Is the Galaxy Note 4 a laggy phone?

[michail71]

I've used iPhones and Windows phones for many years and I've been with the Note 4 now for about 8 months.

So far I've been feeling rather frustrated with the laggy response and crashes this phone seems to have. It is by far the most frustrating phone I have owned. I used to think the term lagdroid was just a joke.

I've tried resetting the phone, I frequently clear out the app cache and have disabled animations. I wanted to try rooting the phone and loading a generic ROM but it seems from the research I've done that it isn't possible with the AT&T version.

Other people keep claiming that I should stay away from Samsung and get a Nexus. Is there anything I can try or is this just to be expected with this model or android in general?

 

[sspoulsen]

Absolutely not.

I have the SM-N910F (not rooted) running 5.1.1 using Nova Launcher Prime.

Also disabled a lot of stuff I don't use with Package Disabler Pro for Samsung phones.

Using Smart Booster Pro to optimize memory and delete cache and junk.

If I objectively look at my friends un-optimized (but newer/more expensive Android phones) the Note4 is at least as lag-free.

Never had any problems with the phone. Great buy.

 

[AXEL314]

Absolutely not.

I have the SM-N910F (not rooted) running 5.1.1 using Nova Launcher Prime.

Also disabled a lot of stuff I don't use with Package Disabler Pro for Samsung phones.

Using Smart Booster Pro to optimize memory and delete cache and junk.

If I objectively look at my friends un-optimized (but newer/more expensive Android phones) the Note4 is at least as lag-free.

Never had any problems with the phone. Great buy.

Agree with this post with exception of using Smart Booster Pro - do yourself a favor and uninstall that. The Android OS is more than capable of handling its ram and cache, it's for the best.

Note 4 910C 6.0.1 | Good Lock UI | Android Central App

 

[RadeonHD]

I've had a mostly lag free experience.
Marshmallow is well optimized, which is shocking.

My iPhone 6 on ios 9 has more stutters and jitters than the Note 4 on 6.0.1.

The music app alone on the iPhone is just a horrible experience when scrolling. I don't have that lag on the Note.


There are a few stutters here and there, but that's to be expected. I'm very happy with the performance. The term "Lagdroid" is so circa 2011.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[natehoy]

My Moto X 2014 certainly "feels" smoother than my Note 4, but by and large it's not any delay that interferes with my productivity. It's just that occasional extra quarter second to load that app, or whatnot. And of course switching from the camera to the gallery takes bloody ages (well, almost ten seconds, but it FEELS like an eternity) - not something I do all the time, though, so whatever.

The Note 4 makes up for that sorta lag-ish feeling by offering me tons and tons of useful features, like for example swapping out for a fresh battery while out and about instead of being tethered to a stupid USB battery connected to my delicate USB port, IR Blaster, SD memory expansion, etc etc.

Plus my Moto X 2014 was darned near useless in battery life after 4-6 months of hard use (I am not kind to the batteries on my phone - I play Ingress). My Note 4? Yeah, the original battery is long since gone - even trying to load-swap it with a second one couldn't keep it alive for a year. I'm on my second pair of batteries now.

The occasional minor stutter doesn't bother me nearly as much as "BATTERY LOW" when there ain't a charger in sight.

 

[michail71]

Absolutely not.

I have the SM-N910F (not rooted) running 5.1.1 using Nova Launcher Prime.

Also disabled a lot of stuff I don't use with Package Disabler Pro for Samsung phones.

Using Smart Booster Pro to optimize memory and delete cache and junk.

If I objectively look at my friends un-optimized (but newer/more expensive Android phones) the Note4 is at least as lag-free.

Never had any problems with the phone. Great buy.

Thanks, I will take a look at some of those things. I do run Arrow launcher but that didn't seem to make anything worse.

 

[sspoulsen]

In my experience all my Android devices (Note 4 and Note Pro 12.2) runs full speed when the amount of free memory >1GB

Smart Booster helps a lot of to achieve that.

I have a shortcut which when I swipe up (Nova feature) run Smart Boosters memory optimize (releases so memory>1GB)

 

[zhris]

In my experience all my Android devices (Note 4 and Note Pro 12.2) runs full speed when the amount of free memory >1GB

Smart Booster helps a lot of to achieve that.

I have a shortcut which when I swipe up (Nova feature) run Smart Boosters memory optimize (releases so memory>1GB)

This is an older article, but it's still relevant.

