My GF received a nook color for christmas. She is excited to use it as an e-reader but would love to use it for email, video and web-browsing, too. She's pretty dissapointed in the performance of it compared to her Galaxy SII phone. I admit -- the phone is a LOT snappier.
Is this a problem with the stock software/rom or is it the device? Will flashing an aftermarket rom allow her to watch youtube or other streaming video sites? Right now the web browser is pretty slow (especially for video.)
Probably the most immediate cause of slow performance is <tada> the Nook Color is a relatively slow device compared to what's now available, especially the Nook Tablet which is not only two cores crankin' along but two cores crankin' along at what, 50% faster as well.
A custom ROM has two primary benefits:
1) allows for more options and potential, including more highly tuned kernels that can improve performance and battery life, and...
2) overclocking of the processor because those more highly tuned kernels allow for such things (the stock kernel = no overclocking potential at all)
A lot of people definitely overclock the Nook Color because it's relatively easy to do, offers significant performance increases, and doesn't really "harm" the hardware at all in the process.
So, while there is a limit to just how far the Nook Color can go, using a custom ROM designed for it (and it's entirely possible to run a custom ROM directly from the microSD card so the NC remains purely stock) offers almost entirely positive benefits from start to finish with very little negative impact at all (aside from maybe slightly reduced battery life when overclocking).
It's a win-win I'd say.
Or tell her to return the NC and get the NT which obviously is far more powerful and the hacking on that is really just getting started (even in spite of B&N's apparent attempts to keep it locked down a lot more than the NC ever was).
Agreed. You're comparing a dual core high end phone to a single core e-reader. Performance will vary.
A custom ROM is an option. I rooted mine the day after I got mine (only because I didn't have a mSD card) and within a week had CM7 running on it. It has been running custom ROMs ever since, chugging along at 1.2GHz. The overclock to me does help quite a bit in performance.
That being said, isn't it possible to root, install recovery, and flash dal's kernel with the stock ROM. TO be able to OC and have other additional features? That is, if she really wants to keep the stock ROM with things like ICS being developed.
Since Project Butter was announced as groundbreaking for Android devices, it would be good to know what the community thinks about it as the official JB ROMs have launched.
Please provide your input as a casual user and your day-to-day experience, and also as a more techie user or a developer.
The intent is to provide Samsung, if they still lurk on XDA, feedback on how they can improve future development to make Android really smooth, even though the UI is not treated with priority, as it is on iOS.
As far as I am concerned, I didn't notice any difference from ICS to JB on a stock ROM; essentially, Project Butter doesn't exist for my device. The device still stutters where it did on ICS.
4.1.2 JB LSZ Ultimate 5.2 ROM, KSO Modem, Phil's LSZ kernel, Carrier: AT&T (US)
incisivekeith said:
As far as I am concerned, I didn't notice any difference from ICS to JB on a stock ROM; essentially, Project Butter doesn't exist for my device. The device still stutters where it did on ICS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would agree with your assessment. I think that the stock JB is very stable, however there is no noticeable difference in speed compared with, say, LRQ.
When I press "contacts" or "phone" button, there is still a lag. My understanding of project butter (rightly or wrongly) was that these kind of lags are supposed to be almost eliminated.
Interestingly, when my wife's galaxy S was running slimbean 3.0, it was close to what I expected "project butter" to deliver. However I reverted her SGS back to ICS due to stability issues.
edit- I'm on LM5
edit 2 - Interesting that 90 people have viewed this thread so far, and nobody has disagreed with Incisivekeith's review. Perhaps we can conclude that "project butter" is not included in LSZ or LM5.
To my mind, Project Butter means an entirely GPU accelerated UI. That is what explain this "buttery" feeling when you drag down the notification bar, when you scroll in the browser, etc..
It is certainly activated in our JB roms, because if it was not the case, the rom would be much more laggier, and touch wiz would be the pain it has ever been since the Galaxy S.
However, I'm sure our PB is a far less efficient one than used in the nexii phones. You can easily tell, there are still some lag in the appearance of the notification bar (when opening an app, laoding something..), and the whole feeling is absolutely not like any Apple device (that I despise, of course ).
