Anyone with a SGSIII on 4.1.2 experiencing constant freezing?

[Anonymous]

I received an in-phone notification last Tuesday from Samsung alerting me to an update to my existing 4.1.2 firmware so I went ahead with it. When the update finished, I noticed straight away that my phone was lagging considerably and when I cleared my RAM, it would take sometimes up to 20 seconds for my phone to become responsive again. This is my third Galaxy S device (after the SGSI and SGSII) so I'm very familiar with the OS and basic troubleshooting so I put this down to a need for a factory reset.

After factory resetting, I didn't install any apps for a while just in case it was a rogue app hanging but I noticed no change. In fact, it became worse. My phone would randomly freeze up. I'd be doing everyday stuff like browsing the internet/Twitter and my screen would just hang. Sometimes I would take it out of my pocket and I'd be unable to unlock it, it would just stay blank and the only way to revive the device would be to force restart either by holding the power button or removing the battery.

I spent about 4 hours researching the issue last night to see if it was a global problem or just my phone and I discovered that this issue was affecting hundreds of people, all on 4.1.2. One particular dev forum believes the issue points to a fault with devices bought around 5-7 months ago that all break and become corrupt with this software update. I've not rooted nor manipulated my device in anyway, this all happened after updating officially via Samsung.

Anyway, could someone suggest what I should do next? Any help would be appreciated.

[Anonymous]

That's what it means to say O2 use accredited Samsung engineers, any work they do on a phone is up to standards with the Samsung warranty so yes - your refurb will still be able to go to Samsung if faulty.

The phone is in the same condition as a new one so won't have scratches and scuffs.

[MI5]

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@Anonymous wrote:

That's what it means to say O2 use accredited Samsung engineers, any work they do on a phone is up to standards with the Samsung warranty so yes - your refurb will still be able to go to Samsung if faulty.

The phone is in the same condition as a new one so won't have scratches and scuffs.

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Agreed. Phone will be "as new", full warranty and pristine condition.

[Anonymous]

Warranty issues aside, how common is this problem? Do many of us suffer from this?

From reading other forums, the problem seems to be both hardware and software. It's a hardware problem in as much as the freezing is caused by errors in the memory - but it's also a software problem, because the operating system should be able to work round these errors, not crash!

The risk is that as soon as your replacement machine has a memory error, the problem will start all over again - really, we need a proper fix from Samsung for this. Personally, I'm tempted to change phones when my contract allows if I don't see a fix by then.

[MI5]

Considering the huge amount of handsets sold by Samsung the faulty units are very small in comparison. Many times it is a bad app that the user has installed that causes software conflicts in the first place anyway. Show me a phone that has never crashed and I'll buy the company

[Anonymous]

Oh, I agree, I was always fine with the occasional crash. But this is a machine that's had a complete factory reset, has no 'bad apps' installed apart from what came with it, and freezes 6 or 7 times a day. All I'm trying to do is get a feeling for how common this problem is - and hence how likely it will be for a replacement phone to suffer the same problem and how likely it is there will be a fix from Samsung soon.

[MI5]

There are some known MB issues with the S3 which Samsung are replacing under warranty. This was a batch issue which has been resolved so there shouldn't be too many in circulation. Any that show up will be repaired with fixed MB's so won't suffer the same problem

[Anonymous]

Sorry, disagree. Anovo are not even checking for this known issue, they are doing a fectory reset on the 1st repair, and then reflash for the 2nd, with a 'no fault found' in between for good measure.
This is what I'm angry about. A total waste of everybody's time.
I've just been informed by o2 that the replacement that was requested yesterday will probably take a week or so. This is the 3rd week of nonsense. o2, I need your help!

[MI5]

I said "Samsung", not "Anovo" and I agree in that they are crap

[Anonymous]

I did a bit of research on this on Tuesday because it was really starting to annoy me as I too had done a factory reset to try fix the issue and I had no dodgy apps and still having problems. Looking around the various different forums, it's happening to a large number of devices bought 5-6 months ago.

[MI5]

Correct - That is the MB issue that SAMSUNG are aware of. I always recommend going directly to the phone manufacturer rather than the supplier as they have the best knowledge of any issues.....