Smartphones are the gadgets that become obsolete the fastest in our day and age. The simple solution, of course, is to buy a new one each year, making use of the latest technologies, innovations, security updates and such – but not everyone has the budget for this. Moreover, a sophisticated and high-tech gadget like a smartphone shouldn’t be superseded this fast. What most people forget, in turn, is that smartphones are nothing but computers – they are pretty flexible when it comes to software. And the right software can make them run better for longer.
Here are a few tips on how to increase the performance of your phone to play casino games, watch videos, listen to music, and read the news long after it would normally become superseded.
Choose the right apps
There are a few apps that are historically more hardware-hungry than others (even though their increased use of resources is hardly justified). On Android 6, for example, the “AccuWeather” app tends to slow down the phone to the brink of unusability. Finding what apps slow down your phone and getting rid of them will increase the responsiveness and decrease the energy consumption of your phone.
Another thing you can do is to replace some apps with their “lightweight” versions. Facebook’s “Messenger” app, for example, comes with a few features that are pretty resource-hungry on older phones (think the “chat heads” feature, for example). You can uninstall it and use “Messenger Lite” instead – it comes with no fancy features but it does its job well, and won’t break your phone in the process.
Get rid of bloatware
Rooting your phone almost certainly void its warranty. But if it’s past its warranty already, there is no reason why you shouldn’t do it. And when you do it, there is nothing stopping you from getting rid of the annoying bloatware that phone manufacturers fill your phone without the box. Getting rid of bloatware will not only free up some necessary storage space on your phone but probably also leave more disposable RAM that the apps you run will be able to use to run better.
Upgrade Android
The average smartphone gets software updates for two years, on average – this usually means just two major Android updates, no matter if the phone’s hardware could handle three or even four. Samsung’s Galaxy S5, for example, is “officially” stuck at Android 6.0.1 as Samsung doesn’t release any new operating systems for this handset. The latest Android version, in turn, that you can install on it is Android 9.0 (Pie) – and it works great on it, it’s fluid and perfectly usable.
While installing a new operating system on your phone might seem risky, there are more than enough step by step instructions on how to do it. Just find the appropriate ROM for your phone (the XDA Developers forum is the best place to start), find a tutorial, and be sure to follow the instructions to the letter. With a new OS, your phone will run better for at least a few months or even a year, leaving you enough time to save up to buy a new one.
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