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

Sagitario

Member
yes. totally possible. that's what rooting does.

you would have to install a custom rom to change based on something else to lose TouchWiz.

Great! I really don't mind TouchWiz (and I use Nova sometimes), and I like the stability of it and some of the Samsung apps.

Now, where to start with this rooting business?
 
If anyone is interested I have started building 4.3 ROMs for the S3 based on CM. It's actually a pretty fun learning experience and seeing the changes in speed and features is the equivalent to having a kid
 

Salsa

Member
Hey guys, just got an s3. Question tho: I got what appears to be a pretty.. blotchy unit, in terms of those dark ink-like spots in amoled screens

my question is: this is super common, right? As in, if i go for a replacement chances are ill end up with the same or worse

as with other reports on this thing, its only really noticeable on Black screens when on a dark room, but it doesnt stop it for bothering me when playing superbrothers in bed, heh
 
Hey guys, just got an s3. Question tho: I got what appears to be a pretty.. blotchy unit, in terms of those dark ink-like spots in amoled screens

my question is: this is super common, right? As in, if i go for a replacement chances are ill end up with the same or worse

as with other reports on this thing, its only really noticeable on Black screens when on a dark room, but it doesnt stop it for bothering me when playing superbrothers in bed, heh

it's pretty random, yeah.
 

An-Det

Member
I just put Cyanogen on my S3 the other day and I'm hitting myself for not doing it sooner. It feels a lot more responsive, and battery life seems significantly improved.

Did you have the latest normal firmware (4.1.2)? I've been looking into flashing CM since I've been getting sluggish and worse battery life (loved CM on my Droid X, but couldn't get the gps navigation to work which killed it for me), but googling and searching XDA is a mess trying to figure out what works and what doesn't, especially since Verizon apparently changed things in a recent update.
 

Loxley

Member
Would anyone have any recommendations for one of those cases that extends the battery life of the S3? Reviews seem to be mixed on a lot of them.
 

Rewrite

Not as deep as he thinks
I've got two:

Anker 4200 mAh: it will add bulk to your phone for sure, but the added bulk made it easier to hold on the hand for me. It lasted me two days with about 7-9 hours of on screen time all on HSPA+. It lasts even more with wifi.

Samsung's 3000 mAh: this one will keep the slim look of the S3 and you'll definitely notice an improvement in battery life over the stock one for sure. It lasts me all through the day with some juice left at the night, something I couldn't do with the stock battery with around 5 to 6 hours of on screen time all on HSPA+. with wifi all day yesterday, I got 8 hours. This one is pricey though since last I checked it was $50 on Amazon. The Anker one is around $18 I believe.

Currently I'm using the 3000 one as my daily one and will only use the Anker one when I'm going on long trips since I know I won't have to worry about charging. I'm a moderate to heavy user.

Edit:

Forgot to mention, I don't use any cases on them. I use them naked with the case the extended batteries come with.
 

Mariolee

Member
So I just got my S3 like 4 months ago, and it's already acting up. The first I want to talk about it the massive screen flickering. It started happening while I was browsing Google Chrome a week ago but I just restarted my phone and ignored it. Then it started spreading to my main menus and other apps.

I've seen a lot of people say online that it's because apparently I have a developer mode on? So I guess I should turn off screen overlays or something.

But what do you guys think I should do?
 
So I just got my S3 like 4 months ago, and it's already acting up. The first I want to talk about it the massive screen flickering. It started happening while I was browsing Google Chrome a week ago but I just restarted my phone and ignored it. Then it started spreading to my main menus and other apps.

I've seen a lot of people say online that it's because apparently I have a developer mode on? So I guess I should turn off screen overlays or something.

But what do you guys think I should do?

that can happen if you use certain developer settings like force GPU rendering.

turn it off and use the device for a day or two and see if you still have the same issues.
 
I'm using my Verizon GS3 here in Thailand with DTAC but I'm only getting Edge. It's really frustrating. On this network you have to go to a store and register your sim card to get access to the 2100mHz frequency, I might try that and see if it works any better.
 
This is probably a longshot, but does anyone know a possible reason why the system data on my S3 is enormous, and if there might be a way to fix the problem (short of a factory reset)?

According to the DiskUsage app, the system data is taking up 10 GB, which only leaves me about a gig for apps and stuff. I only installed the Jelly Bean firmware update a few days ago, and since then I think it's even worse (although it was giving me problems before then too).

This shit can't be right, right?

My phone's not rooted. It's an Orange branded contract phone (complete with a shitload of bloatware that probably doesn't help things). I'm too scared to fuck around with it in case I end up invalidating my insurance. :p

Any ideas, or am I basically forced to reset/root my phone to save it? :(
 

Zoe

Member
So my phone (Sprint) has been randomly freezing since last week. Has anybody else been having problems? What's the best way to go about doing a factory reset while preserving as much app data as possible?

Almost didn't get to work on time today because the alarm couldn't go off, so I really need to try to fix this.
 

Malvingt2

Member
I have a question: Does anyone in here knows how good is this phone on Boost Mobile? I want to upgrade from S2 which run with the 4G WiMAX network which sucks in my areas. So I dunno if S3 is the same.[if so runs with the same network or LTE Sprint]
 

thetechkid

Member
So my phone (Sprint) has been randomly freezing since last week. Has anybody else been having problems? What's the best way to go about doing a factory reset while preserving as much app data as possible?

Almost didn't get to work on time today because the alarm couldn't go off, so I really need to try to fix this.

