Connect with us

Android

Android 4.3 Problems Plague Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 2 Users

Published

on

While the Samsung Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 Android 4.3 Jelly Bean updates promised a number of significant upgrades including Galaxy Gear support and Galaxy KNOX for added security, it now appears that they have also brought some Android 4.3 Jelly Bean problems to owners of these three Galaxy devices.

Back in September, Samsung announced that it would be delivering a brand new update to owners of the Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2. The update, it said, would bring Galaxy Gear support to users. The Galaxy Gear is Samsung’s smartwatch accessory that has been promoted alongside the Galaxy Note 3 since October.

In October, Samsung revealed those updates to be the long awaited upgrades to Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and promised a host of enhancements for owners of the Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2, enhancements that would come in addition to the Galaxy Gear support. Chief among them, Samsung KNOX for those who want to separate work and play on their device. Samsung declined to offer specifics on release dates but shortly after its announcement, the software started rolling out for the Galaxy S4.

Several weeks later, the Galaxy S3 Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update arrived. And then, a few days after that, the Galaxy Note 2 update rolled out. In the United States, the Galaxy S4 update has landed for all five major carriers and today, started rolling out for users on C Spire. The Galaxy S3 update still needs to land on Verizon and the Galaxy Note 2 update is only available on Sprint and U.S. Cellular. In most cases, being without a major Android update is agonizing. However, in the case of Android 4.3, those without the software might actually be the fortunate ones.

Problems haven’t been a stranger to these Android 4.3 Jelly Bean updates. Already, we’ve seen Samsung pull a number of updates due to issues. And while the company appears to have gotten back on track, there is still, according to its massive user base, a ton of work left to be done.

Now that the dust has settled on many of these Android 4.3 roll outs, we’re getting a good look at the aftermath and from here, it doesn’t look pretty. Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 uses are complaining about a myriad of issues with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. The problems aren’t just limited to one carrier either. They appear to be across the board.

galaxy-s4-samsung

Samsung Galaxy S4 users, across carriers, are complaining about a number of issues with their device after installing the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update. On Verizon, the problems include slow charging, battery life problems, and Wi-Fi connectivity issues. On AT&T, users are echoing Verizon users as they too are experiencing issues with Wi-Fi, battery life, and a drop in Bluetooth connectivity.

On the Galaxy S3, we’re seeing Sprint users are seeing video skip in applications like Netflix and Chrome. This doesn’t appear to be widespread and it may depend on updates to both Chrome and Netflix.  On AT&T, there is a thread where users note a number of smaller issues in addition to larger ones like sluggishness and battery drain.

December could bring the Galaxy Note 2 Android 4.3 update release in some regions, with Galaxy Note 3 features.

The one Galaxy Note 2 update that is out right now, the update for the Sprint Galaxy Note 2, seems to be causing problems as well. There is a fairly lengthy thread on XDA-Developers forum wherein a Sprint user outlines the many problems affecting his device after the update.

These issues are much bigger than they appear. One, these carriers are typically slow to push out bug fix updates which means that those who are experiencing issues are unlikely to get a fix in the immediate future. Carriers like AT&T and Verizon also don’t announce release dates ahead of time and customer service representatives typically don’t have that kind of information.

The other difficult aspect is that many of these issues don’t have fixes that are guaranteed to work, one hundred percent of the time. For instance, there are tons of people complaining about Wi-Fi issues and battery life problems but there isn’t one fix that has worked for everyone. And there may never be.

Look for a new design from the Galaxy Note 3.

Those who are experiencing major issues on the Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 will likely find the best option to be a hard reset. A hard reset will restore the device to its factory settings, something that has the potential to wipe out the culprits for these issues. More often than not, it’s third-party software that is causing problems, not the software itself.

Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3, and Galaxy Note 2 users should remain hopeful for bug fix updates between now and the arrival of Android 4.4 KitKat though nothing is guaranteed. Users will need to trust that Samsung and its carriers are working on solving at least some of these issues but that nothing is going to be fixed overnight. Immediate support like that is usually limited to Google’s Nexus devices which receive their updates, both major and incremental, from Google itself.

95 Comments

95 Comments

  1. T. Laurent

    12/05/2013 at 8:49 pm

    Updated my S4 a week ago. No issues to report. In fact, I have seen a noticeable improvement in battery life.

    • Larry

      12/07/2013 at 2:50 pm

      T. Laurent,
      How and where did you get the update? May I ask what city/state you are in and what carrier?
      Thank you,
      LG

    • Peter Johnson

      12/09/2013 at 4:21 am

      Yes, only few people are facing such type of technical difficulties after update not all! I don’t know why people always make fuss out of problems that most people really don’t encounter.

      • cassyL (@misscassyL)

        12/09/2013 at 11:04 am

        I think you would probably make a “fuss” if you’re phone was suddenly unusable! what a selfish and stupid comment…

        • Hillary

          04/20/2014 at 1:50 am

          I am living in Kenya, and recently upgraded to 4.3. Honestly, its crap, as I’m unable to do what I did with the older version. Forget about Peter Johnson. He probably isn’t using Android to start with. There are people who revel in others’ sorrows.

      • Dieter

        12/15/2013 at 11:14 am

        Lets switch phones, I will be happy and you can join the ones that have issues

      • Paul Ensor

        12/15/2013 at 11:39 am

        Mr Johnson your post has to be the most pointless contribution to a forum I have ever read and makes you look the smug git you undoubtedly are.

        Clearly from the vast majority of posts to this forum people in multiple locations are experiencing varied problems following the 4.3 upgrade. Do you really think we are making them up for the hell of it?

        If you depended on your phone for business and productivity requirements as most of the contributors here clearly do then such “technical difficulties” would give you cause to “make a fuss”.

        As my grandmother once said, “if you have nothing constructive to say then say nothing” the missing element from her advice, which is most applicable to you, is “…and avoid making yourself look a complete twat!”.

        I can only conclude you either work for Samsung or are in fact said twat.

        • dieter

          12/15/2013 at 11:48 am

          Paul, I agree with you, Google his name and see that he has no merit to be on this site, he has no phone and don’t even know how to use one and calls himself an expert. I offered him to switch phones, but surely will not accept this offer because he has no understanding of how to use a phone. Samsung support also is useless, they read the question you give them and search for answers to read back, I asked a dumb question, “my screen goes red” he said please hold and came back that I needed to send the phone in for repair.

      • aaron

        12/31/2013 at 1:09 am

        I got my brand new s4 several days ago and yesterday updated to 4.3 and now have all kinds of issue. You don’t realize how much you rely on your smartphones until it stops working. I agree with cassyL, you’re comment is stupid and selfish.

      • Jonathan

        01/16/2014 at 1:35 pm

        Peter Im from the Philippines and since I have installed this 4.3 updates last month, Im encountering problems with my note 2. The most annoying problem is that my phone battery discharged quickly. On a stand by mode, My phone will only last for 9 hours and when used for call, text and apps, lucky for me if the battery will last for 5 hours.

      • Jackie

        01/18/2014 at 10:16 pm

        Lets swap phones and see how you like to see your fully charged phone go flat after 2 minutes. Just like you we spent alot of money on our phones and we didnt expect this kinda crap to happen

      • Stupid Jellybean 4.3

        01/23/2014 at 10:06 pm

        My phone stopped working over 2 months ago. I only get service maybe half the time if I’m lucky. It has been a major inconvenience!

  2. Vikas

    12/05/2013 at 11:00 pm

    When is samsung going to give an update to these issues..Any new?

  3. Bryan

    12/05/2013 at 11:18 pm

    Galaxy S4 that I updated, my phone randomly restarts about 7-10 times per day now, including back to back times in the middle of the night. So many of these times I was not even touching or using my phone.

  4. Paul Ensor

    12/06/2013 at 1:18 am

    (UK user on Vodafone) Since 4.3 update I am unable to turn WiFi on, the slider simply returns to the off position. I am constantly dropping Mobile (Cellular) signal. As some one who changed from using an iPhone since their first release I am not impressed with Samsung and Android based devices.

  5. Thane Furrows

    12/06/2013 at 2:48 am

    I have the note 2 and most apps wouldn’t open and my phone kept locking up after the update. I hard reset and that fixed most issues but have noticed some if the Bluetooth issues still.

  6. johnjohn

    12/06/2013 at 3:11 am

    Us cellular ga3. I’m having a problem download it a few days ago and as of today the problem I’m having is Google play store keeps crashing help fix this

  7. Laura Forfar

    12/06/2013 at 6:04 am

    Since updating my S4 my wifi keeps disconnecting, the phone is sluggish and freezes a lot – when playing games, texting or just scrolling down a webpage. This is frustrating and I hope they fix it soon.

    • carwyn

      12/22/2013 at 8:07 am

      I have the same issues on my s4 roll on 4.4.2 quicker the better. This is a night mare just want to throw it.

  8. naveen

    12/06/2013 at 7:04 am

    Still no updates in India

  9. swhall70

    12/06/2013 at 7:45 am

    GS4 on AT&T – haven’t seen any sluggishness but biggest problem is that “hidden apps” are now permanently hidden from the app tray. You can find them from Application Manager or Play store, but that’s a pain. I suggest before you upgrade to unhide all those apps and after the upgrade, use the new “disable” feature. Samsung messed up on this.

