Help How to fix the Galaxy S4 Lag!

[Atma]

heavy lagging when texting, switching apps, using the dialer, just takes literally more than 3 seconds to catch up to what my finger is doing

If you have tried the ideas in this thread, you might want to consider a factory reset. I don't experience anything like that.

 

[Shocky]

The lag that others are talking about has been addressed.

International LTE users are still waiting for the update.

heavy lagging when texting, switching apps, using the dialer, just takes literally more than 3 seconds to catch up to what my finger is doing

Takes 1-2 seconds here, it's still a delay though and very noticeable.

 

[EarlyMon]

International LTE users are still waiting for the update.

Right. I was addressing someone in Arizona on T-Mo however.

If you have tried the ideas in this thread, you might want to consider a factory reset. I don't experience anything like that.

^This.

And GSams Battery Monitor, find out what's taking up your CPU cycles - you may have a rogue app or something.

 

[gs32013]

If you have tried the ideas in this thread, you might want to consider a factory reset. I don't experience anything like that.

did a factory reset and it cleared up the lag. phone is blazing again. thanks guys

 

[trparky]

I decided to do a factory reset just for the hell of it. Seemed to fix some of the random issues I had.

 

[trparky]

Found another source of major lag, a specific app. I've used the Equalizer app for nearly a year and on other devices I've never had an issue. But apparently this device has some major issues with the Equalizer app. I uninstalled it and suddenly all of the lag was gone. Menus fly open, apps open lightning fast, etc.

 

[pakilad]

Last night i was with my friends and we were all debating iPhone is better or Galaxy S4 is better.i have Galaxy S4 so i was telling them that Galaxy S4 is far more better then any other phone. one of my friend has iphone 4S we compared GS4 with IP4S and i got so embarrassed when i opened contacts on IP4S and GS4. GS4 Lagged...... IP4S smoothly opened contacts before GS4.....it was in my GS3 too but i closed all animations and it lagged less. Now the GS4 i have dont have or i don't know how to turn off animations....cant access youtube as it is banned in our country can someone please help how to fix it...

 

[fdnj48]

I may do a factory reset also. I disabled the animations and it cleared up the home screen lag but my phone lags massively in other areas. The most annoying to me is in messaging when I try to attach a picture it takes a long time for it to attach(I'm talking up to 10 seconds sometimes) which I never had an issue with on my S3. It also lags a lot in the browser when trying to load pages or open images in the browser, and also opening up a lot of different apps I've always used. Also my volume and lock buttons have a lot of play to them. Very frustrating so far. I'm going to reset it and if its not better I'm probably going to return it and go back to my S3

 

[trparky]

I've never seen what you describe fdnj48, just some minor hesitation but that's it. Nothing like the extreme lag you describe.

 

[highboltage]

I live in Canada and I own the SGH-I337M version. How is it any more different than the GT-I9505?

And I haven't noticed any lag on my device at all.

 

[fdnj48]

I've never seen what you describe fdnj48, just some minor hesitation but that's it. Nothing like the extreme lag you describe.

Yeah it's pretty bad. I did a factory reset last night after I posted that and left the phone completely stock minus the Yahoo Mail app and it did not clear up anymore of the lag that I had. Still extremely slow at attaching pictures and if I type even a little to fast it lags until it catches up. My S3 never had those issues. Really debating on whether or not I should just go back to the S3, at least for now until some of the bugs are worked out. I know people will say there will always be bugs with new phones but going to what shows better specs then the S3 I guess I was just over optimistic. We'll see tho

 

[trparky]

Have you checked to see if this lag occurs with apps other than the Yahoo! mail app? The Yahoo! mail app isn't exactly the best made app out there.

 

[speedlever]

Yeah it's pretty bad. I did a factory reset last night after I posted that and left the phone completely stock minus the Yahoo Mail app and it did not clear up anymore of the lag that I had. Still extremely slow at attaching pictures and if I type even a little to fast it lags until it catches up. My S3 never had those issues. Really debating on whether or not I should just go back to the S3, at least for now until some of the bugs are worked out. I know people will say there will always be bugs with new phones but going to what shows better specs then the S3 I guess I was just over optimistic. We'll see tho

Have you updated the firmware yet?

As a matter of practice, do you guys swipe to close your apps when through or just let them accumulate?

 

[mikeyv2009]

I've heard there have been issues with the galaxy s4 having lag issues, has anyone else experienced this and I thought I heard that samsung is going to address the problem and push out an update? Is this true

 

[fdnj48]

Its being discussed here

http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-s4/717183-how-fix-galaxy-s4-lag.html

 

[fdnj48]

Have you checked to see if this lag occurs with apps other than the Yahoo! mail app? The Yahoo! mail app isn't exactly the best made app out there.

Yeah I've had other apps installed and it lags in just about all of them. I also waited until this morning to reinstall the yahoo app to see and it was lagging with nothing installed

 

[fdnj48]

Have you updated the firmware yet?

As a matter of practice, do you guys swipe to close your apps when through or just let them accumulate?

