[tooclose racing]

I've recently purchased a KEY2 (at a very good price) to use with my AT&T carrier, and this represents an "upgrade" from the KEYOne I have used for the last five years (and I was a Passport user before that). I gotta say, I would rate my KeyOne experience as a B- at best in terms of it's speed, freezing up, camera, apps SU, etc. Based on everything I've read - I'm REALLY looking forward to the my new "mid-range" Key2 performance (processor and RAM) and of course...the PKB!

My question(s) below:

1) With the older Android OS version, are there any apps that I should avoid in the Google Play Store world (e.g. browsers) as they have just moved on? Will I run into any other issues?

2) Are you an (Android) Blackberry Hub Believer and is it a better experience on the KEY2? I wanna believe, but I stopped using it on my KeyOne but was not that happy with my "independent" methods either. So crushed that the KeyOne didn't live up to my Blackberry OS experience in that respect.

3) Would you have 2 or 3 performance tips/advice to get the most out of my KEY2? I know this request is pretty wide open - I'm fine if you just wish my good luck. Please keep the "get another phone" remarks to a dull roar.

Thanks for responding. Kinda sad to see how quiet it is getting around here. Here's hoping that..."There Is Another" down the road.

[robnhl]

Reduce the animations. Top tip for any Android device.

https://pocketables.com/2017/07/make...0-seconds.html

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Android 7 is still mostly supported.... I'd just recommend you sticking to well known developers. And stick to Google Play.

Give HUB another try.... if it meets your needs, great if not take a look at some of the other solutions like Outlook, or whatever your currently using.

The animations thing is something many have recommended.... I'd also suggest not installing apps that you don't use regularly. But Android does a good job of keeping those Snoozing.

[anon(5597702)]

Key series has Android 8.1, not 7.

Posted via CB10

[the_boon]

Key series has Android 8.1, not 7.

Posted via CB10

The only ones still on Android 7.1 are the CDMA (BBB100-3) KEYones I believe.

[DOCTOREVIL8]

The Key2 running Android 8.1 still has great performance. Because it never upgraded to version 9 or beyond, the bulkier OS isn't slowing it down.

6gb of ram is awesome. No more manually closing apps for performance.

The hub works great for me. Never stopped using it.

This is the best performing BlackBerry Android device for Android Auto. I rarely have any issues. Always had issues with KeyOne and a few (not many) with Key2 LE.

[robnhl]

The Key2 running Android 8.1 still has great performance. Because it never upgraded to version 9 or beyond, the bulkier OS isn't slowing it down.

That's not really the way Android updates work. Each recent upgrade has brought improved performance and battery life to updated systems.

[DOCTOREVIL8]

That's not really the way Android updates work. Each recent upgrade has brought improved performance and battery life to updated systems.

That's until a version is bigger and bulkier than the hardware can handle smoothly. Android has made many of my past devices sluggish with an OS update. Apple was brutal for this too. B10 was the exception.

[robnhl]

That's until a version is bigger and bulkier than the hardware can handle smoothly. Android has made many of my past devices sluggish with an OS update. Apple was brutal for this too. B10 was the exception.

What timeframe are you referring to? 8, 9, 10, 11 are all performance boosters.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

What timeframe are you referring to? 8, 9, 10, 11 are all performance boosters.

In some ways, I'm not sure if old devices get slower anymore... or new devices are just getting much more faster.

I do agree that an many iOS and Android phones from the 2015 and before that time frame, have a tough time with today's software. But at this point I'm not sure a 2018 flagship phone (which the KEY devices weren't) will really show an lag when they max out at 3 years of updates (Android) or 5 years (iOS).

Now I do expect that in five years my wife's iPhone 12 Pro Max with 6GB of RAM will fair much better than an iPhone SE from this year with a slightly older chipset and only 3GB of RAM. As developer will be using more and more of that RAM in the coming years. But in playing with my wife's older iPhone 7 and her new 12. I really can't say her 7 was all that sluggish at all, but it clearly is a few generations behind. I think we are past those growing pains where hardware struggled to keep up with software development. But I do think specs do matter...

[saint300]

I'm currently using the Black Keyone 4/64 version on Android 8.1.

The phone is not sluggish at all, and it also has an excellent battery. While I've yet to own a Key2, I can't really understand why it has to be so much superior. Yes, an extra 2GB of ram is welcome, but it can't make that much of a difference, I think.

[DOCTOREVIL8]

I'm currently using the Black Keyone 4/64 version on Android 8.1.

The phone is not sluggish at all, and it also has an excellent battery. While I've yet to own a Key2, I can't really understand why it has to be so much superior. Yes, an extra 2GB of ram is welcome, but it can't make that much of a difference, I think.

The processor is quite a bit faster.

