Got an older phone that has been misbehaving but you are not ready to buy a new one? This was the situation I was faced with recently. I like my Note 4 and am not super excited about any new devices to replace it, so I wanted to wait until upgrading. The phone is over 2 years old which, by today’s standards, can seem ancient. Since it was “old” I was feeling some pain – random crashing, battery draining rapidly (I used to get a full day of use easily, but at the end I was having to charge the phone several times a day), overall slow performance, and I mentioned crappy battery life, right?
I finally couldn’t take it any more and this is what I did to help make my phone like new again:
- First off, remove any old apps you have installed. You know that free game that you stopped playing months ago? Unbeknownst to you, the darn thing is running in the background taking up precious battery life and resources. Get rid of them all, you will thank me later for the productivity boost and a happier phone.
- Next, buy a new battery. Hopefully you have a phone with a replaceable battery. If so you can pick one up on Amazon for around 20 bucks. If not, there are 3rd party vendors that will replace the battery for you. After replacing my battery, my screen was suddenly brighter, no more crashing, it operated much faster, and I now get a full day of use easily again.
- Lastly, if you cannot get a new battery easily/cheaply, trying an app may help. Try installing All-In-One Toolbox. The app helps monitor your app usage for battery, RAM, and memory space. It works well and can help get your device in a better place.
If all else fails, you can always buy a used phone that has been re-certified. Remember that last year’s amazing new model is still amazing; just a year older then the most recent amazing models and also a fraction of the price.
