I know, it's a 2 year old phone with just 1GB RAM and TouchWiz on top of it.
I've spent the last 2 days trying a LOT of roms to try to make the phone feel faster, because I don't want to buy a new one. I really like this one. The camera is AMAZING, decent battery life, love blocking mode, etc. As a phone it works great: good speaker, strong vibration, great signal, etc.
But there's one single thing that makes this phone feel "old": the speed. Just the speed. If it were faster and more fluid then there would be absolutely no reason to upgrade to the new phones (except, well, maybe more RAM and battery).
Yesterday I tried like 15 AOSP roms: CM11, temasek, ultimaAOSP, NeatROMAOSP, Vanir, AOKP, SlimKat, etc.
Nothing. It's slightly faster, but the problem is the animations. They just look wrong all the time. There's frame drops everywhere. And bugs and crashes, so back to Samsung stock today. Tried another 10 samsung based roms. Nothing new. Speed is still the same and frame drops are still there...
I guess I'll have to end up buying a new phone, but definitely not a flagship. I'm looking at midrange phones that come with AOSP. Found one with 2GB RAM, 13Mpx camera, 2500 battery, 5 inch 720P IPS screen, microSD and dual SIM for 199$. Great price, and comes with 4.4 stock Android.
Tried the phone at the store the other day and it just made my SGS3 look like the midranger, and that with a MediaTek A7 1.3 quad core!
+++
Exactly. Well,animations are smooth on AOSP with right kernel,but still not as it should be. This phone sucks when it comes to UI performance.
Now I even got broken camera and media playback,too,after stressing it with every new test on my phone.
Well,probably this phone worked the best with 4.1.2. I think it's all about crappy processor,called exynos.
EDIT: Btw,you can try archidroid 1x with his boeffla presets,though. After all,it's not that bad.
I think you are just setting unrealistic expectations if none of those ROMS, without TouchWiz, were any good for you.
There is nothing crappy about the processor mate. your case is an isolated issue. If the archi ROM is not smooth for you then there is something wrong with your phone.
it's always wise to stick to ROMs and kernels which are built using proper sources.
Do not restore a massive amount of data soon after a flash. Let the ROM settle a bit. Trim your device memory once in a while.
Also a megawipe is recommended after so many flashes.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using XDA Free mobile app
I put Cyanogenmod CM11 on mine after updating to stock 4.3. It felt like a completely different phone and brought back the speed. It absolutely flies and battery time is double what it was on stock 4.3.
I tested alot of Roms but regading speed and batterylife i use Temasek with Yank kernel. No OC and de S3 flys.
Oh god, it's like reading a thread I could have written myself. I feel you, mate. Got the same damn frustations sometimes.
It seems that whichever ROM "camp" you choose, you're gonna have drawbacks. Tried so many different variants of TW-roms and i just feel they are all too slow and with lags.
Many of the AOSP-roms are quite fast (using ArchiDroid atm which is incredibly fast!) but then you get the problem of crappy camera, no Allshare, tethering issues, many games that have sound-issues and all those random bugs we all know about but try to live with
Perhaps the new Kitkat port can solve these issues but it seems there is a lot of work to be done still. Still I'm glad there's a community like XDA with such awesome people (Like Kryten who posted earlier ) who put the time into developing these things.. Or we would be stuck with even slower ROM's from Samsung.
Is there any way to get rid of it, or at least reduce it?
Install smart droid, further debloat, run greenify and boeffla, custom launcher and its quick, no lag
Even the s5 can't run without lag using Touchwiz.
Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk
jennifercolemanme said:
Is there any way to get rid of it, or at least reduce it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes there is, activate Developer Options by tapping on the Build Number in About Phone. In there are 3 settings for animations. The 1st thing I do on every rom is decrease them to 25%. On CM11 and temaseks builds you have a slider which allows you to fine tune the settings instead of the picker which you find on other roms.
My personal experience is that OmniRom is just snappier than any of the others, even when I have a whole bunch of apps open, incoming calls get displayed almost instantly, the dialer and contacts open almost instantly. In my case of course. Everyone has their favourite rom/kernel combination. I have also had great success using Yank555's kernel with the default settings (which include a slight overclock with no noticeable battery drain.
So my temporarily solution is to completely disable the animations in developer settings.
It's a good solution, for now.
My combo right now is stock Samsung 4.3 debloated (many useless apps freezed. Other apps freezed also using Titanium Backup) with Boeffla kernel.
It gets annoying when animations aren't smooth and consistent, but I guess it's expected when Touchwiz is on top and just 1GB RAM.
Taking about RAM, this phone has almost no multitasking also! It's impossible to keep one Chrome or Internet tab open in the background while you do something else. When you go back to the Internet app it has to reload again.
And no custom rom can fix this either. I spent one week with AOSP Vanir rom and didn't had multitasking there either.
What I'm trying to say is that this phone has turned old faster than it should have, precisely because of a bad 4.3 update by Samsung and also just 1GB RAM.
And talking about speed and lag again, trust me, I've tied all the good roms available. It won't matter if you install a custom kernel. If you overclock the phone then battery will last even less than before, and it doesn't make a huge difference in speed animation and fluidity.
I'm sure AOSP roms like CM11 and others do work faster and more fluid in newest phones like G2, SGS4, HTC One, etc. It's because they have a better processor and 2GB RAM.
In the end I think it's the hardware that's to blame for the lag (and bad 4.3 update by Samsung too).
The phone is great otherwise. I love almost everything about it, like I previously said. Most times I can't believe how good the camera is, the screen is enough for me (no need for 1080P), size and weight is perfect, etc.
I would have preferred to own the US SGS3 model with it's 2GB RAM than the EU model. In the long run I think it's better.
But anyway, the lag is not huge, just annoying. And I only notice it when opening and closing apps.
Try entering development settings and change the animator duration scale to 0.5 the transition animation scale to 0.5 and the window animation scale to 0.5
It will make anything faster
Sent from my GT-I9300 using XDA Free mobile app
AlmoGS said:
Try entering development settings and change the animator duration scale to 0.5 the transition animation scale to 0.5 and the window animation scale to 0.5
It will make anything faster
Sent from my GT-I9300 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't understand it.
It doesn't matter the scale animation (just tried with 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 again), there's still frame drops everywhere.
