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Lag. It’s something we could all definitely live without. With all these new high-powered quad-core processors hitting the market, you may have noticed that no matter how powerful your device, there’s still a half second (or longer) of time spent waiting for an app to open. I figured this had more to do with slow memory than processing power, but apparently it could also be something else altogether. One dev from XDA went on a search to find out what caused Android lag and cure it forever.
What he found was that 90% of Android’s lag was caused by a “limited entropy pool” and cooked up a simple app to seemingly eliminate all lag found on a device when opening bigger, memory intensive applications like Facebook, Chrome, Maps, etc.. The app — which can be downloaded from either the original post on XDA or from Google Play — is compatible with all Android versions, and all Android devices.
Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to give the app a spin as I’m currently unrooted (gasp!), but this is as good a reason as any to find a nice toolkit. That is, if we aren’t looking at nothing more than placebo here. Let me know if you guys notice any speed increases.
Thanks, @JonathanMallett!
[via XDA | Google Play]
definite increase in speed. Way more than placebo effect. Been running it most of the day.
Has battery life been affected at all? I read in the description it wakes the device from sleep every 1 second?
I couldn’t evaluate that as I’ve been plugged in at my desk all day. Sorry about that. I’m on GNex by the way.
your comment reminded me of my nightmare gnexus…
haha. Battery titan it is not to begin with ;)
it only wakes the device when the screen is on though.
I think you misread, it said he could add that function. Quoted from XDA
“This may adversely affect battery life, since it wakes every second. It does not hold a wakelock, so it shouldn’t have a big impact, but let me know if you think it’s causing problems. I can add a blocking read to the code so that it only executes while the screen is on.”
I will say though that before, when tapping on the facebook widget to open the main app, there was at least a 3 to 4 second lag to open it. Now, it is sub second. Same with Chrome.
Agreed — both facebook and chrome are opening much faster — ESPN scorecenter is also much improved!!
I tried it yesterday, but uninstalled it since I could not tell a difference. THOUGH <— I was not rooted. I didn't realize that was necessary …?
Yes.
It won’t do anything unless rooted.
Gonna have to try it again when you root.
And gonna have to read the articles more carefully in the future.
I have been running it on my N7 most of today. It is even more buttery than it had been. I have noticed most with the google reader widget. Usually it takes a few seconds to open the Reader, but it is pretty close to instant now.
Gaaaah.. I’m drooling here.
Nexus 4 running CM10.1 with Seeder. Definite speed improvement and no noticeable ding on the battery.
Running a rooted Verizon Galaxy Nexus on 4.2.1, I see no real difference. Seems a little faster, but can’t say that that is anything more than a placebo.
Where did you get 4.2 1? I also have a Verizon Galaxy Nexus and I can’t find 4.2
I’m running the Shiny 4.2.1 ROM for Verizon GNex
Nice! I am actually backing stuff up right now to give shiny a spin! I keep hearing good things about it!
XenonHD 4.2.1. Available here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1667426
There are a fair amount of them actually. Vanir has a beta, there is a derivative of Vanir, Commotio that has been steadily releasing 4.2.1 for awhile as well. Also, as stated XenonHD. JBSourcery and Liquid Smoth as well. Here just look at this page http://rootzwiki.com/forum/362-vzw-galaxy-nexus-development/ I used Commotio, loved it, and am now running JBSourcery and also love it. I switched to Sourcery because it had a few more features at the time but I haven’t tried the latest update of Commotio.
Xda developers.com or rootzwiki just search / look Verizon toro (galaxy nexus)
I’ve been running this all day. Nice increase in speed for opening a lot of apps. Some things are still a little jumpy, but it didn’t make anything worse. Definitely worth it.
Moto bionic runs great with it. So far no noticeable affect on the battery. App switching and opening seem to be speedier than usual.
About to try this out on the Note 2.
It’s beautiful. Way more than placebo.
I noticed a speed difference for sure. However, on an HTC One X (dual core version) with CM10, there isn’t much of a difference because it was already fast to begin with. I can definitely see this being incredibly useful on older devices though.
Why are all the use full apps need a rooted phone :( hopefully Google will implement this to all android phones soon??
Well a lot of these things that start with root are how they do implement new features. Not everyone has to try in rooted form.
