How to get the most from an old or budget Android smartphone

With the high price of new smartphones, not everyone can afford to constantly replace their devices with the latest and greatest flagship model.

If you have a budget Android smartphone or an older model, there are a few tips and tricks to optimise performance and extend battery life.

Tech company TCL has shared some advice to get the most from a less powerful smartphone. While, the advice may be related to Android devices, similar best practices can be followed with Apple and Huawei devices

Software updates

App and software updates are extremely important.

Updates and patches for the Android operating system and your favourite apps often include performance tweaks and bug fixes. Keeping your software up to date with the latest versions will help you to benefit from the latest enhancements as well as protect your device with the newest security patches.

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Lite apps

Many application developers offer lightweight versions of their apps that run faster and smoother on less powerful devices.

Google offers lighter versions of its popular apps like search, maps and YouTube under the ‘Go’ name and Facebook, TikTok and other apps are also available in ‘lite’ versions.

Unneeded apps

Don’t use up precious storage space and systems resources on apps and data you no longer need. Uninstall applications that you never use to free up space and reduce background processes that can impact performance.

You can also free up space by deleting unwanted media or by moving your photos, videos and so on to cloud storage.

Cache

As you browse the internet from your phone, the browser’s cache will start to fill up with data. Regularly clearing the cache can often help to improve performance on your browser as well as on your phone in general.

If you use Chrome, simply open the browser, Tap More, and then Delete browsing data.

Home screen

Widgets, live wallpapers, and other dynamic items on your home screen drain your battery, chew up your data, and slow down your device.

Minimising the widgets and live feeds on your home screen will free up resources to help your phone run a bit better. You might also enjoy having less clutter on the home screen.

Lightweight launcher

Some custom launchers for Android are lightweight and optimised for performance. These launchers run smoothly on older or less powerful phones. Examples include Niagara Launcher, Nova Launcher and GO Launcher S.

Sync and background data

Most Android apps are designed to sync data in the background so that you receive instant notifications without needing to open the app.

If you disable this feature across apps where you don’t want to receive real-time notifications, it can spare your battery life and help your device perform a bit quicker. 

Restart

It’s a good idea to restart your phone at least once a week. This can help clear the caches. You can also quit or close apps that are impacting performance or using up battery life.

This can prevent crashes and improve the responsiveness of your phone.

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