[Q] Please help, I am having multiple issues and can find no information on them - AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717

Look I'm sorry if I broke one of the 500 rules here, I am just desperately in search of help.
I have been a smart phone owner since 2009. I bought an iphone 3. I upgraded to a 3gs eventually, then last summer got my first note.
I went through five iphones because I kept sending them back due to various issues. I thought Android would be great and fix all my issues, but honestly I hate my phone and I just want a smartphone that works. Like I said I bought my first one in 2009 and I have just been trying to have a fully functional smartphone ever since and it is something I have never gotten to experience. Four years! Jesus, I just want one that works and doesn't give me random issues everytime I try to use it.
So my note is running android 4.0.4 I am going to list various issues I am having with it in the next post. I would do it in this post but I had it all typed up then this page just turned blank and I lost what I typed. I have no idea why.

---

Please keep in mind I have owned five Notes. I have sent them back for various issues, but these problems have persisted across all of them.
1. If I am using a web browser in landscape mode and go about ten seconds without touching the screen or buttons, the right side of the screen flashes black repeatedly.
2. When I use the default audio player the last song I picked automatically starts playing. It used to not autostart the music. How can I disable this?
3. When I am in an app and press home, sometimes after the app minimizes it comes right back up instead of going to the home screen. Why?
4. How come sometimes when I go to unlock my phone, the clock is in the middle instead of the top, which is what I have it set to?
5. When I attempt to download an image off the internet through any of the five browsers I have installed about 50% of the time the download fails regardless of 4G or wifi connection strength. How can I fix this?
6. Sometimes when I click a link on a webpage, the page jumps to another part of the webpage and activates a random link from that area. Wtf?
7. If I close every running app, disable every unrequired service and turn my screen brightness down all the way, I cannot use my browser and charge my phone at the same time without the battery draining quicker than it charges. How can I browse the web and charge my battery at the same time?
8. If I click up by issue #5 or #6 to edit something, this website scrolls the edit box all the way up to the top. The only way I can get back down to where I am typing this is to drag the text selection tool. Kind of annoying.
9. My lock screen setting is set to auto lock after ten minutes because I prefer to manually lock my phone when I'm done using it, not use auto lock. When I get a phone call this setting is overidden and the screen locks after ten seconds of inactivity following a phone call. How can I get my phone to always respect the value I selected for that setting rather than some of the time?

---

10. the default camera app has an option to set custom shortcuts. This is a useful feature. However every time I exit the application the shortcuts are reset to default, making that feature worthless. How can I set custom shortcuts permanently?

---

What's the common denominator among all these devices(ip*/sammy)?
Saved and Texan by the Grace of God, Redneck by choice.

---

Maybe you should try the latest BlackBerry

---

mrhaley30705 said:
Maybe you should try the latest BlackBerry
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or an old Nokia!
Sent from The Bacon Pope's Galaxy Note 2

---

boneless9000 said:
Look I'm sorry if I broke one of the 500 rules here, I am just desperately in search of help.
I have been a smart phone owner since 2009. I bought an iphone 3. I upgraded to a 3gs eventually, then last summer got my first note.
I went through five iphones because I kept sending them back due to various issues. I thought Android would be great and fix all my issues, but honestly I hate my phone and I just want a smartphone that works. Like I said I bought my first one in 2009 and I have just been trying to have a fully functional smartphone ever since and it is something I have never gotten to experience. Four years! Jesus, I just want one that works and doesn't give me random issues everytime I try to use it.
So my note is running android 4.0.4 I am going to list various issues I am having with it in the next post. I would do it in this post but I had it all typed up then this page just turned blank and I lost what I typed. I have no idea why.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok I hate to be the one to say this but you will never find anything that will not have random issues. This is the way of smartphones. While One device may run perfectly the same device and the same OS version will have random issues.
Also might want to look into something called a logcat. It will help you find the issues you see

---

Tx Redneck said:
What's the common denominator among all these devices(ip*/sammy)? .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They all feel like a waste of money?

---

let me see if I can either answer or help you clarify what's needed to solve these issues.
First are you stock unrooted? running a custom rom? Rooted?
(each of the following number correlate with the issues you listed):
1) Stock web browser or all of the one's you've tried? By flashes black, does half the screen start flashing black then back to what's being displayed quickly?
2) the playing the last song if I recall is a restart "function" that the player does, check in the settings for that. Maybe someone else can answer this as I don't use my phone as an MP3 player, just pandora.
3) I've had this happen from time to time with my phone as well. I've noticed that it happens with memory intensive programs. I just hit the home button again. Don't know what to tell you there
4) Are you referring to the clock on your lock screen or status bar?
5) Is this issue one specific image? is it from one given website? have you tried dolphin browser? I can tell you that it does work on my phone from google front page.
6) This happens to me as well, it's annoying and I feel your pain. It happens to me when I go to click a link when I have my keyboard open which resizes and moves the webpage and then activates the click in the new location. Is this similar to your issue?
7) Are you using the charger that came with the phone or a charger that pipes 1A to the device for charging? a lot of chargers our there will only do 500mA and a lot of cables will limit the charging to speed to 500mA because they aren't shorted for full power charging. Though someone should correct me if I'm wrong here.
8) Editing likes to jump around, mainly due to what I mentioned in response to 6 because it closes and reopens the keyboard. Again that's from my experience. this has been limited when I moved to swiftkey and a JB rom.
9) I have no clue about this one. and have no idea what to tell you. I'd say play in the settings for this one.
boneless9000 said:
List o' stuff you posted...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

---

You kindly asked for help, so I’ll kindly try my best.
1. I have NEVER heard of anything like this. So you say this happened on different Notes? That is akward. I wonder if a different dpi setting will cure this for ya. If your rooted you can install xposed and change individual app dpi’s This will also aid in resolving your #8 issue.
2. This is a normal setting in default audio players. I suggest GoneMad audio player. It has TONS of features and device controls to solve this for ya.
3. I noticed this problem once before. I believe it’s an animation lag. I never seen it happen if I turn off transition animations. Try that and repost back.
4. This sounds like a governor issue. The cpu frequency drops when phone is locked. When it wakes up it lags and the clock doesn’t pop back to where it’s suppose to be. I notice this a LOT when I rotate from portrait to landscape while lockscreen is up.
5. When your image downloads fail, what’s going on with the phone? Same with when they do download. Is anything else running? Is screen locked at all during the download?
6. I notice this happening with different individual webpages. Sometimes a webpage will have an advertisement that slowly loads at the top or side. When it does eventually load the screen elongates which moves the spot we were on. But of course this always happens right when we’re clicking a link! Could this possibly be what’s happening to you?
7. Are you using the stock supplied usb cable and charger plug? Aftermarket chargers have different output voltages. If your using a cheapO it will only charge when not doing anything. And even then it’s still slow to charge!
8. Our phones aren’t the greatest for typing LONG paragraphs or replies. I changed my keyboard dpi so it’s a lil smaller. It gave me more room in landscape mode to see what’s above and I can scroll thru what I wrote easier. That’s not a perfect solution but it helps!
9. I believe this problem is a default security issue. I remember reading somewhere that a phone is set to lock after a phone call because our face could be touching it and press something it shouldn’t. Also that if you were to give your phone to someone to make a phone call having the phone unlocked could be a security breach to you. When you think about it for a second it’s not a bad feature afterall! I’ve given my phone to a coworker during a call and I wouldn’t want him playing with my phone for a second! But when the boss is on the phone with me and wants to talk to whom I’m standing beside I let him! Your problem could be solved with a newer release of JellyBean. I notice a setting in my phone that says "Exit to last activity on end call" which will allow phone to exit to the previous activity screen on end call rather than going to call log and locking.
10. This problem makes me think that you might of tweeked something you shouldn’t of. Why else would an app not remember it’s settings you stored? If it’s not a tweek issue, you can try installing a different camera app. There’s literally 100’s!
Sorry if those responses are of no help. I’m no expert they are just my thoughts on your issues. Good luck!

