Android phones and tablets would have surely gained your attention at one point or another, whether you are a tech-savvy person or not. Owning one makes you feel connected and in-the-loop. But are you really taking care of your Android device? While most of us focus on keeping its physical appearance from harm’s way, a majority ignore the fact that their device’s performance might be slowing down. And a slow Android device takes all the fun away.
Here is a list of some simple steps you can perform to make your Android device perform faster:
1. Perform an inventory of your apps
If you are not using all of your apps in the phone or the tablet, it might be a good decision to delete them permanently. An unused app is synonymous to carrying dead weight. It is commonly known that a full memory can affect the speed of all devices – Android or not. Hence, if you disable or delete apps that aren’t being used, you’ll free up a lot of space in your device and your device will end up performing faster.
2. Clean up your files
Android devices make the moment of clicking photographs and shooting videos very enjoyable. And it intensifies when the device is one that boasts of high-quality resolution. But as soon as these photographs and videos start piling up in your device’s memory, the performance gets hindered. Instead of getting yourself into this mess, decide once and for all which ones you’d like to keep in your device and which ones you can dispense off. Those that you can manage without having in your phone memory can be either deleted or moved to some sort of cloud storage (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.). And since these cloud storage platforms can be integrated into your Android device, you don’t have to worry much.
3. Refrain from using live wallpapers
Live wallpapers sure are trendy and increase your cool quotient. But there is nothing much they can offer in terms of use. If you experience a downfall in the speed of your device, you can do away with the live wallpapers. Change the live wallpaper and move to a stagnant wallpaper, and see the difference in the speed of your device.
4. Use widgets only when required
Widgets are useful applications as they make the use of your device much easier. But despite the convenience they provide, they drag the speed of your device down. If you are experiencing a loss in the speed of your Android device, you can think of doing away with some widgets, at least the ones that you use rarely.
5. Check for updates
If there is a software update available, you can see it in your device’s notifications. If not, you can perform a check for them in the settings of your Android device. System updates don’t really help your device go back to its original speed, as much as they improve the overall functionalities and provide enhanced security to your device.
If you miss your Android of old days and wish for your device to be as fast as when you had bought it, perform some of these steps and see the difference. Although remember that you don’t need to do all of these steps, a mere 2-3 will be enough to bring about an improvement in the speed. After all, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
Endive said:
make your phone faster by asking it to do less
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Hope this is the right place to be asking this question, (also, first post, Hi and all that) but supposing you've done all of the things you've mentioned above, and you still have woefully poor performance from an android device? In fact, what if you have done a factory reset and it still runs agonisingly slowly?
Specific issue: An Archos (yes, I know, not brilliant) cobalt 7 tablet. It was never *fast*, but it did at least respond fairly quickly. After using it for a few years it got noticeably slower and slower; it now takes several minutes to boot, and just asking it to swipe to a different screen and start a basic app takes more minutes. Removed all the apps, deleted everything from the internal memory, barely any improvement. Factory reset.. no improvement. Put a couple of apps back on it afterwards and it has now all-but stopped.
I'm not after doing anything clever with it, just want to get it back to factory performance. I had a quick search of the forum in general, but haven't found anything that seems to fit. (other than doing a factory reset...)
Related
I have a few questions and thought I'd post them for you Android Ninjas to laugh at. Once you get though recognizing my ignorance though, I'd love some education.
Why does my phone give me errors that it can't move apps to my SD card (says it is full) when I have 7GB free on it?
I tried installing an app and it told me that there wasn't enough room in SYS to unpack the files. Is this related to #1? How can I give more space to SYS?
Do widgets or live wallpaper consume CPU or battery when the screen is off or the phone is locked? In other words, will a sleeping phone with lots of widgets use more power than one with just static shortcuts on the screen?
Is the Android memory management good enough that you don't need to reboot the device every day or so in order to clear everything out and get optimum performance?
I've played with the rooted stock ROM for the Inspire, Revolution 4, and now CM7. I see the differences between the UI interface. But what is the purpose/benefit in changing kernals?
Every evening at 7pm, I get a blank SMS message notification with no content and no sender name/number. When I click to open it, it launches GO SMS, but there is no corresponding message in my list of messages. What is this and how do I get it to stop?
3. yes, the more, the more resources and cpu used. livewallpaper uses more than static wallpaper. more widgets, especially ones that update and use data, use resource more than no widgets, etc.
4. android OS is rock solid. i go weeks without reboot. i just went 540 hours on one boot, and that's just the best one that i paid attention to. it goes longer but after 22 days it loses its fun of keeping track.
5. differetn kernels are for different purposes. some are over clocked for performance. some are under volted for longer battery life. its just ways to tweak the phone to get what you want out of it.
