The Samsung Galaxy A3 (2016) is finally getting a maintenance update in Europe, designed to fix the frustrating charging problem that prevented the battery level from going up past 87 percent. The Galaxy A3 from last year launched with Android 6.0 Marshmallow on board, and everything worked properly. When the handset got an update to Android 7.0 Nougat, however, the battery would no longer charge beyond 87 percent. Moreover, the battery bug apparently caused it to drain power more quickly than normal. Affected users tried all sorts of workarounds such as re-calibrating the battery, but the only successful solution so far was to roll back to Android Marshmallow.
Affected users flocked to Samsung’s forums to complain of the charging issue, but the company did not offer any timeline for when it would fix the issue. Nevertheless, a Samsung representative said the company was aware of the matter and it was a software issue, and Samsung was working to fix it as soon as possible. The company apparently moved pretty fast and it has come up with a solution. With the new maintenance update the Galaxy A3 battery problem should be a thing of the past. Some believed the issue stemmed from a bad line of code, but it’s unconfirmed. Either way, after downloading and installing the latest update, the Galaxy A3 (2016) should again charge properly up to 100 percent, and the patch should also fix the battery draining issue.
The update for the Samsung Galaxy A3 (2016) carries build number A310FXXU3CQI8 and, since it’s a maintenance update, it will not bring any new features or additional changes. It will, however, fix another problem for the “IMS Service Stopped” error affecting units in the Netherlands. This problem was also found on the Galaxy A5 (2016), which is now receiving a maintenance update with build number A510FXXU4CQI9 to fix it. To install either of these updates manually, Samsung Galaxy A3 (2016) or Galaxy A5 (2016) in Europe can access their smartphone’s Settings > Software Update > Download updates manually. Otherwise, users can just wait for the update notification when the over-the-air (OTA) update becomes available to download and install. Keep in mind that OTA updates are rolling out in stages, so not all devices will get the package at the same time.