Samsung Galaxy S Lag Issue (And How To Fix It) – Android 2.1 [Updated]

[Updated – Jump to the end of the post for a detailed walkthrough]

As some of my readers may know, I have recently traded in my Maemo-wielding Nokia N900 for a brand new Samsung Galaxy S. This move was led by several reasons that I am not going to go in detail in this post now but I did it and I was very happy with my new phone. In comparison with the Nokia it was super fast and best of all, it runs Android which is, in my opinion, a great mobile operating system.

Now, all was well until I started hearing about these supposed lag issues of the Galaxy S and I honestly didn’t know what it was all about. The phone seemed fast enough for me and I was generally very happy with it. Sure, sometimes it would hang for 2 or 3 seconds but nothing to worrying. I genuinely thought it was just normal hiccups like we sometimes get on our computers.

Everything changed when I decided to give one of the lag fixes a go. I thought “hey, why not?”, I had wanted to root my device for a while now so I could just as well go the extra mile and apply the lag fix as well, and boy, was I missing on speed. After rooting and applying the patch everything is just snappy. There’s no more hiccups at all and apps just load instantly without any wait at all. For example, when I refresh my inbox using GMail it also takes WAY LESS time than it would before, which really surprised me. Browsing also feels faster and even the benchmarking tool “Quadrant Standard” reports the Galaxy S as being twice as fast as the Motorola Droid X! Actually, with this fix, the Galaxy S is at the top of the food chain with the closest phone to provide even similar results being the Nexus One on Froyo.

So my advice is: apply this patch asap. It will eat 1Gb of your internal memory card but trust me: it’s so very worth it. I’m including two videos in this post. One of them teaches you how to root the phone while the other guides you through the actual fix. Just apply them both (first root then fix) and off you go.

If you notice the phone to be faster, please drop me a comment below.

Cheers!

Update:

I know I have the videos below and they’re pretty straight forward, but since this post is getting so much popularity, I thought I’d make a step by step walkthrough that will guide you through the whole process of rooting AND applying the lag fix. Let’s start with the rooting, shall we?

The next steps are for ROOTING your Samsung Galaxy S (i9000):

1. Download this file: update.zip
2. Plug your phone to your computer and mount the memory cards through the notification bar.
3. Place this update.zip in the root of your INTERNAL SD card. It should be the one with lots of folders. Just place it right in the card, outside any particular folder.
4. Unmount the USB connection through the notification bar.
5. Turn off your phone.
6. With your phone turned off, press the following keys at the same time: Volume Up, Home and Power button. Keep holding them until you see the Samsung Galaxy S writings on the screen, then you can let go.
7. You will be presented with a menu, just choose the option that allows you to flash the update.zip using the volume up and volume down keys. To select the option just push the home key.
8. Wait for the phone to reboot on its own et voilà! It’s done!

The next steps are for APPLYING THE LAG FIX onto your Samsung Galaxy S (i9000):

Ok, so I cheated. I’m not going to give you steps for this because…. it’s the same as the steps above! So, if you have already rooted your phone, repeat the steps above BUT with this update. WARNING: The name of this second file is update1.zip. You MUST take the “1” off before you copy it to your phone, otherwise it will NOT work! You also need to know that possibly you won’t see the “.zip” extension. This is fine! If you don’t see it, DON’T add it! It just means Windows is hiding it for you and that’s perfectly fine.

I’m still leaving the videos below and in case you have doubts or need more help, drop me a comment below. No registration required! (The comment might take a few minutes to appear as I need to approve them manually)

Rooting the Galaxy S:
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Lag Fix: