I notice there's a strange bug with all of the android devices that I've owned no matter what version. Whenever a factory reset is necessary, It seems like there's always a permanent change in performance after each factory reset. What I mean by this is, after each factory reset, you'll either get one of the variations or a combination of, choppy app/browser performance with a smooth less laggy keyboard, a laggy keyboard with delayed inaccurate typing but smooth scrolling in apps and web browsers, buttery smooth animations, laggy/jittery animations, slight touch screen lag, super responsive touch screen with everything else being wonky/sluggish/jittery, phone running generally warm, phone running generally cool, etc. The point is, I can't get a consistent performance with my android phones after I factory restore them, like I have to sacrifice the performance in one aspect in favor of others, in this case, I resetted my G5 over 15 times and I still haven't been able to get it to work like how it did out of the box. Clearing the cache does jack with most issues. Should I keep factory resetting until the phone works the way I want it to, even if I have to do it another 50 times? Surely there's someone else out there who notices this issue that's been plaguing android for years.
Matty
Q&A Team
Welcome to AndroidCentral. 
Thanks for the question.
The first thing that makes smartphones slower as they get older is the battery. Unfortunately, it holds less and less power as it gets older which means your phone slowly but surely performs worse. Nothing much you can do about it unless yo have a removable one like the LG V20.
The next thing is software updates. Every update that comes along has a few extra features, a little more CPU intensive and possibly graphic intensive. That's why smartphone slowly but surely are getting more RAM and faster CPU performance to help keep everything running smoothly. So, maybe try keeping the device on the OS is came with out the box.
The above reasons for slower performance are just my personal opinion.
If you need additional help or have more questions or details to share, please join the site so you can reply in this thread. See this link for instructions on how to join Android Central.
Thanks for the question.The first thing that makes smartphones slower as they get older is the battery. Unfortunately, it holds less and less power as it gets older which means your phone slowly but surely performs worse. Nothing much you can do about it unless yo have a removable one like the LG V20.
The next thing is software updates. Every update that comes along has a few extra features, a little more CPU intensive and possibly graphic intensive. That's why smartphone slowly but surely are getting more RAM and faster CPU performance to help keep everything running smoothly. So, maybe try keeping the device on the OS is came with out the box.
The above reasons for slower performance are just my personal opinion.
If you need additional help or have more questions or details to share, please join the site so you can reply in this thread. See this link for instructions on how to join Android Central.
chanchan05
Q&A Team
I've owned several Android phones and tablets and they all perform the same way each time after factory resets. Everything is buttery smooth after a reset. I've not experienced anything close to what you are describing. So I can't say it's been 'plaguing Android for years' when my experience says it's nonexistent.
Could be my OCD making it more noticeable to me, but it's happened to most if not all my phones.
Mooncatt
Ambassador
Much as I love the V20 and removable batteries, this isn't true. Yes, over time the battery degrades, but that only leads to shorter times between charges.
I typically buy flagship phones, and they all run smooth from the start. But even those can start slowing quickly as apps are loaded. If you're starting with a mid, or especially lower tier device, then it's definitely possible to see stutters with a fresh reset. Some of these cheap phones coming out barely have the power to run the basics.
I don't know, I still feel like it's an android thing no matter what shape or size the phone is. I think it has something to do with scaling, because after each factory reset, I also notice that fonts can either look slightly bigger or smaller with the size of the virtual keyboard affected too. The same thing happens on my Samsung smart tv too, but instead of it happening after a factory reset, it happens each time I change any setting in the menu as a weird glitch. I'll notice that the content on the screen can look either more up close and clearer, or smaller and less defined with the edges being slightly blurred, but it also affects the performance, like the slightly bigger text and clearer more defined look causes it to behave more sluggish and choppy worsening input lag. The same thing happens on my PC too when updating my video drivers, sometimes the fonts and windows can look slightly stretched or shortened after the screen blinks when updating until I restart my computer or wait for the next driver update, but I don't really notice any major performance difference. Going back to android, when the fonts are scaled slightly larger and clearer after the factory reset, it seems to contribute greatly to the choppy scrolling in browsers/apps and overall performance lag.
Matty
Q&A Team
I guess we will have to agree to disagree then
(I'm happy to be proven wrong)But I'm just going on personal experience and many times, I have been playing a game like Assassins Creed on my laptop and as soon as I take the charger out, the game starts to stutter and lag. This can only be (in my mind) because the battery isn't providing enough power to run the laptop properly because it's 6 years old.
chanchan05
Q&A Team
No. Laptops automatically throttle CPU and GPU power once on battery. It's designed that way. You have to delve into the battery settings to keep it performing at 100% when on battery.I guess we will have to agree to disagree then
But I'm just going on personal experience and many times, I have been playing a game like Assassins Creed on my laptop and as soon as I take the charger out, the game starts to stutter and lag. This can only be (in my mind) because the battery isn't providing enough power to run the laptop properly because it's 6 years old.
Degrading batteries do not normally cause performance changes as if it does change power output to lower, then the device shouldn't turn on. Power transfer from batteries do not increase in amount on intensive tasks, only in speed of transfer.
Assuming you're running Windows, go to your power and sleep settings, you probably have it set to "balanced" or some sort of power saving mode. For demanding processes, you want to have it set to "high performance" and make some adjustments in the plan settings.
L0n3N1nja
Well-known member
I guess we will have to agree to disagree then
But I'm just going on personal experience and many times, I have been playing a game like Assassins Creed on my laptop and as soon as I take the charger out, the game starts to stutter and lag. This can only be (in my mind) because the battery isn't providing enough power to run the laptop properly because it's 6 years old.
Windows reduces performance when on battery to conserve power, if the battery is low or doesn't hold a charge well, it will further drop the performance. It's trying to prevent your computer from dying while using it.
Older laptops didn't do this, like back in the Xp days, they still ran full performance but would die in minutes if your battery was junk and just shut down because it doesn't hold a charge.
L0n3N1nja
Well-known member
It's your storage slowing down and every time you factory reset you are making it worse. NAND memory wears out, it only last so many read and write cycles, it also slows down significantly when nearly full.
L0n3N1nja
Well-known member
First, NAND memory grows slower as it fills up. The exact mechanisms behind this are beyond the scope of this article, but suffice it to say that NAND memory needs a certain amount of “empty blocks” to operate at peak data-writing performance. The speed loss with full storage can be significant.
Second, NAND memory degrades with use. There are*three kinds of NAND memory*— SLC, MLC, TLC — but they all have write cycle limits per memory cell. When the limit is reached, the cells wear out and impact performance. And since your device is always writing data, deterioration is unavoidable.
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/phones-slow-usage-years
Second, NAND memory degrades with use. There are*three kinds of NAND memory*— SLC, MLC, TLC — but they all have write cycle limits per memory cell. When the limit is reached, the cells wear out and impact performance. And since your device is always writing data, deterioration is unavoidable.
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/phones-slow-usage-years
How many times can you factory reset a phone? I've factory reset my G5 about 25 times, and I have my fingers crossed that I don't have to do it anymore.
chanchan05
Q&A Team
Uh. In owning my Note 2 for 3 years, I've only reset it like 5-7x. Once before and after a major update, and it got 2, so that's 4. Then when I reset it to hand it down, so 5. I can't remember if I reset it for any problems.
My current S7 has only been reset 2x, with the Nougat update.
My Tab 4 has been reset like 5x, due to updates and trying a couple of ROMs.
If you reset that much, maybe you have indeed worn down the memory?
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