Has anyone started working on partial refresh driver yet? - Nook Touch Android Development

My new Nook Touch is on its way (will arrive on Wednesday. YEAH!!~~) and I've been going through the forums these days.
From the video demos, it seems that the whole page refresh after rooting is pretty annoying. I wonder if anyone has already started to work on a driver for partial refreshing for the general android apps on N2E.
That'll be something definitely good to have.

DairyKnight said:
That'll be something definitely good to have.
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Click to collapse
My understanding is that it's a call from the application, not a system driver (each of the B&N provided apps and tools does this, other android apps do not). In order to have this support, applications would have to provide it - which is highly unlikely considering there are no official unlocked android devices with pearl e-ink displays.
To be honest, you wouldn't want this in most apps anyways - you already don't get full flashes unless most of the display is updated, and because of that, complex apps have tons of ghosting artifacts, sometimes to the point of being unreadable until the next full flash. Delaying the full flash would only make that worse.
The only applicable apps would really be Aldiko and Moon+Reader so they behave more like the stock reader (if you want, I prefer less ghosting). Kindle would not only never get the feature for obvious reasons, but is also hampered by the fact that you can't disable the page transition or change the font, which looks pretty crappy on e-ink (I don't like it on LCD either, it's a horrible screen reading font with too many sub-pixel thin lines, that's why I decrypt my Kindle purchases anyways )

Although I've not got the device to investigate yet, I don't think it's a special sys-lib call by B&N. It's been reported some other apps occasionally do partial-refreshing, so I'd guess it's determined by the area of current activity which needs refreshing.
Doing heavy animation is obviously not what e-ink is meant to be. But for apps like RSS/News Readers, simple web browsers(like dillo), partial refreshing will be better.

Even if it were, you would still be in the same situation. Each app would have to explicitly redraw only the text most of the time, then do a full flash every few pages to clear ghosting. It also wouldn't work well with most browsers and RSS readers, since the page scrolls, which redraws enough to cause significant flashing and/or ghosting.
Take a look when you get the device, but in my opinion, even if you got something to work it wouldn't be worth it for web browsing and such. It only works for books because the text is usually displayed in the same place, so the ghosting isn't too distracting. I would rather just have some on-screen browser controls that made it easy to move around in steps instead of smooth scrolling so your navigation is more determinant - then the flashing would be less intrusive since you could actually tell what you are doing.

DairyKnight said:
Although I've not got the device to investigate yet, I don't think it's a special sys-lib call by B&N. It's been reported some other apps occasionally do partial-refreshing, so I'd guess it's determined by the area of current activity which needs refreshing.
Doing heavy animation is obviously not what e-ink is meant to be. But for apps like RSS/News Readers, simple web browsers(like dillo), partial refreshing will be better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I see with the kernel there is controller that determines when to refresh and it appears to be configurable. Have a look at dmesg and you can see for yourself. My initial guess is that there arent any specials calls needed, just some intelligent drawing to the framebuffer.

