Make an Older Smartphone Like New Again

Blogs, jahlberg

classification

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Ahlberg
CEO, Waident

CIO in the corporate world and now for Waident clients. John injects order and technology into business process to keep employees productive, enterprises running, and data safe.

Related posts

Why Backups And MFA Are So Important For Ransomware

Why Backups And MFA Are So Important For Ransomware

Two of the simplest and cheapest ways to protect your company from a ransomware attack are Multifactor Authentication and a fresh backup. Here's why.   Back up everything! You are not invulnerable. Catastrophicdata loss can happen to you - one worm or Trojanis...

3 Security Vulnerabilities You Don’t Realize You Have

3 Security Vulnerabilities You Don’t Realize You Have

These days security is not something you "should be doing someday". Security is something that is critical to your company and needs to be managed every day and updated regularly. If you need a place to start (it is never too late) you can focus on the Top 5 Security...

Documentation – Your IT “Canary in a Coal Mine”

Documentation – Your IT “Canary in a Coal Mine”

I consistently hear the same technology concerns from business owners and executives: they don’t know what they don’t know. Do they have the right IT team in place (internal or outsourced)? Do they have the optimal technology solutions for their business? How, they...

Accessibility Toolbar

Share This