Lollipop Memory Leak

[Sensamic]

Interesting, are you running Samsung's Touchwiz lollipop?

I experienced terrible memory management / performance when I updated the Note 4 to lollipop. My iPhone 6+ rang rings around it memory wise despite having 2gb less. I posted a video showing what was happening in the N4 threads.


YouTube: video


Now some claim Samsung's Touchwiz doesn't have the specific memory leak as the Google nexus devices, but whatever is the actual issue Lollipop on my Note 4 was from a memory management perspective truly awful.

The S5 having less ram than the Note 4, if the same issue is built into its Lollipop update I can only imagine the frustration.

Are you able to rollback to KitKat ? I was on the Note 4 and now it performs as it should.

Yeah, I have my S5 updated to Lollipop since the end of December. I get FC's daily: contacts has closed, sidesync has closed, etc.

The phone feels fast, there's no lag that I can see, but the FC's are really, really annoying. Haven't compared multitasking to 4.4.2 but I'd say it's pretty similar or somewhat worst.

If I get so many FC's then that has to be the memory leak issue, right?

I saw your video. It is the proof of why I'm getting so tired of this issue (and other bugs too).

It's either downgrade back to 4.4.2 or sell this phone and buy another one. I know it's Google's fault, so in theory every phone has this issue until 5.1.1 is released. Some people don't seem to be affected but that's so weird.

I don't want to have to downgrade and lose some of my app data. I know there are apps to backup without root but they haven't exactly worked for me before.

Since I got the S5 I haven't rooted or anything. I'm completely stock. Was very satisfied on 4.4.2 so I didn't see the need. Now I do but I want my days of downgrading, tinkering and rooting to be over. Just want to use my phone normally.

My understanding is that the memory leak will be addressed without an OS change in non-Nexus devices.

Really? Where did you read that? It would be amazing but I highly doubt it will happen. We'll probably have to wait for 5.1.1.

Install CyanogenMod or a GPE ROM, I doubt you'll regret it. And in the future don't buy TouchWiz phones.

This kind of crap is why the public has a poor perception of Android I guess. Clueless OEMs ****ing the OS up and taking forever to fix it.

I did that a lot on my previous phone (a SGS3) and found that it wasn't completely worth it. CM and other custom roms have a lot of bugs too, much more than OEMs roms. CM releases updates every week fixing stuff and they never truly get the rom perfect.

I would lose the excellent camera on my S5, battery would be worse, etc. It's not worth it anymore for me.

5.1 has a memory leak that Google has already fixed internally. No fix has been issued, though.

This. I thought 5.1 would have finally fixed it, but still nothing!! It's terrible, really. How can Google take so long to fix a bug? This has happened before on Nexus devices, where they have taken over a year to fix a damn bug. On the Nexus 10 there was a performance issue due to the new high resolution screen and they took a year to fix it. I had the device and it was truly frustrating.

So now I have to wait for Google to release 5.1.1 and then hope that Samsung releases 5.1.1 too instead of 5.1.

How annoying is that? And I don't want to downgrade to 4.4.2.

 

[Fanaticalism]

Yeah, I have my S5 updated to Lollipop since the end of December. I get FC's daily: contacts has closed, sidesync has closed, etc.

The phone feels fast, there's no lag that I can see, but the FC's are really, really annoying. Haven't compared multitasking to 4.4.2 but I'd say it's pretty similar or somewhat worst.

If I get so many FC's then that has to be the memory leak issue, right?

I saw your video. It is the proof of why I'm getting so tired of this issue (and other bugs too).

It's either downgrade back to 4.4.2 or sell this phone and buy another one. I know it's Google's fault, so in theory every phone has this issue until 5.1.1 is released. Some people don't seem to be affected but that's so weird.

I don't want to have to downgrade and lose some of my app data. I know there are apps to backup without root but they haven't exactly worked for me before.

Since I got the S5 I haven't rooted or anything. I'm completely stock. Was very satisfied on 4.4.2 so I didn't see the need. Now I do but I want my days of downgrading, tinkering and rooting to be over. Just want to use my phone normally.






