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Please test this enhancement

Does GPU rendering help you?

  • Yes, it's a positive difference

    Votes: 3 60.0%

  • No, it makes things worse

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Maybe, not sure

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Some yes, it helps; some no, it makes things worse

    Votes: 2 40.0%
  • Total voters
    5
EarlyMon

EarlyMon

The PearlyMon
VIP Member
I've been online working with novox77 tonight, he's had some multitasking complaints -

http://androidforums.com/htc-evo-4g-lte/555765-any-issues-multitasking-htc-evo-4g-lte.html

As well as odd screen flickering at times.

I've had just two multitasking incidents and no screen issues, but in the first half hour I had my phone, I changed this -

Settings -> Developer options -> (User interface section) Force GPU rendering (Use 2D hardware acceleration in applications) -> check on

So far, he seems to be seeing less multitasking issues, maybe a change in flickering - I'll let him comment.

Anyway, it seems like a completely safe thing to try, it's cause no trouble for me and I'm happy with the phone smoothness.

If you'd like to try this, please report your results. If the group finds it positive, we'll make this a permanent tip - right now, I classed this as a tip because it's a candidate. :) ;)
 
EM,

ive not had any issues with multitasking but perhaps i have and just didnt know?

what does this force you post up do? is it limiting certain animations or forcing the handset to use less CPU usage when switching apps?

are there "Tests" one can do to trip up the phone to see if it glitches?
 
The setting change will make apps rely on the gpu for screen rendering while inside any app - I believe that this relieves the cpu and more importantly, cpu memory used for screen calculations.

If you load many web pages, you may hit the home button and see what novox77 titled a "spinner" on the screen - that's a like a wait hourglass or beachball in other operating systems meaning - wait - Sense was dumped from memory, I have to reload it.

With this enhancement, it seems that less gets dumped from memory while running more stuff.

Instead of spinners, white screens or apps restarting - they'll just be running normally when you switch between them.

This won't make number of apps running to suddenly become infinite - just more than before.

That's my expectation that I'd like feedback on. :)
 
I have System Panel always on, and it's set to start up at boot. I would say that if/when Sense kills System Panel, we have evidence of the aggressive memory management problem.

So I did what Early did and set the Force GPU rendering on, then rebooted. After that, I hit the browser hard, opened 5 tabs, in each one, I surfed heavily. Then I opened all my apps, using the home button instead of back between each open. I'd try to leave some signs in each app, like entering in a number in my RealCalc calculator. That way when i opened it later, I could see if the number was still there, or if memory management had purged it.

I tried everything I could think of to load up the memory. Along with System Panel, I was logged in to Skype. I had tasker running. Google wallet has been spinning in the background all night and even spawned a service at boot. But I could not get Sense to kill anything.

Like I told Early, I would never use my phone this heavily as I did during this test. I couldn't get it to act up. So, it COULD be that this one setting (Force GPU rendering) helped the aggressive memory management issue. More tests needed I think from some other willing volunteers around here, maybe?

I also have a screen flickering issue. it's very subtle, and it comes and goes. For those of you sensitive to flicker, think of an old CRT set at 60hz. you can see it flickering, especially in your peripheral vision. I get that sometimes on this phone. Trying to figure out if it's just my phone, or if my eyes are just too damn sensitive to it.
 
thanks 'Voxx,

so, this setting sounds like it SHOULD be on 24/7? what are the downsides to enabling this? does it use MORE memory? will it slow down the phone? use more battery?

from your post and EMs, this sounds like it should be enabled and left alone!

did some quick forum surfing and came up with these threads. granted that are for the galaxy s2

http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-s2-international/538467-force-gpu-renderering.html

and galaxy nexus:

http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-nexus/465170-force-gpu-rendering.html

here is some juicy stuff about GPU rendering on Android. its mentioned using HW acceleration uses 8MB for each thread.

https://plus.google.com/105051985738280261832/posts/2FXDCz8x93s

i now understand a bit more what this toggle does. thanks EM and 'Voxx for the enlightenment.
 
Ok I'm in for the experiment. Can someone tell me if "animations" was checked? I think I may have inadvertently touched it while I was in there.
 
I haven't noticed flickering as described, and I'm pretty sensitive to it. Is it in certain applications/tasks or anything? What is your brightness level?
The notification bar pops alot. Like it is loading and unloading the Skin slowly.
Sometimes when waking the phone I can catch the last open application for a millisecond before the lock screen comes up. Not typical flickering though.
(I'm running super stock, but haven't tried pushing things very hard graphics/processor wise yet)

(Note: There was some reports of flickering issues with the HTC One X. Some people were thinking it was a Nvidia/Tegra problem. Maybe you could try to cross reference with the One X issue and see if there is any comparison?)
 
Didn't notice any flickering, but I'll give this a whirl. Can't do too much testing right now because I'm studying for a final, but I'll let you guys know if my multitasking seems better in the next few days.
 
Please note, flickering is one issue, multitasking is another.

They may or may not be related.

If you don’t already have any flickering issues, please focus on multitasking here.

Cheers, thanks.

PS - yes, I leave animations on. The primary thing here is multitasking, flickering may be related or it may be unrelated. Too soon to say.
 
EM, I've had my HTC bookmarks widget flicker when it updates. This is w/o forcing 2D hardware. I've changed my settings to force 2D hardware. I'll let you know if the flickering still happens.
 
