Root Slow again. :(

[doogald]

The only way I know of to check that is this: Menu>>Preferences>>Advanced Settings>>Show Memory Usage.
And it puts the number on top of the screen. Right now it shows 11,877kb, but when I open the dialer it goes away, so I can't tell if it jumps up or not. Is there another way?

Menu->Preferences from home are the preferences for Launcher Pro (I believe that you are using LP), and this is telling you how much RAM LauncherPro is using. If you want to know how much RAM is available, I usually use the app System Panel myself, but there are a number of ways to see it. I think that it's somewhere in menu->settings->about phone.

 

[offanairplane]

Menu->Preferences from home are the preferences for Launcher Pro (I believe that you are using LP), and this is telling you how much RAM LauncherPro is using. If you want to know how much RAM is available, I usually use the app System Panel myself, but there are a number of ways to see it. I think that it's somewhere in menu->settings->about phone.

I am using LauncherPro, but I wasn't sure if that Preferences menu was strictly for LP or more than that.

I'll install that app and try to determine my memory usage.

 

[offanairplane]

I'm not sure I quite understand the difference here... Can you give the steps you are following? Are you clicking the phone icon (or something similar) and then tapping a name in the list and that's when you see the delay? I refer to that as dialer lag though perhaps I was being a bit imprecise...

I usually bring up the dialer by pressing the physical call button. It brings up the screen where I can either dial a number, or tap a contact from the list. That dialer comes up pretty quickly. Tapping the contact directly initiates a phone call to that person. But that process takes a long time. You know the screen where it shows your contact's photo and it says "End Call" in red at the bottom? That screen takes a while to come up after I tap the contact. Also it takes a while to start ringing.

Another place I see lag is when I open the SMS app. It at first just shows the phone numbers of those who I've sent messages to. Then after about 5 seconds, their contact name replaces the phone number.

I did install that call log trimmer by the way. I don't get or make a ton of calls so I just set it up with a maximum of 20 calls, and to trim every 12 hours. We'll see what happens.

As for checking memory consumption, I'm not following this either Where are you executing this command? I'm running xtrSENSE 4.6 and perhaps things are different with that ROM? Anyway, the Memory Status widget I mentioned earlier is convenient since it can sit right on a home screen. And by the way, 11M does not sound like a lot unless this is just the size of an app or something...

As doogald pointed out, that was LauncherPro's memory usage apparently.
I'll download a memory usage app and get back to you on that one.

 

[offanairplane]

This is what I came up with.

The only widget this app offered is the "End All" button. So with this screen open, I can't open the dialer. Maybe you have the paid version, and that is why you have that other widget.
That app I told you about, listed as "Visible 10.2Mb" so that isn't a lot, right?

 

[ksyrium]

The app I mentioned above is Memory Status though there are a number of apps that will give you memory info. I like this one because it has a widget version (for free). Now, since it's a widget, I'm not suggesting that you will have a way to easily see the memory usage *while* the dialer is up and running. I find it's enough to just see what mem usage is before trying to start the dialer.

So, I would suggest:

1. Download/install Memory Status
2. Long-press on a home screen and look for Memory Status (nice pic of a disk drive)
3. Press "Create Widget" (scroll to the bottom to find command)
4. Verify that you have a widget on your home screen
5. Tap the widget to update the mem numbers

What does it say for "Int" and "RAM"? Right now for me, I get Int = 27.2M and RAM = 52M.

 

[doogald]

This is what I came up with.

The only widget this app offered is the "End All" button. So with this screen open, I can't open the dialer. Maybe you have the paid version, and that is why you have that other widget.
That app I told you about, listed as "Visible 10.2Mb" so that isn't a lot, right?

System Panel is telling you that you have 52 MB of RAM available - that should be fine. I find that sluggishness starts when that number is 30 MB, sometimes lower.

10.2 MB is not a lot. The issue is how active the app is in the background - it's not so much how much RAM it's using, it's how much CPU cycles it is using. The fact that your system is at 287 MHz suggests, and the pie chart to the left, suggests that the CPU is fairly idle, though. It's probably not that app.