Really? Where did you read that? It would be amazing but I highly doubt it will happen. We'll probably have to wait for 5.1.1.






I did that a lot on my previous phone (a SGS3) and found that it wasn't completely worth it. CM and other custom roms have a lot of bugs too, much more than OEMs roms. CM releases updates every week fixing stuff and they never truly get the rom perfect.

I would lose the excellent camera on my S5, battery would be worse, etc. It's not worth it anymore for me.




This. I thought 5.1 would have finally fixed it, but still nothing!! It's terrible, really. How can Google take so long to fix a bug? This has happened before on Nexus devices, where they have taken over a year to fix a damn bug. On the Nexus 10 there was a performance issue due to the new high resolution screen and they took a year to fix it. I had the device and it was truly frustrating.

So now I have to wait for Google to release 5.1.1 and then hope that Samsung releases 5.1.1 too instead of 5.1.

How annoying is that? And I don't want to downgrade to 4.4.2.

PocketNow Daily

 

[MRU]

Yeah, I have my S5 updated to Lollipop since the end of December. I get FC's daily: contacts has closed, sidesync has closed, etc.

The phone feels fast, there's no lag that I can see, but the FC's are really, really annoying. Haven't compared multitasking to 4.4.2 but I'd say it's pretty similar or somewhat worst.

If I get so many FC's then that has to be the memory leak issue, right?

I saw your video. It is the proof of why I'm getting so tired of this issue (and other bugs too).

.

Yeah that's the strange thing. GUI still smooth but the force closures are as annoying as hell. I was also getting the 'contacts has stopped working' bug too on 5.0.1

 

[gotluck]

I've been trying to not reboot my phone to see if I can recreate the leak

at 143 hours now and system ram usage is still at sub 300mb

soo weird how everyone doesn't seem to be effected

 

[0dev]

I did that a lot on my previous phone (a SGS3) and found that it wasn't completely worth it. CM and other custom roms have a lot of bugs too, much more than OEMs roms. CM releases updates every week fixing stuff and they never truly get the rom perfect.

I would lose the excellent camera on my S5, battery would be worse, etc. It's not worth it anymore for me.

GPE ROMs are a lot better because they're based on code from the manufacturer designed specifically for the hardware. Did they even make a GPE S5 though? I think they might have killed the program off before it was released but I can't remember.

But yeah CM can be buggy sometimes. I find that if you use the previous version of Android on CM it's a lot more reliable though. So 4.4.4 CM should be about as reliable as stock but it does take ages to get to that point and by the time that point is reached it's back to square one for the next version.

This is why I'm either getting a Nexus or an iPhone for my next smartphone. Like you I can't be bothered with custom ROMs anymore but I do want vanilla Android if indeed I do stick with Android.

 

[gotluck]

Yea there is no GPES5

The only Samsung device with a real solid daily driver good to go everything works vanilla android rom is the GS4 unfortunately (because the GPE exists)

otherwise youre the victim of the CM development cycle, like you say, where you'd probably want to stay a version behind and even then problems seem to vary by device

 

[0dev]

Yea there is no GPES5

The only Samsung device with a real solid daily driver good to go everything works vanilla android rom is the GS4 unfortunately (because the GPE exists)

I feared as much. Definitely not buying Samsung phones ever again. If I had to stick with TouchWiz I'd end up returning it within a month.

Also to be honest there is one bug even in the S4 that get at me, which is that device encryption does not work on custom ROMs and temp bricks the device if you try to enable it - the /data partition is corrupted, the phone bootloops and custom recoveries cannot do factory reset, you have to use ODIN to flash the stock recovery back.

Will be weighing up the Nexus 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus for my next device.

 

[gotluck]

I feared as much. Definitely not buying Samsung phones ever again. If I had to stick with TouchWiz I'd end up returning it within a month.

Also to be honest there is one bug even in the S4 that get at me, which is that device encryption does not work on custom ROMs and temp bricks the device if you try to enable it - the /data partition is corrupted, the phone bootloops and custom recoveries cannot do factory reset, you have to use ODIN to flash the stock recovery back.

