This happened on all android devices I’ve owned. Once they turn about 3 years old, they start slowing down out of a sudden. Yes, software gets heavier, you need more processing power, etc. But it happens out of a sudden.
I dug out an old lebovo tablet, about 6 years old. It ran surprisingly quickly. As soon as I turned the WiFi on to install the app I needed, things slowed down to the point where the device was barely usable. I somehow installed it. The app didn’t require internet access so it was fine. Battery life was still amazing, about 5 days of casual use (internet access drains a lot of battery on this fella).
I thought it was a one time thing. Until I was handed another old Alcatel tablet that was ditched due to slowdown after 3 years. Same thing, no internet access leads to a snappy phone. Once you turn the WiFi on, boom slowdown.
I see the same thing happening to my Nokia 3.4 phone (now HMD Global, made in China). I don’t think the architecture allows for swapping the os to a degoogled one everyone is raving about. The reparibility of this phone is near zero so once it goes bust, it’s really hard to open it as well. I obviously don’t need a brick with no internet access (otherwise I would just carry a dumb phone).
Also once this buddy dies or becomes unusable, is there a brand you would recommend. I’m so done with Nokia and Samsung.
🤦♂️ Google isn’t making your shit slow. Jesus Christ people. Format the device and buy a new battery. The phone will work fine.
I’ve been repeatedly surprised by how much a new battery boosts performance. I don’t quite understand why this is the case. I would think that at full power you’d get full performance even with a battery degraded to 70-80%. What exactly is going on with bad batteries?
Sadly best I have are posts by people claiming to have worked for HMD Global, talking about planned obsolescence by slowing down the phones intentionally. While I’m not really sure Google is doing it too, the experiments with old wiped android devices seem to point that way.
I’d be willing to at least consider that for other companies, but not Google. As far as I know, they still make more money from advertising than selling hardware. Pretty sure they’re just selling the hardware as a vehicle to transport more data.
So there’s no real motivation for them to risk compromising the PR on doing something like this - especially after just hearing that they’ve extended updates for Chromebooks to 10 years.
Those are just my thoughts on it.
So made up bullshit. Understood 👍.