  10. Dieter

    12/06/2013 at 10:12 am

    I have 3 business email accounts, lots of emails with cad files, pdf images and contracts, I have 2/3 territory of USA and over 3,000 customers to take care of and text for quick images of problem solving with machines, I had Blackberry for 10 years and never failed me, but technology fell behind and updated to HTC and was great till that got old, T-Mobile sales person pushed me the Samsung Note2 as a business phone, in 3 months it became a pain, unstable, rebooting, freezing up, hard re-set did not work, 2 hours with tech and replaced phone, back to same issue. This phone is not for business use, maybe for kids who don’t do volume in technical use. Camera sucks, worst from all of my past phones, night shots are grainy, no real setting, I tried all, looks good on phone but on larger monitor it is bad, HTC had best night images, clear and sharp. Don’t recommend this for business use, unless you are a kid and do small stuff

  11. don

    12/06/2013 at 1:38 pm

    I run 2 businesses. (Construction and real estate) Guess what…..I am not a kid, we did six figs, not much, but with no overhead, not bad. Note 2 all day. Evernote, dropbox, and the S PEN. Obviously, you could be technically ignorant. I been had 4.3. My phone want to reboot and such, there’s a million and one roms for the note 2, I’ll switch, but 4.3 is nice. Yes your comment was lame, unless your 69+

    • Dieter

      12/07/2013 at 8:44 am

      Don, my chat was not directed to you personally, not sure why you got so sensitive and became so childish about this, I added my opinion of frustration I have on my Note 2. For a 69 year old man, I seem to have a lot of knowledge maybe more than your dad. So these blogs are information area unless you own this blog and take it all very seriously. I want to make sure I don’t buy homes from you or have anything built by you, you are way to sensitive like a kid

      • Joe

        12/08/2013 at 9:53 am

        I think you’re both a little childish. The Note 2 is a solid phone for professional use. Mine has run for weeks on end with a freeze or reboot. I use it constantly for email and messaging, remotely managing our servers, accessing our surveillance system, and handling a seemingly endless stream of PDFs. In addition, it spends a fair amount of time in inhospitable environments, usually serving as a radio simultaneously. Perhaps you should reconsider your software choices, or contact your carrier about receiving a phone that works properly. To say it’s “for kids” is a little condescending to those of us that are able to use our phones to their potential. Furthermore, 3 email accounts and “six figures” aren’t likely to impress anyone.
        Don’t be derisive, it’s unprofessional.

        • Joe

          12/08/2013 at 9:56 am

          * “with seldom a freeze or a reboot”

  12. John

    12/06/2013 at 4:50 pm

    My S3 has been running 4.3 for over a week and I have not had any problems that people on the internet mentioned. And use it quite a bit. Streaming video, play games and browsing the internet. I updated via Kies.

    • John Doe

      12/10/2013 at 5:52 pm

      My ATT S3 screen saver/dimmer/off won’t work with Palmary Weather widget.

  13. Joe

    12/06/2013 at 7:34 pm

    I find the reporting from this site amateurish and designed mainly to get page views. There is no differentiation made, for example, between the US phones and the global phones, with different architectures. For the most part, from the anecdotal evidence in seeing in the forums, there are minor problems with some of the US 4.3 rollouts, but nothing significant.

  14. Cole

    12/07/2013 at 10:25 pm

    S4 on Verizon here. Been running 4.3 for a month now and have had no issues. No restarts, the battery lasts me the whole day so just charging it at night so unaware of any slow charging. The fact this article took 7 paragraphs to get to the point just proves they are just trying to make it look like a lot when really it’s nothing.

  15. Rich

    12/08/2013 at 10:27 pm

    GS4 on T-Mobile. After installing 4.3 my NFC stopped working. My wife has the same phone so I checked to make sure it worked before I did the upgrade. After the install it didn’t work. I can program a tag from the app but the phones do not respond. Everything else is working fine.

  16. Himanshu Agrawal

    12/08/2013 at 11:10 pm

    I updated my Galaxy Note 2 about a week ago and have been really unhappy with it. Among other issues, the most lamented loss was that of the personalized/ Custom dictionary. The phone does not learn any new words now. Being from India and having to type many non-English words and names for addresses, email ids etc., the phone’s loss of ability to learn new words is particularly frustrating. Is there a workaround for that? If not, then this is the end of me plugging for Samsung. And, as most marketers know, every voice counts in word of mouth.

    • Yek Llaot

      01/13/2014 at 3:13 am

      I had the same problem here. For me this fix worked: disabled live word update and cleared all learned data till now (remote and personal). Next manual learn again from messages or other source.

