Rather disappointed in my Note 10.1 2014

That is a shame! I got the Note 10.1 and am impressed with its quality and the functions it offers. The issue you are having with the threads jumping around could be a problem with the actual coding not working well with android, not the specific tablets fault in my opinion. But hey, to each his own! The iPad air is a very nice tablet though, if you are thinking of going to the IOS. I got one last week at work and its very sleek and light. I just prefer the customizable interface in android vs ios.

I have had Note 10.1 for over a year and with lower specs than the new one have not seen a millisecond of lag.

Have you checked for any aps causing it? I cannot believe that it is the hardware that is incapable, hence it must be the software. First thing I would do is disable animations.

Mine is really bad after this latest update (MJ6) in the UK it was quite smooth to start with out of the box. My old note was (eventually) really smooth in comparison. Apparently MK1 fixes the problem somewhat. I shall see.

GadgetMonster431 said:

That is a shame! I got the Note 10.1 and am impressed with its quality and the functions it offers. The issue you are having with the threads jumping around could be a problem with the actual coding not working well with android, not the specific tablets fault in my opinion. But hey, to each his own! The iPad air is a very nice tablet though, if you are thinking of going to the IOS. I got one last week at work and its very sleek and light. I just prefer the customizable interface in android vs ios.

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How is yours on video playback? I started another thread and I'm very disappointed in the stuttering I get every 10 minutes or so. Mine's a US 32GB wifi version. Not impressed. I like LectureNotes and the active stylus though. Too bad there aren't any Android tablets with Wacom tech built-in.

addictedtocars said:

It may well be an app, but considering I don't have much on it I suspect it is something with an app or apps interacting with touch wiz. In the end if it is this quirky with a handful of my tried and true ios apps, then I will wait until the android app developers get their crap together. Simple apps like Pulse and Zite are not tablet optimized they look like crap none of the web browsers behave well but are rock solid on ios. I hate this as I really want to be all android, but I will likely get th new Nexus 10 as a side toy to play with and see how the apps mature over next year.

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Have you tried the advice with disabling animation?

I am beginning to wonder if the lag that some people are reporting is not related to poorly coded apps? My theory, based on nothing more than a hunch, is that the hardware and Android is becoming so powerful that inefficiently coded apps really show. In previous versions of Android and single core or maybe even dual core processor hardware with one gigabyte RAM, perhaps app developers could get by with poorly coded apps but not anymore. For example, there is a noticeable lag when opening my email app. Not sure why that would have anything to do with the hardware or Android when many other apps open just fine.

I am going to ask you guys the last time as it does not seem anyone here is well acquainted with Android:

Have you tried disabling animation? Do you know how to do it? If not, let me know and I will give you instructions.

This was also posted multiple times as a fix for any lag on S4 on 4.2.2

Szadzik said:

I am going to ask you guys the last time as it does not seem anyone here is well acquainted with Android:

Have you tried disabling animation? Do you know how to do it? If not, let me know and I will give you instructions.

This was also posted multiple times as a fix for any lag on S4 on 4.2.2

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Very well acquainted with Android here. Been using and preferring it over other OSes since Eclair. Disabling animation helps a little with UI lag, but not app lag for me. Lag that I experience is more related to app use, video viewing is one example for me. That is one thing that I find truly disengaging when I'm trying to get lost in a movie.

What video app are you using? I haven't had a single glitch, skipped frame or pause with Dice Player. This isn't the iPad - you can choose any app you want as the default player.

Dice Player is an anomaly in that its free, no ads, and has constant updates. It also plays DTS audio with a plug in.

Cobravision said:

What video app are you using? I haven't had a single glitch, skipped frame or pause with Dice Player. This isn't the iPad - you can choose any app you want as the default player.

Dice Player is an anomaly in that its free, no ads, and has constant updates. It also plays DTS audio with a plug in.

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Whatever plays when Google Play movie is viewed and the Samsung App for the Hub movies (both types were downloaded and viewed from the device, not streamed). I didn't see a "choose which app" dialog when viewing either of these videos.

I've tried disabling animations but found that I do like a little bit of movement between menus, so I left everything at 0.5x instead of 1x. Everytime I check RAM manager it says that nearly 2 of the 2.71gb of ram is already used, even if I clear memory. I wonder if this is just touchwiz bloat. Does anyone think that switching to another launcher might help the problem?

kogenesis said:

Everytime I check RAM manager it says that nearly 2 of the 2.71gb of ram is already used, even if I clear memory. I wonder if this is just touchwiz bloat. Does anyone think that switching to another launcher might help the problem?

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Android manages memory to enable fast application startup, leave it alone.

Touchwiz is not just a launcher, it is a whole framework with loads of apps and using a different launcher changes nothing in this respect.

Is the tablet slow? If it is not, forget about RAM and just use it.

My Note 10.1 2014 was laggy as well, but after installing the latest updates (Settings, General, About Device, Software Update), the lags were gone and TouchWiz started to be quite snappy.

addictedtocars said:

If there had been maybe a streamlined custom ROM I might try that, but I realize the best approach would be to try a native Android Tablet without US bloat.

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Unlike custom ROMs for e.g. the S4 where the additional Samsung software is not generally missed, not having S-Pen support would be a major drawback and Samsung is not about to open source its S-Pen software.

I think you have to accept that you are stuck with whatever Samsung supplies and have to tweak that.

NOVA LAUNCHER smooths out almost all of the lag, try the demo.

Well, with a nice quad core and 3Gb of RAM, you'd think it should fly. I'm an app reviewer and test a lot of apps but I don't keep many installed unless I really like them. Out of interest, I loaded up 'Cleanmaster' to check it out with no intention of keeping it installed. One morning I turned on the Tablet and left it idle for about 15 minutes while I did other things. I came back to a low memory warning. What the?

OK, I installed a file manager to see whats going on. About 23 apps sitting in memory. No harm there so I disabled the bloatware ones I will never use (New York Times - nope. I live in Australia) and others that allow disablimg that had nothing to do with system functions. Still, the worst is that damn Flipboard app I can't even read due to my low vision. The best I could do is stop it from sliding up by accident.

I checked and there are no updates to the system apps yet. Re the stuttering video, my 3 year old Toshiba Thrive dual core plays glitch free and better than the Note 10.1 at this point in time. I'm patient and believe that it's early days yet for this new model, so I will be expecting updates to fix these glitches in due course.

I'm new to SPen and haven't given it a good 'play with' yet, and Touchwiz? Meh! I'm in apps all day so I don't have an opinion yet about the pros and cons.

About Diceplayer, OK fine, but VLC Beta for Android has been my go-to player and it plays just about anything. Even it has trouble on the GN2014 (my new abbreviation . I'm told it's not on US Play Store but I'm sure you can track down a direct download somewhere.

I've had some issues with the new Tablet, but I'm sticking with it to give it a chance to prove itself, but I can tell you, one day after the warranty expires, it's ROOT city and goodbye Samsung bloatware

Regards
tamxir

I have slightly mixed feelings about my Note. I love the screen and form factor. Build quality seems reasonable and most apps run fine including video players. I really like the S Pen.

However, it doesn't feel as snappy as it should. In particular, scrolling web pages isn't anywhere near as smooth as my wife's two year old iPad, which is decidedly disappointing. I also get stuttering scrolling home pages and that's using Nova. I have also found that typing can be laggy and sometimes I can easily outpace the keyboard. That should not happen on a device this powerful and expensive.

My final gripe is Knox. It's not a performance issue but I am thoroughly annoyed about it. This is my first unrooted Android device and not being able to use Sixaxis and my PS3 controller means I don't play games on it, even though it would otherwise be perfect for doing so.

Back to the OP's original post. I have to ask...why did you even get the GN2014 if you don't like Spen? That's what separate it from all the other tablets. If you don't like the Spen or don't need to use it everyday, then you are paying way too much for this tablet. Why not go with the Tab? Or Nexus 10?

I agree, it has bloat. Shame on Samsung. Someone needs to kick them in the butt for putting on loads of crap that nobody uses and takes away from the overall experience.

I agree, it also lags a bit. When I wake mine up, the lag is horrible. This thing has 3gb of RAm...that's 3 times more than the Ipad...and that doesns't have any lag.

Anyways, I can't explain it. I won't defend it. It's horrible. To have these issues and ask for over $500 for it? Nobody will ever say that the GN2014 is the value tablet of the year. That it ain't.

But the Spen and the beautiful screen is what makes up for what I consider the best tablet on the market. I love mine, despite of my complaints about it. I've used it everyday since I got it.

Rockets said:

NOVA LAUNCHER smooths out almost all of the lag, try the demo.

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I have Nova Launcher. I can say that it does NOT smooth out the lag. I still have lag. It's tolerable. But to say is "Smooths out almost all of the lag" is a little optimistic.