Steps:
1) Begin by clearing storage on your device, accomplish this with the following
- Upload photos and video to Google Photos, Dropbox, etc.., and delete them from your device
- Go to Settings--Storage--Cached Data and delete your Apps' cached data
- Go through all of your apps and delete any that you don't need. Especially anything taking up a lot of space.
- Use a file manager, such as ES File Manger, and look for any files you don't need in your various folders. CAUTION: be careful to not delete anything too important
2) This step will vary depending on your phone and how much bloat it has. The following is a list of bloatware that is safe to remove.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2470862 / Courtesy of the XDA developer community and user Keestolk
Go to Settings--Apps, and find any app on this list you don't use. After locating said app, tap it, and then hit Disable
Pay attention to the above message, if you start to have any problems with your phone. Re-enable what you think may have caused the problem. While these should be safe, you never know with Android.
3) Remove any widgets on your phone you don't use often, or that are using up a lot of system resources. Also remove any extra pages on your launcher (your android home screen) you are not using.
4) Change from your stock launcher to another launcher of your choice. Here are some good options:
- Nova Launcher:Free/5$
-Google Now Launcher:Free
-Action Launcher 3 (My personal favorite):Free/6$
5) Shutdown and restart your phone. If after all of this your phone still feels slow, go on to step 6
6)(Optional) If all the files on your phone are backed up, and you won't miss extra features on it (such as multi window, Moto Voice, ETC). Flash a custom rom on it. Cyanogenmod is a lightweight, close to stock Android Rom that should make your device feel like new. While it would be impossible to include install info for all possible devices, this should help you out.
Have any other tips for speeding up and aging Android Phone? Let me know about them on Twitter @masala_tech, and remember to always keep things spicy!
By Sahen Rai
