Develop Bugs

Launcher and global strange lags/low performance ?

Hi everyone,
I have my GSM Galaxy Nexus for nearly 2 months, and I'm really pleased with this phone, which replace my old yet good Galaxy S. The device is snappy, smooth, I can play every games and watch nearly every movie files I want etc, perfect for me, especially with its huge wide screen.
That said, I always try to find a little thing to reproach to my phone. Not so easy, but even so, I find something which can be a bit annoying.
We all use our launcher a lot, obviously, it is like the core/bridge app of our Android device. I noticed that the 4.0 launcher has some performances problems, let me explain you how to easily reproduce them (close all your apps in order to have the best performance as possible) :
-The transition between the app-drawer and the desktop panels can be not so smooth as it should with such a powerful device. Try to go in and out the app-drawer, you will notice that sometimes it lag, sometimes not. I asked myself why it behave like that, and I may have found the problem. When you enter in the app-drawer or when you flip your panels on the desktop or in the app-drawer, you surely have notice this little blue bar at the bottom at the screen, which indicate you where you are. If you try to go in/out the app-drawer while this bar is on the screen, the transition will be laggy. Just wait it disappear, and it will be smooth (if not, do it 2-3 more time, and it should be good).
-When you clicked on a widget in the app-drawer, a message will pop out about how to add it to your homescreen blablabla. It also notice that if you try to flip your panel in the appdrawer or the desktop while the message is on the screen, everything will be laggy, especially in the app-drawer, it will have horrible performance, but as soon as this message disappear, everything become smooth like before.
Why ? It don't know. At first, I thought the problem comes from the launcher, but maybe not. Indeed, if messages like the one I talked about above appear anywhere while you're using your device, like in the Web Browser for example, it will lag, maybe less than in the launcher, but it will.
So what ? Maybe the launcher is not fully hardware accelerated, or it lack optimizations ? It may be the case, but I try to run CM9 on my old Galaxy S, and it doesn't have such problems (the performance will depend on the old hardware itself), it is also the same on a friend's Galaxy SII, its launcher is butter-smooth even if you do want I explain.
Is the OMAP4460 or the PowerVR SGX540 too bad to run it correctly ? I doubt it is the case, since my 2 years old Galaxy S run it good. Indeed, even if I overclocked my device to 1400MHz with the "performance" governor, only the 1st case problem will be partially solved, the 2nd one will still make your device run like crap.
Since those lags can appear everywhere if above conditions are met, the problem may be that our phone can't run correctly if there are 2 "layers" on the screen, the message on foreground and your launcher on background for example. It is probably the case, and even if I study IT, I can't explain it really well, sorry
I obviously try a lot of ROMS : Stock 4.0.2/3/4, AOKP, CM9, ARHD, with stock and custom kernels, and they all have the same problem. If you want to have better performance, try to put the minimal CPU frequence to 700MHz, you will maybe lose 30 minutes of battery, but it is globally more usable if you want my opinion.
Do you experiment the same problems ? Have you any ideas about how to solve them ? Thanks to read me !
PS : The Galaxy Nexus also has performances problems if you are using it in landscape position. Everything will be less smooth and snappy. The best example is if you use the app-drawer, it back absolutely unusable.

Since upgrading to nova launcher prime my UI is very fluid. Landscape is still choppy but less so.
bow chicka wow wow.

I forgot to say that I also tried Nova and Apex, it has the same problems

[Q] Do you think that Project Butter in JB will make the phone feel more snappy?

A problem I always had with the Xperia S is that the whole thing feels extremely choppy and clunky. I have extremely low tolerance for choppyness, and this phone has always felt really clunky for me, it's hard to pretend the choppyness isn't there. There is nothing that makes me feel good about a device than silky smoothness, and even though the phone is still very fast and reactive, the slow framerate and microstutters are extremely noticeable, especially if you ever used a smooth device before (such as my good old Xperia Ray on gingerbread which was smooth like an iPhone, and when I upgraded it to ICS I couldn't stand it anymore because it became horrendously stuttery).
I was wondering, since Project Butter promises fully accelerated UI and elimination of the persistent lag that all android phones have, do you think this will finally resolve the slugginess of this phone's stock rom?
Is PB an OS features that all phones running JB have, or do the developers (in this case Sony's) have to implement it on their own?
Also, regarding the current stock ICS, there is nothing that helped with the constant lag and choppyness in the UI, the only thing that DOES make a difference is enabling "force GPU rendering", it's found under "developer options" and disabled by default. Once you enable it, scrolling lists (such as the settings menu) will become silky smooth (you have to go back to home and then back to settings menu to notice the difference). With this disabled, scrolling every list menu is embarassingly choppy. It doesn't cause any battery drain so I recommend everyone to enable it if you haven't already.
I seriously hope JB will resolve the constant choppyness of this phone's UI.

