Galaxy S4 issues true?

Tarun1998

Member
May 21, 2013
13
0
0
Visit site
Hi guys, I am planning to upgrade from an OG EVO 4G next month and want to know about the Galaxy S4's reported issues.

1 Does the phone really use up 9 of the 15 GB storage?
2. Is the Touchwiz interface really as glitchy and laggy as reported?
3. Have most of you users rooted the phone as soon as you bought it? I don't think I should buy a phone that I will need to modify in order to get the best experience:-\

If these issues are not very prevalent, I may lean towards the S4 rather than my current favorite, the One.

Thanks,
Tarun
 

BobR1908

Well-known member
Jun 17, 2013
333
0
0
Visit site
1. The phone does use up quite a bit of storage BUT you can save apps, etc to an SD card. That is one of the big plus points for the S4 - being able to add to it's storage easily with an SD card.
2. I don't find it glitchy and or laggy - I did go into the Developer Options and turn off the animations which greatly helped with responsiveness and speed
3. I do not root my phones - never have and never will.

This phone is far superior than the HTC One. You can check out my post on that very topic from earlier today.

Cheers.
 

DS1331

Well-known member
May 25, 2013
675
0
0
Visit site
Hi guys, I am planning to upgrade from an OG EVO 4G next month and want to know about the Galaxy S4's reported issues.

1 Does the phone really use up 9 of the 15 GB storage?
2. Is the Touchwiz interface really as glitchy and laggy as reported?
3. Have most of you users rooted the phone as soon as you bought it? I don't think I should buy a phone that I will need to modify in order to get the best experience:-\

If these issues are not very prevalent, I may lean towards the S4 rather than my current favorite, the One.

Thanks,
Tarun

75% of the posts I read on ac about the S4 was that it was very laggy compared to the one. Users also stated they had to root and delete a lot of stuff but then the phone turned out less laggy and fine. If you like the S4 and feel comfortable with rooting then go for it!



Sent from my HTC One using AC Forums mobile app
 

jj14x

Well-known member
Jan 9, 2011
995
24
0
Visit site
1. The phone does use up quite a bit of storage BUT you can save apps, etc to an SD card. That is one of the big plus points for the S4 - being able to add to it's storage easily with an SD card.

Not exactly. Apps cannot be stored to the external SD card (Not yet at least. Samsung has developed an update to permit that, but that is not available to the US carrier phones yet)

Regarding rooting, I suspect that a majority of folks who buy the S4 will never root it. But the folks who are familiar with xda and other Android Enthusiast forums will likely root it. Remember that rooting is not only to flash custom ROMs - it can also add features without that. Example: being able to change what app can access your contacts/calendar/location etc, or being able to delete/disable some apps that Samsung decided to install, or to perform backups of all applications along with data, or to change boot animation or fonts or themes or get hotspot etc. One doesn't need to flash a custom ROM to get these features.
 

BobR1908

Well-known member
Jun 17, 2013
333
0
0
Visit site
Highly recommend you taking a few easy steps before rooting.

1. Go into the Developer Options and turn off animations
2. Also adjust the background process limit to 4

Made a big difference for me and took 20 seconds to do.
 

ffejjj

Well-known member
May 14, 2012
3,553
32
48
Visit site
Go try them out

I love the Htc One, so fluid and fast but others swear by the S4. Both good in my opinion
 

GiantJay

Well-known member
Jun 29, 2012
768
12
0
Visit site
Yes there is lag. And all these people saying turn off animations are ridiculous. With the hardware on this phone there is absolutely no reason for lag. This is a software issue and Samsung will/better fix it soon.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
 

ToddK

Well-known member
Jul 4, 2011
238
2
0
Visit site
Well, I have over 200 apps loaded between 80-100.mp3s and a bunch of videos, and still have over 3.5 gigs leftover. Also have a 32gig sd card thay still pretty much empty...

As for lag? What is this "lag" you speak of?

Maybe I don't know what I'm doing, but, I find this phone has plenty of storage and is plenty speedy to boot! :) (oh and it boots up pretty quickly too!) See what I did there? ;-)

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 2
 

garublador

Well-known member
May 20, 2013
1,135
0
0
Visit site
1 Does the phone really use up 9 of the 15 GB storage?
There's about 9GB available on the 16GB version. So it "only" takes about 7GB.

2. Is the Touchwiz interface really as glitchy and laggy as reported?
No. It's not perfectly smooth but it's no where near as bad as people claim. Just like other phones aren't as good as other people claim. You tend to see it more if the phone is just waking up (especially if you have some battery saving things running) or if it's updating apps but it's not really that big of a deal. Keep in mind that the S4 is popular and the One is the "underdog" so they are not always fairly compared.