INTRODUCTION
This is a guide made to with help from Xperia X10 users and developers for Xperia X10 users enjoyment but most of the tips contained here are suitable for any phone running Android. The tips contained here focus on WHAT to do to improve the performance of your phone and not HOW to do it, after all, once you know what must be done is to find simple tutorials on how to take these actions.
For some of the tips contained in this guide I assumed that you have just installed a new ROM or formatted / bought your phone recently and have root access but even without these prerequisites this guide can still be useful to most users.
It’s important to say that although most of the tips some are quite basic, some require a little more work and deal with the more delicate parts of your phone, they should be made at your own risk. These more advanced tips often use very specific terminology which you can find more about on XDA Developers or even Google.
Finally I would like to remind that even machines that are made within a few standards can operate in different ways: some phones take better advantage of certain adjustments and settings and not others so it’s impossible to guarantee one hundred percent efficiency for all of you but still I that you make good use of this guide.
Sincerely,
Guilherme "XOT" Oliveira
- Install a good ROM and a good Kernel
Official ROMs are good but custom ROMs are usually faster and in many cases as stable as official ROMs. This is because ROMs are released and thereafter rarely change, custom ROMs are already made by developers who are constantly improving their job to get the most out of your phone. It's very important to research before installing a new ROM, searching always for the one that meets your expectations and relates well with your device since the same ROM can work very well on my x10 but not as well on x10 my brother’s for example.
The same goes for Kernels, but with Kernels take extra care to make sure that the Kernel is compatible with your desired ROM and your phone.
- Keep clean your caches
Caches are good to keep certain information and have access to these faster but with these files and information some "garbage" is stored .
The solutions to this can be pretty basic or advanced, the most basic way is to enter your Application Manager (Settings> Applications> Manage Applications) and clear the cache for each application. It is important to clear the cache only and not application data as these may be important such as the files that resemble your progress in a game. Already the most advanced solution is to clear the Dalvik Cache and Cache Partition through your recovery.
Both solutions don’t need to be made with daily frequency, for example I usually clean my caches every 45 days or when I feel that the phone is getting slow.
- Make a full, but clean, backup
Full backups (full system backup) like those made by recovery or nandroid are great to store complete setups but when they are done with “dirty” files in the the phone’s memory restoring these files may worsen rather than help the situation of your device .
Ideally, do a full backup after completely configure your phone (configure your account, set your homescreens, install the required applications, etc.) but before using it for real.
That way if your phone starts getting slow and nothing works to reverse the situation you can easily go back to your “original” settings without the hassle of customizing everything in its way again.
- Do not touch the CPU / GPU the first day
Like people, phones also take a while to adapt to a new environment, or in our case new ROMs, so during the first 24 hours of use is important to use the settings of CPU and GPU that came with the ROM, no overclock, undervolt and things like that.
Another important step in the process of adaptation to the new ROM is really using and exploring the device in this very first day so it "get used" to the change. Do not mind the battery consumption, that should stabilize after a few days.
It’s also iimportant to remember that some ROMs already comes with overclock, undervolt and improvements in battery usage. In this case there is no problem in using these settings from the first minute because if they are there since the installation of the ROM, it is because they are part of the default settings already programmed and develop on this particular ROM and it will work better this way.
- Use the maximum your battery
Batteries seem to last less and less as time goes on, in part this is because your battery is uncalibrated and there are ways to fix it.
I will not talk much on this subject because it is very easy to find guides that teach you how to calibrate your battery so I’ll just recommend that you take a look at them.
- Applications: less is more
Having millions of apps is the glory and the doom of smartphones, the glory because you can do everything on your device and doom because of the following reasons:
As a computer your phone also slows down the as it becomes full and in most cases you can blame it on the number of apps that you have installed on it. So try to leave installed only the applications you actually use and uninstall the ones that you no longer use so you can have more free memory and consequently a faster device.
Some applications can not be uninstalled because they are system applications; in order to remove those apps you are going to need uninstallers that have root access (ex: RootUninstaller) which are capable of removing these applications but before taking such a measure is necessary to look for a safelist (a list of applications that can be removed without causing system problems).
Keeping a low number of applications but doing so by installing and uninstalling new apps every day also usually let the machine slower so if you find an application for a specific function that fits your needs you should stay with it instead of testing another 10 before returning to it.
PS: A good way to avoid testing several applications before finding the right one is reading reviews and comments before making your choice.
- Repair defective applications
Often the phone is working fine but a certain application or function is not, which can cause slowdowns and FCs (force close); depending on the situation there is not much to do but some of these solutions may take care of the problem:
The first thing to do is to uninstall and reinstall the apps via Play Store to make sure that the problem was not caused by a corrupted file when you downloaded the application, if the problem persists there are some more advanced alternatives: in the advanced settings of your recovery select fix permissions, this function should make sure that every application has the necessary permissions to work properly.