Related

Market app perfromance

We all know the apps downloaded from the market are slow and choppy when compared to the rest of the OS. Start up times are horrible. Does anyone know if this issue has any plans to be resolved?
Thanks!
SugarMouth said:
We all know the apps downloaded from the market are slow and choppy when compared to the rest of the OS. Start up times are horrible. Does anyone know if this issue has any plans to be resolved?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We all know that? I've downloaded quite a few apps and haven't seen that too often. Nevertheless, in the cases that you see its shoddy development, to many webrequests, or just the overhead of using Silverlight.
williammel said:
We all know that? I've downloaded quite a few apps and haven't seen that too often. Nevertheless, in the cases that you see its shoddy development, to many webrequests, or just the overhead of using Silverlight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Scrolling in market apps is nowhere near as smooth as native apps on the phone. Opening a market app takes ages when compared to say "people, messages, email, calendar etc".
Can you tell me of a market app that performs like a native app? Coming from Android the market apps performed very quickly with the same scrolling experience elsewhere in the OS. I assume this will be resolved in WP7 with future updates and as developers update their apps.
SugarMouth said:
Scrolling in market apps is nowhere near as smooth as native apps on the phone. Opening a market app takes ages when compared to say "people, messages, email, calendar etc".
Can you tell me of a market app that performs like a native app? Coming from Android the market apps performed very quickly with the same scrolling experience elsewhere in the OS. I assume this will be resolved in WP7 with future updates and as developers update their apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yomomedia works very well, no lag on scrolling and opens/ responds quickly.
i would agree, it's because most of the programming (done by the app programmer) isn't optimised causing the issues. not to say silverlight is either as it's really just ported from the desktop, but there are a few apps in there that qork quite well.
also the type of memory is a killer too. samsung and LG went for NAND where as HTC took the cheap route and went for microSD (though i don't know if it's actually much cheaper). NAND loads apps up a lot faster than microSD does.
Honestly, I think there is a major issue here and I hope Microsoft reconsiders letting people use native code. I wish people would stop acting like this isn't an issue.
I'm sure there are optimizations to be made, but there is a noticeable difference in performance between native apps and silverlight apps. Some of it really just seems inherent to the controls. Load up a bing map in the yelp app and attempt to interact with it, the difference is night and day. Swipe up and down in any list in a silverlight app, it lags.
i'm going to have to disagree. whilst i use most of my apps, i don't notice any lag in scrolling. most of the lag people are talking about is upon boot up (which actually could be set by the developer for their "splash screen", or they've programmed it so that it loads all the data into the whole view in one hit (e.g. facebook) causing it to seem a little laggy on loading. if you look at Youtube app by HTC, they only load data as you view that panorama item so it's a lot quicker and you don't notice the lag at all. though this might be a bad example as HTC could be using native code as they have permission to. however, there are other apps out that i use which don't lag after initial launch, jumping between screens is fine.
if you notice any lag in the scrolling (such as in the market place) its because they're trying to load the next set of apps under the list when you're about to reach the bottom, causing it to lag. though in saying that, even MS could do their programming properly so that it doesn't hang the list.
the app market is slow, sucks and crashes one too many times. stop being a fanboi and join us in urging MS to make it better. It's not "fine" and we are not using it incorrectly. it's slow
http://pocketnow.com/windows-phone/microsoft-blames-developers-for-poorly-performing-wp7-apps
**this bothers me as well.... flixter and facebook which are two of my fav apps are nearly unuseable IMO because of slowness and stuttering
on the other hand, HTC Youtube and AP runs great
mike21pr said:
http://pocketnow.com/windows-phone/microsoft-blames-developers-for-poorly-performing-wp7-apps
**this bothers me as well.... flixter and facebook which are two of my fav apps are nearly unuseable IMO because of slowness and stuttering
on the other hand, HTC Youtube and AP runs great
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't had any problems with flixster, where do you notice slowdowns???
edit, just tested it on Tron and it's fluid and smooth. Takes less than 5 seconds for info to load between pages (cast, reviews, etc) and trailer started in 3 seconds.
nrfitchett4 said:
I haven't had any problems with flixster, where do you notice slowdowns???
edit, just tested it on Tron and it's fluid and smooth. Takes less than 5 seconds for info to load between pages (cast, reviews, etc) and trailer started in 3 seconds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, let me rephrase that a bit. App works fine, but what annoys me is the lack of the fluid experience as opposed as the rest of the os. The start panoramic hub in flixter is really choppy compared to the one in AP Press, even when fully loaded. Once i go deeper in the app it seems to perform as expected
PG2G said:
Honestly, I think there is a major issue here and I hope Microsoft reconsiders letting people use native code. I wish people would stop acting like this isn't an issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But it's not an issue. Yes, certain apps do perform badly, but it's all down to how the developers have written their app.
Using native code would not necessarily fix these issues as you could quite easily write wrong code even then.
In the end it all comes down to the fact that the platform is still fairly new and developers are not yet used to working on it - a lot of developers don't seem to understand that loading [slow] data on the UI thread is bad, others will load up all the data they need before displaying the UI rather than displaying the UI and then loading the data.
There's an update to the Facebook app available today, seems to start a lot quicker and is a bit smoother in use. Also now supports Places and tagging in photos.
happypark said:
There's an update to the Facebook app available today, seems to start a lot quicker and is a bit smoother in use. Also now supports Places and tagging in photos.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yup, i noticed that its faster as well :-D
I installed a lot of nice stuff from Marketplace just in few days...
I am missing more featured Office (Word especially) and Opera Mini.
BUT:
Marketplace hangs, always after installing many apps one after another.
Have to reboot the device in this case.
doministry said:
I installed a lot of nice stuff from Marketplace just in few days...
I am missing more featured Office (Word especially) and Opera Mini.
BUT:
Marketplace hangs, always after installing many apps one after another.
Have to reboot the device in this case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, so far that is the only bug I have really come across, and it's happened twice in 6 weeks.
nrfitchett4 said:
yeah, so far that is the only bug I have really come across, and it's happened twice in 6 weeks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since it is still not my main device but is heavily used, yes, the OS seems superstable and almost trouble free.
Scrolling/swiping is not the problem as it is somehow cached. Problem is loading time and general code execution. It IS slow, it feels, it makes you stop for a second or two, it cuts the fluid experience you could have possibly been accustomed to by using the native apps UI. Of course you will not notice it on a "tip calculator" app or such, but yes on a more sophisticated and fully featured app.
MS must add this to the OS optimization list...
My main gripe with Marketplace is that it regularly crashes every few days.
Mine always crashes if I browse the marketplace for too long ><. This is on the Omnia 7. Once It crashes, it goes to the home screen, but reopening the marketplace just goes blank for a while before returning to the home screen. Only fix for this is a restart.
With the way WP manages memory in the upcoming update, I'm hoping it improves the marketplace app considerably.

Honest review from a critical nerd (me)

