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One thing I have wondered is why Android is so much further behind in terms of the snappiness and speed of scrolling compared to the iPhone.
Yes, the jerkiness and much of the lag has been completely removed with updates to 2.2 and the newer high-speed processors. However, the difference is extremely apparent even with comparing my 2.2 cyanogen Nexus One to an iPod Touch 2G I happened to pick up today.
The iPod touch's scrolling actually follows your finger, if you rapidly scroll up and down (or left and right), the UI does not lag behind the position of your finger. But on my Nexus One (and even on my friend's Evo with the FPS update), scrolling rarely keeps up with your finger. I even was able to have the page oscillate to the wrong position of my finger by quickly scrolling back and forth.
To me, this is single-handedly one of the most important problems with the Android operating system. Speed is not just the processor, it's how the UI interacts with the user.
My question is - What can we do about it?
It's almost certainly a software issue, unless android phones are using sub-par touch screens, which seems hard to imagine. Is there any way to optimize the sending of touch information to apps?
Just figured I'd throw it out here, as I've yet to find any other posts with similar concerns.
It's because iOS is totally built to support the gpu AKA hardware acceleration. Android OS mainly runs on software, instead of full hardware acceleration. Which is why IOS is much more fluid. But Gingerbread 2.3 is said to have true hardware acceleration, and it's coming soon
Sent from my Vanilla Tazz using XDA App
My sentiments exactly. "Speed is not just the processor, it's how the UI interacts with the user."
Its a combination of poor touch sensor, having multitasking and not enough hardware acceleration.
The nexus/desire can barely multitouch so super smooth scrolling may be too much to ask.
Try scrolling in the new youtube app from google on one of the latest phones (sgs,g2,dhd) its super smooth. Everything will be like that come gingerbread
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
With an exception in the program list, my HTC Tattoo handles scrolling very well! I am running a Froyo ROM on it that is definitely whats making it fast, and I really look forward for gingerbreads new UI and that it doesn't require too much of the phone as froyo runs great on my tattoo.
It's definitely possible that it's the touchscreen. One thing I did notice however that must be almost certainly part of the software is that there's a "buffer range" when the finger first presses down that the finger must move out of before the scrolling action is started.
Presumably this is to keep from confusing wild presses with scrolls, but on the iPhone that buffer range is far smaller than on the Android platform.
Due to this buffer, the scrolling action only really starts a few hundred milliseconds after I actually touch the screen.
I may find a Verizon store and check out some of the newer phones, I'm curious if they'll work better, than my Nexus One.
Dunno but there are some app's where scroling is smooth whereas it isnt with others, so I dont thinks it's all up to the touchscreen of my desire, for example the launcher pro app drawer is extremely smooth compared to the htc one and so on
I checked out a Verizon store, and I still have to say that there's definitely something off about the smoothness. Anyone who disagrees hasn't tried an Android phone side-by-side to an iPhone.
It also doesn't seem to be something that GPU acceleration could fix:
Romain Guy said:
A one year old NexusOne (and other devices before) is perfectly capable of scrolling a list at close to 60fps (limited by the display’s refresh rate.)
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So the problem is really either the screen refresh rate, or the slight hiccup when starting the scroll. Other than that, I really can't determine the differing factor, especially since I'm comparing Android to a iPod Touch 2g; nothing that would have significant processing power.
Kleptine said:
I checked out a Verizon store, and I still have to say that there's definitely something off about the smoothness. Anyone who disagrees hasn't tried an Android phone side-by-side to an iPhone.
It also doesn't seem to be something that GPU acceleration could fix:
So the problem is really either the screen refresh rate, or the slight hiccup when starting the scroll. Other than that, I really can't determine the differing factor, especially since I'm comparing Android to a iPod Touch 2g; nothing that would have significant processing power.
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just use a different launcher. Launcher pro and zeam are incredibly smooth
bobdude5 said:
just use a different launcher. Launcher pro and zeam are incredibly smooth
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I'm not even using the Launcher. Specifically I've been testing on Astro File Manager (which seems to be the smoothest android application with a long list to use) and the new Youtube app which supposedly has a few optimizations of some sort.