  17. ashitosh

    12/09/2013 at 5:03 am

    Updated my Note 2 a day before n facing a biggest problem of lag…after updating my device it is clearly shown that my 2 GB RAM device is running on low memory…very much hurting..available memory is 1.75 GB and almost consuming up to 1.4/1.5 GB with same installed apps as before in my android version 4.1 ,,,resulted poor feel…disappointed :(
    want my 4.1 back :(

  18. gary

    12/09/2013 at 7:11 am

    Just Updated My Note 2 today… Tmobile Finally Got it…

    • dieter

      12/15/2013 at 11:25 am

      T Mobile has sent me now my 3rd replacement, very costly to a carrier when the issue is Samsung. Sad to see all that cost wasted, I suggested T-Mobile to switch me the phone to a HTC one, it is cheaper than keeping me and help support from trying to fix the unit. Reboots on its own, freezes up, no memory and all is as it came with the phone, cannot delete the apps, T-Mobile said I have to wait till February to exchange the phone, because you now have to buy the phone and in 6 moths they buy back and sell you a new one

  19. NoNo

    12/09/2013 at 10:18 pm

    I have updated my note 2 but the biggest two issues I have are the multi windows is not working and it is half lit up ie it is not green neither grey also sometimes the screen doesn’t work.

  20. Larry

    12/10/2013 at 6:56 pm

    Today finally took the plunge and updated our (wife & my own) AT&T galaxy s4 to adroid 4.3. Have not seen any problems like those mentioned here, battery life has not changed, internet fast if not faster, smooth….time will tell.

  21. JLOVE

    12/11/2013 at 1:21 pm

    Issues:

    Samsung Knox & Gear are not showing up in app tray only in application manager. Battery life sucks nnow and takes forever to charge. I let drain to 4% after the update around 6pm. At midnight it charged up to only a mere 80%! And that’s with me not touching it. I haven’t resetted my phone after the update and I really don’t want to.

    Any suggestions ?

  22. Harold

    12/15/2013 at 10:56 am

    I love how people who don’t have problems shrug off any criticism as irrelevant or act like the rest of us are lying. Why even comment then if you don’t have problems? Do you go on car forums and when someone has a problem, do you write, oh your engine failed? Mines working great!

    I have an ATT/Rogers Galaxy S3 747 model. I updated and not only do I have my WiFi disconnect or say it’s unstable 3-4 times a day, but the phone often crashes when using the Internet. I’m noticing a large increase in RAM usage which means it’s not as optimized an update. It also takes longer to charge, had a weird LED flash notification I had to turn off and the lock screen is weird with boxes that are empty or different screens. Not to mention it started to post my text messages on lock screen.

    Here’s hoping a fix is issued soon. I almost feel like buying another phone because of how often the WiFi disconnects, makes the phone unusable because I don’t want to use data if I’m roaming or near my limit.

    • Dieter

      12/15/2013 at 11:10 am

      Agree, so hope the ones who have the phones working and one day have issues, they won’t post, we would be all over them. I’m on my 3rd phone and still issues, one phone heated up so much that it was burning my leg (not on fire) but very hot. I went to the Best Buy Samsung desk and the Samsung guy tells me that my protective plastic is causing to overheat and that the unit needs to breathe…. I shrugged my shoulders and left. Samsung does not have a clue or is ignoring the issues and the fad that it is the best phone will fade away, just like BlackBerry folks that were die hard to the end. I wrote to Samsung on their blog on my issues, they removed it and noting that the comments were not relevant to the product as comparison.
      Looking at the HTC1, my friend has one and he works same company as I and has same email accounts as I do and uses stock apps that came with the phone. Samsung you cannot get out of the website, have to use the back button several times till you are out, most annoying, HTC you can x out the website, so you are not running the internet and using up the GB

  23. Tasha (@xocanadianangel)

    12/15/2013 at 11:08 pm

    Updated my Samsung Galaxy S3 from Rogers in Western Canada a few days ago. Loved it until the next day I noticed that my screen now blacks out at least a few times a day while browsing with Chrome. It’s like it’s some sort of glitch. Kind of annoying. It never did that before. Speed seems ok, sometimes a little leggy now (just upgraded phone a month and a half ago). Battery life hasn’t changed since updating. It still lasts me the whole day with heavy usage. Overall I’m disappointed with the update for the screen blackout issue. (It’s not due to the display screen timeout). I blame the update as I never had this issue before updating. :/

  24. Dave

    12/17/2013 at 11:36 pm

    Hi new to this. I have just updated my s4, which is on Orange. To 4.3. Its terrible. Phone keeps switching itself off, and will not reboot, just keeps going round in circles. The odd time it shows my lock screen it just goes black/off after about 10 seconds. Whilst its doing this the phone gets very hot. Have to take the battery out and let it cool down. It did run for one day, and switched itself off three times. Now though, can’t get it to stay on. Got about 20 vids on the phone, charting my grand daughters (21months old) life from birth to 21 months. And not backed up phone for two months. Heartbreaking. It was fine/great before the uprade to 4.3.

