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INFO: All 2.3.4 custom firmware does not support HW acceleration in the browser

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David Horn

Retired Recognized Developer
Oct 30, 2008
416
122
Manchester
This is really a heads-up to people thinking of trying one of the many (and generally, excellent) 2.3.4 ROMs cooked up in this forum.

There's a fudge, which works fairly well, which uses brute force (ie, the CPU) to handle the scrolling, but this will obviously have a significant effect on battery life since it's a job which the GPU does very well, but the CPU struggles with. Equally, it leaves less brainpower available for page rendering so you will notice issues with Flash, especially if you try to scroll around the page at the same time.

This affects the smoothness of both the scrolling in the browser and the double-tap-to-zoom functionality, and as yet there is no ideal fix. There are two solutions, neither of them perfect:

1) Download one of the custom firmware images and accept that the browser will be laggy compared to 2.3.3.

OR​

2) Download the original, leaked, 2.3.4 firmware and use that. Should be fine. You can root it without a problem, but you're going to say goodbye to themes and many of the brilliant improvements put in by the chefs. "Lag-free" means that it's usable and nothing else.


This isn't mentioned in any of the firmware description threads, and if, like me, the silky smooth scrolling of the browser is a key point it's worth bearing in mind and holding off for the time being. No doubt a solution will be found.

Edit: Title corrected as suggested. Specifically, it's de-odexed firmware that encounters this issue.
 
Last edited:

Intratech

Senior Member
Jun 15, 2009
5,338
4,693
London
Well I did point out to the masses that this was a test firmware and was never meant to be released to the public. Issues like this is to be expected.
 

David Horn

Retired Recognized Developer
Oct 30, 2008
416
122
Manchester
Absolutely, IntraTech, but most people's experience is that leaked firmware works perfectly well and for the most part this is true. Having said that, whether this can be fixed at all even with the full release is questionable.

I loathe anything to do with ODEXing.

For reference, the original thread where people are working hell-for-leather to solve the issue:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1163285
 
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BlueScreenJunky

Senior Member
Feb 25, 2010
264
27
Am I really the only one hoping they'll get rid of hardware acceleration in the official 2.3.4 firmware ?

I think it's better without HW rendering. OK it's not as smooth but at least you can resize the page in real time (instead of zooming on a picture of the page, creating an ugly mess of pixels) and scroll as fast as you want without seeing a checkered background while the browser is struggling to render the page.
 
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kahuna0k

Senior Member
Apr 20, 2007
77
3
I've flashed the original leaked KG1, rooted with CF and replace the kernel with the one from Cognition v1.13, so far so good. You loose theming, powermenu, but I care more about battery life and user experience. I have removed all the samsung apps (except for the Social Hub + IM, which I find quite usefull), not too much time for testing the battery life but durin a whole night with screen off, wifi on(switched off by screen off I suppose) and data and sync enable on 3 email accounts and 3 social accounts, I lost 3%, seems quite good for me.
 

mercuryzzz

Senior Member
Jun 24, 2008
216
4
Am I really the only one hoping they'll get rid of hardware acceleration in the official 2.3.4 firmware ?

I think it's better without HW rendering. OK it's not as smooth but at least you can resize the page in real time (instead of zooming on a picture of the page, creating an ugly mess of pixels) and scroll as fast as you want without seeing a checkered background while the browser is struggling to render the page.

yes I think you're the only one in the world, or maybe one of the few people hoping that and for sure you will not be happy because it's pretty sure this will not happen. The strong key of the galaxy s 2 is definely the browser and its smoothness.
 

cCeT

Senior Member
May 9, 2010
283
9
Am I really the only one hoping they'll get rid of hardware acceleration in the official 2.3.4 firmware ?

I think it's better without HW rendering. OK it's not as smooth but at least you can resize the page in real time (instead of zooming on a picture of the page, creating an ugly mess of pixels) and scroll as fast as you want without seeing a checkered background while the browser is struggling to render the page.

i hate of lag.rather seeing checkboards.and it s not as bad as you said.
 

mach0boi

Senior Member
Jul 15, 2010
2,210
255
Manila
why the panic? everyone should be well aware of what has gone on here, alternatively just use a third party browser...

+1.

Im pretty sure other improvements outweighs the laggy browser. And come on, do we flash a ROM because we're going use the stock browser? I do flash a ROM because I want my phone to be functional/stable, not because of the browser :p
 

nightranger73

Senior Member
Oct 20, 2010
977
261
48
Reggio Emilia
Personally speaking I would want to see all HW acceleration turned on for everything.

In reference to this issue I wouldn't invest too much time trying to fix it as the official 2.3.4 release may not even have this problem.

