[Linebarrel86]

As the owner of a GN, I'm extremely happy to see how smooth the OS runs on my device. Yet...

I'm still not satisfied. As snappy as the Nexus is compared to other STOCK devices, it's still not as smooth as it should be.

Having owned a Apple device, I'm now realizing how bad the lag has been on other Android devices.

When I read comments on other sites about how Android still isn't as smooth as iOS, I get upset. On these sites, Android enthusiast always claim that their device isn't plagued by these so called laggy problems. But how can that be true?

I've handled a lot of different Android device over the past couple of years,, and I've yet to see even one that doesn't lag. Both phone and tablets.

IMHO, if you claim that your device doesn't experience some form of lag, your lying to yourself. Granted, if you root your device you can overcome this problem very easily. But what about the average users?

Anytime I hear a complaint from a friend, it's usually regarding why the screens hang when swiping. Small problem, right? Wrong!!!

Now don't get it twisted. I've seen my iPad lag. But no where near the degree as I've seen on some Android phones both low spec and high spec, or on flagship devices like the Xoom or Galaxy Tab 10.1.

This is unacceptable. Plain and simple. I shouldn't have to root and mod to get what should be a stock experience.

Of course, you could reason that iOS is so simplistic, that of course is easy to render the graphics quickly.

And you would be right. I agree whole heartedly.

But look at the flip side. As I mentioned earlier, custom ROMS more or less eliminate these issues right? So why aren't these techniques used to begin with to give a smooth experience?

I know I'm coming off as being an Apple lover that's simply trolling. But that isn't it at all.

Truly, I just want the best. And in my opinion, Google can actually deliver just that.

As a community, we blame everyone but the real organization at fault. Google.

Google shouldn't be allowing these OEMs to ship out laggy devices, no matter the price. Just because something's affordable doesn't mean it has to be riddled with flaws. Why can a iPhone 4 with an under locked 1GHz CPU outperform a dual core device when pushing pixels across the home screen, or pinch to zoom with out barely a hiccup?

I know some might disagree. But those of you who can be objective will see the truth in my thoughts. Having captured the smartphone market, it's time to focus on the small things. Optimizing performance. And not just on the Nexus brand. Ensuring quality control across all OEMs.

Alas. I don't see this happening. Google is still just a search company at its core. They spend more time trying to figure out how to push more unwanted ads to us than improving the things that are most important to us end users.

Oh well.....

Who out there feels the same???

[Hmong_Xiong]

I do, but I hate iPhones and iTunes and no file exploring and things like that

Sent from my DROID2 using Tapatalk 2 Beta-4

[hyperdude]

I'm not going to go off into a long rant about why it is the way it is, but the simple answer is that iOS and Android are designed differently. Main difference that you see is prioritization of the UI thread (or so it's been claimed). iOS is designed to care more about moving the UI around first and do other processing second - Android isn't.

So it's not the devices that are pushed out that cause lag - it's the OS. Certain things can be do to reduce lagginess (faster processor, more powerful GPU, etc.) but unless Android is rebuilt from the ground up to change it, it's something we have to live with.

[jerrod6]

So what is different in the custom ROMs? Why is the lag gone but yet it is there in stock? What does Google need to do in stock to prevent lag?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

[NoYankees44]

I agree, but with what you are calling for(in terms of google having high standards for manufactures) would mean destroying a lot of what makes android great. The more control Google puts, the less choise and competition there is, and manufactures will move on to something else. Google would then have to become like Apple and only allow the os on their own devises or scrap android. I'm not say this is what would happen if it is done right, but this is why Google has not pushed the issue more.

Also, I was under the delusion that ios was this lag free perfect smooth os for a long time. Recently, I have used several ios devises extensively(main one being a 4s) and they definitely lag. Quite a bit actually. Not as much as android obviously, but saying that they are lag free is a lie. Regular animations are even bad if you try to zoom around one quickly. The differences between the two are not as great as you make it sound.

[Linebarrel86]

Trust me, I know iOS lags. On my iPad, the main lag is swiping from the main home screen to the search page. It lags the first time I swipe every time I turn it on. After that first time it stops though. It's no where near perfect.

But as you said, it's still a big enough difference, and for that I thought I should get it off my chest.

