There are some Android phones that run on few hundred megahertz with a handful of internal memory while there are beasts like HTC One X that run on a multi-core processor with 1 GB of RAM. Due to these reasons, performance of Android phones differ and thus some appear slow when compared to others. Even though the performance issue is mainly related to the device hardware configuration, there are few things you can do on the software front which can reduce the pressure on the device hardware making it considerably faster. So let’s have a look at these tips. Note: The following tips are for non-rooted Android phones. If you don’t understand what “non-rooted” means, this post is for you. This post is also for those who don’t want to root their phones just to make it run faster, and are looking for easier workarounds. If have a rooted phone, we will have another such post tomorrow, so keep an eye.
1. Disable Screen Animation and Live Wallpaper
You need to be sure what you want with your device – performance or appearance. Both never walk hand in hand, not if your phone isn’t high end. If you are looking for a superior performance, you should disable all the Live wallpapers (if at all you are using them) and the screen animation that gives fading effect to your menus and unlock animation. Selecting common image wallpapers over a live wallpaper is easy. To disable the screen animation, ICS users should navigate to Developer options in the settings while other users should disable it from Display—>Animations.
2. Install Apps on Need to Use Basis
Even though Android Play Store is a home to millions of free applications, it is recommended that you only download and install the apps that you need. Apps on Android are installed in a special memory called the ROM, which is usually limited in storage space. Thus if you populate it with unnecessary apps, it will only reduce the consistency of the memory and make it slow. One of the best practices one can follow is that he installs only basic apps on his ROM and creates backup files of once-in-a-while apps as APK on the SD card using tools like Astro. Later, when you require a particular app out of the blue, you can install the app using the APK file and perform the operation.
3. Disable High-Speed Data and Background Sync
Both the features – high-speed data connectivity and background syncing – make a device comparatively slow and drain its juice. You could install power control widgets on your desktop and control the high-speed internet and background syncing right from the desktop. Switch on these features only when you require them and when the work’s done, disable them. This trick will not only make your device faster but also help your battery to last longer.
4. Use Apps to Free Up the RAM
Once you launch an app on Android it remains in the memory until it’s killed. Although some people say that killing applications on Android is not a healthy habit, I believe that killing only the ones that are bloating up the memory is a good thing to do. NQ Android Booster is one such app that acts as a task killer for your Android and increases the device’s free memory. And I don’t need to tell you the fact that performance is directly proportional to the amount of free RAM on a device.
5. Keep your Home Screen Clean
Last but not the least, always try to keep your home screen clean. Widgets are not a fancy item. They are there to solve a specific purpose. Thus use only what you require and reduce the number of home screen panels that contain icons and widgets.
Conclusion
I consider myself an experienced and geeky Android user, and the above tips were the best that struck me among all such methods. But if you think that I have missed an important point, please talk about them in the comments section. And those among you who’ve already rooted their phones, we’ll publish a post tomorrow to show you how can get rid of the terrible slowness of your phone. Top Artwork Credits: VGFanArt
