[Q] Samsung Galaxy S5 Issues - Galaxy S 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

hi guys, I've heard about this forum from various youtube channels that deal with Android and it's a very cool website full of guys who know what they are doing! keep up the good work. I recently got a samsung galaxy s5 and i've been enjoying it except for the fact that I'm facing a just a few challenges that I hope you can help me overcome.
1. I read that ART was faster than Dalvik, and I always want better performance, so I changed my runtime to ART. After a day on ART, I really didn't see any improvements at all, so I went back to Dalvik. When I checked my available storage after switchback, I noticed that I was missing about 500mb of my storage. Yesterday I was looking through screenshots of the Titanium backup app and noticed that you could clear the ART/Dalvik cache. Do you think that missing memory unaccounted for is ART cache? If so, please tell me how to clear it up. Possibly without rooting my device.
2. My battery life. I have the battery doctor app installed and whenever I "tap to save battery", there are always some apps that it says are open, like s note, bbm, vine, playstore,google newstand, etc. even when I dont open these apps. I guess they're running in the background. Could this be a cause of battery drainage? If so, please tell me how to fix it. And do battery saving apps actually help?
3. Is it normal to get about 4 hours and a couple of mins of screen on time with a fully charged battery? Cause I think I should get more. I know that the screen uses up the most power and I try to keep it on the lowest possible brightness when I use whatsapp, tweet and scroll through my gallery which I do a lot during the course of a day.
Thanks in advance for your help.