FWIW, I have turned off the animation settings and had to turn them back on to see what I was actually "missing." It's just the animations you see when apps close and stuff like that. You still get animations when going between screens. I'm not even sure how much turning them off affected the lag.

3. Have most of you users rooted the phone as soon as you bought it? I don't think I should buy a phone that I will need to modify in order to get the best experience:-\
No, most have not. I use a different launcher because I don't like the grid option for TouchWiz (there is lots of wasted space on the screen), but there is no need to root.
 

ihbsbA

Well-known member
May 16, 2010
1,417
5
0
Visit site
Not exactly. Apps cannot be stored to the external SD card (Not yet at least. Samsung has developed an update to permit that, but that is not available to the US carrier phones yet)

Regarding rooting, I suspect that a majority of folks who buy the S4 will never root it. But the folks who are familiar with xda and other Android Enthusiast forums will likely root it. Remember that rooting is not only to flash custom ROMs - it can also add features without that. Example: being able to change what app can access your contacts/calendar/location etc, or being able to delete/disable some apps that Samsung decided to install, or to perform backups of all applications along with data, or to change boot animation or fonts or themes or get hotspot etc. One doesn't need to flash a custom ROM to get these features.

Rooting also allows many functions that you aren't able to use without root - you can also do individual and complete backups of your device as well as use the device as a hot spot if so desired. Rooting is not just to flash custom roms.
 

SirGeorgeKillian

Well-known member
Feb 11, 2011
365
18
0
Visit site
Yes there is lag. And all these people saying turn off animations are ridiculous. With the hardware on this phone there is absolutely no reason for lag. This is a software issue and Samsung will/better fix it soon.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Want to hold my phone and show me the lag?



Sent from my Samsung S4.
 

return_0

Well-known member
Sep 16, 2012
1,842
0
0
Visit site
Hi guys, I am planning to upgrade from an OG EVO 4G next month and want to know about the Galaxy S4's reported issues.

1 Does the phone really use up 9 of the 15 GB storage?
2. Is the Touchwiz interface really as glitchy and laggy as reported?
3. Have most of you users rooted the phone as soon as you bought it? I don't think I should buy a phone that I will need to modify in order to get the best experience:-\

If these issues are not very prevalent, I may lean towards the S4 rather than my current favorite, the One.

Thanks,
Tarun

1. Not 9, but 7. There's 9 GB available total.
2. For the most part, yes. Most reports are that lag can be relieved somewhat by doing something in developer options listed above (in another person's post). The argument against this is that, as you said, you shouldn't have to modify the phone (in the dev settings at that) to get the optimal experience.
3. I can't answer that as I don't own the phone (though I have used it).

Sent from my pure Google Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums
 

jj14x

Well-known member
Jan 9, 2011
995
24
0
Visit site
@Tarun1998 - you really should go to a store and try it out for yourself to decide whether there is any lag or not.

A screen change from one screen to another can be done in two ways -
1. Instantaneous - where the previous screen just vanishes, and the new screen appears at the same time
2. With a transition - where you can see the previous screen "move" away, and the new screen taking its place.

Some folks think that option 2 (which is the default in almost all Android devices) is an indication of "lag". Turning it off in Dev settings just makes that transition "lag" go away.

Personally, I don't notice any lag on my S4 (I did root, but not because of any lag, but because I wanted to install the Xposed framework, and some other root only apps). Believe it or not, my Galaxy Nexus had noticeably longer lag even with custom ROMs. The S4 hardware is significantly better, and (in my opinion) more than covers up for the extra processing needed for the Samsung/Carrier bloat.

Why don't you (Tarun1998) try to find somebody with an unrooted s4, and see for yourself?
 

TheyStoleMyName

Well-known member
Mar 5, 2013
429
0
0
Visit site
There should be zero lag what's so ever with the hardware specs of the phone. That's why ppl get so upset when they encounter it. They bought a flagship, top of the line phone and get lag. They could have just bought so cheapo and had the same experience.

from what ever phone I feel like using today.
 

return_0

Well-known member
Sep 16, 2012
1,842
0
0
Visit site
Some folks think that option 2 (which is the default in almost all Android devices) is an indication of "lag". Turning it off in Dev settings just makes that transition "lag" go away.

