LG K4 - slow performance, extra screen

[955450]

I have two questions, about my 2 1/2-year-old LG K4.

The first is trying to address its "glaciality" in performance. Perhaps the worst offender is its Verizon Messge+ app. Even when the app is loaded, tapping on the loaded app will show a blank Message+ screen, and then in 10-30 seconds, often much more, its contents will load. In 2019, tech users just expect immediate response from apps, and it didn't used to be so noticeably slow.

Tips on speeding it up? I'd like to avoid a reinstall, just because the app is integrated with other apps.

The other issue is minor, but "just wrong" and I'd like to fix it.

I noticed that the recently-installed Android Auto app had propagated lots (I'll say 10-20) of its icons onto the phone.

I laboriously deleted all the extras. But now on the phone's "home" screen (what I get when I start the phone, or press the circle symbol in the bottom middle), I see four "dots" representing separate screens I have. Except I really only have three screens of apps; the "fourth" is an empty one since I deleted all the unneeded Android Auto icons from it.

So how do I make the fourth "dot" go away, since it represents an empty screen I'd never access?

 

[Rukbat]

Second one first - just drag the screen (after long-pressing it, so you get a representation of all the screens) to the trash. Or see this Verizon knowledge base article.

First one - the phone is a low-end phone, using a Qualcomm 210. That's a 1GHz quad core K121 CPU. Phones today run at about 2,8 times that speed. It also has only 1GB of RAM, and a lot of that is used by the system, so running an app means killing another app (or a few of them) to get the space to run it. If you're running 2019 apps in a 2016 phone, even with Lollipop, it;s going to be a bit slow.

 

[Mooncatt]

I'm with Rukbat. I'm using an LG V20, which is the 2016 flagship. Even with its much higher specs than the K4, I'm starting to get some performance loss. Such is the nature of phones, and technology in general. The hardware is fixed in a phone, with no way to upgrade without replacing the entire phone with a better model. Meanwhile, apps are constantly being upgraded to add features and keep up with current tech advancements, which means more resources required to run them. Eventually, even the best phone won't keep up years down the line.

 

[955450]

Thank you for the responses.

I did delete the unwanted screens; that was easy.

I can probably live with the K4 and its limitations.

But if I wanted to get a better phone, suggestions?

I'm not a "phone/feature/app geek." Basically I used mine to call, text, check email, check weather. I'm usually close to a computer and will use that if at all possible to type out replies.

So my parameters would be

• Android
• Low cost
• Reasonable chance of serving needs for at least three years
• Of course keep in mind that the lowly K4 has served my needs reasonably well for 2 1/2 years

 

[Mooncatt]

I can't really help you with a recommendation. Even with the little bit of performance loss I'm having, the V20 is still the only phone I'd consider, but I have my doubts it would last another three years. Everything else has removed features I want, so I haven't really kept up with what is amounting to a race to see who can make the best cookie cutter Samsung wannabe phone.

 

[955450]

Everything else has removed features I want, so I haven't really kept up with what is amounting to a race to see who can make the best cookie cutter Samsung wannabe phone.

What features are typically removed? I "just count on" my phone to do what I want, honestly paying little attention to what it does and doesn't do. But of course if the next phone lacked something I counted on, it would bug me.

 

[Mooncatt]

What features are typically removed? I "just count on" my phone to do what I want, honestly paying little attention to what it does and doesn't do. But of course if the next phone lacked something I counted on, it would bug me.

I don't like AMOLED screens due to burn in risks. Removable batteries are a thing of the past. Some phones don't have an SD card slot. IR Blasters are also gone. Aux/headphone jacks are getting hard to come by. I want a full, flat screen, not notches, hole punches, rounded corners, and curved edges. Flagships are all going with glass bodies to look pretty, but are more fragile and everyone covers them with a case anyway.

So yeah, phones are becoming more of a fashion statement rather, choosing form over function. There are some that stand out, like the CAT phones with their infrared cameras, but they typically lack in performance specs for the prices they charge.