Galaxy Note 5

[AppleRobert]

Out of curiosity, my library has fast wifi so later today I am going to play the same four games I did yesterday and let them sit for awhile on their main menu and see what happens. Yesterday without wifi they never reloaded, once I had not gone back to any of them for about an hour.

Do not be surprised if networking has something to do with reloads, at least partially.

 

[MRU]

I think people see it but just prefer to ignore it and forget it exists.

I actually think a lot of users see it but likely don't know what it is (recognise to verbalise it) or they simply assume it's meant to be like this. Unless you have a gamut of reference you are likely unable to perceive what you are experiencing as anything other than 'the norm' even if it with the benefit of knowledge/wisdom and experience it isn't.

But regardless - on a 3 or 4gb device it shouldn't even be a discussion were having ... That's actually the true pity here.

 

[gotluck]

Similar to how people tell you to use nova and themes on touchwiz like it is comparable to stock. Only aesthetically. those underlying frameworks are heavy, heavy

 

[Six8]

The M8 I'm currently using does it. First time I've noticed it on any phone. Must be all the app refresh talk lately,lol. App refresh or not can't wait until my Note 5 arrives.

 

[MRU]

The app order was angry birds 2, chrome, gmail, angry birds 1, duck tales remastered,.

Separate question ... How is duck tales remastered on android ? Do you use on screen controls or third party controller ? I find on screen d-pads and buttons can often make platform titles far more difficult than they normally are ...

 

[nj-morris]

It does it on my iPhone 6 but apparently doesn't on the iPad Air 2 with 2gb. It shouldn't do it on a device with 4gb.

It's because Android+TouchWiz takes up about 3.3GB RAM, leaving only 700MB free. I said about 50 pages back that it would be amusing if the 6S has twice as much free RAM as the Note 5 with twice as much overall RAM.

 

[Six8]

Any of y'all order online from TMO? If so, how quickly did it ship?

 

[Fernandez21]

Separate question ... How is duck tales remastered on android ? Do you use on screen controls or third party controller ? I find on screen d-pads and buttons can often make platform titles far more difficult than they normally are ...

I have a Moga controller I use, but the touch controls are good enough, about on par with sonic. It does make the pogo jumping a lot harder though. But the graphics and music are great, it looks and feels the same as the ps3 version.

 

[Tsepz]

I 1st experienced app refresh on my Galaxy S3 32GB I9300. Us international folk got the I9300 which had the Exynos4412 CPU and 1GB RAM, while the US got Snapdragon S4 CPU and 2GB RAM.

On Ice Cream Sandwich it multitasked beautifully.
When we got Jellybean 4.1.2, things got very wonky. I often had Opera or Opera Mini going with WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter and FB. If Opera/Mini has closed and you tap on it to open you get a momentary black screen then the app goes in and you have 0 tabs open. I began to notice this happening far too often, then FB and Twitter would always reload, then I tried Chrome, same issue, luckily the Galaxy S4 launched soon after and I got the S4 and never saw that again up until this year on my Mom's S6, a mate's S6 Edge, and now the S6 Edge+ and Note5 videos.

I also noticed the Note 4's Lollipop RAM Management is more aggressive than in KitKat, but not as bad as Samsung's 2015 range.

 

[Tig Bitties]

Guide: De-Bloating and De-Touchwizzing the Note 5
http://forum.xda-developers.com/note5/general/guide-bloating-touchwizzing-note-5-t3184563

I updated from the Oneplus One and Nexus 6 to the Galaxy Note 5 on T mobile. I wanted a better camera, better screen and better hardware. The note 5 delivers on those things and then some. But coming from the OPO and Nexus 6, I was really missing stock android and material design, and I was used to customizing and streamlining the apps and features to maximize performance and battery life. I had an idea what I was getting into but Touchwiz and all the bloat had to go! You can disable much of the bloatware, but many apps I dont need or want are built into the system and cant be disabled in the App manager settings. Since we dont have root yet, and Im new to Samsung phones, I did some research and I wanted to provide some of things that helped turn the note 5 into the kind of phone I really love now. Please suggest anything else you have found that helps.