Quick question: from home, if you go into settings->applications->manage applications, wait for the list to refresh, and go to contacts storage, how much MB of storage are your contacts listing? I have read that many people have a ridiculously high number, like tens of megabytes. Does yours have that much? On GSB, mine is 2 MB, but I have read people who report something like 32 MB on HTC based ROMs.

 

[offanairplane]

Quick question: from home, if you go into settings->applications->manage applications, wait for the list to refresh, and go to contacts storage, how much MB of storage are your contacts listing? I have read that many people have a ridiculously high number, like tens of megabytes. Does yours have that much? On GSB, mine is 2 MB, but I have read people who report something like 32 MB on HTC based ROMs.

Mine is 1.24Mb

Oh, and that Clock Speed is bouncing around. It was pretty low when I took the screen shot. But it's constantly bouncing around. It probably averages about 400Mhz.

 

[ksyrium]

Also, have you checked CPU usage? Again, multiple ways to do this... I like Android System Info. I go to the 3rd tab on that (Tasks), go to the Menu and select Sort by CPU Usage (or Mem Usage) and press OK. You should then see a list of running tasks.

What do you see at the top for "Total CPU Load"? I'm running around 14-20% right now. And then look at the individual rows for the first few tasks. Do any of them consistenly show a high number (besides the Android System Info app itself and Android System...)? That would indicate an app that's hogging your processor and making it tough for other things to run.

 

[offanairplane]

The app I mentioned above is Memory Status though there are a number of apps that will give you memory info. I like this one because it has a widget version (for free). Now, since it's a widget, I'm not suggesting that you will have a way to easily see the memory usage *while* the dialer is up and running. I find it's enough to just see what mem usage is before trying to start the dialer.

So, I would suggest:

1. Download/install Memory Status
2. Long-press on a home screen and look for Memory Status (nice pic of a disk drive)
3. Press "Create Widget" (scroll to the bottom to find command)
4. Verify that you have a widget on your home screen
5. Tap the widget to update the mem numbers

What does it say for "Int" and "RAM"? Right now for me, I get Int = 27.2M and RAM = 52M.

Int = 77.3MB
Ext = 5.1GB
RAM = 58MB

 

[offanairplane]

Also, have you checked CPU usage? Again, multiple ways to do this... I like Android System Info. I go to the 3rd tab on that (Tasks), go to the Menu and select Sort by CPU Usage (or Mem Usage) and press OK. You should then see a list of running tasks.

What do you see at the top for "Total CPU Load"? I'm running around 14-20% right now. And then look at the individual rows for the first few tasks. Do any of them consistenly show a high number (besides the Android System Info app itself and Android System...)? That would indicate an app that's hogging your processor and making it tough for other things to run.

I downloaded a different app for that, but that screenshot shows that I was using 8.6% at that moment.

 

[doogald]

Int = 77.3MB
Ext = 5.1GB
RAM = 58MB

Those are all very reasonable. You have plenty of free storage, plenty of free RAM. Your issue is just HTC slowness, IMO.

I downloaded a different app for that, but that screenshot shows that I was using 8.6% at that moment.

Again, pretty low.

Mine is 1.24Mb

Oh, and that Clock Speed is bouncing around. It was pretty low when I took the screen shot. But it's constantly bouncing around. It probably averages about 400Mhz.

Ok, storage of contacts is just fine, clock speed at 400 MHz, with a minimum of 245 MHz and max of 710, using the Ondemand governor, which steps up CPU speed quickly and down slowly, is another suggestion that you are not CPU bound. I am guessing that you get decent battery life as well - you get through the day without having to charge?