You're not really understanding the issue. People don't think transitions are lag. They (including myself) have been noticing actual lag. You may not notice it on your phone, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Sent from my pure Google Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums
 

jj14x

Well-known member
Jan 9, 2011
995
24
0
Visit site
You're not really understanding the issue. People don't think transitions are lag. They (including myself) have been noticing actual lag. You may not notice it on your phone, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

I didn't say that lag doesn't exist for anyone :) I simply indicated that some folks referred to the "transition" as lag (at the Sprint store when I went to purchase my phone), and when the tech disabled it in dev options, they were fine with it. Disabling the transition animations is really not doing anything besides eliminating the transition animation. So, if by doing that, the "lag" disappears, I'd say that folks are considering the transition as "lag".
Yes, it is possible that the phone will lag if you are streaming music, and playing an intensive game like NFS, and switch over to the home page to answer a text. I don't know - haven't experienced it yet. But yes, it may exist.


Sent from my pure Google Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums
No offense, but how long have you used a S4 for? (just curious - if you are basing your comments about the lag based on a very limited time with the phone? Or if you have actually used it for a day or so to experience the lag?)
I had the GNex before this, and even with stock ROM or with custom ROMs like CM/PA/JBSourc, it was never as smooth as the S4. Vastly improved hardware, I know. Wish the Nexus 4 was available for Sprint - would have chosen that before considering the S4
 

return_0

Well-known member
Sep 16, 2012
1,842
0
0
Visit site
I didn't say that lag doesn't exist for anyone :) I simply indicated that some folks referred to the "transition" as lag (at the Sprint store when I went to purchase my phone), and when the tech disabled it in dev options, they were fine with it. Disabling the transition animations is really not doing anything besides eliminating the transition animation. So, if by doing that, the "lag" disappears, I'd say that folks are considering the transition as "lag".
Yes, it is possible that the phone will lag if you are streaming music, and playing an intensive game like NFS, and switch over to the home page to answer a text. I don't know - haven't experienced it yet. But yes, it may exist.
What I meant by lag is noticeable stutter in the transitions on the home page. That's how eliminating the transition animations reduces lag.


No offense, but how long have you used a S4 for? (just curious - if you are basing your comments about the lag based on a very limited time with the phone? Or if you have actually used it for a day or so to experience the lag?)
I had the GNex before this, and even with stock ROM or with custom ROMs like CM/PA/JBSourc, it was never as smooth as the S4. Vastly improved hardware, I know. Wish the Nexus 4 was available for Sprint - would have chosen that before considering the S4
To be honest, I haven't used the S4 much; only about an hour. But I'm mostly basing this on the reports of S4 owners.


Sent from my pure Google Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums
 

ihbsbA

Well-known member
May 16, 2010
1,417
5
0
Visit site
I've heard that many users are seeing their phones not be able to keep up with their typing speed... That would REALLY annoy me because I type very fast - have any of you seen that and is it fixable? What about the most recent update, has that come to the US phones yet?

Sent from my Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk.
 

jj14x

Well-known member
Jan 9, 2011
995
24
0
Visit site
What I meant by lag is noticeable stutter in the transitions on the home page. That's how eliminating the transition animations reduces lag.

That makes sense. Thanks.

Hopefully, my S4 stays lag free - else, I'll throw a new kernel or a new ROM on it, and hopefully, that will address the issue.
 

monsieurms

Well-known member
Sep 30, 2011
1,530
52
48
Visit site
Hi guys, I am planning to upgrade from an OG EVO 4G next month and want to know about the Galaxy S4's reported issues.

1 Does the phone really use up 9 of the 15 GB storage?
2. Is the Touchwiz interface really as glitchy and laggy as reported?
3. Have most of you users rooted the phone as soon as you bought it? I don't think I should buy a phone that I will need to modify in order to get the best experience:-\

If these issues are not very prevalent, I may lean towards the S4 rather than my current favorite, the One.

Thanks,
Tarun

1. I had about 9.4 free when I got the phone. Frankly, unless you're a gamer, that should be fine.
2. The constant threads on lag are astonishing, honestly. It is much ado about nothing. I think most won't notice and won't care, and the truth is that this is about the fastest processor on the market and the phone handles average tasks brilliantly. NO computer handles everything instantaneously. If you're upgrading from another phone with an expired contract 2 years ago, you'll be thrilled. This thing makes my Asus Transformer tablet look archaic in speed. It makes my last HTC phone look like it came from 1999.
3. I haven't bothered and won't. Samsung provides a great overall experience.
 

Latest posts

Trending Posts

Forum statistics

Threads
942,379
Messages
6,913,755
Members
3,158,383
Latest member
nilsgutkowski