5 Ways to Boost Your Android Phone’s Performance

If your Android’s performance is starting to sag, don’t worry. There are several steps you can take to restore your device to working order. Use these five tips to stay vigilant against performance lag by updating problem apps and managing system resources.

Want step-by-step instructions to speed up your device? Keep reading for 5 Ways to Boost Your Android Phone’s Performance, the second installment of our six-part Android Phone Makeover series.

1. Kill Background Apps

Android’s capability to multitask across several applications is great, but you don’t need the YouTube app wasting battery life and memory resources when running in the background. It’s best to completely close apps with the Advanced Task Killer app (free). Unlike Android’s built-in app shutdown, this download shows a single list of each running app on your device and lets you select the ones you’d like to turn off.

2. Keep Apps Up to DateIt’s not always the operating system that causes you grief. If you feel an app is slowing you—or your phone—down, check the Android Market for an update.

• Launch the Android Market.
• Tap the Menu Button.
• Select My Apps.
• Check each app for updates on the right.

3. Turn Off Background DataApps aren’t the only thing to run in the background. Such services as Facebook, Twitter or WeatherBug constantly download data so that when you launch them, all the content is up to date. That’s easy to stop.

• Open the Settings app on your phone.
• Click Data Manager.
• De-select Background Data.

4. Manage Google ServicesAn Android device automatically includes access to Google services including Books, Contacts, Currents, Gmail and Google+. If you don’t need these services, turn them off and save your wireless radio the trouble of downloading more data (pictured below).

• Open the Settings app on your phone.
• Delete the Google services you do not want synced.
• Click Accounts and select the appropriate service.

5. Defrag your Smartphone’s MemoryJust like a PC, your Android phone’s internal RAM gets a performance boost after undergoing defragmentation. A free app called Memory Booster ($2.99 for the full version) in the Android Market not only defrags your phone’s random-access memory, it also repairs data leaks from damaged apps. You can only run a memory boost every 10 minutes, but if you want to keep track of just how much RAM you retrieve each boost, set the app to send a notification when new adjustments are complete.

For a truly superlative uptick in performance, set the Boost Level to Ultimate (available in paid version only).

• Launch the app.
• Tap the menu button.
• Choose Ultimate Boost.
• Select Boost Level Manager.

By default, Memory Booster runs a system check on Startup, but in the paid version of the app, you can also set it to run a performance-enhancing check-up when the device locks. Check out Memory Booster in the Android Market.

• Launch the app.
• Tap the menu button.
• Select “Boost at device lock.