If you're ready, I really think that you should look into trying GSB. Take your time, but remember that if you do a Nandroid backup you can easily go back to xtrROM just as you have it at the time of the backup. To the steps and suggestions I listed above, I'll add looking into adding the app Dialer One from the market (free) - it makes the dialer work like the HTC Sense dialer (i.e., it presents the dialpad with the call log listed above, and you can dial "SMI" to bring up the "John Smith" contact in a list as you press the dial pad - that does not happen with the default Gingerbread dialer.

 

[ksyrium]

Well, I agree with Doogald that the mem numbers look fine. However, I'm not on board with the "HTC slowness". Granted it's just one data point but my setup (Eris, xtr-based ROM etc.) sounds pretty similar *and* I used to have pretty bad lag (most noticeable with the dialer) but in the last few weeks it's been much better. I attribute this to many or all of the items I mentioned above.

So, a few more thoughts. Any chance that LauncherPro is an issue? I'm guessing not since lots of people are very happy with it but that is at least one difference...

Also, can't remember if I mentioned this before but have you cleaned out your cache recently? I typically use CacheMate and just the other day (because of a really weird install problem) I also cleared the Dalvik cache using Titanium Backup. Probably won't make a difference but just wanted to get all the ideas out there...

Finally, I wonder if there's any relationship between a delay in initiating a call and the quality/strength of your cell signal? I notice a single bar in your screenshot. Does anyone know if the phone's radio software will have "difficulty" placing a call in the case of a weak or poor signal? This is probably a silly idea but I'm running out of things to suggest!

 

[metlcat]

Finally, I wonder if there's any relationship between a delay in initiating a call and the quality/strength of your cell signal? I notice a single bar in your screenshot. Does anyone know if the phone's radio software will have "difficulty" placing a call in the case of a weak or poor signal? This is probably a silly idea but I'm running out of things to suggest!

We can't tell the cell signal from the screen shot he posted because the bars are for the 3g signal. The phone signal is hidden unless there is no 3g signal or 3g is turned off.

 

[ksyrium]

Good point about the screenshot showing the status of the 3G signal. I'm still wondering though if there is any relationship between signal quality and the amount of time required for call setup. Does anybody happen to know that?

By the way, to more closely monitor signal strength, there are a number of utilities including Real Signal and Signal Status Bar.

 

[offanairplane]

Those are all very reasonable. You have plenty of free storage, plenty of free RAM. Your issue is just HTC slowness, IMO.



Again, pretty low.



Ok, storage of contacts is just fine, clock speed at 400 MHz, with a minimum of 245 MHz and max of 710, using the Ondemand governor, which steps up CPU speed quickly and down slowly, is another suggestion that you are not CPU bound. I am guessing that you get decent battery life as well - you get through the day without having to charge?

If you're ready, I really think that you should look into trying GSB. Take your time, but remember that if you do a Nandroid backup you can easily go back to xtrROM just as you have it at the time of the backup. To the steps and suggestions I listed above, I'll add looking into adding the app Dialer One from the market (free) - it makes the dialer work like the HTC Sense dialer (i.e., it presents the dialpad with the call log listed above, and you can dial "SMI" to bring up the "John Smith" contact in a list as you press the dial pad - that does not happen with the default Gingerbread dialer.

For whatever reason I'm still a little hestitant to switch to GB. I really like the stability and compatibility that xtr_Rom offers, and it works very well. I think perhaps I am being too picky, and the slowness I'm experiencing is just the result of an underpowered phone. But at least at this time, I want to stick with xtr_Rom, and just try to tweak it to work better.

The switch to xtr-Rom was seamless, since I went from 2.1 to 2.1. Going to a different Android version seems more complicated, and more likely to have issues, and I really don't want issues. I just want my phone to work. And right now, it works much better than it did stock, with a little slowness that I can live with. I think that is good enough for me.

Battery? I have a charger on my nightstand that I plug it into every night. I have one in my car for when I am listening to Pandora through my stereo, so it doesn't drain the battery. And I have one on my desk at work, because when it's constantly searching for a signal all day at work, that is a big battery drain. When I am not at work, say on the weekends, with normal use, I have no problem going all day on a charge. There may be 35% or so left at the end of the day.

