[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):
- Download this file: update.zip
- Plug your phone to your computer and mount the memory cards through the notification bar.
- 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.
- Unmount the USB connection through the notification bar.
- Turn off your phone.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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:
~
Lag Fix:
ummm dude there hasnt been any snag after the lag fix….i mean any problem with the phone or anything?
Not at all. I was also a bit worried that it would start behaving weird or something but it’s just excellent. It’s snappy, everything works as it should except it’s much much faster.
Hi,
Great videos, the only problem is I would like to know if it is easy to remove the lag fix, and unroot the device ( so I don’t void my warranty…. what with the GPS problems I ( we) are having), so it will look like stock
Cheers
Hi wilx,
Absolutely, you can easily revert back to a stock firmware simply by re-flashing a “clean” firmware using Odin.
You can find a very good tutorial here: http://android.modaco.com/content/samsung-galaxy-s-s-modaco-com/311349/flash-now-your-samsung-galaxy-s/
And you can also find Odin, the tool for flashing firmwares, by clicking here.
If you need any more help, feel free to post another comment!
Cheers,
Tiago
Thank you!!! Great Job! I was going to sell it on ebay and keep my old iphone 3g until I got this to work tonight. Took me about an hour but I did it.
The secret is there are two update files to download. That’s not made that clear
and ya Tiago how do u replace dat dock bar on the bottom side of the screen?
srry if its a stupid question but am new to the android realm…..
Hi Aniket,
It’s really easy, just install an application called “LauncherPro”. This will replace your home application and you even have a Froyo theme that will make your Galaxy S look like it has Froyo on it.
After you install the app, press the home button and it will ask you which application to use for “Home”. Just select the option to never ask you again and choose LauncherPro.
Cheers!
Tiago
Thanks dude !It was really appreciable!!!Srsly helpful dude !!
Cheers to u to dude
Hi Tiago,
I came across the term super user, is this anything to be bothered about when i root my phone…..
rylan
Hi Rylan,
Nothing to be bothered about
basically when you root the phone what happens is that you get super user permissions. Meaning that you can do things that you otherwise couldn’t. What this means in practical terms is that after you root, you’ll automatically get an app installed that’s called “Superuser Permissions”. You don’t need to worry about this app or even touch it at all.
However, after you root, when you install certain applications that require the phone to be rooted, you will get this notification asking: “Do you really want to give super user access to this application?”. Obviously you will only grant this access when you trust the app that you are installing.
Hope this helps and if you have any more questions, feel free to pop another comment!
Cheers,
Tiago
Hi Tiago,
thanx a lot bud, really appreciate the quick reply……..
Regards,
rylan
Hi Tiago,
This might sound stupid, but i just wanted get rid of it. When i turn on my phone, i get around 140mb of memory and the phone’s super fast, after a couple of days of usage this drops to around 20-30mb and the phone’s speed drops gradually to an extent where it becomes really annoying. I’v noticed while i was monitoring the phone’s services that were running. Will i face the same problem even after rooting…??
Thanx,
rylan
Hi Rylan,
I’m afraid so. However, you can install this app called “Advanced Task Killer” and periodically you can kill all the processes that are running. After you do this, you should get all your memory back.
Cheers,
Tiago
Hi Tiago,
thanx bro, that thing really works, it got back the memory in a flash and my phone’s super snappy yet again…… Thanx again bro…….
regards,
rylan
hey does this lag fix work with the galaxy S VIBRANT from Tmobile. some people on the internet said that they applied the lag fix with their Vibrant and it worked. i have a Vibrant so i need to know before i try to apply the lag fix
Hi!,
I’m almost 100% sure that this fix does NOT work on the Vibrant. For a Vibrant fix you can have a look around these forums: http://ip208-100-42-21.static.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=708
Those guys are very helpful and they have an entire section on the Vibrant.
Hope it helps!
Tiago
i’ve sucessfully run ryan’s original lag fix and am currently running the one click…both are incredibly stable and powerfull….the one click is the simplest way to go.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=760571
rooted t-mobile vibrant
oneclick lag fix
Hi Tiago,
I’ve been using the advanced task killer application, but i read elsewhere tat using this is not favourable by the android o.s, since it has its own way of killing apps in the background, but letting it do slows down the phone drastically…. If u could Plss clear the air surrounding this……….
Thanx,
rylan
Hey Rylan,
The only thing is that Android does a bit of process management itself. So when you close an application, that application is really just suspended but it is kept in memory. This is just so that when you return to the application, it’ll be much faster to load and you’ll pick up where you left as well.
If you really kill the processes, then it will in principle take a bit longer for the application to load.
The trade off is that it gets to a point where you no longer have free RAM so Android starts killing old processes to make room for new ones. You see, in principle, Android’s way of working makes sense but since some apps are greedy and use too much memory, sometimes you’re better off just making a clean sweep and killing all of them every few days.
Hope that clears things up a bit.
Tiago
Hi Tiago,
now ur phone being rooted, is there anytime tat a need arises u to use a task killer to free up some memory.
Wats the average free memory after the root. Im a little curious to know about it.
Thanx,
rylan
Hey Tiago,
Does this lag fix do the same thing as what the Froyo 2.2 update will do? Or is it even faster than what Froyo will be?? I’m not sure if I want to root my phone if I can get the same results by simply waiting for Froyo to be released for Galaxy S. Hope that makes sense!
Cheers,
Mark
Hi Mark,
It depends really. This lag fix, fixes something caused by Samsung. The normal Android 2.1 doesn’t have this issue but it’s how Samsung manages the SD cards in the Galaxy S that causes an issue. When Froyo comes out we’ll be able to see if Samsung still made the same mistake with 2.2 or whether they’ve fixed it. If they’ve fixed it, you won’t need the lag fix and you’ll get not only the normal speed of Android but also the improvements of 2.2. If they haven’t, then we’ll probably still be needing a lag fix.
