Performance Variables....and some interesting results

[Needsdecaf]

So, there has been a lot of carping on this forum about performance. Be it battery, speed, lag, etc., a lot of people have issues with the phone. I will admit, I am one of them.

Initially I had battery issues. My battery seems to be pretty (wouldn't say very) robust now. I can get a full day with HEAVY use (GPS on, BT on and connected for 30 plus minutes of calls, lots of browsing, FB, camera, photo uploads, etc.)

So inspired by this thread, and especially ErisUser's post, I decided to go back and look at my phone more closely.

I had posted in another thread that I finally had figured out that the main issue causing lag on my phone was Sense. Sense has been running terribly: re-booting, freezing, taking FOREVER to load, and generally slowing the phone really down. Reverting to the stock "Home" application eliminated all of this, at the cost of my HTC widgets, and some of the ease of the Sense operation. I've been running this way since Saturday, and the phone has been great. I've checked back with Sense a couple of times, and it was just laggy and slow. Note, that I am doing all the correct maintenance: task killing, cache clearing, etc.

So this last thread got me thinking: the phone hadn't always been this way. I never would have bought it if it were running this slow. So the problem, more than likely, was something that was interfering with Sense, not Sense itself.

I made a list of Apps I had installed:

Advanced Task Manager
AK Notepad
Amazon
Astro File Manager
Backgrounds
Barcode Scanner
Dolphin BrowserEar
EBuddy
Facebook
Handcent
Key Ring
Open Sudoku
Shop Savvy
Spare Parts
Sports Tap
Startup Auditor
The Weather Channel
Unit Converter
Retro Clock Widget (used with Home)
Android Agenda Widget

Then I thought: what could be screwing with Sense? I have had pretty much all of the Task Managers: Task Panel, Advanced Task Mgr, Advanced Task Killer, Auto Task Killer, etc. So I figured, that probably wasn't it. Especially since I always have ATK kill itself.

But Startup Auditor. Now there could be a possibility. So I decided to uninstall AK Notebook, the Retro Clock widget, and Startup Auditor. I then re-activated Sense. I did not restart the phone.

My phone was back.

Speed was blazing fast again, even faster than with Home running. I could not believe the difference. Dialer, Facebook, Browser, EVERYTHING was fast again.

Now, I am sure that there are people using Startup Auditor with success. And I have to say that I have had apps "go bad" on me before (Chomps SMS was one of them). But for me, it was the culprit.

So here's my thought, and I'm sure it's been said before, but I'm sure that some people new to Android (me, included) could stand to give it some thought. Android is an operating system, like WinMobile, Blackberry, etc. It operates on a LOT of platforms. In addition, HTC phones overlay another GUI over-top of Android. So right there, there are a lot of variables to performance. Now, add in apps. Each app has the potential to screw something up. Add to that the fact that the apps are open source and go through nothing more than peer / market testing and again run on multiple platforms, and you have a recipe for issues.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Android phones are for tweakers. I've tweaked my phone a LOT and am still getting to know the ins and outs of how it works. I've tweaked a lot of settings, but I'm sure that I haven't scratched the surface. I can only imagine what can be done with Root access....I'm not sure I want to know.

So, if you're having issues, have faith, think about how your phone was in the beginning, or how others run. Take measurements of program usage, keep notes, figure out what's wrong. Chances are, you'll figure it out.

All I can say is, I'm glad to have my phone back!!

P.S. One other thing I did, that helped a lot. I got my wife an iPod touch for Christmas. It's WiFi enabled, so I have been able to set up mail, etc. In typing, I noticed that I LOVED the keyboard. But I also noticed...no haptic feedback while typing. Hmmm. So I turned it off on the Eris. Holy crap, I type SO much faster now. And with better accuracy too, as I can type much closer to my "natural" typing speed, so I tend to make less errors. I don't think the keypad has become any more sensitive, just my fingers more accurate!!!

 

[erisuser1]

I used to work with a marketing manager that was fond of saying "Perception Is Reality!".

What he meant by that could be interpreted in either a positive or negative way: the money in the pocket of a customer who loves your product for the wrong reasons is just as green as that of a customer who loves your product for all the right reasons. Or, the other way around: a customer who hates your product for the wrong reasons can have as much impact on potential customers as another customer who hates it for all the right reasons.

You obviously had to be pretty thorough to figure out what went wrong; but there will be plenty of people who would rather just blame the hardware, the carrier, or the device manufacturer - and go online to complain about it. Thank you for being candid about what you found out in your journey.

It will be interesting to see how Android plays out against more "closed" platforms... in part because the opportunity exists with completely uncontrolled 3rd party apps to create some pretty bad customer experiences.

OTOH, I suppose that means that there is a greater opportunity for innovation and creativity - sort of like how the PC creamed the Mac commercially, even though the PC was crap by comparison: it had a bigger universe of possibilities than the tightly-controlled "Apple Ecosystem", and so a lot more could be done with the platform, even if it was incredibly ragged around the edges.

Things could be different this time around though, because of the carriers - the last thing they want to see is wide use of unlocked commodity handsets, because they lose control of both the end customer and the device manufacturers... and become a commodity service themselves.

We'll see, I suppose; in the meantime, I love my Eris, warts and all.

eu1

 

[hrbib21]

Good info.

I'm interested to see if some of the others who are complaining about lag are using Startup Auditor.

 

[Slugdoc]

my phone varies between mildly laggy (at baseline) to very unusably laggy. When it gets to that point I power down and restart, and then it works well again.


I don't use startup auditor.

I have checked with 'top' applications (Robotop) and don't see any service or app obviously hogging the processor.

 

[hrbib21]

^Have you tried Advanced Task Manager? I use it and don't have lag issues (except when I reboot because every damn app on the phone starts up when you reboot).

