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Bug In Samsung S3 Grabs Too Many Images, Ups Data Use
First time accepted submitter Emmanuel Cecchet writes "Researchers of the BenchLab project at UMass Amherst have discovered a bug in the browser of the Samsung S3. If you browse a Web page that has multiple versions of the same image (for mobile, tablet, desktop, etc...) like most Wikipedia pages for example, instead of downloading one image at the right resolution, the phone will download all versions of it. A page that should be less than 100K becomes multiple MB! It looks like a bug in the implementation of the srcset HTML tag, but all the details are in the paper to be presented at the IWQoS conference next week. So far Samsung didn't acknowledge the problem though it seems to affect all S3 phones. You'd better have an unlimited data plan if you browse Wikipedia on an S3!"
If this was really a problem it would have been noticed a long time ago.
Fortunately, nobody uses the stock browser on the S3.
The Samsung S3 browser bug
======================
When comparing our results on the different devices and networks for our Wikipedia trace, we noticed significantly higher latencies for our Samsung S3 smartphone on both Wifi and 3G. We first looked at the number of HTTP requests per page and the size of the pages down loaded from the server. Our findings are illustrated on Fig. 13. The number of HTTP requests is always much higher for the Samsung S3 and the page sizes are much bigger. Note that the page size for Samsung S3 on 3G is sometimes very small as we only account for successfully transferred bytes and not expected object sizes. On a successful page load, the page sizes should be the same on both networks. Fig. 14 gives an insight into the cause of the problem. By
looking at the recorded HTML page source, we saw that Wikipedia pages use srcset HTML tags that indicate a list of images to pick from depending on the resolution and magnification needed by the device. It turns out that the S3 browser has a bug and systematically downloads all images in a srcset instead of picking only the one it needs (left most red circles on Fig. 14 show 3 different versions of the same image being downloaded). This can result in a massive amount of extra data download.
The Wikipedia page dedicated to the Internet Explorer browser that typically requires 600KB of data download jumped to 2.1MB on the S3. This bug significantly affects the Wikipedia performance on 3G were these massive number of requests for image downloads overwhelmed the network and ended up timing out rendering an incomplete page. This can be seen on Fig. 14 where a large number of requests are blocked for very long amount of time and many of them fail with a ‘NO RESPONSE’ HTTP error code. Note that we were able to reproduce these results with the latest Android 4.2.2 for the S3 GT-I9300(international version of the phone). The issue was also reproduced with an S3 SGH-I747 which is the AT&T US version of the phone. We believe that this problem affects all S3 versions and have contacted Samsung to report the issue.Having a database with results from other devices helped us to quickly locate the origin of the problem and detect this previously undiscovered bug. Based on this experience, a possible direction for future work is to design tools that automatically analyze and report anomalies by comparing
experience reports between devices/networks for the same trace.
So... not that big of a deal.
All pages go through their browser for reformatting to your device's screen dimensions and compression. There's also an option to disable loading of images, which I use most of the time. The only downside is all your web activity is seen by their servers, so I only use the Opera for my unimportant stuff.
I use Chrome, and occasionally Opera Mini when I'm roaming. Most people I know don't use the stock browser.
Pretty astounding given how long the S3 has been out. I guess people don't care enough about their data usage to investigate their data.
My girlfriend once discovered that a gas station charged her card 0.03 when she didn't pump any gas (I think she got a call and had to go before actually pumping). I imagine this S3 browser issue is comparable to the gas station incident.
Why does it seem when major problems like this arise companies are quick to dismiss/deny/ignore whatever as the first response?
You can dance if you want to.
If this was really a problem it would have been noticed a long time ago.
The summery overstates what is going on, it implies that using a surfing on a S3 Phone will cause you to burn several times the magnitude of bandwidth it should, its subterfuge.
Its simply a bug in the stock web browser that does not break page views. that systematically downloads all images in a srcset instead of picking only the one it needs. An example "" if its not used...it does not happen.
Why is it not being discovered is that it does not make enough of an impact in common usage. I suspect additionally if your have a carrier like mine they simply serve a compressed version of the original image anyway, or S3 users are now using like me Chrome. Popular alternatives like the offer the same functionality.
The bottom line is Browser have bugs. That is not news, this is neither a critical, or even as stated a bandwidth hog.
Why does it seem when major problems like this arise companies are quick to dismiss/deny/ignore whatever as the first response?
I am not sure of your personal beef, but from the article which identifies a minor bug "have contacted Samsung to report the issue." Where is Samsung dismissing or denying...or ignoring the problem.
That's right! This is Linux. Not that Apples or Microsoft shit. Nothing ever goes wrong in Linuxland. Any kind of "error" you have with Linux is because you're too inept to use a computing device. Any real user would have rooted this phone and installed CustomModXYZ 10.43222.8a.
...Ironically This is nothing to do with Linux(The Kernel) this is a *bug* in the stock browser, you can ignore it and simply use Opera or Chrome on Android, Would the same true for Apples or Windows Shit(sic).
And what the heck is this srcset "density" attribute relative too? The spec shows an example "2x". Two times what? A stupid attribute if I've ever seen one...
Utterly appropriate captcha: REDESIGN
The vast majority of people use the stock browser, and defaults in general. Not everyone is a geek.
http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/04/03/according-to-net-applications-stock-android-browser-usage-is-still-way-out-in-front-of-chrome/
It does not change your point of your comment but netmarketshare http://marketshare.hitslink.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=0&qpcustomd=1 where the data comes from, has something wrong with the way records data, especially with mobile usage. Its often quoted on Apple sites due to its heavy bias towards Apple(that does not reflect real world use). They have heavily massage figures, and they do not match those of independent larger sources. Here is statcounter http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_browser-ww-monthly-201205-201305 (Again it does not dispute your point but the source data)
Instead of shelling out more money for an unlimited plan, you could just use a different browser from the stock one.
-Schrödinger's mannequin.
The comments so far have made this out to not be such a big deal, people should just use other browsers. I see it differently. The majority of smartphone users now aren't just the tech savy, it is now mostly ordinary users too. When considering 500MB is the usual data cap this is a problem, with the amount of data slurped up by the likes of Facebook, this must push useage up pretty high if loading a wikipedia page is taking over 2MB of data. Once your over your cap, the costs sky rocket. This is before you even thinking about the difference in loading time of 3G from the need to pull 10 times as much data.
Unfortunately with the situation we have on android, with handset developers and carriers both being reluctant to push updates, don't expect this to be fixed any time soon.
*throws it on the ground and stomps it to bits* I can't believe I've liked this piece of junk for almost a year. I can't believe they were just randomly wasting bandwidth for that. Let us resolve to form the Bit Savers... an organization dedicated to saving helpless bits wherever than can be found...
You guys always talk as if this is a bug
No, it's a feature !!!
It's a feature to the telcos, so that they can charge their customer more !!
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
ya i agree very few sites use this html feature
This message is definitely not approved by RMS. Just sayin'...
Are there still mobile phone plans with a data limit?
it's a feature. he.
This is a problem for Apple, not Samsung. Really. Even if Samsung made the phone, the Samsung Galaxy S3 and Samsung S4 have a popularity which beats anything currently made by Apple.
Why is it a problem for Apple even if Samsung made the phone? Because Galaxy S3 is already an oldish model and Galaxy S4 doesn't have it, and the error can be fixed via an update if it eventually will be seen as a serious nuisance.
Apple has many issues. Even the minor bugs on their main phone competitor Samsung may set the Apple crowds' pubic hair on fire.
All Microsoft phones are still missing in action at the time of writing.
I recently parted ways with employment supporting smart phones. Oh so very many months ago, I started to receive calls on an increasing basis from people freaking out over way more data usage on their bill than they insisted they were actually using. I would go back over their history and see a point where data usage suddenly dropped of throughout the rest of their history. It was always after an upgrade... to an s3. I chalked it up to people digging their slick new s3 more than they realized. After all, the systems are infallible at measuring these things... Right? In hindsight, they are only as infallible so far as the phone isn't pulling a stunt like this.
If this story becomes well known enough, I can see people calling in to their carriers by the droves seeking adjustments and credits over this, regardless of wether or not they even used their phone in such a way as to be affected.
I think this story might be come a bigger issue over the next week. Glad I'm not doing customer service for a carrier.
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All pages go through their browser for reformatting to your device's screen dimensions and compression.
So you don't download the Mini but the Mobile version
Opera Mobile is a complete web browser installed on your mobile phone — all the code rendering and JavaScript
interaction happens on your mobile. This is in contrast to Opera Mini, where the rendering happens on the server
and a compressed version is then sent to the handset.
http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/opera-mobile-10-beta-developers-introduction/
Opera is my Browser of choice and the best ever I feel, at least up to version 12.14, (desktop)
I also don't do anything of importance with my cell phone or tablet, but for a different reason. It's possible those could easily be lost or stolen.
Here comes the Samsung Defence League. Watch as they somehow try to blame this on Apple.