Travelling around the world with an HTC One M8, wipe or don't wipe?

[AC Question]

Hi all, a preemptive thanks for reading- I am about to leave on a year long trip throughout Asia and Europe. I am cancelling all phone service I have with Verizon as I am out of contract and their service suspension is a joke (3 months max, and you still have to pay $10 a month). I'm planning on porting my number over to Google Voice, but once service is gone I'm not sure of my next move yet.

Background: Device is an HTC One M8, purchased almost right when it came out 2.5 years ago. Great device out of the box, but since has become rather sluggish (expected). I'm not proclaiming to be an Android power user, but I'm not a tech moron either- I've tried to keep it decently clean over the years.

I have three options as I see it:

1) Leave it as is- clean up some of the junk apps and other things, but otherwise don't do anything else to it. Deal with the poor performance and (IMO) increasingly bad UI, but have assurance that things generally will continue to work as they currently do.

2) Wipe and factory reset, and disable all updates. Brings me back to the day I purchased it, but concerned that apps will want the latest version of Android.

3) Wipe and root and go the full homebrew route with something like CyanogenMod, etc... No guarantee the apps I want will work at all.

My priorities for this trip are:

- Google Translate (offline)
- Google Maps (offline)
- Battery life
- Performance

I guess my biggest question is- will Translate and Maps run on older versions of Android and/or on rooted phones, or do I need to suck it up and keep current despite the cruft that's accumulated over the years?

Thanks again all, and please set me straight if any of my assumptions or ideas are flat out wrong- this is my first smartphone

 

[anon(9983233)]

Let me see if I get the jest of this.. I'm thinking after reading that you're going to keep the phone and use it mainly /sort of as a GPS type device which is what I would use it for going on a trip like that. Again I feel that you need to have the right apps to do those things you want.. and this would mean option 2. Only makes sense to have everything seem like new with all new options.. Furthermore.. I feel if you're going to wipe the the system.. why not start new and fresh with a new and updated device.

What would be important is that you learn what you need on and what can be turned off while exploring.. If you're going to use the phone as a GPS as well as take pictures of your adventure.. then I would opt for a wifi type device that can be either attached or carried with you at all times.. I would have suggested sat phone.. but this is a bit over budget and you're prob looking to save your green for travel time not data/text time.

If you're not willing or able to buy new just for the trip.. again I would suggest the clean slate approach.. Install only those apps which will allow you to accomplish what is needed and force stop or even use apps like Opera max to shut down none essential apps.

lastly, if you're going to use the phone more as a GPS and you have a camera also, equip the camera with the eye-fi setup will will allow you send pics to a hosted server as not to take up space on you phone.. Along with this.. Seeing how the phone is older.. you're internal memory could be stressed to it's max and if one was to install a MircoSD card (which could have a size limit also) you might not gain much in return.

Otherwise, good luck with your travels.