- Keep some free space
Full memory is often a problem on any device, especially in older phones like ours, after all the more files the longer it takes read all these files if it is necessary, so the tip is this: the more free space the better.
This step seems a little redundant since we already talked about having the smallest possible number of applications but this time we are also talking about other files. Anything occupying space on your phone is "bad"; too many photos, songs, text documents, etc.. can make the phone slower and lets be honest, you do not need to carry 150 photos of your last weekend with you all the time.
A solution to this problem is simple, try to keep the memory of your phone as free as possible by eliminating caches, unused files and moving applications to the SD card (Settings> Applications> Manage Applications> choose the application and select Move to SD card or use apps like Link2SD); your SD card should also be kept clean by eliminating unused files and traces left by already uninstalled applications, such traces are sometimes hard to find and applications like SD Maid can help you eliminate much of this "junk".
- Avoid keeping some applications running all the time
It’s very common to close an application and assume that it stopped running on the system but this is not always the case because it actually still cached in the memory of the device, Android makes it to be faster on reopening it later and often the system itself definitively closes the application automatically but that’s not always the case.
Firstly it is important to prevent certain applications from even opening and to do this we use apps known as Startup Managers, there are several options in the Play Store but I particularly like Autostarts. Once inside your Startup Manager you can choose which applications will be opened as the system is started or any action is taken (for example changing the state of your Wi-Fi); the ideal is to minimize the number of self-starting applications, leaving only the truly necessary ones without forgetting to be very careful to avoid stopping system applications because if they are unable to open themselves it can cause instability. Another way to prevent applications from opening or stay on cache all the time is to disable automatic updates of apps such as email clients and social networks but this is a more personal matter that varies from user to user, just remember that the more constant the updates are, the more time these applications will be running in the background and more power (CPU and battery) will be consumed.
Now that we’ve already took care of the self opening apps it’s time to find out when you really need an app to be closed for sure.
It's easy to know when to quit an application completely but it is necessary to first understand a basic concept about the system: applications and processes cached in memory are not always a bad thing, in fact as stated at the beginning of the topic they are a good thing because the application should open faster when launched again (hence the use of Task Killers usually worsens more than help if not done properly) but if you use an application to view the weather every morning and will only use it again the next morning this application can be closed without problems.
In our current official version of Android (2.3) already have a task manager that can be used to do this action (Settings> Applications> Running services > select the desired process and press Stop) but if you want a more advanced option there are several Task Managers that monitor processes and can be used to close them too.
PS: Again about the Task Killers: although its use is discouraged for the day-to-day because of the reasons already explained, if you plan on haevy gaming they can be the great saviors since these games need a lot of free memory to run without lags.
- SMS: clean your inbox
Message apps, both native and third-party tend to take quite some time to open if you have many messages on your mobile because everytime you run your message app it needs to load a large list of conversations, so cleaning your inbox periodically helps performance, the same goes for call log.
A tip for those who want to clear the messages inbox and call log without losing your information is backing up with applications like SMS BackUp + that emails you both your conversations and call logs, all within a specific marker so they won’t end up messing the inbox of your email or if your intention is to save only one or two most important message the native client and most ones available at Play Store have the option of forwarding SMS, simply by holding your finger over until the action menu opens up.
- Give your device a break
Like conventional systems for computers, Android also collects information in its memory and despite the “dumping information system” some of it is left in cache , which ends up requiring more processing on your device.
To end this there is a very simple solution: give a rest to the phone. Once a day or when you feel like the machine is running slow give it a reboot or shut down and leave it off for a minute or two before restarting, it should get rid of the cache and it can boost the speed of the phone, but attention: restart the machine and making it open up various apps on boot has no point so keep your boot clean (see related topic).
- About some specific applications:
Task killers (that goes for any app of this kind) are good for a heavy gaming experience (eg: GTA, Dead Space, Asphalt...) because those games need a lot of free RAM but for everyday use is preferable to don't use task killers and keep some of the apps in the cache so they open faster when they are requested again.
Deep sleep is an important part of the ROM performance when it comes to battery usage, applications like CPU Spy can check if this function is working correctly or No-frills CPU Control which in addition to monitoring provides the ability to adjust the frequencies and governors you want to use in your phone.
Chainfire3D is an useful app to change the way your GPU will work and customize it to gain performance or quality , notice that these values tend to be inversely proportional.
Try always to use the lightest possible applications, it helps in memory. I for one think the galleries and music players of almost all default ROMs are too heavy and prefer apps like QuikPic and UberMusic.
