One of the great things about owning an Android device is the sheer number of bright developers and hackers that are constantly tinkering with their devices and the OS to see if they can make things better. One of the complaints some have had with their Android devices is the tendency for the device to sometimes lag after several weeks of ongoing use particularly while playing or using certain apps and games. Well XDA developer member lambgx02 decided it was time to get to the bottom of the issue and upon his delving into Android's dark underbelly he found what he thought was the problem.
It seems it involves some random data being generated by the kernel of the OS and what he calls "very limited entropy pool'. What does this mean? Well, we're not exactly sure but the bottom line is...he thinks he's come up with a fix that makes your device run smoother and without the lag. Now rather than us try to explain things here's the developer's own words explaining the situation:
So, I was experiencing significant lag as we all do from time to time, and decided I was going to get to the bottom of it.
After tracing and debugging for hours, I discovered the source of 90% of Android’s lag. In a word, entropy (or lack thereof).
Google’s JVM, like Sun’s, reads from /dev/random. For all random data. Yes, the /dev/random that uses a very limited entropy pool.
Random data is used for all kinds of stuff.. UUID generation, session keys, SSL.. when we run out of entropy, the process blocks. That manifests itself as lag. The process cannot continue until the kernel generates more high quality random data.
So, I cross-compiled rngd, and used it to feed /dev/urandom into /dev/random at 1 second intervals.
Result? I have never used an Android device this fast.
It is literally five times faster in many cases. Chrome, maps, and other heavy applications load in about 1/2 a second, and map tiles populate as fast as I can scroll. Task switching is instantaneous. You know how sometimes when you hit the home button, it takes 5-10 seconds for the home screen to repopulate? Yeah. Blocking on read of /dev/random. Problem solved. But don’t take my word for it .. give it a shot!
Now as usual with these hacks, we only recommend that experienced Android hobbyists try using the file and fix. It'll require a rooted device and you an find out more info at
this link. Let us know if you try it out. Again...do so at your own risk...certainly not for the casual Nexus 7 owner and only for experienced hackers/modders.