I have none of the technical skills to give a more detailed answer, but I remain amazed by the fact our devices are not free of any lag, in spite of their double core, big GPU, 1gb RAM etc...
To realize project butter you need a high speed camera. If you running heavily skinned OS has TW you will tend to see some lags. Remember Our note is almost year and half old....
Project Butter and How it Works
Galaxtus said:
To realize project butter you need a high speed camera. If you running heavily skinned OS has TW you will tend to see some lags. Remember Our note is almost year and half old....
Project Butter and How it Works
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the link !
But we don't have the choice, i don't think any android AOSP/AOKP rom includes project butter, am I wrong ? These roms feel more laggy than any touchwiz rom, though they also feel lighter. And it's a shame (I blame samsung) because they are innovative and functionnal.
AW: Is Project Butter effective on the Galaxy Note?
As far as I understand, pb is not an acceleration for the hole system, but an acceleration for gui: no micro-lags in launcher, scrolling in Browser and apps. And it does really better, than ics for me. Just compare xda app on both systems and you'll understand what I mean
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda app-developers app
crash-petard said:
Thanks for the link !
But we don't have the choice, i don't think any android AOSP/AOKP rom includes project butter, am I wrong ? These roms feel more laggy than any touchwiz rom, though they also feel lighter. And it's a shame (I blame samsung) because they are innovative and functionnal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tend to disagree on the part which states that these AOSP/AOKP ROMs feel more laggy than TW ROMs. As of today, I run Asylum ROM 25/02 which includes major improvements concerning the overall UI experience. It is snappy and smooth. I do explicitly avoid the term "buttery smooth" as it is misleading.
They are not finished products, that's for sure-but being heavily developed. :thumbup:
Any TW ROM running 4.1.2 won't be "buttery smooth" neither, whereas the leaked 4.2.1 ROM for the S3 already showed improvement and thus where helpful to update the Mali blobs for CM10.1, which are successfully implemented. They do work nicely!
If permitted to ask: when did you last try out an AOSP/CM ROM?
Side note: if you blame Samsung, you're always right! I fully agree.
Galaxtus said:
To realize project butter you need a high speed camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd like to step in here, and this is entirely wrong: Project Butter was not included in jb for viewing in high speed cameras: it was mainly to reduce lag and stutteriness in Android to make the experience amazing for common, general public. Not for professional photographers.
Personally, when my one v is over clocked to 1.5 GHz and above ( and using a jelly bean ROM), the effect is mind blowing. I'd say the device comes near smooth as an iOS device, if not smoother. There are absolutely no lags and waits, and the device performs like a breeze.
Have you ever used a nexus device? That's the best implementation of a device blessed with project butter combined with the blessing of great developers of Google. I have not seen a nexus 4 lag ever. EVER.
Personally, I don't get what's it with galaxy note. I can't understand what's wrong with it to lag so much, I mean, sometimes it lags more than my one v which is a 1ghz single core processor ( I'm not talking about over clocking here).
I think only a professional dev can put light on this.
Sent from my One V
AA1973 said:
I tend to disagree on the part which states that these AOSP/AOKP ROMs feel more laggy than TW ROMs. As of today, I run Asylum ROM 25/02 which includes major improvements concerning the overall UI experience. It is snappy and smooth. I do explicitly avoid the term "buttery smooth" as it is misleading.
They are not finished products, that's for sure-but being heavily developed. :thumbup:
Any TW ROM running 4.1.2 won't be "buttery smooth" neither, whereas the leaked 4.2.1 ROM already showed improvement and thus where helpful to update the Mali blobs for CM10.1, which are successfully implemented. They do work nicely!
If permitted to ask: when did you last try out an AOSP/CM ROM?
Side note: if you blame Samsung, you're always right! I fully agree.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I totally agree with you, and the fact that an incredible amount of great work is put in AOSP roms remains undeniable. As I said, I blame Samsung, and my respect for developers is unbounded.
My last try was for beerbong's paranoid android v2.99, and I've tried almost any rom in the original dev section. Still, it's been a long time since I have tried, so i'll have a look ! Of course, there are other things that make me stick to stock, SPen integration mostly (looks like there is still no way to use palm rejection in CM roms).
