Help Any way to improve scrolling?

spaceman29 · Jan 5, 2014

Hello, I'm new to Android. I recently switched over from the iPhone to enjoy a bigger screen. I went with the Note 3, and overall I'm very happy with my purchase.

The major thing I've noticed so far is that the scrolling is not nearly as good. On the iPhone, scrolling is silky smooth. With the N3, scrolling hesitates at times, and the overall scrolling experience is simply not smooth. At best, I'd describe it as a subtle choppiness.

There's one area where scrolling is downright horrible - the My eBay section of the eBay App. This is where you view purchases and active listings. I suppose this may be a flaw with the Android version of the app itself. I simply don't know. It didn't happen on the iPhone version.

Anyway, I'm just wondering if there's anything I can do to improve the scrolling on my Note 3? I have plenty more questions, but this is #1 on my list.

dontpanicbobby · Jan 6, 2014

Welcome to the forums spaceman29. I don't share your issue however you might try increasing touch screen sensitivity by tapping on the Menus button while your at your home screen, then the controls tab then scroll down to Increase touch sensitivity. This function is actually designed to make it easier to work with gloves on but it sounds like something that might help with your problem. HTH

spaceman29 · Jan 6, 2014

Thanks for the welcome & the tip dontpanicbobby. It didn't seem to fix the scrolling though.

I hope you guys don't think I'm knocking the phone. Overall I'm pretty impressed, and I love having a nice big screen to work with.

Let's try something - maybe some of you feel like running a little test. Go to Settings and scroll up & down. I'm using Nova Launcher, but it doesn't matter, right? We probably all have the same black Settings screen, right? Now, scroll up & down. Pretty smooth right? If you do it enough times, you may get a hesitation here & there, but it's not bad. Overall the scrolling is very smooth.

Now go to a website. I'd like to say go to yahoo.com because they have a long page with plenty of room to scroll. I'm not promoting them, I just think it's a good sample page. The scrolling isn't as good as on the Settings page, right? There's a subtle choppiness there. It's not as smooth & fluid as it could be.

So I'm just wondering, is there anything that can be done to make it better? If not, then so be it. It's clear to me that it's not as good as it could be, but maybe that's just the way it is, and I'll just have to deal with it. Thanks in advance.

dustwun77 · Jan 6, 2014

Hey there!

I went to yahoo like you suggested and my scrolling is smooth as silk.

It made me remember something though. When I first got my last new phone, it wouldn't scroll very well. I was very concerned and disappointed. Not to mention, surprised. Nobody else had mentioned it being a problem, that I had read.

I got an otterbox defender case for it fairly quickly, as the phone was pretty small and slick and I was afraid I was going to drop it.

That case has a plastic cover built in that covers the screen. You know what though? My scrolling improved 300% with that cover on there.

Not trying to sell you an otterbox, just letting you know of the idea. maybe that is what improved it for me and maybe you could put some cheap screen protector on it and see if it makes a difference?

Good luck with that.

BlueBiker · Jan 6, 2014

spaceman29 said:
There's one area where scrolling is downright horrible - the My eBay section of the eBay App. This is where you view purchases and active listings. I suppose this may be a flaw with the Android version of the app itself. I simply don't know. It didn't happen on the iPhone version.

Overall Android phones aren't quite as silky smooth as an iPhone, but the problem above does sound as if the eBay app wasn't as well tuned on Android as it was on iPhone.

dontpanicbobby said:
I don't share your issue however you might try increasing touch screen sensitivity by tapping on the Menus button while your at your home screen, then the controls tab then scroll down to Increase touch sensitivity. This function is actually designed to make it easier to work with gloves on but it sounds like something that might help with your problem. HTH

I don't think the OP's problem is that the phone's touchscreen isn't properly recognizing scroll gestures, but that the software isn't keeping up with the user's input.

spaceman29 said:
Now go to a website. I'd like to say go to yahoo.com because they have a long page with plenty of room to scroll. I'm not promoting them, I just think it's a good sample page. The scrolling isn't as good as on the Settings page, right? There's a subtle choppiness there. It's not as smooth & fluid as it could be.

Try using Firefox or Chrome or Opera or any of the other popular browsers for Android. Maybe one of those is noticeably smoother than the stock browser.

dustwun77 said:
I got an otterbox defender case for it fairly quickly, as the phone was pretty small and slick and I was afraid I was going to drop it.

That case has a plastic cover built in that covers the screen. You know what though? My scrolling improved 300% with that cover on there.

