The Samsung Galaxy S3 has been hit with many bugs since it received the update to Android 4.3 and owners desperately need the update to KitKat 4.4 in the hope that these issues and bugs will be resolved. This means that owners are keeping their fingers crossed that the KitKat 4.4 update doesn’t get cancelled as they could be stuck with bugs forever. While there seems to be many issues, below are some of the ones that are most reported.
Owners have complained about the device not recognising the SIM card after updating. Users have even tried removing the SIM card and cleaning it with a soft cloth.
Anyone who is suffering from this issue can take the battery out of the phone while the device is switched on and leave it for about a minute while at the same time holding down the power button to get rid of the electricity in the components. Put the battery back into the handset and then turn the device back on. If this doesn’t work you can call the carrier and get a new SIM card.
Some people have complained about Swift Key causing issues. When scrolling down on the notification bar where the keyboard icon is it says Select Input Method and there doesn’t seem to be anyway to get rid of it. This isn’t an issue with SwiftKey as the icon is added by Android. If you want to get rid of it appearing then you do have to root your device and uninstall any keyboards that were pre-installed, except for SwiftKey. Google Voice Typing also has to be disabled and the icon is then gone.
A user asked about connecting the Samsung Galaxy S3 to their TV so that they could watch videos.
The Samsung Galaxy S3 has a different configuration and so you cannot use 3rd party MHL cables with it. You need to use the HDTV Adapter for the Samsung Galaxy S3.
SD cards not being recognised have been an issue. Users have even formatted the card and put their files back on, but the SD card seems to unmounts randomly when the phone is unlocked.
This could be down to the SD card needing to be replaced as it is getting to the point of it being unusable. Bear in mind that the SD card can cause battery drain as when the device detects the card is mounted it will scan it automatically and the larger the area to be scanned, the more it will drain the battery. If the handset continually unmounts and remounts then it keep rescanning.
There has been an issue with the phone scanning every few minutes which says Scanning Clean Master.apk. A message box pops up saying there is an issue with parsing the package and you have to click an OK box. However more boxes then pop up and even if you press Cancel it goes around in a circle.
The answer to this is to uninstall the app and then go for a similar one as there are plenty on the App Store. However bear in mind that Clean Master scans the phone if something is detected in the background that is trying to install an app that is unauthorised.
Sometimes when trying to call someone it says not registered on network. When someone calls you it then goes to voicemail. When the SIM is in another phone it works fine.
It seems that the issue is down to certain service providers and you can get the message when the phone has been rooted and a custom ROM has been installed. The issue can be solved by installing the stock firmware with ODIN.
You can also try to update your device again as it could be that the recent update wasn’t completed properly. It seems that the issue is down to the serial number and IMEI number being changed on the handset and the network doesn’t recognize it. Reinstalling the previous firmware can help.
Users have reported seeing an issue that says, unfortunately internet has stopped when using the app or apps related to it.
This seems to be an issue with the internet app, which is the original browser of the device. You can try several things.
From the Home screen, tap the Menu key.
Touch Settings and then Application Manager.
Tap left or right to display contents of the All tab.
Make sure not a single app is labeled ‘Disabled’ unless, of course, you disabled it on purpose and are pretty sure it has nothing to do with this problem.
After that, scroll to and tap the Internet app.
Tap the Force Close button first.
Then tap the Clear Cache button.
Lastly, tap the Clear Data button. (Please note you will lose your bookmarks and browsing history when you do this).
Tap OK to confirm.
Launch Internet again and see if you’re still getting the same error message.
If so, try wiping the cache partition. If this doesn’t help and you don’t want to perform a Factory Reset, the workaround is to use other browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Opera, etc.
When trying to connect to the home Wi-Fi network an issue can occur that says, Network terminated because internet connection is slow.
This isn’t a common problem, but you can try the following.
From any Home screen, tap the Menu key.
Tap Settings.
Tap the Connections tab.
If necessary, tap the Wi-Fi Switch to On. The Switch moves right and turns green.
Tap Wi-Fi.
Tap the Menu key, then choose Advanced Settings.
Un-check ‘Auto network switch’ option.
Now try to connect to your network.
The handset sometimes goes into safe mode and apps disappear.
The answer to this issue lies below.
With your phone still on, open the back panel and remove the battery. That’s what you call power-shocking and it often helps.
Without the battery removed, press and hold the Power button of your phone for about 30 seconds. This will discharge stored electricity in the components.
Place the battery back, then close the back panel.
Press and hold the Volume Up, Home, and Power buttons.
When the phone vibrates, release the Power button but continue holding the other two until Android System Recovery screen appears.
Use the Volume Down button to highlight ‘wipe cache partition’ and press the Power button to select it.
The phone will reboot automatically after the cache partition was wiped out. Otherwise, highlight ‘reboot system now’ and press the Power button to initiate reboot.
After updating the Samsung Galaxy S3 one owner said that they got messages along the lines of “Unfortunately Calendar Storage has failed”. They also reported the device being sluggish and factory resetting it. However another error message then appeared which said “Unfortunately, the process android.process.acore has stopped working.”
The answer to this problem is:
Boot to recovery mode.
Wipe cache partition.
Boot to normal mode.
Browse your Contacts (in my case I went to Application Manager).
If the problem still persists, it means the firmware that’s currently running on your phone either lacks some files or corrupt.
You need to download the firmware to your computer because you will be re-flashing it to your phone using ODIN.
A user reported suffering an issue after making the update which meant that the device wasn’t showing the phone and contacts app icon so they could make a call or check contacts. The handset keeps saying “Insert SIM card to access network services” error.
To get around this owners who suffer the same problem can reboot the handset after updating, it could need several reboots to get the apps back. Check the SIM card to make sure it is in the handset properly and then reboot. If this fails you can do a factory reset through Recovery mode. This should bring them back as the apps and icons are in the stock package.
After doing a factory reset if they are still missing you should download the firmware again onto the computer and re-flash using ODIN.
If after this you still get the same message you should call the carrier and get a new SIM card.