However, do keep in mind that in any case, after you flash 2.2, the lag fix is gone and you’d have to reapply it.
Cheers,
Tiago
Hi Rylan,
Sometimes I kill the apps just to make it a little snappier but I don’t notice any significant slow downs. In overall it’s still much faster than it was before the lag fix so I really don’t do it that often.
Tiago
Hi Tiago,
really appreciate the quick replies. I have just rooted my phone and i ran the quadrant standard tool. I was surprised by the results of having obtained just around 800. As you have stated it should in the region of 2000. What might be wrong, its kinda bothering me tat i might have got a faulty phone.
Cheers,
rylan
stock quadrant score 885.
rooted & lag fix, quadrant score 2157
very nice. thanks man
hey Tiago,
i want to ask that i have just bought Galaxy S few day ago, and can i wait rooted my phone after Samsung have release the android 2.2 Froyo, and is it can use back the same way to rooted it?
Sorry for asking such a stupid question because this is my first time using Android OS and phones.
Umm I managed to brick my phone somehow. I installed just the lag fix from here (had rooted earlier and was working fine) Now it just doesnt go beyond the start up screen. Any suggestions?
By start up screen I mean the Flashing white S with “GALAXY S” underneath it
Gday mate. I just got my Galaxy S and have heard this works a treat, but it appears there are a couple of people having problems with it. What happens if it craps out. Is there a way to undo it so that it is back to factory spec? Is there some way of backing up the factory specs or something? And is this rooting and lag fix specific for any particular type of Galaxy S, or will it work fine with all types.
Cheers mate.
Hi Brendon,
Answering your (and some other people’s) question: yes, it is completely reversible. It’s very hard to brick one of these phones to a point where it cannot be recovered. It may happen, however, that you’ll lose all the data in it so make sure you have backups of all your contacts and stuff.
If at some point it doesn’t boot, just boot it into recovery mode (turn it off, then press Volume Up + Home + Power until something comes up on the screen, then plug it to the PC) and just reflash it. That’s the standard procedure to recover a Galaxy S from a bricked status.
Be wary though – there are several “flavours” of the Galaxy S so be sure that you have the lag fix for your appropriate model. The lag fix I posted is JUST for the European standard version of it, since I’m guessing you’re from the land down under, you probably need a different lag fix. Be sure to visit the XDA developers forum and ask them about it, they’ll know way more about this than I do and I’m sure they’ll be happy to help.
Cheers!
Tiago
Hi..
I noticed from the start of having this phone that I could not put it into recovery/download mode. Ive tried every steps I found on the internet. (vol up+home+power), (vol down+home+power), vol up+vol down+power) etc.. So rooted my sgs using the one click rooting software. It worked fine. So when I wanted to install the lag fix, I use the same one click root software but replaced the rooting file with the lag fix file. It also worked fine and my sgs was fast and snappy!
Also my intro samsung logo graphics was not visible but there was sound… other than that everything worked fine.
Yesterday I was curious on what will happen if I run the MDS lag fix again. I selected the 1024kb option and it started to create 1gb file again and an error occured and my sgs stalled. I pull out the battery and restart. Came out the samsung galaxy s GT-1900 intro screen. Intro sound effects came out.. nthen blank screen all the way! Its not booting to the home screen…. Ive tried batt pull and recovery/download mode combo buttons many times! Nothing works.. it just starts up the intro screen + sound and dark evil black screen… I dont know what else to do. Hope you can give any advice. Im running out of buttons to experiment! I think I have officially bricked it. Even flashing wont work until I get my recovery/download mode work in the first place. :’(
There is now Ryan’s one click lag fix that is in the android market, this is the best lag fix to date, the app will also root and unroot your phone, so this is by far the safest and best way to apply the lag fix, Ive been using it for a few months now and will take your Quadrant Standard report to over 2 thousand.
Rixsta.
To Icks, can you connect the phone to kies and do a update firmware, this will unroot your phone and flash it back to its firmware. To many people are bricking there phones doing this, as I stated above everyone should use Ryan’s lag fix in the Android market.
If you cant connect to kies then maybe someone can help you over at xda developers forum, they are a great bunch of guys and if anyone can help its them.
Cheers Rixsta.
@Icks,
I have the same problem as you do, dont worry just redo the process (vol up+home+power) until u get the DOS prompt again and don’t do the update. The key is to run back factory setting. It should be able to boot again but all your data might lost.
p/s. you should see the 2ndvideo, the process is not end after you update 2nd time. You still need to run MCR scripts in your application after your 2nd update. MCR update will run quite a loooooooong time..do not interupt the process it will be end after a while. Then you are done. Hope this help!
Hi!
How does rooting and lag fixing affect the phones battery life?
I assume it takes more energy to make the phone run at those blazing speeds?
What’s the average battery life you have with your Galaxy S phone? Heard that an iPhone has better battery life… True?
Thanks in advance!
Hi Tiago,
quick question: when using the App you recommend in the youtube clip, my sgs does not have a 2100 rate, but still 850-ish. does this mean that it does not work and i should try it via my computer with the files you provide?
thanks a million,
Thomas
Hi Thomas,
Hmm, if I recall correctly, the method on the video also uses files and you do need to put the update.zip file on the root of your internal SD card.
Are you sure you haven’t just rooted it? Keep in mind that after rooting, you still need to follow the steps for the lag fix!
Hope it helps
Tiago
Hi tiago, i just found this feed and noticed it is a bit old.
I am already running froyo 2.2 on my galaxy, but it is still too slow for my liking. Will this lag fix still work, even though i am running 2.2?
thanks