How did the critics not mention lag/stuttering issues in S4 reviews?

[Gator352]

Ditto...I keep reading these posts, I have no idea what anyone is talking about. It's the fastest phone I've seen--which btw echoes Pc Magazines' objective tests and comments this month's issue, where they said exactly that. I have the quote if anyone's interested...

"The Galaxy S4 is the fastest smartphone we've benchmarked so far, thanks to its 1.9GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor. ... The Snapdragon torched the processor -dependent AnTuTu benchmark, but it also did unusually well on Basemark OS, which launches real applications, and on the GLBenchmark graphics benchmark."...I topped off performance testing with the hideously heavy Need for Speed: Most Wanted game, which ran like butter....Spectacular speed results carried over to network testing, too."​

I guess they're paid by Samsung to write reviews.

Of course, they are also running controlled equipment tests whereas we may have different stuff going on, networks, etc.

The S4 is fast. Especially in games. Benchmarks though DO NOT adhere to real world performance. Touchwiz makes the S4 stutter. Touchwiz makes the S4 lag. Getting rid of touchwiz makes the S4 blaze!! BUT, I shouldn't have to use a new launcher or turn off features just to get a smooth experience or decent battery life. I gave the S4 to my daughter and I went with HTC's One. I couldn't be happier!

 

[Johnny Roberts]

So the s4 is one of the fastest phones, yet it lags so much that people are giving the phone away?

Um... okay

 

[Love Divine]

Most reviews are garbage. Should be common knowledge by now. Completely contradictory opinions are rampant - eg battery life is crap vs battery life is amazing! - as a result of lack of standardization and organization. Not a single one I read mentioned the global dimming either. Few mentioned the lag, which is noticeable and significant.

 

[planoman]

The problem is lag is subjective depending on the person and some people just don't want to admit it is there on their perfect phone.. I picked up the S4 and applied the updates from ATT and it can be laggy at times but still usable. I should not have to try 100s of things to reduce the lag. It should not have this given it has the fastest processor to date in a mobile. There are a few times when I am typing with the keyboard and the letters will come up slowly for a few letters then its fine again. I currently switched back to the iphone 5 and am much happier. Its does not have all the eye candy and gimmicks the S4 has but I have no lag at all and no bloatware garbage. I still think the S4 is the best Android to date. I ordered the nano to microsim adapter so I can switch back and forth when I get bored with either. If and when they release a lag fix I may switch to the S4 permantly at least until the next iPhone comes out.

Why would iPhone lag? It does not have widgets and is open on the app drawer all the time. If you like that, stick with it- no big deal. If the lag is bad on anyone's phone, take it back and get a different phone. I have a Nexus 4 and Note 2 and iphone 5 and my S4 is just as quick as any of them. If it had lag, I would have taken it back as I do not need another phone but it is fine as are the majority of S4's being sold. Not sure why people come on here and try to make a big deal of it. It is almost like you are trying to convince us that our phones have lag also. It would be like me going to imore and saying the iphone does not have widgets and the screen is so small, I can't see the print blah, blah, blah move on already.

Today is my 14th day of owning the 32GB model and I put it through its paces and I am keeping it! It performs flawlessly! Next to the Note 2, it is the most capable device I have owned.

p.s. I did see it on the AC review and was concerned. Once I checked it out myself, I have not seen it. Even before the update I applied the second day I owned it.

 

[BlastTyrant]

Why is it that BEFORE the S4 was released, everyone knew that enabling superficial features came at the cost of performance & battery life? Seems to me that a lot of people got dumb real fast once they got an S4 in their hands, including half the reviewers. From day one I set mine up for performance, and I haven't seen a single blip of stutter or lag. This is the reason there are "performance" "conservative" etc etc modes. If you buy a new Corvette, don't load the whole family into it and then complain that it's just not cornering or accelerating the way it should.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

 

[mark5019]

Ive had nothing but praise for my s4

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Android Central Forums

 

[Premium1]

Every review I saw mentioned the slight lag/stuttering so not sure where you looked to see reviews but they all mentioned it. It seemed to be fixed with the update that was pushed to the US versions. Maybe you got a lemon?

 

[Premium1]

Why is it that BEFORE the S4 was released, everyone knew that enabling superficial features came at the cost of performance & battery life? Seems to me that a lot of people got dumb real fast once they got an S4 in their hands, including half the reviewers. From day one I set mine up for performance, and I haven't seen a single blip of stutter or lag. This is the reason there are "performance" "conservative" etc etc modes. If you buy a new Corvette, don't load the whole family into it and then complain that it's just not cornering or accelerating the way it should.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

Some people just like complaining, happens everytime a new phone is released the first couple days you have the people saying "this phone sucks it has X issues blah blah blah" like no phone ever had issues that got patched with updates. I mean look at the iphone and all the issues it had. Either give it time for samsung to issue updates or return it and wait and see if they update it and it corrects the issues.

