How to make an old phone not stink. Galaxy S5 content

I’m losing my GE provided iPhone 7 and going to a friends older galaxy s5.

Is there any trick to making this thing quick and snappy?

i don’t know anything about the ecosystem so be gentle but I am open to basically anything. 

Thanks 

I fooled around with rooting an old S3 and installing one of the custom ROMs. Worked OK and certainly improved the user experience, but it was more an exercise to see how it worked than something I was intending to actually use on a daily basis. Read this for a basic outline.

I finally threw in the towel on my S5 this year. I tried all the fixes I could find online, deleted most of the apps especially the heavy invasive Facepalm one, and still could hardly open a map or webpage. I'm now on a Moto X4, for roughly $200, and this thing is light-years ahead. It's a lot of phone for the money. 

Yes.  Factory reset and a new battery.  A little known thing they don't like to tell you is that battery performance severely impacts phone performance.  As the battery loses mAH capacity, it loses the ability to dump that juice as quickly as it used to.  The phone's OS dials back the processor speed to prevent sucking more juice than the battery can provide.

I had to give up on my S5 after three years only because the display started failing and flickering.  Prior to that, I had much better performance after a factory reset and a new battery.  I'd offer you my recent battery, except my nephew has the phone now.

I might have a newer phone you could have. Let me look in my pile of Android phones out in the shop. I'll try to check tomorrow.

IIRC, I have an S5 with a busted screen but a decent battery and some accessories. Free if'n you want it.

Curtis said:

Yes.  Factory reset and a new battery.  A little known thing they don't like to tell you is that battery performance severely impacts phone performance.  As the battery loses mAH capacity, it loses the ability to dump that juice as quickly as it used to.  The phone's OS dials back the processor speed to prevent sucking more juice than the battery can provide.

I had to give up on my S5 after three years only because the display started failing and flickering.  Prior to that, I had much better performance after a factory reset and a new battery.  I'd offer you my recent battery, except my nephew has the phone now.

I think only iPhones throttle back the CPU as battery capacity falls. And some have an option to disable it.

Moving to Android opens up a lot of new functionality and will save you money. Install the F-droid store, where most of the good open-source apps are.

I'm using a phone 2 years older than an S5, rooted with LineageOS installed. Some apps require a bit of patience but there's nothing it can't do. When you can save up enough for a new phone, I recommend the same one I'm getting:

https://www.fxtec.com/

In reply to dculberson :

Thank you!

Well, dang. I thought I had something newer but I'm looking at my pile of retired phones and the newest is an S4. I do have a Galaxy Note 3 that's pretty neat looking but probably slower than an S5. Sorry that didn't work out.

My wife finally gave up on her s5, same as maschinenbau said, nothing could be done to make it not run like crap.  We had replaced the battery previously but I think the phone (and her case) killed the battery with heat.  We bought a refurbished g6 off amazon for less than 200 and it started to bootloop so I caved (nursing money and I like peace) and let her buy an note9 on our plan. Something about samsung phones works for her.  I had a g5 and got tired of the GPS issues and got a OnePlus 6t at about half the cost of her note and I feel like it's the better phone.

^Cases do cause phones to retain a lot of heat, some phones will get frighteningly hot just charging with a case on.

Off topic, but with the stories I've been reading about the increasing level of surveillance being incorporated into smartphones these days, I'm getting perilously close to replacing my BlackBerry (when it dies, or Verion decides to no longer support it) with a flip phone and a decent digital camera.  

In reply to dculberson :

Thanks for trying!

volvoclearinghouse said:

Off topic, but with the stories I've been reading about the increasing level of surveillance being incorporated into smartphones these days, I'm getting perilously close to replacing my BlackBerry (when it dies, or Verion decides to no longer support it) with a flip phone and a decent digital camera.  

Not connecting an Android phone to a Google account is 9/10ths of the battle. From there, avoid installing horribly invasive apps like Facebook, install a 3rd-party permissions manager (I use Privacy Guard which comes with LineageOS) and switch the browser to Firefox, which will let you install some privacy-enhancing addons.

In reply to GameboyRMH :

Thanks for the tips. Although it's kindof funny...I get all of those things you mentioned just sticking with my BlackBerry (on which I'm typing this comment now, in fact!)

GameboyRMH said:

volvoclearinghouse said:

Off topic, but with the stories I've been reading about the increasing level of surveillance being incorporated into smartphones these days, I'm getting perilously close to replacing my BlackBerry (when it dies, or Verion decides to no longer support it) with a flip phone and a decent digital camera.  

Not connecting an Android phone to a Google account is 9/10ths of the battle. From there, avoid installing horribly invasive apps like Facebook, install a 3rd-party permissions manager (I use Privacy Guard which comes with LineageOS) and switch the browser to Firefox, which will let you install some privacy-enhancing addons.

Why not connecting to Google account? I didn't know that.

tuna55 said:

GameboyRMH said:

Not connecting an Android phone to a Google account is 9/10ths of the battle. From there, avoid installing horribly invasive apps like Facebook, install a 3rd-party permissions manager (I use Privacy Guard which comes with LineageOS) and switch the browser to Firefox, which will let you install some privacy-enhancing addons.

Why not connecting to Google account? I didn't know that.

Google likes to stick its tendrils into anything it can.  Ever notice how half the web pages you visit ask if you want to sign in via Google?  Its so they can track all that stuff and use (sell) your data, Coppertop.  

I made Mrs. VCH uninstall the FB app on her Android phone when we go it.  She can't do messenger unless she signs into a laptop now, but that's a minor price to pay.  The 'Book app bogged down her Droid something fierce.  

Somewhat off-topic, but re: new Android phones, see if you can find one that's part of the Android One program. You get pure Android without any manufacturer bloatware, plus security updates every single month. If you resist installing the more invasive apps like FB, and stick to Firefox for browsing (check out Firefox Focus), you get pretty good performance and limit your exposure to some degree at least. I'm using a Nokia 6.1 and I've been very happy with it.

volvoclearinghouse said:

Off topic, but with the stories I've been reading about the increasing level of surveillance being incorporated into smartphones these days, I'm getting perilously close to replacing my BlackBerry (when it dies, or Verion decides to no longer support it) with a flip phone and a decent digital camera.  

The corporate big boys years ago would not allow phones in the boardroom because they could be turned on remotely by the bad guys to listen in , not sure if that has changed !

And no doubt the Bad guys have figured out a way to tap into your GPS  without your knowledge , probably thru an apps permissions .

You just have to live with this stuff , or not use Google , Facebook etc , which seems impossible.....

So what are the right apps then for navigation and web browsing and email?