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Samsung Galaxy S III (new flagship Android phone from Samsung)

Tess3ract

Banned
THANK YOU! this was driving me crazy. I just got mine today. it's the first smartphone I've owned that wasn't an iphone. I'm having a really hard time adjusting so far. It took me like an hour to figure out how to get SMS messages to vibrate :/
It's the same for me but it took me much less time than that. I find it's very simple :\
 

iamvin22

Industry Verified
wow!! my battery has taken a nose dive recently. i use to go 2 days with out recharging. now i have to recharge everyday. anyone having the same issue?
 

Sallokin

Member
Couple of small questions.

I have a verizon S3. Can someone point me in the right direction for customizing it? I'm not exactly savvy with the whole locked bootloader stuff, but from what I understand I should be able to run ROMs correct? I'd like to start doing that if possible.

Also, did they remove the ability to set scrolling wallpapers? I thought I saw that on the S2 at one point.
 

Yaboosh

Super Sleuth
Couple of small questions.

I have a verizon S3. Can someone point me in the right direction for customizing it? I'm not exactly savvy with the whole locked bootloader stuff, but from what I understand I should be able to run ROMs correct? I'd like to start doing that if possible.

Also, did they remove the ability to set scrolling wallpapers? I thought I saw that on the S2 at one point.


Go over to the Verizon S3 XDA forums and start reading, and do some more reading, and then some more.
 

squared

Member
US att model. I really need 30mb 1080p 24fps too

Hm, I realized it worked with all versions of the S3 (some hacks/roms only work with the I9300/I9300T-models), but I can't see why this shouldn't work.

Is your phone rooted? How are you installing it?

Mine is obviously rooted, and I used ES File Explorer, mounted /system/ as writeable (which you have to do), just deleted the stock SamsungCamera.apk, copy/pasted in the HX one, rebooted, and it has worked ever since..

If you're rooted, are you running CWM Recovery? Try going into CWM and Fix Permissions, worth a try at least.
 
Couple of small questions.

I have a verizon S3. Can someone point me in the right direction for customizing it? I'm not exactly savvy with the whole locked bootloader stuff, but from what I understand I should be able to run ROMs correct? I'd like to start doing that if possible.

Also, did they remove the ability to set scrolling wallpapers? I thought I saw that on the S2 at one point.

You can run roms but I would just unlock and root for now. The good roms are in alpha and pretty stable but if you are not tech savvy then you could flip if you run into a rare problem.
 

BiggNife

Member
You can run roms but I would just unlock and root for now. The good roms are in alpha and pretty stable but if you are not tech savvy then you could flip if you run into a rare problem.

If I unlock and root now, isn't there a pretty good chance it'll be re-locked and unrooted in the next OTA update?

Basically the main reason why I'm considering rooting and changing ROMs is for CM10 or another Jellybean-based ROM - I know the international versions are getting Jellybean soon but it looks like the release date for US models is a question mark right now. I don't really have any desire to switch ROMs until there's a stable Jellybean release that's been tested on the Verizon S3, and I don't know how long that's going to take.
 

GraveHorizon

poop meter feature creep
I'm afraid that my battery isn't as good as it was before. I could watch an episode of Arrested Development and it would only take 5%. Last night it increased up to 10%, though admittedly it was critically red. And I just went from 100% to 97% in 20 minutes of being off (standby). Is that normal? Am I just being paranoid, or is the battery getting worse?

And that MHL cable I got was garbage, doesn't even work. Gonna have to order a working one on Amazon.
 

Antd0403

Neo Member
All of the sudden out of nowhere my phone says: "New Message from (Name)" whenever I receive a text. It has never done this before and I can't find out how to disable it. I tried restarting but it still happens. How do I disable this?
 
I'm afraid that my battery isn't as good as it was before. I could watch an episode of Arrested Development and it would only take 5%. Last night it increased up to 10%, though admittedly it was critically red. And I just went from 100% to 97% in 20 minutes of being off (standby). Is that normal? Am I just being paranoid, or is the battery getting worse?

And that MHL cable I got was garbage, doesn't even work. Gonna have to order a working one on Amazon.

did you order a Galaxy S3 MHL adapter? because the pinout changed and previous cables won't work with the GS3.
 