Finally I would like to thank: XDA Users: Oodie, x10forevers, Vasishta Reddy, DiKeJ, 9Lukas5, FeraVolt, alzbac, Websites: lifehacker.com, limitlessdroid.com , doctor-android.com, androidcentral.com for helping with the tips on this guide and say that if you have a tip that is not in this guide feel free to share with us!
PS: I'm sorry if I made some grammar mistakes, English is not my first language and this is a pretty big article.
thanks...nice one..
Dude I screwed my music thing on x10 . Please help . Tried flashing xperia s music player . Now music icon has dissapeared . N power button seem to reboot all the time . Will updating binary files of xrec n then flashing again help ?
Please tel . Desperately.
Rooted x10 2.3.3 stock Rom
Sent from my X10i using xda premium
theMoiz94 said:
Dude I screwed my music thing on x10 . Please help . Tried flashing xperia s music player . Now music icon has dissapeared . N power button seem to reboot all the time . Will updating binary files of xrec n then flashing again help ?
Please tel . Desperately.
Rooted x10 2.3.3 stock Rom
Sent from my X10i using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey dude, I don't really know how to help you because I haven't had any similar problems but I'm pretty sure that you should try the basics: clear caches (dalvik included) and fix permissions.
Since I'm not a developer I can't really help you with the binary files but try reaching your ROM's developer and he might help you
I hope you get your phone fixed
Dude u sure that I should clear off dalvik cache ? I tried fixing permission but still nothing . The power button rebooting the phone is more irritating than not having a default music PLAYER . Im asking in this forum but havent got the solution yet :'(
Sent from my X10i using xda premium
Excellent post Buddy . Hope you update the thread with other power users opinions & Tips .
Thanks.
Oodie.
theMoiz94 said:
Dude u sure that I should clear off dalvik cache ? I tried fixing permission but still nothing . The power button rebooting the phone is more irritating than not having a default music PLAYER . Im asking in this forum but havent got the solution yet :'(
Sent from my X10i using xda premium
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I think that the only people that can help you are the ones on your device's specific forum man, try creating a topic there
Sorry but I really don't know what to do to fix your phone
Some of the tips are a complete waste of time and utter crap (mostly those related to keeping RAM usage low and task killers [EDIT: actually, you contradict yourself on these points], giving the device time to "adapt" to the environment -seriously?- and going for the lighter apps -this obviously applies if you have an outdated device, but it's not a rule).
EDIT: Forgot to say that the rest is good.
GermainZ said:
Some of the tips are a complete waste of time and utter crap (mostly those related to keeping RAM usage low and task killers [EDIT: actually, you contradict yourself on these points], giving the device time to "adapt" to the environment -seriously?- and going for the lighter apps -this obviously applies if you have an outdated device, but it's not a rule).
EDIT: Forgot to say that the rest is good.
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Click to collapse
As I said the guide was wrote based on Xperia X10 user experience so it is kind of an old device.
About the RAM management you won't have any issues with a top device with a lot of free RAM but in our case (old device users) we have about 256mb or less RAM to work with so keeping it well managed is essential if you want your device to run smooth.
The adaptation thing seems like BS but it's not, because your device need to create/edit some files as its being used and that's what this part of the article really means. For example your battery writes a log about its own capacities (making a long story short by recalibrating your battery all you do basically is reset this log)
Thanks for the feedback, hope you found something usefull
GuilhermeXOT said:
As I said the guide was wrote based on Xperia X10 user experience so it is kind of an old device.
About the RAM management you won't have any issues with a top device with a lot of free RAM but in our case (old device users) we have about 256mb or less RAM to work with so keeping it well managed is essential if you want your device to run smooth.
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Click to collapse
No, it's not essential. It's actually bad.
The lifehacker website seems to be down, so I'm giving you a link to this article instead (the article itself links to three more detailed articles; one of them is the lifehacker article I wanted to link; do read them): http://androidandme.com/2011/11/app...lers-still-dont-give-you-better-battery-life/
EDIT: Regarding the battery, draining the battery (to 0% or close) is actually bad for lithium based batteries and should be avoided. A discharge to 15% is usually enough.
GermainZ said:
No, it's not essential. It's actually bad.
The lifehacker website seems to be down, so I'm giving you a link to this article instead (the article itself links to three more detailed articles; one of them is the lifehacker article I wanted to link; do read them): http://androidandme.com/2011/11/app...lers-still-dont-give-you-better-battery-life/
EDIT: Regarding the battery, draining the battery (to 0% or close) is actually bad for lithium based batteries and should be avoided. A discharge to 15% is usually enough.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get your point and I also talk about the same thing as the article in the guide: "the use of Task Killers usually worsens more than help if not done properly" , I just didn't elaborated on this very much.
Now, what I'm saying is that if you are a day-to-day user you don't need a task killer and it's recommended ONLY for a gaming experience, aka heavy games like GTA, Dead Space, etc...
