[FF22]

Wow, for real? I was under the impression that this won't return the PRIV back to it's snappy new self?

Unless there is something else wrong with the phone, wiping it and reloading the OS and deleting everything on it including stuff that might be slowing it down or a bad app or corrupt data should return it to a near new state.

I don't know how much the Factory reset does as opposed to reloading the entire OS.

You might ask that as a separate question.

Oh, I was wrong. Factory Data reset is in Main Settings, Backup/Reset.

[Mirko935]

If we have any Android experts, how do you stop an app from running by itself.

Greenify can do it. Or at least could; haven't had a need to use it for a long time...

Android sure looks stupid, at least on Priv, despite the specs. Why is it running apps I didn't run in last few days or is my taskmanager app getting fooled by something else? Why doesn't it completely close the apps when I will not use it until next day yet the apps I use at least 3-4 times a day takes long time to come back even though I did not clean the ram or clear the cache.

That doesn't have much to do with Priv, that's the way Android works. Some of those apps are background services, for instance messengers need them to be able to receive messages while you aren't actively using the app, some are just cached processes that remain in RAM until there is an immediate need for memory by another process, some, I guess, are apps you use often so bits of them get loaded as soon as the phone boots so they can be launched faster etc. All modern operating systems function that way, RAM is the fastest memory (bar CPU's cache etc.) and there is little point in it being empty when it can be used for a better cause. Take a look, e.g. at your Windows' memory usage. All this "standby" is memory that isn't really being actively used but parts of programs that are left or even loaded there automatically so the applications can launch faster if need arises.


That said, I would argue that Android gives to much freedom to apps, i.e. app developers. Apps can auto-launch, launch other apps, create services, do pretty much whatever they want in the background and it takes one bad app to wreck the whole system performance-wise. In cases when you notice something weird, you should first try to see if there is anything weird in battery stats, something that wasted a lot of battery, kept the phone awake for a long time etc., and if that doesn't help try to find the culprit using apps like SystemPanel, Cool Tool; maybe also something like GSam battery monitor or AccuBattery as the apps that cause performance issues usually also use a lot of resources and battery.

I don't know how much the Factory reset does as opposed to reloading the entire OS.

Factory reset wipes /data and /cache partitions (not the app cache that can be cleared in Storage settings, this is something else), while reloading using those autoloaders also wipes and then reinstates /system, probably /boot etc. Not 100 % sure about this, it's been a while since my rooting and installing Custom ROMs days (you can see a lot more details while installing ROMs in a custom recovery like TWRP and CWM) so some things might have changed in the meantime, but it should be about right.
Most, if not all, of these kind of problems are caused by apps and nothing else, and since they spend their lives in /data and /cache, a factory reset should serve the purpose just fine.

[Joao Oliveira]

Not sure what your point is here. My wife's S7EDGE contant issues, 3 hour sot, lag...and guess what Samsung service said yes a factory reset..so €900 device with factory reset.
Let's try to help OP and avoid crash and burn comments.

Posted via CB10

WEll, it's Android too, so what do you expect? to be much different?

[heading4tomorrow]

Greenify can do it. Or at least could; haven't had a need to use it for a long time...

That doesn't have much to do with Priv, that's the way Android works. Some of those apps are background services, for instance messengers need them to be able to receive messages while you aren't actively using the app, some are just cached processes that remain in RAM until there is an immediate need for memory by another process, some, I guess, are apps you use often so bits of them get loaded as soon as the phone boots so they can be launched faster etc. All modern operating systems function that way, RAM is the fastest memory (bar CPU's cache etc.) and there is little point in it being empty when it can be used for a better cause. Take a look, e.g. at your Windows' memory usage. All this "standby" is memory that isn't really being actively used but parts of programs that are left or even loaded there automatically so the applications can launch faster if need arises.


That said, I would argue that Android gives to much freedom to apps, i.e. app developers. Apps can auto-launch, launch other apps, create services, do pretty much whatever they want in the background and it takes one bad app to wreck the whole system performance-wise. In cases when you notice something weird, you should first try to see if there is anything weird in battery stats, something that wasted a lot of battery, kept the phone awake for a long time etc., and if that doesn't help try to find the culprit using apps like SystemPanel, Cool Tool; maybe also something like GSam battery monitor or AccuBattery as the apps that cause performance issues usually also use a lot of resources and battery.


Factory reset wipes /data and /cache partitions (not the app cache that can be cleared in Storage settings, this is something else), while reloading using those autoloaders also wipes and then reinstates /system, probably /boot etc. Not 100 % sure about this, it's been a while since my rooting and installing Custom ROMs days (you can see a lot more details while installing ROMs in a custom recovery like TWRP and CWM) so some things might have changed in the meantime, but it should be about right.
Most, if not all, of these kind of problems are caused by apps and nothing else, and since they spend their lives in /data and /cache, a factory reset should serve the purpose just fine.