Just to clarify: the flicker problem is more like fast blinking of something on the screen that's not moving (like a slow refresh rate on a CRT). It's not like a stutter trying to change screens, or the phone trying to show two things at once, etc. But I agree, this thread should focus on the multitasking/aggressive mem management issue.
 
marctronixx said:
thanks 'Voxx,

so, this setting sounds like it SHOULD be on 24/7? what are the downsides to enabling this? does it use MORE memory? will it slow down the phone? use more battery?

from your post and EMs, this sounds like it should be enabled and left alone!

did some quick forum surfing and came up with these threads. granted that are for the galaxy s2

http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-s2-international/538467-force-gpu-renderering.html

and galaxy nexus:

http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-nexus/465170-force-gpu-rendering.html

here is some juicy stuff about GPU rendering from a google android dev. she mentions using HW acceleration uses 8MB for each thread.

https://plus.google.com/105051985738280261832/posts/2FXDCz8x93s

i now understand a bit more what this toggle does. thanks EM and 'Voxx for the enlightenment.
Click to expand...
One easy example of forcing 2D hardware acceleration for apps not coded to support it:

If you run Speedtest, the upload/download graphs that flank the speed number (below the speedometer) will not display correctly and will blur out. Forcing 2D acceleration definitely comes with some tradeoffs, I think Mint gets broken and I can't think of others offhand at the moment.

Just to throw my 2c in: As for how enabling it can improve memory management, that's unclear to me, especially when we are talking about opening up browser windows as a test. The force 2D acceleration is really for pre Honeycomb/pre ICS apps -- as I understand it, everything natively coded for Android 3.0/4.0 has all 2D elements accelerated already, this in particular includes the stock browser and Chome. Thus, force 2D acceleration is for Gingerbread/Froyo apps and can result in 2D speed improvements, but if their implementation of the 2D element is dated, then it can result in corruption.

Long way of saying -- as far as browser windows go on the stock browser or Chrome, I don't see how enabling or disabling 2D accel. makes a difference. Thoughts?
 
NeoteriX said:
One easy example of forcing 2D hardware acceleration for apps not coded to support it:

If you run Speedtest, the upload/download graphs that flank the speed number (below the speedometer) will not display correctly and will blur out. Forcing 2D acceleration definitely comes with some tradeoffs, I think Mint gets broken and I can't think of others offhand at the moment.

Just to throw my 2c in: As for how enabling it can improve memory management, that's unclear to me, especially when we are talking about opening up browser windows as a test. The force 2D acceleration is really for pre Honeycomb/pre ICS apps -- as I understand it, everything natively coded for Android 3.0/4.0 has all 2D elements accelerated already, this in particular includes the stock browser and Chome. Thus, force 2D acceleration is for Gingerbread/Froyo apps and can result in 2D speed improvements, but if their implementation of the 2D element is dated, then it can result in corruption.

Long way of saying -- as far as browser windows go on the stock browser or Chrome, I don't see how enabling or disabling 2D accel. makes a difference. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I don't use the stock browser or Chrome.

What is mint?

You believe that many apps are native?

HTC has always claimed hardware acceleration for Sense. Did it apply to their browser?

Interesting about Speedtest.
 
Would this have any affect on gaming positive or negative. I was having some issues last week getting NBA Jam to run smoothly. It had some lag and stuttering. Tried it out after this change and it seems to be running smooth as butter? I will do more testing but so far I am seeing good things.

I am getting the funky results on speedtest that was mentioned I wonder where else it will pop up.
 
Kinda surprising that a game wouldn't be taking advantage of graphics acceleration.

This is why I'm asking - what does it help, what does it break?
 
EarlyMon said:
Kinda surprising that a game wouldn't be taking advantage of graphics acceleration.

This is why I'm asking - what does it help, what does it break?
Click to expand...
The control is for 2D HW acceleration only, so if it's an SDK game (typical for 3D games) instead of java-based, then the 2D HW acceleration should in theory not be important.

From my understanding he 2D HW acceleration is for like 2D page transitions, scrolling, fades, swipes, etc.

ps - oh yes, my bad, Mint is a pf app, I should've mentioned that earlier. However, I think with in the past month or two, they've revamped the app to take advantage of 3.0/4.0 panels and design standards, so I think the glitches I recall may be gone now.
 
It's why I want community testing - there are so many ways to skin a cat in graphics and so many programming styles by devs, there's no telling if this will benefit people or not without some sort of survey with reports on which apps fail.

As to why novox77 reported more memory - same thing. In my business, we have a saying: one test is worth a thousand expert opinions.

Understanding why we do or don't see benefits is nice, but I'd like to see more data. :)
 
I was having Sense reloads so I decided to give this a test. Unfortunately I was still seeing them with the change.

I've been driving all day switching out of maps while listening to audio podcasts using Pocket Casts and had quite a few Sense reloads.

I drive long distances very often and use use maps and Pocket Casts all the time. I've noticed Sense reloads seem to happen often but not exclusively after backing out of maps.

Is there any specific info I can provide?
 
Fubie said:
I was having Sense reloads so I decided to give this a test. Unfortunately I was still seeing them with the change.

I've been driving all day switching out of maps while listening to audio podcasts using Pocket Casts and had quite a few Sense reloads.

I drive long distances very often and use use maps and Pocket Casts all the time. I've noticed Sense reloads seem to happen often but not exclusively after backing out of maps.

Is there any specific info I can provide?
Click to expand...

No, I think that was nicely said. :)

You sound like a normal user experiencing the multitasking issue with a few apps that I think we'd all expect to be handled smoothly, and this trick didn't make a difference.

Appreciate the feedback! :)
 
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