MarkMRL said:
A problem I always had with the Xperia S is that the whole thing feels extremely choppy and clunky. I have extremely low tolerance for choppyness, and this phone has always felt really clunky for me, it's hard to pretend the choppyness isn't there. There is nothing that makes me feel good about a device than silky smoothness, and even though the phone is still very fast and reactive, the slow framerate and microstutters are extremely noticeable, especially if you ever used a smooth device before (such as my good old Xperia Ray on gingerbread which was smooth like an iPhone, and when I upgraded it to ICS I couldn't stand it anymore because it became horrendously stuttery).
I was wondering, since Project Butter promises fully accelerated UI and elimination of the persistent lag that all android phones have, do you think this will finally resolve the slugginess of this phone's stock rom?
Is PB an OS features that all phones running JB have, or do the developers (in this case Sony's) have to implement it on their own?
Also, regarding the current stock ICS, there is nothing that helped with the constant lag and choppyness in the UI, the only thing that DOES make a difference is enabling "force GPU rendering", it's found under "developer options" and disabled by default. Once you enable it, scrolling lists (such as the settings menu) will become silky smooth (you have to go back to home and then back to settings menu to notice the difference). With this disabled, scrolling every list menu is embarassingly choppy. It doesn't cause any battery drain so I recommend everyone to enable it if you haven't already.
I seriously hope JB will resolve the constant choppyness of this phone's UI.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're really curious you could flash the test version DoomlorD posted. There's also this video on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNLODO3YOnA
Looks like it is more fluent, as was expected, but ofcourse that's a nearly empty firmware. Some 3rd party apps can make your phone a lot slower, even when they're supposedly not running. A clean installation of ICS is also quite fluent compared to the lags I've had caused by some apps before I removed or restricted them.

Redstarr1 said:
If you're really curious you could flash the test version DoomlorD posted. There's also this video on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNLODO3YOnA
Looks like it is more fluent, as was expected, but ofcourse that's a nearly empty firmware. Some 3rd party apps can make your phone a lot slower, even when they're supposedly not running. A clean installation of ICS is also quite fluent compared to the lags I've had caused by some apps before I removed or restricted them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't flash it because I'm not unlocking my BL. Also, which apps do you think are the most resource hungry? I already disabled facebook and all social network related stuff, most services like sony select, etc. No difference at all.

My Xperia S and my Nexus 4 feel as smooth as each other using go launcher and obviously one has project butter and one doesn't

A simple solution would be to set a background process limit to 3 or less (developer options-resets on reboot so take care of that)
Also decrease the transition and animation from 1 to .5(dev options again)
If u are rooted(which am expecting u are)
Use romtoolbox or any utility capable of profiling ur cpu...set two profiles..screen off->governer-ondemand-low frequency(will save battery)
And one as screen on->governer-performance-max frequency(reduce ur lag)
If u have too many apps..use greenify or some app with same functionality
These basic settings have kept my ion lagfree all the while
Sent from my Xperia ion
Hit a thanks when someone helps

for what it's worth, i just came to the xperia S from the original galaxy S. i was running JB on that, which has nowhere near the specs of the xperia S, and JB was smooth as silk there, so it does seem to make a noticeable difference. moreso on 4.2 than 4.1, however.
unfortunately i've been hit with the bootloader unlock = no , so the wait for jb again begins..

MarkMRL said:
I can't flash it because I'm not unlocking my BL. Also, which apps do you think are the most resource hungry? I already disabled facebook and all social network related stuff, most services like sony select, etc. No difference at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's why I posted the link to the Youtube video so you could get a glimpse that way .
I'd also disable Google+ and Google Talk if you're not using those. And some apps that you installed yourself from the Play Store can make your phone sluggish as well. I used Greenify to force my games and some apps to hibernate (Angry Birds, Dropbox, Google Drive etc), saved over 100mb in available memory. That has made my phone a lot less laggy. I usually don't encourage using app killers but Greenify is doing a good job with no errors for the past 3 days.

absolutely yes
jb leaked is the smoothest thing i have ever seen

Tab 3 10.1 Laggy?