Because stuff like this apps especially is very experimental. Even long established rooted apps like Titanium Backup can do damage if you don’t know what your doing and remove an essential app.
Google is rightly more concerned with stability and safety of phones. Full use rooted apps are great, I use them every day. But generally speaking if your not comfortable rooting, and I would argue installing roms (custom or stock) incase you screw something up. you probably shouldn’t be using rooted apps or be rooted, as the possibility to do damage to your phones software exists.
Definitely a speed improvement as long as the app has already been opened. I say this because I tried it out after install and the phone was very snappy. Cleared the RAM and it was lagging a little. After reopening apps, the lag would disappear.
Will monitor to see if it affects the battery.
I was initially sceptical, but after trying it out it really seem to speed up the start of apps. I definitely could have spent this buck worse. ;-)
Rooted HTC Desire running CM7 and apps are lightning fast now in comparison to before (either during warm boot, apps already loaded in RAM before installing Seeder as well as after a reboot and cold starting apps). Money well spent.
Doesn’t seem to do anything on my rooted Galaxy S3. It’s all placebo.
Well, your phone is already fast. Maybe it doesn’t make fasts phone faster? Only older devices faster?
Course, placebo is a helluva drug…
I was thinking the same thing. Wonder if Project Butter doesn’t cover some of the same ground as the app, as well. Maybe I’ll root my wife’s old Incredible and see if it makes a difference on it. But that’d take work.
There’s like some weird distorted echo thing happening here…..here….
Doesn’t seem to do anything on my rooter galaxy s3, i think its all placebo
I don’t see any redundancies see any redundancies.
I was thinking the same thing. Maybe I’ll root my wife’s old Incredible and see if it makes a difference. But that’d take work.
Really? Galaxy Note II here, and it’s working great for me. What kind of ROM are you running?
Stock Jelly Bean OTA, more or less.
I have a feeling it only really improves older generation phones with slower processors. I have an HTC Desire (GSM) and my wife has an HTC Wildfire. Both are rooted and running CM7. The Desire is faster than the Wildfire but both are a lot more responsive now with Seeder running than before without it.
or you didn’t have lag to begin with. my one v was unbarable now it runs nice
Chris, which phone are you unrooted with, and why. I’m unrooted with GS3 VzW until the 1 year warranty runs out. Then I will slice and dice.
I worry about voiding warranties cuz I never root unless there’s an unroot method available.
I’m on the Galaxy S3. Waiting for Android 4.2 to get up and fully functioning before I root this thing. More than likely, I’ll have a new phone by then :p
If you only root when an unroot method is available, I’d say that you actually care about warranties…
No, I care about reselling. I always unroot before selling.
Are rooted devices hard to sell?
I never resell, I use old devices as presents for my relatives.
There’s always an unroot method. Flash an OTA update cuz those include the original bootloader and recovery :P
ODIN perhaps….?
Theirs always a way to unroot, I don’t have the luxury of keeping older phones, I normally need the money from selling the older phone to make the upgrade more reasonable. I’ve rooted and installed custom roms on every phone I’ve ever owned and on each phone I’ve sold, I’ve restored the stock image, relocked the bootloader and delivered the phone stock, unrooted with the latest stock image available.
Add Titanium backup and you don’t even have to lose a single app or setting when you unroot, if your doing it for yourself.
Haha Chris buys so many phones warrenty means nothing to him!
ツ
It works – Sprint Galaxy Note 2
.
Is this something Google may be able implement into future versions of Android if its effective?
If it worked, they would! More to the point, if there was some magical fix to improve android, the 20,000+ people Google employs to develop and test it would have given it to us already. Do the math! Some guy living in his moms basement figured out what Google couldn’t? I don’t think So. But it’s your $.
There’s an old expression “There’s a Sucker born every minute” The “Author” of this Ad is just a shill for him
U mean like when the “one guy livin in his basement” enabled multitouch on the Xperia X10 after Sony said the device was incapable of multitouch?
Things like this happen all of the time and sometimes job oportunities open up for these individuals as a result. You think just because someone doesnt work for Google that there is no way for them to possibly be more intellegent then those who do?