"Task killers (that goes for any app of this kind) are good for a gaming experience but for everyday use is preferable to keep some of the apps in the cache so they open faster when they are requested again."
I'm not a task killer fan myself but if you check any gaming rom (DikeJ's for x10 is a good example) you can see that the developers try to maximize the free RAM because those heavy games use a lot of it.
So in order to avoid this kind of confusion I'll edit the article to solve this misunderstanding thx for the heads up
GuilhermeXOT said:
I get your point and I also talk about the same thing as the article in the guide: "the use of Task Killers usually worsens more than help if not done properly" , I just didn't elaborated on this very much.
Now, what I'm saying is that if you are a day-to-day user you don't need a task killer and it's recommended ONLY for a gaming experience, aka heavy games like GTA, Dead Space, etc...
"Task killers (that goes for any app of this kind) are good for a gaming experience but for everyday use is preferable to keep some of the apps in the cache so they open faster when they are requested again."
I'm not a task killer fan myself but if you check any gaming rom (DikeJ's for x10 is a good example) you can see that the developers try to maximize the free RAM because those heavy games use a lot of it.
So in order to avoid this kind of confusion I'll edit the article to solve this misunderstanding thx for the heads up
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool, thanks for that
Buddy, that guide is awesome written, excellent work. And big thanks for credits - I'm very proud that I could help in that "project" ^^. It's should hit XDA Blog . Cheers .
DiKeJ said:
Buddy, that guide is awesome written, excellent work. And big thanks for credits - I'm very proud that I could help in that "project" ^^. It's should hit XDA Blog . Cheers .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm the one who have to thank you
People please share your ideas so we can make this guide better!
I have played around with android since Eclair, and I am disappointed with the weight (and general sluggishness, but that's not the point of this topic) that everything has gotten to take. (ie: Facebook went from ~10Mb to 242Mb, Kindle weighs 150mb etc).
I understand that some of it is because of new features, but I gather that aside from the general ****ty idea that 'phones are getting faster and have more space therefore let's use that up', a lot of the weight comes from multiple drawables, libs, and entire portions of apps are written in order to adress the humongous variety of android devices with one small .apk . Maybe some of the weight is used to store additional hidden cache content so that stuff loads faster [I'm talking about 'app' size, not user data and cache] , but it's hard for me to believe that a simple bookstore would weigh double as full scale apps like MS office, photo editing apps or other very complex apps.
Which brings me to my point:
Is there a way to clean up app content (and system, while we're at it) so as to free up some space?
Obviously it would be a root app , but the old Cydia app called 'iCleaner' which did exactly what I'm suggesting worked miracles. It removed drawables and incompatible libraries meant for other resolutions/devices (say, non-retina iPhones, iPad, 4" iPhone 5, if you had an iPhone 4) when an app had the right ones, and only kept the closest when there wasn't. Then it would remove most useless junk (no one needs 42 languages!), and the adequate translations in every app, and some other iPhone-only junk which I can easily linken to 8 F**** GB /SYSTEM ON SAMSUNG PHONES.
Apps were instantly faster because it would free up part of the RAM, and weighed around 25% less (even more after iPad Retina got out). I know that on high-end phones it does not matter a lot, but on general principle it seems to make more sense.
And people can always update back to stock apps when they like because hey, it looks as though no one ever implemented that sweet Jelly Bean feature of incremental updates to decrease download data!
Slightly getting off-topic, but if such an app did exist (or one of you angels at xda wanted to make one) it would be great that it also allowed to choose which bloatware to kill off on stock ROMs, aroma-style.
Thank you a lot for the attention, and keep me updated!
erclalle said:
I have played around with android since Eclair, and I am disappointed with the weight (and general sluggishness, but that's not the point of this topic) that everything has gotten to take. (ie: Facebook went from ~10Mb to 242Mb, Kindle weighs 150mb etc).
I understand that some of it is because of new features, but I gather that aside from the general ****ty idea that 'phones are getting faster and have more space therefore let's use that up', a lot of the weight comes from multiple drawables, libs, and entire portions of apps are written in order to adress the humongous variety of android devices with one small .apk . Maybe some of the weight is used to store additional hidden cache content so that stuff loads faster [I'm talking about 'app' size, not user data and cache] , but it's hard for me to believe that a simple bookstore would weigh double as full scale apps like MS office, photo editing apps or other very complex apps.
Which brings me to my point:
Is there a way to clean up app content (and system, while we're at it) so as to free up some space?
Obviously it would be a root app , but the old Cydia app called 'iCleaner' which did exactly what I'm suggesting worked miracles. It removed drawables and incompatible libraries meant for other resolutions/devices (say, non-retina iPhones, iPad, 4" iPhone 5, if you had an iPhone 4) when an app had the right ones, and only kept the closest when there wasn't. Then it would remove most useless junk (no one needs 42 languages!), and the adequate translations in every app, and some other iPhone-only junk which I can easily linken to 8 F**** GB /SYSTEM ON SAMSUNG PHONES.