Related

Alarm woes with CM 5.0

Since no one replied to this message in the official CM 5.0 thread. I have decided to create a new thread and hope to find a solution to this problem.
My alarm clock would stop working randomly ever since I flashed to CM 5.0, from Beta 4 to 5..2, the problem persists. If i set an alarm that is about one hour from now, it would go off. But the real alarm I need which is supposed to go off at 8 am in the morning never goes off. Anyone had similar problems? I read Cyanogen's warning about the alarm clock problem. But seems he's just trying to remind you to reset your alarm after flashing to CM. Unluckily, I've reset my alarm numerous times and it never goes off in the morning.
Anyone can give me a hand? Thanks in advance! Overall, CM is a great ROM which gives me the option to use open vpn, which is vital for me since I'm living in China behind the GFW.
Are you by chance using any taskillers?
I do use a task-killer program. But I always keep the clock app on while i'm sleeping to try to make sure the alarm goes off on time. But it never does in the morning.
Don't use task killers on the N1, there really is no need.
cyanogen said:
Don't use task killers on the N1, there really is no need.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't say that's accurate... The phone does slow down noticeably when you have 20-30+ things open
Sometimes a lot of them are running as well (using TasKiller, a lot of Yellow, including Camera, Gmail etc even when not in use and no emails being downloaded). This probably affects battery life as well.
Paul22000 said:
I wouldn't say that's accurate... The phone does slow down noticeably when you have 20-30+ things open
Sometimes a lot of them are running as well (using TasKiller, a lot of Yellow, including Camera, Gmail etc even when not in use and no emails being downloaded). This probably affects battery life as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have any evidence to back this up? Yes this was a problem on older devices because many things would be fighting over the tiny amount of RAM.
You'll see lots of processes running but that's just the way Android works. Since it doesn't really benefit from simple caching like a normal linux system would, it just keeps everything running and kills unused stuff when memory is low. Most of the things you see running are either paused and using no CPU, or are services that would be periodically launched anyway.
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/fundamentals.html#lcycles
Keeping these processes alive should actually be saving you battery rather than using it. It's more expensive to launch and restore the state of an application or service after being killed than it is to simply resume one that's been paused.
cyanogen said:
Do you have any evidence to back this up? Yes this was a problem on older devices because many things would be fighting over the tiny amount of RAM.
You'll see lots of processes running but that's just the way Android works. Since it doesn't really benefit from simple caching like a normal linux system would, it just keeps everything running and kills unused stuff when memory is low. Most of the things you see running are either paused and using no CPU, or are services that would be periodically launched anyway.
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/fundamentals.html#lcycles
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. The phone gets slow when TasKiller shows 30 things in it. I click close all, and it's faster. Do you know my personal experiences more than I do?
Paul22000 said:
Yes. The phone gets slow when TasKiller shows 30 things in it. I click close all, and it's faster. Do you know my personal experiences more than I do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think there is likely one or two specific misbehaving applications that are giving you trouble, rather than the way the system works as a whole, thats all.
I think what Cyanogen is saying is that android does not handle running processes the way other os's do They have a lifecycle that is non-obvious to someone just looking at a process list. If you insist on killing tasks outside of the activity/service lifecycle they you _will_ get service failures (like the alarm clock) its up to you what you value more.
I have not installed any sort of task manager (outside what's in astro but I don't use it) and never see any noticeable slow down.
Anyway - back on topic.
Yes I have the same issue, never had it before.
Since flashine 5.0.2 my alarm doesn't work in the morning.
The linux kernel keeps a buffer cache of recently used files in RAM. So whenever an application wants to access something on the flash, instead of going to the flash file system, it can just get it from the file buffer cache in RAM, a significant speed increase.
If the RAM is currently being taken up by unused android apps, then that leaves less room for the buffer cache, so in theory, by killing off unused android apps more quickly, that will allow the linux kernel to allocate more space for the buffer cache and thus speeding up the system.
Am I way off here?
Dave
cyanogen said:
Do you have any evidence to back this up? Yes this was a problem on older devices because many things would be fighting over the tiny amount of RAM.
You'll see lots of processes running but that's just the way Android works. Since it doesn't really benefit from simple caching like a normal linux system would, it just keeps everything running and kills unused stuff when memory is low. Most of the things you see running are either paused and using no CPU, or are services that would be periodically launched anyway.
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/fundamentals.html#lcycles
Keeping these processes alive should actually be saving you battery rather than using it. It's more expensive to launch and restore the state of an application or service after being killed than it is to simply resume one that's been paused.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would have to agree with Cyanogen on this one. When I first got my N1, I looked towards task killers to help alleviate slowdown, but in the end, I think it's just the placebo effect in a way; you did something to try to solve the problem, and so therefore you perceive a difference.
In other words, task killers aren't needed on this beast of a phone. As for battery life (if that's an issue), look into SetCpu.
Thanks for the reply Cyanogen. I think not using task-killer, or at least not killing the clock app got my alarm working this morning. But I use task-killer not for the purpose of saving ram, but for using less data. Some programs such as facebook or a twitter client would try to connect to the internet every once in a while. I'm on a low data limit plan in China. So I don't want those programs to eat up all my data. When I'm on wifi at home, I don't worry about that. Thanks again.
Same problem. Don't use taskkillers, flashed last CM last night and didn't wake up on time this morning - alarm didn't work, thought I checked that clock icon was on place on notification bar
amwayorlando said:
But I use task-killer not for the purpose of saving ram, but for using less data. Some programs such as facebook or a twitter client would try to connect to the internet every once in a while. I'm on a low data limit plan in China. So I don't want those programs to eat up all my data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you thought about using something like APNDroid or Toggle Data, to just switch off the cell data when you don't want to use it?
Or, Modify the behavior of the applications you don't want using data?
I have my facebook and twitter for example set to manual update only (for battery saving purposes) because there's nothing there that is critical important info, and I don't need to be notified.
Nice thread though, I'm pretty sure I try to keep people informed that task-killers aren't needed and cause issues, everywhere where it comes up. I find humor that people will still argue, even with a developer, this fact. I've had 150+ hours uptime with no slowdown (and 30 apps running) on the stock rom (without highmem support).
bofslime said:
Or, Modify the behavior of the applications you don't want using data?
I have my facebook and twitter for example set to manual update only (for battery saving purposes) because there's nothing there that is critical important info, and I don't need to be notified.
Nice thread though, I'm pretty sure I try to keep people informed that task-killers aren't needed and cause issues, everywhere where it comes up. I find humor that people will still argue, even with a developer, this fact. I've had 150+ hours uptime with no slowdown (and 30 apps running) on the stock rom (without highmem support).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then please inform us of a thread that can verify what you all are saying. Not in an argumentative tone, my linpack score drastically improves after 16 hours of uptime, and a task-killer.
Rom:CM 5.0.2 -OC Kernel
wesbalmer said:
Then please inform us of a thread that can verify what you all are saying. Not in an argumentative tone, my linpack score drastically improves after 16 hours of uptime, and a task-killer.
Rom:CM 5.0.2 -OC Kernel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This has basically been discussed into the ground. In my eye's, its a fight vs what I like to call "Windows XP mentality", and that there was benefit on phones like the G1. With the copious amounts of memory on the N1 and droid, they cause way more harm, and immeasurable good (if any).
Summary thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=627836
I've linked to quotes from others.
Threads/posts of interest: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=5494890#post5494890
And: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=5298630#post5298630
Well, this discussion is very interesting, but lets return to our problem with non-working alarm.