 

[malwayne66]

Before getting my Galaxy S4, I also wondered why reviewers didn't mention this lag that so many persons had experienced and complained about in forums. After getting the GS4, I couldn't even force it to lag. I still a very fast device with no lag whatsoever.
It should be notes that I have over 100 apps filling limited 8.9GB to the max. But I also have a custom ROM that I used to help get root. After the first major firmware update I wasnt able to root and had to get a ROM that was capable of doing this. So I essentially have close to original firmware.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Gathomblipoob]

I have had my S4 since the AT&T brick and mortar release date and have a few things to say about the stuttering/lag. I can't speak for the HTC One but I do have an iPad 3 (First Retina Ipad) and it definitely feels just as stuttery or laggy as the S4 if not more. I noticed certain activities like swiping to the search page always generates animation freezes and launching apps typically takes much longer on the iPad then it does on the S4. As an owner of Android devices since the Motorola Milestone/Droid I think devices have come such a long way for what they accomplish now.

I'm not sure what the problem could be with your iPad 3, but mine is jailbroken and is absolutely lag-free.

 

[Gathomblipoob]

Why would iPhone lag? It does not have widgets and is open on the app drawer all the time.

But to be fair, the iPhone doesn't have a 1.9Ghz quad-core cpu or two gigs of RAM, either.

 

[planoman]

But to be fair, the iPhone doesn't have a 1.9Ghz quad-core cpu or two gigs of RAM, either.

True but even the fastest car at a stop is just that, stopped. It takes seconds to get the mass moving regardless of the engine. The iphone more or less at the ready due to its design interface and less processing power so to speak, is needed to perform a task. Why do you think apple has resisted the calls of the masses for widgets etc? They know it would cause lag and severe hiccups. Just two different OS but some folks compare them like apple to apples. I mean if you put a live wallpaper on iOS it would pretty much be like a iPhone 3GS trying to run iOS 5...

But I still have and use my iPhone 5...it has it uses!

 

[Gathomblipoob]

True but even the fastest car at a stop is just that, stopped. It takes seconds to get the mass moving regardless of the engine. The iphone more or less at the ready due to its design interface and less processing power so to speak, is needed to perform a task. Why do you think apple has resisted the calls of the masses for widgets etc? They know it would cause lag and severe hiccups. Just two different OS but some folks compare them like apple to apples. I mean if you put a live wallpaper on iOS it would pretty much be like a iPhone 3GS trying to run iOS 5...

But I still have and use my iPhone 5...it has it uses!

To be honest. I've had live wallpaper on an iPhone (several years ago) and it ran just fine. I have an Android now, but I still have my iPhone. Just relating my personal experience.

 

[planoman]

To be honest. I've had live wallpaper on an iPhone (several years ago) and it ran just fine. I have an Android now, but I still have my iPhone. Just relating my personal experience.

I stand corrected. I did not know iphone could run live wallpapers...

 

[Gathomblipoob]

I stand corrected. I did not know iphone could run live wallpapers...

Granted, it was a jailbroken iPhone.

 

[TomsAndroid]

So the s4 is one of the fastest phones, yet it lags so much that people are giving the phone away?

Um... okay

It's one of the fastest... when it's not lagging ;-)

 

[JenTDOT]

I have had the S4 for 4 daysandIdo see lag when scrolling in apps and on webpages. I am coming from iPhone so it is noticeable to me, as my 4s didn't experience this. However I do not see a home screen lag or animation lag. Just stutters scrolling. Not sure if that is because of touch wiz or not? I am new to Android so I am looking for a solution.

 

[monsieurms]

Every review I saw mentioned the slight lag/stuttering so not sure where you looked to see reviews but they all mentioned it. It seemed to be fixed with the update that was pushed to the US versions. Maybe you got a lemon?

I've seen that comment in several threads and it may well be the answer for different user experiences that we see reported. We may not be talking about the same thing.

The S4 is fast. Especially in games. Benchmarks though DO NOT adhere to real world performance. Touchwiz makes the S4 stutter. Touchwiz makes the S4 lag. Getting rid of touchwiz makes the S4 blaze!! BUT, I shouldn't have to use a new launcher or turn off features just to get a smooth experience or decent battery life. I gave the S4 to my daughter and I went with HTC's One. I couldn't be happier!

PC MAGAZINE:..."but it also did unusually well on Basemark OS, which launches real applications""

Well, that seems to address the real world issues pointedly.

Conversely, I think we also need to remember that while benchmarks sometimes do not mirror real world performance, they do reflect objective and--even more important!--controlled tests, while "real world" situations have many variables that have zip to do with the actual phone--including misbehaving applications, poorly designed add-ons, OS oddities (Jelly Bean changed its launcher from 4.1 to 4.2), slow networks, and to be fair, users without much experience in judging such things (not aimed at you!).

There's no computer in the world that I know of that is instantaneous every moment on every thing. When computers do a lot, they work harder. They increasingly do a lot on these "phones." They aren't really phones any more.

This is simply the fastest phone I've seen, and I'm using lots of apps, including many that used to completely stall my older phones; and I've also turned on lots of stuff like hover, air gesture and so on.

 

[varsityhacker]

The iPhone lags at times as well the difference is that it doesn't have janky TW animations that pop out to the end user as lag. Get an iPhone and S4 now open an app and then hit the home button see which one lags behind the other. The HTC One probably does feel faster then the S4 it should it's strip down version of android and lacks all of the functions on the S4. Now run bench marks against each other and show me where the S4 lags the One.

 

[Aquila]

They really did mention the lag, but let everyone know they were using pre-release software and not to use that as the standard to evaluate how it would be when released to the public.