The problem is not in the firmware itself. The stock kg1 has no problem with the browser but it happens on deodexed roms
Since kf1 we've had this problem solved using an older version of the browser or removing part of hw acceleration. Now both tweaks don't work and the chefs have to turn off hw acceleration at all

Sent from my GT-I9100

If you find this post usefull please press the "Thanks" button
 
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hacksome

Senior Member
Jan 27, 2005
1,156
152
Bangalore
Exactly because of this reason, i'm sporting the stock since 2.3.4. Browser is an important thing for me and lag on it is not acceptable. Won't trade it for themes.
 

daleski75

Senior Member
Jul 21, 2008
5,770
6,469
Northampton
Xiaomi Mi 11
Google Pixel 6 Pro
The problem is not in the firmware itself. The stock kg1 has no problem with the browser but it happens on deodexed roms
Since kf1 we've had this problem solved using an older version of the browser or removing part of hw acceleration. Now both tweaks don't work and the chefs have to turn off hw acceleration at all

Sent from my GT-I9100

If you find this post usefull please press the "Thanks" button

I know the issue is not with the firmware itself was just thinking that maybe when 2.3.4 finally gets released it may have a more up to date browser which can be deodexed and keep all the acceleration turned on.

This is the biggest reason why I never keep a custom 2.3.4 rom on for long because the browser is very laggy.

Given time I am sure all these bugs will be addressed.
 

nightranger73

Senior Member
Oct 20, 2010
977
261
48
Reggio Emilia
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nightranger73

Senior Member
Oct 20, 2010
977
261
48
Reggio Emilia
I know the issue is not with the firmware itself was just thinking that maybe when 2.3.4 finally gets released it may have a more up to date browser which can be deodexed and keep all the acceleration turned on.

This is the biggest reason why I never keep a custom 2.3.4 rom on for long because the browser is very laggy.

Given time I am sure all these bugs will be addressed.

Yes but it seems you haven't understood. The problem is here since kf1. Last usable was ke2

Sent from my GT-I9100

If you find this post usefull please press the "Thanks" button
 

daleski75

Senior Member
Jul 21, 2008
5,770
6,469
Northampton
Xiaomi Mi 11
Google Pixel 6 Pro
Yes but it seems you haven't understood. The problem is here since kf1. Last usable was ke2

Sent from my GT-I9100

If you find this post usefull please press the "Thanks" button

Ahh cool I misunderstood... learnt something new :D

Also could Samsung be doing this on purpose to make the experience 'lesser' on a custom rom?
 

dinan

Senior Member
Oct 28, 2008
942
47
Yeah I flashed Cognition 1.13 last night and I was wondering why the browser was a bit choppier... guess I'll revert back to 2.3.3 and wait. Opera Mobile is still a great alternative though =)
 

aydc

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2006
1,036
390
The title is misleading: Stock 2.3.4's browser doesn't have the slightest problem.

The claim that stock ROM can't be themed is totally false too. Just look here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1154278

The custom ROMs at this point include only small tweaks and custom skins, all of which can be applied manually to stock ROM. There's really no compelling reason to flash anything but stock ROM at this point anyway. Unless CM7 gets released, it'll likely stay this way.
 
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    This is really a heads-up to people thinking of trying one of the many (and generally, excellent) 2.3.4 ROMs cooked up in this forum.

    There's a fudge, which works fairly well, which uses brute force (ie, the CPU) to handle the scrolling, but this will obviously have a significant effect on battery life since it's a job which the GPU does very well, but the CPU struggles with. Equally, it leaves less brainpower available for page rendering so you will notice issues with Flash, especially if you try to scroll around the page at the same time.

    This affects the smoothness of both the scrolling in the browser and the double-tap-to-zoom functionality, and as yet there is no ideal fix. There are two solutions, neither of them perfect:

    1) Download one of the custom firmware images and accept that the browser will be laggy compared to 2.3.3.

    OR​

    2) Download the original, leaked, 2.3.4 firmware and use that. Should be fine. You can root it without a problem, but you're going to say goodbye to themes and many of the brilliant improvements put in by the chefs. "Lag-free" means that it's usable and nothing else.


    This isn't mentioned in any of the firmware description threads, and if, like me, the silky smooth scrolling of the browser is a key point it's worth bearing in mind and holding off for the time being. No doubt a solution will be found.

    Edit: Title corrected as suggested. Specifically, it's de-odexed firmware that encounters this issue.
    1
    Absolutely, IntraTech, but most people's experience is that leaked firmware works perfectly well and for the most part this is true. Having said that, whether this can be fixed at all even with the full release is questionable.

    I loathe anything to do with ODEXing.

    For reference, the original thread where people are working hell-for-leather to solve the issue:

    http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1163285
    1
    Am I really the only one hoping they'll get rid of hardware acceleration in the official 2.3.4 firmware ?

    I think it's better without HW rendering. OK it's not as smooth but at least you can resize the page in real time (instead of zooming on a picture of the page, creating an ugly mess of pixels) and scroll as fast as you want without seeing a checkered background while the browser is struggling to render the page.
    1
    why the panic? everyone should be well aware of what has gone on here, alternatively just use a third party browser...
    1
    Personally speaking I would want to see all HW acceleration turned on for everything.

    In reference to this issue I wouldn't invest too much time trying to fix it as the official 2.3.4 release may not even have this problem.

    The problem is not in the firmware itself. The stock kg1 has no problem with the browser but it happens on deodexed roms
    Since kf1 we've had this problem solved using an older version of the browser or removing part of hw acceleration. Now both tweaks don't work and the chefs have to turn off hw acceleration at all

    Sent from my GT-I9100

    If you find this post usefull please press the "Thanks" button