Help How to fix the Galaxy S4 Lag!

[daveydog]

I want to buy this phone... But lag is my second biggest pet peeve (reception is first). I noodled around with the s4 in store and it lagged a lot (opening apps, swiping left/right etc)... Please tell me those that have it aren't seeing that in real life.

I don't see anything here on the board so I'm hoping that's a good sign...

 

[archer75]

I want to buy this phone... But lag is my second biggest pet peeve (reception is first). I noodled around with the s4 in store and it lagged a lot (opening apps, swiping left/right etc)... Please tell me those that have it aren't seeing that in real life.

I don't see anything here on the board so I'm hoping that's a good sign...

There are discussions here on the subject and things you can do to fix it.

I have no lag whatsoever swiping left to right. I had it on open/close animations. When you turn off the animations the lag is gone and apps open/close super fast.

 

[daveydog]

Thanks...I still can't find the discussion about it though... Find it disappointing that a phone this spec'd out has any issue with lag though... You shouldn't have to tinker with it to work right... I'd trade all that sensor stuff for a consistently snappy phone! Oh well... If there's a way to minimize it, guess that's good enough... Thanks again

 

[trparky]

I see an update soon to fix some of these issues. I'm sure that we're not the only ones seeing this, Samsung must be seeing this too. Some of the International variants have seen some updates as of late so who knows, the US versions will probably be seeing some updates soon too.

 

[society187]

ok guys i was first in line to get the s4 the day i came out and it had lag and then returned it and same thing i did a you tube search and found this video and its 98% lag free give it a try! Galaxy S4 Lag Fix Makes it 10 Times Faster! - YouTube

 

[daveydog]

Thank you thank you thank you

 

[Gearu]

Which versions are you guys using? I'm assuming the GTi9505?

I've asked the admins to split the S4 forum in two because this one forum is making it seem the S4 in general has 'all' the problems posted.

 

[qandres12]

Phones that you can play around in a store are usually filled with backgrounded apps taking up ram which is why it was probably leggy. Think about all the people that use the phone and run apps and then just leave.

 

[yash78]

A bit disapointed with the slight lag. usually happens when i turn the screen on/exit an app then immediately scrolll. Takes a second or so to become smooth. A phone with these specs shouldnt have this problem.

 

[Shocky]

Yeah I noticed it myself when I got the Galaxy S4, I disabled animations and it's really quick now.

It's amazing how Samsung overlooked this, good job it's easy to fix.

 

[trparky]

Sounds to me like there may be some issues with the graphics chip drivers in the kernel.

 

[BzB]

perhaps the cpu takes a second to ramp up after being idle. in many cases cpu will ramp down when idle to save battery. turning off animations and other unneeded stuff likely reduces the load and makes it more responsive.

 

[crabman]

If you don't use S voice open it up and go to its settings and disable the home button checkbox. This will pretty much get rid of the home lag when pressing the home button. Also disable the animations as shown in the video and this will essentially fix the launcher lag. On mine I was getting a lot of hiccups from the wimamp 4x1 widget and removing that made my phone smooth in combination with these other things.

It should be said that my phone lagged significantly all over the place as it came from the box. The video up above shows a good representation of that and I saw it on both S4s I saw in the store and you can see it in many of the video reviews even when the phone is on final firmware. If you buy this phone you should expect some lag in the launcher and with opening and closing apps until you make some changes. This is not a case of something being overblown on forums, its real and you will have it unless you buy at a later point where a firmware update has fixed it.

 

[jds4000]

Fabulous ! Thank you !

 

[EarlyMon]

Which versions are you guys using? I'm assuming the GTi9505?

I've asked the admins to split the S4 forum in two because this one forum is making it seem the S4 in general has 'all' the problems posted.

Looks like the UK version has it as well -

Picked up the S4 on friday and loving it, the screen is fantastic, camera is very impressive and the camera software is a huge improvement over S3.

Only complaint is there was some lag out of the box, it's very easy to correct but Samsung really shouldn't overlook these things.

And both versions are drawing wifi complaints.

The point is really about helping one another. Some variations will exist sure, but overall, problems are just issues with solutions waiting to happen.

Keeping the info together benefits everyone.

 

[R=G]

Thanks for the youtube video link on fixing the lag..the camera is GREAT. I love it.

 

[Shocky]

Looks like the UK version has it as well -

And both versions are drawing wifi complaints.