Will be weighing up the Nexus 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus for my next device.

interesting, I've never tried device encryption, but good to know.

I'm surprised to hear about the IR blaster, FWIW it works completely on an actual GPE. I really thought that was working on roms. I'm currently using the unbranded 'Peel Smart Remote' app on play store, which is basically the same as samsungs touchwiz remote (they are both made by peel), just looks different.

i have no idea what my next device will be

 

[MRU]

I've been trying to not reboot my phone to see if I can recreate the leak



at 143 hours now and system ram usage is still at sub 300mb



soo weird how everyone doesn't seem to be effected

Yep it is strange... My moto X is very stable on 5.0 and doesn't appear to have any issues. Complete polar opposite to 5.0.1 on the Note 4 for me.

 

[Sensamic]

Yeah, I'm looking at the Nexus 6, iPhone 6 Plus or iPhone 6S Plus for my next purchase.

I dislike iOS, but quick updates that fix bugs is becoming more and more important to me after this memory leak issue.

I have no problem waiting months later for the next Android update if my phone isn't a Nexus, but waiting so long for performance improvements and bug fixes is very annoying.

I'm losing faith in Google. Apple is not that much better. They also have their annoyances, but at least I would be the first to receive critical updates.

I'm in no hurry yet. Don't want to lose money selling the S5 and buying another phone for more.

It's just this annoying bug that is bugging me. Everything else is ok.

 

[Michael Goff]

Yeah, I have my S5 updated to Lollipop since the end of December. I get FC's daily: contacts has closed, sidesync has closed, etc.

The phone feels fast, there's no lag that I can see, but the FC's are really, really annoying. Haven't compared multitasking to 4.4.2 but I'd say it's pretty similar or somewhat worst.

If I get so many FC's then that has to be the memory leak issue, right?

I saw your video. It is the proof of why I'm getting so tired of this issue (and other bugs too).

It's either downgrade back to 4.4.2 or sell this phone and buy another one. I know it's Google's fault, so in theory every phone has this issue until 5.1.1 is released. Some people don't seem to be affected but that's so weird.

I don't want to have to downgrade and lose some of my app data. I know there are apps to backup without root but they haven't exactly worked for me before.

Since I got the S5 I haven't rooted or anything. I'm completely stock. Was very satisfied on 4.4.2 so I didn't see the need. Now I do but I want my days of downgrading, tinkering and rooting to be over. Just want to use my phone normally.






Really? Where did you read that? It would be amazing but I highly doubt it will happen. We'll probably have to wait for 5.1.1.






I did that a lot on my previous phone (a SGS3) and found that it wasn't completely worth it. CM and other custom roms have a lot of bugs too, much more than OEMs roms. CM releases updates every week fixing stuff and they never truly get the rom perfect.

I would lose the excellent camera on my S5, battery would be worse, etc. It's not worth it anymore for me.




This. I thought 5.1 would have finally fixed it, but still nothing!! It's terrible, really. How can Google take so long to fix a bug? This has happened before on Nexus devices, where they have taken over a year to fix a damn bug. On the Nexus 10 there was a performance issue due to the new high resolution screen and they took a year to fix it. I had the device and it was truly frustrating.

So now I have to wait for Google to release 5.1.1 and then hope that Samsung releases 5.1.1 too instead of 5.1.

How annoying is that? And I don't want to downgrade to 4.4.2.

Let's be fair, a memory leak isn't easy to find.

 

[Sensamic]

Let's be fair, a memory leak isn't easy to find.

I'm no expert so I don't know, but I think they should have seen it before the date release and therefore stop it until it was fixed.

 

[Michael Goff]

I'm no expert so I don't know, but I think they should have seen it before the date release and therefore stop it until it was fixed.

Well, between 5.0 and 5.1 they've patched 60 memory leaks. So apparently more and more pop up.

 

[MRU]

Well, between 5.0 and 5.1 they've patched 60 memory leaks. So apparently more and more pop up.

60! Crikey that things got more holes than a colander.

That many suggests Lollipop is inherently flawed .

 

[Michael Goff]

60! Crikey that things got more holes than a colander.