Doesn't the android OS lack gpu acceleration?? Thus Apple devices are smoother
Sent from my Incredible using XDA App
That's true, but look at the comments on this page from Romain Guy himself:
http://www.curious-creature.org/201...-and-tips-tricks/comment-page-1/#comment-4928
According to him, GPU acceleration isn't much of the problem.
I haven't seen any posts commenting on this issue too directly. I played with the Xoom in the Verizon store and noticed that although the UI animations were pretty smooth (with the exception of the app list fly-in, the rotation, and the page-turning in the reader, which all had a little frame stutter), the touch responsiveness in general still just wasn't quite up to par with the Ipad. When scrolling through homescreens there's a small but noticeable delay before the screen actually starts to scroll, whereas with the Ipad the scrolling seems to begin instantly. The Xoom is similar in feel to the Galaxy S phones, which were smooth but not quite as responsive as IOS, whose instantaneous responsiveness just inspires more confidence when you're navigating the device.
Ultimately it's a small difference but one that makes a big difference in the perception of the device's responsiveness. Is this a hardware or software issue? If Honeycomb finally has hardware acceleration, why are IOS and WP7 still ahead in this department? Is it because Android's more complex homescreens require more power to scroll? Is this due to something inherent in Android and Java? Is it possible that a future Honeycomb update might fix this completely? If someone with some expertise in the subject can comment on this, I'd really appreciate it. I fully expected Honeycomb to kill any complaints people could have about UI responsiveness, but it just doesn't seem to have happened yet, and I haven't seen any thorough explanation for it. Thanks a lot.
I just pulled out my Xoom and tested each of the things you talked about.
Auto rotation is slower than my phone.
Everything else is instant... though I have not used the reader. I have noticed stutter in the Kindle app.
But in the main UI, scrolling home screens and app list fly in is instant.
I have head of the auto rotate complaint and Kindle page turning complaint in other comments in this board and others... but the main UI? Nope.
I do not know what was the situation with the Xoom in the Verizon store, but in my personal usage the problem you describe does not exist... I think if it did on a wide basis, you would hear about it.
Describing something as a Hardware vs. Software issue in this case is non-productive. In every instance you can start with the hardware and say if it had more "oomph", you can often make a problem go away. Most issues like this can be dealt with in Software. The only time the whole thing is problematic is if the hardware is so underpowered in relation to what the software is trying to do. My guess is these things that are definitely happening (rotate, slow page turn) can be fixed in software, especially on this hardware.
My experience on the Android platforms is future updates fix first release issues.
My experience is also that extending future OS versions to hardware that cannot support them can be problematic, but Apple has experienced the same issue.
I have to agree that this is not as quick as I thought it would be.
I am blaming it on an app maybe, so I am removing everything back to stock.
The app list fly in is the worst. Looks better on my evo.
hctarks said:
I haven't seen any posts commenting on this issue too directly. I played with the Xoom in the Verizon store and noticed that although the UI animations were pretty smooth (with the exception of the app list fly-in, the rotation, and the page-turning in the reader, which all had a little frame stutter), the touch responsiveness in general still just wasn't quite up to par with the Ipad. When scrolling through homescreens there's a small but noticeable delay before the screen actually starts to scroll, whereas with the Ipad the scrolling seems to begin instantly. The Xoom is similar in feel to the Galaxy S phones, which were smooth but not quite as responsive as IOS, whose instantaneous responsiveness just inspires more confidence when you're navigating the device.
Ultimately it's a small difference but one that makes a big difference in the perception of the device's responsiveness. Is this a hardware or software issue? If Honeycomb finally has hardware acceleration, why are IOS and WP7 still ahead in this department? Is it because Android's more complex homescreens require more power to scroll? Is this due to something inherent in Android and Java? Is it possible that a future Honeycomb update might fix this completely? If someone with some expertise in the subject can comment on this, I'd really appreciate it. I fully expected Honeycomb to kill any complaints people could have about UI responsiveness, but it just doesn't seem to have happened yet, and I haven't seen any thorough explanation for it. Thanks a lot.