The point is really about helping one another. Some variations will exist sure, but overall, problems are just issues with solutions waiting to happen.

Keeping the info together benefits everyone.

UK version is the same, GT-i9505, GT-i9500 may get released here in 32GB flavor in a few months or it might not.

No wifi problems as yet.

 

[NacsMXer]

If you don't use S voice open it up and go to its settings and disable the home button checkbox. This will pretty much get rid of the home lag when pressing the home button. Also disable the animations as shown in the video and this will essentially fix the launcher lag. On mine I was getting a lot of hiccups from the wimamp 4x1 widget and removing that made my phone smooth in combination with these other things.

It should be said that my phone lagged significantly all over the place as it came from the box. The video up above shows a good representation of that and I saw it on both S4s I saw in the store and you can see it in many of the video reviews even when the phone is on final firmware. If you buy this phone you should expect some lag in the launcher and with opening and closing apps until you make some changes. This is not a case of something being overblown on forums, its real and you will have it unless you buy at a later point where a firmware update has fixed it.

Thank you very much for the tip about disabling the home button checkbox in the S Voice settings. I did everything in the Youtube video to get rid of the lag but I still had the lag every time I pressed the home button. After unchecking the home button box in S Voice, my home button works instantly with no lag!

 

[bobby2478]

I seriously hope Samsung pushes a software fix for this OTA in the near future. It sounds as though there is considerable lag appearing. With a machine with as much hardware firepower as the S4 has, it's surprising that something as small as animations would cause noticeable lag.

I'm still rolling with my old school Evo 3D and even that doesn't experience lag with animations turned on and all sorts of apps loaded. I really like the S4 (my girlfriend got one this past weekend) and am basically waiting to upgrade until I see how some of the reported issues shake out and whether software updates fix any of them. I'm also waiting to see if Google announces anything about the X Phone this week before I decide which device I want to upgrade to.

 

[crabman]

The animations remain, you reduce the built in delay by reducing it to zero. I'm still unclear on why anyone would even want the delay? Regardless you will see no difference other than your lag in the launcher goes away. Take the lag out of the home button by removing its delay to sense a double tap and all of a sudden in combination with the other fix the phone becomes much much better.

 

[bobby2478]

The animations remain, you reduce the built in delay by reducing it to zero. I'm still unclear on why anyone would even want the delay? Regardless you will see no difference other than your lag in the launcher goes away. Take the lag out of the home button by removing its delay to sense a double tap and all of a sudden in combination with the other fix the phone becomes much much better.

Good clarification, thanks. As you point out, the "lag" would make sense if it's due to a pre-defined delay that Samsung has configured out of the box. Waiting for a pre-set delay period is different then general performance lag.

To your point, it's curious why Samsung has those delays set up out of the box.

 

[crabman]

Its from stock android where the settings are also available so long as you access developer which is also hidden there as it is here. So Uncle Google has provided these settings for reasons unknown to me anyways. It is interesting that these were not disabled by default as the phones hardware is easily capable of swapping loaded screens as fast as you can swipe your finger. Maybe one of the smart guys will chime in.

 

[bobby2478]

Its from stock android where the settings are also available so long as you access developer which is also hidden there as it is here. So Uncle Google has provided these settings for reasons unknown to me anyways. It is interesting that these were not disabled by default as the phones hardware is easily capable of swapping loaded screens as fast as you can swipe your finger. Maybe one of the smart guys will chime in.

If it's Google as you mention, that that would make sense I suppose as they would set the "ideal" settings for a wide variety of devices, including a large number of them not as powerful as the S4. Which would lead me to believe that Samsung wasn't aware of this or didn't notice it, as they would have had the option in their tweaked version of Android to get rid of this delay since the S4 hardware is obviously powerful enough to handle the animations and transitions without requiring any delay. Hope this is on their list of things they can address in a future update so people don't have to remember to go tweak these settings that aren't necessary on a device as powerful as the S4.

 

[EarlyMon]

Many UI programmers consider slower transitions to be a bit more friendly for newcomers to an interface. Not saying that I know why they did this, but in addition to supporting lesser hardware, maybe that was a factor. I've seen that, someone touches something and then jerks in surprise at a fast transition. Just saying maybe though, don't know.

 

[Slug]

Just as another data point....

I've taken a look at my Xperia Z and the 'Window animation', 'Transition animation' and 'Animator duration' scales are all set to 1x by default, so it appears to be universal for JB.