I am trying to tweak my wife's tablet to get rid of some very annoying lag. It is rooted and I setup Startup Manager and Greenify to lock everything down. The thing still is very laggy, especially in some games (specifically Star Acres).
I have not been able to find anything regarding overclocking this device, so is that even possible? Would a different ROM help speed things up?
The lag is pretty bad and my phones circles around it (i have the OnePlus One).

jbass350z said:
I am trying to tweak my wife's tablet to get rid of some very annoying lag. It is rooted and I setup Startup Manager and Greenify to lock everything down. The thing still is very laggy, especially in some games (specifically Star Acres).
I have not been able to find anything regarding overclocking this device, so is that even possible? Would a different ROM help speed things up?
The lag is pretty bad and my phones circles around it (i have the OnePlus One).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wipe Dalvik and cache periodically and that seems to fix a lot of things. I am stock rooted with no performance tweaks (Tab 3 10.1)
Good luck.

It looks like the reason is due to the Galaxy Tab processor. Unity3d was not designed to run on ATOM.

i installed pimpdroid and all my lag stopped.
its alot lighter than stock rom
heres a link http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2590713

[Q] Noticeable Lag When Using

Hey guys,
I've noticed lags and stutters a lot more than I feel I should with a device this powerful. A few areas where I've occasionally seen it:
- Typing on the keyboard
- Multitasking with certain apps (somewhat understandable)
- Recent apps menu
- Opening certain apps
Perhaps I've been a little spoiled in that I'm coming from the Nexus 5 with a lightweight rom, but just a few things I've noticed.
Anyone else noticing some lag? Are there any settings you've tweaked to minimize this lag?
Thanks!

Recent apps and keyboard have always been slow on Touchwiz unfortunately...so for app switching I use Switchr Pro (amazing app btw) and Google keyboard which is always fast as well. You can turn animations off in developer options but yeah, I used a Moto X 2nd Gen for two weeks and that thing is waaaaay faster and smoother than any Samsung I've ever used but I prefer the features that the S Pen brings so I deal with the occasional lag here and there lol

Thanks for the response Composi. A agree, the software value adds like multi-window and s-pen definitely out-weight the occasional lag. This is my second "Stock" Samsung device (had the S3 years back and g-nex) but my first Note device. I'll try your suggestion and use the google keyboard and check out Switchr Pro. Definitely a fantastic phone though and for the power a features it gives me I'm willing to live with the lag.

I have never experienced this much lag and stutter. It's unfortunate but I am experiencing everything you are...

There's the occasional spastic scrolling in the browser, which I don't get. My Note 3 was pretty bad regarding this and the only browsers that would scroll smoothly were Chrome Beta and Opera. At least with the Note 4 it seems to be mostly gone. Strange though how Samsung can't solve this.
The SMS app also stutters a tiny bit, but the Note 3 stuttered like crazy when scrolling through a long conversation. It's not enough to bother me though with this newest handset.
I don't see the specific issues you mention though, OP.

I definitely notice more lag than I'd like or thought I would be, then I look at my RAM and I'm using up over 2GB of 2.7 GB, that's just background stuff! There's so much background processes running from, well, I don't really know but root would be nice to get rid of some of this crap; I've even disabled a lot of stuff. Whats running:
Quick Connect Interactive
Dropbox
TeslaUndrea
Evernote
com.sec.android.app.Smart
DeviceTest
ClipboardUIService
Direct pen input
Fingerprints
Beam Service
Smartcard service
Context Service
Google Play Service
Google play services
S Finder
S Health
Samsung Push Service
SoundAlive
Google Search
Syncronize
Weather
Facebook
com.sec.android.app.FalshBarservice
MyScript Resource Manager
Smart Remote
SwiftKey

I have also had 2 random reboots in less than 1 day. Maybe disabling bloat messes with things

I only experience lag when I press the recent apps button. Other than that, there isn't any lag on my Note 4.