Seriously? I haven't heard that before and have no idea why it would help. Have you ever seen such an improvement with another phone?

dustwun77 · Jan 6, 2014

Certainly, seriously.

It was on an HTC Evo 4g LTE. I was surprised it was a problem, and I was surprised that the screen protector made it better. Have had it on there ever since. Can't argue with success!

BlueBiker · Jan 6, 2014

Nope, I don't argue with success, but I'll be bothered until someone can explain why it helps!

dustwun77 · Jan 6, 2014

I know, it is counter-intuitive as all get out. I thought maybe it might have been my skin sticking on the glass versus sliding on the plastic or something.

I honestly don't know, just reporting the facts.

ScandaLeX · Jan 6, 2014

To the OP I believe what you are experiencing is inherent to all Android devices. Some portions of it are smooth; some choppy- it's been this way with every Android I've had.

And yes, I do agree that iPhone scrolling is noticeably smoother.

I haven't had the Note 3 long enough to give any expert opinion but in the few days I've had it I haven't experienced what you were talking about. Could be from it not being filled yet with all the stuff that was on my Note 2.

Caker188 · Jan 6, 2014

I noticed that too back when I had the GS2. I changed the window and transition animation scale to 0.5x. That was the first thing I did when I got my N3. No problems here.

spaceman29 · Jan 6, 2014

Wow, ok, thanks for all the great replies!

@dustwun77 - That's funny about your experience with the Otterbox. You would think nothing would be smoother than the original glass. No screen protector for me though. Right now I'm using the Neo Hybrid, and I plan on getting the Spigen SA View soon.

@ScandaLeX - That's good to know. So I'm not crazy, right

I guess all devices and operating systems have their strengths and weaknesses. I'm happy so far with the choice I've made.

@Caker188 - I have my Nova Scroll and Animation Speeds set to Faster Than Light, but I couldn't find the System Settings you were talking about until I did a web search. It turns out you have to unlock Developer Options to get to them, which I did. The person who showed how to do it also suggested 0.5x, so that's what I did as well. May I ask why 0.5x instead of "Off"? Wouldn't turning the animation scales off be even faster? Anyway, it didn't help with the scrolling in the stock browser, but I appreciate the tip big time. Unlocking the Developer Options opens up a whole range of different settings that I'll look into later.

@BlueBiker - Try using Firefox or Chrome or Opera or any of the other popular browsers for Android. Maybe one of those is noticeably smoother than the stock browser. Boom! That solved the choppy scrolling! Ahhhhhh, so much better. I've done the Yahoo test with Chrome & Firefox, and what a difference. I haven't tried Opera yet because they have two versions - regular & mini. Any suggestions on which one is better?

So that was the problem - I was using the stock browser and it was mess. Chrome is a vast improvement, and Firefox is like silky smooth buttah.

BlueBiker · Jan 6, 2014

Oh good, glad to hear! I love that there are so many ways to customize the phones and make them better than stock.

Opera Mini is potentially faster, because all of the webpages you visit are processed on Opera's servers and then sent in compressed form to your phone, but there are privacy implications -- If I were logging into my bank's website I wouldn't want some third party involved in the transaction.

dontpanicbobby · Jan 6, 2014

I use Boat Browser myself. Glad we found a solution for you spaceman29 and thanks for joining us.

Kancerstick · Jan 6, 2014

if your experiencing choppy browsing I highly recommend the AOSP browser from the play store. You do need to be rooted, but it is probably the fastest browser I have ever come across.

Another thing is to go into developer options and turn on GPU acceleration. It seems to help with some apps.

ScandaLeX · Jan 6, 2014

@spaceman29 Glad using a different browser worked for you. The only time I use the stock browser is when I get a new phone- very soon after that I switch to FF so I hadn't even considered what browser I was using when I did your test.

dynomot · Jan 7, 2014

The ASOP browser is available from the Play Store? Excellent.

It is, but only for rooted users and it sounds like it could "break" other things. Probably not wise to install on a TW ROM, but hey who said I was wise

I'll give it a go.

Back on topic, yes scrolling on my daughters ipod 4th generation touch is smoother than anything I've ever experienced with any Android phone, not that Android is bad, just that iOS has its good points.

spaceman29 · Jan 7, 2014

Thanks again everyone for helping me out. I'm enjoying my Note 3 more and more everyday.

Kancerstick said:
Another thing is to go into developer options and turn on GPU acceleration. It seems to help with some apps.

This is something I would try, but I don't see GPU Acceleration on the list. I see:

Force GPU Rendering
Show GPU View Updates
Show GPU Overdraw
GPU Rendering Profile

Help Any way to improve scrolling?

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