I had this problem on Monday, by Thursday night it turned off for the last time. I'm not sure its the same problem but I went into Verizon the other day and they confirmed the phone was dead and wasn't simply a dead battery. I was also 3 days out of warranty but got lucky calling customer support and they sent me a replacement.

If you're rooted there are many backup solutions for apps and stuff. What I personally use is Helium, what I like about it is that you can backup to a bunch of places(SD, Google Drive, Box, and Dropbox). I had to reset my phone once before and just used the app to get back to how my phone was before the reset.
 
I'm using my Verizon GS3 here in Thailand with DTAC but I'm only getting Edge. It's really frustrating. On this network you have to go to a store and register your sim card to get access to the 2100mHz frequency, I might try that and see if it works any better.

Just in case this is ever useful to anyone else, 2100mHz did not help in Thailand. I tried a sim from another network that offered different frequencies including 2100mHz and didn't get any service at all.
 

demon

I don't mean to alarm you but you have dogs on your face
So I just started experiencing a problem with my S3- the side power button no longer works. I can't remember exactly what happened, but I picked up my phone to read a text, accidentally held the power button down and got the power-off/reboot screen, exited that, and the button just no longer worked. I pulled out the battery to restart it and somehow it booted up on its own but the button still doesn't work. Anyone here experience this? I've had the phone since last December. I'm on 4.1.2. Not rooted or anything like that.
 

RuGalz

Member
Just in case this is ever useful to anyone else, 2100mHz did not help in Thailand. I tried a sim from another network that offered different frequencies including 2100mHz and didn't get any service at all.

Seems to me the Verizon version of GS3 does CDMA 850 / 1900 while AT&T GS3 does WCDMA 850 / 1900 / 2100 ? I'm definitely bringing my wife's GS3 (AT&T) when traveling overseas.
 

demon

I don't mean to alarm you but you have dogs on your face
HELP

My power button is still broken. My browser (chrome) froze and I can't get out of it so my phone is useless. Normally I'd power it down and back up but with the power button not working I don't know how I'd be able to bring it back up again. Is there a way to power on the S3 without the power button? If I take the battery out and put it right back in will it power back up? It seems like it did that once...
 
Seems to me the Verizon version of GS3 does CDMA 850 / 1900 while AT&T GS3 does WCDMA 850 / 1900 / 2100 ? I'm definitely bringing my wife's GS3 (AT&T) when traveling overseas.

Yeah, there were conflicting reports on what bands the Verizon S3 supports for GSM stuff and I only ever got Edge over there. I assume you'd be better off with AT&T's version.
 

Rewrite

Not as deep as he thinks
Man with this new 4.3 update it made my phone even faster. Holy shit. It feels like a new phone. I haven't noticed any issues yet with it, only SwiftKey and the Google Keyboard being uninstalled for some reason.
 

Rewrite

Not as deep as he thinks
are they uninstalled or just disabled? check in settings.
Well, SwiftKey I had to reinstall again for some reason. I checked. Google Keyboard was there when I rechecked the keyboard options.

Now that the default Samsung keyboard has auto correct to it, it's actually way better than the Google Keyboard to me now. That was one thing that bothered me before this update. It didn't have auto correct. SwiftKey for life, but Samsung keyboard is tolerable now. Kinda digg it.

Loving this update so much.
 
Well, SwiftKey I had to reinstall again for some reason. I checked. Google Keyboard was there when I rechecked the keyboard options.

Now that the default Samsung keyboard has auto correct to it, it's actually way better than the Google Keyboard to me now. That was one thing that bothered me before this update. It didn't have auto correct. SwiftKey for life, but Samsung keyboard is tolerable now. Kinda digg it.

Loving this update so much.
Samsung finally enabled that in US models? Their keyboard has supported it for years (iirc since the original Galaxy Note) but it was usually disabled in US versions.
 

Mariolee

Member
So wtf. I've had my phone idle for only like 4 hours and it went down from 100% to 50%. As in, I haven't been using it at all and its already drainedbhalf my battery.

I checked my battery options andbit said that screen is taking 38%, screen idle is taking 28%, and cell standby is taking 24%. What is happening??
 
So wtf. I've had my phone idle for only like 4 hours and it went down from 100% to 50%. As in, I haven't been using it at all and its already drainedbhalf my battery.

I checked my battery options andbit said that screen is taking 38%, screen idle is taking 28%, and cell standby is taking 24%. What is happening??

even with a bad signal that is unusually high...
 

atomsk

Party Pooper
So my Sprint S3 updated to 4.3 this morning.

Holy shit the default everything is so fucking ugly. Why would they do this?

I'm finally going to have to root this phone just to fix the mess.
 

demon

I don't mean to alarm you but you have dogs on your face
So my Sprint S3 updated to 4.3 this morning.

Holy shit the default everything is so fucking ugly. Why would they do this?

I'm finally going to have to root this phone just to fix the mess.

Well son of a bitch. Is Verizon ever going to update this goddamn thing?
 

An-Det

Member
Well son of a bitch. Is Verizon ever going to update this goddamn thing?

I'd love to see it, but I'm not expecting it at this point. 4.4 is out and we're still on fucking 4.1.2, I've got no huge complaints about the phone itself but that is simply inexcusable.
 

RuGalz

Member
I'm still afraid of updating my wife's AT&T GS3 to 4.3 after seeing various people having wifi issues. I'd hope VZW can at least get it out with fewer bugs. Generally my GS3 have fewer bugs than my wife's. I don't really care for 4.4 since it brings so little to the table and breaks flash on my Nexus 7 that I reverted back to 4.3 anyway.
 
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