    • Larry

      12/18/2013 at 10:39 am

      @Dave, did you save the movie vids on the phone ot a SD external card? If so, remove it corm your device, get a usb adapter reader and download to your computer

  25. richard

    12/18/2013 at 2:57 pm

    Galaxy note 2 user in the uk unlocked n7100 model no issues everything is working 680 mb ram used much less than 900mb on 4.1 with the same apps. I am happy with the update everything is faster no lag at all, games look smoother and screen loojs a bit sharper, I havent reset the device I just updated ota and that was it.

  26. Doug

    12/18/2013 at 10:03 pm

    I updated my Note 2 last night and now I can not use most of my apps, i can’t use Chrome and I can’t use my email app. Hey Samsung thanks for the great update. I am a small business person and I can’t use Square to take credit card payment’s. This is not acceptable. I am in California on AT&T

  27. Randy

    12/19/2013 at 12:54 am

    Should have read this thread before updating my Note 2 yesterday! Problems: battery overheats, slow charging, stuttering in navigation, apps are slower to react… Noiw I know why some people are Apple fans, though some problems may arise from their updates, however they are immediately dealt with. If it weren’t for their silly iTunes, non replaceable battery, non extandable memory(etc…!)I would have went Apple. Really disappointing from Samsung.

  28. Dave Shu

    12/19/2013 at 5:05 am

    Let’s fight on the mobile phone post!! You are all a bunch of idiots. Dieter if you really had a business that covered 2/3 of the US and over 3000 customers then first of all you definitely wouldn’t be using T-Mobile unless you were mildly retarded, give Verizon or at least Att a try (you’ll have coverage for voice and 4G data at least) , and second of all you wouldn’t be wasting all of your time posting on a mobile phone website. Blow me and quit lying bro.

    • Dieter

      12/19/2013 at 9:32 am

      Gee Dave, you must be 14 years old or maybe 16, but we here are much older and don’t use vulgar language and share our opinions and issues and looking a way to solve the problems. One day when you grow up, I think you will understand what cell phones are really used for. So remove yourself from this chat and join something that you and your high school friends can complain about….

  29. Zac

    12/20/2013 at 7:56 am

    I’ve got a Cricket S4 and 4.3 has been nothing but an improvement over 4.2.2. Battery life is better, phone is noticeably smoother and all around “snappier”, no reboots to speak of, etc. but the issues here are real and really do cause grief for users. My brother has a Sprint S3 and the 4.3 update has rendered his phone almost useless. Extremely slow charging (20 hours on the charger and still not charged) and horrendous battery life. When you’re used to having your phone last all day on a single charge to just a few hours, its an issue.

    Hope a bug fix release is in the works.

  30. Riddoy

    12/21/2013 at 7:51 am

    Serious battery charging problem in galaxy note2 ..WE NEED A FIX

  31. Ron Ronron

    12/21/2013 at 10:00 pm

    Sprint GS3 here. Got the update a few days ago and now 4g Lte is like aol95 dialup speed, if it even connects. Only way to get a decent, but very slow, connection is to disable lte entirely and switch to CRAM only.

    If this doesn’t resolve I will be cancelling my contract with sprint and switching to tmobile. If sprint hits my credit report with an ETC fee Ill sue them for breach of contract. Others should do the same. In the USA we have the slowest and most expensive mobile internet. Sue these idiots.

  32. Theodore41

    12/22/2013 at 3:55 am

    Has anybody the Sony mw1 BT,together with the Note 2?
    I jave one,and after the 4.3 upgrading,the combination fails.It seems that the blame,goes to the smart connect app,which needs upgrade as well.
    Any help?

  33. tariq

    12/23/2013 at 5:24 am

    will i lose my installed apps if i updated my note 2 to 4.3 jelly bean?

    • Larry

      12/23/2013 at 8:46 am

      AT&T S4 user, you wont lose any apps. You may want to proceed with caution as many others after download experiencing problems. Wife and I upgraded to 4.3 and both phones working great, better than before

  34. Steven Anderson

    12/23/2013 at 9:14 am

    S3 Verizon, never had 4.2, was using 4.1 before the 4.3. My battery drains twice as fast now. Only way to charge now is turn phone off. Haven’t done a reset yet but it wasn’t required 3mths ago on that software update.

  35. Josh

    12/24/2013 at 8:14 am

    Sprint Note 2. After update phone has stopped ringing.

  36. jamal

    12/25/2013 at 8:19 am

    Hi .. i had galaxy note 2 . After i did da update jelly bean 4.3 . The battery become short life . And some time it hang … please .. anyone can help me for these issue

    • rasha

      01/04/2014 at 8:55 am

      I had galaxy note2 , after jell bean 4.3 update pop up window disappeared .now I should either choose between turning off videos or just watch them but before update l used to watch videos while writing messages or searching web or any thing on my phone ….any suggestions what should I do ?