I remember reading that the first 10% of a battery meter is kind of a lie as Phones never charges a battery to 100% anyway for safety/longevity reasons. the software will fake that charge that never was until the critical stage where is will go down seemingly faster than normal.

Is that still true for 2012 phones Gaf?
 

AndyD

aka andydumi
yes a few. thinking of backing up my contacts and hardware resetting the phone. the apps i can run on chrome ill bookmark.

Nah. Get battery monitor widget. Its free. Run it for a day or two and then check which apps have a high amount of usage. You may have 1-2 apps that use up cpu/data a lot in the background and they kill your battery needlessly.

Things to check: go to maps and disable/reenable latitude. It had a bug a week or so ago and it caused maps to have high battery usage for no reason. If you have the facebook app, get rid of it, its bloated and it uses up significant amounts of cpu/data in the background for no reason and without a way to stop it from doing so.
 

Sallokin

Member
Go over to the Verizon S3 XDA forums and start reading, and do some more reading, and then some more.

lol Will do. Thanks!

You can run roms but I would just unlock and root for now. The good roms are in alpha and pretty stable but if you are not tech savvy then you could flip if you run into a rare problem.

What can I do with unlock and root that I can't at the moment other than run roms when they are stable? Or is it more in preparation for the eventual stable ones?
 

Izayoi

Banned
So tell me, GalaxyGAF, is it best just to wait for the SIV at this point? I'm looking to get an unlocked phone and stick it on a month-by-month plan, and the SIII is the most attractive option to me at this point. However, I've heard that the SIV will be hitting in early 2013, and I can definitely wait that long before making a decision.
 

Yaboosh

Super Sleuth
lol Will do. Thanks!



What can I do with unlock and root that I can't at the moment other than run roms when they are stable? Or is it more in preparation for the eventual stable ones?

Seriously though. Starting rooting requires a good amount of reading prior to actually doing it so you don't stress yourself out or at worst hard brick your device.

It is pretty difficult to actually hard brick an Android phone, but it IS possible. Believe me, I have done it. Particularly if you fuck up with a bootloader and perhaps overwrite the international one you accidentally flashed with the US bootloader for the phone. I got lucky though because the dude at the Tmobile store had never actually seen a hard brick before so I was able to get it replaced. Phew.
 

Socreges

Banned
RE: GS3 MHL adapter

How come the image doesn't look all that great when I hook up my GS3 to my TV? I thought it projects at 1080p?

I'm not much of a videophile so there's probably something pretty basic that I'm misunderstanding.
 

A.Romero

Member
I remember reading that the first 10% of a battery meter is kind of a lie as Phones never charges a battery to 100% anyway for safety/longevity reasons. the software will fake that charge that never was until the critical stage where is will go down seemingly faster than normal.

Is that still true for 2012 phones Gaf?

Still true
 

GraveHorizon

poop meter feature creep
did you order a Galaxy S3 MHL adapter? because the pinout changed and previous cables won't work with the GS3.

I ordered one from the site I used to get my phone. It said it works with the S3, but looking at the micro USB connector, the small side is flat. I'm about to buy a new one on Amazon. Should I go for one that's pretty cheap, or spend $36 on the official one? I just want to connect it to my monitor for Netflix, and maybe my friend's 47" TV for anime or whatever, not looking to play games at all. Some reviews have mentioned a bit of lag, but apparently that's only for games, so watching videos should be just fine, right?

Nah. Get battery monitor widget. Its free. Run it for a day or two and then check which apps have a high amount of usage. You may have 1-2 apps that use up cpu/data a lot in the background and they kill your battery needlessly.

Things to check: go to maps and disable/reenable latitude. It had a bug a week or so ago and it caused maps to have high battery usage for no reason. If you have the facebook app, get rid of it, its bloated and it uses up significant amounts of cpu/data in the background for no reason and without a way to stop it from doing so.

Shit. I like it because it's so convenient; I love being able to make joke posts in response to stupid stuff in a timely manner. I'll try that widget and see what's up. Got to get to the bottom of this drop-off in battery life.

RE: GS3 MHL adapter

How come the image doesn't look all that great when I hook up my GS3 to my TV? I thought it projects at 1080p?

I'm not much of a videophile so there's probably something pretty basic that I'm misunderstanding.