It doesn't make anything "faster". It's even more annoying watching the frame drops at 0.25.
It's not a solution. There is NO solution to the animation frame drops, not even on custom roms...
Only "solution" is to turn animation scale completely to 0.
I have sgs3 intl and I had a lot of lags and frame drops and I switched to CM 11 nightly and it's became faster and no frame drop and it's like new.
What Android version do you use?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using XDA Free mobile app
if you want to have the same camera quality, i suggest you archidroid 1.7.16.
faster rom i ever tried
What lag? My S3 is smmmmoooooooth on CM11
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
Sensamic said:
You don't understand it.
It doesn't matter the scale animation (just tried with 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 again), there's still frame drops everywhere.
It doesn't make anything "faster". It's even more annoying watching the frame drops at 0.25.
It's not a solution. There is NO solution to the animation frame drops, not even on custom roms...
Only "solution" is to turn animation scale completely to 0.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright,my last bet will be to go on Archidroid stock based ROM,use it's own boeffla preset setting and turn animations to 1.5x. Animations will be smooth all around,only custom launcher is needed,because when opening or closing apps on touchwiz,it's still stuttery. I'm still using touchwiz launcher,though (lovely animations all around!).
I noticed 1.0x is the worst speed for animations on stock ROMs. I mean,with 1.0x,I notice some fps drops much more when opening a new windows with animations. Like it's too fast for CPU to tune right time for speed and animation and that makes it laggy. So it's all about wrong timing,as 0.5x also feels much more smoother,it's noticeable.
But the 1.5x setting compensates that. No more stuttery animations at all and it feels pretty beautiful. This was my last solution for stock touchwiz ROM,and I'm pretty happy. Try it yourself.
EDIT: Btw,if you also want to keep touchwiz,try xposed app settings,find there touchwiz launcher and tick the checkbox for "resident" option. That way it will keep the launcher in memory hardly,so when you will go back to launcher , shadows under the icons won't redraw and thus stuttery animations will be reduced and will happen much more rare.
On multitasking, try maximising your swap. Never have problems going from Chrome, email, FB etc. Also try removing apps 'receiver' settings, so they don't open on unlock, wifi connect etc..
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
There have been a select FEW roms that solved most of the issues you talking about, but they mostly old and the developers have moved on. The truth is, AOSP kitkat isnt optimized for our phones and you most likely wont find a stock based ROM that doesn't lag. I think the main culprit is Jellybean + Samsung together. I don't ever recall ICS having frame drops or lagging really. Samsung did a crappy job optimizing jellybean for our phone. Jellybean is hardware intensive, more than ICS and Kitkat. Seems like it was a temp solution while Google worked on KitKat and now our phone is unfortunately stuck there.
Do yourself a favor and don't get a Samsung if you want proper performance.
Related
Not any one thing in particular, but just overall it "feels" unresponsive? I have the OTA update before it was suspended.
Am I the only one noticing this?
Also has anyone been able to actually use the new Calculator? That thing doesn't register button presses to any form of practicality for me.
I'm just wondering if there are steps to fix this, or if this is how ICS is on the Nexus S. I'd rather go back to GB if that was the case.
I haven't noticed any unresponsiveness issues, to be honest. Although I had the phone just for a short while before the ICS update came out. So I didn't have much time to get accustomed to GB in order to be able to compare them accurately.
I had some random crashes, but last night I did a factory reset and it solved those issues for me. I'm using the calculator on a regular basis, no issues there.
the same to me, seems to move slower after OTA update
Because gb was made just for this phone. Every other phone just runs it, wasn't tailored for them.
Now ics was made just for the gnex. Same as all nexus phones.
Gb was made for the hummingbird. Etc etc...
Simple as that.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
Wrong section btw. Mod should move it.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
Same here....maybe because of all the new animations?
Its much faster for me
Nothing slow over here my phone is faster then ever
From the browser to everything in general....
Everything is working up to par on my end.
It is fast, but GB was faster overall. Not sure even "faster" is the better word. Perhaps "snappier" is more appropriate.
You can notice it in the small things... Opening an app, scrolling in some menus, etc.
Nop, It's running super fast here.
Browser experience is best ever!! Changing tabs is fast and very cool with the zooming animations
I say overall, it's feeling even faster than gingerbread.
Even with the battery issues, I'm not downgrading.
No problem here. Pretty smooth and snappy. Of course I flashed a custom kernel, OC and all the mod goodies. All help my phone snappier. I also recommend spare a buck and buy Autostarts app from the Market, if your phone is rooted.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Runs very smooth here. Stock ICS 4.0.3 on i9023 ;-)
The experience overall is very smooth. The browser has a few quirks here and there with some websites, but overall its much better than the GB browser. The only place where I feel the phone struggles is opening the app drawer. It's like waiting for one of the older automatic cars to gear shift when u put the pedal to the metal.
My only problem is the frame-rate in ICS. Just swiping over home screens seems limited to 30 fps (definitely below 60).
Nope my phone is not slower at all.. ICS is very snappy!!
no troubles at all.
flashed the 4.0.3 stock plus the Glados v2.3 kernel (deep idle is a beast, rly...) and my NS is faster than ever. I'd never return to gb.
battery power ends in about a day if I use the phone intensively (internet, wifi, 3g, some games, music and so on...) but in a daily use (some sms, facebook news, email reading, etc) I'm experiencing no "battery drain problems" at all. charged 2 nights ago, still at 68% right now... (probably because the kernel, tho...)
edit: i forgot to mention that I'm running 110% live OC w/stock voltages and get no reboots or similar hellish-noobish things
Mine seems quicker and more responsive than ever I'm happy to say.
No lags or any problems with ICS stock rom. Also some of the best battery life for a long time.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Absolutely no,
I formerly used CM7.1 and then installed ICS in the cleanest possible way (wiped everything, went to 2.3.3, updated to latest Gingerbread, wiped everything installed ICS from the zip file)
It works alot better, it feels much smoother, web browser was improved alot.
I can use the calculator properly and it works better than in GB, maybe its a random matter that some people face.
In my case , ICS >> GB. feels as if I got a new phone.
I love ICS on the Nexus S, no sluggishness at all. Custom roms seem to be very buggy and slow. I'm running it strait stock with no problems at all.