As far as Google changing things up some, I'm all for it. Google is known for not standing still. They don't stop for OS updates to get to other phones. They're all about moving forward. Creating 'legacy'. It's whatever to me.

My thing is that I want Google to take more pride in their software. It's great. But adding features without making sure of optimization from their OEMs is a bit careless. And really, that's a failing on their part.

Having a great OS to give away so that anyone can enjoy it is awesome. Like you said, it's what makes Android great. But the result is having people build low quality devices that can't let the OS shine.

Honestly, the average people who buy Android phones are buying cheap ones, or those that are flagship devices from the previous year.

We all know better than to buy those. Average Joe and Jane don't.

[tntdroid]

My wife's stock iPhone 4 lags and locks up just as much as any phone I owned. I just tell her reboot the phone and its better for a bit.

[pauliphone5]

As the owner of a GN, I'm extremely happy to see how smooth the OS runs on my device. Yet...

I'm still not satisfied. As snappy as the Nexus is compared to other STOCK devices, it's still not as smooth as it should be.

Having owned a Apple device, I'm now realizing how bad the lag has been on other Android devices.

When I read comments on other sites about how Android still isn't as smooth as iOS, I get upset. On these sites, Android enthusiast always claim that their device isn't plagued by these so called laggy problems. But how can that be true?

I've handled a lot of different Android device over the past couple of years,, and I've yet to see even one that doesn't lag. Both phone and tablets.

IMHO, if you claim that your device doesn't experience some form of lag, your lying to yourself. Granted, if you root your device you can overcome this problem very easily. But what about the average users?

Anytime I hear a complaint from a friend, it's usually regarding why the screens hang when swiping. Small problem, right? Wrong!!!

Now don't get it twisted. I've seen my iPad lag. But no where near the degree as I've seen on some Android phones both low spec and high spec, or on flagship devices like the Xoom or Galaxy Tab 10.1.

This is unacceptable. Plain and simple. I shouldn't have to root and mod to get what should be a stock experience.

Of course, you could reason that iOS is so simplistic, that of course is easy to render the graphics quickly.

And you would be right. I agree whole heartedly.

But look at the flip side. As I mentioned earlier, custom ROMS more or less eliminate these issues right? So why aren't these techniques used to begin with to give a smooth experience?

I know I'm coming off as being an Apple lover that's simply trolling. But that isn't it at all.

Truly, I just want the best. And in my opinion, Google can actually deliver just that.

As a community, we blame everyone but the real organization at fault. Google.

Google shouldn't be allowing these OEMs to ship out laggy devices, no matter the price. Just because something's affordable doesn't mean it has to be riddled with flaws. Why can a iPhone 4 with an under locked 1GHz CPU outperform a dual core device when pushing pixels across the home screen, or pinch to zoom with out barely a hiccup?

I know some might disagree. But those of you who can be objective will see the truth in my thoughts. Having captured the smartphone market, it's time to focus on the small things. Optimizing performance. And not just on the Nexus brand. Ensuring quality control across all OEMs.

Alas. I don't see this happening. Google is still just a search company at its core. They spend more time trying to figure out how to push more unwanted ads to us than improving the things that are most important to us end users.

Oh well.....

Who out there feels the same???

All computerized devices at some point are going to lag, especially as more of the devices are used and needed by a device.

One of the pluses to an Android device, that of multi tasking is also it's downfall because that multi tasking consumes resources and battery life.

That is probably one of the reasons Apple has limited and/or prevented the iPhone and iPad from being able to multi-task. They are able to minimize and prevent lag. The sad part of it being even their devices can and do experience lag. My first generation iPad did and so does my "New" iPad.

Each individual user needs to weigh where their personal preferences lie. For me, the Android OS still offers a better user environment when it comes to smartphones. The tablet market not so much. I had hoped that the Motorola Xoom would be a viable replacement to my original iPad. At the time it was the only dual core tablet on the market. I was also lead to believe it would be upgraded to 4G LTE within a couple of months of its release. I also tried out the Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G LTE tablet. None of them at least in my opinion are able to match the performance of Apples iPad.

Sent from one of the following: Galaxy Nexus, Bionic or Xoom using Tapatalk.

[trigun123478]

Read that it's pretty good explanation of why android has lag. From what that says android would have to be rebuilt from scratch to be as smooth as ios. I agree with everything you said though, the iphone/ipad destroys android in smoothness. It is why I am getting a ipad over a android tablet. I'm even thinking about getting a iphone if they actually make it bigger.