---

Originally Posted by boneless9000<br />
Look I'm sorry if I broke one of the 500 rules here, I am just desperately in search of help.<br />
<br />
I have been a smart phone owner since 2009. I bought an iphone 3. I upgraded to a 3gs eventually, then last summer got my first note.<br />
<br />
I went through five iphones because I kept sending them back due to various issues. I thought Android would be great and fix all my issues, but honestly I hate my phone and I just want a smartphone that works. Like I said I bought my first one in 2009 and I have just been trying to have a fully functional smartphone ever since and it is something I have never gotten to experience. Four years! Jesus, I just want one that works and doesn't give me random issues everytime I try to use it.<br />
<br />
So my note is running android 4.0.4 I am going to list various issues I am having with it in the next post. I would do it in this post but I had it all typed up then this page just turned blank and I lost what I typed. I have no idea why.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
<br />
<br />
Ok I hate to be the one to say this but you will never find anything that will not have random issues. This is the way of smartphones. While One device may run perfectly the same device and the same OS version will have random issues.<br />
<br />
<br />
Also might want to look into something called a logcat. It will help you find the issues you see
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey its batman
xylon

---

God I ****ing hate my phone. I had my entire response typed out, got a phone call, then when I went back to my browser it refreshed the page and my **** got deleted. I cannot express how much I ****ing hate this piece of ****. That is not what I expect when an OS is advertised as having true multitasking. What garbage.
stock unrooted.
Flashes in every browser ive tried.
That music app never did that before and there is no option to chsnge it. i am not interested in replacing the app, i want to know how i can change the behavior back to how it was.
4. lock screen. setting stays the same (top) but when i go to unlock the phone sometimes its at the top something the middle. im just wondering why.
5. any website any browser any connection. I can be in a ****ing att store using their hotspot trying to download the google.com logo and it works half the time if that.
6. i dont know it just raneomly jumps around and clicks ****.
7. i am using the chargers that came with my phone. i cannot use my browser with all other apps closed and screen brightness cranked all the way down while my phone is plugged in and have the battery even stay level much less charge. my battery drops 10% if i look at my ****ing phone. i already got a second battery from att and this is the fifth note ive had too.
its so ****ing frustrating how there is no answers for anything at all. im just venting in general. i really, really appreciate people like you trying to take the time to help me out...but at the end of the day i have ****ing nothing at all to go on. i never ever find a solution to anything. everyone always says oh just try a different app or att is all well just send you a new phone. for ****s sake i just want the phone i use and the apps i use to ****ing work. ****.
Theoriginalgiga said:
let me see if I can either answer or help you clarify what's needed to solve these issues.
First are you stock unrooted? running a custom rom? Rooted?
(each of the following number correlate with the issues you listed):
1) Stock web browser or all of the one's you've tried? By flashes black, does half the screen start flashing black then back to what's being displayed quickly?
2) the playing the last song if I recall is a restart "function" that the player does, check in the settings for that. Maybe someone else can answer this as I don't use my phone as an MP3 player, just pandora.
3) I've had this happen from time to time with my phone as well. I've noticed that it happens with memory intensive programs. I just hit the home button again. Don't know what to tell you there
4) Are you referring to the clock on your lock screen or status bar?
5) Is this issue one specific image? is it from one given website? have you tried dolphin browser? I can tell you that it does work on my phone from google front page.
6) This happens to me as well, it's annoying and I feel your pain. It happens to me when I go to click a link when I have my keyboard open which resizes and moves the webpage and then activates the click in the new location. Is this similar to your issue?
7) Are you using the charger that came with the phone or a charger that pipes 1A to the device for charging? a lot of chargers our there will only do 500mA and a lot of cables will limit the charging to speed to 500mA because they aren't shorted for full power charging. Though someone should correct me if I'm wrong here.
8) Editing likes to jump around, mainly due to what I mentioned in response to 6 because it closes and reopens the keyboard. Again that's from my experience. this has been limited when I moved to swiftkey and a JB rom.
9) I have no clue about this one. and have no idea what to tell you. I'd say play in the settings for this one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

---

OP you went through five iphones and five notes?
I don't think the phone is the problem.