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium
My month with a factory unlocked Galaxy S2
Bought this in mint condition from a friend for about half price with only 1 hour of use, an unwanted upgrade. Came with 2.3.4 as expected, so hooked up to Kies; no update at the time. As is my wont, I used the phone for a few days to get to grips with TouchWiz (TW) and the phone generally. All quite reasonable, no stability issues and TW is not bad by any means.
My thoughts and trials so far then:
Hardware
Well made, light and thin. Slippery, so a black rubbery skin bought and fitted and I popped a spare 8GB microSD card in, not that the phone needs it for my purposes.
Only criticism is the OLED screen, I'm used to higher resolution (Moto and Sony) and 800x480 looks rather "cheapo" in terms of detail on a screen this large, but no deal breaker. What I do find somewhat at odds with the price of the phone is the slight but noticeable shading and colour tints across the screen at low brightness levels and on some backgrounds. Plus, the screen's legibility outside on a bright day is no better than more run of the mill LCD screens. (I mean cheaper!)
My first GB update
I generally root phones straight after flashing a new firmware version, if it isn't already. I had already successfully rooted the original stock 2.3.4 firmware with Zergrush 4 and debloated that ROM.
I was keen to try a later GB version before trying ICS, and I found 2.3.6 for "Open Europe" on Sammobile and downloaded it. I had already tried Kies, so the USB drivers were present and working. I uninstalled Kies on the PC but left the USB drivers alone. Kies and Odin are not good bedfellows. I did a full factory reset on the phone and erased everything, allowed it to reboot and then powered off, got in to download mode and flashed XXKL1 (which is an engineering version and deodexed it seems). Rooted it via Zergrush 4, deleted known bloat and renamed possible bloat to xxx.bak to clean the ROM for my own usage, and deleted that very annoying start-up sound. Downloaded all the apps I normally use (about 22 of them), including the excellent CPU Spy to check for deep sleep.
I used/charged the phone over the next couple of days to let the OS bed in. No problems encountered at all, and a very pleasing battery life of 30+ hours of light use, with syncing and GPS, 3G, WiFi always on and occasional BT. Magic! Only thing I did is change the Modem to LPR - the KI3 Modem that came with the ROM is not quite as good at holding weak signals. Only just though...
My first ICS update
So, good phone, stable and very usable ROM in 2.3.6. Time had come to try this new ICS thing. Downloaded the LPQ version and installed it, after a full wipe, via Odin. Not impressed by all the automatic installation rubbish at first boot... Rooted via a hot boot CWM and SU/Busybox successfully and did all the same debloating and app installation as GB 2.3.6. Spent some time getting orientated and used to the new menus and so on.
Over the next day or so, I let the ROM settle and began using the ROM - I changed the Modem to LPR as LPQ was not as good, perception wise. ROM was stable and usable, didn't really look or feel much different from 2.3.6 and was worse on battery - I would say 18 hours at best with the same usage pattern.
Absolutely hate the new Exchange thing for live.com email.... real pain usability wise and battery unfriendly.
My second ICS update
So, not overly impressed with LPQ, although it was usable, I decided to try LP7, the UK generic one. Went through the same process as above, and again swapped the Modem from LPS (awful!) to LPR.
No obvious differences at all. Battery life was as poor, but it was usable.
My first CM trial - CM9
So, somewhat disillusioned by Samsung's ICS implementation, I decide to look around for another "mature" ROM. CM9 fitted the bill (I have used CM6 before on another phone) and was smack bang up to date in terms of kernel, AOSP and G Apps. After my usual clean deck start, installed fine, 23/04 build.
At first, I was quite impressed as I could configure more and to my liking. The ROM was stable and I set the phone up with the usual Apps and deleted some useless stuff (like GenieWidget).
Swapped Modem out to LPR - bit of a theme going on here...
I liked the fact that the Spirit FM radio worked (so bought the Pro version as it is that good). The ROM is very usable and never got bogged down, BUT, for reasons I never fully determined, the battery life would start OK and then decline faster during the day. I never saw more than 12 hours life, again using as per my normal pattern and after a few days to settle. There appeared to be various background activities going on that were preventing deep sleep sometimes, but BBS was not really showing me what. Note that I only use BBS as a last resort as it can increase battery use...
No other real problems, but the soft key backlights wouldn't play with NoLED and were somewhat counter-intuitive. A bit trivial, but a mess.
My second CM trial - CM7
I like GB, it is mature and well understood, so CM7 RC 2 was therefore of some appeal. It had been developed over months and must therefore be fairly sorted. Surely.
Installed without issue on a cleaned platform as usual, including G Apps. Did the usual debloat and installed the usual Apps from the Market/Play, and some that were missing, like GMail. LPR modem was already there, Hooray! Spent rather longer fiddling with the settings in CM7 than CM9 since they were less obvious at first, to me anyway.
Switched off and put the phone on wall charge overnight and was rather shocked to find the phone was noticeably warm and displaying "Kernel Panic" in the morning. The phone had only charged by about 5% in total (to 64%). Worry Worry. I put the phone on USB charge until 100% without incident.
Started to use the phone as normal, the phone UI and operation was very good, fluid even. But, first problem I had was in the car. I paired BT fine, as usual, and made a phone call. After the call, I couldn't end the call on the car or phone - it had locked up. Oh dear.
Later, I tried the FM Radio during my daily walk - doesn't work, so why is it there? I tried Spirit FM - no way would it work. Oh dear.
The following day, I noticed that the battery life was amazing! I had never seen this phone sip juice like this. Deep sleep was always easily achieved. That was until the afternoon. I noticed that the battery level was declining at a much higher rate than earlier. I hadn't done anything different, so BBS was called in again. Nothing obvious shown but I kept seeing the GPS icon winking at me from the Notification bar, and continually. I always keep GPS on, but for some reason on this ROM, no GPS signal meant the ROM just kept trying. I played with various settings like Location etc. and managed to stop this odd behaviour, but this was too silly. I use a Smartphone for all the smart features. This wasn't very smart at all.
CM7 was my biggest disappointment of all the above ROM trials. It was the lightest and most promising, and yet the least reliable or functional. Which is a huge shame...
Today...
I'm now back on KL1 2.3.6, and it just works fine - day after day.
The future for me?