That many suggests Lollipop is inherently flawed .

I wouldn't go that fat, but I do have to wonder why there were so many. Was 5.0 such a big change under the hood?

 

[Sensamic]

Well, between 5.0 and 5.1 they've patched 60 memory leaks. So apparently more and more pop up.

I remember reading something about that. 60 memory leaks! C'mon! Is Google that inept? I can't see Apple doing that.

That's not good news. 60 makes it look like it was kids who developed Lollipop. Makes me want to leave Android even more than before

And I'm a huge Android fan.

 

[MRU]

I remember reading something about that. 60 memory leaks! C'mon! Is Google that inept? I can't see Apple doing that.

That's not good news. 60 makes it look like it was kids who developed Lollipop. Makes me want to leave Android even more than before

And I'm a huge Android fan.

Especially when at Google I/O they were championing the bit on improved performance which is contrary in many cases to what Lollipop has actually brought to the table. Due mostly to the bugs.

I wouldn't be surprised if 5.2 or 5.3 is renamed from lollipop to try and distance itself.

Lollipop is becoming the Vista / Windows 8 RT. of mobile OS's. Full of bugs and on very few percentage wise systems / devices.

Samsung seemingly halted it. Nothing new from LG. Sony devices still MIA. Motorola seems stalled and even Google themselves are making a haims by admitting its still not fixed....

 

[Fanaticalism]

What I'll say is this... if it gets better after 5.1, holy smokes! I am have been very impressed. Don't get me wrong, there's still little things here and there but as it stands it's the smoothest experience I've ever had on Android.

 

[Sensamic]

And there's nothing we can do but wait and wait, probably months.

There's even no point for me to sell the S5 and buy another phone, since all new phones coming out this year will come preloaded with Lollipop.

I seriously doubt the M9, S6 and G4 will come out with 5.1.1 out of the gate, and considering how slow manufactures are with updates it could take another two or three months for them to release that update to their phones.

So most new phones this year will come with a very buggy OS. Very disappointing.

 

[Michael Goff]

I remember reading something about that. 60 memory leaks! C'mon! Is Google that inept? I can't see Apple doing that.

That's not good news. 60 makes it look like it was kids who developed Lollipop. Makes me want to leave Android even more than before

And I'm a huge Android fan.

Not so much with memory leaks, but Apple seems to have huge Wi-Fi problems with almost every update. Coding is hard. I'm not saying that to absolve them, but maybe explain. I mean, change one thing and maybe it will break something else.

 

[0dev]

Not so much with memory leaks, but Apple seems to have huge Wi-Fi problems with almost every update. Coding is hard. I'm not saying that to absolve them, but maybe explain. I mean, change one thing and maybe it will break something else.

The iPad 2 had very weak WiFi signal too but I'm not sure if that was hardware rather than software.

Google has also ****ed up Chrome OS as of version 40, a lot of users including myself are seeing WiFi drops every few minutes and this has been going on for over a month. The problem goes away when you connect to a 5GHz network but 2.4GHz networks will drop and fail constantly. A very major bug for any platform but especially bad for one which is designed to be purely cloud based.

 

[Michael Goff]

The iPad 2 had very weak WiFi signal too but I'm not sure if that was hardware rather than software.

Google has also ****ed up Chrome OS as of version 40, a lot of users including myself are seeing WiFi drops every few minutes and this has been going on for over a month. The problem goes away when you connect to a 5GHz network but 2.4GHz networks will drop and fail constantly. A very major bug for any platform but especially bad for one which is designed to be purely cloud based.

Coders theses days seem to have a lot of problems.

 

[diamond.g]

I wonder how much of the issue is the transition to ART from Dalvik. Especially for apps that are not native already.

 

[MRU]

I wonder how much of the issue is the transition to ART from Dalvik. Especially for apps that are not native already.

The fact that many of us have been able to switch to ART runtime without these issues on existing 4.4 devices would suggest that can't be the main reason (though could be contributory).

 

[diamond.g]

The fact that many of us have been able to switch to ART runtime without these issues on existing 4.4 devices would suggest that can't be the main reason (though could be contributory).

Good point.