Anyway, I'm glad to see JB leaks help CM developers, I thought the only workaround required kernel sources.
@soham_sss
I see I'm not the only one wondering what could prevent the note from being smooth...
For me, JB is very smooth. Don't forget, that our GNote has just that little Mali GPU which has to drive this huge 1280x800px (Macbooks of 2011 have this resolution ) screen. Based on that fact, JB is buttery smooth.
I suggest to set all animation times in the developer options of your phone to 0.5 (don't forget to reboot, to get the new speeds everywhere in the OS). It makes the Note feel much quicker and more responsive.
When you are there, also try "Force GPU rendering". Every app compiled with the 2.3 SDK has the GPU rendering flag set to off, this option forces it on. I haven't found any apps that don't like this setting and crash. Also, when you google for this, you won't find any apps neither that refuse to work.
I'm very happy with JB. It's smooth and the CPU doesn't have to render anything anymore. Nice!
As I'm thorough, I tried Asylum ROM, as advised. :silly: One thing immediately stroke me : the notification bar is not smooth. It just isn't, there's a discomfort that should not be as if it was still CPU run. And I don't think I'm picky, it's a raw feeling. The rest of the rom is, indeed, pretty snappy (the browser appear much much lighter), but I really need this element of my UI to be impeccable as it come to smoothness, just like the home screens transitions.
hihipunkt said:
For me, JB is very smooth. Don't forget, that our GNote has just that little Adreno GPU which has to drive this huge 1280x800px (Macbooks of 2011 have this resolution ) screen. Based on that fact, JB is buttery smooth.
I suggest to set all animation times in the developer options of your phone to 0.5 (don't forget to reboot, to get the new speeds everywhere in the OS). It makes the Note feel much quicker and more responsive.
When you are there, also try "Force GPU rendering". Every app compiled with the 2.3 SDK has the GPU rendering flag set to off, this option forces it on. I haven't found any apps that don't like this setting and crash. Also, when you google for this, you won't find any apps neither that refuse to work.
I'm very happy with JB. It's smooth and the CPU doesn't have to render anything anymore. Nice!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was not aware that the Note uses Adreno? I thought it was Mali
crash-petard said:
As I'm thorough, I tried Asylum ROM, as advised. :silly: One thing immediately stroke me : the notification bar is not smooth. It just isn't, there's a discomfort that should not be as if it was still CPU run. And I don't think I'm picky, it's a raw feeling. The rest of the rom is, indeed, pretty snappy (the browser appear much much lighter), but I really need this element of my UI to be impeccable as it come to smoothness, just like the home screens transitions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 couldnt agree more.
Ive always had nit picks with my android devices (mainly samsung, some HTC's in the past) and have always experienced some sort of lag, with stock and custom ROMs.
But, correct me if im wrong, I believe this is down to the overlay put on by these companies, they cram the devices with ridiculous amounts of bloatware and eye candy and I feel that has an effect on the overall smoothness.
Ive yet to own a pure AOSP device (such as the nexus's) but i cant recall many people complaining about them.
But I prefer the looks of TW / Sense over AOSP (and ive tried lots of AOSP ROMs) so I accept that bit of lag for the overall look and functionality of things.
tommy_vercetti said:
I was not aware that the Note uses Adreno? I thought it was Mali
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oops. I will change that. Nevertheless: That GPU just isn't the fastest anymore.
And that AOSP is faster, is just normal when you don't unbloat your phone. It's the same with every other Android phone out there. Also AOSP doesn't offer multiwindow, I bet many people aren't really aware of the technical difficulties this brings with it. And therefore this phone is very smooth.
Also try tinkering with the build.prop a little.
windowsmgr.max_events_per_sec
persist.sys.use_dithering
persist.sys.use_16bpp_alpha
can help a lot with the "lag".
But I don't have any lag, so I'm not changing anything. Another thing to maybe consider: Do you have a corrupt install?
The point of this thread is to discuss whether Project Butter is effective on the Note or not, WITHOUT any modifications.
