Gadgets & Gizmos – June 2019

(Jacob Rumans) #1

Clean up: Make it a habit to clear all
‘cached’ data (mainly junk or tempo-
rary files), cookies and even browsing
history. But save data such as pass-
words or links to websites you plan to
visit later.


Shed weight: Delete all unimport-
ant files, be it junk mail or forwarded
audios, videos and images. Put togeth-
er, they often take a huge chunk of the
storage, leaving little space for essen-
tial apps and updates. Do a quick check
from system settings to find out how
much space is consumed by each pro-
gramme, app and content file and delete
everything that is not required. You can
also do this using the File Manager that
creates different folders for WhatsApp,
camera and other applications.
Be careful about app overexposure
as we often download some apps out of
curiosity but lose interest after a while.
If you have a slow device, remove the
apps you rarely use or disable them if
they are pre-installed. Then again, there
are gaming apps can which run into
gigabytes. For instance, PUBG Mobile
(Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds) or
Asphalt 9: Legends could take up to 2
GB space and drain the battery. A good
alternative is to use lightweight ver-
sions of these apps, designed for devic-
es with low processing power.


Close apps when not in use: Most
of us do not turn off the apps when we
exit them. Consequently, they contin-
ue to run in the background and con-
sume system resources. Close all
programmes and apps you are not
using to free up the RAM or Random
Access Memory (virtual memory for
storing codes and data currently in use
to ensure it can be quickly accessed
by the processor) and you will get a
snappy performance. Better still, shut
down your devices when your work is
over as it will prevent them from using
up processor, memory and battery life


more than it is required.

Use memory card or external stor-
age: Running out of internal storage
is a key reason for slowdown. If your
device supports expandable memo-
ry, insert a memory card and transfer
movies, videos, images and other bulky
files to free up disc space. Even apps
can be transferred to a memory card if
they come with a ‘move’ option, but it
depends on hardware manufacturers
and app developers. Freeing up space
by taking data back-up on an external
hard drive and upgrading the RAM will
also speed things up.

Stay tuned to updates: This is tricky.
Keeping the software (especially secu-
rity patches) up to date should be man-
datory but it may actually slow down
your device for a number of reasons.
To start with, there could be a crunch
in storage space when you download
the software with all its new features.
Hardware incompatibility is another
key concern. Interestingly, Apple had
reportedly replaced 11 million iPhone
batteries between 2017 and 2018 (it
usually replaces one-two million each
year) when an iOS 11 update came out
with a power management feature that
slowed down some older iPhones with
degrading batteries. So, prior to updat-
ing, do a quick Internet search and find
out what other users have to say. If
your hardware supports all new fea-
tures and the device has enough free
storage, you should go ahead for an
update.

Opt for factory reset: If nothing else
works, take a back-up of your data and
do a factory reset. This will wipe out
all data and custom settings, but you
can set up the device from scratch and
get the best results now that the cruft
is gone. Be smart when configuring;
select only useful apps and do not put
the entire data back onto the device.

FIX YOUR IPAD


If you care about timely soft-
ware updates to keep your
devices working without a
hitch, Apple is bound to be
your choice. The company rolls
out major improvements every
year but has not abandoned the
earlier versions. For instance,
the current iOS 12 supports the
iPad Mini 2 tablet, iPad Air and
even the iPhone 5s, all of them
launched in 2013. However, you
must have enough space to
accommodate the new features
if you want to update your iOS
device without slowing it down.
It is easy to instal any app on
an Android device via Android
Package Kit of APK files (the
package file format used by the
Android OS for distribution and
installation of mobile apps), but
Apple does not support third-
party installation and you have
to get it from the App Store. In
case you are not able to update
your iPad by installing the latest
software or have an incompat-
ible older version, do not worry.
You may still be able to down-
load the most compatible apps
for your iPad. Go to the App
Store, open your Account page,
tap on Purchased and select Get
(next to the app). Now a pop-up
will state: The current version
requires the latest OS but you
will be able to download the
last compatible version. Use the
Download button in the pop-up
to instal the most compatible
version of the app on your iPad.
This works for all the apps you
have downloaded/purchased
earlier. Apps purchased on new
iOS devices using the same Ap-
ple ID will also come up in the
purchase history displayed on
the older device.
@nidhisingal
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