Since I installed apex launcher I haven't noticed any lag except for a little keyboard lag when inputting the contact I want to text in the messaging app

Do you guys have power saving turned on? If you do check in that settings menu and if you have restrict performance on that turns the processor down at all times. I think that's a bug. If you just turn that part off the phone works great. Spent all night diagnosing that one.

You know what raiu, I do have PowerSaving mode on. I was under the impression that it needed to be toggled on for the auto-enable at x% to work. Turns out it doesn't. I would image this will fix my slight lag issue, and all fix the ridiculously good battery life I have seen since getting the phone.

Lockscreen Lag

Hi,
I'm on the Tmobile H811 G4.
I have a rooted custom rom, and i've debloated most of my non-essential apps by freezing them via Titanium backup. I also use a custom launcher, (Action Launcher) which doesn't lag at all. Generally I don't have any lag issues. However, it's only on the lockscreen. B/c of work requirements, I have to use the PIN security login, and when I tap the buttons for the PIN, it lags. I'm talking maybe a 1/3 of a second, but strangely for the last 3 or 4 digits (out of the 6) that I'm using. There's a lag also when I press the OK button.
It doesn't happen all the time, just once in awhile.
I used to use a oneplus one with CM12.1 and compared to that fast, smooth lockscreen login, there's definitely a noticeable lag.
Btw, I do also have the force GPU rendering on as well.
Is anyone else experiencing this? If you have in the past, and resolved it, any tips?
Other than this, I really like the G4. I've tweaked it also with the G4 tweaks, and overall it runs well.
Thanks in advance.

I'm seeing the same lockscreen lag. Seems insane that entering four digits should produce such stutter.
Not really seeing any lag or stutter elsewhere (on Google Now launcher), except perhaps ad-intensive pages in Chrome, but that's true of most phones. Oh, and when I use tap to wake (whatever it's called), I double tap once, nothing happens, double-tap another time, and presto it wakes up. Every time, the first attempt fails.
Overall my stock N5 seems a bit snappier, but no real complaints with the G4.
Mostly I just miss the perfect size of the N5.

I too am experiencing the same issue. Seems that I can finish typing a full sentence on the keyboard before I can enter 4 digit pin! I do not get it this phone has 3 gigs of ram and it still lags.

alextop30 said:
I too am experiencing the same issue. Seems that I can finish typing a full sentence on the keyboard before I can enter 4 digit pin! I do not get it this phone has 3 gigs of ram and it still lags.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can have 32 GIgs of RAM, if the software which handles the operations has flaws. This issue is caused by LG's software mods most likely the launcher.

davebugyi said:
You can have 32 GIgs of RAM, if the software which handles the operations has flaws. This issue is caused by LG's software mods most likely the launcher.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right, I should know this as a software developer! It is funny when I call LG about my issues they tell me that there are no known issues with the phone (lag and missed taps being the most prevalent). They also will not acknowledge that their software is crap, this is why vanilla android is better - I think I trust Google developers a bit more than LG - which I have come to the realization that the only thing I will trust them with is to make my next TV.

alextop30 said:
You are right, I should know this as a software developer! It is funny when I call LG about my issues they tell me that there are no known issues with the phone (lag and missed taps being the most prevalent). They also will not acknowledge that their software is crap, this is why vanilla android is better - I think I trust Google developers a bit more than LG - which I have come to the realization that the only thing I will trust them with is to make my next TV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Missing taps are because of the touchscreen firmware is buggy, which is mostly noticeable on the JDI panels, rather than the own LGD (yep, LG using two different display manufacturers - which is very common by every OEM nowadays, some even use 3). That said, having a LG's own display panel with the latest firmware I never had a single missing tap.
On the other hand, if you want unique features in your software, you have to pay the price. Still, Samsung is worse at it than LG (that's why I changed from a S6 - 920F).
But back to the topic - I stopped experiencing the lag (and operation lags in general), once I switched to my all-time favorite Nova Launcher Prime. LG's default launcher is great in terms of functions (more functions than Touchwiz and Sense Launcher IMO), but had re-draws and lags here and there probably because of the poor code.
They can ship without a default launcher TBH, since I always change to Nova in the end (Also did on my HTC M7, Z3compact, Oneplus One, S6).
However, this still does not change the fact that LG needs to improve a bit on their debugging and performance optimization.