4.1.2 JB LSZ Ultimate 5.2 ROM, KSO Modem, Phil's LSZ kernel, Carrier: AT&T (US)
It isn't since AFAIK Samsung doesn't release source code for Exynos.
If those on a TW JB ROM could download and install "Epic Citadel"(preferred via WiFi as it is a 150mb package) and play the demo. I bet it won't get beyond the 40fps in high quality..
I didn't advise to install Asylum and don't quite get the point of the notification bar. As long as Samsung fails to deliver "proper+sources" we won't get the real "butter" experience.
Apparently the leaked S3 ROM based on 4.2.1 went into a better direction as some Mali blobs could be used, but close to nothing from the 4.1.2 ROMs...
@incisivekeith It may be "project better", but not project butter.
All we need is the official source code and then everyone will be happy n_n
_____________________________
via GT-N7OOO using XDA-2
soham_sss said:
I'd like to step in here, and this is entirely wrong: Project Butter was not included in jb for viewing in high speed cameras: it was mainly to reduce lag and stutteriness in Android to make the experience amazing for common, general public. Not for professional photographers.
Personally, when my one v is over clocked to 1.5 GHz and above ( and using a jelly bean ROM), the effect is mind blowing. I'd say the device comes near smooth as an iOS device, if not smoother. There are absolutely no lags and waits, and the device performs like a breeze.
Have you ever used a nexus device? That's the best implementation of a device blessed with project butter combined with the blessing of great developers of Google. I have not seen a nexus 4 lag ever. EVER.
Personally, I don't get what's it with galaxy note. I can't understand what's wrong with it to lag so much, I mean, sometimes it lags more than my one v which is a 1ghz single core processor ( I'm not talking about over clocking here).
I think only a professional dev can put light on this.
Sent from my One V
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all this is not one v thread or an iOS speed competition. Different devices get different sources to work with. So it doesnt mean that one v is superior. I am happy that at least cm team is giving us nice smooth, fast and daily ROM. TW is for noobs. I don't care about other devices or bull**** until I choose them personally. High speed camera was just for fun...
Cheers from Hell.... :sly:
once you remove bloatedstuff, like automated test, and about 30 others, own risk, reboot, flush cache/dalvik, you will notice considerable improvement, most of the time, but yeah it still stutters sometime.
damn endless tweaking, dont forget some to disable some triggers on boot fo apps you only need on demand.
all own risk buddies
Is it worth the effort to disable the forced encryption? How much of a performance difference does it actually make?
The phone seems pretty fast as it is, but if the difference is noticeable I guess I might have to give it a try.
Any idea if they will make it an option at some point in the settings menu?
SquireSCA said:
Is it worth the effort to disable the forced encryption? How much of a performance difference does it actually make?
The phone seems pretty fast as it is, but if the difference is noticeable I guess I might have to give it a try.
Any idea if they will make it an option at some point in the settings menu?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is it worth it? thays up to you to decide. ive nwver decrypted mine. btw, it has nothing to do with performance. what it has to do is with the speed it reads/writes. and thats just a little slower. anyways, when you have questions or need help, you should post them into the q&a section, not into general. so i asked a mod to move tour thread there.
Software crypto is a tradeoff, and whether it is good for you or not really depends on (1) if you have anything you want to protect, (2) how much data you are moving on the phone. As a general rule, the larger the data R/W volume, the greater the impact of encryption. If you just run a few programs and most of your I/O is just a little bit of settings storage, then you probably won't notice much of an impact. If you're constantly moving huge files around or otherwise reading/writing large amounts of data, then you will notice a HUGE difference.
doitright said:
Software crypto is a tradeoff, and whether it is good for you or not really depends on (1) if you have anything you want to protect, (2) how much data you are moving on the phone. As a general rule, the larger the data R/W volume, the greater the impact of encryption. If you just run a few programs and most of your I/O is just a little bit of settings storage, then you probably won't notice much of an impact. If you're constantly moving huge files around or otherwise reading/writing large amounts of data, then you will notice a HUGE difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, with lots of music, some movies, 8GB of pics, plenty of apps, etc...
I used the Nexus Toolkit to get rid of the encryption... phone feels good but I am not sure if it made a difference.
Considering installing the M Preview next.