Tweak Your Android Phone To Run Faster & Longer

The title for sure attracts many Android users. As smart phone users we always find ways to make the phones or tablets run faster and squeeze more juices out from the fixed battery capacity. I do not buy in the idea of higher CPU equals to faster speed that most phone makers are brainwashing most consumers, I am a devotee of optimization be it in work and in personal. A very good example in phone industry is the Moto X or even Moto G versus the high end models from all brands. No regrets from one of my friends "downgrading" in hardware spec of his high end S branded phone to Moto G but indeed it was an upgrade in speed and user experience.

So now if you're on the latest Android phone, or in precise the latest Android KitKat 4.4.2, perhaps you can tweak a little to get more out from the phone, both performance and battery life. No root required, every Tom, Dick and Harry can do it with a 3 steps guide. Check it out after the break.

Go to Settings as shown above. Scroll to the bottom, tap 7 times on the Build Number to enable the Developer Options. 

Go back to Settings and you shall see the Developer Options as shown above. 

Go into Developer Options, look for Select Runtime. By default, Use Dalvik is selected. Change it to Use ART. Follow the on screen instruction to reboot and you're done! 

One note if you have limited storage space that ART takes more storage space than Dalvik. See below for before and after enabling ART.

If you like to learn a little more about Dalvik and ART, check out this Frobes article. Google is always your best guru if you want to dive more into its technicality. Most of the apps should now be working/compatible with ART. The performance and battery gain varies and very much dependent on the apps you use. You can refer to this list of apps or revert to Dalvik if the critical apps on your phone cannot run with ART.

Check out YouTube video by Android Authority that includes the 3 steps guide and the performance test between Dalvik vs ART...

Another video on focus more on Photoshop loading...

Try it and enjoy!