  37. amb7247

    01/09/2014 at 6:39 am

    has anyone had issues with the GPS on the Galaxy S3 after the 4.3 Update. I used it yesterday and it was incredibly laggy and slow. I’m miss my turns since it didn’t say when to turn or the screen did update. And if I did turn, it didn’t change until 5-10 seconds later. So by that time, I already passed where I was supposed to turn. It was so bad, I had to bring out the ‘ole Garmin. At least it works.

  38. Dawn Johnson

    01/09/2014 at 11:55 am

    I updated my S3 yesterday – now my battery is only lasts 1/2 as long and all of my pictures since 12/28/14 are nowhere to be found. All my photos have now been transferred to “PHOTOS”, and the “GALLERY” is now empty – grrrrrrr. No New Year’s Eve pics

  39. Dennis Kelley

    01/10/2014 at 9:43 am

    My Note 2 got updated three days ago (Verizon), and I’m disappointed. I have noticed no performance improvement in any area. In fact the phone is much more sluggish in its performance than before the update; the battery life is significantly worse (something is sucking the life out of it); wi-fi connectivity has become a major problem (phone keeps connecting/disconnecting/reconnecting, etc.), and the music player now is plagued with annoying interruptions. Not happy about this at all. Anyone know of any way to go back to the older version of Android?

  40. julia

    01/10/2014 at 7:44 pm

    Updated to 4.3and now my phone won’t hold it’s sync with my car. This is very depressing. We live in Illinois and have to by law use a hands free device. I’m very very unhappy. If anyone knows of how to fix this, I’d appreciate input.

    • Chris

      01/13/2014 at 11:00 pm

      Same here Julia, the in car Bluetooth drops out since updating to 4.3 on my Galaxy S4. Hope Samsung fix it soon.

  41. Suze

    01/11/2014 at 4:59 pm

    I loved my Galaxy S3 for 1 1/2 years with zero problems. As soon as I downloaded the updated a few weeks ago, my phone has been horrible. The browser freezes up all the time or says it has become unresponsive, I will be in the middle of typing and it will freeze up, to name a few issues. I took it into a Sprint repair store today and they did a hard reset, and updated some other stuff. My phone is just a crappy as before. I will be switching carriers so I am able to get a new phone–they will pay me to switch. I can’t afford to stay with Sprint and have a non-functioning phone. They have offered me nothing except to tell me that I will have to pay $75 to fix this mess. I could see that if I had damaged my phone, but they damaged it! Thanks, Sprint.

    • Larry

      01/11/2014 at 5:15 pm

      Suze, beware. Switching carriers wont guarantee problems wont exist. This new update has caused problems with about ALL phone carriers.
      If and when you switch, what ever model phone you purchase, BEFORE you walk out the store, check to see, ot have them show you, what operating system its running. Android 4.2. 4.3. 4.4 etc. Make sure ALL functions you use the most work. If its running 4.2…it will update to 4.3 possibly without you knowing it!
      I have been one of the “lucky” ones who has a new galaxy S4 from AT&T, not long ago updated to 4.3 and have had NO ISSUES. I love this phone!
      Sorry to hear about your troubles, good luck.

      • Suze

        01/11/2014 at 5:27 pm

        Larry, thanks for the advice. I certainly will be careful. I will probably get one that already has the 4.3 version so I can see if it works or not within the 30 day period. My husband’s phone keeps asking him if he wants to update now or later, and he always clicks later because if what happened to mine. I know I may not have that option with a new phone.

        • Larry

          01/11/2014 at 5:57 pm

          Anytime Suze. Your hubby being cautious makes sense, I too was reluctant to update my phone and the wife’s. Decided to take a chance and if it didnt work out, was going to leave the wife’s phone alone.
          You may want to check out the models that have the new Kitkat, 4.4 version.
          Have fun with your new phone!

  42. earl brooks

    01/11/2014 at 5:44 pm

    My spell check has gone crazy not suggesting but inputting misspellings that I can’t go back and respell correctly…. it just rechooses the wrong word when I correct it…..

  43. [email protected]

    01/12/2014 at 11:31 pm

    hi.
    After I upgraded my Note 2, to 4.3,I have problems with my MW1 Sony bluetooth.
    Several days after,Sony upgraded the software of the MW1,but the problen is here.
    I can not hear the sound of the call,through the earphone of the BT,when I make the call,and I can not hear the voice of the other person again through the earphone,while I can hear it through the speaker of the Note 2.
    Can you help to fix the problem?

  44. vashishthamishra

    01/15/2014 at 10:56 pm

    I have downloaded the update thru wifi, and during the download period I was browsing internet for the reviews of update. After reviewing, I’m not interested in updating right now. But package is already downloaded in my phone and it keeps asking to install. When I click Later, there is only 3 hrs postpone is possible. Please help me to get rid of this.

    • Suze

      01/16/2014 at 10:42 am

      My husband will not update due to my phone’s horrible performance after the update. He keeps getting this popup and the guys at the Sprint store tell him there is absolutely nothing he can do to get rid of it, except installing it, of course. But do not install! Just keep clicking “install later” forever.

  45. G Martin

    01/21/2014 at 5:59 am

    S4 Active ATT. Internet glitches, and bluetooth drops so far. Hope they patch soon.

  46. Suze

    01/22/2014 at 12:57 pm

    If you want to cancel within the 14 days, do they give you your old phone hack? This goes for T Mobile.

    • Larry

      01/22/2014 at 2:39 pm

      Suze…you would have to ask them about that policy..sorry dont have better answer

  47. Suze

    01/22/2014 at 1:21 pm

    Back not hack

  48. JOpeth

    01/23/2014 at 8:28 pm

    My T-Mobile Galaxy Note 2 now does not hold a stable connection to the wifi network at my job because it has a proxy. I never had this issue before and I’ve been trying fixes with no avail. Sucks because otherwise the 4.3 update has been useful. Pretty serious issue though seeing as how I use my phone as part of my job and my office is in an interior room with service available only through the wifi proxy network.

  49. Kelley

    02/02/2014 at 9:53 pm

    THE Mobile S4 updated last week and now I cannot dial outgoing calls. I can only call from the text msg screen. Very frustrating because I did a hard reset to try to fix the problem and lost all my text messages. So now if I want to call someone I have to send them a text first!

    • Ivan

      09/10/2015 at 9:51 pm

      Any luck on what the issue was? Did u find a solution?

  50. Zurkster

    02/03/2014 at 5:49 am

    Two big problems I have had since updating my Galaxy S4, Firstly the HDMI connection does not work at all now, where I used it daily before the update. Secondly the Wi-fi settings scans for connections EVERY 5 SECONDS, which is killing my battery. There are probably more errors and invisible problems I’ve yet to discover, I just hope they roll out another update to fix these issues. WHY OH WHY COULDN’T THEY ACTUALLY TEST THE UPDATES BEFORE RELEASING THEM. Was ‘GEAR’ connectivity that important that they missed everything important. I used to love Samsung products but quickly losing faith with android firmware. Someone should be accountable for screwing up all our phones?

  51. David Beaver

    02/05/2014 at 4:41 am

    I did the update, this caused my phone battery to drain faster than it did before the update. Video play back freezes. Wi-FI drops some what but not to much. Other than that it is ok for the time being until Samsung gets off their butts and work on it quickly. One would think Samsung would have tried this out on a phone before issuing the update out to the public. This shows Samsung wasn’t thinking on this one.

  52. Jackie

    02/05/2014 at 11:53 am

    My husband can’t use his phone at all he has no network connection tried everything and no luck his phone is absolutely useless all together.

  53. david

    02/10/2014 at 10:47 am

    is anyone getting ther galaxy note 2 restarting out of the blue its happened to me twice plus i cant use multiwindow as its half green and i th9in it takes ages to charge the mobile up also

  54. Enrique Suarez

    02/13/2014 at 7:37 pm

    I have the same issue. My GNII just randomly shuts off. The phone is only 3 weeks old and that’s after I went to get my last one fixed out of warranty at the AT&T regional repair center in Irvine. I told them it was not my fault I ended up updating my phone to 4.3 in November. My warranty expired in November, I argued and after not being able to fix my original GNII because it finally died with a white screen, they just gave me a new one. Now I’m going to go back again and have them reset it to 4.1.2 where I never had any problems.

  55. tom

    02/22/2014 at 6:37 am

    My Verizon note 2 is so slow after update

  56. Cynthia

    02/22/2014 at 7:55 am

    I have a Samsung Galaxy 4 and have had it since last year. 2 days ago my bluetooth and my wifi turned off and won’t let me turn them back on. My battery seems to drain faster also. If I didn’t have wifi connection would I still be able to go online? I know for sure I can’t connect my bluetooth. Going down to t mobile and I hope they don’t tell me to do a factory reset. Had to do that with a phone I had before. I wonder is there a way to save most of the stuff you have in your phone. Last time they say it saved but it really didn’t.

    • Larry

      02/22/2014 at 8:06 am

      Dear Cynthia,
      Most likely you will need to do a factory reset. Save your music, pics, videos, files etc on your external SD card (if you have one installed) and remove it before you do a reset.
      Many apps you have installed will be lost so make a list to reinstall them afterwards.
      Good luck

  57. Gilbert

    02/24/2014 at 6:28 am

    Since updated to Android 4.3 my phone battery (GT-I9506) has been on high usage and it’s draining fast. I dont know why. Reboot and HW rest not working. Please fix this!