Signal strength might be an issue. But I was at work when I took that snapshot, and the signal sux at work. But at home I have much better signal and it's still slow.

I could try de-activating LauncherPro and see if that helps. Truth be told I don't really need it anyway. I could just put shortcuts on the home screen for all that stuff except the dialer, and I can just press the send key to activate the dialer. I was living without it for a while before I installed it. Anyway, I don't know if that is the problem. But I could try it.

 

[ksyrium]

Another question I meant to ask... probably obvious but just in case. You are using the stock dialer, right? The one that's part of xtrROM?

Also, can you quantify the dialer/dialing lag? I just tried it on my phone (running xtrSENSE 4.6) to see what I get.

With the mem widget showing Int = 25.7 and RAM = 67MB, I brought up the dialer. I then tapped the first entry in the list (which should be the top of your call history list). Using a stopwatch, I timed the duration from when I tapped that first entry to when the screen appears with the large green android and the red "End call" button. I tried this 3 times and each time the duration was at or under 2 seconds. How does this compare with your phone?

In the past, this might take 15 or 20 seconds for me but recently it's been pretty consistently low...

 

[ksyrium]

Well, something interesting happened today. Since I had been "boasting" about no dialer lag, I had a case today where things got really, really slow. ;-) Anyway, I played around with it and there seemed to be a direct relationship between the lag and when I had 3G/Mobile Network enabled. Whenever 3G was on, the lag was really bad. Once I turned off 3G, and waited about a minute for things to settle down, the lag was completely gone.

The 3G "Up/Down" arrows were indicating a fair amount of data traffic so I assume that something was updating or syncing and hogging the CPU or tieing up the phone in some other way?

Anyway, do you normally have 3G enabled? If yes, try turning it off and see if that makes the lag go away...?

 

[Bob Cat]

Well, something interesting happened today. Since I had been "boasting" about no dialer lag, I had a case today where things got really, really slow. ;-) Anyway, I played around with it and there seemed to be a direct relationship between the lag and when I had 3G/Mobile Network enabled. Whenever 3G was on, the lag was really bad. Once I turned off 3G, and waited about a minute for things to settle down, the lag was completely gone.

The 3G "Up/Down" arrows were indicating a fair amount of data traffic so I assume that something was updating or syncing and hogging the CPU or tieing up the phone in some other way?

Anyway, do you normally have 3G enabled? If yes, try turning it off and see if that makes the lag go away...?

Well I could definitely see where that would be a problem but would we have to keep turning it on and off all the time. I use the internet a lot such as right now.

 

[ksyrium]

Right, I realize that leaving 3G off could be a real pain for some folks. I tend to only turn it on when needed but that's because I'm the type that likes to see my battery last a long time.

My suggestion above was only for the purpose of trying to track down the "source" of the lag. It would be great to find a smoking gun here!

 

[d3310n]

So I was very frustrated with my stock Eris because it was kinda snappy right after I wiped it when I first got it second-hand. But soon it got very slow.

Then I rooted and flashed xtrROM_5.0 and it got very snappy again!
Now it is slow again. Mainly just when I am doing phone-type functions. But sometimes when doing other things.

I uninstalled my task killer, and haven't used it in 4 or 5 days. It hasn't made a huge difference, as it was getting slow even before I uninstalled it.

I only have a handful of apps on my phone, many of which are games which I wouldn't think would be running in the background.

What gives?

I thought xtrROM_5.0 was supposed to be the workhorse, and stable and fast. If it is slow then I imagine any other ROM I would install would be just as slow. Is it some of my apps that are doing this? I don't think I'm using anything that most everyone else isn't also using.

If I upgraded to a Dinc or something with a faster processor, would I eventually have the same issues? Would it be fast at first, and eventually slow down the more I use it?



One more side question (not that upgrading will be an option for me for quite some time) if I upgrade to a new Android phone, will I have to repurchase any apps? Or will I just log into Google, and the app store just as if I were reinstalling everything after a wipe?