I've has my Galaxy Nexus for a couple of days now, on the Three network in the UK.
I hate how most people in reviews rave about phones when they have just forked out for them, and fail to mention any real negatives - presumably because they refuse to accept that something they've spent £500 on might be less than perfect. When you buy one and it's missing features or isn't quite what you expected, it's very annoying.
Here are my thoughts so far. I consider myself a power-user, and have tested almost everything. Overall, people are right. This is the best phone I've touched. I think once devs start optimising their apps to work properly on ICS it'll be even better. Fingers crossed that Cyanogen will address lots of the annoyances below.
I hope this is useful for someone
The Good:
Feels much more complete and unified.
It's lightening fast.
Most of the best bits of Android have transferred.
Screen looks great.
Face unlock works much better than I thought. Even in low light.
I've only had one crash despite installing a tonne of apps and testing every feature. [EDIT: a few FCs today. Mainly from the pre-installed Google Earth).
Radio seems to work fine on Three UK, unlike the SGS II which has data issues due to fast dormancy. Data speeds are great.
Browser generally much better.
Text input much better, but editing is a little confusing and seems to vary depending on app. [EDIT: This is actually phenomenal. I've always had a hardware keyboard or Swype before so no practice on these keyboards. After only 48 hours, I can literally type without looking. It is very good at correcting mistakes.]
Screen size is great for me, as I use my phones as mini-tablets. Doesn't feel bulky in my pocket at all.
BLUETOOTH STEREO FINALLY DOESN'T DISTORT - I can hear hi-hats again instead of just distortion. There is a bit of constant crackling though.
Screen remains responsive when charging. I have had an issue where it wasn't registering touch properly when charging on my Milestone, Desire and SGSII so this is really nice.
The Bad:
EVEN THOUGH I'M SUPPOSEDLY IN AN UNAFFECTED BAND, IF MY PHONE DROPS TO 2G, AND SOMEONE WALKS NEAR ME MAKING A PHONECALL IT PUTS MY PHONE ON SILENT.
The 'menu' button is unpredictable. For example, in most apps it appears at the bottom with the softkeys. In Market it's up at the top, near the search button. In some apps, it has gone. Seems to vary and is confusing.
You're stuck with the Google search box on you home screen. I hate this.
Now the button has gone, if an app doesn't have a search icon, you've lost the ability to search.
Also means no long press search, so you have to go back to the home screen for voice commands. This also means that regardless of what launcher you use, if you want voice search, you NEED to have the Google search widget on your home screen.
No USB Mass Storage – they've opted for media device profile instead. My Xbox recognises it but can't play any content. It doesn't work with my car stereo. It doesn't work with my TV. My laptop will see it, but I can't see certain hidden folders. This has just removed a huge aspect of flexibility from Android. It's no longer universal, and more like an iPhone now in that respect.
Icons are as ugly in real life as everyone expected.
Blue theme clashes with everything except blue. Blue icons on blue background feels very bland.
There is a huge problem with speech to text, whereby it is very slow, and seems to just write a list of names out of my contacts directory rather than writing what I say! Video here: http://youtu.be/qHVptz2EtMk
No longer accepts certain file formats over Bluetooth.
Camera seems buggy when reviewing photos. It works confusingly.
Gallery is not very intuitive at all.
Browser doesn't display Javascript animations properly.
Dropped a few calls.
Wifi range isn't as good as my other Androids
Front facing camera doesn't aim inwards towards your face. It points straight forward at 90 degrees, but it's positioned on the right of the device, so your face isn't central unless you hold the phone at a bit of an angle facing away from you. [EDIT - this is getting very annoying now. You have to have the phone screen pointing almost away from you to video call]
Bluetooth calls don't seem to work. Caller can't hear what I'm saying. [EDIT - I'm told it works on newer kits. Mine is a Jabra stereo receiver]
Bluetooth music has a constant crackling behind it, but it's barely noticeable in loud music.
All albumart appears in the phone gallery.
Google Talk seems to sign out after a while. It's showing all of my contacts as away even though I know they're online. Signing out and in again fixes this temporarily, but I'm guessing I would miss video calls whilst offline.
Phone has gone to permanent sleep about 3 times in 2 and a half days now. Requires a battery pull to get it back on.
Apps - If you can't live without these, I'd recommend waiting to buy until they're fixed
No menu button is shown on Facebook, so there's no way to set it up to sync contacts or notifications. This means no contact photos for now.
Twitter on the other hand syncs all my contacts, despite me telling it not to.
Doesn't support Swype as yet.
Doesn't support MX Video Player.
iPlayer not available in the Market.
Grooveshark app doesn't work due to lack of flash player. You can use Dood's music streamer for a functional but unattractive alternative.
Thanks for the review and honesty. It would be nice if you kept this updated as either your opinion changes or things are fixed from either Google or app developers.
Is web browser as smooth (scrolling, pinch to zoom) as one on the galaxy s2?
I really beginning to wonder if Verizon is going to put these out there in two weeks without some fixes/improvements in place. I mean, if December 8 is real, these phones have got be in sealed boxes already. People will be returning them faster than they sell them.
hrcro said:
Is web browser as smooth (scrolling, pinch to zoom) as one on the galaxy s2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It feels a lot smoother than my Galaxy S II did.
I'm about to test the bluetooth quality, as crackling audio was my biggest pet hate from previous Android versions.
Can you resize the search widget? If we are stuck with it maybe something smaller will help minimize that particular drawback.
have you got an otg usb cable? can you hook up a thumb drive?
Sent from my Google Nexus S using Tapatalk
suomaf said:
have you got an otg usb cable? can you hook up a thumb drive?
Sent from my Google Nexus S using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, please test it. whole forum with owners GN but nobody had test this opportunity yet
I hope yopu don't mind but I am going to hijack this thread and also post a quick review from a similar nerd is maybe over critical. Saves starting a new thread.
The Good
ICS is very polished, much more so than any other version of android, it tries to stay consistent through the whole phone where as in previous versions it was one of my main annoyances.
The device looks fantastic.