Also the 6 GB of RAM means the phone doesn't get sluggish. I've had the Black Edition KeyOne 4/64 and it can slow down from time to time. Not often, but it did happen. Closing apps gets the speed back. I needed this for both the KeyOne and Key2LE. But with the Key2, I haven't needed to close apps for performance reasons.

For instance, I needed to close all my apps before plugging into my car for Android Auto to perform well at all. KeyOne needed this. Key2 LE sometimes needed this. Key2, unnecessary.

[DOCTOREVIL8]

Also remember, apps keep updating and over time, newer apps take more resources. KeyOne one year ago is faster than KeyOne today with updated apps.

I used the lite versions of Facebook and Messenger on KeyOne and Key2 LE. I can use full versions on Key2 and performance is still good.

[conite]

That's not really the way Android updates work. Each recent upgrade has brought improved performance and battery life to updated systems.

There's no question that performance improves with updates, but only relative to the hardware of the same period.

[robnhl]

There's no question that performance improves with updates, but only relative to the hardware of the same period.

So we agree?

[conite]

So we agree?

Yes and no.

The OS is better optimized, but not necessarily enough to compensate for running a newer OS on and older SoC.

[robnhl]

Yes and no.

The OS is better optimized, but not necessarily enough to compensate for running a newer OS on and older SoC.

Exactly. That's why I referred to "upgraded systems". Older SOCs don't always get driver updates, etc necessary to install newer OSes. But if they do then the recent (8+) newer OS will provide performance benefits.

A case can be made for non-uograded systems as well but I'm not making it here.

[conite]

Exactly. That's why I referred to "upgraded systems". Older SOCs don't always get driver updates, etc necessary to install newer OSes. But if they do then the recent (8+) newer OS will provide performance benefits.

A case can be made for non-uograded systems as well but I'm not making it here.

I don't think we're on the same page yet.

If a new OS drives a particular SoC, let's say, 20% harder, the slight performance optimizations of said new OS are unlikely to compensate for the extra workload.

[robnhl]

I don't think we're on the same page yet.

If a new OS drives a particular SoC, let's say, 20% harder, the slight performance optimizations of said new OS are unlikely to compensate for the extra workload.

I agree with your theory but are there any real world examples of that? I know of none.

[robnhl]

I agree with your theory but are there any real world examples of that? I know of none.

Bringing it back to the KEY2 and the Dr's assertion that it runs well because it never got upgraded - the Nokia 7.2 running the same platform seemed to handle 9.0 and 10.0 just fine. The KEY2 would be even better had it been upgraded, at least from an OS platform perspective.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

I think it goes both ways.... there are some aspects of the software designed to improve performance. No doubt the changes between Android 7 and Android 8 cache usages was a huge improvement.. But some of the security patches can impact the drivers and performance. And apps grow and grow....


In the end, there is a need to update hardware, especially when you start with something not flagship to begin with.

[mikael11]

I've recently purchased a KEY2 (at a very good price) to use with my AT&T carrier, and this represents an "upgrade" from the KEYOne I have used for the last five years (and I was a Passport user before that). I gotta say, I would rate my KeyOne experience as a B- at best in terms of it's speed, freezing up, camera, apps SU, etc. Based on everything I've read - I'm REALLY looking forward to the my new "mid-range" Key2 performance (processor and RAM) and of course...the PKB!

My question(s) below:

1) With the older Android OS version, are there any apps that I should avoid in the Google Play Store world (e.g. browsers) as they have just moved on? Will I run into any other issues?

2) Are you an (Android) Blackberry Hub Believer and is it a better experience on the KEY2? I wanna believe, but I stopped using it on my KeyOne but was not that happy with my "independent" methods either. So crushed that the KeyOne didn't live up to my Blackberry OS experience in that respect.

3) Would you have 2 or 3 performance tips/advice to get the most out of my KEY2? I know this request is pretty wide open - I'm fine if you just wish my good luck. Please keep the "get another phone" remarks to a dull roar.

Thanks for responding. Kinda sad to see how quiet it is getting around here. Here's hoping that..."There Is Another" down the road.

On 1,2 and 3: can' t see any issues at all. The phone is really fast and smooth working and you don't need to take any precautions whatsoever. I love it for that and would use it all the time if it wasn't for camera. The camera can be good but regulary oversharps and smudges the pictures badly.

[conite]

I agree with your theory but are there any real world examples of that? I know of none.

Pretty much every phone ever made.

The net decline in performance is cumulative. You may not notice after only one update.

[Chuck Finley69]

I agree with your theory but are there any real world examples of that? I know of none.

Key2 vs KEYone is a good starting point....

[robnhl]

Key2 vs KEYone is a good starting point....

Huh? We're talking updates within a single device.