround by Verizon I had it

with them and switched to TMobile. So far I'm happy.

[aka-neo]

I've been saying the same thing for a long time. Yet nobody seems to recall that the 4.3 update was placed on hold due to major issues. How convenient. Now we are the BETA Testers reporting all the bugs that they were already aware of. How is that fair?? We're actually doing the troubleshooting for them. You know in the IT world, when we deploy updates we always have a rollback plan. In Windows it's called System Restore. Specifically put in place for when an update causes issues. Yet we are FORCED to live with a flawed 4.3 ROM on a phone.

[boychik0830]

how is nothing being done about the issues. the battery life on my s3 is crap thanks to Verizon who released a update with so many bugs on it. is it worth me trying a factory reset or will I still have some bugs. I do not want to reset unless I am 100% sure that doing a reset will fix all of the bugs. I would hate to do it and find out it does not work and I have to reload all of my apps and I loose my app data. something needs to be done here if the bugs cannot be fixed than they need to offer us a new phone not another s3  because it is there fault not our fault that our phones are not working.

[aka-neo]

With the rumor of Kit Kat 4.4 coming to the GS3 I honestly think they will try writing this off as if it never happened. So what do we get?? Absolutely nothing. I truly hope this is not the case. However I've yet to see anything to make me think otherwise. Nothing but denial and avoidance. I'm being patient only because I wrote Verizon Corporate and complained to the FCC. After I receive follow up (if I do) then I'll decide if I'm remaining a customer or not. At this point in time I'm leaning towards jumping ship as this is clearly not being handled properly. They are not doing anything for the paying end users. This is not customer satisfaction. This is truly disappointing.

[boychik0830]

to be honest i think my battery has gotten even worse since i first got the update. it was really bad when i got the update but now it is even worse. someone needs to do something and a factory reset is not the answer. so will nothing happen until 4.4 comes out. do you think verizon and samsung know but do not want to do anything about the problem.

[rudeguyy]

I agree with Rob on this one. They are going to sweep it under the carpet like nothing has happened. It's been months since this release has been out there and it hasn't been fixed on any carrier or any phone. Either they have no idea how to fix it or at this point they simply don't care. If something was going to be done I would think by now there would have been some formal announcement from Samsung/Verizon/Google or anybody for that matter.

[boychik0830]

so stupid. they are playing I have not heard of any problems game and we refuse to fix it so you can but a newer smartphone.

[badon]

I am not even phone savvy but by simply googling my problem I have found tons of people with the same problem. They know about it.

[boychik0830]

well then why have they not said anything about a fix coming out. if they know about it why have they not announced a fix for the s3 then.

[jbmcdroid]

Rob, how about we invite Verizon Customer Service & Technical Support to respond to the many issues in this discussion thread...(removed)

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[N3tT3chMan]

This worked for me

I woke up this morning and my battery dropped 5% in 20 minutes. After looking through things i found that there were 3 apps that were updated.  Samsung Print service, HP print service and Samsung hub.  I stopped all 3 of the applications in the application manager and my battery has been much better (so far) knock on wood. Not sure if this will help any of you all but its worth a shot.

[mattyshore]

I have basically spent the past week just closing out apps that were preloaded. Everything Google is killing the battery, The Android Operating system is killing near 50% of the battery alone. Before this stupid update, we could restrict the background data which helped out a lot because I would have it set to only two processes. Now even with data restrictions checked it seems to be nothing but a pretty button to push. Yea it screw up google play but Google play is always annoying me. I am just so sick and tired of paying for my phone to be a (removed)

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[gggggg]

This is really strange. My S3 updated and I love it. Battery is excellent!!! No problem with data usage. Calls, etc. are great. The flashing notification can be turned off. you still can toggle your data on and off by the pull down menu.  Could it be that some apps are not compatible and interfering with this upgrade?  As, I have apps downloaded, but no crappy ones like Facebook, etc.  Just a thought.   Oh, my update was in January.

[boychik0830]

I am jealous that your phone updated with no problems. I am having problems galore with my s3 like app crashing and battery draining that I want to be fixed. I would not have cared if I have gotten 4.4 on my phone but I only care because of these problems I am having.

[jbmcdroid]

As I've posted elsewhere, the solution to making 4.3 work for you may be to finding those apps with unusually high battery usage and uninstalling them if they are not critically necessary to how you use your Galaxy S III. Also, I found that some of the high-end data optimizers and system security apps that I had installed were slowing down the performance of my S III without being necessary to how I use my S III on a day-to-day basis. I guess less is best, knowing what you need and what you can do without, to having a mobile device that's both productive and enjoyable.

[boychik0830]

I do not think I have too many of those apps. I do not use virus scanner apps performance apps or anything that would drain my battery other than juice defender. I fix should come soon.

[rudeguyy]

I have seen people do a hard reset on their phones and have no apps at all and still have similar issues. For me I know the issue is the wifi because whenever I keep getting the wifi is unstable message that is when my battery life is the worst. I've also noticed if I turn off my wifi the battery life improves and my phones charges faster. But unfortunately since Verizon made me downgrade to paying for a data package that is no longer an option.