Is my phone broken/bad? Q scores <900

Is something wrong with my phone? My Quadrant scores are NO where NEAR where they should be. I just got a whopping 872 I avg 900-1000. I know it might not matter, and that those scores can be manipulated. But a few have suggested this might actually indicate that my phone is messed up and if so – I want to get another one from Sprint.
Basics – I am rooted, custom rom (myn’s), stock htc10 kernel. I don’t know what other information is need to get help with this. I have tried running Q scores as soon as I do a wipe cache/dalvik thinking maybe it’s just slow after that stuff clogs it up. Same result. I have tried moving as much stuff off my sd card and now leave about 1.5 available ( I’ve slimmed my music down as much as I’m willing to do . I’ve tried running the Q score with the kernel set to performance, etc. I saw 1250-1350 one time, but I was using a kernel that was so unstable on my phone I had to ditch it pretty fast (multiple reboots, severe lag, etc).
I also wonder if there is something wrong with my phone because it does not seem to be able to handle anything other than the stock kernel very well. The phone completely spazzzes out with almost every kernel I have tried except for two. I am happy with the stock and have no complaints about battery life. I use the phone when I want and how I want and easily go 24hrs without having to charge. But the fact that only stock and 2 other kernels (king’11 and netarchys) are stable makes me wonder….
If anyone has any suggestions, opinion, thoughts, etc I would appreciate. I have searched and not seen this specific issue addressed.
If this helps, when I check my Running Services, this is what I see and this list varies very little.
Blik Calendar Widget
Y5 Battery Saver
More Icons Widget
AndLock
Handscent SMS
Antivirus
Calendar
Com.smithmicro.dm (have no idea what this is)
New and Weather (I have use the glass clock)
Google Service Framework (cloud to device; messaging)
HTC DM (no idea)
HTC IQAgent (no idea)
Voicemail
Ultra Keyboard
Def sounds sluggy.
My recommendation would unfortunately be to start from scratch. Backup only needed apps that you may not be able to download from the market and completely wipe, flash a stock OTA root ROM, completely wipe again, and flash whatever ROM you like after that.
I know it sounds like a huge PITA, but it should definitely help out.
I had a similar situation once, and this did the trick.
Ugh. Ok. I can try that. I did a full wipe/factory reset less than 2 weeks ago. I use Titanium so getting it all back up is not bad. I also sync to AppBrain so at least if I start with a clean slate I would know what Apps I did have.
Thanks for the help and suggestion.
to eliminate as many variables as possible, i'd do a nand backup, install your ROM of choice with no additional apps except the ones you use to benchmark and perform your tests. give it an hour or so after you flash to let the phone settle down (sync, etc.). you may have apps may be hogging resources or be running in the background (i.e. y5, antivirus) which will effect your tests. report back.
I will try that way first
Yes - antivirus and Y5 are always running in the background. Always.
ha - maybe I'll freeze most of the apps I listed as Running Services, wipe cache/dalvik, reboot and THEN see what I get. But I'm not ever going to realically run my phone without Y5, Handscent, UltraKeyboard, antivirus, etc. I could probably get rid of the More Icons widget now that I have Apps Organizer, but I really really like having one, 1/3 page widget with 8 icones that have ALL my apps organized.
Does your phone seem slow? That is what I would base the speed of my phone on not some q-score. What if you never ran the test would you be concerned.?.?
I would try this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=836728 after your nand backup. That has the latest ota, kernel and you would not loose root.
I'll have time on Sunday to try some of the suggestions. Thanks again for the help, I really do appreciate it. I was with a friend this evening, his Evo is rooted and running Myn's rls3 just like mine. He scored around 1300.
And no - my phone doesn't seem slow to me at all. But I've also not used another to know how it might "feel" if there is a difference. I more curious than anything - I tend to research things to death just so I'll know. And I find it curious that my phone is both low on Q scores and can't handle many kernels without it spazzing out.

