Nexus 7 lag

keano_afc

Apologies if this has been covered before, I know it concerns an old device and I did a search but couldnt see anything.

I was doing a clearout at home and came across my first gen Nexus 7 tablet. I stopped using it after the update to Lollipop as it was completely unusable due to lag and general freezing. I put it away and never gave it another thought. I've decided to have a go at getting it working again to a reasonable level of performance. Has anyone any experience of the best way to go about it? So far, I've cleared the cache, turned off location settings and wiped the cache partition via the boot menu. Some apps are working a lot better as a result, Chrome is usable again and the device does at least respond. However other apps such as Facebook and game apps are still not opening and crashing after a certain period of time.

Is rooting the only road to go down? I'd like to start using the tablet again, I have phones as old and they work fine on higher versions of Android.

Any advice appreciated.

Horace Cope

keano_afc wrote: »

Is rooting the only road to go down?

I rarely feel the need to root either, I just settle for another ROM these days!

Install Wugfresh
http://www.wugfresh.com/nrt/
Install the relevant drivers if using Windows or LinuxMint
Get Wugfresh to put a Custom Recovery on the device - simple few clicks and let it do its things while you make yourself a cuppa

Finally install a Custom ROM from inside the Custom Recovery
http://download.cyanogenmod.org/?device=grouper&type=

I've given up on my 1st gen N7. Have tried a few custom ROMs and they all become more laggy over time. Not worth the effort.

Macy0161

I had a similar issue with my 1st generation nexus 7. Recently came across it again. I did a full factory reset, and just installed the google apps, no others. Its working fine as an e-reader with play books, and no issues with play music either. So not full functioning, but still doing a job for me.

wheresmybeaver

My 1st gen nexus 7 finally died a few months back, think it was the battery. But for about the year before that I was running an optimized kitkat 4.4.4 rom on there that suffered no lollipop-level lag. My young fella was playing a few games, watching YouTube vids and had no trouble.

Having said that, I ordered a Huawei t2 7 inch tablet to replace it (technically a phone) and the all round improvement is something else. Display tech, battery and features even in the midrange have really come along.

If you install a kitkat rom and still aren't getting the performance you want then it's time to shop around.

thekerrycyclist

I also had a similar experience with my 1st gen nexus 7. I rooted and reverted to android Kitkat. I now have it it for light use, but mostly for youtube/music player and as an e-reader and it is still working very well with no lag. Lollipop really killed this device.

ablelocks

can anyone provide a link to step-by-step instructions to move from lollipop to kitkat on a nexus 7 2012? Some of the guides out there make it look like a fairly daunting, technical process...

ablelocks

I used these instructions, and my nexus is now running very well on KitKat 4.4

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/how-downgrade-android-5-0-android-4-4-nexus-devices-1486023

point to note - doing this first will save about 40 mins of your time and your forehead of a few bumps...

Ensure USB debugging mode is enabled on your Nexus device by going to Settings > About phone > Developer Settings > USB debugging. Note: Tap the build number at the bottom of screen seven times to unlock the developer settings option.

in step 8, it should read "press and hold Volume Down (not Up) and Power buttons together until the device enters bootloader mode." (this will save you the fear of having bricked your device when in fact you just turned it off)

I didn't have a systems password so step 12 may or may not apply to you.

the key word in step 13 is WAIT - don't be impatient, let the command terminal go thru it's steps until its finished - there are times when it looks like it may have stopped and you may be tempted to intervene.

If anyone has a way of stopping or disabling the update to lollipop update, please let me know - i've tried a couple of things from searching google, but the update is still there, waiting....