Apps were instantly faster because it would free up part of the RAM, and weighed around 25% less (even more after iPad Retina got out). I know that on high-end phones it does not matter a lot, but on general principle it seems to make more sense.
And people can always update back to stock apps when they like because hey, it looks as though no one ever implemented that sweet Jelly Bean feature of incremental updates to decrease download data!
Slightly getting off-topic, but if such an app did exist (or one of you angels at xda wanted to make one) it would be great that it also allowed to choose which bloatware to kill off on stock ROMs, aroma-style.
Thank you a lot for the attention, and keep me updated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
I don't think there's any such app which could clean the bloatware but there are scripts over the forums (some of them device specific)flashable via custom recovery.
-Vatsal
Google Software Engineers have made improvements to the operating system over time to the point I believe the necessity and usefulness of these utilities is questionable especially if you are on Android 7 or later. Many people post their experiences with these apps without acknowledging their operating system version which could be significantly different than many other users.
This article "Android Apps You Should Remove Immediately" on Adroid Pit (you can Google it) recommends you get rid of these types of apps.
But there are lots of other articles, forum posts, article comments (mostly older) that swear by these apps.
Maybe out of the dozens of functions in these apps there's one or two useful ones on Android 7 (although my LG G6 already comes with a Smart Cleaner app)
Are the majority of Android 7 users using these apps basically blindly using them because they feel good to use and aren't actually getting the significant benefit they think they are getting? Could many of them, especially the ones that may "try to do too much" actually be hampering your Android 7+ phone more than helping it?
The only app I would recommend is ccleaner
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.piriform.ccleaner&hl=en_GB
It does the following
clears all apps caches which could save alot of storage space - especially good if you have apps that store alot of cache files like twitter for loading images faster but since in most cases you only look at the image once you really dont need it cache it to load up quicker
It can also do the following if you ask it to
Deletes downloaded files/apks in one click
Deletes call logs
Deletes empty folders
Deletes browser history, clipboard content
And can also
Check the usage of your CPU
Keep track of your RAM and internal storage space
Check out your battery levels and temperature
Any other app which claims to "optimize" the phone probably does nothing unless it does the same job as ccleaner but in my opinion this is the easiest most trusted app to use
Hi,
I did never own an android device in my life, always a jailbroken iphone. I've made the switch to android and i'm now the happy owner of a note 20 ultra (exynos).
I want to root my device, i kinda know how to do it already, but the more i read about it, the more i get confused...
After al my reading i gathered that this forum is basicly the central point of trusted knowledge regarding android, similar to r/jailbreak.
I still have several questions, which confused me after reading several tutorials;
If i root, i want to preferably use magisk since it is systemless. If rooting with magisk, do u need a custom recovery? What is the benefit of potentially using a custom recovery?
I've read an article about keeping ota updates possible with magisk (whitout custom recovery?), a/b partioning, i've installed magisk just to see the values. These are ramdisk:yes | a/b:no | sar:yes. Does this mean i wont be able to do ota updates since ab value is no? I'm guessing my device doesn't utilize ab partioning?
I know root will trigger several apps to stop working (banking apps, netflix, ...). I know it was kinda possible to circumvent this with magiskhide. I've read some articles that magiskhide isn't supported anymore due to conflict of interest, developer working for google now. Does this mean i won't be able to use these apps triggered by root? Are there alternatives for magiskHide?
Your help would be highly appreciated!
Thank u
Why do you want to root it?
Stock Androids can run very well.
Stock Samsung flagship phones are the most customizable phones on the planet. Good Lock family of apps, hundreds of free themes and icon packs on the Galaxy store.
Android updates can break things... Rule #1 if the firmware is running fast, stable and fulfilling its mission, let it be.
I'm not saying don't root but there are downsides including potentially creating a expensive paperweight. And once the Knox efuse is tripped, it's permanent.
Thank u for your response,
That is exactly why i didn't pull the trigger yet because i don't wan't it to become a paperweight. I wan't to gather more information before doing something i regret.
The reasons i want to root are basicly to enhance some privacy/control while staying on oneUI (kinda like it). Some edExposed modules, a root level firewall, a root level adblocker, enable stock call recording,... Remove some unnessecary services and bloatware (kinda possible with adb), or blocking some connections from services using a root level firewall.
Also as a bonus i would like to play around a little with kali, which is kinda useless without root. In my understanding i do need root to be able to have working drivers for external antennas or hackrf for example.
So i do understand its kinda a tradeoff.