People are born everyday and Intellengence can be found in individuals from all facets of life. Even outside Google Headquarters *GASP*
Troll… Read some of the attached lit. Goggle probably hasn’t implemented something like this because it makes the device potentially less secure. Why don’t you crawl back in your hole and stop making comments on things you obviously know nothing about.
Except you can get it from XDA for a whopping $0.00
Oh yeah and it does seem to have a very noticeable positive effect.
I’m not sure what to say about this. I gave it the 15 minute demo and I honestly didn’t notice any difference. I loaded up a bunch of apps in an attempt to fill memory, then opened a few more heavier ones (like Facebook) to get a feel for any lag. Then loaded up Seeder and did the same. If there was any difference, it was so minor that I couldn’t tell. I tested as much as I could before my refund window was up but unfortunately I couldn’t come to any conclusions that would justify paying for the app.
it would be nice if he offered a trial version (with an expiration) so users could really feel a difference. I would gladly pay if its worth it but I just cant tell if it is.
Go to the xda link. There’s a free version there. Obviously like mentioned above, you need root.
Thanks for that tip, I’ll check that out. I’ll probably switch to a TW ROM and then a AOSP ROM and try it on both, just because.
Aren’t you suppose to load up the app first then do all the other stuff? ?
The reason I did all that stuff ‘before’ loading up Seeder was to get a feel for the lag as it currently is. The delay Seeder is supposed to fix is too small to be timed really but it was evident. Without knowing what Seeder is supposed to fix, how do I know it fixed anything? It’d be like taking medicine for an illness you have no symptoms of.
So then once I had a feel for the lag, I loaded Seeder and did the same stuff. I didn’t notice any difference personally. I’d like to put it through tougher paces and its not that I think its a scam or anything but I have to know, without a doubt, that this app is improving my experience if I’m going to pay/donate for it.
Well you can get it for free over at xda …and well I use my note2 like crazy and I can confirm on the note 2 it helped
WTF – Android aka the dumbing down of society.
Can I get my 1 minute back for reading this “article”.
At best, this is a want-ad, not an article. What’s the point of it?
Why not preface it with – (This isn’t an article, it’s just me asking
for somebody to test it for me!) Seriously, everyday these
Non informative / opinion / Plush pieces (android is dead, Apple is dead,
android is number one, Apple is number one etc.) increase in number and
pointless banter. I speak for everyone with an I.Q. that isn’t
Single digit, put an end to them finally. Please…
Yeah, test it for me so that if it breaks the phone – I am still squids in you mugs lol
You didn’t need to read the article. Would you rather two good articles a day or 15-20 articles a day? There aren’t 15 huge Android stories a day, so its great these are thrown in the mix
You are right, I didn’t But when I see a Tagline that includes “Does it Work?” That usually means an answer will be provided! I should have learned my lesson after three years of “Battery Saving Apps” and their articles only to find out that NONE work and most use more battery then with out, but i digress. The point is We DON”T need anymore B.S. articles. So to answer you, I’d much rather have a single, fact based, informative article, that 15 “Articles” by “Know-nothings” trying to increase their post count in hopes of becoming a forum monitor or worse… an actual journalist!
WTF – Another person getting their panties in a wad because they spent their time reading something that didn’t meet their self-entitled fantasy of exceptional journalism.
At least this isn’t Fox News! So, count your blessings….and move on…
Go home Todd Anus.
You’re drunk.
Hey todd. Besides letting us all know your just a disgusting human being.
Can you please just go away? No one made you do anything..
I found it interesting and it holds 60 pages of blog so many others did as well
Btw I think your the one with single digit IQ
And now I just spent 1 minute reading a comment that says absolutely nothing. Thanks for the input on the article…I mean…
Isn’t this really considered more of a blog site than a mews site. Which would, by the way, make all those different types of posts completely acceptable.
VZ GNex on CM 10.1. Works without an issues. No noticable battery drain.
Hey Todd quit ur crying….thanks
Why? Truth hurt?
No. Presence of people like you hurts. And the numbers are growing!
Googlers have stated that it would be placebo. The developer of the Dalvik VM said people would only believe it, because they paid for it.
But it’s free on XDA? Course, as I said before.. placebo is a helluva drug.
CHRIS, how r u out of all people unrooted?
I’m a bad fanboy ._.