What were youre before and after linpack scores. Also this is normal, happens on my lg ally also. You just need to reflash the rom every month or so if top notch speed is that important to you.

 

[Bob Cat]

Well I rarely go into setting but I did tonight and looked at running processes and what did I find. The Phandroid app has been running and it was 30mb. I think that with a couple others is why my phone has been sooooo laggy.

 

[ksyrium]

Well, something interesting happened today. Since I had been "boasting" about no dialer lag, I had a case today where things got really, really slow. ;-) Anyway, I played around with it and there seemed to be a direct relationship between the lag and when I had 3G/Mobile Network enabled. Whenever 3G was on, the lag was really bad. Once I turned off 3G, and waited about a minute for things to settle down, the lag was completely gone.

The 3G "Up/Down" arrows were indicating a fair amount of data traffic so I assume that something was updating or syncing and hogging the CPU or tieing up the phone in some other way?

Anyway, do you normally have 3G enabled? If yes, try turning it off and see if that makes the lag go away...?

Well, it appears that my "discovery" is nothing new. See here. I didn't remember hearing about this before however.

And another thread reported here. Symptoms described in this one are exactly what I'm seeing.

 

[bberryhill0]

I like SysMonitor to monitor memory use.
http://market.android.com/details?id=sysmonitor.ndroidz.com

CacheCleaner NG for cache:
http://market.android.com/details?id=org.lsartory.cachecleaner.ng

SystemPanelLite for task management:
http://market.android.com/details?id=nextapp.systempanel

Delete old messages for SMS management:
http://market.android.com/details?id=uk.co.jads.android.smsdelete

I rarely reboot. xScope seems to cause me the most problems but I'm posting from it now. This little computer is amazing. And it also works as a phone!

 

[offanairplane]

Another question I meant to ask... probably obvious but just in case. You are using the stock dialer, right? The one that's part of xtrROM?

Also, can you quantify the dialer/dialing lag? I just tried it on my phone (running xtrSENSE 4.6) to see what I get.

With the mem widget showing Int = 25.7 and RAM = 67MB, I brought up the dialer. I then tapped the first entry in the list (which should be the top of your call history list). Using a stopwatch, I timed the duration from when I tapped that first entry to when the screen appears with the large green android and the red "End call" button. I tried this 3 times and each time the duration was at or under 2 seconds. How does this compare with your phone?

In the past, this might take 15 or 20 seconds for me but recently it's been pretty consistently low...

Well, wouldn't you know when I actually tried to quanitify this, it was working really well. lol

It took an average of 2 to 3 seconds. Which is not great, but totally acceptable for me. It's still working like that.

And the slowness I described with the SMS app went away when I started using HandcentSMS instead of the stock app.

Those are the only two main areas where I see lag.

I will try toggling the 3G later to see if that makes a difference, but I can tell you now that I am not willing to toggle it on a daily basis. I prefer to leave it on, even if it means less battery life. I want my emails to sync every 15 minutes.

 

[ksyrium]

So, I did quite a bit of digging to try and understand the "new" dialer lag that I was seeing. The executive summary is it appears to be directly related to the GTalkService used by Google Talk. On my phone, this background service normally gets started, even if I've specified that I *don't* want to be automatically logged in. Anyway, when the service is running, I see the following:

1. 3G is enabled and idle (faint "D" is visible below 3G status bar icon)
2. Start up the dialer
3. Tap the first entry in the call history
4. Let the call be initiated
5. Tap End call
6. At this point the 3G "arrows" indicate data traffic. This usually happens 2 or 3 times and then goes back to being idle

Now, if I kill off the GTalkService and repeat the steps above, when I get to #6, I do not see any 3G activity at all.

I'd be curious to hear if other folks running 2.1 see this same behavior?

Also, note that I found that the Android Market seems to work fine even with GTalkService not running. I mention this because I found some previous discussions that said that GTalkService was needed in order to use the Market app.