---

boneless9000 said:
God I ****ing hate my phone. I had my entire response typed out, got a phone call, then when I went back to my browser it refreshed the page and my **** got deleted. I cannot express how much I ****ing hate this piece of ****. That is not what I expect when an OS is advertised as having true multitasking. What garbage.
stock unrooted.
Flashes in every browser ive tried.
That music app never did that before and there is no option to chsnge it. i am not interested in replacing the app, i want to know how i can change the behavior back to how it was.
4. lock screen. setting stays the same (top) but when i go to unlock the phone sometimes its at the top something the middle. im just wondering why.
5. any website any browser any connection. I can be in a ****ing att store using their hotspot trying to download the google.com logo and it works half the time if that.
6. i dont know it just raneomly jumps around and clicks ****.
7. i am using the chargers that came with my phone. i cannot use my browser with all other apps closed and screen brightness cranked all the way down while my phone is plugged in and have the battery even stay level much less charge. my battery drops 10% if i look at my ****ing phone. i already got a second battery from att and this is the fifth note ive had too.
its so ****ing frustrating how there is no answers for anything at all. im just venting in general. i really, really appreciate people like you trying to take the time to help me out...but at the end of the day i have ****ing nothing at all to go on. i never ever find a solution to anything. everyone always says oh just try a different app or att is all well just send you a new phone. for ****s sake i just want the phone i use and the apps i use to ****ing work. ****.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no worries I completely understand the pain of having an issue and feeling like I'm the only one EVER to deal with it.
SO don't hate me for these next set of recommendations, it's just all part of the troubleshooting process. What I would do is a full factory reset. I mean wipe everything, and I do mean everything because I'm almost suspecting it could be a rogue app causing at least some of your issues. I believe you can revert all the way back to GB (someone will correct me if I'm wrong, it is the internet after all). then without installing anything at all try the stock web browser see if it still flashes and jumps around. If it does well it's what some Microsoft programs like to call a "feature". as for your power consumption issue. try installing this app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.manor.currentwidget&hl=en . it isn't perfectly accurate, but it should tell you close to what your amperage that's going into your phone, which should be around 1000ma (or 1A). I know the issue you're referring to and it happens to me when I use the GPS on my truck using my truck adapter which is only 500mA. battery just drops and drops and drops.
After you've done all that and still don't have the desired results, flash ICS and try again.
Lastly I hate the browsing system on these phones as well. you can clearly tell it's a simulated multitasking system and it won't even load multiple pages at the same time and if you switch between the tabs it'll refresh the page and redownload it. Annoying as crap especially when you're trying to watch some pr0n. But it is much better than on my ipod touch so I deal with it. Where I guess I differ from a lot of people who buys this phone is I think of it as a place to get my emails, phone calls and look something up to prove something wrong. I don't feel a smartphone has really become a laptop or netbook replacement yet.
I hope these steps help. If all else fails and you're still having issues, maybe this phone just won't do what you want it to do. I know, I know that a phone should do what it advertises but when it doesn't live up to it, it's time to step to a different device. The S4 was just released and the HTC One is supposed to be a smokin phone too. And with the documented cases of issues you've been having I bet they'd be more than happy to get you to a different device without having to pay full price.
Again I hope these help.