I would really like to use CM9 (or CM7 for that matter). They represent a number of ideals for me, including the open nature of development, the collaboration, a pioneering spirit and giving users a choice and a superb base to build on. I am no developer - I can split and modify kernels to a point, I can rehash ROMs with or without adb, I can amend frameworks. But little more.
Reserved for "tips and hints"
Avoiding problems
Always data reset and wipe before doing anything major from one ROM to another, or follow the installation guide for any specific differences in approach.
Avoid Titanium Backup like the plague - it invariably leads to functional issues later if you cross flash. Use Google and/or airdroid for everything, it all just works. So many friends and other forums I contribute to have had too many backup issues to count. Go clean. Forget about Google paranoia.
ES File Explorer is very useful and recommended.
Don't bother "calibrating" the battery - it's an outdated practice and useless. Just use the phone normally, and anyone who claims the battery life is "great" 1 hour after flashing a newly announced ROM is a fool. Likewise NEVER fully discharge a Li-Ion battery. Just keep topping it up. See here: http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_charge_when_to_charge_table
Thoughts
Newer ROMs are rarely better ROMs. Better means different things to different folk of course.
ICS ROM core LPQ to LP8 are largely all the same, just variants of the same thing for different markets. Some users believe they perform differently.
Custom kernels and ROMs are always work in progress and should be treated as such. Check out the number of revisions. Some kernel cookers are (welcome) enthusiastic amateurs that assume more is better and cram "fixes" in that the professional salaried software engineers have mysteriously missed. If you only need your stock kernel to be insecure, learn how to make it so. You are running Linux on your box, right?
Deodexing is not a means to improve performance, on the contrary.
Undervolting is a mythical beast
I bought a phone with an FM radio because I want to use it!
And I totally agree. to all of it. Tried all iterations of almost all roms available. For some reason keep going to my VR 3.0 nandroid back up.
Except CM9, I don't really think there is any real development going on. Most are just cooked up roms OR stuff taken from the CM9 tree and implemented OR so called fixes that have actually broken something else OR just debloated rooted official firmware (that AFAIK is pretty easy to do with the fantastic dsixda's kitchen or on a rooted rom).
Now fanboy's may flame as much as they wish to, but seriously a stable CM9 (hopefully..!) or a VR 4.0 is all I am willing to wait for.
Till such time VR 3.0 it is.
LenAsh said:
Reserved for "tips and hints"
Newer ROMs are rarely better ROMs. Better means different things to different folk of course.
ICS ROM core LPQ to LP8 are largely all the same, just variants of the same thing for different markets. Some users believe they perform differently.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't agree with your final thought. Different ics rooms have really different feels. E.g. Look at scrolling from lpq to lp7.....and there are numerous others as well. If u want more specific thoughts and feedback, just browse through different ics threads in this section..
omeryounos said:
I don't agree with your final thought. Different ics rooms have really different feels. E.g. Look at scrolling from lpq to lp7.....and there are numerous others as well. If u want more specific thoughts and feedback, just browse through different ics threads in this section..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm... I have browsed through the sections, and tried various "revisions" or versions of Samsung ICS today while jotting this lot down, and my view, honestly, is there is no real difference. That isn't to say there isn't, I just can't see or feel it. I do accept that playing with 3 ROMs in a few hours is less than ideal. And a drag!
I suppose if someone could deconstruct the ROMs properly and thoroughly...
Anyway, thanks for your thoughts, appreciated.
Very nice review! +1
Keep up the good work
I broadly agree with the OP.
ICS/AOSP/AOKP/CM9 have improved over the last few weeks, but I'm back on GB, and will probably stay with it until I get the SGS3.
May be subjective, but for me the GB stock browser, camera and dialler are streets ahead of what the rest can offer. Scrolling is smoother too. And I like/need a radio.
B3311 said:
I broadly agree with the OP.
ICS/AOSP/AOKP/CM9 have improved over the last few weeks, but I'm back on GB, and will probably stay with it until I get the SGS3.
May be subjective, but for me the GB stock browser, camera and dialler are streets ahead of what the rest can offer. Scrolling is smoother too. And I like/need a radio.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems like you and the OP only tried the AOSP/AOKP roms? Give the roms based on the latest official a try.
The dialer is still as good as always (unchanged), camera is actually improved with higher bitrate recording and the ics stock browser...is untouchable at the moment in my opinion. (Granted I use "ICS Browser+" from the market which uses the best ui in a browser I've encountered)
I currently use Dynamic's ICS rom and it would be extremely difficult for me to go back to GB at this point.
Sigurd02 said:
Seems like you and the OP only tried the AOSP/AOKP roms? Give the roms based on the latest official a try.
The dialer is still as good as always (unchanged), camera is actually improved with higher bitrate recording and the ics stock browser...is untouchable at the moment in my opinion. (Granted I use "ICS Browser+" from the market which uses the best ui in a browser I've encountered)
I currently use Dynamic's ICS rom and it would be extremely difficult for me to go back to GB at this point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I agree that in terms of loading websites, ics default browser is a little bit faster, scrolling and pinch and zooming is much smoother with stock gb browser. Also the dialer is worse on ics as it has removed the contacts section which means I have to put both the dialer and contacts shortcut on the dock.
I'm using Wanamlite v11.1, Siyahkernel v3.1, and Apex Launcher.
A winning combination in my opinion, that is now at least as good as the best GB ROMs in terms of battery life. 7 hours standby with 30 minutes screen time and i'm still on 87%.
In terms of fluidity and performance I think ICS /w Apex beats GB handsdown.
Thanks for the recommendation, but I avoid ROM mix ups, I can do that myself. The ones I have looked at have had some very dubious scripts and additions. I usually look at build.prop first, and generally find all sorts of hybrid attempts at adding stuff that is completely wrong. Lines taken from websites, other phones and so on.
LenAsh said:
Thanks for the recommendation, but I avoid ROM mix ups, I can do that myself. The ones I have looked at have had some very dubious scripts and additions. I usually look at build.prop first, and generally find all sorts of hybrid attempts at adding stuff that is completely wrong. Lines taken from websites, other phones and so on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends, it was like you say in Gingerbread days, not with ICS WanamLite nor Dynamic, only tried these + CM9
I am using Dynamic 1.4 LP9, it is as smooth and fast as CM9, but everything working because it is Samsung based
I tried the included NEAK and Speedmod kernels, similar performance and very good battery life, only 3% drain overnight, I dont play with processor tweaking
Sigurd02 said:
Seems like you and the OP only tried the AOSP/AOKP roms? Give the roms based on the latest official a try.