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I'm not finding the same issues you are. The orientation delay is 100% intentional. I wish there were built in options that let you mess with the delay, but that will happen soon enough. I don't mind or notice this intentional lag in daily use.
I'm not finding any other lack of smoothness. I've played with iOS on many different devices, and I find my Xoom to be just as smooth. The iOS devices were smoother than my Droid X (always have been smoother than my phones), but I like what powerful hardware mixed with Honeycomb has shown me.
I'd certainly love to be wrong about this. Maybe it was the display unit that was faulty. But even though the homescreen scrolling was perfectly "smooth," it was more the delay in response that bothered me. When I set my finger down and swiped from one screen to another, there was always a very short, split-second delay before the screen started moving, which felt as if my finger was "slipping" for a few millimeters before gripping the homescreen. This probably isn't even something that I would have noticed if I hadn't been comparing it side-by-side with the display-unit Ipad, which, in comparison, seemed to start scrolling without even the tiniest delay, which ultimately gave the Ipad app list a more authentic sense of tactility.
It looks like Bielinsk is having a similar experience, so we know this isn't a completely isolated phenomenon. Maybe both Bielinsk's and my experience had to do with the specific units and installed apps, but even the possibility that installing a certain app can degrade the whole UI experience on Honeycomb seems to be a problem that IOS is less prone to. I've also read reviews, such as the one on Anandtech, that note that smoothness in Honeycomb is improved but not quite at IOS-level. Again, I hope I'm wrong. Everything else about Honeycomb seems fantastic, but the not-as-responsive-as-IOS issue just seems like something that Android can't fully shake.
Bielinsk said:
I have to agree that this is not as quick as I thought it would be.
I am blaming it on an app maybe, so I am removing everything back to stock.
The app list fly in is the worst. Looks better on my evo.
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Please update us on whether wiping fixes the problem for you.
I uninstalled all the apps that are not Tablet apps and have the same issue.
Removed all widgets, except the clock.
I don't see any delay or pause changing home screens, but the app fly down list just really looks like ****. I put on spare parts and turned the animations to fast to see if that would help and it didn't see to do anything.
Actually the app fly-in frame-stutter was something that I first thought I noticed when Google demoed the tablet at their Honeycomb event. And then it seemed confirmed when I tried it myself at the store.
Yea, I noticed that when I played with one at Costco. I couldn't really tell if it was designed to look like that or not. I remember everyone raving during the Xoom's debut at CES about how smooth it was and using the app fly in as an example of said smoothness. Weird.
I think the lag and less responsive than expected phenomenon is absolutely real and undebateable even if some have not experienced it. We've seen it many times in online reviews and I have personally experienced it on demo units in store.
What it comes down to is development. Combinaton of hardware and software.
Although the experience is optimized on Android, it is prioritized on Apple.
That is the key idea you need to understand and unless the hardware and software BOTH prioritize it, Apple will always win here since they control both hardware AND software.
DatterBoy said:
That is the key idea you need to understand and unless the hardware and software BOTH prioritize it, Apple will always win here since they control both hardware AND software.
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Well, but then you look at the fluidness of WP7 devices for which the hardware is made by companies that aren't Microsoft, and this argument doesn't really seem like the whole story.
I love my xoom, so this is not a complaint, but the device is not as smooth as I expected it to be. I have an og droid running one of the cm7 builds and overclocked to 1.2ghz. It is a much smooter device than my xoom in many situations.
I do not experience lag on my home screens or when using widgets, but the app fly in is crap and the browser scrolling is laggy. It was this way when I purchased it so I do not attribute it to any apps in particular. I just think honeycomb is in need of some coding polish.
Really makes me wonder if the dual core is being used for anything aside from keeping the CPU in a lower state of energy consumption for battery life. I wish there was some sort of widget that could show CPU usage so that I can see what is making use of the hardware and what is not.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App
This is depressing. I really don't understand how it's possible that a hardware-accelerated version of Android on a dual-core device can be, in certain UI animations, consistently laggier than non-hardware-accelerated versions of Android on certain single-core phones.
Edit: For example, the app drawer fly-in on a Samsung Vibrant with a custom ROM or just Launcherpro is extremely smooth--seems like twice the framerate of the same animation on any other Android phone I've seen.
I have 100% the same thoughts/experience, I bought this on day 1, and when I had it up with zero apps it was throwing me similar lag to what has been described so far - the experience just isn't smooth or polished.
The f'd up thing? We basically have to rely on groups like CM (who I love!!!) to make our exerperiences closer to what we expect, I think we can all agree that once/if (PLEASE!) the CM crew starts building custom ROM's for us it'll be optimized and if it still runs like this, that's proof (in my eyes) that something is seriously wrong with this platform.
Fingers crossed we see some kind of update soon... Either official or non.
hctarks said:
... But even though the homescreen scrolling was perfectly "smooth," it was more the delay in response that bothered me. When I set my finger down and swiped from one screen to another, there was always a very short, split-second delay before the screen started moving, which felt as if my finger was "slipping" for a few millimeters before gripping the homescreen. ...
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I think this is actually by design. This prevents screen movements when one touches the screen for whatever reason and moves slightly, but does not intend to slide the screen, preventing screen jitter. In testing, the slide amount is something less than a centimeter.
I'm trying to decide if I would turn it off or leave it on if it could be toggled.
I'm interested if alternate desktop app's would do this.
So, it is like the orientation delay that is apparently by design. I wish my phone had that, if flips a little to easily (vibrant).
I think IOS demonstrates pretty adequately that such a touch-response delay is not necessary. Same goes with, I think, orientation-switch delay. Re: the latter, when it's a problem on a device it seems like it's usually due to the threshold for the switch being set too low--not the responsiveness of the switch, which I think should happen immediately when the device is tilted a certain amount.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/18/asus-eee-pad-transformer-uk-edition-review/
I'm surprised that they called out quite a few bugs in the software (and the unresponsiveness of the UI). I hope next few OTAs would fix the issues. But being Engadget, I think they have a slight bias.
I truely think there is no such thing as bug-free product. There will be bugs just as long as they aren't damaging to the point they can't be fix...ever. Lengthy review. Hopefully a review like this will not force Asus to delay release.
Its funny reading the comments at Engadget, a lot of negative feedback, towards the transformer and the review
I think the review was good, but it seemed he was nitpicking the littlest things
Particularly the lag issue with the web browser, which i didn't really notice in other review videos
And i am disappointed he didnt take the price into account for the score
I'm not sure about that review - A few things he is correct about and I'd like to see (like a notification light system) but other issues are clearly software related and sped will improve dramatically over the next month or so (I don't actually find it slow).
I have the Asus, the iPad 1 and the NI ADAM, and it is the ASUS I go to. For outdoor viewing I'd use the ADAM but all the other tablets are too reflective unless a matte screen protector is installed, so I don't know why he makes a fuss about it on the Asus.
Just read the review. Agree with most of what they say about it. The camera app isnt good, I get bad fps in videos too. Yes, it's a reflective screen, but then all tablets i've seen are the same. I disagree on the UI responsiveness though. Feels better than the ipad, and i've not had a problem launching apps or clicking on things. I can't comment on the keyboard dock obviously. Yeah it's not a perfect device but then there won't ever be one. There's meant to be a fota update out tomorrow so we'll see what it fixes.
8/10 from me for just the tablet part. Possible 9/10 if the keyboard dock is as they say.
Most if not all of the concerns in that review were regarding software issues.
The UI doesn't lag consistently, for example, the music and gallery apps are both silky smooth and responsive, but the browser struggles quite a bit and the home screen can't keep up if you add too many widgets.
The Asus on screen keyboard does also add a stupid amount of lag, and the camera software is embarrassingly bad.
The good news however is that most, if not all of this stuff should be fixed with a few updates.
flipao said:
Most if not all of the concerns in that review were regarding software issues.
The UI doesn't lag consistently, for example, the music and gallery apps are both silky smooth and responsive, but the browser struggles quite a bit and the home screen can't keep up if you add too many widgets.
The Asus on screen keyboard does also add a stupid amount of lag, and the camera software is embarrassingly bad.
The good news however is that most, if not all of this stuff should be fixed with a few updates.
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Well then looks like I'll be waiting for a few updates before buying then . Keyboard and browser lag on a tablet is unacceptable imo
I did notice that the guy obviously doesn't know that much about Android. For example, the reason that you can't kill apps from the multitasking menu is that you don't need to - Android manages this itself.
Also, it seems like he was reviewing a pre-release model. Things like his comment on the lack of scrollpad multitouch were directly contradicting reports from those who have actually bought the device.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA Premium App
killermojo said:
Well then looks like I'll be waiting for a few updates before buying then . Keyboard and browser lag on a tablet is unacceptable imo
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If I remember informations from users of Transformer that I read both issues are easy to avoid right now. Keyboard: use different one. Browser: use different one. Done.
It also bugs me in general when people refer to it as a "multitasking menu." It's not--it's a recent apps menu. It'll show an app in the list even if it's no longer actually running, and it's not meant to be a complete list of all running apps.
I clarified my position on engadget reviews two times in the comments below the review. Just look for my name
I can't stand their way of nagging on little things on the one device (as long as it runs Android) and turn a blind eye on it on other devices (as long as they run iOS). I'm not especially an Apple-hater, it's more the general way Engadget reviews without hard facts, their reviews are more a personal opinion instead of a professional review. I would be ok with that when they wouldn't give a rating that will influence potential customers.
wynand32 said:
It also bugs me in general when people refer to it as a "multitasking menu." It's not--it's a recent apps menu.
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Sorry! Couldn't think what else to call it!
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA Premium App
I don't know if i can call that Engadget "Review" a Review? So many things left out from it, Things i would of loved to see them show in the Review were.
1.Google Maps (GPS)
2.Polaris office
3.Flash in different websites other than that flash whore Engadget.
4.Asus own apps (DNLA etc)
5.The Keyboard SD slot shown working at the same time with the Micro?
I really hate that they always want to compare it to the Ipad 2 when clearly the apple device lacks gps, flash, and other things but gets praised by the media. the problem i find with that is that is that other websites do the same.
I for one dont care if the camera is buggy because its fixable with an update,i Rather have a working SD slot than a perfect camera its not like im gonna be taking pictures and videos with the tablet. Also when are people going to care that much about pinch to zoom being as "fast" as the ipad? for me as long as it works thats it i hardly use it, i always double tap to zoom in.
Im no expert but i expect the Iphone 4/ Ipad 2 to have fast scrolling left and right i mean it doesnt need to use any real horsepower to draw on screen to those cutesy little blocks on their homescreen called apps when in Honeycomb3.0 you have lots of things happening everything from widgets, notifications, the transitions 3D esque i mean those little things should not really affect the user experience i for one can't wait for this tablet in the us.
It's Engadget, what did you expect?
They have a CLEAR bias towards Apple products. I love how they mention (amongst other things) "the proprietary connector" as being bad. And Apple uses a standard micro USB port on their devices? Right...and they don't say anything when they review these products.
Of the issues they found:
camera lag - yep it's there.
reflective screen - yes, but not as bad as they claim (I use it outside and don't have issues unless I aim the screen to deliberately reflect the sun).
browser lag - not for me. If I scroll as fast as I can on engadget I can get it to stutter a tiny bit, but not as bad as in their video.
Browser zoom issues - no issues for me on most websites - engadget is the buggiest one but that site is so poorly written it can lock my firefox up if left open for a while. As for the incorrect rendering of pages I've not seen it on any site...
Laggy keyboard - yeah the asus one is a little laggy. Switching to the honeycomb stock one instantly fixes that problem though.
Input lag - I laughed at this - it is not lag, but an elasticity effect on moving icons and the unlock button. Basically a deliberate UI effect
Unresponsive touches - I don't get this. Maybe they're holding it wrong
The review failed to look at the quality of the speakers in the transformer, probably as they're pretty good srs surround speakers and the ipad only has a mono speaker which isn't very good, so I won't expect them to cover the speaker quality until the ipad gets better speakers. They also didn't review video chat (again, because a 1.2MP camera would destroy the ipad 2's vga), nor did they look at productivity apps like polaris.
anyone here with the keyboard dock can confirm the problems with the usb and sd slot not working and need to be reboot. also their problem with the tablet not sensing its disconnected with the dock and not allowing the tablet keyboard to load?
also anyone know how much memory can the keyboard dock hold? can you plug in two usb sticks and a sd card at the same time?
I'm glad they mentioned the things they did, hopefully Google/Asus will take note and get them sorted.
Has anyone got the keyboard dock yet, appart from journos? Don't think I've heard of any...
I also like how he states that the touchpad doesn't have multi-touch....when it does.
Horrible review.
Nickedynick said:
I did notice that the guy obviously doesn't know that much about Android. For example, the reason that you can't kill apps from the multitasking menu is that you don't need to - Android manages this itself.
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Click to collapse
I know they say that, but I don't buy it on the phones - I find I do need to kill apps.
And the reason for some stutter and lag is exactly because the system tries to do something fails and then gets rid of an app in memory and tries again.
review from homeland of transformer, also done by engadget, chinese engagdet
they have a lot more information on the asus and acer tablets
http://translate.google.com/transla...ansformer-detail/&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&hl=&ie=UTF-8
Q & A about the tablet
http://translate.google.com/transla...gadget.com/2011/04/09/25-asus-transformer-qa/
You're busy and don't have time to wait, which is why you need to stop reading this thread and get back to organizing your Pogs. Rate this thread to express how the Note5 performs when multitasking. A higher rating indicates that the Note5 keeps many apps in memory so that they don't need to reload, and that when moving between apps, transitions are smooth and performance is excellent.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
By default, the multitasking is simply awful. The phone can't seem to hold more than 6 or 8 background ups in quick succession, and idling only makes it worse. This really drags down the phone like it did with the S6. Some argue that Samsung opted for this route for cache reasons, but it's ultimately annoying. However, some fixes have been found, coincidentally the same ones that work on the S6 & S6 Edge. Both the DHA and FHA build.prop edits make multitasking what it should be, so we have to thank XDA for that. If you are rooted, I recommend trying that. I haven't tested it extensively and better fixes might come around, but it does allow it to perform on the same level as the OnePlus 2 and ZenFone 2 in terms of app-holding.
@TachyonGun can you kinda go into detail on the multitasking u do?
I haven't toggled more than 4 apps and I'm very satisfied. My only gripe is some Apps do not support split screen or popup mode.
@jon_htc I do Google Slides + Google Docs in class, Youtube + Reddit or Youtube + XDA on breaks, Chrome + Wordpress for certain work-related situations, Papyrus + PDF readers for homework, and many other use-cases that just pop up during casual usage. The secret is to treat apps like windows instead of isolated islands that can be on-screen one at a time. For example, if I am watching a video and need to reply to a text, I shrink the video and open the text.
Havent noticed any ram or app background issues. Then again I may be part of the abnormal bunch and only use 1 or 2 apps at a time or dont constantly close and open tons of apps to prove something. Safe to say, I dont notice the issue and if it is there, it wont bother me.
i used to have a s6 and if note 5 got the same multitasking settings, it's gonna be very very annoying. the recent app reloading thing is simply the same experience on iPhone 6, which is awful. shouldn't happen on a 4GB ram phone.
Lets not forget that true multi tasking would be split view and multi window which is where the Note is the ruler of them all.
Switching between apps is part of multi tasking, but not the main part of it. But yes the ram management does reload some apps.
I had to use few tweaks and rom replacement. which made it much better.
If your still on lollipop with this phone. Stay where you are. The multitasking performance is about the same. If you multi apps running, like youtube and text messaging or twitch and facebook messenger its fast. I didn't see a major performance difference between lollipop and marshmallow. I don't close any of my apps, I mostly let them run in the background and not kill them. There was an issue on the note 3 yes, but the note 5 can handle multitasking and very good use of the new ram algorithm are a fantastic combination. This phone is fast, can handle all the apps. I Have about 50 apps running right now, multiple screen shots taking and saved, running messenger while watching HD youtube, Netflix and twitch with no problem.
Are you comfortable in your own skin? Is your phone comfortable in its skin? Rate this thread to express how you deem the skin on the OnePlus 7T. A higher rating indicates that you love it: it adds just the right amount of features, it's visually pleasing, and overall it's additive to the experience. If this is a Nexus phone (you didn't think we hand-wrote all of these prompts, did you?) then use this rating to indicate how the latest version of Android looks to you.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
I don't have a lot of experience with Android 10, so I really have no baseline to compare OnePlus's implementation to "pure" Q.
I will say that none of OnePlus's pre-installed stuff has behaved in a rude, intrusive, or otherwise obnoxious manner. Their apps seem content to quietly sit in the corner coloring until summoned, like well-behaved children and recently-commissioned military officers. Neither have I come across anything about the interface that I hated or found confusing. It took me about half a cup of coffee to figure out where stuff was compared to Oreo, which is not bad at all.
Overall the phone is good. The only complaint is the GPS that I can recall. When I initially updated it to 10.0.4 the GPS was weird and couldn't lock onto my position. The GPS it's still a little buggy at times when it comes to locking onto my position. The other complaint is just minor. The ambient display has a lack of customization, but it's not buggy. I appreciate the lack of bloatware! This phone is blazing fast. Faster then a Samsung Galaxy s10 + head to head.
OverThrust said:
Overall the phone is good. The only complaint is the GPS that I can recall. When I initially updated it to 10.0.4 the GPS was weird and couldn't lock onto my position. The GPS it's still a little buggy at times when it comes to locking onto my position. The other complaint is just minor. The ambient display has a lack of customization, but it's not buggy. I appreciate the lack of bloatware! This phone is blazing fast. Faster then a Samsung Galaxy s10 + head to head.
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Click to collapse
GPS is very important to me, so I made a few tweaks last night that I'll test when I'm done doing actual revenue work. I shall let you know how they work out.
OverThrust said:
Overall the phone is good. The only complaint is the GPS that I can recall. When I initially updated it to 10.0.4 the GPS was weird and couldn't lock onto my position. The GPS it's still a little buggy at times when it comes to locking onto my position. The other complaint is just minor. The ambient display has a lack of customization, but it's not buggy. I appreciate the lack of bloatware! This phone is blazing fast. Faster then a Samsung Galaxy s10 + head to head.
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Click to collapse
There's a stretch of road not far from me that gives satellite receivers in general fits due to the topography. Accordingly, that's where I go to test satellite receivers.
There was no spot along that road where any of the dedicated GPS-testing apps I tried on my 7t were unable to get and keep a fix. The SNR's were also very usable. That tells me the radios are fine.
However, presumably because the birds keep disappearing and being replaced with new ones due to the topography, moving-map applications other than Google Maps kept losing their positions for a few seconds or minutes, and then recovering it anywhere from a few yards to more than a mile later. If I pulled over to the side of the road, however, they would quickly get a fix.
Magic Earth seemed to have the most difficulty, followed by OsmAnd. Google Maps didn't appear to have any problems. I rarely use it and its interface doesn't provide very detailed information, but it appeared to maintain its fix.
I tried several tweaks to solve the problems with Magic Earth and OsmAnd, but what seems to have fixed the problem was going into Dev Options and enabling "Force full GNSS measurements: Track all GNSS constellations and frequencies with no duty cycling." I suspect that the duty cycling caused problems for the apps because of the frequency of satellites disappearing from view, and the difficulty of re-establishing a fix in a moving vehicle under those conditions.
With that setting enabled, Magic earth only lost its fix twice, in the two most problematic points in the route, and quickly regained it. OsmAnd didn't have any problems that I noticed, nor did Google Maps.
Of course, toggling that setting to on does consume more power; but nothing in life is free.