---

rangercaptain said:
OP you went through five iphones and five notes?
I don't think the phone is the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well explain how this happens:
- Three iphones in a row had an issue with getting dust under the screen. At the time I had an office job, so the phone saw clean slacks pockets and my desk at home, nothing else. The first time it happened they did a screen replacement first and the problem persisted. I never exposed them to extreme environments, never dropped them, nothing.
-I have had the audio port on my Note fail on three different Notes. I use headphones maybe once or twice a week, and when I drive I sometimes plug it up to my tape adapter. They are never subjected to unreasonable force, I never jam the plug in there or anything etc.
-I have had iphones and Notes run at about 30-50% overall speed as the others I have tried, when they are 100% fresh straight from the factory and have not had a single 3rd party app installed or anything.
-I have PC components from the 80's, a circa 2000 HDD based MP3 player from iriver I even used while skateboarding, an original NES and gameboy, the original Razor and countless other electronic devices that have performed flawlessly in the time that I have owned them.
Seriously, explain to me how it is my fault that all five galaxy notes I have tried fail to download a simple image file no matter how good my connection is.
Explain to me why every email application I have used on any smartphone, ios or droid, is so ****ing slow that after hitting refresh inbox I can switch to my browser, open my email providers page, type in my login infox and open my mailbox quicker than the app. Explain why its my fault I can refresh my inbox when I expect mail, see nothing, refresh it again immediately, then have it download five emails from an hour ago. What did I do wrong?
Explain to me why a week ago my phone decided I can't upload images due to "insufficient memory" despite having changed no settings, added no new apps etc. Explain to me what else I can do after resetting the phone, deleting chromes cache, manually stopping and disabling every non essential app that was running, clearing all running processes, clearing ram and resizing the photo. Explain to me why after all that I still cannot upload that photo with Chrome or any other browser, but I can intentionally run as many apps as I can at once, then upload the full size, unedited photo with an imgur app and it goes through no problem. How is that my fault?
How is it my fault that my battery dropped 5% in the time it took me to type this with screen brightness cranked to a minimum, no other apps running, wifi bluetooth and gps disabled and my phone plugged in to a known good outlet with factory wdapters? How is this my fault that I cannot use my phone and charge it at the same time?
How is it my fault that the camera app will not keep my shortcuts?
How is it my fault that a week ago, my music playing application decided to do the following: I pick x song off y album and let it play through a few songs. Q song, the fifth one in the album, is currently playing. I decide I want to listen to another artist. I unlock my phone and go back to the app while the song is still playing. As soon as I open the app it stops the current song and restarts the last song I opened, closing out song Q for song X. It never did that before. I changed no settings. What did I do wrong?
I have a total of maybe five apps I've even downloaded since getting this phone. A 1mb< notepad app, chrome, a sketchbook program and pdanet. All except the last were straight from googles store.
I just dont know. I feel like I paid 500$ for pure, condensed frustration that fits conveniently into my pocket. Every other electronic device I own does what it is supposed to. My PS3 doesnt decide to just stop working. My Wii is a tank. My car is a champ. My digital cameras are workhorses. What is so difficult about obtaining a functional smartphone?
I am A+ and Network+ certified. I know the basically means jack ****, but I'm not a complete idiot when it comes to electronics. I know how to take care of them, I know how to teoubleshoot. I built my first PC before my voice cracked. When I try to troubleshoot my phone I feel less productive than if I were to bang my head against a wall.

---

boneless9000 said:
I am A+ and Network+ certified. I know the basically means jack ****, but I'm not a complete idiot when it comes to electronics. I know how to take care of them, I know how to teoubleshoot. I built my first PC before my voice cracked. When I try to troubleshoot my phone I feel less productive than if I were to bang my head against a wall.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As an A+ certified tech myself, you should know there is nothing like wiping the hard drive and starting over fresh.
The previous poster walks you through to factory reset the device, which is what I would recommend as well.
When wiping select factory data reset and wipe the cache too.
This will erase the internal SD card contents. Transfer that stuff over to external SD if you need it.
Set it up. Give it a couple reboots.
Computers and phones are different beasts. As I have incorporated the latter more into my business as of recent.

---

Hey boneless, I'm sorry to have offended you. Remember, I don't know anything about your background or your technical skills. I don't know how high your expectations of electronics are. So please, no offence intended. I'm just passing on my observation in an open forum.
If you want to blow off steam, go ahead. And I hope some of the suggestions help.