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.

  • @ProgrammingSocks
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    9 months ago

    I know this is going against the circlejerk but that’s not even the same thing. This was specifically done because their batteries were shutting off as their health declined. It is something that ideally should have been off by default, but it isn’t “apple slowing you down to get a new phone” because the issue would go away with a new battery.

    • dontwakethetrees (she/her)
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      19 months ago

      And in my experience it helped, previous phones from Apple, Samsung, and HTC got squirrelly around 10-15% after 2-3 years of use.

      With the throttling they implemented (to prevent batteries shutting off) I made it to just above 1000 charge cycles on my current phone. Still was only unstable around 4-6% battery with 81% battery life.