The dialer is still as good as always (unchanged), camera is actually improved with higher bitrate recording and the ics stock browser...is untouchable at the moment in my opinion. (Granted I use "ICS Browser+" from the market which uses the best ui in a browser I've encountered)
I currently use Dynamic's ICS rom and it would be extremely difficult for me to go back to GB at this point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dialer is laggy if you compare it with GB. CM9 variants have slightly more response dialers but overall, GB dialer is way more responsive. There is a small but noticeable lag when pressing a key and the time it takes to register on ICS (CM9 & stock).
Camera recording with stereo voice recording...! Seriously how many people do shoot video with a phone's camera? For facebook uploads mono audio is just fine..
Browser is a definitive improvement yes, and the desktop mode is welcome but browser mods have been available on GB since long.
It is not that ICS is bad. It is actually very good, but the way it has been implemented on S2 is downright ridiculous...! And not one stable vanilla build isn't really helping..
kranti2064 said:
For some reason keep going to my VR 3.0 nandroid back up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is something I have been contemplating for quite some time now, quite possibly the last month. The only real thing stopping me is that for some reason alot of games (eg dead space and modern combat 3) don't seem to like it when i change roms, and even though all the ingame data is there, sometimes it decides I have to re-download.
I do miss it alot though.. and also red pill kernel
I might end up doing a backup of current my CM9 and take the plunge sometime soon. I've been using CM9 since around feb and lately I think my interest has plateaued and now I'm just beginning to get frustrated with little lags that are popping up more frequently (probably due for a wipe mind you!). The only thing about villiam rom is the bloody touch wiz launcher.. I just don't like messing with the launcher roms were made for either.
kranti2064 said:
Camera recording with stereo voice recording...! Seriously how many people do shoot video with a phone's camera? For facebook uploads mono audio is just fine..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mass lols to be had at the fact that a majority of the time they would be played on the device through the mono loudspeaker too
I also go back for GB..becoz i feel that ics so laggy at dialer,and PES2012 freeze and cant play on ics..but in GB all working great..
Daripada galaxy s2 non-G
melorib said:
Depends, it was like you say in Gingerbread days, not with ICS WanamLite nor Dynamic, only tried these + CM9
I am using Dynamic 1.4 LP9, it is as smooth and fast as CM9, but everything working because it is Samsung based
I tried the included NEAK and Speedmod kernels, similar performance and very good battery life, only 3% drain overnight, I dont play with processor tweaking
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
kranti2064 said:
And I totally agree. to all of it. Tried all iterations of almost all roms available. For some reason keep going to my VR 3.0 nandroid back up.
Except CM9, I don't really think there is any real development going on. Most are just cooked up roms OR stuff taken from the CM9 tree and implemented OR so called fixes that have actually broken something else OR just debloated rooted official firmware (that AFAIK is pretty easy to do with the fantastic dsixda's kitchen or on a rooted rom).
Now fanboy's may flame as much as they wish to, but seriously a stable CM9 (hopefully..!) or a VR 4.0 is all I am willing to wait for.
Till such time VR 3.0 it is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Currently trying ninphetamine kernel (as per VR3 - thanks for the heads up) on my fave stock KL1 more for interest than anything. Seems OK, no obvious difference from stock running as is apart from it being insecure, need a couple of days to evaluate in real life use.
Bloody good post. I've been using CM9 since the video recording bug was solved, and thats probably the longest I've used any ROM on the SGS2, I really like AOSP but the problem is it does still have quite a few bugs, and isn't quite as fast or as battery friendly as I remember the likes of Hyperdroid v6 being.
This makes me tempted to go back to GB. For me, it is still the ultimate for a daily driver. But I'm lazy so I'll probably stick with CM9.
kranti2064 said:
Dialer is laggy if you compare it with GB. CM9 variants have slightly more response dialers but overall, GB dialer is way more responsive. There is a small but noticeable lag when pressing a key and the time it takes to register on ICS (CM9 & stock).
Camera recording with stereo voice recording...! Seriously how many people do shoot video with a phone's camera? For facebook uploads mono audio is just fine..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ICS dialer laggy , doesn't happen to me on stock LP9 or Dynamic based on LP9 and CM9 is as smooth as they come. Whilst mono audio is fine for you I quite like having stereo audio. Choice, not limitations my friend
tameracingdriver said:
Bloody good post. I've been using CM9 since the video recording bug was solved, and thats probably the longest I've used any ROM on the SGS2, I really like AOSP but the problem is it does still have quite a few bugs, and isn't quite as fast or as battery friendly as I remember the likes of Hyperdroid v6 being.
This makes me tempted to go back to GB. For me, it is still the ultimate for a daily driver. But I'm lazy so I'll probably stick with CM9.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheers for that - I would definitely recommend the 2.3.6 KL1 off Sammobile if you want a solid GB.
Dude, if you have not tried CheckRom RevoHD V6, then you have not tried the BEST gingerbread rom for sgs2.
This is why I can not use ICS (yet). Checkrom is just too perfect of a Rom.
Try it, tweak it to your liking, use it for a week or 3 then try and go back to stock.
CheckRom XDA thread
My X8 runned on GDX every since the v12-13 came out til now, and i was experiencing random boots and freezes every while. (was on dx's LinuxDX then transfered to Alfs (all up to date)), and i decided to try new ROM.
I put on miniCM9 with nAa latest kernel and gave it a shot.
Same thing. I installed it 3 hours ago, already had a random reboot, and performance is awful, freezes, stopped responding apps...
I overclocked to every single value, tried every governor, did swap, KSM, u name it i tried it...
How to fix this? I thought everyone was experinceing that :/
Suggestions?
(Sry 4 bad english)
How much did u overclocked to?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
Thats not a problem, most of the time i stayed at 600-691 high, i tried to go higher but even worse. If there are problems at 600, i dont think its the processor... (my guess)
Install any lighter rom, cm7 or cm6.
Try shin engine rom, even very powerful and faster in stock kernel
Sent from my E15i using Tapatalk 2
I'm using MiniCM9 for 3 days (or more?) now. the ROM was extremely lag at the first time I got it installed. then I overclock the CPU to 806Mhz +128MB swap + AMM + Greenify. these makes my phone flying(just metaphors lol) and imma keep this running until I switch to other JB ROM.