RAM: What it is, how it's used, and why you shouldn't care

 

[sspoulsen]

For my use (allround use) it works excellent (better than having Android handle it alone). Launcher run smooth and apps always load fast.

Of course I have a lot added to Smart Boosters whitelist. And I only trigger memory optimize when swiping the shortcut.

 

[michail71]

Here is one problem that drive me crazy although it isn't exactly lag. When I open google now and try to search using the keyboard it often overwrites my first couple of keystrokes or puts the cursor back at the beginning and scrambles my input.

I turned off all the phone search options but that issue persists. I find it hard google would leave a UI annoyance like this in the app for such a long time.

 

[anon(2383976)]

After trying most of the popular launchers, I finally settled on Google now launcher which runs better on my device.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[muzzy996]

Here is one problem that drive me crazy although it isn't exactly lag. When I open google now and try to search using the keyboard it often overwrites my first couple of keystrokes or puts the cursor back at the beginning and scrambles my input.

I turned off all the phone search options but that issue persists. I find it hard google would leave a UI annoyance like this in the app for such a long time.

Doesn't happen on my phone either through the stock or Google keyboard. I'm on a custom ROM though. Just as a test, try a different keyboard.

 

[michail71]

I swapped back to the google keyboard. It's missing a few things that swipe does but I find the key presses to be much more accurate.

Sadly it didn't fix the google now issues. I just launched it a few minutes ago and tried to type. It wound up turning into a series of comical delays, content moving around and accidental launches of other apps. Just really terrible UX. They keyboard input should be higher priority.

It's probably something more with google now. I get a nice smooth experience with the UC browser search from the notification panel or Cortana.

If I put google now in the background and come back it's not too bad. But after a while it reverts back.

 

[TheOpusFuller]

I used android. Left after the HTC 3D phone. Went to Apple. Loved Apple but they made an absolute mess with the 6 line. Purchased an LG G4, one of the smoothest experiences I've ever had. Also have a note 4, note 5, s6.

My Note 4 used to lag and I hated it. I Uninstaller everything with a factory reset and then immediately put on nova launcher. Added my regular apps and haven't had a problem since. I actually enjoy the note 4 now.

It could be an app with some messy memory leak or something. Try a free format and don't load any apps on your phone. See if it still has lag.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[michail71]

Thanks, would a safe mode reboot provide a similar test? I tried that and google now search was still messy like that. I'm partial to Arrow launcher but I'll try nova and google to see if it helps.

From what I understand this phone can't be rooted on AT&T. Also, I'm thinking we'll land people on Mars before AT&T releases Marshmallow on this device.

 

[michail71]

I'm trying Nova launcher and noticed something interesting. If I use the search box widget that is there by default on the top, it opens google now without lag. If I use the home button the keyboard lag is there.

If I launch the google app the delay is also there. I suppose the widget is using an instance loaded in memory and the app or home button create a new instance.

The search bar takes up a bit of screen real estate and really just opens up google now but it does get rid of that sluggishness.

 

[LegalAmerican]

I have had my Note since Oct 2014, and I had to have it replaced twice. All 3 Note 4's I've had were exceptionally laggy.

I am very forgiving of lag, and it really doesn't bother me much. But the Note 4 is the first phone that I've actually gotten really irritated with the lag. I disable all of the AT&T nonsense, and I disable S-Voice, Flipboard, etc.. so that the phone isn't trying to do all the ridiculous stuff the manufacturers think it should do, but it still lags. I still love the Note 4, but I'm definitely ready to upgrade. I do wish I could give Marshmallow a shot before the Note 6 (7?) hits the shelves, but it's looking like that won't happen.

 

[sparksd]

Have the Sprint Note 4 on MM and don't see any any lag. My other current devices for comparison are a 2013 Nexus 7 (also on MM), an iPad Air 2, and an Asus TF700T tablet (lots of lag on that one).

 

[michail71]

I spent a bit of time cleaning up the phone and going with Nova launcher. I discovered other installed launchers also run in the background so I removed the ones I wasn't using. Too bad TouchWiz can't be removed.

The funny thing is Microsoft released an update to Arrow launcher adding native badge support and performance enhancements. It seemed to perform really well. In the end the functionality of Arrow is more complex than Nova and I'm going for a more simplistic setup. Both are excellent launchers.

If I don't use google now from the home button click and use the Photos app instead of Gallery the phone seems to mostly behave.

I wish a people page and google now or cortana page could be added in Nova. That would be taking the best of the google launcher and Arrow launcher. For the most part widgets just never seem right.