The speed is very good, I wouldn't say it is any faster than a SGS2 with a custom rom IMO but it is a lot smother in animation etc. so it feels a lot faster.
The screen is very nice, playing videos when the screen is set up to an acceptable brightness are amazing with colours a lot more natural than the SGS2 or the yellow tint of the iphone 4.
Radio is very good also, getting full signal in my house where as before i would only receive 2-3 bars.
Text input is a lot better although i have found it is unable to keep up with my typing, although it is putting the letters down it almost seems like there is a little delay in the animation of them magnifying.
Notification light is back and I am glad, as I missed that feature on my SGS2.
Has everything, NFC, noise cancelling mic, 720p display and ICS. Its pretty much future proof (in terms of the next few years)
Zero shutter lag is a very good feature
Bad Points
The screen although very nice on full or half brightness is not very good on auto brightness. It is so much lower compared to all my other smart phones it is almost unusable I find so I have had to manually set the brightness.
Auto rotate as I have mentioned in another thread is very inconsistent, very fast in some apps nearly non existent in others.
Sound quality is quiet, not poor quality but very quiet. My SGS2 and iPhone 4 over power it when playing videos.
The browser is fast but it is not as fast as my SGS2 running Check Rom Revolution HD. It is deffo faster than the iPhone 4.
The camera is not great, its not bad but the quality feels like it is from a year old device. Quite grainy, not as good as the SGS2 or the iphone 4s unfortunately.
And lastly a few quirks which I am sure will be sorted out with an over the air update, occasional stutter when opening app draw, gallery doesn't seem terribly smooth when going through photos and the auto rotate is just annoying me.
Other than the above I don't want people to read this and think it is doom and gloom because it isn't. This is a very very good device, I am glad I purchased it because it is still the best phone on the market in my opinion.
Every phone has its niggles but that is why this forum is so great, I am looking forward to the community baked roms which always make a device go from very good to just awesome.
To answer some question, you can't resize the search bar. Its not really a widget its sort of like the controls at the bottom, permanently there.
when typing does it type well, what I mean is it off when typing and you keep getting bad letters up, I had that problem with the SGS2 someone mentioned it was a screen problem that it kept jumping
thanks
bmstrong said:
Can you resize the search widget? If we are stuck with it maybe something smaller will help minimize that particular drawback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, can't resize it. It's there permanently. You'd have to install another launcher.
Added a few more to the list, mainly to do with Bluetooth.
Is FM radio working with Spirit FM Radio app?
justabrake said:
when typing does it type well, what I mean is it off when typing and you keep getting bad letters up, I had that problem with the SGS2 someone mentioned it was a screen problem that it kept jumping
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah it types really well, I don't think I have mistyped once on there and I type real fast.
Good lord. That's a lot of negatives. Thanks for the honest review for undecided minds like me. Just two questions. If you use a 3rd party launcher (for example adw) will the google search bar still be present? Secondly, how does the GPS perform in terms of fix time and accuracy? Does barometer really help GPS fix time? Thanks
luffyp said:
Secondly, how does the GPS perform in terms of fix time and accuracy? Does barometer really help GPS fix time? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The GPS fix for me is very fast, easily within a second or so. Much faster than my Desire was, that's for sure.
A lot of those negatives either will be resolved soon by Google or they won't be a problem for the majority of people
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
OP > when typing does it type well, what I mean is it off when typing and you keep getting bad letters up, I had that problem with the SGS2 someone mentioned it was a screen problem that it kept jumping
thanks
mike freegan said:
You're stuck with the Google search box on you home screen. I hate this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ugh.
This is going to be problematic with my live clock wallpaper that is displayed at the top of the screen. Anyone else use WP Clock?
Here's an example of the live wallpaper I'm talking about:
luffyp said:
Good lord. That's a lot of negatives. Thanks for the honest review for undecided minds like me. Just two questions. If you use a 3rd party launcher (for example adw) will the google search bar still be present? Secondly, how does the GPS perform in terms of fix time and accuracy? Does barometer really help GPS fix time? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well you have to bare in mind that ICS is a big over haul, so if we were to list all the positives it would be a pretty big list. I am just venting my negatives of the device, but when you compare them to how good the device is they really are small and I would rather have this handset than any other. I forked out for both my SGS2 and the Galaxy Nexus sim free and i am not dissapointed with either. If you are undecided on whether to upgrade you have to look at the fact that this phone does have everything, is a developer phone and has ICS written specifically for it. I would say go for it.
If you use a 3rd party launcher the Google search will not be present, my GPS has been excellent, I have used it for a few car journeys and it is just as good as my SGS2 which was superb.
jms.flynn said:
Well you have to bare in mind that ICS is a big over haul, so if we were to list all the positives it would be a pretty big list. I am just venting my negatives of the device, but when you compare them to how good the device is they really are small and I would rather have this handset than any other. I forked out for both my SGS2 and the Galaxy Nexus sim free and i am not dissapointed with either. If you are undecided on whether to upgrade you have to look at the fact that this phone does have everything, is a developer phone and has ICS written specifically for it. I would say go for it.
If you use a 3rd party launcher the Google search will not be present, my GPS has been excellent, I have used it for a few car journeys and it is just as good as my SGS2 which was superb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep I know, ICS seems to be the biggest change among the previous Android versions. Together with Google & developers' support, it's why I want to jump ship to the Nexus line. At the moment I'm leaning towards it, just wanna read more reviews. Although the volume adjusting problem that many people are having is a bit of a concern. Hopefully it will be fixed by a software update.

