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I've been playing some fast-paced, focus-demanding games like Super Hexagon and Size DOES Matter on my Sony Xperia Z1 recently, and I've noticed something that has been bothering me.

Sometimes I get frame rate hiccups, stutters, drops, or whatever you want to name it, while playing these games. This happens most often on the train, on which I suspect it happens due to constant changes in connection types, such as Edge, 3G, 4G and possibly even Wi-Fi, which might then trigger stuff in background processes. (I don't know any of this for sure, it's just pure speculation).

Anyways, this is a really annoying problem, since a single badly timed stutter can ruin what could have been a perfect playthrough.

So here's my question: What can I do to eliminate, or at least minimize these stutters while playing?

Going into Airplane Mode seems to help alleviate the problem a bit, however, if I want to have my score posted in the leaderboards, e.g. in Size DOES Matter, I need to have an internet connection. What to do..? :-/

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Tips on how to improve performance in games, and in Android in General:

Simple Ways:

  • Keep your device up-to-date with the latest firmwares and software (apps). Android 4.1 gave a significant boost in speed, so try to obtain that update.
  • Remove unwanted apps from your phone, or disable them so they don't take precious resources during gaming
  • Disable automatic syncing. Android Versions 4.2+ add this option in the quick settings, while Android 2.3+ on Samsung should have this options in the notification tray. It is also in the Sync Tab in settings
  • Disable animations, which can be set in developers tab inside options

Advanced Ways

  • Consider using a different rom that is not stock, such as CyanogenMOD or MIUI. These roms are normally faster than stock roms, since they don't carry any bloatware, while having their own optimisations. NEEDS ROOT
  • Overclock your CPU. Steps for your device can be found on Google. NEEDS ROOT
  • Force GPU Rendering in application. Can be found inside Developers Option
  • Copy Apps to external SD card. Use the app App2SD NEEDS FAST SD CARD AND ROOT
  • At least once use TRIM on your Android Phone. LagFirm app does this for you. NEEDS ROOT. POSSIBLE CAUSES BRICKING. PLEASE READ MANUAL.
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    In your case @Phazyck, since you know disabling the internet help, disable automatic sync. This should give similar results. Also, disable background data for apps that you know use good amount of internet in the background.
    – Ahkam Nihardeen
    Commented Oct 12, 2014 at 11:42
  • I've tried enabling GPU rendering, which seems to help. At the moment, I'm not gonna go further than messing with the developer options. I'll try keeping the automatic sync in mind as well. Thanks! :)
    – phaz
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 11:10
  • No problems @Phazyck. Those was more for advanced users, and if your phone is really having a tough time rendering the game. If you need help doing any of the steps above, simply ask. I won't bite (much) ;)
    – Ahkam Nihardeen
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 11:15
  • My phone is very recent, so it really shouldn't have any problems running the game - and it doesn't really, it just has frame drops once in a while. I might want to root the device at some point, or put another rom on though, Sony's bloat is starting to annoy me. :-P
    – phaz
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 11:20
  • Yeah, your phone seemed incredibly knew. Sony's phone are known for bloatware though. Custom-Roms aren't always the best though. I was using TouchWiz for a while, tried CyanogenMod, and quickly reverted back. It's all a matter of tast in the end ;)
    – Ahkam Nihardeen
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 11:22
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Guess you might be out of luck there. You could however, try to set your preferred connection type to the lowest denominator, i.e. Edge or 3G if that's sufficient for you, to lower the amount of switches happening.

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