Performance Issues Killing Me on Droid 1! Is it time for a custom ROM? HELP!

CaptainNurple

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Hey guys, I'm still rocking the Droid 1, but it's getting to the verge of being almost unusable these days. Everything is slow. Apps are crashing due to (I assume) memory warnings (I assume this because the app will crash [e.g. Maps or a "big" game like Cut The Rope], and my home screen will be blank for 10 seconds or so while the icons reload). Killing stuff in ATK helps a little, but only for a little bit (and then all that background **** relaunches on its own). Basically using my phone is a big PITA these days, but I can't afford a new one.

So the question: If I root and install a custom ROM, will that breathe new life into my phone? I don't really have crazy user needs. Most of my use consists of just the standard google apps (gmail, maps, navigation, calendar), and the random assortment of pretty basic apps I've installed off the market. I do have PDANet and would like it to work, though I rarely even use that these days.

This performance is killing me though. I'm really hoping there's a solution that doesn't involve buying a new phone??

Any advice is MUCH appreciated!
 

leftspin

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Hey guys, I'm still rocking the Droid 1, but it's getting to the verge of being almost unusable these days. Everything is slow. Apps are crashing due to (I assume) memory warnings (I assume this because the app will crash [e.g. Maps or a "big" game like Cut The Rope], and my home screen will be blank for 10 seconds or so while the icons reload). Killing stuff in ATK helps a little, but only for a little bit (and then all that background **** relaunches on its own). Basically using my phone is a big PITA these days, but I can't afford a new one.

So the question: If I root and install a custom ROM, will that breathe new life into my phone? I don't really have crazy user needs. Most of my use consists of just the standard google apps (gmail, maps, navigation, calendar), and the random assortment of pretty basic apps I've installed off the market. I do have PDANet and would like it to work, though I rarely even use that these days.

This performance is killing me though. I'm really hoping there's a solution that doesn't involve buying a new phone??

Any advice is MUCH appreciated!

rooting and installing a custom ROM will make your phone feel like a brand new phone, because it basically will be, you'll be starting over fresh. Before doing that though, try rebooting into recovery (hold x on the slide out keyboard as it boots) and choosing "clear cache" or "wipe cache partition" (whichever it is). That might speed up your phone a little bit, or you could try a factory reset and start over on the stock ROM
 

BayouFlyFisher

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Hey guys, I'm still rocking the Droid 1, but it's getting to the verge of being almost unusable these days. Everything is slow. Apps are crashing due to (I assume) memory warnings (I assume this because the app will crash [e.g. Maps or a "big" game like Cut The Rope], and my home screen will be blank for 10 seconds or so while the icons reload). Killing stuff in ATK helps a little, but only for a little bit (and then all that background **** relaunches on its own). Basically using my phone is a big PITA these days, but I can't afford a new one.

So the question: If I root and install a custom ROM, will that breathe new life into my phone? I don't really have crazy user needs. Most of my use consists of just the standard google apps (gmail, maps, navigation, calendar), and the random assortment of pretty basic apps I've installed off the market. I do have PDANet and would like it to work, though I rarely even use that these days.

This performance is killing me though. I'm really hoping there's a solution that doesn't involve buying a new phone??

Any advice is MUCH appreciated!

I just moved from an original Droid to a Bionic. The Droid was rooted and rommed since January of 2010 and is still running strong in my wife's purse.

I would strongly recommend the following before doing anything dramatic: 1. Remove ATK (it is part of your problem), 2. Try a different Launcher. The re-draw/lag is coming from you launcher getting killed when more ram is needed. Zeam and Go are both launcher that take less resources and seem to be less likely to redraw/lag. 3. Do a factory hard reset.

Do all that and see how your phone is operating. I am positive it will be more responsive and less prone to lag/redraws.

Good luck.
 

tommyg562000

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I was rocking the d1 up until a few days ago. I just got an x2 and I love it. I also couldn't afford a new phone, but I bought this through wirefly.com and it was free. You might check it out, they have a ton of free phones right now.

Sent from my DROID X2 using DroidForums
 
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CaptainNurple

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I just moved from an original Droid to a Bionic. The Droid was rooted and rommed since January of 2010 and is still running strong in my wife's purse.

I would strongly recommend the following before doing anything dramatic: 1. Remove ATK (it is part of your problem), 2. Try a different Launcher. The re-draw/lag is coming from you launcher getting killed when more ram is needed. Zeam and Go are both launcher that take less resources and seem to be less likely to redraw/lag. 3. Do a factory hard reset.

Do all that and see how your phone is operating. I am positive it will be more responsive and less prone to lag/redraws.

Good luck.

So, n00b question: what's a launcher?

