It’s a fact that many Android devices can get unbearably slow after only 6 to 12 months of use. Buying a faster phone or tablet is seldom an option; there are, however, some things you can do to “take the power back.” Here are 8 things you can try to speed-up your Droid:
1. Update everything
It’s a good practice to have all of your software up to date. I’m not talking about apps only, but also the actual phone/tablet firmware. Every consecutive app release brings along tweaks and bug fixes that should make for a that much better user experience.
2. Remove unused apps
Most of us have a bunch of apps installed on our devices. Nevertheless, only a few of them are used more than once a week. One of the things you could do to speed-up your phone is to remove those you don’t use. Alternatively, you can disable some of the apps and prevent them from occupying precious space in the phone’s memory.
3. Clean up the home screen
The less cluttered the home screen is, the faster the phone will be. Apps are usually not the problem; widgets are those requiring more of everything, always loading something from the web, calendar, address book and so on. Also, if you’re using a live wallpaper, consider replacing it with a static one (aka an image).
4. Reduce animations
Animations make your phone look cool but they also can slow things down. Do you really need all of ’em? Some phones allow you to remove only select number of animations, whereas some others only have the general enable/disable animations. Explore the Settings menu and see what kind of tweaking your phone/tablet allows for.
5. Clear that cache
Whether it’s browsing history and cache, or the cache some apps make, it can slow your phone down. This data is gathered over time and can build up to take up quite a lot of space. Sometimes clearing all this cached data can also help clear up flaky behavior.
6. Selective auto-sync
I’m not going to say you should completely turn-off auto-sync. But since this setting can be set differently for different apps, you should play with it. Leave your email and Calendar alone, and turn off all other syncing. Do you need all that data synced in real-time? Remember, we’re trying to speed-up your phone here.
7. Custom ROM
If you know what you’re doing, you can flash a custom ROM to your phone or tablet. You’ll have to get root access before doing so, but the entire process could be well worth the effort. Many custom ROMs promise faster Android experience with some handy new features included as an extra bonus. Bear in mind that rooting your device could void your warranty, though.
8. Factory reset
If nothing else works for you, bring the phone to the original state by performing a factory reset. All your data will be wiped out in the process, and you’ll have to install all of the apps again. This time round, put only the apps you really need on your phone to make sure nothing stands on the way of solid performance.
And that’s about it. You could also try your luck with some third-party launcher like Nova or Apex, and even overclock the device, though the latter method will require some serious tech know-how. Before trying any advanced method though, try something easier and see if that works for you. Good luck. 😉