Any smartphone will one day become old. At this moment, you can choose one of the following options: go to the store and buy a new one, put up with it and use it further, or try to refresh it a little. Not so long ago I found my old Huawei P10 in the closet and decided to breathe new life into it. This article will show you how I did it. The result is a smartphone that is significantly newer and even works better. If you do the same, you can use your old smartphone and not worry about something wrong with it. You can say you will even save your money. You will get a newer smartphone without spending almost a single ruble. A year later, you will sell it in better condition and buy something more modern if you wish. So! What are the ways I want to talk about?
Even an old smartphone can shine like that.
How I changed the look of my smartphone
The very first and most important thing I did with my smartphone was to change its appearance. All you have to do is buy a new case or stick a sticker on the case. This way you can quickly and easily change the look of your smartphone. Moreover, there are cases with a very nice design now. There are especially many of them on AliExpress. Sometimes it seems that there is literally everything. I bought several and am very satisfied.
If covers aren't enough for you, or you just don't like them, stickers are another great option. Not only are they in the form of ready-made patterns for all popular smartphone models, you can still make them yourself. All you need to do is buy a piece of vinyl and cut it to fit the body. You can find such a film either on the same “Alik”, or in a car studio that deals with pasting cars. As a rule, they cut material from a roll one and a half meters wide and sell material in running meters. That is, the minimum that you can buy is a piece of one and a half meters per meter. But one day I needed a small piece and I turned to the masters. For symbolic money, I bought scraps, which were more than enough for my tasks.
I completely cleaned my smartphone
If you've ever sold a car, you'll remember how it got clean after pre-sale. Even if you keep an eye on the machine during normal times, the early cleaning is usually more thorough before the sale. As a result, the car looks new.
Only use soft materials to clean your smartphone.
Also with a smartphone. I just cleaned it out, including the speaker slots, connectors, and buttons. He ended up looking much better. For cleaning, you can use special products, but it is better not to be zealous. Especially if the smartphone is not water resistant. Use microfiber or special tissues. I chose them.
The other day, Oleg Kusov talked about how you can disinfect a smartphone during the coronavirus. These tips can come in handy to keep your smartphone clean.
Resetting your smartphone
If the contents of your smartphone are not so important to you, you should do a full reset, as I did. This way you can remove unnecessary applications that can significantly slow down your smartphone. To do this, go to the settings and search for the “Reset” section. Or find it yourself. “Reset” is located in the smartphone settings. Usually under “About phone” or under “Security”.
After the reset, I set up the smartphone as new and only then entered all the accounts. At the same time, this method allowed me to rethink the importance of the applications that I had installed. After the reset, you need to install only what is needed for the first time, and gradually add others as needed. No need to install applications just in case.
At the end of this paragraph, I must warn you again. ATTENTION, you will erase all data if you go this way. Save everything you need in advance.
How I cleared my smartphone memory
If you are unable to completely reset your smartphone, you can simply clear the memory. It won't be as effective, but it will still help a little.
Particular attention should be paid to files in the built-in memory and unnecessary applications that should be removed. But it is worth remembering that you should not use special cleaning programs for smartphones. For the most part, such programs are either simply useless or harmful. Be careful with them!
I have installed a third party launcher
Android is good because you can easily install any third-party launcher on it. So you can look at your smartphone a little differently. It will become much fresher and evoke a feeling of something new.
This time I didn't bother with this procedure, but I did this a couple of times on my other smartphones and there really is a difference.
How to install the launcher on your smartphone should be studied separately, since there are countless models and many have their own characteristics. There are features of the launchers themselves. Ivan Kuznetsov recently shared a way to install OnePlus Launcher on any Android smartphone. Why not? This is a very good option.
I changed my smartphone theme
One of the tips to freshen up your smartphone is changing the wallpaper. But we will not dwell on this in detail, here everything is clear. I went ahead and changed the subject.
Many smartphones have an app out of the box that allows you to change the theme. In smartphones Huawei this function is moved to the settings, but some devices do not support such an easy theme change. They will have to download applications or even root in some cases. But as a result, you will get rid of the annoying appearance and get a fundamentally new drawing of the interface without complications and unnecessary overload of the system.
I have customized the lock screen
I remember the days of my first Android smartphone, which was HTC Desire. It was a good device for its time, and I switched to it from the first generation iPhone. At that time, the difference from the transition was very significant.
Customizing your lock screen dramatically changes the look of your smartphone.
For a while I used it in a boxed version. There were only installed applications from customization. Later, I decided to try customizing the home screen and experienced the same feeling of a new smartphone. I hung widgets on the screen, which may slow down the system, but they were very pleasing to the eye.
I did the same this time. Moreover, you can customize not only the home screen, but even the lock screen. This made the effect even more pronounced. Moreover, we told you how to customize the lock screen.
My impressions of the smartphone update
All of the above, with a couple of exceptions, is “cosmetics”. Applying these points in isolation is unlikely to give you the feeling of a new smartphone, but updating all at once is likely to give you a truly new perspective on your communications tool.
I tried it and I really liked it. For new smartphones that have not yet had time to get bored, this is not so important, but for old people more than.
If you have other ways to visually, tactilely or functionally update your smartphone, write in the comments what you did and with which smartphone model.