[taylorz_412]

Read that it's pretty good explanation of why android has lag. From what that says android would have to be rebuilt from scratch to be as smooth as ios. I agree with everything you said though, the iphone/ipad destroys android in smoothness. It is why I am getting a ipad over a android tablet. I'm even thinking about getting a iphone if they actually make it bigger.

Don't count on them going any bigger than 4 inch most likely won't happen which saddens me because if the next IPhone doesn't have a bigger screen I'm going to be back to android



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Hmong_Xiong]

Trust me, I know iOS lags. On my iPad, the main lag is swiping from the main home screen to the search page. It lags the first time I swipe every time I turn it on.

It happens on my sister's iPod too, also when swiping the notification center down too

Sent from my DROID2 using Tapatalk 2 Beta-4

[craigrn16]

I have a 3rd gen iPod touch and have also had iPhone 4. TRust me iOS lags especially since iOS 5. They also have force closes just like Android. Don't let that apple talk fool you.

[Linebarrel86]

Great read. Thanks.

[pauliphone5]

Read that it's pretty good explanation of why android has lag. From what that says android would have to be rebuilt from scratch to be as smooth as ios. I agree with everything you said though, the iphone/ipad destroys android in smoothness. It is why I am getting a ipad over a android tablet. I'm even thinking about getting a iphone if they actually make it bigger.

If the iphone went with a larger screen that is comparable to what some of the Android devices have, I'd be there. One big thing that I have noticed for my parents who both use iphones is the frequency for updates and patches. It doesn't seem like Apple has to play the game with the carriers that Motorola, Samsung, Google and etc. have to play in order to push the updates out OTA.

[Mellimel22]

Idgaf what apple does I will NEVER buy an iPhone

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

[moin1998]

If you jailbreak, you can go through the file system.


Also, it is pretty bad for some devices, but because Apple is able optimize the OS for the small range of devices that they use, it can be a lot faster. Android lag isn't that bad as said, but iOS suffers from egual lag when not using their flagship device.

Sent from my cm_tenderloin using Tapatalk

[Kevin O'Quinn]

Read that it's pretty good explanation of why android has lag. From what that says android would have to be rebuilt from scratch to be as smooth as ios. I agree with everything you said though, the iphone/ipad destroys android in smoothness. It is why I am getting a ipad over a android tablet. I'm even thinking about getting a iphone if they actually make it bigger.

I read that back when it was posted, but I didn't see the edit until just now. Really good information. Explains why an overclocked single core CPU isn't completely smoked by the new dual-core devices.

[greydarrah]

I don't notice any lag. Maybe it's because I'm always running a custom ROM (why buy this phone if you're not going to root and ROM it?), maybe I don't notice it because I absolutely love this device (enjoying all the positive aspects instead of focusing on whatever negatives I can find). But if it bothers you, get something else. There are a solid half dozen great devices (including the iphone) on any carrier out there.

[jroc]

I dont have a G Nex, I had one. I have a Droid 1, Droid X, Rezound and RAZR.

You wanna see lag? Get a Droid 1 with 2.0.1 and compare it to any of the other phones I mentioned....

Android has come along nicely as far as lag IMO, thanks to the hardware and software. I know 2 ppl with iPhones, and both dont like it. They could care less about how lag free it is. Funny thing is they both came from Android devices and it was their first time with an iPhone, one has the 4 the other the 4S.

I used the iPhone 4 for an extended time, have to help one person get used to it so I have to read up on it and use it. I will say I see why it was/is a fav device for many ppl before and after Android launched. To me...if you want a very lag free device...get a WP7. That said....lag is at the bottom of my wants n needs. That myth about how easy the iPhone is to use...coming from the old Win Mo and Android...I was getting stuck trying to use that one button setup...and finding things in Settings ...I had to go online...lol. Android was alot easier for me to use coming from the old Win Mo. Like in the PC world what you are more comfortable with will determine how easy or hard it is to use. I agree, I have seen it lag and force close...it just didn't give an error message.