Thank you for the details Mirko,
I'll be right back after I Greenify the heck out of my phone. I really don't want any of those apps like Netflix, Amazon Shopping, ShowtimeGo, USA Today, Vudu etc to run in the background, hogging or not any memory or battery, regardless of what those are "needed" for.

[FF22]

Thank you for the details Mirko,
I'll be right back after I Greenify the heck out of my phone. I really don't want any of those apps like Netflix, Amazon Shopping, ShowtimeGo, USA Today, Vudu etc to run in the background, hogging or not any memory or battery, regardless of what those are "needed" for.

I tend to agree. I will open Task Manager and see one of the Amazon apps running when I have never gone shopping on my phone. While I have the Kindle app, none of these others. Similarly, while I have moon/solar calendar app, I rarely use it. Suddenly it will open every day even if not used in a month or more. Exasperating.

[heading4tomorrow]

I tend to agree. I will open Task Manager and see one of the Amazon apps running when I have never gone shopping on my phone. While I have the Kindle app, none of these others. Similarly, while I have moon/solar calendar app, I rarely use it. Suddenly it will open every day even if not used in a month or more. Exasperating.

Hopefully this app helps, we'll give it a try. There really needs to be a better control built into android, but I don't think Google cares, honestly. Google prefers the developers more than the user, since developers make crap for Android (attractive crap, and unattractive crap) and it increases the google app market, further Google turning a blind eye to developer's random requests for totally unnecessary permissions just like Mirko mentioned above, being too lenient and not having an actual "certification" at all.

With all the money google is making, there should be a "certified" badge, remember Microsoft signed software, sort of like that, which is reviewed by google and provides appropriate for the amount of permissions it request or for the times it randomly runs by itself in the background.

[Devil]

Device Switch loan Priv to new Priv is a disaster ,get your act together Blackberry, this used to be so easy on BBdesktop.
Now it is slow chaos, i would rather go to the dentist!

Lol I can't read a line that says "is a disaster" without smirking a little

[russnash]

I forgot we don't have that Setting/Option on Verizon Privs. But I thought that there was another way of getting that info on the Verizon model? Anyone remember if there is a way to see Memory use? Just looked and there is no Shortcut to that module.

Fred, install Activity Launcher from the Play Store. Under the All Apps list, find Settings and then Memory. You can either launch it from there or long press and create a shortcut.

[Devil]

Hey Mirko, good points especially the last one about factory reset. There's someone here on an earlier post that said even a factory reset didn't help him.

Why could that have happened then?

[FF22]

Fred, install Activity Launcher from the Play Store. Under the All Apps list, find Settings and then Memory. You can either launch it from there or long press and create a shortcut.

Hmmm. I have the app. I do think that it worked and that I had a Memory shortcut. But now when I load it, I just go in a circle. I see two options:

Activity Launcher
BB Launcher.

There is no ALL. The 3-dot menu offers Source code, Help translating and Report a problem.

If I tap Activity Launcher it just reloads the above two options.

Or do I have the wrong app?

By szalkowsky or something like that.

[russnash]

Hmmm. I have the app. I do think that it worked and that I had a Memory shortcut. But now when I load it, I just go in a circle. I see two options:

Activity Launcher
BB Launcher.

There is no ALL. The 3-dot menu offers Source code, Help translating and Report a problem.

If I tap Activity Launcher it just reloads the above two options.

Or do I have the wrong app?

By szalkowsky or something like that.

Open the drop down that says 'Recent Activities' and change it to 'All Activities'. It's a little hard to read as for some reason the text is dark on a dark background.

[FF22]

Open the drop down that says 'Recent Activities' and change it to 'All Activities'. It's a little hard to read as for some reason the text is dark on a dark background.

Ah, there it is!!! Thanks. I had tapped that a few times but maybe it was the lighting - seemed like nothing was there.

[heading4tomorrow]

Open the drop down that says 'Recent Activities' and change it to 'All Activities'. It's a little hard to read as for some reason the text is dark on a dark background.

I used three other apps for that, it's not very effective, we need something that constantly clears RAM. Greenify uses force close instead of clearing RAM.

Is there anyway to make HUB work faster? Let's say we don't care about the rest of the operation as long as HUB is smooth,.

[palmer73]

Yes, the lag with my BlackBerry PRIV is outrageous. Sometimes I will want to share an article to Facebook or Twitter, I will hit the share option that brings up all the different services I can share to, then I will press Facebook, and nothing it just sits there on that same screen. I'll hit Facebook again and still, nothing. Then I will try to exit out of that and nothing, the phone gets really hot and I have force power it off to get it back up and running. Basically with this device if you just use the hub and nothing else, you may be okay, but try to do normal android stuff like you would with any other phone and forget it. I am still holding on to the phone because I have 300 to pay off on it and I do appreciate the physical keyboard.

[newcollector]

One of the things that does cause lag is if you have formatted you SD card for internal memory. That will slow down your phone.

[heading4tomorrow]

One of the things that does cause lag is if you have formatted you SD card for internal memory. That will slow down your phone.

This is the first time I am hearing this, so if you don't have an SD card at all, the phone should be super snappy, is that what you are saying?

[Wezard]

Hey Mirko, good points especially the last one about factory reset. There's someone here on an earlier post that said even a factory reset didn't help him.

Why could that have happened then?

Most people have Google set to reload the apps after any sort of wipe, new phone etc.
A bad app causing problems before an autoload, will be be reloaded and cause the same problems afterwards.
If you are going to go through the effort of an autoload, Do Not put all the same apps back on the phone. And remember that just because an app worked fine when you installed it 6 months ago, doesn't mean it's not wreaking havoc since the last update.

[Wezard]

This is the first time I am hearing this, so if you don't have an SD card at all, the phone should be super snappy, is that what you are saying?

Not necessarily, SD storage is slower than the onboard memory, so using it as adopted or internal memory will slow the phone down somewhat. But using a good quality, high speed SD as external memory will not make any difference, (at least nothing that be measured without some pretty sophisticated software).

An SD used properly as external memory will only be used for what you tell the phone to use it for. Though I believe some apps will use external by default, if available.

[Wezard]

For what it's worth, if you read this forum regularly, you will note that most of us NOT having slowdown or lag issues, are also Not running any task killers / managers or other apps that try to make Android do things it isn't designed to do.
Android is clunky and disjointed, but it does a fairly decent job if left alone. Yes, there are the occasional slowdowns and lags, which can definitely be made worse by apps trying to make it do what it isn't supposed to.
Restricting background cellular data for apps that don't need it, will go a long way toward taming lag and other issues. Particularly when coming from a no service area into a good cell.

[heading4tomorrow]

For what it's worth, if you read this forum regularly, you will note that most of us NOT having slowdown or lag issues, are also Not running any task killers / managers or other apps that try to make Android do things it isn't designed to do.
Android is clunky and disjointed, but it does a fairly decent job if left alone. Yes, there are the occasional slowdowns and lags, which can definitely be made worse by apps trying to make it do what it isn't supposed to.
Restricting background cellular data for apps that don't need it, will go a long way toward taming lag and other issues. Particularly when coming from a no service area into a good cell.

So, to simplify this, you are suggesting that the slowdowns are caused by apps trying to use background data service and when it can't connect properly, it slows down the phone? Doesn't like Android does a good job when left alone. If it did that, it would work consistently. I am reading the forum regularly here and on other forums, and Priv is inconsistent with operation speed. It is not slow all the time, those are old low ram phones that are slow, but Priv is just inconsistent, slow one minute, fast another, then slow again later. That's what's bothering more and more people. If it did what it's supposed to do properly, we wouldn't be looking for taskkillers, etc. We went over this already. I am not even one of those people with 100 apps doing different things, or installing every thing on Google Play store.

[Wezard]

So, to simplify this, you are suggesting that the slowdowns are caused by apps trying to use background data service and when it can't connect properly, it slows down the phone? Doesn't like Android does a good job when left alone.

Background data can cause slowdowns, specially if going from a non service area into a service area. The apps that aren't restricted see a signal and they all say "Signal! Lets call home and upload all the data that we have been collecting." It's just one of many things that cause slowdowns. Bluetooth and wifi scanning will also cause slowdowns and battery / data usage. Apps are prob the biggest culprit. The Amazon app is a good example, I downloaded it a while back, never opened it, 2 1/2 days later I noticed it had checked my location over 400 times. Presumably it reported all 400+ instances back to Amazon. And remember, I never even opened it.

I've never claimed Android is fast smooth and trouble free, far from it. It's clunky, disjointed and not even consistent. There are things you can do to make it a bit smoother and faster, and things you can do, or even not do, that make it a lot worse. Is the Priv worse? I don't know, don't have a lot of experience with other Android devices. But realistically, your choices are Android or iOS. BB OS10 is still just barely usable, if you don't need any apps. And Win phones are still available.

My preference would be OS10 with a viable app ecosystem - but that just ain't happening, no matter how much I dream and wish.

Most of the apps that keep running will restart when killed, so if you are using an app killer to stop them, your processor is killing the app then restarting it, then killing it, then restarting it, etc, etc, etc. Then you open another app to use it, you wonder why the processor is slow. It's busy killing and restarting other apps.
-- The above paragraph is an oversimplification, and not entirely accurate for all apps, but should give you and idea of why app killers / task managers are a bad idea.
Here's link to a pretty good explanation
deadspin-quote-carrot-aligned-w-bgr-2
It's from 2010, but still applicable, Android and task killers still do the same things. The only real change is that we can now restrict permissions and background data usage a lot better, making app killers even less effective for the very few apps that need to be killed. Though any app that actually needs to be killed, really needs to just be uninstalled.

[newcollector]

The possible causes of a Priv slowdown are many. Sometimes it is a carrier issue, or an app issue, or SD card issue or a user problem.

Sometimes slowdowns are caused by people who do not actually close their apps when done with them. I have seen some Android users complain and when I hit the square button at the bottom of the screen they have a bunch of apps there. Failure to close apps can cause slowdowns and lags.

As a general rule, my Priv works great. I have not noticed any slow down in performance. Every once in a while I will freeze at work, but that usually is a combination of a terrible WiFi download speed and multiple tasks I am trying to do.

I have also experienced a lag due to the Facebook app. When I have it loaded, things start to go wonky on my device. When I delete it, my phone returns to normal operation. Go figure. It is a conundrum.

For some the issue is related to hardware. I always recommend that when a person has a continuing issue, they should text @blackberryhelp. They will help you get things right.

Bottom line, if you experience lag or freeze, then you have to figure out the cause(s).

[heading4tomorrow]

Background data can cause slowdowns, specially if going from a non service area into a service area. The apps that aren't restricted see a signal and they all say "Signal! Lets call home and upload all the data that we have been collecting." It's just one of many things that cause slowdowns. Bluetooth and wifi scanning will also cause slowdowns and battery / data usage. Apps are prob the biggest culprit. The Amazon app is a good example, I downloaded it a while back, never opened it, 2 1/2 days later I noticed it had checked my location over 400 times. Presumably it reported all 400+ instances back to Amazon. And remember, I never even opened it.

I've never claimed Android is fast smooth and trouble free, far from it. It's clunky, disjointed and not even consistent. There are things you can do to make it a bit smoother and faster, and things you can do, or even not do, that make it a lot worse. Is the Priv worse? I don't know, don't have a lot of experience with other Android devices. But realistically, your choices are Android or iOS. BB OS10 is still just barely usable, if you don't need any apps. And Win phones are still available.

My preference would be OS10 with a viable app ecosystem - but that just ain't happening, no matter how much I dream and wish.

Most of the apps that keep running will restart when killed, so if you are using an app killer to stop them, your processor is killing the app then restarting it, then killing it, then restarting it, etc, etc, etc. Then you open another app to use it, you wonder why the processor is slow. It's busy killing and restarting other apps.
-- The above paragraph is an oversimplification, and not entirely accurate for all apps, but should give you and idea of why app killers / task managers are a bad idea.
Here's link to a pretty good explanation
deadspin-quote-carrot-aligned-w-bgr-2
It's from 2010, but still applicable, Android and task killers still do the same things. The only real change is that we can now restrict permissions and background data usage a lot better, making app killers even less effective for the very few apps that need to be killed. Though any app that actually needs to be killed, really needs to just be uninstalled.

According to DTEK non of my installed apps requested location or accessed contacts/etc.
However DTEK is not giving enough information since we can't tell which apps tried to access data etc.

We have to call it what it is, Priv is inconsistent, user error or not, a phone should not slow down to a crawl unwarranted, especially for a device that's targeting productivity.

I installed Tinycore to keep an eye on the CPU usage, and going through emails, loading long emails, the CPU maxes out easily. Opening a long email (not talking about a book sized one) should not utilize 100% of the CPU. And if it does, at least it should be instant.

I do agree that Priv works fine with limited RAM, so it's not really a ram issue, I realized that when my phone was running very fast, I was curious about the RAM and there it was 400MB ram available. So don't think people force quitting apps in order to save ram, no, obviously some background process is either hogging the CPU or crippling the overall android operation.
Maybe there is CPU throttling somewhere? Is there a way to overclock Priv?

[Wezard]

Maybe there is CPU throttling somewhere? Is there a way to overclock Priv?

Not without root, which appears is not going to happen, at least not anytime soon.

If you want to see background data usage, go into settings > Data usage > scroll through the apps, and tap any that might be suspect, it will show background, (and foreground) usage, by cellular or wifi. It's shown by month, not sure if that can be adjusted, but you can go back to a few prior months.
You can also tap on app settings from there and find settings that are hard to find, or don't exist elsewhere.

I'm wondering if DTEK might be responsible for some of the slowdowns, it has to be using the processor while it does what ever it does. Thats just a guess.