With news of the introduction of Android 4.3 some of you certainly have something exciting to look forward to, as
the update makes its way around the globe. While this is a time of joy for
some, do not be surprised if the next iteration of Google's OS isn't getting
everyone as excited – for many it's a reminder of their own troubles with
Android. To put it bluntly: only 38.9% of all Android users are running a
version of Jelly Bean. That means, roughly speaking, some 500 million devices
are missing out on all the performance improvements that versions 4.x and above
bring to the table. What's more, if your device is among the ones left out,
it's usually the case that your device is also probably running on some aging
hardware.
With a userbased edging on the billion, making sweeping
statements for all of the Android ecosystem would be a gross
oversimplification. There is one thing that we dare postulate, though:
everybody hates lag, even those of you running Google's latest and greatest.
Hundreds of millions downloads of apps promising to boost your device back to
its former glory or simply keep it in good shape are an objective indication of
that.
Most of you have come across such apps, many have them
installed as you read this. As you have probably figured by now – no one-click
solution exists. As always, if you want good results, you have to roll up your
sleeves and get a little dirty. The guide below is aimed to be fairly simple,
but there's also something for the more adventurous of you.
With downloads in the 10 to 50 million ballpark, Android
Assistant (AA) has managed to score an impressive 4.6 stars! If anything, the
non-flashy, conservative interface should be nothing less than an indication
that this is a timeless collection of tools that just works. Keeping track of
what's important, the first tab features the coveted Quick Boost button. Alike
many other similar applications, AA will flush all the unneeded processes and
services down the drain, leaving more juice for you to play with. Under the
Process tab, you'll get more of an in-depth view of what's running on your
system -- killing those is within the tools AA offers, but this is only a
temporary solution (more on this later). The other, more important tool, is the
System Cleaner, which allows you to free up space by wiping the cache of apps,
the web and other. Keep in mind that you're better off keeping the cache of
apps that you use daily -- wiping it will actually slow down their launch time
in consequence.
Remember how we said that killing processes and services is
just a temporary solution? It's true, and no amount of aggressive Task Killers
will change that. Task Killers (TKs) are a flashy, short term solution that may
actually cause more harm than good. Users of such apps sometimes get so
vindictive that sooner or later they break the functionality of apps they
didn't intend to. There's a much better solution. Enter Greenify, an app that
will actually allow you to keep your 250 apps and ensure that by doing so, you
aren't slowing down your droid. How? Well, Greenify allows you to hibernate
apps and services running in the background. Hibernated processes will be put
to sleep,but will still work once you need them. This is unlike the so called
"freezing" apps out there, which break apps' functionality altogether
until you unfreeze them. We've experienced Greenify's usefulness first hand and
strongly recommend you consider the app. The only downside? The app requires
*root* privileges.
This lightweight miniature app has one simple function that
you probably gleaned already -- restart system resources including the UI and
also close processes and services, freeing up memory like Android Assistant
does. Fast Reboot gets a honorable mention for two reasons. First, a simple
click of the app icon is all you need to do to get some free memory -- no heavy
widgets required. And second -- Android crashing, especially on older versions,
and doubly so with a range of custom ROMs, is a tad more common than we'd like.
What's more, some processes simply grow wild every now and then and misbehave
for reasons better left for the ages to answer. In all such scenarios, Fast
Reboot is the perfect app to have.
We may be repeating ourselves here, but you really don't
need a Task Killer app. Apart from the inevitable cat-and-mouse game you'll be
reduced to playing, and even apart from randomly breaking functionality you
didn't intend, continuously killing apps actually eats up resources. The inherent
appeal of TKs is undeniable, however most of these apps weren't doing anything
in the background anyway! And a fat chunk of the rest simply restart. This is
where WatchDog comes in play by helping you monitor apps instead of blindly
staging an app massacre every time your phone stutters. WatchDog will keep a
history of apps that are misbehaving, and even allow you to monitor apps in
real time. Should an app start misbehaving and consume precious CPU cycles,
WatchDog will immediately notify you and let you cut the cord on that one app
only.
Much alike Android Assistant, ROM Toolbox is probably the
biggest collection of tweaking tools in one single app. Root is required, but
the amount of goodies you get makes that well worth it. Among the plethora of
tools available, several stand out for our needs in this guide. One of those is
the SD Booster feature which allows you to increase the cache size of external
and the internal SD cards, thus speeding up write and read speeds. Usually, the
bigger the better, but using the built-in benchmark is advised to pick the
optimal size. Speaking of SD cards, ROM Toolbox also allows you to choose the
install destination of future apps, handy if your internal memory is running
short and your SD card is left unoccupied.
CPU Tuner, as you've probably guessed, allows you to take
control of your Android smartphone's processor and tweak away at your
discretion, should your kernel allow it. With several levels of configuration,
this one is for those among you who know what they're doing and don't mind
getting dirty. Simply put, you can choose from a host of configurations that
can aid in increasing performance, albeit that's usually at the expense of
battery. Now before you say it, we're aware that ROM Toolbox also allows you to
play with your CPU. Where CPU Tuner wins out, however, is the statistics
department, which allows you track the time your smartphone spent in different
states, allowing you to squeeze more juice out of your CPU without sacrificing
too much battery. After all, what's the point of having your CPU run at full
speed all the time, if its resources are actually only required 1% of the time?
Tip: Disable animations
The more advanced among you already know how to do this, but
we suspect a large majority don't. If you go into Settings → About Phone → and
then Tap Build Number 7 times, you'll get developer privileges on your device.
Once you do, a new tab will appear in your settings menu called Developer
Options, navigate inside and locate the following three options (they're below
each other): Window Animation Scale, Transition Animation Scale and Animator
Duration Scale. These three control the multiple transitional animations your
Android uses between the different actions you use (e.g. multitasking), and
are, by default, set to 1.5x for no good reason that we know off. Turning these
off will speed up your multitasking, and give you the feeling of a phone
running significantly faster. You're invited to play with those and experiment
to see what fits you.
Tip: Avoid Live Wallpapers
If you're truly out there to milk your phone, Live
Wallpapers are your enemy! Not only will they drain your battery faster than an
ordinary, static background, but they also require system resources to run, all
the time, every time you're using the device.
Tip: Use Widgets conservatively
Widgets are awesome, no doubt about that. But do you really
need them, especially at the cost of performance and battery life? A
widget-cluttered homescreen will not only severely slow down your Android
smartphone (especially the beautiful, but heavy ones, like Flipboard), it is
also very likely an unnecessary luxury. We are not telling you to get rid of all
of them, but perhaps you should look into it a bit more practically -- are
there widgets that you use so rarely that an app is sufficient? Get pragmatic!
Tip: Homescreens and Space
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