[Poll] Which bug/issue do you wish to get fix in the next official update?

For my experience of coming from ICS to this new official JB release I9300XXDLJ4 BTU.
I liked to see this phone being up-to-date on latest OS and getting better performance (Keep the good work up, Samsung!), but there are still bugs and issue that are found in this rom.
Which bug/issue annoy you the most? and wish to get fix in the next update by Samsung?
1) Lag on opening Contact and Dialer - It is more noticeable in JB, since all other apps open faster but not these two which should get speed up or keep in memory.
2) Multi-task with games and apps - when open 1 game and then play another game at the same time it will close and reload the 1st game from the beginning no matter how many free memory you have. Not cool at all. [Fix: bestMultiTaskingFix 5 by mattiadj read this]
3) Wake up from home button problem - On screen turned off, when press the home button instead of going back to your active apps you use before screen off, it go to home screen. This is very annoying and it affect everyday use. [Fix: No wipe need. Go to Application List -> S-Voice ->Settings -> Keep "Open via the home key" ticked. ]
4) Slow wifi problem - The wifi speed is found to be slower in JB compared to ICS.
5) Gallery full screen problem - There is a black bar on top of Gallery's photo in full screen mode.
6) Battery drain - Some user have report battery drain on JB. It could be likely that it need a full charge after flash to get correct battery level. Some user report flash + full wipe could solve it. I will spend a few more days on test.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Credit & Reference: DeadSOL
Please post any issue you have experienced or workaround you have found useful on JB rom.
My findings with all this
1) I don't notice
2) I loaded up dead trigger & riptide gp, both restart from the point I left them. No idea what I'm doing differently.
3) Not affected by that
4) See 3
5) I don't think it's a bug, maybe a feature of the gallery
Definitely multitasking...
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
slow contact opening
battery drain
1 and 1 and 1. How can you release a firmware with one of the most important apps laggy????
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
None of those. I would like copy and paste to understand the gaps inbetween sentences and paragraphs ideally don't need removing when copying large bodies of text. It was the same in ICS and I can't believe it's the same with stock JB.
Cyclosporine said:
slow contact opening
battery drain
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you explain more what problem you have on battery drain? I only have used a few days.
What battery drain? No problems here...
This thread is making me yawn...
Thanks for quoting me! Glad to see that people are taking these problems seriously!
I recently wiped my phone in order to test whether that made a difference. None, unfortunately! I'm a heavy phone user and I notice the little things. I have seen people here saying that multitasking works. YES, it does but with apps!!! Apps resume their state, most games do not! The same games used to resume their state on ICS but they don't on Jellybean. Also, Android System keeps consuming a LOT of my battery. I've got the same setup and the same games/apps on JB as I had on ICS. There's a huge difference! It's quite annoying.
Another thing they need to fix is they need to give the Video Player its own brightness controls. I know that the system controls are just a swipe away but why take away a good feature, Samsung?
Wake up from home button problem is really annoying! Lag on opening Contact and Dialer also but is less annoying...
DeadSOL said:
Thanks for quoting me! Glad to see that people are taking these problems seriously!
I recently wiped my phone in order to test whether that made a difference. None, unfortunately! I'm a heavy phone user and I notice the little things. I have seen people here saying that multitasking works. YES, it does but with apps!!! Apps resume their state, most games do not! The same games used to resume their state on ICS but they don't on Jellybean. Also, Android System keeps consuming a LOT of my battery. I've got the same setup and the same games/apps on JB as I had on ICS. There's a huge difference! It's quite annoying.
Another thing they need to fix is they need to give the Video Player its own brightness controls. I know that the system controls are just a swipe away but why take away a good feature, Samsung?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It feel that it need to list all the bugs here, this help people finding/raising the solution of the same problem. One day, it could be all solved.
For the battery drain, I am waiting for more of battery stats.
Brightness controls on video player could well be another motion as an option. That would be a good feature to show off.