[Q] A bit disappointed of the Tab S (stuttering/lag).is there any trick to fix them?

Hi guys I just bought my Tab S 10.5 (T800) a couple of days ago, however I'm finding some annoyances, that are giving me a headache when using it and are making me think, to return it
1) When i'm scrolling a website or flipboard in my usual way/speed the text/images appears to jump a tinny bit like if it's stuttering, instead of smooth transitions.
2) When the keyboard "launches" it doesn't matter if I turn off the animations or put them at .5 or 1x, when on the browser I'm trying to type something on a search bar there is a white tail before and after the keyboard launch, this tail makes the content on the bottom of the keyboard to appears like a flash. However this doesn't happen when trying to type an url, This is better noticed on a dark background for example go to this site mary-black.net (or whatever site which has an embedded search and uses a dark background) and launch the keyboard trying to type something on the search bar and then hide the keyboard.
The keyboard "white tail" doesn't happen on my sero 7 pro running an AOSP rom, however it has some stuttering while browsing, but I though it was because some kind of underpower, because my S4 running a touchwiz rom it doesn't stutter at all it's like butter on every single scrolling page/app/etc but it has also that "white tail" sometimes but it's so quick and is not my main browsing device, so I was trying to replace my main tablet an ipad 2 (7.1.2) which it browse like a champ exactly as my S4 and is way better than this Tab S
yeah I have tried a lot of browsers, maxthon, chrome, firefox,opera, dolphin, boat, and the less worst is the stock one
Oh and also it seems to not hold webpages on ram, because when I go to a link and then go back, instead of showing me the content right away, it shows a blank page and suddenly the content, however this a problem because if i was on a search or something it brings me to the top of the page again, and also typing something on a search is laggy, the letter don't go with the keystroke.
BTW: I don't use touchwiz launcher, I'm using nova/apex.
I have enabled also Force GPU Rendering and Turn off/on hardware overlays. nothing seems to fix it.
Also have found that the performance is not consistent at all, sometimes the apps load very fast, browse very fast and it's a pleasure, but sometimes it lags, yeah not like a minute or so, but the overall experience using it, is not something I was expecting, I was expecting at least the same behavior of my S4 and S2 and way better than my old ipad 2, and unfortunately none of those are met
Any ideas ?
Thanks.
You need to do a video to prove it, that's how it goes around here.
1) same here. I is only slight stuttering and only when scrolling intensively, but it is noticeable. I tried all the browsers, but best in this regard is stock browser, followed by chrome browser (which I currently use). Some of the other browsers have even more severe problems regarding scrolling and also impose certain lag registering scroll gesture.
2) I am using TouchPal and not seeing any keyboard "white tail".
3) Webpage caching: yes, it does not keep pages in RAM and requires a reload. Particularly annoying when on a mobile connection. I've not yet come across any browser that does a proper RAM caching of pages. Also the OS seems to grab the RAM. E.g., when you have multiple tabs open and switch between Apps it does reload all the tabs. Ridiculous. At 3GB the Tab S should have plenty of RAM.
Overall the Tab S hardware is capable enough to provide a smooth user experience even with the above issues. But still I am hoping for some fix.
Probably some tweak of the memory management could help? Also investigation of background load. Seemingly there are to many services that do indexing, report back to Google or Samsung, check updates etc. Probably also the Mali-T628 GPU has some premature driver implementation? Or maybe the Samsung color enhancement for AMOLED is the culprit?
kenkiller said:
You need to do a video to prove it, that's how it goes around here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool, I have a feeling that you tough I was trolling , well here they are, this one shows the ugly white tale, and it also happens using google keyboard, and any keyboard.
http://youtu.be/kfUbyTVjF6I
As you can see that "white tale" is not present when trying to type an url.
Here is one with the stutter very visible.
http://youtu.be/f9DHYdlc4d0
Here is one showing the reloading on going back. which btw it also shows how with only one finger touching the screen it sometimes act as 2 (pinch to zoom) this little problem is very rare but it's not the first time has happen, and you can see the lag on the keyboard before launching also, there is that "white" then the keyboard.
fingers http://youtu.be/axCsmkgCXws
Here is one comparing the scrolling on the same content first the ipad 2 and then the tab S
http://youtu.be/0TYgm43eBxc
The ipad also has a bit stuttering, but not as much as the S, which IMO this should not be happening, the S has way more power/ram than the old ipad 2
I hope yours is not acting like this, could you please provide a video if yours is working at it supposed to be..
pibach said:
1) same here. I is only slight stuttering and only when scrolling intensively, but it is noticeable. I tried all the browsers, but best in this regard is stock browser, followed by chrome browser (which I currently use). Some of the other browsers have even more severe problems regarding scrolling and also impose certain lag registering scroll gesture.
2) I am using TouchPal and not seeing any keyboard "white tail".
3) Webpage caching: yes, it does not keep pages in RAM and requires a reload. Particularly annoying when on a mobile connection. I've not yet come across any browser that does a proper RAM caching of pages. Also the OS seems to grab the RAM. E.g., when you have multiple tabs open and switch between Apps it does reload all the tabs. Ridiculous. At 3GB the Tab S should have plenty of RAM.
Overall the Tab S hardware is capable enough to provide a smooth user experience even with the above issues. But still I am hoping for some fix.
Probably some tweak of the memory management could help? Also investigation of background load. Seemingly there are to many services that do indexing, report back to Google or Samsung, check updates etc. Probably also the Mali-T628 GPU has some premature driver implementation? Or maybe the Samsung color enhancement for AMOLED is the culprit?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah the more you start using the tablet, the more stuttering it appears, and also when trying to open the recent apps, sometimes there is also a lot of lag until everything appear. The problem with this is they are not predictable.
I tried that keyboard and is doing me exactly the same (white tale), I think this is because instead of launching the keyboard and the placeholder at the same time, they are launched a different time, and I have just confirmed this enabling Layout boundaries under developer options. :/
My 8.4 works exactly as yours. That's how it is.
white tale seems to be some re-rendering issue of the app, not the keyboard.
One might check with Cyanogenmod whether it persists there too. Pretty sure it is some SW issue, HW should be plenty capable.
pibach said:
My 8.4 works exactly as yours. That's how it is.
white tale seems to be some re-rendering issue of the app, not the keyboard.
One might check with Cyanogenmod whether it persists there too. Pretty sure it is some SW issue, HW should be plenty capable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bet it's software issues, launching the placeholder for the keyboard before and after the keyboard. But to be honest I don't want to install Cyanogen or aosp to this tablet, because that will break sidesync, multi window, s planner and s finder. if I would need to flash those roms to be able to enjoy the hardware then I would go with a boring but trusty ipad or wait to see what is announced on september at the IFA.
