Samsung Galaxy S5 - Freezing, Lag, Camera Issues

Ellie359

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I got my GS5 a couple of weeks ago and I've been experiencing a number of problems with it. I just thought I'd share them (and also share my experience with Samsung's customer service), in case someone is having the same issues.

My carrier is T-Mobile, the phone is brand new, never dropped, no damage, not even a scratch.

Camera: This is where it all started. When trying to take a photo, the camera's buttons will suddenly disappear. At first, restarting it worked so I tried to ignore it. Shortly after, another problem started. My camera became unresponsive - when I tap on it, it will open but it will appear as a black screen. Closing it from the open apps screen or even doing a force stop didn't work. After pressing the home button and then locking/unlocking the phone, I'll get a message saying "Camera isn't responding. Would you like to close it?". If I closed it and tried to open it again, I'll get the exact same problem.

I contacted Samsung's CS and they told me to clear my cache partition. This didn't change anything so they told me to do an update in developer's mode. After I updated it, the camera was back to normal but I started seeing other problems.

Freezing: First S Health stopped working. The phone was completely unresponsive when I tap on the app or widget. Trying to uninstall some apps (e.g. Run Keeper) or opening the gallery also made it freeze .

Lag: At this point I was already considering a master reset so I tried backing up my photos and contacts to my SD card. It was impossible because of the lag when moving files. I also experienced lag with the Application Manager. The usage stats kept showing "computing".

Black screen: This is connected to the lag and the freezing. I would usually get a black screen after trying to open an app or when I lock and unlock my phone for a number of times in a period of one minute. Only the lower multi-window and back buttons were lit up.

Once the phone freezes or shows the black screen, it can't be turned off using the power button. I had to remove the battery.

It's probably worth mentioning that I also noticed some issues with overheating and short battery life.

So, after clearing the cache and updating the software version didn't work, I contacted customer service again. The rep told me that this might be caused by some app I had installed. To see if this was the case, he asked me to start the phone in Safe Mode and check if I experience the same bugs. You can probably tell where this is going but, yes, the problems were still there. He said I'll have to do a master reset which I just did and for the 12390947 time I got the Camera Failed msg. Finally, they told me it's a hardware issue and I should ask T-Mobile for a replacement.

This whole thing has been very frustrating :confused: ..but hopefully the info is helpful.
 

lifetoall

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Sorry to hear that your phone is not working. You should open up your phone and see if your phone was made in Korea or China. If it says China then your phone was out sourced or you can say you got a cheap knockoff. That is what happened to me through Verizon. I can buy a knockoff phone in China for hundred dollar not worth $700...

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Ellie359

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Sorry to hear that your phone is not working. You should open up your phone and see if your phone was made in Korea or China. If it says China then your phone was out sourced or you can say you got a cheap knockoff. That is what happened to me through Verizon. I can buy a knockoff phone in China for hundred dollar not worth $700...

Posted via Android Central App

I just checked and mine is made in China as well. However, I don't think that means it's a knockoff phone. Most technologies are outsourced to China, Vietnam, etc. It's just where the majority of the companies manufacture their phones. The camera technologies are also widely outsourced. Is this great for the consumers? Obliviously not, but that doesn't justify the problems I've been experiencing with the GS5. Was your phone working properly?

Btw, my battery is made in Japan not China... and it still sucks. :D
 

Bambii68

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Try enabling Developer Options & switch "Runtime Mode" to "ART". May have to switch it back to "DALVIK" if you find things not working. For example, while running ART, my PIN wasn't recognized when I tried to turn on PRIVATE MODE. So I went back to DALVIK, did what I wanted to do in PRIVATE MODE & tuened it off & then went back to ART.

Hope it helps a little!
 

twin100

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The tweaks are available within the settings of all recent Android phones in a section called ?Developer options.?

This section might be hidden on some phones, but it?s very easy to access. On many phones, you just have to open a certain page in the settings and tap a button seven times. Use Google to figure out how to enable Developer options on your phone if it?s currently hidden (for example, search ?enable developer options HTC One?).

Once you have access to Developer options, simply scroll until you find the following three settings, which may be located on the main screen or within an ?Advanced? subsection:

Window animation scale

Transition animation scale

Animator animation scale

Tapping each of the three aforementioned settings will reveal that it?s set to ?1x? by default. If you want to speed up your phone or tablet dramatically, simply change each of those three settings to ?.5x? ? that?s it...restart phone
 

Reddickb

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I've had some simular experiences with freezing, black screen, and camera failure/freeze. I came from the iPhone community about a month ago and am a little disappointed with issues I didn't have before -- despite the restrictive nature of Apple. This Galaxy S5 and it's screen and features are pretty awesome, I just hope the bugs are corrected.

Posted via Android Central App
 

ShaneA1

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Thank you! I was having a problem with the S5 camera going black and turning back on after hitting the settings icon every now and again (I'm assuming it was failing and resetting in the background each time) and it would stop a video I was recording and wouldn't save. I cleared the cache and data, and just had to re-place my icons and settings and everything is back to normal, and waaay smooth and lag free, I never even noticed it before, but it's like new again. BTW, Xposed kills S Health, dunno why. I prefer Xposed over S Health anyways. And a good app to just see your heartbeat I'd say is Sensor Test, scroll down the app and lay your finger on the sensor and it will tell you your heart rate live.
 

Three7s

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I believe that you have one or more background processes consuming the CPU or other resources. I only experience those types of symptoms when that's the case.

I use CPU Usage Monitor to indicate activity in the notification bar. https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...ilders.cpuusagestatusbar&hl=en&token=0ddlpYil

To see the details (and sometimes take actions), I use System Tuner. It will show you what is running and how much CPU it's taking. https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...pps/details?id=ccc71.pmw&hl=en&token=nH-zcZnU
 

Jenn Herlyn Garcia

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I've had some simular experiences with freezing, black screen, and camera failure/freeze. I came from the iPhone community about a month ago and am a little disappointed with issues I didn't have before -- despite the restrictive nature of Apple. This Galaxy S5 and it's screen and features are pretty awesome, I just hope the bugs are corrected.

Posted via Android Central App

how did you fix camera showing black screen?
 

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