[Q] Problems with lag - is this a widespread issue? POLL

Ruppenthal said:

Pulling down notifications; opening apps; moving from screen to screen; viewing gfx-heavy sites on Chrome. Everything just feels laggy in general. Again, this is all compared to my Nexus (and my iPad Air), but it's still noticeable and shouldn't be an issue with a tablet that Samsung claims is their flagship device. As always, IMHO...

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I have an iPad retina and a nexus 7 in the house as well. Just did a side by side iPad, nexus 7, 8.4, 10.5, tablet Z, and my surface pro 3 (we have a big family).

1. Web Browsing:

-between chrome, dolphin, and the stock browser on tab s: Chrome has the most lag, followed by dolphin,... surprisingly the stock Samsung browser has the least lag. The experience seems identical to our iPad even on graphics heavy websites. Tab S is par with stock browser VS safari IMO.

The stock Samsung Brower on both the 10.5 and the 8.4 are better than chrome on the nexus 7 for lag
EDIT: just tested "theverge.com": Dolphin performs better on that website than stock... par with iPad 3. Surface pro3 is still best. Depends on content.

-Not surprisingly the surface pro 3 is the best of all by far... buttery smooth, flash support, etc.

2. UI experience (Nova Launcher): please note that my android homescreens have Google now widgets, play news, mail, calendar, etc. iOS is more like the app drawer in Nova.

-After a reboot the tab 8.4 under nova is very smooth, par with the 10.5 and very little to choose between iPad, nexus 7, and tablet z.
This is despite the active widgets in android vs icons in iOS.

The surface pro 3 is a very different beast with windows 8.1 pro. Its metro UI is very smooth... but not a fair comparison.

The notification bar is smoothest on the nexus 7 and ipad..but by just a hair over the tab S.

I find the touchwiz lags at first but if you let the various widgets finish loading content then it smooth out considerably.

The Google now launcher works best on the nexus 7 and feels a hair sluggish on the tab s. I have to say that the UI performance on the nexus 7 is the best of the bunch.

The tablet z comes in last over all with Nova... but there is not much in it.

3. App performance: (Netflix, dungeon defenders, CNN, youtube)

-OK I picked a game my kids play, Netflix, YouTube, and CNN (which is a badly designed app especially in android)

-CNN is best on the iPad. The android app lags on all devices including the nexus 7. (I think due to the annoying animation in the scrolling tiles... the iOS app just scrolls).
-Netflix works best on tab s, nexus 7, and tablet Z...all buttery smooth. The iOS version lags a bit while scrolling (which surprised me...I didn't notice it before the side by side).
-YouTube works best on android devices in general... pretty much a wash. No lag at all for tab S VS anything else
-Dungeon Defenders (3d game): All very good performance on max settings. I would have to give the nod to the tab s 8.4 and 10.5...its just as smooth as any device but AMOLED makes it beautiful.

Antutu X: (FWIW)

Nexus 7: 20911
Tab s 10.5: 34930
Tab s 8.4: 35566
Tablet Z:20645
IPad (gen 3 retina): 13556

According to antutu, the top current gen iPad (air?) scores 29878 with the iPhone 5s high score of 32282

Surface pro3: N/A...but obviously the i5/hd4400 wins hands down.

4. Multimedia: (OK: not related to lag)

Movies, YouTube, xbmc, etc: I have to give the nod to the tab S. I love black level and contrast. The AMOLED screen is fantastic. Try watching a movie with lots of dark scenes in a room with the ambient light turned off. The tablet disappears completely in a fade to black. And text just floats in mid air against a black background.


Conclusion: Is there some lag in some circumstances on the tab S? Yes but this is true on any of my devices... and I have tested many. Is it a deal breaker? Not even close. Nova launcher cleans up the UI lag considerably down to quibbles. The app performance is a wash.

I recommend Nova launcher (with a reboot for tab S devices) and stock browser and you are good to go. Disable all the annoying Samsung extras as well (multi-window, smart stay, etc).

The surface pro3 is still the best all around the device with the best web browsing experience (although its not a apples to apples for a device costing 2-3x the price).

But for media consumption and apps I prefer the tab s 8.4 overall with the 10.5 a close second. If someone out there can turn them into Google experience devices with custom rom you would get the icing on the cake.

All of this is IMHO of course... but I thought the comparison might be helpful here.

mitchellvii said:

Actually I think you have come here looking for people to agree with you about your perceived lag problem and according to your own poll few do. I think this makes you angry and you reject any input which contradicts your preconceived notion. I just explained in detail how and why I am not experiencing any lag whatsoever and your response is to "ignore these comments". You don't want experience you want validation.

BarryH is one of the most helpful members of this forum and is far more longsuffering than most. If he tells you you are being annoying trust me, you are being annoying.

You wanted to know if the Tab S has serious lag problems? By vote it seems not.

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What is the matter with you? I came on here simply asking for feedback. Whilst you are carrying on like this I'm actually interested in others views and appreciate their time to respond.
On the back of this I've just collected one and am enjoying using it. The screen is slightly jerky but it's not a problem.

As for your response I wasn't answering you.
Jeeze guys get over yourselves. I was looking for feedback and some willingly provided it.
Seems to be some competition about who posts the most on here and without having a a huge post or number of thanks I'm regarded as someone who is less relevant.
I wasn't causing any argument about lag I asked a simple question. If that's being annoying, my what a friendly forum we have here.
I placed the question in the question forum looking for answers about a new product. My how wrong was I... .

bonerp said:

I'll ignore these comments. I came here to gain experience from users who have it, not from those who criticise the question I asked.

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Actually I think you have come here looking for people to agree with you about your perceived lag problem and according to your own poll few do. I think this makes you angry and you reject any input which contradicts your preconceived notion. I just explained in detail how and why I am not experiencing any lag whatsoever and your response is to "ignore these comments". You don't want experience you want validation.

BarryH is one of the most helpful members of this forum and is far more longsuffering than most. If he tells you you are being annoying trust me, you are being annoying.

You wanted to know if the Tab S has serious lag problems? By vote it seems not.

xRevilatioNx said:

Barry again with a thread killing post. Bravo! ?

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I have the benefit of time. I survived probably 100 pages of lag discussion in the N10.1-14 forum. On the 4.3 launch ROM(s) there was plenty to talk about. Delays and stutters were still in milliseconds but there were more of them. 4.4 really did make a major performance difference.

The displays are what make Samsung's high-end tablets so desirable. I was using a N10.1-12 with a 147 PPI display. Going between it and my N3 was downright painful. So 299 PPI is a pleasure, even if it's pushing the threshold of current high-end SoCs (S-801 still uses Adreno 330, BTW). So my choices were live with 147 PPI until some talked about new chip (S-805, Nvidia K1) is actually released or enjoy a 299 PPI display on a feature-rich tablet that performs exceptionally well 95% of the time. I picked the latter nine months ago and have no regrets.

Here's some guidance for the lag obsessed and those who see little value in Samsung's features like multi view. Buy a used N10 for $250 or new TF701 for $300. They'll still have lag because they're QHD but maybe their cheapness will make it bearable. You can probably sell them for close to what you paid when (if?) that "perfect" device you're waiting for becomes available. That's of course if it's really perfect. In all my years on XDA I've never seen one. But the one after that will surely be perfect. So just keep believing PR is real and keep waiting.

I'm getting the usual "samsung stutter" and general lag.

If I'm honest the only reason I stick with samsung devices is because I love the amoled screens.

The day amoled becomes more common amongst mobile devices then there won't be anything really drawing me towards samsung.