Choppy browser + warm backplate - Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I have a poor upgrade experience from S3->S4 T-Mobile 16GB version. I'm actually considering selling the S4 after only 10 days to be honest.
It's laggy, especially in the browser. When scrolling it's like it's with 25FPS. Very far from the smooth S3 experience. And when I try to scroll, it's if the phone takes 0.5 second to power up. So the first cm I move my finger, the screen doesn't respond to. It's not everytime it happens though. I'm thinking it could be the CPU governor, but then it should only happen once, and I can replicate it over and over within few seconds.
Second problem - it's hot as hell. The backside is heating up just browsing. I haven't even used the phone for Youtube or gaming yet.
I've tried installing a Google Edition image 4.3 from here, the Android system runs fine, but the browser experience plus the heat is exactly the same problem as with the Samsung TW 4.2 firmware.
*EDIT* Removing the animations in the developer menu doesn't do any good... Just removes the animations. The device LAGS.
I'd really like some input on this - I can't be the only dissapointed user with this

I've upgraded from the HTC One S, and I've been quite underwhelmed with this phone. Battery life and screen is an improvement, but I've been getting those same bugs that you've reported. The gaming performance on this phone isn't even that good on simple games like flow, even with a processor with double the cores, clocked higher and the new spec GPU. Starting to think that maybe the HTC One would have been a better choice.
Meh, sorry for rambling and tl;dr-ing, but yeah, I have the same issues.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium

kylepont said:
I've upgraded from the HTC One S, and I've been quite underwhelmed with this phone. Battery life and screen is an improvement, but I've been getting those same bugs that you've reported. The gaming performance on this phone isn't even that good on simple games like flow, even with a processor with double the cores, clocked higher and the new spec GPU. Starting to think that maybe the HTC One would have been a better choice.
Meh, sorry for rambling and tl;dr-ing, but yeah, I have the same issues.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's nice knowing I'm not alone. I've never before gone back before, but I'm really seriously considering it. The phone is not totally new anymore and the Google "vanilla" edition hasn't cured anything. I'm seriously thinking it's bad hardware.

The build quality is absolutely awful on this phone, I'm petrified to put it in my pocket as so many people have had their phone bend and break just from putting it in the front pocket. Sadly, my network won't let me go back, but if I had the chance, this phone would be gone. The amount of pointless bloatware on this is beyond insane, I haven't gone onto the Google edition yet but I bet the performance would improve. Annoying that I won't be able to uninstall applications.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium

Maybe u should upgrade the firmware to get rid of the lags ... on my phone i have almost no lag at all but i have the exynos version
Heating is a problem that u cant do much about ... i don t know if a custom kernel may help to deal with it
And the phone is a big plastic device but the story behind the broken screens in pockets doesn t sit well with me ... its perfectly possible to happen but people tend to exaggerate a lot ... especially on internet or blame their fault on other things so despite i m being worried too about the fact it cant be so easy to brake the screen

Related

Hot when playing!!

Is it just me or when you play the phone gets ridiculously hot??
Try playing avatar...download it from the game center...after 5 minutes of playing, apart the battery going flat in seconds, the display becomes so hot it almost burns!! The battery temp was 42°!!!
Anyone noticed the same?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Anybody has notice it?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Think 42c is ok, it does get quite hot but the phone will have its own threshold to don't worry bout it. Top left is where cpu/gpu is.
yes the phone do heat up when i try to torture the CPU, especially near the rear camera, but I still find the temperature level acceptable
Watching videos long period of time over wifi makes the screen almost untouchable.! Ditto the hottnes to from the rear of phone by camera.!
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
for me display is not main concern, the area around the camera is getting too hot to touch lol. And it wasn't even a 3d game! It was the game cyberlords....
Although i can say not all games have this. I also played Baseball superstars 2011 for over an hour with no problems with heating.... very weird!
I have had the same issue, But only while it was in a case and charging...
Getting it out of the case helped enough, didn't become untouchable at any point