- Similar hardware used on phones with 1080p screen to drive 1600p screen, which is almost twice as many pixels to render. The GPU is working extra hard but should still cope.
- TouchWiz makes this much worse and through past discussions, this is mostly the cause of the lags and stutters. If you use some other popular launcher, lags and stutters would almost be non-existent.
- iOS on iPads and iPhones are smooth because Apple only need to focus on optimising on their own hardware. Android on the other hand has to work on so many combinations of hardware out there, it's much more difficult to make things buttery smooth like iOS.
I see these issues as well on my 8.4, but not enough to get bothered by it, but would welcome any improvement through OTAs.
Replacing the launcher has zero effect on anything except launching an app!
There might be some touchwiz related code behind the scenes, but to replace that you need a revised ROM.
ShadowFlare said:
- Similar hardware used on phones with 1080p screen to drive 1600p screen, which is almost twice as many pixels to render. The GPU is working extra hard but should still cope.
- TouchWiz makes this much worse and through past discussions, this is mostly the cause of the lags and stutters. If you use some other popular launcher, lags and stutters would almost be non-existent.
- iOS on iPads and iPhones are smooth because Apple only need to focus on optimising on their own hardware. Android on the other hand has to work on so many combinations of hardware out there, it's much more difficult to make things buttery smooth like iOS.
I see these issues as well on my 8.4, but not enough to get bothered by it, but would welcome any improvement through OTAs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using Nova or Apex, yeah those don't have lag on the major of transitions, but sometimes they stutter just a bit, yeah not a breaking deal. But the stuttering while browsing/reading and the keyboard issue is making me have headaches, and that will not be solved using another launcher.
I understand that point regarding iOS, but trust me, my S4 is running on a touchwiz rom and it doesn't act like this tab S, geez even my old S2 never acted like this.
Regarding three Samsung bloatware, there are replacements for each of them, if you really need that. I personally think, most of it is just premature and unnecessary. Multi window for example. What do you do with that? I just have GMD gesture control with some user defined gesture to switch between the last apps.
pibach said:
Regarding three Samsung bloatware, there are replacements for each of them, if you really need that. I personally think, most of it is just premature and unnecessary. Multi window for example. What do you do with that? I just have GMD gesture control with some user defined gesture to switch between the last apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I run excel spreadsheets while browsing for making quotes, compare values and stuff like that, need to compare spreadsheets with word documents, to give you an idea I use 3 monitors for my desktop.
So actually multiwindow is a very usefull "gadget" for me, and that's what got my attention, the 3gb of ram I though well this will handle my workload with out a problem, 10.5" screen good space for multi window, and well the exynos ? I would prefer a snapdragon version, but I don't need LTE on my tablet as always I can theter from my S4, and none local store have one with snapdragon in case I need to return it or something.
And yeah GMD Gestures is a must for a tablet.
I now own two of these devices, a 10.5 and an 8.4. I use Nova Launcher. Even running stock OTA I have never experienced any scrolling lag or stutter using the stock browser. My only complaints were some keyboard lag which I believe disabling DVFS improved and using a firewall hack to speed up embedded video steaming. Other than that and the typical pageload lag JavaScript causes I have had zero lag or stutter issues with either tablet.
As setup currently both of these tabs are completely smooth.
mitchellvii said:
I now own two of these devices, a 10.5 and an 8.4. I use Nova Launcher. Even running stock OTA I have never experienced any scrolling lag or stutter using the stock browser. My only complaints were some keyboard lag which I believe disabling DVFS improved and using a firewall hack to speed up embedded video steaming. Other than that and the typical pageload lag JavaScript causes I have had zero lag or stutter issues with either tablet.
As setup currently both of these tabs are completely smooth.
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Click to collapse
Wait.... So yours are not showing that white tail or the keyboard placeholder like mine is doing it here http://youtu.be/kfUbyTVjF6I ?
CyberManiaK said:
Wait.... So yours are not showing that white tail or the keyboard placeholder like mine is doing it here http://youtu.be/kfUbyTVjF6I ?
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Click to collapse
OK I see your problem. The fade animation is working properly when you select the address bar but not when you select a text box on the actual website. I think this is just the website re rendering as the keyboard closes since you were interacting with it. You only really notice it because the background of your website is dark.
I believe this is a stock browser thing as it does not do this using Dolphin.
mitchellvii said:
No. Mine does a nice fade and drop down animation. What yours is doing should not be happening.
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Yeah that kinda of fade is what I'm not getting, it only does that fade when i'm typing on the address bar, but when i'm typing on something inside a webpage that trail appears. In what build are you ? Mine is NFB, hope anybody else can confirm if they have it or not and what mods are running.
I did factory reset but didn't solve it.
EDIT: Well this happen on white pages also, "covering" what is on screen. I did that on a dark background because is more apparent. If I enable layout bounds on developer options it shows that the placeholder is triggering before the actual keyboard. Tomorrow i will make a video with the layouts enabled.
And mine is doing it with every browser i have tested.
CyberManiaK said:
Yeah that kinda of fade is what I'm not getting, it only does that fade when i'm typing on the address bar, but when i'm typing on something inside a webpage that trail appears. In what build are you ? Mine is NFB, hope anybody else can confirm if they have it or not and what mods are running.
I did factory reset but didn't solve it.
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I changed my original post. I think you missed it. Yes I am getting same thing in stock browser. This does not occur using Dolphin. Not a Tab S issue. A stock browser issue. The dark background of your website makes it more noticeable.
Update. Does it in Chrome browser too. If that bothers you try Dolphin browser.
I got the same white tail issue also in chrome browser.
Dolphin doesn't do that, gives a bit better re-rendering. But Dolphin mini also struggles. Weird.
Both are slightly more sluggish in scrolling, that's most important, so I sorted them out.
Also that nonsens gesture implementation (requires to press a button first) did not win me.
There is one thing the stock browser by far does the best of any browser I have tried. Play embedded video clips. Dolphin? You may as well not bother. Expect 10+ second load times. Using a little firewall hack I'm getting almost instant video loads in stock with no buffering lag.
The little white flash when closing the keyboard is a non issue for me, especially when using a website with a white background. Don't even notice it.
maybe try to debloat the ROM and then go into developer options to change the animations to .5 or disable them entire(I disable them in all android devices I own)
Well I don't know what happen, I did some factory reset like 3 in a row, then the first thing I did was, go straight to update chrome to 36.0.1985.131 and now it's working at it should. Yeah with some occasional stutter, mostly when launching an app. But not like was doing it before. The white tale is still there but not as heavy like it was before.

[General Guideline] Battery Conservation At Its Best!

I've always been a lover of Android in the regards of how customizable it is. I've released a few custom roms in my time, mostly for the Galaxy S5 since the battery life on it was kind of honestly terrible when it came out. My roms were all based on Android 4.4.2 as 5.0 just seemed to kill a lot of my battery saving techniques. I figured I'd make a small post about my favorite ways to save on battery.
By the way, sorry if this is an incorrect section. Feel free to move it if needed. Been awhile since I've been on here...
Simple Methods
These methods don't take any special 3rd party app installs or file tweaks. These are simple adjustments you can make in your Settings application right on your device!
If you aren't using your GPS/Bluetooth/Wifi, Turn it off!
A lot of people just leave these things running constantly even when they aren't needed. I look at my fathers S3 and always cry a little inside because EVERYTHING is turned on. The reason its bad to leave these on even when not being used is because Wifi and GPS scan for a connection/location every 180 seconds (depending on phone model). This KILLS battery life so much. It takes a lot to power that little gps, and honestly even more to power that scan for Wifi to connect to. If you're feeling gutsy, you can even turn off your Data connection, but you'll still get text messages and such. Just can't browse facebook.
Haptic Feedback
You know, when you touch your screen and it vibrates. Doesn't seem like much but think about how much you use your phone. How many text messages are you typing? Facebook posts? Twitter posts? Your phone is basically constantly vibrating as you tap tap tap away at that little virtual on screen keyboard. Can we go back to hardware keyboards please?
Screen Wallpaper
This is a biggy, especially on high end phones. That HD screen takes a lot of power, but most of these screens on our phones like the Nexus, Galaxy, and high end LG's all have high end AMOLED screens. These screens work in a really cool way honestly. The darker the color on your screen being displayed, the less power the screen needs to actually show that color. White takes the most power, so if you have a brightly colored wallpaper and are wondering why your phone is dying quickly, this is definitely contributing. I always personally use a textured black background. 100% black (#000000 for you nerds out there) uses literally no power to display. The pixels actually turn off to display that color. The more 100% black in your background, the less battery power you use to display that background.
Screen Timeout Timer
Not using your phone? Turn off the screen. That easy. My timer is set to 30 seconds. I don't have a pass code on my phone because frankly, I don't care if someone gets into it. There's nothing weird on my phone that I know of. This is just one of those simple things that generally slip the mind of some people.
Fancy Features
Do you really need Multi-Window or that fancy Toolbox setting turned on? Just use your multi-tasking and switch back and forth. I use multi-window rarely. It feels like a gimmick to me personally.
Themes and Design
This harbors back to what I said about the whole "the darker the better" above with wallpapers. Using Material Design on your Android 4.4 or 5.0 will save on life because the colors are darker over all for almost everything. Anything white is going to use more power... Sound familiar? Alright, racist jokes aside, this is the truth. More power to display brighter colors. If you have the option, change the theme. A lot of apps have a built in theme changer. Things like Custom Launchers, GO SMS, Textra and many more have the customize ability to set those bright colors at bay.
Multi-Tasking, can you live without it?
This is a BIG saver on your battery, but also one you might realize you really might want to skip. I do a lot with my multi-tasking. Switching from Mobile Chrome to Text messages to a game I'm playing, this can take its toll. Turning off Multi-Tasking entirely isn't exactly the easiest to do either. You need to enable your Developer Settings on your device. If you're curious, go into your Settings App, open About Phone/Device, and tap repeatedly on Build Number. This should unlock Developer Settings. Once in there, you can scroll through and you'll find something with a name like "Limit Background Processes." If you tap on that, you'll be able to control just how many background apps can be running at a time before it starts auto-closing apps. I believe standard limit is fairly high, so setting it to 2 or 3 should help on battery usage.
Installed Apps
This is a big one. There's a lot of apps out there that when using them, or even NOT using them, they eat your battery, RAM, and processing power, alive. They just kill it. The Facebook's apps, Messenger and Facebook itself, were rated in the Top 5 for worst battery hogging apps of 2012, 2013, 2014 AND 2015. Delete those 2 apps and simply use your web browser to login to your facebook. Also, Mobile Chrome is a huge battery hog. Switching web browsers can help a lot. You can see which apps are using the most battery in your Settings by looking at the "Battery" section in your Settings app. Also, don't fall for the "Battery Saver" apps. They use more battery than they're worth and often just "emulate" some of the things I listed here that you can do yourself.
That's really about it for what you can do on a non-rooted devices without 3rd party apps. In the next section, I'll go over a lot more options with Root options and 3rd party apps.
Rooted options and 3rd Party Apps
This is the section that you'll want a little experience with. Backing up your phone entirely before continuing may be a smart option. Check XDA for the easiest way to back up your device before continuing.
Are you rooted? Kill that Bloatware!
A HUGE plus in Rooting is the fact you can remove a lot of the crap-ware that companies like Samsung, Verizon, AT&T, LG and many more of the cell phone companies out there install on your device. Not sure what you can delete? Look for things with something like "Samsung" in its app name. Or, you can go on the Play Store and grab an app called Root App Deleter. This is what I use. It has a nice Junior mode, for those who are new to this, and a Pro mode, for those experienced users. This will help you identify what you can and can't delete.
Type of root You have
There's always some sort of exploit to get root opportunity on a device, but what a lot of people don't know is that most of the Root exploits out there are called "live root" exploits. What is a "Live Root?" Well, that means the process of needing root is constantly being ran and controlled in the background while you may not even realize it. Running a Live Root will usually make your device run hot and slower. A big complaint of a lot of Rooters. Within the last few years, root exploits have gotten better, and there aren't as many Live Root exploits left, but for some devices, its the only way. To know if you have a Live Root, simply check your settings and see if your Android System is using a lot of battery power. That'll tell you. The best and I'm pretty sure only non-Live Root exploit out at the moment is KingRoot and TowelRoot. TowelRoot I trust more than KingRoot because KingRoot was made to attempt to work with ALL devices, where as TowelRoot was mainly focused on 1 specific Kernel version and Android version. Thank you GeoHot for TowelRoot. What a LIVE Saver.... get it? ... I'll see myself out.
Custom Roms
A lot of Custom Rom dev's out there focus on MORE instead of less, and those are the roms I usually steer clear of. These "more" options use a lot of battery power, even though they usually claim it uses less. The best Roms to install, in my opinion, are the ones that don't have many "new" features applied. Build.prop edits are alright, things like init.d support don't hurt anything, that usually helps honestly. The simple Debloated Dex'd Base roms are the best. You can always customize it later. A great example of a good base rom that gets good battery life is one I released a long time ago when the S5 was released. I'll leave the link below to XDA. The project is dead, but I may revive it
XDA BoxxiRoms v2.0.2
I'm in no way bashing custom rom development. New features are always awesome to have. They're cool, they bring new life to an old device.
PixelBatterySaver...
This is the ONLY app I trust to SAVE battery life because I've proven myself how well it works. While I said above that Apps don't work and use "more power than they're worth," this is the exception. This app, when activated, leaves a black mesh over your screen. and turns off pixels, but its enough that you won't notice during regular use. There's also multiple levels you can use. If you're interested in this, check it out on the play store and give it a go
Pixel Battery Saver Playstore
This is just the tip of the Iceburg for what I know honestly. I'll post more soon.
Can you help with galaxy s4 as well? Battery drains too fast..
Btw are you still using your s5 or still have it?
Sent from my unknown using XDA Free mobile app
blandead said:
Can you help with galaxy s4 as well? Battery drains too fast..
Btw are you still using your s5 or still have it?
Sent from my unknown using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use my S5 daily and actually just released a new ROM in the Verizon Galaxy S5 section for it based on NCG firmware and ROM.
There's many more ways to avoid battery drain than I have posted here, but these were the best top of the line ways I could think of. That being said, also check your battery for any pops and bubbles in the plastic wrapping around it OR for it being bloated in anyway. If you have had that S4 for a long time, its probably time for a new battery, which you can find on Amazon for probably less than 10 bucks.