Regarding ATK: Is there any way to kill all those obnoxious background processes once I remove ATK?

As for your own Droid 1, which ROM were you running? Assuming the various suggestions offered in the thread don't fully resolve my problem.

Thanks!
 

MissSpiffy

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So, n00b question: what's a launcher?

Regarding ATK: Is there any way to kill all those obnoxious background processes once I remove ATK?

As for your own Droid 1, which ROM were you running? Assuming the various suggestions offered in the thread don't fully resolve my problem.

Thanks!

A launcher is essentially a "Home" replacement, or a UI (User Interface) replacement. When you look at a Motorola, and then an HTC, and then a Samsung android, you'll find they all look different, you interact a little differently, etc...those are essentually different UIs which is pretty much what a Launcher is creating.

A ROM or rooting is not going to fix the problem, your phone is slow because it is low on system resources and or "clogged" with unnecessary clutter (cache, cookies, etc). If a ROM does fix it will be because you are ALSO clearing all of that stuff out. Just think of it like pulling a wagon as you pile more and more stuff into it. The wagon is only designed to handle so much, but you love your little wagon and don't want to buy a new one, so you just keep pushing stuff down and cramming more in, making room, but eventually one of the tires are going to fall off and you'll be stranded in the desert, you'll be very thirsty, and you'll kick yourself for not getting that brand new shiny wagon you saw, especially if you cripple the old wagon so much that you cannot possibly carry any of it back, and you really have no choice but to start at square one with nothing but a google account....OK so I took the analogy a little far because I was having fun, but I think you get the idea.

A New phone is not NECESSARY to fix the problem, but keep in mind that as the market grows and apps become "bigger", your little phone is going to become more and more unable to stand up to the task. A new phone is not better just because it is fresh, they also have faster processors, more system memory, more storage space, etc, which enables them to support the newer OS versions, which determins what you can and cannot do with your phone.

If you want to "Breathe New Life" into your phone, then you must do a factory reset...because anything else is just immitating the effect (such as trying a diff launcher). And if/when you do...RESIST the urge to go and install everything again right away. Only install the stuff you actually need and use, and you'll find you really have given your phone a new life.
 

BayouFlyFisher

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So, n00b question: what's a launcher?

Regarding ATK: Is there any way to kill all those obnoxious background processes once I remove ATK?

As for your own Droid 1, which ROM were you running? Assuming the various suggestions offered in the thread don't fully resolve my problem.

Thanks!

My old droid is running Chevy's 4.96 which is a Froyo rom. I was never satisfied with any of the Gingerbread roms.

Here's an article about Task Killers:

[h=3]How Android Manages Processes[/h]In Android, processes and Applications are two different things. An app can stay "running" in the background without any processes eating up your phone's resources. Android keeps the app in its memory so it launches more quickly and returns to its prior state. When your phone runs out of memory, Android will automatically start killing tasks on its own, starting with ones that you haven't used in awhile.
The problem is that Android uses RAM differently than, say, Windows. On Android, having your RAM nearly full is a good thing. It means that when you relaunch an app you've previously opened, the app launches quickly and returns to its previous state. So while Android actually uses RAM efficiently, most users see that their RAM is full and assume that's what's slowing down their phone. In reality, your CPU—which is only used by apps that are actually active—is almost always the bottleneck.
[h=3]Why Task Killers Are (Usually) Bad News[/h]Apps like Advanced Task Killer, the most popular task killer in the Market, act on the incorrect assumption that freeing up memory on an Android device is a good thing. When launched, it presents you with a list of "running" apps and the option to kill as many as you want. You can also hit the Menu button to access a more detailed "Services" view, that lists exactly which parts of each application are "running", how much memory they take up, and how much free memory is available on your phone. This set-up implies that the goal of killing these apps is to free up memory. Nowhere on the list does it mention the number of CPU cycles each app is consuming, only the memory you'll free by killing it. As we've learned, full memory is not a bad thing—we want to watch out for the CPU, the resource that actually slows down your phone and drains your battery life.
Thus, killing all but the essential apps (or telling Android to kill apps more aggressively with the "autokill" feature) is generally unnecessary. Furthermore, it's actually possible that this will worsen your phone's performance and battery life. Whether you're manually killing apps all the time or telling the task killer to aggressively remove apps from your memory, you're actually using CPU cycles when you otherwise wouldn't—killing apps that aren't doing anything in the first place.
In fact, some of the processes related to those apps will actually start right back up, further draining your CPU. If they don't, killing those processes can cause other sorts of problems—alarms don't go off, you don't receive text messages, or other related apps may force close without warning. All in all, you're usually better off letting your phone work as intended—especially if you're more of a casual user. In these instances, a task killer causes more problems than it solves.
 
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