Vodafone Smart Prime 6 erratic performance problem

[Jimadine]

Hello,

I was wondering whether there is any solution to the erratic performance problem affecting the Vodafone Smart Prime 6 (VF-895N)?

I am running the latest software update (Android Lollipop 5.0.2, 270FCN1), which at the point of install claimed "The update will improve the user experience and product performance...". I must admit the update, which I installed in November, did help a small amount, but my phone is still affected by "geriatric moments", in particular when switching between apps or when there's multiple tasks going on (e.g. installing an app via the Play Store whilst browsing the web).

I really like this phone but for these slow downs. I've tried to improve things myself by greenifying as many apps as possible, forcing GPU rendering, running CCleaner and generally minimizing storage used and apps installed. I've observed that, even when the "geriatric moments" occur, there is still a reasonable amount of RAM free - at least 100MB.

I am definitely not alone in this:

http://www.stuff.tv/vodafone/smart-prime-6/review
https://recombu.com/mobile/article/vodafone-smart-prime-6-review

Both these reviews cite the same problem I'm having. I am just hoping that by some miracle either Vodafone will provide an update that fully resolves this, or that an unofficial build of Android resolves things (all the unofficial builds so far have according to testers been as bad a Voda's build and have bugs which Voda's build does not)

I don't believe it's the spec of the phone that's undermining its performance; I still have a 3 year old 1st gen Moto G running CyanogenMod 13 (Android MM) and that way outperforms the SP6.

Any insights appreciated.

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi,

As far as I can see the phone has 1gb of Ram which in today's standards isn't a massive amount but should let the phone work ok.

Sometimes closing down apps instead of leaving them in a suspended state can help. 

After a firmware update if the phone is presenting issues such as lag then a back up followed by a Factory Reset to remove redundant files is a known troubleshooting tip. 

You come across as being spec / product aware so am assuming your aware of the pro's and con's of using a custom rom. 

Do you have ample storage space left in the phone. 

Sometimes rogue apps can cause conflicts. 

[Jimadine]

Hi Lee,

I have 1.67GB internal storage available. Most of my files are on a 32GB SD card I have added.

I'd definitely do a factory reset if I thought it would help, but in my experience it rarely does. Possibly because I don't install much to begin with.

These days I'm less inclined to put custom ROMs on, but sometimes the  slimness and extra flexibility is useful. One example: if Voda had not disabled Android's in-built SIP calling capabilities from their build I wouldn't have had to install CSipSimple app and further consume the limited amount of memory. Having said that, I don't think this specific example bears any relevance to the problem I'm seeing.

Cheers!

[BandOfBrothers]

A Factory Reset is certainly one generic solution to a glitchy phone especially after a firmware update. 

I'm not sure about your phone and firmware but on my Samsung Galaxy s7 edge on Marshmallow I can clear the Cache partition which can help and does have the advantage that this particular operation does not wipe a persons data like a Factory Reset does. 

I prefer to buy my phones Sim Free as they do not then have Network Bloatware on them and the firmware itself isn't possibly tainted by the network testing it.

[hrym]

I occasionally get what look like resource issues even on a device with more of them.   Closing all running apps usually fixes it.  You can also go into Settings|Storage and clear app caches, which frees up a bit more.

My elderly and very arthritic Samsung tablet needs all this plus a clearout of its RAM (there's a Samsung widget) on a regular basis as well.

The only time I've used a Vodafone branded device, all the "bloatware" was uninstallable - even Facebook!