** Note20 OneUI 210 beta - Bugs and Issues (for Samsung to read!) **

I thought it might be useful to have one thread for bugs and issues in the bets itself, that Samsung can read and hopefully fix. This is not for issues installing the bets, but for issues in the bets itself. Suggest people try to keep it short and not repeat what others write.
Some things I have found so far:
Can't change the location shown on clock widget location by swiping up/down on it when on home screen
BOSE 700 Bluetooth headphones lose connectivity with sound after 10-25 seconds (on Netflix and Spotify, even native video app). Doesn't happen on Samsung buds
Goodlock doesn't work
Both Netflix and Amazon Prime would not access previously saved (prior to beta update movies) and had to have clear data and cache
Sometimes gets stuck on lockscreen, the one that just shows the clock with seconds too, that I never understood where it came from. Need to touch power off and on to get to regular lock screen
Active2 watch won't unlock after encrypted mail is activated. Pin won't work [OK that's a gripe with the Active2 bit I figured if Samsung is reading this... Please fix this l!!!]
The new gestures, while much better than before, are closer to the iPhone, but they are...well... Heavy to use. It's just more laborious and less instant than the buttons are. This isn't an iPhone. I really want to like it but it's just heavy. Still not as natural as on the iPhone.
For reasons I cannot pinpoint, I find Google keyboard less accurate at fixing my mistakes, when touch typing. Swiping if the same.
I know it's a beta, but battery life feels worse. 25% in a little.over an hour. I find the new battery stats much less useful than before. Just not as clear, as if changed for the sake of change.
ekerbuddyeker said:
I thought it might be useful to have one thread for bugs and issues in the bets itself, that Samsung can read and hopefully fix. This is not for issues installing the bets, but for issues in the bets itself. Suggest people try to keep it short and not repeat what others write.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While sharing here is fine. Samsung is using the members app to gather feedback.
So yeah an issue may be found to be repairable via community interaction. But don't expect samsung to formally address any issue you don't send bug reports in on or post about in the members app...
I doubt samsung is looking for forums to weed through to gather information on how their beta is performing.
Probably you are right. But hopefully they do look at xda!
One thing that I find very annoying is the Battery usage statistics. They're gone.
I can't find proper statistics showing my battery usage since last full charge. I also can't find proper statistics containing power draw for things like the OS itself, the screen, modem standby and all the otehr things that deal with OS or hardware draw.
Would be great if they would add proper statistics again.
You can use galaxy labs, although I think that there is some redundancy, if ui 2.0 lost the batt usage, galaxy labs has it, is is "battery tracker"
winol said:
You can use galaxy labs, although I think that there is some redundancy, if ui 2.0 lost the batt usage, galaxy labs has it, is is "battery tracker"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems kinda pointless to upgrade your UI, remove a key feature that a lot of people use then put out a 3rd party app, that doesn't come stock, to fix it....
Just saying...
I agree. The d battery stats were clearer. Can't see clearly how many hours since last charge
I can't install any apk from any explorer of the phone. That's wierd.
Concur app doesn't work
Google Pay doesn't work. Says it's not authorized when I tried to use it.
ekerbuddyeker said:
Probably you are right. But hopefully they do look at xda!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can copy and pasted in Samsung members and that way is sure they'll see.
BTW thanks for your post...
I'm not a beta fan so I'll just wait and also I won't even upgrade until Goodluck is available. Also feel like android 10 takes more then is gives
ATT Visual.voicemail.app doesn't work properly. Doesn't see the Sim on 975f/DS for me

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