I too would like to know what's going on here, before I buy a new one. What kind of TV do you have? Do you have a monitor to test it on? How bad does it look?
 

Socreges

Banned
Dropbox users:

What do you guys use Dropbox for? Just work/school files that you need on a cloud? Or do you put media files on to watch or listen to on your phone? I've found that media files take a long time to sync completely and be accessible on my phone. Is it worthwhile to upload music (for example) on to my Dropbox space (50 gb to burn) and then stream it from there, or would that not work very well?

I too would like to know what's going on here, before I buy a new one. What kind of TV do you have? Do you have a monitor to test it on? How bad does it look?
Panny Plasma 50"

It looks fine, I guess, but when I watch an identical video off another source, it looks much better. Might just be my settings.
 

Husker86

Member
Dropbox users:

What do you guys use Dropbox for? Just work/school files that you need on a cloud? Or do you put media files on to watch or listen to on your phone? I've found that media files take a long time to sync completely and be accessible on my phone. Is it worthwhile to upload music (for example) on to my Dropbox space (50 gb to burn) and then stream it from there, or would that not work very well?

Panny Plasma 50"

It looks fine, I guess, but when I watch an identical video off another source, it looks much better. Might just be my settings.
I love dropbox but use Google Music for cloud music. Or Amazon.
 

Swag

Member
Can anyone recommend a low RAM usage rom? It's getting really frustrating using my phone when it crashes every time I load more then 3 chrome tabs

Don't have that many processes running in the background either.
 

Davidion

Member
Dropbox users:

What do you guys use Dropbox for? Just work/school files that you need on a cloud? Or do you put media files on to watch or listen to on your phone? I've found that media files take a long time to sync completely and be accessible on my phone. Is it worthwhile to upload music (for example) on to my Dropbox space (50 gb to burn) and then stream it from there, or would that not work very well?
.

No, I use it to store documents, code, etc. It's an easy tool to make sure you have access to key documents and references anywhere.

Let the streaming media apps do the streaming, I don't find using dropbox for that purpose worth it.
 

AndyD

aka andydumi
Shit. I like it because it's so convenient; I love being able to make joke posts in response to stupid stuff in a timely manner. I'll try that widget and see what's up. Got to get to the bottom of this drop-off in battery life.

Try another FB app. I use Seesmic and I do the same as you, occasional use. There are many better ones out there than the official one.

Google Music isn't available in Canada, unfortunately. Not sure how Amazon would work with cloud music..?

Amazon is like Google. They offer space where you upload your music. Then use the amazon music app to stream.

I use Google but with a 32GB card I also set it to cache, so slowly most of my common songs will be local rather than in the cloud.

No, I use it to store documents, code, etc. It's an easy tool to make sure you have access to key documents and references anywhere.

Let the streaming media apps do the streaming, I don't find using dropbox for that purpose worth it.

I second this. I use it for docs, backups, apks and such, and leave media to streaming apps.
 

Divvy

Canadians burned my passport
Hey does anyone know if there's an official flip case (the one where the back replaces the battery cover) in red for the AT&T red Galaxy S3?
 

AndyD

aka andydumi
Now that you mention it, you are right, it is currently using an sdcard folder which is still in my regular phone memory. I assumed it was using the actual sd card like my old phone.

But a quick google search led me to this, Directory Bind:
http://www.jayceooi.com/2012/06/25/how-to-move-applications-games-data-to-external-sd-card/
XDA page for it is a little more thorough and it seems to work with some issues on the S3.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1410262

I guess the easiest though will be to simply load music onto my sd card so Google won't have to download it.
 

SpecX

Member
All of the sudden out of nowhere my phone says: "New Message from (Name)" whenever I receive a text. It has never done this before and I can't find out how to disable it. I tried restarting but it still happens. How do I disable this?

Let me know if you find out about this. I have this exact same issues and it's only getting worse. First it started reading the names on calls which I was fine with, then it started doing it to text messages and now it does it to my calendar alerts which can sometimes contain personal information, but it blasts what I have scheduled to do to all my co-workers.
 

Toki767

Member
Let me know if you find out about this. I have this exact same issues and it's only getting worse. First it started reading the names on calls which I was fine with, then it started doing it to text messages and now it does it to my calendar alerts which can sometimes contain personal information, but it blasts what I have scheduled to do to all my co-workers.