 

[Needsdecaf]

It will be interesting to see how Android plays out against more "closed" platforms... in part because the opportunity exists with completely uncontrolled 3rd party apps to create some pretty bad customer experiences.

OTOH, I suppose that means that there is a greater opportunity for innovation and creativity - sort of like how the PC creamed the Mac commercially, even though the PC was crap by comparison: it had a bigger universe of possibilities than the tightly-controlled "Apple Ecosystem", and so a lot more could be done with the platform, even if it was incredibly ragged around the edges.

Exactly my thoughts. As much as I like the iPhone, I feel that even if it was on VZW, I'd rather have the Android platform and the free apps. Seeing how many apps I have downloaded and thrown out, it would be a huge waste of money.

Also, with a re-boot the phone is even FASTER. I am so happy to have my phone back!

 

[stmartin84]

So, with all that said, are you running HTC Sense or Home now?

 

[Needsdecaf]

So, with all that said, are you running HTC Sense or Home now?

Back on Sense. And it is faster than before I unloaded the Startup Manager and was running Home.

 

[stmartin84]

I uses the Sense, but like the looks and feel of home. Just don't like the fact that certain widgets are unavailable with Home. IE the weather/clock widget. Toggles for GPS, WiFi, etc.

 

[Needsdecaf]

So to update, since users seem to be having a glut of issues with lag, GPS, etc.

This thread: http://androidforums.com/htc-droid-eris/30504-i-am-sad-figured-out-what-causing-lag-2.html started me thinking: it's not the phone that's causing issues, it's the apps.

If you are having issues with lag, functionality, etc. Try some of these remedies.

Disable Sense and run home. If your phone is much faster, one of your programs is interfering with sense. Likely it is a Task manager / task panel, etc.

If you get notifications that you have updates to programs, only do one at a time. Re-start the phone and make sure there are no performance issues.

It is better (and recommended by many of the application developers) to NOT update without first uninstalling the original app you are updating.

Un-install apps one at a time and re-start. See if there is an app which is causing your issues.

Likely one of these remedies will help you. In some cases, you really may have a bad phone or a more serious problem.

I have the update (not the leaked one) and my phone:

* No longer has lag as a result of tweaking the apps.
* YouTube app works 95% of the time
* GPS works
* Keyboard lag gone.

 

[CJBullitt]

I have the update (not the leaked one) and my phone:

* No longer has lag as a result of tweaking the apps.
* YouTube app works 95% of the time
* GPS works
* Keyboard lag gone.

sorry for the newb question but where did you get this if not the leaked one?

 

[Needsdecaf]

sorry for the newb question but where did you get this if not the leaked one?

The first OTA update. Not the new one, which is scheduled to go OTA on Jan 22.

 

[Bswartz95]

So to update, since users seem to be having a glut of issues with lag, GPS, etc.

This thread: http://androidforums.com/htc-droid-eris/30504-i-am-sad-figured-out-what-causing-lag-2.html started me thinking: it's not the phone that's causing issues, it's the apps.

If you are having issues with lag, functionality, etc. Try some of these remedies.

Disable Sense and run home. If your phone is much faster, one of your programs is interfering with sense. Likely it is a Task manager / task panel, etc.

If you get notifications that you have updates to programs, only do one at a time. Re-start the phone and make sure there are no performance issues.

It is better (and recommended by many of the application developers) to NOT update without first uninstalling the original app you are updating.

Un-install apps one at a time and re-start. See if there is an app which is causing your issues.

Likely one of these remedies will help you. In some cases, you really may have a bad phone or a more serious problem.

I have the update (not the leaked one) and my phone:

* No longer has lag as a result of tweaking the apps.
* YouTube app works 95% of the time
* GPS works
* Keyboard lag gone.

Do you use a task manager of any sort?

 

[Needsdecaf]

Do you use a task manager of any sort?

Advanced task manager.

I do not use the widget to kill apps, I go to the app and selectively kill apps to make sure I am not killing anything I don't want, even though I have many exclusions.

 

[Bswartz95]

Advanced task manager.

I do not use the widget to kill apps, I go to the app and selectively kill apps to make sure I am not killing anything I don't want, even though I have many exclusions.

Ok. I use Task Panel without the widget. I've found the widget will cause lag. I like the auto-kill when putting the phone to sleep. Like you, i have many exclusions on the ignore list as to not interfere with Sense.

 

[beagle]

Probably a dumb question but I'm new at this... just got a Droid Eris two days ago. I'm dealing with the battery drain issue and that doesn't bother me but what does drive me nuts is how slow everything is when I'm on WiFi. I can run my IPod Touch and pull up three pages at the time it takes to get one page on the Eris. Is that just because it's running so much stuff in the background? Is there a good way to fix that issue?

 

[SlickRick]

Probably a dumb question but I'm new at this... just got a Droid Eris two days ago. I'm dealing with the battery drain issue and that doesn't bother me but what does drive me nuts is how slow everything is when I'm on WiFi. I can run my IPod Touch and pull up three pages at the time it takes to get one page on the Eris. Is that just because it's running so much stuff in the background? Is there a good way to fix that issue?

Do you use a task manager? If not try Advanced Task Manager. It works for me.
SlickRick

 

[condog]

I use ATK on my phone and i kill my apps frequently(when i close out of a program and know im not going to be using it really soon i kill it) and ive noticed that as i use my phone the amount of memory available slowly goes down. Such as: Reboot:88m, 2 hours later: 70m, 4 hours later: 55m and this is with no apps running. So I usually reboot after using the phone for a while. Anyone else noticed this? Any idea why it happens? Thanks.

 

[snorge]

Do you use a task manager? If not try Advanced Task Manager. It works for me.
SlickRick

same here it is the best task manager for sure IMO.