For all the time Samsung has taken to get the Android 8.0 Oreo update for its devices out the door, it's rather unfortunate that it hasn't been an entirely smooth ride. The Galaxy S8's Oreo update was halted because of a random reboot issue encountered by some users, and the same problem was later discovered in the Oreo update for the Galaxy S7. While Samsung has since resumed the updates for both its 2016 and 2017 Galaxy S flagships, it turns out random reboots and bootloops might also be affecting Oreo on the Galaxy A3 (2017).
Public Wi-Fi networks to blame for the random reboots?
GalaxyClub has heard from a few users that their Galaxy A3 (2017) either got stuck in a bootloop right after the update or started restarting on its own. Pretty much what Galaxy S7 and S7 edge users faced after upgrading to Oreo, indicating a serious underlying problem in Samsung's generic code for the latest version of Android.
That's apparently just the bootloops, though. Some users on the Samsung Community forums say the reboots happen when connected to some Wi-Fi networks, such as those supplied by the eduroam international roaming service for students in European universities. At least one user says the phone works fine on his or her home Wi-Fi network, so public Wi-Fi networks like eduroam may to be to blame for the reboots.
But while one can avoid connecting to such Wi-Fi networks, those who have their phone stuck on a bootloop after installing Oreo aren't so lucky. Samsung had suggested Galaxy S7 owners to take their device to a local support center to get it fixed without losing all data, but there's no guarantee the data will remain intact.
Those who cannot hop down to a support center can attempt to fix the device through recovery, which also requires a data wipe. To make it worse, the company hasn't acknowledged the issue yet, although one of the forum moderators has asked a user for more details so we should hear something soon.
Refrain from installing the update if you haven't already
In the meantime, you should refrain from installing the update if you haven't already, until there's an official all-clear from Samsung. The fixed update would be different from the one currently going out, but since there is no confirmation yet on whether the rollout has stopped, it's best to steer clear if you have a Galaxy A3 (2017).
Have you run into issues on Oreo on your A3 (2017)? Let us know in the comments!