Bad Chris, Bad. I should replace u as a phandroid writer :-P
i just bought it. i dont know my S3 is pretty fast with that AOKP rom 4.2. the cm10.1 one is the fastest
Immediate noticeable speed increase. It makes the transitions much smoother and allows you to really see the animations flow instead of just jitter by.
This makes absolutely no sense from an engineering standpoint though. The transitions have no reason to use a random number generator. So, I can’t see how this can help here. One point someone raised in reddit was whether this app keeps the CPU more active (not sleep state) and hence make the apps respond faster (at the cost of battery).
I definitely see an improvement
Unstable. Doesn’t work all the time and have trouble staying on while hogging battery life.
Nope truth doesn’t hurt….just don’t wanna read retarded idiotic comments. Save your time and cry elsewhere.
Made my Vibrant about x.5 faster.
It’s not placebo, I have two Vibrants, one with one without seeder.
P.S. there’s a Seeder V5 in that xda thread, its much better
It works on my Verizon note 2 …switching apps and just overall performance is just snappier try it everyone ….I haven’t had any battery issues either
Works on HP Touch pad, CM10, def snappier
Gasp indeed, what kind of Android commentator doesn’t have at least one device with root?
With the app I definitely saw my phone move quicker when loading apps.
Idling in CPU stats shows 100% full CPU speed.
Turned off the screen, un-installed the app and now when idling the time spent at 100% is decreasing.
Chris always finds awesome pics for his articles! Android-TRON!!!
‘Cept those awkward moments when it’s a cropped version of someone else’s pic ;)
I’m rocking a Galaxy Nexus with CM10.1 and franco’s latest nightly kernek (#358), and I would say it got a bit faster, but still needs some testing. I wouldn’t say all placebo, but not much of an extra performance on the GNex.
Alright, I am re-writing my post. After the initial boost…Everything settled back to the previous norm. And, a couple of apps FC’d on me…dud…
Just my two cents… After using it all day yesterday… There was a slight noticeable effect on battery, but not much. Unfortunately, I saw no noticeable difference in speed /lag. Additionally, it refused to stay on. And it did create some weird behavior, including new audible tones for seemingly no reason.
Maybe I just didn’t give it enough attention, but for me, uninstalled. Having said that, Im glad to let the dev keep my buck and a half… Hopefully he will continue doing this kind of work as it only helps us in the long run.
I have been having some pretty bummer lag issues with my Nexus 7 and I am downright shocked to admit that this app has made major improvements. it’s like it’s brand new with nothing on it again
On my GS3 running CM10 I see no improvement. Even side by side comparing it to a friends GS3 also with CM10 but without the seeder app no improvement shown at all. Tried about 20 apps and if anything seemed to make mine slower than his. Maybe it helps on older phones with a older rom but doesn’t seem to help GS3 running CM10
I have a Galaxy Note 1 on AT&Trunning miui ROM vengeance 2 and when I first restarted the phone so it could take effect I kept getting the series of questions asking for root permission over and over again and I know there are several of them but it would not allow me to get to my home screen till I checked set as default which I didn’t want to do …..opening the pulse app was noticeably faster but my phone started to freeze and restart every 5min. Uninstalled
Replace /dev/random with /dev/urandom for SSL?
Yeah, no thanks.
Don’t really have any lag issues on my N7 and GN, but I installed it anyway to see if it made any improvements. I haven’t notice any differences yet over the past few hours after installation.
How many changes does it make to your system? Can it be cleanly uninstalled?
I’m very suspicious of this idea in general, and even less inclined to believe my N4 will really see any improvement, this thing flies. Most of the delay I see on the N4 is when it has to load data from the internet.
changed my whole perspective on my One V
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/entropy-seed-generator-not-all-its-hacked-up-to-be/
Works amazingly on my droid incredible 2. Not placebo. Doesn’t do a thing for my nexus 7 though.
I noticed a difference on both my GS3 and my Nexus 7. Proof in the pudding for me was the Google Earth app. Load it up and see how ultra smooth the scrolling around the maps is.
Use System settings>Developer options>Window animation scale set to x.5 and Transition animation scale same setting (x.5).
x1 is normal setting, some report TV off setting needs x1 to work in Window animation.
Gives a little boost as well.
So I have heard.