Stock Android vs. TouchWiz, Which Is Faster? (Galaxy S4)

In this video, I do a speed comparison test between the Google Play Edition of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Samsung's TouchWiz version of the Galaxy S4. I wanted to see how much (if any) of a difference the software made on overall performance. I did a boot up test, app speed test, a couple of benchmarks (GeekBench and AnTuTu), and then finally a browser test. So, is "stock" Android faster than TouchWiz after all? Watch the video to find out!

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Stock Android vs. TouchWiz, Which Is Faster? (Galaxy S4)

PhoneBuff

[sebastianchamaca]

The best thing about stock Android is not the speed while opening stuff, it's the smoothness of the experience. Touch wiz hangs up, the animations just feel wrong and unnatural, and overall it just isn't very smooth.

[abhasb]

Why compare UI layers using websites/videos/apps that rely heavily on the network to load? That is totally non-deterministic....
It would be better to see a pure UI comparison, like how fast the multitasking switches are, what happens when you throw scrolling home screens, notification shades etc in the mix...etc...

[gutzbenj]

Google play edition has no Samsung camera app so Samsung firmware wins ...

[PhoneBuff]

Less lag (almost none) on the Play Edition of the Galaxy S4. I think the occasional lag on the TouchWiz version is due to all the extra bells and whistles you get with TouchWiz. The question is whether or not that little bit of lag is worth it to you to have all those extra features..

[amanali]

IPhone is like Intel and Samsung is like AMD.
IPhone has better performance in each core but Samsung provides many cores. They're basically neck and neck but in the end of the day, I'm really not sure anymore. Being non-biased as possible, as technology grows, we'll need more and more cores to run more demanding apps. If IPhone doesn't advance to quad core, they'll start to go behind performance wise BUT if Samsung doesn't improve their architecture for each cores, Apple's quad cores will destroy their quad core. They both have many things to improve on right now.

[Brotelho]

I don't understand people's reasoning behind "TouchWiz looks ugly" I just don't see it. How? In what way? 

[PhoneBuff]

I'm going to wait for the iPhone 5S for that.

[LawlietS]

I swear, the only thing that held me back from getting the S4 is the fact that it had Touchwiz slapped on it. It's so ugly and laggy! It's a shame Samsung had to ruin such a great device. Went for the Nexus 4 instead.

[kurokochi]

2016 likes, if you're watching this on 2016

[Ashoksagar]

turn off the live wallpaper on google play editon before COMPARISON.

[PhoneBuff]

Nope. They are exactly the same phone from a hardware perspective.

[Zyphen]

as we all know, touchwiz is TERRIBLE at memory management, and is a RAM hog. I HATE touchwiz.

[ezamadha]

I think s4 is better without touchwizz

[iceblaster]

is it just me or is the display on the google play edition better? (as in the colors)

[PhoneBuff]

I seem to get about 10% more battery life out of the Play Edition S4 than the TouchWiz version. Probably all those extra bells and whistles..

[PhoneBuff]

On the home screen and app launcher yes.. But it won't change how quickly apps open or the phone browses the web.

[MrStachu]

Stock android is the best, because it is the ORIGINAL one, not the crappy Touchwiz

[jesselee]

G'damn that ending splash/music is stressful!

[Snowboundless]

The real difference is in multitasking, which this video doesn't go into. I have an S4 running TouchWiz for 5.0.1 and a Nexus 7 (2013) tablet running Stock 6.0.1. After RAM clear TouchWiz sits at about 1.2/1.75 gb RAM used compared to Stock sitting at 0.6/1.2 gb used. If I open Hangouts, then Maps, then YouTube on my S4, then switch back to Hangouts, the system has to redraw the app. Even switching back 12 apps on the Nexus, I still don't get redraws. That's the difference in the user experience that I notice the most.

[vgamedude]

Damn this video was so dumb. You just need to look for random jank and UI lag, not major stuff like benchmark differences.