Check Settings > Accessibility > Services > TalkBack to see if it's on. If it is, turn it off. I think that's the one that will speak out stuff.
 

pr0cs

Member
Amazon in Canada also doesn't do cloud music.

unfortunately there aren't a lot of choices in Canada for cloud music.
Personally I use Audiogalaxy at home on my home server (Linux). It took a bit of digging to figure out how to set it up on linux but once installed it works pretty well.
Not as convenient as a 3rd party cloud based music storage option but more flexible since you have better control over how things are organized.
 

buhdeh

Member
Google Music isn't available in Canada, unfortunately. Not sure how Amazon would work with cloud music..?

Use marketenabler to change to US market and download the app from your phone or sideload the apk. Then you can use Tunnel Bear or something to activate Google Music cloud storage on your PC/browser (if you need it). Once Google Music is activated, it doesn't check for your country anymore.
 

Gattsu25

Banned
Try another FB app. I use Seesmic and I do the same as you, occasional use. There are many better ones out there than the official one.



Amazon is like Google. They offer space where you upload your music. Then use the amazon music app to stream.

I use Google but with a 32GB card I also set it to cache, so slowly most of my common songs will be local rather than in the cloud.
So Google Music caches songs to your SD Card?

(I have a 64GB card)
 

upandaway

Member
Dropbox users:

What do you guys use Dropbox for? Just work/school files that you need on a cloud? Or do you put media files on to watch or listen to on your phone? I've found that media files take a long time to sync completely and be accessible on my phone. Is it worthwhile to upload music (for example) on to my Dropbox space (50 gb to burn) and then stream it from there, or would that not work very well?
If you have room on the device, you can just use Dropsync and Foldersync rules to sync dropbox folders directly to folders locally. I use it for pretty much every folder on the GS3 that I might want to manage from my computer (music folder linked to itunes directly, alarms, ringtones, wallpapers, downloads, photos etc)

Unless your music library is really too big, so I guess streaming it would be better
 

HildyB

Member
Can anyone recommend a low RAM usage rom? It's getting really frustrating using my phone when it crashes every time I load more then 3 chrome tabs

Don't have that many processes running in the background either.

I'm using WanamLite rom (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1782732) and I don't normally go past the 800MB mark after a week of usage. Android is designed to make use of the RAM though, any unused would be a waste. You have tried uninstalling and reinstalling Chrome? Do other apps crash? If you swap between ICS and JB roms, I find lots of weird issues occur till I fix permissions some times... no idea why, just helps.

I tend to have 5-6 tabs open in Chrome with no issue with another 4 or 5 apps "open." It has amazing battery life too, I'm at around 16-18hours with moderate usage (twitter, facebook, reader, sms, web browsing). It is pretty much just a slightly debloated stock rom with other tweaks. I have tried CM9/10, AOKP, Kyan, but keep coming back to Wanam because it just works.
 

BiggNife

Member
So this is probably a weird question but I was wondering - does the NFC/S-Beam stuff still work if my phone has a case on it?

I found one of those S3 ads in New York that is supposed to give you free content like a Cee-Lo song and some other things if you turn on NFC and tap your phone near it, but I did that and nothing happened. I'm wondering if it's because I have a case so the phone itself isn't recognizing the ad.
 

HildyB

Member
So this is probably a weird question but I was wondering - does the NFC/S-Beam stuff still work if my phone has a case on it?

I found one of those S3 ads in New York that is supposed to give you free content like a Cee-Lo song and some other things if you turn on NFC and tap your phone on it, but I did that and nothing happened. I'm wondering if it's because I have a case so the phone itself isn't tapping the ad.

I've heard of some cases not letting the NFC work. May be the material or the thickness, but most cases don't seem to have that issue. Which case do you have?
 

BiggNife

Member
I've heard of some cases not letting the NFC work. May be the material or the thickness, but most cases don't seem to have that issue. Which case do you have?

Just a generic rubber case I got at a mall kiosk for $13 - basically it's a placeholder case so I at least have something protecting the phone until I can get something better.

I'm going to try it again the next time I pass by the ad and see what happens.
 
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