Sgt dutchy Try a Samsung official vented case there 7.95 on ebay
Mine also gets very hot around the camera and sim card area. I usually take my gel case and battery cover off and stick it in front of the a/c for a few mins. That brings its temperature down
Cpu's get awfully hot when running games..........
Sent from my S using Tapatalk
Ok then I guess it's normal...just wondering if the camera would get any damage being so near the cpu...
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
my girlfriend is the same way
Got my SGS2 2 days ago... and played Avatar a lot. What exactly do you guys expect from a dual core 1.2ghz CPU squeezed in a 8.9mm case??? You either have NO IDEA about technic or your hobby is to complain.
Ok, it gets warm... but it's far away from being hot or even "untouchable".
Why don't you try to use SetCPU and set down CPU volt ? I think it may make the phone work cooler. :d
Before you guys are quick to jump, I thought this was some fluke as well, but I experienced this for the first time last night. Only had my browser running, was viewing a fairly graphics intensive site, and boom, I could barely hold my phone anymore.
Now, keep in mind, I've had the device since 5/4, and have done just about everything on the phone, including lots of gaming and web browsing. Not sure why it went hot potato this one time... could be the rogue process theory... but it got so hot that I could no longer hold the device. Just keep a lookout for this, especially if you have a cover on the device.
cmd512 said:
Before you guys are quick to jump, I thought this was some fluke as well, but I experienced this for the first time last night. Only had my browser running, was viewing a fairly graphics intensive site, and boom, I could barely hold my phone anymore.
Now, keep in mind, I've had the device since 5/4, and have done just about everything on the phone, including lots of gaming and web browsing. Not sure why it went hot potato this one time... could be the rogue process theory... but it got so hot that I could no longer hold the device. Just keep a lookout for this, especially if you have a cover on the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And judging from your signature you run the latest firmware (WKE2)?
I think downplaying the heating issues is not a good idea. The atrix doesn't heat up much while on 3G or playing 3d games. It seems while being great looking, the thinness of this phone is the Achilles heel. Maybe some people are okay with it being hot but samsung should not be allowed to get away with it while we are at it.
I also think there's some process making phones very hot as well. I noticed 2 months after jailbreaking my iPhone 4 that it got extremely hot to touch after using wifi for a couple min. Also some 3d games started to make it hot while they never did before. After a week of that I simply restored it to stock and the heating was gone..
I know it's a different phone and os but my point is the issue can be fixable probably. I would like this to be solved or else the sensation is looking better slowly.
this is disappointing, so we got a crappy camera and now the screen heating up to a point its unconfortable to touch it? :\ im having second thoughts now
The phone still isnt released in portugal.
TheWarKeeper said:
this is disappointing, so we got a crappy camera and now the screen heating up to a point its unconfortable to touch it? :\ im having second thoughts now
The phone still isnt released in portugal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Crappy camera?
Enviado desde mi GT-I9100 usando Tapatalk
jacobnorth said:
And judging from your signature you run the latest firmware (WKE2)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course, that's why it's there.
TheWarKeeper said:
this is disappointing, so we got a crappy camera and now the screen heating up to a point its unconfortable to touch it? :\ im having second thoughts now
The phone still isnt released in portugal.
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Click to collapse
Camera works great, no idea where you're getting crappy camera from. Plus, the negativity is completely unwarranted. This is still by far the BEST phone I've ever used and has exceeded all expectations... and mind you, my expectations were high.
But, that doesn't mean there aren't going to be bugs. With a dual core running at 1.2GHz + 1 GB of RAM, what you have is basically a complete computer system in your pocket. I remember back in the days, there were programs even on my PC that would cause the system fan to kick in and make the CPU go bonkers... it happens. I seriously believe this is a software bug... either with the rogue process issuing a device call that is causing that particular chip to overheat... or it's just a flaw with the current driver controlling the hardware. All things that I firmly believe will be fixed over time.
Good news is, I've been using this phone nonstop since I got it almost 2 weeks ago, and it's only happened once. I'm personally not too worried.

I played around with the S3 at a Bell store today...

... and noticed that all 3 demo'd devices were a bit... laggish. I mean, I tried running a game (blood and glory) and I noticed some frame skipping while no other apps running. I tried scrolling through lists in Google Play or Settings and noticed some sluggish preformance, kindly like using an HTC device.
Then I noticed while downloading an app, it started locking up the phone and became unresponsive at times until the download was complete, twice as slow as my GS2. This seemed a bit confusing.
I'm just having a bit of a dilemma as to whether it makes sense to upgrade to the North American version or buy the international version since it's better spec'd for performance.
What say you?
Probably had numerous processes running. You can close out of an app, but it can still run in he background.
That's the thing, I did by closing all apps and via task manager as well as clearing memory option. It was very odd.
ive been rethinking my purchase since jellybean.
i doubt ill switch to the nexus though.
I don't know about Bell but a lot of times AT&T demo's have special programs on them that run like a video brochure for customers to see many of the phones features and this program can't be unactivated.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
I have a White SGS3 for AT&T and I will tell you it runs lag free!!!
I don't have lag neither it might have been their units maybe someone install something that weren't supposed to, I do not have any lag
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
Not lagging here at all... So not sure what was going on
Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2
did you try rebooting the phone?
I have the Telus Galaxy s 3, there is no lag and it is smooth and super fast compared to my galaxy note.
Zero lag.
This thing runs circles around my razr maxx running aokp. It is decently quicker than my transformer prime too.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
I've actually noticed a similar thing with my SGS3. I'm coming from the original Atrix 4G with Gingerbread. That thing was so impressively fast that it would keep up with my absolute fastest taps (I just know where buttons are and I wouldn't even wait for the next menu to draw on screen before tapping).
I expected the S3 to be at least as fast but then I noticed something; ICS is a BEAST! ICS seems to be very labor intensive to run and this translates to the SGS3 being maybe 15% slower with general navigation. Not such an enormous issue (and Jelly Bean will likely fix that), but it gets worse with games.
Games never had an issue on my Atrix, then again I was never running NOVA 3 with a PS3 controller. The Snapdragon S4's video core just doesn't seem to be that powerful. Many games, even ones that are months old drop (many) frames when settings are turned up. The worst culprit however is NOVA 3 (probably the most advanced game). Maybe the version I'm running just isn't optimized for the Snapdragon, but that **** lags like a little *****! Barely pushing 5-10fps during on screen action. The international SGS3 with the Mali400 video core seems to be so far advanced that even the most labor intensive game can't begin to tax it...
Sad, just our plight. But it gets even worse. The Snapdragon is supposed to be super duper advanced and truly future tech, but NOW. It is amazing that it can even keep up with the most advanced quad-core of today, but it's biggest benefit is supposed to be battery life. Smaller manufacturing process, half the cores, advanced architecture, but only maybe a 10% improvement in battery life. Would you pass up LTE for better local performance? Maybe not. (They used the Snapdragon S4 because it has LTE built in and using the Exynos would mean needing a second LTE chip and SUPER ****TY battery life)
I don't really know much, but I feel like manufacturers should focus more on how to reduce the power consumption of the screen because I'm not sure how power hungry the processor is while I'm just reading an article in my browser (or playing a simple game for that matter). While AMOLED's are beautiful, I would prefer to have just a nice screen that frikin lasts a complete goddamn day at sufficient brightness for me to SEE ****!!(especially in the blasted sun!).
Samsungs quad-core is the processor of TODAY that all high end phones should match (not the case at all though). Dunno how they got the power consumption under control, but they did an excellent job. The rest of the world is very fortunate since their phones probably will not 'feel' slow in a year or two. As for the US? Well if it weren't for the rest of the package being so complete, the phone already feels dated to me. This phone, no, this generation of phones, seems to be more of a sidestep. Just like the SGS2 vs SGS3, there's a lot of the same stuff there, but it's all been a little more refined.
Ultimately, it was time for a new phone. This one should hold out for the next 18 months. After all, it is the undisputed best Android (the OneX is DOA due to it's lack of an SD slot; HTC is just plain stupid). In the next generation, I would really really really like to see some Pixel Q screen equivalent development, increased battery life, performance is a given, and some really clean designs with not so many lines and crap all over the place.
All that being said, the SGS3 is truly a beautiful phone in every respect. The enormous screen is packaged such that it feels so sleek and small and NOT cumbersome, that I actually want a larger screen because the whole phone feels smaller than it looks. I have an extremely high standard and this phone has yet to really annoy me with anything. It's an all around good phone.
Sorry for the long reply, I got a little carried away.
Its hard to judge a phones performance based on demo units. Think about how many people come into the store and mess around with the phone doing god knows what, installing who knows what, etc. Only way to really judge the performance is to play with a brand new one.
When people say zero lag, most of the time it is because their standards ridiculously low. They might be coming from a much slower device, or they really treasure their phone and subconsciously ignore lag. Whatever the case, there's definitely lag with the TW launcher. I use Apex, and there is much less lag with that launcher.
nabbed said:
When people say zero lag, most of the time it is because their standards ridiculously low. They might be coming from a much slower device, or they really treasure their phone and subconsciously ignore lag. Whatever the case, there's definitely lag with the TW launcher. I use Apex, and there is much less lag with that launcher.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha I had some lag from time to time but then I flashed a debloated rom and this phone flies. Too much crap on the US phones - like always. This Snapdragon cpu is pretty sick! I get great battery life and thats comming from a razr maxx, but then again I am no longer using the power sucking verizon lte network.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
I appreciate all the replies. It definitely helps to provide some perspective. I will definitely try the phone with the 15 day return option JUST in case and see how this baby runs with de-bloated roms.
Thanks!
xoltrix2000 said:
I appreciate all the replies. It definitely helps to provide some perspective. I will definitely try the phone with the 15 day return option JUST in case and see how this baby runs with de-bloated roms.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't root if you plan on returning. Just an FYI Samsung seems to have done a fast job porting ics onto the gs3. A lot of the apps are actually compiled in gingerbread which lack GPU and other performance enhancements
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
You can root just make sure you use the root method that does not activate the counter. It's a sticky in the development section.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
Pick it up finally from Bell yesterday... HORRY SHEET! As expected, this thing is mind blasting! I did not think Google Maps could lock and navigate any faster, seriously.
Only thing that is sad is a lot of the games do not work for it yet. Can't wait till that happens.

Occasional Stutter or Lag on the S4?

I've been hearing on some reviews that there are some moments that the Touchwiz UI will have an occasional stutter or lag. Do you guys think that downloading a different launcher, like Apix, will help solve that? Or will I have to go to the dark side of the phone and root it?
Also to some of you S3 owners out there, did installing CM10 or any other custom roms help remove any signs of lag or stuttering from the phone?
lemonz23 said:
I've been hearing on some reviews that there are some moments that the Touchwiz UI will have an occasional stutter or lag. Do you guys think that downloading a different launcher, like Apix, will help solve that? Or will I have to go to the dark side of the phone and root it?
Also to some of you S3 owners out there, did installing CM10 or any other custom roms help remove any signs of lag or stuttering from the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i noticed the same on mine... Its a GT-I9505...
My Nexus 4 is smoother....
I'm afraid to get the s4 because of that. Everyone swore to God that the note 2 was the most fluid device they ever touched with no frame rate drops. I recommend it to two friends, come back two weeks later to find both of their phones a lag fest. There might've been some user error there, they both had 2 or 3 weird apps installed, and I attempted to diagnose the problem but alas the lag remained, with and without apex. It was kinda embarrassing
for me when they both went in to trade their note 2's for an iPhone 5, because of the horrendous lag they suffered.
I say all that because I potentially see that happening here again, especially with touchwiz now BEYOND bloated with features. Not to mention the phone probably isn't optimized for snapdragon the way it is for exynos...
Don't get me wrong I love sammy phones, I think they're incredible as I'm still rocking the s2. I just have a hard time recommending them to people because of the horrible experiences a regular user faces without rooting and throwing an aosp rom on. And it's not like I can freely suggest nexus phones as the nexus 4 is exclusive to gsm (most my friends are on Verizon/Sprint) and most don't like the idea of paying off contract.
Anywho I rambled a bit. Long story short, I'm the biggest Samsung advocate in the world but even I'm skeptical of getting the s4 because of performance drops such as the ones mentioned
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
I'm guessing it's the use of 4.2. It was a big step backwards from 4.1.
MultiLockOn said:
I'm afraid to get the s4 because of that. Everyone swore to God that the note 2 was the most fluid device they ever touched with no frame rate drops. I recommend it to two friends, come back two weeks later to find both of their phones a lag fest. There might've been some user error there, they both had 2 or 3 weird apps installed, and I attempted to diagnose the problem but alas the lag remained, with and without apex. It was kinda embarrassing
for me when they both went in to trade their note 2's for an iPhone 5, because of the horrendous lag they suffered.
I say all that because I potentially see that happening here again, especially with touchwiz now BEYOND bloated with features. Not to mention the phone probably isn't optimized for snapdragon the way it is for exynos...
Don't get me wrong I love sammy phones, I think they're incredible as I'm still rocking the s2. I just have a hard time recommending them to people because of the horrible experiences a regular user faces without rooting and throwing an aosp rom on. And it's not like I can freely suggest nexus phones as the nexus 4 is exclusive to gsm (most my friends are on Verizon/Sprint) and most don't like the idea of paying off contract.
Anywho I rambled a bit. Long story short, I'm the biggest Samsung advocate in the world but even I'm skeptical of getting the s4 because of performance drops such as the ones mentioned
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you ever try to install a custom rom for any of those devices? The only smart phone I've owned was a Samsung Infuse (The little brother of the S2) and the lag on that phone was terrible, despite the amount of roms I've put on it.
I have seen lag in the widget drawer, first time when you try to swipe to a different page in the widget drawer. Seems like 4.2 update have broken a few things in terms of smoothness.
CLARiiON said:
I have seen lag in the widget drawer, first time when you try to swipe to a different page in the widget drawer. Seems like 4.2 update have broken a few things in terms of smoothness.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So did I. Didn't notice a lag in other screens, though...
lemonz23 said:
Did you ever try to install a custom rom for any of those devices? The only smart phone I've owned was a Samsung Infuse (The little brother of the S2) and the lag on that phone was terrible, despite the amount of roms I've put on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I still have the Droid Charge, the Infuse's ugly brother on Verizon. They both use galaxy S hardware in the age of the S II, and Samsung didn't really give a crap about them software wise. I remember when the Charge got the gingerbread update there was a line that read something like this in the source:
/*This is a temporary piece of crappy code that I was forced to write as I did not figure
out how to properly use the driver in the system. Please resist the temptation of ever using
this code in a good Samsung phone. I will remove this code as soon as I figure out the correct
way of using the driver*/
The old hardware and the bad development are likely the problems. We did just get an OTA update a couple of weeks ago that fixed a lot of lag, though. Maybe it was that guy's driver, who knows.
lemonz23 said:
I've been hearing on some reviews that there are some moments that the Touchwiz UI will have an occasional stutter or lag. Do you guys think that downloading a different launcher, like Apix, will help solve that? Or will I have to go to the dark side of the phone and root it?
Also to some of you S3 owners out there, did installing CM10 or any other custom roms help remove any signs of lag or stuttering from the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's an existing feature in Samsung phones called S-lag.
So how's the dialer? Does it still open for 3 secs?
MultiLockOn said:
I'm afraid to get the s4 because of that. Everyone swore to God that the note 2 was the most fluid device they ever touched with no frame rate drops. I recommend it to two friends, come back two weeks later to find both of their phones a lag fest. There might've been some user error there, they both had 2 or 3 weird apps installed, and I attempted to diagnose the problem but alas the lag remained, with and without apex. It was kinda embarrassing
for me when they both went in to trade their note 2's for an iPhone 5, because of the horrendous lag they suffered.
I say all that because I potentially see that happening here again, especially with touchwiz now BEYOND bloated with features. Not to mention the phone probably isn't optimized for snapdragon the way it is for exynos...
Don't get me wrong I love sammy phones, I think they're incredible as I'm still rocking the s2. I just have a hard time recommending them to people because of the horrible experiences a regular user faces without rooting and throwing an aosp rom on. And it's not like I can freely suggest nexus phones as the nexus 4 is exclusive to gsm (most my friends are on Verizon/Sprint) and most don't like the idea of paying off contract.
Anywho I rambled a bit. Long story short, I'm the biggest Samsung advocate in the world but even I'm skeptical of getting the s4 because of performance drops such as the ones mentioned
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I read somewhere that the lag is not the devices themselves but more on Android's native coding (how it was built ground up). Android works like a computer and differences are the way it utilizes the CPU/GPU. For example, when you are browsing and click on something on iOS, it stops everything and performs new instructions right away. In Android, it still process last set of instructions.
So Android reduces the lag by brute force by (dual, quad core, more memory, GPU etc) whereas iOS, because of different coding they don't need to. Many apps on Android are really customized versions of Java. And didn't Steve Jobs eliminate Java because it is too slow/power consuming for Mobile?
Even Nexus devices lag. When you turn on the phone and start scrolling and browsing right away really fast there is some lag.
There is an interesting just released article on that matter , in french, but numbers speak for themselves :
lesnumeriques.com/reactivite-tactile-ecran-21-smartphones-tablettes-n29229.html
(sorry can't publish full url yet.
Limited set of devices for now but more to come and undoubtly GS4.
So far,
no surprise, Iphone 5 beat them all : 75ms
GS3 : quite good : 105ms
HTC one : a bit disappointing : 145
MultiLockOn said:
I'm afraid to get the s4 because of that. Everyone swore to God that the note 2 was the most fluid device they ever touched with no frame rate drops. I recommend it to two friends, come back two weeks later to find both of their phones a lag fest. There might've been some user error there, they both had 2 or 3 weird apps installed, and I attempted to diagnose the problem but alas the lag remained, with and without apex. It was kinda embarrassing
for me when they both went in to trade their note 2's for an iPhone 5, because of the horrendous lag they suffered.
I say all that because I potentially see that happening here again, especially with touchwiz now BEYOND bloated with features. Not to mention the phone probably isn't optimized for snapdragon the way it is for exynos...
Don't get me wrong I love sammy phones, I think they're incredible as I'm still rocking the s2. I just have a hard time recommending them to people because of the horrible experiences a regular user faces without rooting and throwing an aosp rom on. And it's not like I can freely suggest nexus phones as the nexus 4 is exclusive to gsm (most my friends are on Verizon/Sprint) and most don't like the idea of paying off contract.
Anywho I rambled a bit. Long story short, I'm the biggest Samsung advocate in the world but even I'm skeptical of getting the s4 because of performance drops such as the ones mentioned
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Note II with Nova on here, and zero lags (except if you unlock from deep sleep and immediately without waiting, like within 1 second or something, pull down the notification bar, there's a lag, but that's me being nitpicky here). I guess it's a snapdragon thing rather, I'm on N7100 international Note II. Can vouch for that anyways.
I feel like this will be fixed with updates.
A lot of them said it was in awkward apps.. the kind of apps you wouldn't expect to get lag.
On engadgets review, they say that the air view and air gestures seen to make the phone a lot more sluggish. So hopefully disabling one of those features will help speed it up.
Note 2 user chiming in. Not even mad about lag. There is no such thing as lag free. Show me proof if there is.
Also got an GS4 arriving tomorrow. Removing bloatware as soon as I gain root.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
When I was trying out the note 2 at the att store I noticed that some of the transitions would stutter from time to time (getting inand out of the app drawer, notification pulll down stutter) When I was trying out the HTC One, the only lag slight lag I got was on the widget select screen. Everything was literally smooth and fluid, it was awesome! The only reason why I was sold to the S4 instead of the One was because of the power button and volume buttons being so flush in the casing. I would have to slide my finger across the top just to pinpoint the power button which was very annoying and so I was thinking of avoiding the One. And I honestly like the design of the S4 more. But even the slightest lag on the S4 will deter me away from it, if it is constantly happening that is.
i'm not sure why some of u have lag or stutter on N2
i only have stutter on the notification drawer if i have a looot of notifications
Have you noticed some lags on the stock browser app? It seems there are some issues with pinch-in/out.
invano said:
Have you noticed some lags on the stock browser app? It seems there are some issues with pinch-in/out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no stock browser smooth as butter , Chrome stutter sometimes
yahyoh said:
no stock browser smooth as butter , Chrome stutter sometimes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can I ask you what is the version of the fw?
i9505 or 9500?
Thanks man

Anyone returning their G2?

Is anyone unhappy with the G2 and returning it? If so, why are returning it and which device are you getting?
Sent from my LG-D800 using xda premium
I am extremely happy with mine. No way I am returning it. Are you considering taking yours back?
Sent from my LG-D800 using Tapatalk 4
I will be returning mine. After the initial honeymoon period of around 5 days, I'm starting to dislike a few things enough to return it.
1. External speaker is quite terrible, it's very quiet and they place it exactly where your hands rest when you're playing games so it mutes the sound completely.
2. Speaking of gaming, this phone has serious thermal and throttling issues. I can't play any of my graphic intensive games, MC4, NFS Most Wanted, or Asphalt series for more than 10-15 minutes. The phone would get burning hot and throttle itself to a crawl, I would need to exit and wait 10-20 minutes before I could play another 10-15 minutes of gaming.
3. Not a fan of the on screen buttons, it takes up part of the screen..again when gaming I would accidentally tap it many times exiting me out of my game at the worst time.
4. Camera recording, I can't tap to focus during recording like I could on any of my other phones. HTC One, S4, Note II, iPhone ect. Sometimes I would be stuck recording a blur image for the first 5-10 seconds before it automatically tries to focus. 1080p 60 frames per second recording seems to only work in outdoor light or very good lighting, once you go indoors it records at like 5-10 frames per second.
5. Knock on is very inconsistent, I would have to double tap the screen 4 or 5 times sometimes to get it to register while it's sleeping.
I'm going to use the Note 3 for a while to see how that baby works. Really sad to see the G2 go, I had high hopes and a great initial impressions of it at first.
bri315317 said:
I am extremely happy with mine. No way I am returning it. Are you considering taking yours back?
Sent from my LG-D800 using Tapatalk 4
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Awesome. I have overall liked this phone very much and I just dumped my S4 over the weekend, so not sure what I would get even if I did return it lol.
So to answer your question, I'm keeping it. But if I can't figure out my battery drain issues, I will strongly consider returning it.
Sent from my LG-D800 using xda premium
Jury is still out. I don't game much, but I was playing Hex Defense (old tower defense game) and when objects really started to fly around the screen, it started to drag ass pretty bad. Not at all what I was expecting.
Even though I'm returning the G2, there are a few things I loved and will miss.
When not throttled the phone is a complete monster. Easily the fastest phone I've used by far.
I love the web browser, super fast and smooth. Signal strength still amazes me. Battery life is second to none. The screen and form factor is perfect. Oh and what a screen! It still takes my breath away. Camera in low light is awesome, daylight shots are the best.
Maybe im just too picky.
WizeGuyDezignz said:
Awesome. I have overall liked this phone very much and I just dumped my S4 over the weekend, so not sure what I would get even if I did return it lol.
So to answer your question, I'm keeping it. But if I can't figure out my battery drain issues, I will strongly consider returning it.
Sent from my LG-D800 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
A friend is having serious battery problems also, still trying to nail down what's causing it. He has disabled the apps that were keeping awake the most, even disabled gps, wifi location and the find my phone thing. He's lucky to get 8 hrs
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk 4
What gives with the bad gaming preformance? I thought this phone was built with graphic intensive tasks in mind by implementing GRAM and the snapdragon 800 should more than be able to handle it, no? Is it maybe because apps aren't written to utilize GRAM currently?
cslingerland said:
What gives with the bad gaming preformance? I thought this phone was built with graphic intensive tasks in mind by implementing GRAM and the snapdragon 800 should more than be able to handle it, no? Is it maybe because apps aren't written to utilize GRAM currently?
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Sounds like thermal throttling, something that plagued the N4 as well.
bose301s said:
Sounds like thermal throttling, something that plagued the N4 as well.
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Is that something that can be overcame with software
I like the phone... even though a few things annoy me. love the stock launcher but the redraw makes it lag every time you go back.
I hate how laggy the drop down menu is on the lock screen too. god its awful lol
but anyway I have no reason to return it. the only other phone I'd want is the htc one but I doubt I could go down in screen size. seems like a nice phone but eh I hate blink feed and how non customizable the launcher is... and besides I still have a dna lol
Sent from my LG G2 using Tapatalk 4
I haven't decided yet.
Reasons I want to return it:
Non-AMOLED display: I can see it flickering and the black contrast sucks comparatively.
Camera software needs some major help versus Samsung's TouchWiz camera
Lack of external storage, though I may order an OTG cable
CarrierIQ
Reasons I want to keep it: Snapdragon 800
I still have a Lumia 925 and an S4, and the S4 wouldn't be a terrible phone to go back to as my daily driver. But this Snapdragon 800 is noticeably quicker.
cslingerland said:
Is that something that can be overcame with software
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With a kernel it can be.
Hell no. Loving it now that I have rooted it and killed all the bloat. Definitely a keeper for me for the next year.
It's worst feature (to me) is the shiny plastic back, which is at least fixable. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2447349
I will be keeping it, but that doesn't mean i won't get rid of it if another maker improves on this design (battery, bezel)
I remember when upgrading from the Thunderbolt to the s3 it was like nice, I finally have a nice phone but this phone is just something different. I am not one to get excited about things but i thoroughly enjoy looking at the phone, picking it up, holding it and turning it on.
I'm not picky enough with the camera. I think it does wonderfully and will only get better as the phone matures (development)
I'm not picky with the screen changing what appears to be colors (probably also can be fixed).
Sure there are a few nuances like the knock knock not always working but honestly as far as perfect goes for me, this phone currently is it. Will it get better? I hope so.
Speakers are better than the s3 so thats a plus even though i dont use them. Although, watching youtube videos i do agree the speaker placement is a little weird but that is easily remedied by shifting your hands slightly. I would assume the same for gaming, which i don't really do much of since i play PC games.
Anything can be picked apart. Its really all about how much you can tolerate.
I think I might send mine back for now, till the bootloader gets unlocked and I can have slimrom back. I picked up my n4 today and its just so much faster/smoother.
Will miss the battery life however but my n4 gets me through the day %90 of the time.
Darkestred said:
Anything can be picked apart. Its really all about how much you can tolerate.
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I like the phone alot and have very few issues, none of which can't be overcome. This last part of your post truly says it all. No phone is perfect!!
randyspants said:
I think I might send mine back for now, till the bootloader gets unlocked and I can have slimrom back. I picked up my n4 today and its just so much faster/smoother.
Will miss the battery life however but my n4 gets me through the day %90 of the time.
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N4 isnt 4G, is it?
Keeping mine!!!!! Love the stock launcher and all the stock apps, text/email. Phone is quick and snappy everywhere. I rooted it and removed VZW crap and it flies. The only drawback of this phone, to me, is no SD card. Batt life is great....wireless charging, screen size is perfect. Wish I had a white one..wish the back was flat color, but it's not enough to return. There's no phone out there now that can compete. I left an S4 for it and it crushes that lag bag. The Note 3 will be too large for me, so not even an option.
chrisexv6 said:
N4 isnt 4G, is it?
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No it's not however I will be moving to India in a couple months so that won't matter to me soon.

1 week in... And I'm losing faith. Fast. - Updated.

9 Days ago, I made the decision to switch networks due to Sprint's inability to handle MMS, data, signal, calls, or anything else. I walked into a T-Mobile store, and after a brief credit check, I was told I can choose any phone I'd like. My original intent was to hang onto my Nexus 5, which I absolutely loved, but I was told I was required to get a new phone. I wasn't exactly upset knowing I'd be getting a new phone, so I walked over to the displays and struggled for over 20 minutes trying to decide which phone to get. I eventually whittled my choices down to two phones. The LG G3 and the HTC One M9. After a bit of research and test driving, I chose the HTC One M9.
It is a seriously nice phone. The materials used to craft this baby are top notch, and definitely give the impression of quality. I very much like the way it looks and sounds, and even though it could be unwieldy to hold (slippery), I got around that issue by slapping a nice Spigen case on it. HTC's Uh Oh protection is a nice touch and the specifications are equally as impressive, which helped sell this phone to me. The thought of a 64-bit 8-core CPU was exciting.
It's my first flagship phone; everything should be impressive. And yet, I'm kind of not impressed. My two main complaints about this phone are the button placement (I think having the power button and volume buttons on the same side of the phone and right next to each other is kind of silly, then again, my N5 wasn't like that, so I could just be used to that layout. ) and the performance. Yes, you heard me, the performance. I don't even care about the joke of a camera this thing has, it's really the performance of the cutting-edge octacore CPU that they slapped in this thing that really frustrates me. Out of the box, this phone comes underclocked due to overheating issues. That, to me, is downright laughable. Did anyone at HTC test this phone? A flagship device whose performance is throttled from the moment you turn it on. That's like buying a Corvette straight from the dealer, starting up the car and finding out that Chevy disabled two of the cylinders in the engine to ensure it didn't overheat. It's not just the thought of this that bugs me, the performance of the phone is actually terrible at times. My Nexus 5, given it was running a 5.1.1 ROM, was butter smooth in all but the most complicated of situations. This phone, however, limited to a paltry 1.5GHz and another cluster that is slow to wake up and help out, struggles with some truly mundane tasks. For example, swiping to my Google Now Cards is laggy, loading Google Messenger is choppy and slow. Scrolling, in general, is almost never smooth. I've tried different ROMs, Kernels, and governors but can never really find a nice balance between performance and battery life. The CPU is ALWAYS up to something too. Even when the screen is off. My Nexus 5 would achieve, regularly, about 70-75% Deep Sleep throughout the course of a day. It sipped battery. This phone achieves, on a normal day, about 60-65%. Thankfully it has a larger battery than the N5, otherwise I seriously doubt it'd last as long.
Overall it's been bittersweet experience. I really like this phone, I want to love it, but I can't. I realize that this device is still in its infancy and HTC can roll out updates to hopefully iron out some of these problems. I also realize that the community for this phone is also in its infancy, and that down the road, there may be terrific alternatives to Sense 7 and the Stock Kernel. But I have 5 days left, and the idea of swapping this phone out for something better is slowly starting to grow on me. I've been toying with the idea of getting an Xperia Z3 or LG G3 instead. It'll cost me $50 to swap the M9 out for a different phone. On the other hand, my mind is telling me to be patient and that it'll work out in time with this phone. So I turn to you. Anyone else share the same frustrations with me? What do you think I should do? Should I wait or should I swap this baby out for something else?
UPDATE June 8th 2015:
I went to the T-Mobile store the day after posting this. I researched and thought long and hard about the decision I had to make. After a while I came to the conclusion that I would be paying $50 (Restocking fee) to essentially downgrade to another device. In fact, the only other flagship device that even appeals to me at this point is the LG G4, which seems to be getting along as well as the S6 and One M9 have been (from what I've read). Thanks to recommendations from others in the community, I made some changes that have greatly improved my experience with this device. I'm still not a huge fan of Sense 7 nor am I astonished by the Camera's performance, but a new launcher restored much of the stock Android feel and an upcoming firmware update promises to improve the camera. Performance while multitasking is fantastic and while there are a few hiccups here and there, I can't say my experience is any worse than what it was with my Nexus 5. The Battery life, a common complaint from others about this phone, is fantastic in my eyes. It's nice to sometimes forget about charging my phone at night, waking up the next morning and still having enough juice to get me into the afternoon.
Overall, I've only recently concluded that I did not give this device a fair chance for as long as I should've. Coming from my Nexus 5, the change was a bit of a shock. I suppose that played into my initial disappointment. I'm actually starting to fall in love with this phone. Compliments and exclamations of wonder and impact are common from others that I let check out my phone, even from die-hard iPhone fans, which is always nice. I figured that I should update this thread because I see the conversation still continues. No phone is without its flaws, my beloved N5 was hardly without its own. Many "flaws" are a matter of perspective. I'm confident I've made the right choice with this device, and I look forward to the bright future that lies in store for it (please God, give me an AOSP ROM).
ps. The 1.5 clock only applies to the A53 cores. I'm sure people more technically inclined and chime in and confirm this.
I've had nothing but smooth operation on this phone. I am on Leedroid at the moment, but was on international stock rom before and was just as smooth.
I'd be looking as to why you are experiencing the performance issues, and if you're not happy, I'm sure the consumer protection laws in the US allow you to return it for something else?
Best of luck
You are in the 14 day window go an return it
Go get your nexus 5 back or talk to someone who isn't trying to hose you into buying a new phone.
https://support.t-mobile.com/message/389200
Granted I don't know if the specs on your phone didn't match up to what was described in this link, Or if you had it leased.
Alcolawl said:
My Nexus 5, given it was running a 5.1.1 ROM, was butter smooth in all but the most complicated of situations. This phone, however, limited to a paltry 1.5GHz and another cluster that is slow to wake up and help out, struggles with some truly mundane tasks. For example, swiping to my Google Now Cards is laggy, loading Google Messenger is choppy and slow. Scrolling, in general, is almost never smooth. I've tried different ROMs, Kernels, and governors but can never really find a nice balance between performance and battery life. The CPU is ALWAYS up to something too. Even when the screen is off. My Nexus 5 would achieve, regularly, about 70-75% Deep Sleep throughout the course of a day. It sipped battery. This phone achieves, on a normal day, about 60-65%. Thankfully it has a larger battery than the N5, otherwise I seriously doubt it'd last as long.
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Click to collapse
Yeah, I've noticed the lag when swiping to the goole now screen. I'm confident that performance will be better when they give us 5.1, which by then they'll have figured out how to best optimize S810. Best to test out your options, you might even want to consider the M8 which has GPE 5.1 ROMS ready for it. That phone performs and has excellent battery life.
Cryosx said:
Yeah, I've noticed the lag when swiping to the goole now screen. I'm confident that performance will be better when they give us 5.1, which by then they'll have figured out how to best optimize S810. Best to test out your options, you might even want to consider the M8 which has GPE 5.1 ROMS ready for it. That phone performs and has excellent battery life.
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Click to collapse
Have you installed the xposed fix memory leak apk? That may help with lag on 5.0.x
BUBBA DUB'S said:
Have you installed the xposed fix memory leak apk? That may help with lag on 5.0.x
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Yeah I have (doesn't it only fix that off screen animation bug?). The lag when scrolling to the google now screen affects my M8 as well if I recall correctly.
Cryosx said:
Yeah I have (doesn't it only fix that off screen animation bug?). The lag when scrolling to the google now screen affects my M8 as well if I recall correctly.
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I thought it reduced the over all RAM usage from the system over a prolonged period of time. I thought that might affect lag overall on the phone, but I could be mistaken. I haven't experienced any lag on my device yet so I was just throwing out ideas.
Have you tried rooting and putting leedroid on it. It's a beast. No lag. No stutter. Smooth
I never experienced any lags except when gaming during charging the battery with a speed charger.
Sent from a mobile gadget...
BUBBA DUB'S said:
I thought it reduced the over all RAM usage from the system over a prolonged period of time. I thought that might affect lag overall on the phone, but I could be mistaken. I haven't experienced any lag on my device yet so I was just throwing out ideas.
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Click to collapse
Same, lag isn't a problem except for when using google now launcher and swiping to the left for the google now screen. It's minor, but annoying nonetheless. For the OP who was used to the Nexus 5's smoothness it's probably extremely noticeable.
Cryosx said:
Same, lag isn't a problem except for when using google now launcher and swiping to the left for the google now screen. It's minor, but annoying nonetheless. For the OP who was used to the Nexus 5's smoothness it's probably extremely noticeable.
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True, I actually got rid of google now because it was annoying me every time my phone slipped out of my hand and started it. I still am hopeful knowing the m9 should get multiple updates in the future and run 5.1.
dondavis007 said:
I never experienced any lags except when gaming during charging the battery with a speed charger.
Sent from a mobile gadget...
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why would you game while charging the s810 is power hungry i would be careful not killing my battery this way
reubenskelly1992 said:
Have you tried rooting and putting leedroid on it. It's a beast. No lag. No stutter. Smooth
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Click to collapse
Wont make a difference, its the phone to blame to for now. I got 2 devices both same problems at times and tried everything for it, the roms run fine but battery life still bad and weird charging problems for me
v1rk said:
Wont make a difference, its the phone to blame to for now. I got 2 devices both same problems at times and tried everything for it, the roms run fine but battery life still bad and weird charging problems for me
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Click to collapse
Weird
hamdir said:
why would you game while charging the s810 is power hungry i would be careful not killing my battery this way
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Because I only gaming before going to bed. Look at my sig and guess if I keep it long enough to notice
Sent from a mobile gadget.
dondavis007 said:
Because I only gaming before going to bed. Look at my sig and guess if I keep it long enough to notice
Sent from a mobile gadget.
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still you are brute forcing the M9 into throttling its GPU this way and about the best thing on the M9 is actually gaming speed thanks to it's very powerful GPU
Coming from a M8, at first i was a little frustrated for the overheating and the camera of the M9. But then, neither the m7 or m8 were great cameras.
I read a lot of reviews and even started thinking of selling the M9 but swap for what? S6 ? God no, please, no more touchwiz. Lg,i had the lg3 and it was L(a)G and slow, much slower than the M8 (i know, different screen's resolution). So, in the end, i prefer keep the M9, the camera improve a lot with the update, and many more updates will come.
Then, there is sense 7, sense is one of my favourites android skins. Light, smart and very, very fast. I absolutely have no lag in M9 (all stock). And i use a lot blinkfeed, i missed it in any non Htc phone. And there is the boomsound, the touch to awake screen...
When you say you have lag with Google Now cards, I'm assuming you are using the Google Launcher. I have noticed some lag here and there with the Google launcher, but the stock Sense launcher performs admirably. It's quick and never seems to drop frames when gaming either. How did you leave the phone stock before you started flashing different ROMs to it? I think that may actually be the issue. Every review of the M9 has stated that the phone is smooth and HTC's software is better than ever. Messing with the software may be what's causing the poor experience.
hamdir said:
why would you game while charging the s810 is power hungry i would be careful not killing my battery this way
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Click to collapse
I occassionally play a round of Boom Beach, Clash of Clans or Limbo while the phone is on the charger. Can you elaborate a bit on how this could "kill the battery"? Is it related to charging while the GPU is cranking up the thermals?
---------- Post added at 04:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:43 PM ----------
nickmgray said:
When you say you have lag with Google Now cards, I'm assuming you are using the Google Launcher. I have noticed some lag here and there with the Google launcher, but the stock Sense launcher performs admirably. It's quick and never seems to drop frames when gaming either. How did you leave the phone stock before you started flashing different ROMs to it? I think that may actually be the issue. Every review of the M9 has stated that the phone is smooth and HTC's software is better than ever. Messing with the software may be what's causing the poor experience.
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Click to collapse
I'm using the stock Sense launcher and my phone is buttery smooth. While I don't use the Google Now Launcher, Google Now performs great on this phone.
All of the games that I play are also super smooth. Granted, I don't play games that demand a high frame rate, but those games that I do play are far smoother on this phone than my old M7.
The one issue I had with the phone was what seemed like spotty issues with wifi. I did a cache partition wipe yesterday and it seems to have helped the issue.

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