  58. [email protected]

    03/17/2014 at 8:41 am

    Upgraded to 4.3 two weeks ago (I’m slow with the upgrading) and now I’m having issues with text messages or input screens. It hangs and then tries to “catch up” with my typing. It then enters multiple phrases of what I typed. THEN it will hang again and the on screen keyboard vanishes. It won’t come back up until I exit the program and go back in. Very frustrating just to send a text message.

  59. Dominique

    03/21/2014 at 12:18 pm

    I too am slow on updates because I never like them, any one notice most times when they come out with updates, they end up making our phones worse than they were before the update, grrrr. Well I just got a replacement GS3 with 4.3 software and the only thing that I notice I am having problems with is my Internet, every hour or so when I go to any website, the websites that I’ve visited keep freezing and wont let me access them, Ive tried exciting out of them and making a fresh page with that exact same website and still has the same problem. The only way to fix it is by clearing ALL of the settings like cache, passwords, cookies, data and ect, THIS HAPPENS EVERY HOUR, SO FRUSTERATING!!

  60. Kerri

    05/17/2014 at 3:53 pm

    I have a galaxy note 2…I’ve only had it sense December 2013 ….when I first got it I could watch Netflix and only lose 2 % of battery life watching a 45 minute show.. it was awesome and I was so happy with it….now I can’t even get halfway through the show without losing ten percent or more of the battery….the battery takes forever to charge and sometimes when i plugg it in, it does not charge it at all….I had verizon send me a new phone and a new battery….which was like pulling teeth because I was being lied to and told they didn’t have batteries to send me…(and not that this has anything to do with it but when they sent it to me I received the package soaking wet like somebody dropped it in a pool and then sent it to me)…from what I’ve seen here the companies(and I mean the ones you pay monthly for these phones to continue to work when you own them) owe every single person whose bought a Samsung Galaxy Note a new phone that works ….we pay your company’s thousands of dollars a year and so far(and this comes from experience and talking to these assholes on the phone) I don’t think Verizon or any of these other companies give a flying s*** about their customers satisfaction or if our phones we’re using and paying for actually work when we pay these monthly outrageous bills! So far all I’ve seen are a lot of excuses from these companies who are so goddamn busy trying to keep up with how fast they can make the technology newer that they forget to make the technology we already have actually work before they go moving on to making something else…you OWE your customers working phones at all times…I’m a sick person with Crohn’s disease and a 10 year old child and I can’t have my cell phone failing on me…

    • Larry

      05/17/2014 at 4:13 pm

      @Kerrie

      So sorry to hear about the problems you have. I have been one of the “lucky” ones, have a Galaxy S4 bought in Dec. 2013. Both wife and I updated to jelky bean 4.2, experienced no problems. We since then have updated to Kitkat 4.4 and all working fine. Battery life seems a little longer lasting and charge time is much faster.
      Oh yes forgot to mention we on AT&T.
      May want to check out Android forums for suggestions/help on Play Newsstand app.
      Hopefully you soon may upgrade to 4.4 Kitkat and you device will perform better

  61. Kerri

    05/18/2014 at 12:21 am

    Larry I know you’re trying to be a helpful person but I can tell you now(and please don’t take offense to this cause its not meant as a rude thing to say) you sound just like those idiots on the phone ..none of that is going to help me right now ,I need a working cell phone now, not in an undisclosed amount of time and maybe they’ll send out some program that might fix the phone, they owe me a new phone.As far as I’m concerned they replaced the phone replaced the battery I’m still having the problem they need to give me the upgraded phone and not make me pay for it because this is their fault not mine…what is the point of having insurance on these phones if they don’t ever give you a working phone…they make me pay a very large bill every month and so do a lot of other people and we expect phones that work now not next week not 3 months from now when they try to put out some new program to pretend to fix the problem! They’re the ones who sent out this so-called upgrade and broke all the phones not me…I plugged in my new phone and battery tonight at 23% 9:00pm and it’s 3:00am in the morning and it’s still at 23%….how long should I wait for a working phone…it worked for a month …My phone has been broken pretty much sense I got it and I’m just supposed to keep waiting …In the mean time I’m a very sick person and go to a lot of doctors appointments and need this stupid phone to work. …it was a brand new phone ..I don’t think I’m asking too much for it to work! I don’t want to waste anymore of my time reading useless forums anymore they should just give me an upgraded phone…they can’t keep me paying a monthly bill for equipment they sold me and doesn’t work! I’m tired of the whole thing. All I’m getting from the forums is there is a lot of other customers just as pissed off as me and they can’t do anything about it! The companies owe all these customers phone upgrades I don’t care how much money it costs them I’m not going to keep paying monthly bills for a phone that doesn’t work. ….

    • Larry

      05/18/2014 at 8:33 am

      Kerri,
      No offense taken. Good luck.

      Larry

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.