Gain some, lose some.
Im just trying to mitigate the potential losses, by informing me in advance if the loss could be avoided.
Anoo222 said:
Thank u for your response,
That is exactly why i didn't pull the trigger yet because i don't wan't it to become a paperweight. I wan't to gather more information before doing something i regret.
The reasons i want to root are basicly to enhance some privacy/control while staying on oneUI (kinda like it). Some edExposed modules, a root level firewall, a root level adblocker, enable stock call recording,... Remove some unnessecary services and bloatware (kinda possible with adb), or blocking some connections from services using a root level firewall.
Also as a bonus i would like to play around a little with kali, which is kinda useless without root. In my understanding i do need root to be able to have working drivers for external antennas or hackrf for example.
So i do understand its kinda a tradeoff.
Gain some, lose some.
Im just trying to mitigate the potential losses, by informing me in advance if the loss could be avoided.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get a good case. The Zizo Bolt offers excellent protection. Without a case this phone will get damaged! The Notes are heavy, corner hitting, face planting fools. Gorilla IQ Sheild is a wet apply screen protector that works well. Both of the above products are inexpensive.
Karma Firewall uses almost no battery and works well, freeware on Playstore.
You can use Package Disabler to block apks and services. Or use adb editing. A lot of the Samsung bloatware just sits there using no resources unless you need it. Randomly disabling these can kill desirable features. Don't use the debloat lists some post; know what each app does before disabling it and its dependencies.
Use ApkExport to make installable copies of all your trusted Android apps and add it to your backups.
Use your SD card slot! Hell yeah, a dual drive PC in your hand.
Get a V30 rated .5-1tb SD card and use it as a data drive. All critical data, backups, pics, media, vids etc, SmartSwitch* backups go here. You can do a full reload from the SD card, no PC or external sources needed. Make sure to redundantly backup the SD card though.
Use the internal memory for loaded apps and the temporary download folder. Regularly transfer the pics in the DCIM folder to a folder on the SD card and that as the primary picture archive (do not name it DCIM!).
More than likely the stock version will need to be optimized to get the most out of it and best battery life. Power management including native and 3rd party ones tend to cause erratic behavior and not address battery drain effectively. Deal with power hogs on a case by case basis instead. Disable all Google, carrier and app feedback. All cloud apps tend to be hogs especially Google. Go through all the Google settings. If you don't use Google Firebase, turn it off.
Pickup the Buds+ or other model, these use the proprietary Samsung SSC codec and work seamlessly with the Note. I still prefer the Buds+ although I had ditch the last Wearables update... hopefully Samsung will fix that soon.
Play with it... it's so much more versatile, customizable and fun than iPhone.
*use to backup homepage settings, contacts and apps. Do not rely on it or use to transfer to a different device or firmware version... it can fail miserably. If it works great, but have other backups ready if it fails. Always back up pics, documents, media etc files separately, cut & paste. Never clone or compress music files/databases as it can remove critical null marks!
blackhawk said:
Get a good case. The Zizo Bolt offers excellent protection. Without a case this phone will get damaged! The Notes are heavy, corner hitting, face planting fools. Gorilla IQ Sheild is a wet apply screen protector that works well. Both of the above products are inexpensive.
Karma Firewall uses almost no battery and works well, freeware on Playstore.
You can use Package Disabler to block apks and services. Or use adb editing. A lot of the Samsung bloatware just sits there using no resources unless you need it. Randomly disabling these can kill desirable features. Don't use the debloat lists some post; know what each app does before disabling it and its dependencies.
Use ApkExport to make installable copies of all your trusted Android apps and add it to your backups.
Use your SD card slot! Hell yeah, a dual drive PC in your hand.
Get a V30 rated .5-1tb SD card and use it as a data drive. All critical data, backups, pics, media, vids etc, SmartSwitch* backups go here. You can do a full reload from the SD card, no PC or external sources needed. Make sure to redundantly backup the SD card though.
Use the internal memory for loaded apps and the temporary download folder. Regularly transfer the pics in the DCIM folder to a folder on the SD card and that as the primary picture archive (do not name it DCIM!).
More than likely the stock version will need to be optimized to get the most out of it and best battery life. Power management including native and 3rd party ones tend to cause erratic behavior and not address battery drain effectively. Deal with power hogs on a case by case basis instead. Disable all Google, carrier and app feedback. All cloud apps tend to be hogs especially Google. Go through all the Google settings. If you don't use Google Firebase, turn it off.
Pickup the Buds+ or other model, these use the proprietary Samsung SSC codec and work seamlessly with the Note. I still prefer the Buds+ although I had ditch the last Wearables update... hopefully Samsung will fix that soon.
Play with it... it's so much more versatile, customizable and fun than iPhone.