Material Accent Lags on KitKat

I don't know if anyone else is having issues with harsh lag after Material reached certain apps on stock 4.4.4... But I found a remedy which seems to work for me. If you aren't running it already, simply switch runtime to ART. The stutterfest ended for me in these apps after switching:
Hangouts (Was almost unusable on Dalvik)
Gmail
Inbox by Google
Shuttle+ Music Player
Google Play Music
Google+ (subtle)
Tumblr (not extremely laggy like before but a deal smoother)
YouTube (WOW)
Google Calendar still hiccups really bad, Chrome had no change, Google Earth didn't either, Google Keep also the same. I can't imagine what 4.3- users are experiencing. No ART is an issue. It seems Lollipop optimization, mostly to accommodate the new runtime is hurting the way Dalvik handles apps. Hope this helps someone.
That makes sense - one of the purported improvements in ART is better scrolling performance. That said, I've switched back to Dalvik and have noticed not a single difference when using apps. When I know there is heavy lifting going on in the background (i.e., when the Play Store is downloading and applying a bunch of app updates) I see scroll issues, but in ART too.
I also get the lag when installing updates but ONLY apps with Material design started to lag from typical use. Going back to Dalvik, the apps still sputter about, same with a friend's Ultra. Hangouts is unusable for me unless I revert to the factory package on Dalvik. Scrolling really improved
kcipopnevets said:
I also get the lag when installing updates but ONLY apps with Material design started to lag from typical use. Going back to Dalvik, the apps still sputter about, same with a friend's Ultra. Hangouts is unusable for me unless I revert to the factory package on Dalvik. Scrolling really improved
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm just curious; Does anyone else have their phone encrypted and notice a major lag also? I may be having a double wammy of being encrypted and still on Dalvik of this app slowness... I just know KitKat ART isn't the greatest with compatibility since it was still in development on KitKat vs Lollipop.
It's much better now, really all apps that didn't work before with the exception of Xposed is fine now. I reverted to Dalvik a few months ago because no Xposed, it wasn't any faster before, and every app install made Play Services keep stopping. As for encryption, lag is expected...
Certain xposed modules will slow down the scrolling performance of the phone. Those apps such as Flat Style Color Bars as an example. My Droid Maxx runs on ART because it is locked down on 4.4.4, while my Moto X DE runs on Dalvik and the scrolling performance is similar as long as I'm careful with which xposed modules I run on the DE.
opt05 said:
I'm just curious; Does anyone else have their phone encrypted and notice a major lag also? I may be having a double wammy of being encrypted and still on Dalvik of this app slowness... I just know KitKat ART isn't the greatest with compatibility since it was still in development on KitKat vs Lollipop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, my phone is encrypted, I notice very infrequent lagging, only when there is a lot of background app activity. Art is marginally better, but dalvik is fine for me, too.
doogald said:
Nope, my phone is encrypted, I notice very infrequent lagging, only when there is a lot of background app activity. Art is marginally better, but dalvik is fine for me, too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. Encryption is a must for me. but because it's a must have, I did it the first day I had the phone...about a year ago and as such have not really used it without encryption. That makes it hard to compare. But my wife's mini is not encrypted and I don't notice it performing better in the limited times I'm using it. I've also had ART turned on for as long as its been available. I did not have any apps that wouldn't work with it so I left it on. Never seemed to cause me any problems but since I haven't used it extensively without ART, its hard to make a comparison.