Maybe it runs fast but not that fast like froyo. Android 4 and up is designed for better phones, every app is much more heavier than on for example froyo. Froyo with custom kernel is really flying on this phone. App like phone, sms, settings starts in less than 2 sec - this is impossible on ics, jb. Next thing which is really annoying on 4.1 that it can't be used with one finger (no zoom buttons) and fake dt causes errors on new kernel. Music works really bad on 4.1, sound has lower quality, and music is very laggy. It has lag every time you try to wake up screen, back to home etc.
iks8 said:
Maybe it runs fast but not that fast like froyo. Android 4 and up is designed for better phones, every app is much more heavier than on for example froyo. Froyo with custom kernel is really flying on this phone. App like phone, sms, settings starts in less than 2 sec - this is impossible on ics, jb. Next thing which is really annoying on 4.1 that it can't be used with one finger (no zoom buttons) and fake dt causes errors on new kernel. Music works really bad on 4.1, sound has lower quality, and music is very laggy. It has lag every time you try to wake up screen, back to home etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what jb kernel/rom are you talking about? while i agree that froyopro is faster (it is froyo), naa's jb rom is far from what you described. i don't experience sleep of death anymore. sound quality is the same (it's more of a hardware thing although there are some tweaks to improve it by a little), and i'm using playerpro not the default app and it though it doesn't start as fast as froyopro the difference at most is a second. apps you mention start in 2 secs on jb. fake dt is fixable by using dx's module instead of the default. on top of that i have tsf shell on my x8 with jb and smart launcher on my x8 with froyopro. 90 apps in all. i've beem using minicm10 since naa first released it. and i've also tried daveee's jb rom which is quite good.
froyopro (i prefer froyobread tbh) may be faster, but jb roms aren't as horrible as you make them out to be.
Just because i don't doesn't mean i can't.
I know, I was using fake dt by dx but it causing errors. In some games when you touch by two fingers it's getting force close Ok, apps starts in 2 sec but only if you haven't got any cached apps. Music (I can live with lower quality) is laggy, it makes my very angry. Next thing is that you shouldn't use heavy apps with background processes because it slows down phone. I need some apps like maps or facebook messenger. I know about Greenify but that isn't a point. I'm using liveview - it is bluetooth watch, it need to have a few processes in background. Connection on jb is unstable when you try to do something on phone (exacly as on eclair).
I don't know, maybe my x8 don't like jelly beans
point taken. probably the biggest factor that causes us different experiences with jb roms are the apps we have and use. i don't use greenify either. i don't use task killers at all. well, different people have different needs. my x8 likes beans though. and we're way off topic.
@op: have you tried a clean flash? maybe even reflash kernel?
Just because i don't doesn't mean i can't.
@cascabel
you're right !! there are lots of JB roms, but some of them good for daily use.. JB roms need to tweak the build.prop a little bit..
i run MiniCM10 with high performance(ofcoursethebatterywon'tholdlong) tweaking=boostperformance...
I tried almost everything, reflashing too, i only dont have random reboots and freezes on stock
day two on cm9, its been better than the early start but still horrible :/
I could try cm10 and see if my X8 likes jb, if dont, hello froyopro...
P.S: I think cell signal can be problem. My signal is constantly weak, every once in a while signal kinda disables itself (no signal) then it stays for a couple of seconds that way, then goes back to 3-4 bars 8at home). When i talk on mobile with someone, every couple of minutes im getting kicked out of call, because of that signal fail....
I dunno if that is case with stock rom, cause i havent been on him much ...
Thoughts?
i believe it is the carrier's problem my friend, you are being disconnected because the one's you are calling have no signal
plus, every while i have to write pin code on and one because cellfhone kinda restartes, not fully, just freezes in browser for example, stays at that for about of minute and returns to lockscreen with asking me to put on a pin code. So thats a celling problem i guess.
Also, thats an issue with wifi too, keeps restarting every 5-10 minutes, depends on distance between me and router, and that cell and wifi signal, when they are low/no signal, restarting, my phone is kinda strugling and that causes freezing, blocking, restarting (x8 is not very powerfull to keep strugling so it kinda restarts). I thought its a ram problem, but on alfs thats not the case, (im not sure for nAa) so it has to be something else. I hope I found it..
Dayum, im awesome
Tnx everyone
Firstly when you said you were running CM9 with the "latest naa kernel", did you mean 2.6.32.6 or 2.6.29.6? Because that can make a huge difference.
Just use ES Task Manager and disabled app that you do not want to use it..
by using the startup manager setting to enabled or disabled app..
scremo91 said:
Just use ES Task Manager and disabled app that you do not want to use it..
by using the startup manager setting to enabled or disabled app..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
then simply remove the app you're not using. we've been through countless task manager/killer apps discussions it's not funny anymore.
Just because i don't doesn't mean i can't.
soso90 said:
It usually didn't happened
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Err..what? This is not the way to get 10 posts.
Hi Guys,
I'm new to this forum. Recently bought a refurb HD+ for ~90 bucks on Rakuten. Played around with stock for 10 mins and then decided to get rid of it because it was irritatingly slow. Got CM10.1 on the emmc quick and easy, wayy better than stock B&N ROM (great job devs!)
Anyway, to get to the point, CM10.1 is still somewhat laggy in the homescreen, transitions and in app scrolling. Then I flashed the following zip made by the folks out in the GSII forums
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2360985
There are two versions of the mod available, I flashed the CM version.
Everything is so much faster now! Scrolling, animations all feel zippier. Maybe you guys can check it out and perhaps include it in a future ROM if you think it has anything more than a placebo effect.
PS: In case you guys don't like the mod there's an uninstall package in the linked thread on page 16.
will it drain more battery ??
williamlaw said:
will it drain more battery ??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm still testing it out, but it doesn't seem to be draining much more battery than usual. I've also put this mod on my one x and atrix HD phones, the mod actually seemed to improve battery life on both devices.
lolkat123 said:
I'm still testing it out, but it doesn't seem to be draining much more battery than usual. I've also put this mod on my one x and atrix HD phones, the mod actually seemed to improve battery life on both devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok, thanks !!
let's try on my nook hd+, but seems not support 4.3, cos network broken after flashed on my n7
Wow, sounds great! I'm a little bit scared of flashing it. Can you guys update on your battery life and stability after applying this? I'll keep an eye out on this thread. Also, how would one remove it if it doesn't work out so well? This sounds very promising.