 

[spriter]

It's because Android+TouchWiz takes up about 3.3GB RAM, leaving only 700MB free. I said about 50 pages back that it would be amusing if the 6S has twice as much free RAM as the Note 5 with twice as much overall RAM.

Wow, does it really eat 3.3gb?!

 

[Sevanw]

The old "if I don't see it it doesn't matter" excuse

By using this as an excuse, your nonchalance and apathy, condemns all users to poorer performance than we should accept on as you describe a 'premium' device. Especially one with 4gb ram in 2015.

We constantly hear moaning from yourself and others about giving other OEM's a pass, and yet you are doing exactly that by excusing this.

The Note series was conceived for power users. It has seen a regression from the Note 2, 3 & 4 in this area. Fact.

Stop excusing it, accept it shouldn't happen. What incentive is there to fix or sort out Touchwiz in this regard if your excusing it?

You can love a device and enjoy it - but still accept and acknowledge its faults.

Touchwiz has improved undoubtably - but in this particular area it's 2015 flagships have seen a regression and in devices with 3 & 4gb of ram (the fastest variety) we should be expecting and seeing better memory management.

Acknowledging this doesn't mean you hate Samsung or devalue your admiration for a device, but using the excuse that casual users won't notice is just absolute nonsense and a joke.

Oh man, I dont even know if your actually serious. First off, I'm a tech enthusiast, and seeing those refreshes in that video doesn't even bother me like some are displaying here. So that means no way in hell I'm giving anyone a pass. As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing to pass. But this is a subjective thing. Do you see why I chose not to discuss subjective matters? There's no point. YOU can't tell me or anyone else that this should be a bad user experience. But fine, you hate it. I'm only hearing the so called tech geeks complain about this. As tech geeks, if it bothers them that much, I guess they can just go to xda and take care of it themselves. Because it's a software thing. If Samsung "fixes" this, then even better for the complainers.

So are you seriously more annoyed by refreshes (something that can be fixed by software update) or paying premium prices for inferior hardware like on an iPhone (something that can't be fixed one you have it.) I chose the latter for obvious reasons. You've obviously chosen the former and for whatever reason are perfectly fine with the latter, as I've never heard you complain about it like you have about these refreshes. Always remember, Acknowledging the inferior hardware on the iPhone doesn't mean you hate Apple or devalue your admiration for a device, but using the excuse that casual users or that the iOS is optimized and doesn't need better hardware is just absolute nonsense and a joke.

 

[Tig Bitties]

Similar to how people tell you to use nova and themes on touchwiz like it is comparable to stock. Only aesthetically. those underlying frameworks are heavy, heavy

I love NOVA launcher, but on Samsung devices, it may not help, it actually will add more to the system use, and use more of the RAM that's already filled up with TW.

Touchwiz uses so much frigging RAM it's a joke.

Samsung creates a super computer Star Trek hardware in the Note 5, but has a frigging Windows 95 OS running it, so no matter how fast the hardware is, TW just cripples it.

 

[MRU]

Guide: De-Bloating and De-Touchwizzing the Note 5
http://forum.xda-developers.com/note5/general/guide-bloating-touchwizzing-note-5-t3184563

I updated from the Oneplus One and Nexus 6 to the Galaxy Note 5 on T mobile. I wanted a better camera, better screen and better hardware. The note 5 delivers on those things and then some. But coming from the OPO and Nexus 6, I was really missing stock android and material design, and I was used to customizing and streamlining the apps and features to maximize performance and battery life. I had an idea what I was getting into but Touchwiz and all the bloat had to go! You can disable much of the bloatware, but many apps I dont need or want are built into the system and cant be disabled in the App manager settings. Since we dont have root yet, and Im new to Samsung phones, I did some research and I wanted to provide some of things that helped turn the note 5 into the kind of phone I really love now. Please suggest anything else you have found that helps.