*use to backup homepage settings, contacts and apps. Do not rely on it or use to transfer to a different device or firmware version... it can fail miserably. If it works great, but have other backups ready if it fails. Always back up pics, documents, media etc files separately, cut & paste. Never clone or compress music files/databases as it can remove critical null marks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank u for taking the time to provide a summary based on your already gathered knowledge & experiences about this phone.
Get a good case.
*I've got the led book case, i know it isn't the best protecting case regarding fall damage, but i like the sleek design and combined front&back protection scratch wise.
Karma Firewall uses almost no battery and works well, freeware on Playstore.
* in my understanding all non root firewalls do this by redirecting all network traffic through a local vpn, which then can deny certain domains. I do already use a vpn so that is also a big + on the list why i want to potentially root.
You can use Package Disabler to block apks and services.
*Thank u, i will look into this. Didn't know of its existence yet. Although i now use something as SuperFreezer from fdroid, i don't know if this is similar or not.
Use ApkExport to make installable copies of all your trusted Android apps and add it to your backups.
*Thank u for this new information.
Use your SD card slot!
* I certainly do, this was one of the prerequirements to buy a certain phone. (I was juggling between sony xperia 1 mark 3 and note 20u). Another reason i want to root is, i don't want to use the sd card encryption from android, if my phone bricks, bye data. I want to be able to encrypt/decrypt some data (cross platform)on my sd card with a simple script. A one click script, not to enrypt each folder/file seperatly at it's different locatoin. I wanted to do this creating a simple python script, using openssl, and again after searching out how to do this, i came to the conclusion i needed root for this.
Disable all Google, carrier and app feedback.
*First things first
Pickup the Buds+ or other model, these use the proprietary Samsung SSC codec and work seamlessly with the Note.
*I still own the airpods pro i used with iphone as my convenience buds, and also have a bowers & wilkins over ear when i really want to enjoy the music, they use the apt x codec tho. Is the proprietary SSC codec a big difference? I have no experience with it as i've never had a chance to compare. Would they be worth the price investing in these buds, knowing i own both options mentioned above?
Play with it... it's so much more versatile, customizable and fun than iPhone.
*Thats an understatement, yet i feel like root would enlarge that playground by a lot.
You're welcome.
The 20U should be a really fun phone!
The display is just drop dead gorgeous. Run at 50% brightness or less to lengthen it's lifespan.
I prefer manual brightness control.
The spen is great for using as a remote shutter release as well as smart select for copying text you can't capture with cut&paste.
My 10+ is great, not even close to tired of it. It's current OS load is over a year old, still fast and stable with little maintenance. It's running on Pie. The 20U is the only other phone I would chose. Thinking of getting another 10+ or a 20U soon.
One drop onto concrete is all it takes and these are heavy phones. The Bolt is slim but heavy on protection. Very easy to grip and clean. The only downside is the inner kickstand tends to break. After over close to a dozen 2-4 feet drops onto concrete my 10+ still looks and runs like new.
So I overlook the kickstand flaw.
Yeah if you already are using VNP Karma may not be usable. Unlike other VNP based firewalls it uses almost no battery... it's a gem.
Package Disabler stops apps from running at boot up or you can enable/disable on the fly.
It's interactive widget allows you to toggle one or a group on/off from homepage etc. It's useful for troubleshooting. Unlike clearing data of apps in settings, clearing data with PD leaves no null marks (presumably). It can repair system apks that Setting can't because of that... it saved me from a factory reset by doing that. It will run in safe mode though and the only way to disabled it is under System Administrator. So don't get too crazy with it. I never boot looped an OS with it but there's some apps you probably shouldn't touch like the native launcher. After it's been activated I firewall block it.
The 10+ doesn't encrypt the SD card unless you want it to, the 20U is the same I believe.
NEVER encrypt backup data or you will lose it sooner or latter. I run will no screen lock as well and use Double Tap to turn on/off. That probably won't work on Android 10 though.
Google apps are know trouble makers which is why I mentioned that... Gookill.
The only other bluetooth codec that's has the fidelity of SCC on the 20U is LADC. I've tried as well researched all the other codecs (haven't sampled LDAC) and they are noticably inferior to SSC. Never use airpods so can't comment much on that, but the Buds+ simply never fall out.
As for rooting... the stock Android is (or should be) very robust and stable. Almost impossible to crash and burn. Even on Pie security isn't an issue unless you do something stupid. The downside is you lose diagnostic tools.
If you do root make sure you don't lose the SSC codec if you load a custom rom!
The other thing is if you root it you will trip Knox's efuse, this can not be undone short of replacing the mobo. Certain features need Knox to function and may be lost completely, forever.
Just be aware of that and look before you leap.
I personally don't use any of the Knox dependencies but you may decide differently.
Try this: