Questions about S4 lag

[Laine Holmes]

Been hearing a lot about the s4 having lag, and it's making me consider the HTC One more and more. Has turning off features helped lag for anyone? What about lowering animation settings? Also, would installing a custom launcher take away the problems that touchwiz causes and the amount of RAM it uses? Or is everyone going to have to wait for Samsung to send out an update to fix whatever stutter/lag is happening?

 

[brianphrack]

Been hearing a lot about the s4 having lag, and it's making me consider the HTC One more and more. Has turning off features helped lag for anyone? What about lowering animation settings? Also, would installing a custom launcher take away the problems that touchwiz causes and the amount of RAM it uses? Or is everyone going to have to wait for Samsung to send out an update to fix whatever stutter/lag is happening?

Honestly, I think these lag issues are overblown.

I've tested both devices a fair amount, and will continue to do so. Primarily I've found s-voice to be the main culprit, and even on this level the lag is negligible. However, more testing needs to be done.

 

[Laine Holmes]

Honestly, I think these lag issues are overblown.

I've tested both devices a fair amount, and will continue to do so. Primarily I've found s-voice to be the main culprit, and even on this level the lag is negligible. However, more testing needs to be done.

Would a launcher solve any of the stutter related problems that are caused by TouchWiz?

 

[brianphrack]

I can't comment further than my previous post. I've found lag to be negligible.

Perhaps others who have witnessed more severe lag can comment on launchers.

Edit:
Both are great devices, test them out for yourself. See what you like, I really don't think you can go wrong with either.

 

[estebancam]

Haven't tried any launchers. I will try NOVA tomorrow see if it works out. The lag shouldn't be a real dealbreaker as it is not extremely apparent. In fact, I wouldn't call it full on lag.... I would say it just stutters here and there. It doesn't feel like the device is actually slowing down, it just feels as if it is "jumpy," and not smooth. Many people have said that lowering the animation fixes it but I have had no such luck. I did notice that turning off air view did help quite a bit though. Still stuttery however.

Either way, I shouldn't have to do any of those things. But really, not a dealbreaker. Device is still awesome.

 

[brianphrack]

Haven't tried any launchers. I will try NOVA tomorrow see if it works out. The lag shouldn't be a real dealbreaker as it is not extremely apparent. In fact, I wouldn't call it full on lag.... I would say it just stutters here and there. It doesn't feel like the device is actually slowing down, it just feels as if it is "jumpy," and not smooth. Many people have said that lowering the animation fixes it but I have had no such luck. I did notice that turning off air view did help quite a bit though. Still stuttery however.

Either way, I shouldn't have to do any of those things. But really, not a dealbreaker. Device is still awesome.

Lowering the animation to .5 or 0 hasn't done anything in my tests either, and honestly donesn't make sense to me. Animation does not appear to be the problem.

I've only seen a delay on home button presses. And disabling s-voice seems to fix that.

Yet, others have reported other lag/stutters, of which I have not encountered, and thus cannot comment on.

 

[aj_84]

I got my S4 yesterday - unlocked and unbranded so no rubbish on there. I did indeed notice similar lag/stutter to the S3. Once I got it all set-up and got my apps on, it continued and was more obvious BUT
I'm almost 99% convinced it's the launcher/touchwiz.

On the S3, I decided to download Nova (paid) to see if that fixed it and it did. I don't really want to install it on the S4 as I'm not happy with Nova (no labels on dock, it's not importing my structure from touchwiz which I spend ages doing etc) so I am most likely going to just stick with it.
Still testing a few other launchers on the S3 before I blitz it so if I do find one I'm happy with, I will get it onthe S4 and test the lag.

 

[Raptor007]

If you load another launcher on the S4 isn't TW still running in the background and eating up resources, I know its not the launcher, but its still taking up resources. It will be interesting to see what several users experience with launchers so we can get a baseline.

 

[americasteam]

If you use Nova and change the transition animations to ICS or slide within Nova settings the stutters are gone when opening and closing apps.

If using TW, disabling HW overlays and force GPU rendering in developer settings helps the overall smoothness.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Eric Kane]

If you use Nova and change the transition animations to ICS or slide within Nova settings the stutters are gone when opening and closing apps.

If using TW, disabling HW overlays and force GPU rendering in developer settings helps the overall smoothness.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

Only problem with that is the effect it can have on the battery. I know that was something they pushed in ICS when it first came out, but I'm not aware of any changes with 4.2.2 as it pertains to the GPU rendering. I was going to test it under a full day's use, but I think they'll be fixing this issue within the next week or two anyways. May have already started today with the firmware update in the UK.

 

[HOLLYWOODANT215]

If you use Nova and change the transition animations to ICS or slide within Nova settings the stutters are gone when opening and closing apps.

If using TW, disabling HW overlays and force GPU rendering in developer settings helps the overall smoothness.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

This has worked

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Android Central Forums

 

[americasteam]

Only problem with that is the effect it can have on the battery. I know that was something they pushed in ICS when it first came out, but I'm not aware of any changes with 4.2.2 as it pertains to the GPU rendering. I was going to test it under a full day's use, but I think they'll be fixing this issue within the next week or two anyways. May have already started today with the firmware update in the UK.

I've noticed no diference in battery life. Anyway, I would take a slight hit on battery for a smoother experience.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

 

[LoganK]

If you load another launcher on the S4 isn't TW still running in the background and eating up resources, I know its not the launcher, but its still taking up resources. It will be interesting to see what several users experience with launchers so we can get a baseline.

On the S III, at least, installing another launcher means that TouchWiz never starts up. It isn't running, and it isn't taking up resources.

(Unless you include other aspects of the TouchWiz experience, like S Voice and the alarm clock, but I really like their alarm clock, anyway.)

 

[Eric Kane]

I've noticed no diference in battery life. Anyway, I would take a slight hit on battery for a smoother experience.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

Tried it since this afternoon. No issues and battery is fine. I tried just GPU rendering the other day with minimal results. Doing both makes quite the difference.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4

 

[trandz]

I turned the transitions and animation developer options down to 1.0x instead of 1.5. Im really not experiencing any of this lag people are going on about.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Android Central Forums

 

[society187]

here is a video showing how to fix the lag it helped me out i was ready to take the phone back! Galaxy S4 Lag Fix Makes it 10 Times Faster! - YouTube

 

[XavierMatt]

Been hearing a lot about the s4 having lag, and it's making me consider the HTC One more and more. Has turning off features helped lag for anyone? What about lowering animation settings? Also, would installing a custom launcher take away the problems that touchwiz causes and the amount of RAM it uses? Or is everyone going to have to wait for Samsung to send out an update to fix whatever stutter/lag is happening?

David Pierce from the Verge explains it perfectly in his review. The gallery even crashed on camera while they were live. Samsung has to send out an update which will either make it worse.... Do nothing... Or actually fix it.

Sent from my HTC ONE

 

[apollooff320]

Galagxy 4 should be the name of this phone

 

[Eric Kane]

David Pierce from the Verge explains it perfectly in his review. The gallery even crashed on camera while they were live. Samsung has to send out an update which will either make it worse.... Do nothing... Or actually fix it.

Sent from my HTC ONE

David Pierce can't explain anything perfectly. That was an abysmal review. No one who hated the design that much should have been allowed to review the phone. The bias was palpable.

As far as the stutter on the S4 goes, its been discussed ad nauseum. Its the result of not optimizing the software as it relates to 4.2.2. Easily fixed via update.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4

 

[xlDeMoNiClx]

Galagxy 4 should be the name of this phone

Bad enough you posted here just to bash the S4 but when the insult is that pathetic....you definitely shouldn't have bothered.