I haven't updated the software yet but its up to date already. It says no update available. I always back out of apps when I'm done

 

[jds4000]

It is pretty sad indeed that this device would experience any lag at all. One would think that with 2 GB RAM and a blazing fast processor the last issue the end user would face on this device would be lag of ANY sort. I ditched my iPhone 5 for this and I am not happy. The lag issue is unacceptable. Forget about all of the fixes out there. These issues should have been fixed before the GS 4 shipped. Period. I'm 90% sure that my device will be returned, and I will simply return to my iPhone 5. True, the display on the iPhone 5 is too small for my liking. However, lag was never, ever a problem. Never. I HATE THE LAG ON THE GS 4.

 

[Atma]

If you want to try another launcher, like Apex, you will probably see most of your lag disappear. I think most of the problem is TouchWiz needs to be optimized or something. Although I don't really experience real lag with TouchWiz, just a quick hesitation now and then.

With Apex, I experience zippity-doo-dah smoothness. The only problem is some of the widgets won't work the same in Apex, like the weather widget.

 

[trparky]

One of the things that I have looked at is that it seems that the speed of the CPU doesn't ramp up as fast as it should, or at least, not as fast as I think it should. What does this mean? It means that the CPU governor is taking too long to think about ramping up the speed of the CPU. I eventually see a kernel update in the future that will update some things with the CPU governor.

What will this mean for battery life? Unfortunately, I do see battery life suffering a bit with some CPU governor tweaks since the CPU will be ramping up in speed more often thus causing the CPU to use more power.

So far, I have been able to get my phone to run as close to perfect as I can. I have animations turned on and IMO I'll never turn them back on even if the issues are fixed in the kernel. I've began to like not having the animated screen transitions so having them off is fine with me.

 

[dgold82]

It is pretty sad indeed that this device would experience any lag at all. One would think that with 2 GB RAM and a blazing fast processor the last issue the end user would face on this device would be lag of ANY sort. I ditched my iPhone 5 for this and I am not happy. The lag issue is unacceptable. Forget about all of the fixes out there. These issues should have been fixed before the GS 4 shipped. Period. I'm 90% sure that my device will be returned, and I will simply return to my iPhone 5. True, the display on the iPhone 5 is too small for my liking. However, lag was never, ever a problem. Never. I HATE THE LAG ON THE GS 4.

I think that Android was just never built with UI fluidity as the highest priority. In the beginning it was always functionality over fluidity of UI. Project Butter was promising but then one update later my Galaxy Nexus had terrible (really terrible) lag. They might not ever get to iPhone level responsiveness no matter how powerful the chipset. Maybe a massive overhaul of the code behind the scenes.

I've been using the S4 for a week now and I can see what you're saying but I don't think it's THAT bad. There is the occasional stutter here and there but it doesn't seem to be slowing down app load times or game smoothness at all.

Personally, I'll take the additional functionality of Android with the UI fluidity hit. But that's just me. I chose the S4 because Samsung seems to be supporting their phones the best after release and all the accessories they offer. The iPhone is a great phone though. It's simple and just works with little to think about.

When I don't want to deal with family members or friends who aren't techies I tell them to get an iPhone and go talk to the geniuses if they can't figure something out. Any family member who understands tech even in the slightest I tell to go for Android. One way I can tell if Android is good for someone is if their PC or Mac desktop and file/folder system is organized to their liking. Those with scattered desktops and unorganized file systems I say go straight for the iPhone.

Just my 2 cents. You can't go wrong either way.

 

[fdnj48]

Well I went and had my phone replaced today so hopefully this one will be better! We shall see

 

[BzB]

i have to admit i don't see lag on my s4. i also have to admit that i start disabling and turning off stuff i don't need/use immediately after i set up the phone for the first time.

i don't use touchwiz launcher. nova launcher prime is my launcher of choice. i've disabled all of the bells and whistles i don't use under settings > my device > input and control. i have not adjusted any graphics or animation settings. there might also be other apps or syncing services running by default that cause lag, but again, i disable all the stuff i don't use so probably another reason i don't see it. my s4 is smooth as can be and hasn't had so much as a burp.

i agree a high end device like this should be lag free out of the box, and for some it might be. but i know better. android is made to be tinkered with and modified. it doesn't help that pretty much every option possible is enabled out of the box and sometimes causes stutter because too much is going on. that said, i think people's perception of 'lag' is skewed due to the buttery ui of apple products. but there's distinct difference in functionality between the two platforms that most people don't see. both are good in their own way, but android gets a bad wrap when compared to apple's eye candy.

 

[Turbodc2]

My phone gets a stutter every now and again. Sucks, but then when I think about the iPhone, or even the HTC one, (which is also buttery smooth) they can't do half the stuff that the s4 can, so in the end, I don't really mind. Every rose has its thorn. I think Samsung will create an update in the future to address this as my s3 didn't have any lag.

 

[trparky]

I decided to root the phone and load a third party kernel. The kernel I loaded was Faux's kernel. Now the lag beast is completely gone. No trace of the ugly monster. There is definite something not right in the stock kernel for the device.