If you purchase Package Disabler from Play Store you can disable a lot of the stuff you would normally need root for.

They use a Knox license to allow you to access stuff that you normally would not.

They have an auto mode to select bloat, however I advise once you select the auto stuff you check through as it can be overly aggressive and disable apps you may want.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ospolice.packagedisablerpro&hl=en


Sadly whilst I find it helps clear up your device, the aggressive ram issue still raises its head even when you have more ram available / free. It's a software issue that clearly is not directly related to amount of free ram. It kicks in even when you have free ram.

That being said if you have carrier bloat that can't be removed normally Package Disabler should be your first choice

 

[sartrekid]

Guide: De-Bloating and De-Touchwizzing the Note 5
http://forum.xda-developers.com/note5/general/guide-bloating-touchwizzing-note-5-t3184563

I updated from the Oneplus One and Nexus 6 to the Galaxy Note 5 on T mobile. I wanted a better camera, better screen and better hardware. The note 5 delivers on those things and then some. But coming from the OPO and Nexus 6, I was really missing stock android and material design, and I was used to customizing and streamlining the apps and features to maximize performance and battery life. I had an idea what I was getting into but Touchwiz and all the bloat had to go! You can disable much of the bloatware, but many apps I dont need or want are built into the system and cant be disabled in the App manager settings. Since we dont have root yet, and Im new to Samsung phones, I did some research and I wanted to provide some of things that helped turn the note 5 into the kind of phone I really love now. Please suggest anything else you have found that helps.

I don't have the Note 5 but the regular Edge. If you don't mind, would you send me the XML file of the functions/apps/tasks you disabled with Package Disabler? I'd be forever grateful.

 

[akuma13]

OK I barely play games on my phone's but I do play Hearthstone occasionally. On my previous iPhone 6 plus it played smoothly. On the Note 5 I've noticed choppy animation. I'm sort of shocked at this.

 

[TechnicallyTee]

Games have always played choppy on the Note series and very fluid on the iPhone.

 

[gotluck]

Oh man, I dont even know if your actually serious. First off, I'm a tech enthusiast, and seeing those refreshes in that video doesn't even bother me like some are displaying here. So that means no way in hell I'm giving anyone a pass. As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing to pass. But this is a subjective thing. Do you see why I chose not to discuss subjective matters? There's no point. YOU can't tell me or anyone else that this should be a bad user experience. But fine, you hate it. I'm only hearing the so called tech geeks complain about this. As tech geeks, if it bothers them that much, I guess they can just go to xda and take care of it themselves. Because it's a software thing. If Samsung "fixes" this, then even better for the complainers.

So are you seriously more annoyed by refreshes (something that can be fixed by software update) or paying premium prices for inferior hardware like on an iPhone (something that can't be fixed one you have it.) I chose the latter for obvious reasons. You've obviously chosen the former and for whatever reason are perfectly fine with the latter, as I've never heard you complain about it like you have about these refreshes. Always remember, Acknowledging the inferior hardware on the iPhone doesn't mean you hate Apple or devalue your admiration for a device, but using the excuse that casual users or that the iOS is optimized and doesn't need better hardware is just absolute nonsense and a joke.

The problem with hoping for samsung to fix it in a software update is that their track record for such in the past is poor. sure they can fix it, but will they?

 

[azhurvadal]

Games have always played choppy on the Note series and very fluid on the iPhone.

Including Note 5?
I don't think it has any to do with the processor capability.
It's much easier to optimize games based on single hardware (ios) than multiple hardware (android).

Current Console games usually have better graphics & frame rate compared to PC version

 

[mattopotamus]

Including Note 5?
I don't think it has any to do with the processor capability.
It's much easier to optimize games based on single hardware (ios) than multiple hardware (android).

Current Console games usually have better graphics & frame rate compared to PC version

This. That has really been my biggest complaint so far. A lot of the apps I use daily make my eyes bleed b.c they do not look nearly as optimized as their IOS counterpart.