At the same time...I still use my Droid 1 thats on 2.0.1 (had to sbf back stuck in boot loop and no recovery would load, 2.0.1 is all I had) and I'm desperately trying to get it on the latest OS version because of the lag. Compare these recent Android phones to Android phones from 2008 if you wanna compare lag. iOS and WP7 are just better in that dept based on how they do things. WP7 phones all run a Snapdragon chip so far....like all versions of iPhones run a specific chip. They must have done that for a reason.

Whatever that reason is....I want more from my phone than to be the most lag free device on the market. Android fits me more....flaws n all.

[dahlheim]

....I want more from my phone than to be the most lag free device on the market. Android fits me more....flaws n all.

+1

[turdbogls]

I really dont see any difference in "smoothness" between using a custom ROM or stock ROM personally (unless coming from say, motoblur to stock android)

on anything before 2.3 i would say the OS was "laggy" scrolling was not smooth at all.

however, after using ICS, the overall smoothness of the OS has jumped 10 fold. while i think it is still behind iOS, it is MUCH better, and it really doesn't bother me at all.

[sniffs]

The issue is with the main UI thread on both devices. On IOS it's given realtime priority. This is why when you're scrolling on an iOS device, everything else stops, updating graphics, icons don't load, text doesn't get clear until you lift your fingers.

In Android, it's not given realtime priority, so as you scroll, things update, causing brief hiccups as graphics are cached to ram/memory/sd card. I read an interesting article from a Google dev that left to Microsoft and he explained this is the exact reason for the "laggy" appearance.

He basically said that the main UI thread on Android would have to be completely re-written for it to be iOS smooth which he believes isn't something Google is going to do.

[dmmarck]

I really dont see any difference in "smoothness" between using a custom ROM or stock ROM personally (unless coming from say, motoblur to stock android)

on anything before 2.3 i would say the OS was "laggy" scrolling was not smooth at all.

however, after using ICS, the overall smoothness of the OS has jumped 10 fold. while i think it is still behind iOS, it is MUCH better, and it really doesn't bother me at all.

Having had the unfortunate pleasure of running through 4 different devices over the past month (don't ask), I've had the unfortunate pleasure of rooting, unlocking, then unrooting and relocking each device (except the latest, knock on wood).

My observations:

Stock 4.0.2 is quick, but slower than some roms, notably Crossbreed and CM9. Now, both of those roms have their downsides; when using different launchers, the more options enabled usually equates to different downsides, like more lag when switching homescreens or pulling out the app tray with gestures.

That being said, there's an absolutely notable difference when flashing from 4.0.2 to a complete 4.0.4 "rom" like Crossbreed/Patient Zero. Not only are the radios "quicker," but it's optimized so precisely that even minor things like opening settings occurs quicker and with little hesitation. Perhaps it's a placebo effect, but the fact that I've undoubtedly unlocked and relocked (etc., etc.) more devices in the past month than I'd ever care to again shows the same results over a decent sample size over a variety of "different" GN devices.

I would say that CM9 is a bit slower, but only in certain parts. The only rom that I felt was comparable to the stock rom in terms of speed (meaning, it wasn't faster) would be BAMF.

The issue is with the main UI thread on both devices. On IOS it's given realtime priority. This is why when you're scrolling on an iOS device, everything else stops, updating graphics, icons don't load, text doesn't get clear until you lift your fingers.

In Android, it's not given realtime priority, so as you scroll, things update, causing brief hiccups as graphics are cached to ram/memory/sd card. I read an interesting article from a Google dev that left to Microsoft and he explained this is the exact reason for the "laggy" appearance.

He basically said that the main UI thread on Android would have to be completely re-written for it to be iOS smooth which he believes isn't something Google is going to do.

Precisely.

[elvisgp]

that Google employe was actually proven wrong. It was confirmed by various iOS and android developers that android does not have to be completely rewritten to be as smooth as iOS.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

[trigun123478]

Look as far as Ios and android, it's not the point that ios never lags because it does sometimes. The point is it's moving at a faster frame rate than android is. For example on your ipad or Iphone if you have one, go to the picture gallery click an album then pinch to zoom. Now do the same on the galaxy nexus or the quad core asus prime, you will see that it is not as smooth as ios. The frames are actually slower. Same with scrolling, just higher fps. So something is messed up with the way android renders, for some reason they can't get it to render at higher fps even with more power than ios. I feel android does need to be rebuilt from the ground up. I mean If a quad core tablet can't even beat a duel core ipad something is wrong.