Ratchety Android operation

Factual Questions
1

GQ because I’d like simple, factual answers instead of a load of tech-hate or whatever, thanks…

My Note II has always been a wonderful phone/phablet, but beginning about six months ago it developed a terrible… stutter in operation. I rarely install new apps, so there’s no obvious cause.

By stutter, I mean that part of the time it will respond as fast as ever to input, Swype, app selection, menus etc. It may be a tad slow compared to later generations, but never slow enough to bother me. Now, though, it frequently freezes - a press of the main button, for example, will cause it to hesitate 2-3 seconds or more before there’s a response. Entering text, especially swyping, is either instant or has similar delays. Menus: immediate, or a 1-4 second freeze delay.

I swapped in a bigger SD card (64GB, replacing an 8), uninstalled AVG antivirus and ES File Manager, and cleared a gig or so of space on the device (now 2+GB free out of 16).

Fractional improvements, but still almost continual stutter, hesitation, delayed response to inputs. It’s not an overall slowdown because when apps run, they’re as fast as ever. It’s exactly like a computer with some heavy process going on in the background - delay, zip!, delay, *zip!
*
I frequently kill all running apps (press-hold main button, Close All) and I’ve looked down the list of running apps for clues. Nothin’.

Android 4.4.2. Ideas on how I can run down what’s causing the phone to respond slowly to inputs?

2

Frequently killing all open apps is probably doing more harm than good. Android is built to manage the open apps.

3

I know all the arguments along this line, with ATKs and manually. These are all ‘desktop’ apps I close regularly to clear sessions and such, not system apps.

4

It’s almost surely either CPU or RAM getting pegged by something, clearing out space from your internal or external ROM will do diddly squat. Easiest way to monitor RAM is under System Settings>>Apps under the Running tab. You should see a meter showing RAM in use and free, and see any individual apps that are hogging RAM and address that.

To get a good look at the CPU activity, easiest way is with a Task Manager app of some sort, mine came with a built-in app called Task Manager, but you can find d/l a small free one with minimal permissions easily.

5

Realized I wanted something better than my built in Task Manager, so I went looking for something in the app store.

This app should do the trick to help you zero in on the problem.

6

I find that my Galaxy Tab works really slow on the Straight Dope Message Board, every time I click a link it takes like 10 seconds for it to react.

7

The Note II is almost 5 years old at this point. The relatively old CPU is probably having some bellyache with the last version of Android it was upgraded to.

8

Tapatalk is the way to go for accessing message boards on phones and tablets. Accessing boards via browsers on phones and tablets is often a PITA.

9

I have an old Droid Razr Maxx running 4.1.2 that was dragging along. I went into the Storage/apps setting and cleared the data for each app, and that made a world of difference. It’s old, but as long as it runs without too much lag it’s a good back up phone when needed.

10

I went to ‘all apps’ and deleted all data & cash, then uninstalled all those apps I never use or plan to use.

But I have a LG G4 that screams, I can screw up so fast that I am afraid to blink & fat fingers will be the death of me.

11

All phones get slower due to the accumulation of crap and grit.

Note II is a perfectly good phone and reasonably fast too. You should reset it and install CyanogenMod. You won’t recognize it, it’ll be so fast.

12

I am afraid this might be the core of it. I can’t find any specific app, blockage or reason for the stuttering operation, and I know that older phones often have issues with later releases of Android. Can’t imagine that to be anything other than accidental and unintended. :rolleyes:

I’m going to try this, as well as deleting a few large apps I rarely use. (I wish I could eliminate crap like the NFL one without rooting.)

As much as I’ve admired the improvements from the Note 4 on (Note 7 pointedly excluded…) I have no real complaints with this old warrior and I’ve outgrown the newest and bestest syndrome. If a purge doesn’t speed it back up, I might go ahead and get it unlocked and mess around with rooting etc. Never felt the need, just as I’ve never felt the the need to overclock my desktop systems.

13

You can’t delete the bloatware, but with Android Ice Cream Sandwich and later, you can disable them. After that, they don’t run at all, let alone try to sneak in CPU cycles you’d rather use on your own chosen applications. They’re still there in storage, but basically inert.

(“Ice Cream Sandwich” is Android 4.0. Since you mention the NFL app as pre-loaded, this is probably Verizon, and most Verizon phones of that generation are up to 4.1 Jelly Bean, so you can probably do this.)

There is still an ultimate limit. Less likely is that the apps you need might slowly become completely incompatible with Android 4.x. As in, never upgradable after a point, and therefore not fixable if something else changes (like, require access to a server that won’t work with the old version of the app). Or, contains security holes that aren’t fixed unless you’re on a more recent Android iteration.

And the other version of the “application not getting along with the phone” is more like what you’re seeing: the apps keep getting upgraded, but the newer versions are less and less usable on the older hardware because the baseline target for the development environment is a much faster system (so less efficient code isn’t a problem unless you’re running an old system).

14

The device is Kit-Kat, 4.4.2. So in theory I have the app disable feature, but I’m not sure it’s enable on Verizon. What am I looking for, here?

15

There could be 1,000 things slowing your phone down. At this point I’d just do a factory reset to wipe the phone and then reinstall whatever apps you absolutely need. Your Google account should save your contacts etc.

16

You might be able to clear the cache partition of your device. Youll need instructions particular to your note 2, or maybe juat general samsung instructions for navigating the recovery menus. I probably wipe the cache partition every few months on my one m8 and it usually keeps my phone more ‘buttery’ in frame rate and app launching.

Mind, im not talking about the regular app cache here. The cache partition can only be wiped from recovery as far as im aware.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

17

The app disable would be for pre-installed apps on your phone, mainly Google apps such as Google+, Google Hangouts, etc. You need to go into each app info from your settings and tap the Disable button within the app.

Edit - or for any pre-installed app you didn’t personally download yourself, not limited to just Google apps.

18

Here’s a support doc from T-Mobile on how to do these things on a Note II. FWIW, the differences between carriers is less significant than the differences between Samsung and some other Android implementer, so I think these instructions will work fine for your Note II.
[Quote=instructions]
Hide apps

Although you may be unable to uninstall some preloaded apps, you may be able to hide and disable them. This causes them to hide from the Apps menu and not perform updates.

To hide or disable preloaded apps, follow these steps:
[ol]
[li]From any Home screen, tap the Menu key.[/li][li]Tap Settings.[/li][li]Tap the More tab.[/li][li]Tap Application manager.[/li][li]If necessary, swipe left or right to the appropriate screen:[/li][ul]
[li]Downloaded[/li][li]Running[/li][li]All <- for preloaded apps, you want “All”[/li][/ul]
[li]Tap the desired application. Note: If desired, tap the Menu key and then tap Sort by name or Sort by size to change how the apps are listed.[/li][li]Tap Disable and then tap OK. The app is now listed at the bottom of the list (not alphabetical order).[/ol][/li][/quote]

19

I have just updated my 2013 Nexus 7 tablet to CyanogenMod 14.1 (that is android 7.1.1) and it runs wonderfully. It has the same hardware performance characteristics as Note II (2 GB ram, Antutu score around 20,000). I wouldn’t go to Android 7 in your phone yet, still quite beta, but CyanogenMod 13 (Android 6.0.1) would be perfect. Here is a link to the relevant thread in XDA. If you never have done

20

Sorry for the split

If you haven’t already done this type of thing before, it can be overwhelming at first glance, but it’s really not very hard.