 

[TechnicallyTee]

Including Note 5?
I don't think it has any to do with the processor capability.
It's much easier to optimize games based on single hardware (ios) than multiple hardware (android).

Current Console games usually have better graphics & frame rate compared to PC version

Yeah i don't think its processor or GPU related either, I play Empire 4 Kingdoms and it lags here and there on my Note 5 and on iOS its smooth as it can be. Doesn't bother me too much really.

 

[Sevanw]

Just to add, being bothered by refreshes goes to user experience. And describing your user experience is a subjective thing. So I can't and won't debate it. There's simply no point. What you say, is your truth. End of story. It really does comes down to making a compromise on features. There's not a single phone that will check all boxes for everyone. I'm guessing most will put up with Samsung's aggressive RAM management for the high end hardware. The best display, premium design and materials, and top of the class camera. In fact, from my experience, I would argue the biggest deciding factor in choosing a phone is quality of camera first and foremost. Even before battery life. But please, go on about those refreshes and feel free to buy something else. It's your right as a consumer. Until the perfect phone comes along (it never will), compromise, that's always what's is been about.

 

[azhurvadal]

Ok, I just did a mini test on the multitasking to see how far it goes before it refreshes. Basically I set up a list of apps on my home and started with one, loaded it and navigated a screen into the app, then hit home and opened up the next then started back with the first app. Basically I opened the apps like 1,1,2,1,2,3,1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,5,1,2,3,4,5,6. Until I saw the reloads. The app order was angry birds 2, chrome, gmail, angry birds 1, duck tales remastered,Dropbox, amazon, and pocketcasts.

Basically once I hit angry birds 1 chrome would reload everytime, so 4 apps in, but angry birds 2 didn't reload until I hit dropbox. After dropbox, everything but gmail reloaded and at Amazon it started reloading too.

So it doesn't seem to set on an order but on what apps your multitasking since they started reloading at different spots. I guess this is why you see some people not effected at all and others pulling their hair out as it depends on the apps running.

Thank you for conducting the test for us.
Can anyone else who has flagship phone (including nexus 6 & iphone 6) conducting the same test for us?
It won't take much of your time.

Personally I feel it's similar with SD card. Both of them are features that comes with each advantages & disadvantages. People who need SD cards are pissed because note 5 doesn't have it unlike previous notes.

Perhaps samsung excluded it mainly because there aren't too many people who actively used it in previous Notes.
Perhaps samsung employ the aggressive memory manager because most people (who used their products ) do not use many apps in multitasking, so they can use more RAM for anything else (whatever is that)

 

[Septembersrain]

I'm furious at Samsung right now.

No SD card, no removable battery, antenna lines, aluminum shell, curved glass, headphone jack at bottom of device.... What phone does that sound like I'm describing?

My freaking iPhone! So why is that also explaining a Samsung android too? Ugh.

If they got sued for copying now, it would be a no brainer.

 

[HiDEF]

Guide: De-Bloating and De-Touchwizzing the Note 5
http://forum.xda-developers.com/note5/general/guide-bloating-touchwizzing-note-5-t3184563

I updated from the Oneplus One and Nexus 6 to the Galaxy Note 5 on T mobile. I wanted a better camera, better screen and better hardware. The note 5 delivers on those things and then some. But coming from the OPO and Nexus 6, I was really missing stock android and material design, and I was used to customizing and streamlining the apps and features to maximize performance and battery life. I had an idea what I was getting into but Touchwiz and all the bloat had to go! You can disable much of the bloatware, but many apps I dont need or want are built into the system and cant be disabled in the App manager settings. Since we dont have root yet, and Im new to Samsung phones, I did some research and I wanted to provide some of things that helped turn the note 5 into the kind of phone I really love now. Please suggest anything else you have found that helps.

Tigs, you made the switch? I was under the impression--and correct me if I'm wrong--you were gonna stick with the N6?