Lollipop:rapid battery drain.

After upgrade to 5.1,there are some serious issues .Whenever the tablet is woke,it heats up almost instantly,even if its simply left with the screen-on.This causes rapid battery drain.I think the processor runs at its peak state,all the time during screen-on.I find many users complaining about the same.So,if anyone has a solution, please be generous enough to share-possibly without rooting.
Nandroid7736 said:
After upgrade to 5.1,there are some serious issues .Whenever the tablet is woke,it heats up almost instantly,even if its simply left with the screen-on.This causes rapid battery drain.I think the processor runs at its peak state,all the time during screen-on.I find many users complaining about the same.So,if anyone has a solution, please be generous enough to share-possibly without rooting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't get the heating or battery drain but every time I rebooted the tablet it would optimize all the apps. A factory reset solved the problem.
Sent from my TegraNote-P1640 using Tapatalk
factory reset solved only the problems for a few days now weeks later the tablet still is not function normal.. heats up quick, seems to have cpu at 100% almost nonstop because of the nvidia tegra services running in the background stealing 30-60% cpu and makes the cpu go 100% full alltime thats what causing lag and heat problems for me so many weeks and because of this i barely use it so frustrating and nvidia dont even seem to care - posted on their geforce forums but not a word response month later fking clowns!
I found a fix for lollipop issues
oppodi said:
I found a fix for lollipop issues
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and i found a way to be a millionaire..............................just kidding :silly:
could you pls share some more details here?
Things needed , twrp recovery
Greenify donation
First go to recovery advanced wipe and wipe cache and dalkvik cache
Reboot
Go to greenify experimental features and select greenifying system services
Add nvidia tetra services and hibernate
Remove SD card try not to use it
The problems are fixed
---------- Post added at 05:12 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:11 AM ----------
oppodi said:
Things needed , twrp recovery
Greenify donation
First go to recovery advanced wipe and wipe cache and dalkvik cache
Reboot
Go to greenify experimental features and select greenifying system services
Add nvidia tetra services and hibernate
Remove SD card try not to use it
The problems are fixed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hit thanks if works
Mine was overheating too. Now it's good.
In my case turning all apps configuration to optimised for nvidia worked.
To do that you need to download activity launcher app from play store then install it.
In the app press all then go to settings. Look for "SETTINGS com.android.settings.NvControlPanel" (If you hold you will be able to create a shortcut on home screen). Then in APPS tab press optimise all. From now all previously installed apps will be optimised and will not run at Max performance mode. New apps need to be optimised after installation.
Can someone look in their /lbh partition at the prop file in there trying to see if one can bypass Advents servers for OTA updates as it seems Advent servers do not have the 3.0 update. Thanks in advance
Not seen the overheating described, but I was seeing very fast battery drain on standby (25% overnight!). The main culprit turned out to be the Photos app - it wasn't syncing anything, but google services were using 40ish% battery and Photos another 20%. Since removing Photos and disabling unused google stuff (hangouts, google+ etc) standby is back to kitkat levels (2-3% overnight).
Is there a guide somewhere to fix the massive battery drain, in standby/hibernate that I have now after I upgraded to Lollipop? Just some settings or something easy to install? What's this Activity Launcher App then?
iMaterial said:
Is there a guide somewhere to fix the massive battery drain, in standby/hibernate that I have now after I upgraded to Lollipop? Just some settings or something easy to install? What's this Activity Launcher App then?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read my this thread about activity launcher and power management in lollipop (No root)
Sent from my TegraNote-P1640 using XDA-Developers mobile app

Categories

Resources