Do all phones get slow over time?

[anon(8734726)]

I have had the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx for the past 3 years and overall am happy with it. It just got to the point where it was so slow it was unusable. I tried to clear the cache and even did a factory reset and uninstalled a lot of apps I don't use. It is much better but still seems to lag at times. I do not want an iphone but I noticed my wife's does not seem to lag at all even after 2 years. Anyways, I am due for an upgrade but am going to wait a month to see how the GS5 or M8 do. Just wondering if all Androids seem to get that way or if it is all phones in general. I just figured it would be like new again when I did a factory reset, just like a computer, but maybe it's because the phone was designed for Gingerbread?

 

[FM1977]

i've been using a blackberry z10 for over a year now and it still as fast and smooth as the day i first bought it... now thinking i should upgrade to a z30

 

[LeoRex]

Just curious, how much space do you have in your system partition? If that sucker is full, no amount of factory resets will help.

I only ask since my Nexus 7 was running like crap... did everything I could think of then I realized that I only had around 20mb free in system. I did a complete wipe, loaded a custom ROM with minimal gapps. Got system to about 250mb free and it's running great again.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Golfdriver97]

I have had the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx for the past 3 years and overall am happy with it. It just got to the point where it was so slow it was unusable. I tried to clear the cache and even did a factory reset and uninstalled a lot of apps I don't use. It is much better but still seems to lag at times. I do not want an iphone but I noticed my wife's does not seem to lag at all even after 2 years. Anyways, I am due for an upgrade but am going to wait a month to see how the GS5 or M8 do. Just wondering if all Androids seem to get that way or if it is all phones in general. I just figured it would be like new again when I did a factory reset, just like a computer, but maybe it's because the phone was designed for Gingerbread?

Welcome to the forums!
I would suggest trying to do a cache clear in recovery. Sometimes system cache files get in the way of newer updates or get corrupted and cause the OS to over work itself.

 

[eve6er69]

I usually do a factory reset on my phone every few months to keep her running clean. I'm using a note 3 so I'm sure she will run well for the next several years but I keep doing wipes just to make sure that something doesn't build up and send my phone into a downward spiral

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

 

[anon(8734726)]

Thank you. But I have cleared the cache and even done factory reset. It runs a lot better than before, but it will go along working fine then all of a sudden just really lag, almost like it is frozen. Sometimes even when typing an email or something it will not respond when I type and just totally lag. Then it will catch up and start working again. The system partition has over a 1GB free.

Welcome to the forums!
I would suggest trying to do a cache clear in recovery. Sometimes system cache files get in the way of newer updates or get corrupted and cause the OS to over work itself.

 

[ajpri]

Does the introduction of FSTrim in 4.3 actually help?

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Ry]

I haven't noticed any slow downs with my Moto X that I have with past devices.

 

[sting7k]

I have had the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx for the past 3 years and overall am happy with it. It just got to the point where it was so slow it was unusable. I tried to clear the cache and even did a factory reset and uninstalled a lot of apps I don't use. It is much better but still seems to lag at times. I do not want an iphone but I noticed my wife's does not seem to lag at all even after 2 years. Anyways, I am due for an upgrade but am going to wait a month to see how the GS5 or M8 do. Just wondering if all Androids seem to get that way or if it is all phones in general. I just figured it would be like new again when I did a factory reset, just like a computer, but maybe it's because the phone was designed for Gingerbread?

The problem is the hardware of the phone. It is old and outdated. The software over the past 3 years has gotten more complex and requires more power. Your phone's hardware is the same as the day you bought it. It just won't run newer stuff as well any more. Clearing memory and caches may bring temporary relief. But that won't get you any more CPU/GPU clock speed or additional RAM.

You need new hardware.

 

[LeoRex]

Is it still stock? I'd go hunting around, but with such an old phone, there's really nothing there to keep you from loading a custom ROM.... there are some KitKat roms out there for that phone. I don't have the phone, so I can't attest to how well those are running, but loading a custom ROM is oftentimes the most surefire way to breathe life into an aging phone. And while Project Svelte (aka KitKat) wasn't necessarily designed so that older phones can run it (you still need hardware support), the purpose was to streamline the OS to run better on low and mid range phones that have 1GB of RAM.

 

[anon(8734726)]

Ok, that is what I wanted to know. It is time for a new phone but I was just wondering if that is going to happen with every phone after 2 years. So it is pretty much like a computer, just gets slow over time because the hardware can't keep up with it. Thank you.

The problem is the hardware of the phone. It is old and outdated. The software over the past 3 years has gotten more complex and requires more power. Your phone's hardware is the same as the day you bought it. It just won't run newer stuff as well any more. Clearing memory and caches may bring temporary relief. But that won't get you any more CPU/GPU clock speed or additional RAM.

You need new hardware.

 

[LeoRex]

but I was just wondering if that is going to happen with every phone after 2 years.

Well... now is a tough time... processor performance has made a huge jump over the last two generations. My Nexus 5 is a blazing fast phone, much faster than the S3 I had. Mobile apps can only be so complex due to the form factor... other than games, I'm not sure where they can go that would require significantly more power.... a new phone today may have more legs than a new one two years ago.

Oh... that S3 I had is still a pretty good phone.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Spencerdl]

i've been using a blackberry z10 for over a year now and it still as fast and smooth as the day i first bought it... now thinking i should upgrade to a z30

I'm glad you had success with the BlackBerry Z10. I had my Z10 for approx 10 months and it started slowing down after the first 3 months, even after the update. So far my Note3 and 5s are running smooth and fast. I've had some sorta smartphone for the last eight years and to be honest the Z10 was one of the slowest.

 

[Spencerdl]

Welcome to Android Central OP. I hopr you get the problem resolved.....ENJOY

 

[olympus2]

no i don't have that kind of experience,
yeah but when you put some extra presure on some thing then it might cause of failer

 

[JimmyDavis]

More and more photos, videos and apps in phone. So system run app slowly than before. Just remove unused apps and unnecessary photos.

 

[Tsepz_GP]

Had my Galaxy S4 32GB Exynos Octa for a year now and not a sign of slowdown, it's running beautifully, and thats with both the 32GB internal mem and external 32GB MicroSDHC being almost full. I've got 5.5GB free internally and around 2.1GB free in MicroSD.

 

[jrb363]

Maybe it's an Android thing? I'm not sure, but I used my launch day iPhone 3GS for nearly 4 years and it hung in there just fine. The only problem was the battery had to be replaced around the 2.5 year mark but I never noticed a problem.

 

[JimmyDavis]

The answer must be true, storage is getting full. Maybe you need larger SD card.

 

[1Ando]

My SG II is running like it did now after 29 months. Battery is original and last as long as it did then too. I used Clean Master for awhile after I got tired of going into every app and cleaning. Removed that though cause it and everything else wants to update way to often.