I turn animations off, so not an issue for me. The device still lags anyway, if you put one app or two hundred. Same lag issues. 1080p, 723mb non allocated ram and the 4470 do not mix well. Maybe it would have done better with 1GB more ram.
Thanks - just tried it against several synthetic benchmark tools and games.
Improvements vary between apps, but its definitely there - no placebo effect here.
Bench tools tried:
- Antutu gained 300 of 9600, not much but it's there.
- Quadrant gained 10%
- Basemark gained slightly more.
- Epic Citadel now gets 43fps at default high performance setting.
Sprite/blitz based games seem to improve a lot for my case;
- Vincent is one (not really a game, but its a fun stress-reliever, useful after reading garbage comments on forums, LOL)
- Shopping Cart Hero is another one. Very smooth, no more lag.
- Candy Crush, a big smoother, but not as much as the other games I tried.
Less noticeable effect on GPU-exclusive games like RR3, Crazy Taxi or MC4
No comment on UI improvement since I disabled all animations and only has 1 home screen.
I just flashed this, and seems to work well so far.
will update again though.
Thank you!!
I flashed the CM version and now my HD+ keeps booting into CWM when I press reboot system. And yes I am using verygreen's emmc ROM. I wonder what I'm doing wrong?
EDIT: Nevermind, flashed it again and it works, gonna take it for a spin now ... wow working very well so far (I noticed as soon as I swiped through my homescreens, UI has a lot less lag now), thanks for the heads up OP!
What is the point of this if you can simply turn off animations in dev mode? Is the lag when activating apps gone? Seems a bunch of settings not indigenous to the hardware could create issues as well as perhaps help some.
rushless said:
What is the point of this if you can simply turn off animations in dev mode? Is the lag when activating apps gone? Seems a bunch of settings not indigenous to the hardware could create issues as well as perhaps help some.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I always have all animations off on all my devices. (Main reason why I left iOS)
Still getting noticeable improvements with pure perf installed.
How is the battery drain in sleep mode?
looks good so far
I've not had much time with it after flashing this zip, but so far it has improved responsiveness when going quickly from app to app. It took a while after reboot for things to settle in (was a bit jerky at first), but it now wakes up faster and is less laggy throughout the UI. I usually get 3-4hrs per 1% drain when in sleep (wifi-on), so I should be able to tell right away if this is better or worse.
Anyone try this with Carbon?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
jpisini said:
Anyone try this with Carbon?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did, worked well but had a few FCs on the tweaked Carbon edition.
I know this is going to sound very much like a first world problem, but this phone is frustratingly ****. It is easily the buggiest, slowest, most laggy phone I have ever had.
I have tried just about all the LG based ROMS, only to find that each one, although not buggy, are all laggy. The lag is so bad that it gives my old S2 on Gingerbread a run for its money. At least with Samsung phones, you could get rid of the lag by using a AOSP ROM and it would still be functional.
To solve the frustrating lag issue, I have installed a CM based ROM. At first I was delighted. The lag was gone. The phone was now comparable to my super fast Nexus 5. But after a few hours, I noticed the same bugs that every other CM based ROM user has. Today, I had to restart the phone six times FFS! It is a little more stable on 777 Kernel, but the same issues still persist.
Has anyone achieved bliss with this phone? Is there any ROMS, AOSP or LG based, that are fast, (Nexus 5 fast), and bug free?
Don't get me wrong, I love devs and the work they do. Without them, my old Galaxy phones, (S1, S2, S3, S4), would have been poo. My Nexus 5 would have been boring. (Stock android is meh). I just don't understand why this phone seems to have so many issues. Help me understand why it is so hard to develop a fast and reliable ROM for this phone. I know it isn't from a lack of trying. There is heaps of support and devs working on various ROMS in the G3 threads already and all of them are very talented.
Is it hardware based lag or is there something else inherently wrong with the phone?
Thanks for reading and offering any solutions. I don't want to list the ROMS I have tried, as it will seem like I am an ungrateful twat to those devs that worked so hard. Suffice to say, I have tried all the popular CM/AOSP and LG based ROMS.
Stock 5.0 V20H fine for me no lag [emoji3]
I switched to note 4 whilst g3 was good I had a better experience with my note 3. So upgraded
-= Note 4 & Gear VR =-
hashcheck said:
I switched to note 4 whilst g3 was good I had a better experience with my note 3. So upgraded
-= Note 4 & Gear VR =-
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't want to switch so soon. There has to be a solution. I love the screen and size of this phone. The only other phone I would consider is the droid turbo, but it's so bloody expensive!
DoobyDroid said:
Stock 5.0 V20H fine for me no lag [emoji3]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Compared to what? Which other android phone have you used? In isolation, this phone is barely acceptable. Then, after you use a nexus, HTC or Sony phone, this phone is comparably slow. Almost unusable.
I can't bring myself to try stock again until someone who has other phones to base their claims on can confirm it is lag free.
cubic25 said:
Compared to what? Which other android phone have you used? In isolation, this phone is barely acceptable. Then, after you use a nexus, HTC or Sony phone, this phone is comparably slow. Almost unusable.
I can't bring myself to try stock again until someone who has other phones to base their claims on can confirm it is lag free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried the usual tricks?
1. Swap out the stock launcher for something like Nova or Apex
2. Switch your keyboard to a 3rd party keyboard
While it does suffer from the random stutter, my phone is generally very zippy and does not lag.
Done all that. On stock based ROMS, stutter and lag is unbearable. My wife, nexus 5 user, even commented on how bad it is. I'm actually embarrassed to use the phone in front of people. I know it isn't a hardware issue, because AOSP ROMS are lag free, but not bug free.
Yeah, the phone is nowhere near as quick as a Nexus. The notification bar is also **** compared to stock Lollipop. There are a few tricks I use to improve performance on a stock rom:
1) Turn off throttling/thermal daemon via the service menu.
2) I use setCPU to set the phone to use the "performance" scheduler whenever the screen is on, locking it at 2.5Ghz.
