How to fix the annoying screen wake up lag on the Samsung Galaxy S5, Galaxy Note 3 and other Samsung devices. All Samsung phones have and run the Touchwiz firmware. Touchwiz is a custom skin created by Samsung which can be found on all Galaxy devices.
Touchwiz is known to have a lot of features and options that other skins like Sense and LG UI don’t have. It was the first skin to have eye tracking technology and video pop up which allowed the user to watch a video in a small window while navigating on another application.
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Also, Touchwiz was the first firmware to introduce Multi Window which was able to take full advantage of Android multitasking capabilities. The user was able to open two, three and even four applications at the same time. That’s why modern Galaxy devices have 2 and 3 GB RAM.
But because Touchwiz has so many features, it slows down the phone a lot. The phone simply is not able to handle all those tasks running at the same time. This was the reason why the Galaxy S3 didn’t receive Android 4.4.3 KitKat update. Even though KitKat supports devices with 512 MB RAM and the Galaxy S3 has 1 GB RAM, Touchwiz required more than 1 GB.
One of the most common problems Galaxy devices have because of Touchwiz is screen wake up lag. Basically, when the screen is off and you press the home or the power button, it takes more than a few seconds for the screen to turn on. This is annoying because you have two wait for a few seconds to use the phone.
Fortunately, there are a few ways to fix the screen wake up lag on the Samsung Galaxy S5, Note 3, S4 and even older devices with Touchwiz firmware.
1. Increase minimum processor frequency
Increasing the minimum processor frequency will make the phone react faster. The minimum frequency of the Galaxy S5 is 500 MHz. When the screen is off, the processor stays at 500 MHz. When you press the power or home button, it takes a few seconds for the CPU to go from 500 MHz to the required frequency to turn the screen on.
To fix this, increase the frequency of the processor. This will decrease the time the CPU needs to reach the required frequency. Follow the guide here to learn how to overclock the processor of the Samsung Galaxy S5 and other Galaxy devices.
2. Install custom ROM
Custom ROMs are stock improved Touchwiz firmwares. They are enhanced and have fixed all the bugs that stock firmwares have. Here are the best custom ROMs for Galaxy S5 and Galaxy S4.
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3. Use a cleaning application
A cleaning application will also help to fix the screen wake up lag problem. The application will keep the phone fast, fresh and responsive. One of the best apps is Clean Master which makes the phone faster without root access. It removes all unnecessary files and regularly checks the phone CPU for any problems.