Samsung Galaxy S3 Performance Issues Roundup: Overheating, Charging and Wi-Fi [VIDEO]

Ever since its release, Samsung's most-anticipated smartphone, the Galaxy S3, has been plagued by a spate of annoying issues ranging from overheating and undercharging to Wi-Fi connectivity problems. The leading Android smartphone has even failed to justify its price tag of £500 with a flurry of performance issues right out of the box. We bring you a roundup of the various issues reported online concerning overheating, charging and Wi-Fi connectivity problems that have marred the users' experience despite the revolutionary smartphone features.

While some of these issues may find an instant fix, the others could warrant a replacement for the device. Some of the widely acknowledged issues with the Galaxy S2 successor are listed below:

Battery Undercharging

Users at Fiatforum have reportedly complained of intermittent charging issues with their newly acquired Galaxy S3 devices. The handset apparently charges in instalments with a faulty charging mechanism, wherein instances of charging stuck at 4 percent and failure to attain full charge even after several hours of charging have been reported.

"Is anybody having issues charging a Samsung Galaxy S3? I've had a look around online but not found many comments/issues yet, presumably because it's new," writes one user, dreamertae, adding "I'm not sure if its just because its new but the charging is not at all consistent. The battery life seems ok but both last night and this morning I couldn't even get it to raise its charge at all, just stuck at 4% (wasn't intentional to let it drop this low)."

"I tried a different charger, same thing but then suddenly a couple of hours later it decided it would work and is now charging fine I've switched it off again to give it a steady full charge but not looking forward to testing it when out and about in case I get the same issue," the user explains.

Another user, Frankie Fazer, claims to have charged the device for more than nine hours to attain just 40 percent charge. "Yes here too.. not sure what the issue is... with the travel charger plugged in the phone charges for a few moments then stops and starts again over and over... took 9 hours to get 40% charge... when i plugged into laptop it seemed to charge ok... Maybe just a bad batch of travel chargers?" writes Fazer, adding that "Either way Samsung want to have the phone sent back for 3 weeks to test and fix the problem... three weeks! as always Samsung great customer service right ."

"I am too having a similar problem. Bought S3 a week back and charging at times does not happens properly. It stays at same charging percentage for hours. I have tried official charger, different charger, charging from USB. It sometimes works, sometimes not. It is very strange," responds the third user.

Although, a temporary fix is available for the charging problem at the moment, consumers are advised to contact their nearest authorised service provider or the stores where they purchased the phone for a free service or replacement if the issue persists.

Battery Issue Fix

Here are detailed steps you need to take in order to fix the issue on your Galaxy S3:

1. Open framework-res.apk file via 7zip or winrar.

2. Navigate to "framework-resresxml".

3. Delete the existing "power_profile.xml" file and add the attached one here.

4. Now pull back the framework-res.apk back to your smartphone.

5. Restart your smartphone

As an alternative, you may download cellphone standby fix here (to fix excessive battery drain during standby).

Did Overheating Lead to Explosive Reaction?

Just a few days ago, a Dublin-based Galaxy S3 user reportedly claimed that his handset exploded while placed on his car's mount. "So I driving along today with my Galaxy S3 in my car mount when suddenly a white flame, sparks and a bang came out of the phone," said the user, according to T3.

"I brought it to the carphone warehouse and they told me that they couldn't replace it for me that they had to send it off to be checked out first. No even replacement phone, left with nothing.

"The phone was destroyed and it slightly burned a piece of plastic on the inside of my car," the smartphone user explained.

The user was then denied a replacement for the device by the carphone warehouse. "That could have burned the side of my face or through my pocket and my leg, or set fire to my bed. Its very dangerous," complained the user, while expressing his anger against their ignorance.

An earlier report claimed a Korean schoolboy's handset exploded while kept in his back pocket. Samsung then dismissed the incident claiming that the external pressure pre-empted on the device had caused the explosion.

Samsung later began investigating the overheating issue with its premium smartphone device. "There have been recent online posts displaying pictures of a Samsung GALAXY S3 that appears to have heat-related damage at the bottom of the device.

"Samsung is aware of this issue and will begin investigating as soon as we receive the specific product in question.

"Once the investigation is complete, we will be able to provide further details on the situation. We are committed to providing our customers with the safest products possible and are looking at this seriously," explained Samsung in a press release.

Wi-Fi Connectivity Issues

Several users are reportedly miffed with the inability to connect to Wi-Fi on home and office networks on their S3 handsets. In case of succeeding with establishing a connection, users have complaints with maintaining the connection got more than a few minutes.

A user on XDA-Developers forum has attributed the connectivity problem as being rooted within the handset and not an issue with the cellular network.

"Alas, it seems there's a major issue with the wi-fi in my SGS3... I switch my phone on, and it fires up, and sees and connects to my home wi-fi... But if I try and USE the net or data connection, it's a dog's dinner... If I run a Mobile Speed-test, I get a terrible ping, an average download speed of 0.02 Mbps, and then it times out three quarters through with a connection error," writes Musktick, an XDA forum user.

"It has done this since I got it Wednesday. However, I can confirm it is the PHONE, not my home wi-fi, as my router is very new and mega-top end, and my three SGS2's are working absolutely fine on it. Moreover, if I pull the Notification Tray down on my SGS3, then disable Wi-fi, then pull back down, then re-enable, and then run the speed test again, I get great pings, 22Mbps Downlaod, and 5Mbs uplaod speed (my Home Internet is 100Mb).

"So clearly pointing to an issue with the phone. It does this on both 2.4GHz, and 5Ghz, as my router is full dual channel, independent. Looks like either a faulted phone (hope not), or a fault in current Kernel of the software, which would be better, if a fix was forthcoming.

"This bit is really bothering me though - a brand new device, and it's the only device in my home that has issues with connectivity and web," asserts the user.

"Think I've found the/a problem. If you cup your hand around completely the bottom left of the phone, the corner where the capacitive button is, signal drops and after a few seconds cellular singal goes completely move it away, pop back on full signal," writes the second user, Zenith.

Meanwhile, there are several other users who claim to have encountered similar problems, according to some posts on AndroidForums. One such user also shares a step-by-step fix for the problem to help other users on the forum.

Wi-Fi Issue Fix

"I believe this is related to the popular issue regarding WIFI on our device. The most common "Fix" right now is something that was learned from XDA developers:

1. Go to your phone dialler
2. Dial *#0011#
3. When you see the "ServiceMode" screen, press the left menu button
4. Select "WiFi"
5. See that "Wifi Power Save Mode" button that is "ON" - well turn it "OFF"
6. Exit this menu, turn off your Wifi and turn it back on. If you already entered all your wifi credentials, forget your network info (remove it) and re-enter it again," reads the helpful post by cary328is.