Still isn't perfect, but it helps substantially. Obviously this is in addition to changing the launcher.
It's just one of those things. As you say, CM12 just isn't stable and worryingly seems to be going backwards, getting less and less stable with each passing nightly. The camera is also completely crap on AOSP roms. Nexus devices are great but the N5 is old and the N6 is too big and expensive. The S5 lags too, and while Note 4 is supposed to be good, but I simply won't believe that Touchwiz lag is gone without seeing it with my own eyes. Even if it has gone, Touchwiz remains the ugliest skin I've ever seen. Sony phones are nice, but they aren't packaged anywhere near as tightly as the G3, which is it's biggest strength: 22mm shorter than an iPhone 6+, with the same size screen. That's impressive. HTC's are just ridiculously large for a given screen size. The 1+1 is old now, and doesn't support all LTE bands used in the UK.
There is no perfect phone. Whichever you choose, there are compromises to be made. However IMHO the G3 strikes the best compromise available today, at least once running the latest Lollipop build and with the tweaks I mentioned above applied.
Had most 2014 flagships and G3 is deff fav so far, didnt have KK as updated to LP out the box had little lag after ota but common just needed a factory reset and all good since
Just a tip you can use on any android phone, go to settings, developer options, and set all the animations to 0.5x. This drastically reduces the time the animations take, and it gives a very snappy experience. It makes a LOT of difference, trust me.
No lag whatsoever here. Im running Chupachups newest rom with rin kernel. I've previously owned htc one, lg g2, xperia z1 and this phone definitely outperforms them all.
Ive owned the Xperia Z1, HTC One M7, and tbh id rate this better than both, i would like the battery life to be better my Z1 was amazing for that buh im custom stock rom and i dont get lag, everything is as it should be.
cubic25 said:
I know this is going to sound very much like a first world problem, but this phone is frustratingly ****. It is easily the buggiest, slowest, most laggy phone I have ever had.
...
Has anyone achieved bliss with this phone? Is there any ROMS, AOSP or LG based, that are fast, (Nexus 5 fast), and bug free?
...
Is it hardware based lag or is there something else inherently wrong with the phone?
...
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because LL is still unstable and buggy? And so is any rom based on it?..
Stock firmware sucks because of LG's software - it's very badly written. Almost as bad as touchwiz is. (I used SGS3, trust me on that one...)
AOSP/CM based firmwares are better, but they still suffer due do LL newness. Wait till android 5.1, things may become better.
There is also a hardware issue: unbelievably bad heat management. They used 8974ac, but had not made any cooling system. No radiators, no heat spread throughout the case, and it's facing LCD panel - which is a very bad radiator. GG WP, throttling kick in, phone starts to lag, etc etc etc.
I think there may be problem with your unit... Try to send it back to get a replacement or have it serviced.
Sent from my LG-D855 using XDA Free mobile app
I agree that most of the stock LG-G3 roms, Lollipop/Kitkat, if not rooted and without any mods, LAG is unavoidable. The case is, some people can't root their phones and most of them will try searching why G3 stock rom is lagging... if I'm one of them and I happen to see this post, I would feel bad and feel stupid at the same time why I spend money buying a crappy phone.
Well anyways, try Crash Rom v2.0. It is a stock based ROM like chupachups. The animation is not as fluid as CM but I won't say that it's lagging. Compared to CM, I have not yet encountered any bugs and mostly the camera is better. If you're interested you can also downgrade the resolution to 1080p, this will enhance your g3, 3d and 2d graphics performance.
Hi im all so on lollipop 5.0 updated out of the box and its all good maybe some lag not much to notice. Still no root method yet for stock lollipop 5.0 and i dont want to downgrade to kk so il have patience and wait for new root method for me g3
Wow, I went from the nexus 5, to the htc m8, to the g3 all in year. My advice, play with this one to get the phone lag gone. This by far is the best. Like a previous person said, turn off animations and change the launcher.
mab71 said:
I think there may be problem with your unit... Try to send it back to get a replacement or have it serviced.
Sent from my LG-D855 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't be an issue with the phone, as it is lag free with CM based ROMS.
marfioso said:
I agree that most of the stock LG-G3 roms, Lollipop/Kitkat, if not rooted and without any mods, LAG is unavoidable. The case is, some people can't root their phones and most of them will try searching why G3 stock rom is lagging... if I'm one of them and I happen to see this post, I would feel bad and feel stupid at the same time why I spend money buying a crappy phone.
Well anyways, try Crash Rom v2.0. It is a stock based ROM like chupachups. The animation is not as fluid as CM but I won't say that it's lagging. Compared to CM, I have not yet encountered any bugs and mostly the camera is better. If you're interested you can also downgrade the resolution to 1080p, this will enhance your g3, 3d and 2d graphics performance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll give crash a go this afternoon and report back. Hopefully 5.1 ROMS fix the issue too.
dspcap said:
Wow, I went from the nexus 5, to the htc m8, to the g3 all in year. My advice, play with this one to get the phone lag gone. This by far is the best. Like a previous person said, turn off animations and change the launcher.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Already done all that. Animations are turned off, launcher animations are set to lightning fast, CPU throttling is turned off. I've tried all the tricks in the book. Fact is, LG based software is crap, just like Samsung.
So far today, the lock-screen has only frozen on me four times, which is good.
I'm not sure if I'd rather put up with a laggy phone or a buggy phone.
My phone is currently on V20h. Apart from the occasional Home launcher crash, I've not had any lag that I notice of. The last time there was any lag was on V10i. My phone is rooted but is not running any mods.
Prior to this, I've had the Note 3 and Xperia S. Compared to the G3, I would say that the smoothness is at the very least, on par with the Note 3 running on stock.
I've seen people complaining about the G3 being laggy too. Is your phone by any chance the 2 GB RAM version?
My phone is the 2gb version, but I always have at least close to 300mb free. Sometimes I have over 1gb free. Not that it should matter though, as I have read on numerous places that the 3gb version lags too, and that both phones are very close on performance. The extra 1gb of RAM is negligible.
Just flashing Crash ROM now. I think I'm going to regret it though, as I much prefer the look of AOSP anyway.
Ah crap. Just as I flash the ROM, I read that the dev is stopping support for our device. Based on the comments, it looks like a promising ROM.