I have an
old phone. It's not very old, just old enough for updates to mess with it. On its own, it's a very good phone. It's robust and well-built, and it does what it has to do just fine. But throw software updates into the mix, and everything gets screwed up. Software updates are made for newer phones with much greater processing power, but they are too much for an oldish phone like this to keep up with. As a result, it can't do the number of things the apps expect it to do in a reasonable time and it freezes, hangs, or generally slows down so much that I want to throw it against the wall. Which I do, and I find it highly therapeutic when I've spent five minutes trying to text someone while seeing little more than a blank screen.
It's not that I use a lot of apps either, I'd say the only app I ever use is WhatsApp. But lately they've been making every update mandatory or else WhatsApp won't run, and with that update I also receive non-optional OS updates that take up a lot of space and a lot of processor time.
Today I wasn't feeling particularly patient so I threw it against the wall. This time, though, I watched it fall apart in pieces. It felt good for a minute until OH SHIT I STILL NEED TO TALK TO CLASSMATES AND I DON'T HAVE THEIR NUMBERS ELSEWHERE. So I had to pick up the phone, battery, back cover from the floor, take it apart and remove the broken pieces of its metal frame and then put it back together. It still works. All it has is a small scrape on the side.
I do feel it's a bit of a shame to mistreat it like that. It's a good, sturdy, robust, well-built phone, victim of inconsiderate software updates. If it weren't for apps and software updates, it could live for a lot longer than it will. It doesn't deserve this destiny, but this destiny has been forced upon it by the app devs.
Sorry, I just had to rant.
TL;DR: Software updates make smartass phone slow. I get frustrated and throw it against wall. Still works.
But Android is a software developed by humans with the purpose of being useful and practical for as many people as possible.
Your old phone is just a small collateral victim.
Try Cyanogen instead.
You can probably grab a Used / Refurb for $100-$150(USD) since they're 2 gens old now.
While we're at it, I've always wondered: WHAT does Cyanogen do, exactly? Because I pretty much only read "it's better" but I don't recall finding specific reasons for it. What does it do that I want?
It's nice for Samsungs because samsung likes to put a lot of bloatware on the phone. So when you go with Cyanogen, it's a barebones system, like an OEM install of Windows. Whatever is on there is put on there by you and you alone.