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Comment by ravenstine | Hacker News Reader

Samsung's software makes their otherwise good phones markedly terrible. My Galaxy S5 got so slow at one point that I was planning on getting a new phone and thought "what the hell, I'll try to root this one and if I brick it then nothing of value was lost." It's a good thing I did successfully root it because I removed all the Samsung garbage and it continues to run exceptionally well! Sure, disk space probably played a role, but I noticed that their keyboard had a large part to do with the slowness. After replacing it with AnySoftKeyboard, it's run as smooth as butter.

EDIT: Another pro-tip I have for anyone with an Android phone is to ditch Google for DuckDuckGo, not only for privacy but because it simply outperforms Google's UI responsiveness by lightyears.

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I'm in the camp of installing an OS as the first thing you do with a device [0], and I really can't abide by the idea that a computer is just expected to get slower over time.

My S4 (i9500) was still running great on LineageOS (some games even) right up until a few months ago [1].

Good job taking your leap. Going through the process can definitely be unnerving when you're doing it to a device you rely on (which is a large part of why I recommend doing it immediately after getting the device).

Or by all means everyone, keep dumping "old" hardware to stay on the manufacturer's software treadmill. I just replaced that S4 with an almost mint S7 for $80!

[0] I will say, it actually does end up feeling like a little bit of a let-down to get a shiny new device, do the job of flashing it, and then be greeted with the same stock LOS setup. But then I remind myself that I got said device for a deliberate purpose, and it's actually nice not having to relearn an arbitrarily different UI.

[1] FWIW, the symptoms lead me to believe it came down with something similar to "the emmc bug" that's been described for the i9300.

Did you put on one of the alternative Android OS? Can't afford a new phone just now, and I was wondering if rooting mine would help, think I will after what you've just said.

It's an S3 that is becoming slower and more frustrating to use every time there's an update. It can take anything from 20 seconds up to a minute to respond to a button press, and of course I'm never sure if I touched the button properly so I hit it again. It'll respond to the entire queue in a second or two, and then I need to start over.

No, I left the Samsung-provided Android on it, although I've installed updates here and there.

I never owned an S3, but judging by my experience, getting root and removing all of Samsung's crapware should bring new life to an S3. As I mentioned, their keyboard software is ridiculously slow and bloated, and can make it seem like the apps being used are slow when it's really just the keyboard blocking the UI. It's been a couple years, but I remember their apps took up quite a bit of space.

By the way, another thing that could be slowing down your S3 is the battery. If it's not holding a charge well, the operating system is going to use up less power to try and stay running, hence a significant performance decrease. If your phone has a removable battery, a replacement can be had on Amazon for ~$10. Having replaced my own battery, I can say it's definitely worth doing.

Thanks - very much appreciated! The battery is starting to age and is beginning to lose its charge quickly, so I'll look into that.

I love LineageOS and pretty much most of my devices that can run it, run it. This includes various older Note phablets and Note tablets. It is pretty fast, remains up to date, has great privacy controls, and the Google Apps (one of the biggest power hogs, IME) can be slimmed down or omitted if necessary.

Galaxy S8 and S9 generations of Samsung phones can't really be compared to previous versions. Touchwiz lag is nonexistent, and the apps are quite a bit less intrusive.

Except for that bixby bullshit. And that you can't uninstall all their crappy apps even if they are slightly less intrusive.

As a first time Samsung owner with an S9, I can't comment on 'less intrusive', but it is definitely frustrating.

Multiple apps called "messages" and "contacts", not super easy to tell which is stock android and which is samsungs? Bixby always gets in the way, where did this "SmartThings" app come from which is ALWAY in the system tray and difficult to disable and can't be removed.

I won't be buying another Samsung device, I'm not sure how they got the reputation they have.

It's crapware plain and simple. Samsung insists on installing, then not supporting any of their stuff with updates. Google needs to step up and prevent it by allowing every app to be uninstalled and deliver Android updates themselves. But in the mean time if you buy a phone, basically expect it never to get upgraded in any meaningful way.

Replace Google for duckduckgo? UI responsiveness? Using anysoftkeyboard?

It's an S5... And old... That's the problem.

Components do not degrade significantly in the lifespan of a phone. Websites are generally no more intensive than when the S5 came out, and there's no reason for apps to be either. "It's old" is a worthless excuse for poor software design - as evidenced by the fact that using FOSS restores full performance.

Uh, yeah... if I don't have to spend money on a new phone when I can just install better software, that's my preference.

My guess is that they were getting updates from their carrier.

Back when the original Galaxy S was new, one of AT&T's minor updates bricked some peoples' phones and caused many more to run slowly. I'd already rooted mine and afterwards disabled some of the offending apps that they installed, so in terms of performance it still runs today as well as it did in 2010. I just never did a carrier update again.

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