daniell

Yesterday my phone would not turn on. Would not take a charge. I removed the battery and immediately put it back in. Surprisingly the phone came to life. I would like to know why this remedied the problem. Also, will the phone be dependable.
Samsung Galaxy J3 Star with removable battery.
For those that may ask. This is bike related because I won't ride without a phone.

Koyote

I don't know why removing and reinserting the battery resolved your problem. But if you are really worried about it, you should get a new phone. The Galaxy J3 Star is a five-year old design (which is old, for a cell phone) and it was a cheap model even when new.

daniell

What I really like about the phone is the easily replaceable battery.

Iride01 

Could be all sorts of reasons. But removing the battery and reinstalling it is one of the first things I do for anything that's having such issues. It's sort of like making certain something is plugged in.

If Samsung has a user forum for their phones, then that will be your best bet to find out if others have this issue. And going through Samsung's FAQ's for that phone might also yield some information.

I use to have the mentality that user replaceable batteries were a good thing. But none of the things I have with batteries that aren't user replaceable have given me any such issues to bolster my unfounded fears.

njkayaker

It's a computer and complicated. Computers can get into odd states where they aren't really off but look that way. Without power, they are really off.

I'd say probably. There won't be an definitive answer for you. It could be "one of those things" or it could be an indication of a problem. You won't know if unless it happens again.

streetsurfer

Possible the contacts were fouled and were cleaned when you re-inserted the battery.
A pencil eraser cleans contacts nicely.

I have to do this often to our remote for tv. Sometimes i just spin them (AAA) in place.

Tourist in MSN

I had an Android tablet that I occasionally had to stick a paper clip wire into a reset button hole. I would just keep using it.

You are lucky to have a phone with a user replaceable battery. They are getting quite rare.

daniell

I cleaned the contacts on both the battery and the phone with alcohol. I don't like the fact that new phones don't have easily replaced batteries. I can see no advantage to that other than making more money for the manufacturer.

njkayaker

One advantage (possibly) is better water resistance. The built-in battery can also be more compact (making the phone smaller for a given capacity or a larger capacity for a given size).

Apple (at least) doesn't charge that much to replace a battery (it's still more expensive than a user replaceable one).

Koyote

While I agree in principle, my iPhone battery can be replaced for $69, while I wait, at any Apple store. Given that I've had the phone for three years and the battery is still okay, that seems a rather trivial issue -- and a justifiable maintenance cost for a very sophisticated and capable device.

Tourist in MSN

When I go backpacking, I carry two spare phone batteries with me. Less weight and volume than carrying a powerbank and cable. My phone is about six years old, from back when phones with replaceable batteries were not that rare.

daniell

My phone continues to work.
My wife has the same phone. Today while we were walking, she lost hers. Somebody called, and I could see that they were calling with her phone. The fellow could not speak English. I tried numerous times to communicate with him. My wife found somebody that spoke Russian. The woman told her where we were, and he brought back the phone. I gladly gave him $20. He did not even want to take it, but I insisted.

Tourist in MSN

You were lucky, but I saw this on the news recently, this has to be the best recovered lost phone story I have seen in a long time.
https://www.wkow.com/news/i-was-in-s...22c437dfc.html

daniell

It is amazing that the phone was still working.