Help a non-tech person keep their tech going as long as possible

[Poeirenta]

I have two devices that I really like, but are getting older. What can I do to keep them working reasonably well?

Device 1: Samsung Galaxy S7 Active (2016)
I love everything about this phone. It's small, rugged, has a great camera, and a 4000mAh battery (although I think this has gone down). It seems to be working more slowly and getting warm faster. Sometimes pictures are disappearing from the gallery, which is frustrating, but that may be operator error. I would replace it except that I can't find all of these things in a newer phone, especially the small part. Samsung stopped supporting this phone back in 2020. Does that even matter?

Device 2: Microsoft Surface Go (2020)
I knew this wasn't the fastest little computer on the planet when I got it, but since it's mostly for web stuff, photo viewing, document storage, and Google docs/sheets, that's ok. I'm wondering what I can do to optimize what guts it does have. I confess that the following doesn't really mean anything to me...to paraphrase Bones McCoy, "I'm an ecologist, not a computer scientist, Jim!" :

Processor   Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU 4415Y @ 1.60GHz   1.61 GHz
Installed RAM   4.00 GB (3.89 GB usable)
System type   64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

We did just get an external hard drive, so I am planning to offload a lot of photos and other large items in hopes of picking up performance.

Because I am pretty ignorant of the inside workings of my magical devices, I'm not sure if there are other things I could be doing aside from getting files/photos/apps off of them.

[ChpBstrd]

The Galaxy S7 is facing the following challenges:
     -battery: These are replaceable for about $20!
     -RAM: not upgradable, which is a challenge as websites and most apps are so much bigger now
     -storage: Offload all your photos and videos often so your phone can swap when the RAM runs out
     -lack of support: This means your apps will steadily stop working and you'll eventually be left with a basic calling device. This is the biggest impediment to continued use, because you need apps to reduce the load on your RAM and processor, as opposed to websites.
     -Realistically, this is a phone for a person who wants to avoid becoming a cell phone / social media addict and doesn't mind some inconveniences. In that capacity, it could last several more years.

The Microsoft Surface series are some of the least user-serviceable computers ever made. Attempts to open the case often damage the screen, as many YT videos attest. The case and screen are literally glued together. Also, there's nothing upgradable inside except perhaps for the SSD. Your limitations here are probably RAM and processor speed. Both are permanently soldered on. The battery is glued to the back and very hard to replace.
     -My 2014 Surface still works just fine with 4GB of relatively slow RAM after reinstalling Windows 10, so you might try this.
     -Consider getting a router that can plug into an external hard drive and provide a sort of local wireless / cloud-like storage. As with your phone, the less capacity you have on the SSD the faster it will be.
     -If your Surface is usually plugged in when you use it, look at the Power Options under Advanced and set the "Plugged in" options to the fastest possible. You could do this for "On battery" too, but you'll just exhaust your battery faster. Right click the battery symbol and turn it up too.
     -Speaking of battery - it's not easily replaceable, so use it sparingly. Older laptops typically get canned when their batteries don't work any more, defeating the purpose of portable computing. Your laptop's EOL will be when the battery no longer holds a charge longer than about 45 minutes. My 2014 model lasts an hour or two, so with any luck you still have a couple of years remaining!
     -Deactivate Microsoft Drive. I swear it's like a virus. Not worth it for a mere 5GB free storage.
     -If the machine is practically unusable a few years down the road, consider installing Linux on it as a last resort. I tried Ubuntu on my Surface, but went with Windows instead because the touch screen did not work very well with gestures. That could change a few years down the road. Linux will use far fewer system resources and will likely protect your data better than an obsolete version of Windows.

[Poeirenta]

I seem to have jinxed myself...suddenly my phone is randomly restarting. Wahhhhh! I don't know if it will even stay on long enough for me to back up and do a factory reset. :-(

[ChpBstrd]

I seem to have jinxed myself...suddenly my phone is randomly restarting. Wahhhhh! I don't know if it will even stay on long enough for me to back up and do a factory reset. :-(

Boot into safe mode?
https://www.verizon.com/support/knowledge-base-203892/

[gooki]

My 2 cents

Every 3 months or so completely power down the phone wait a few minutes and power back up again. It's amazing what a full power cycle can do.

As for the laptop. Use as you would normally, just protect it from physical damage (being dropped etc). My 2014 Surface Pro 3s are holding up well.

Personally I'd be storing my data and photos on the cloud rather than an external HDD. But whatever works for you.

[Poeirenta]

Tried the safe mode and the reset. No luck. I did offload pics and docs before trying either of those.

Guess I'll bite the bullet and get a S10 or splurge on the S22. I do have a minimum spend for a SUB to meet...

Thanks for the help all!

[alsoknownasDean]

With the Surface Go, it's not going to be upgradable, what storage/RAM you have is what you get (and presumably if you've only got 4GB of RAM you're going to be using slower eMMC storage). Realistically your options are to either put up with it, try your luck with a factory reset, put another operating system on it (ChromeOS Flex or one of the cornucopia of Linux options) or sell it and buy something more suitable (a Chromebook?).

I used my last laptop for ten and a half years, but towards the end it was really struggling, not to mention falling apart. The current one will probably be replaced in the next 6-12 months because it doesn't really suit how I use a computer now.

With the phone, you maaay be able to get away with a new battery but heavier new apps are going to take their toll. At six years old you're probably best suited looking at a new device. There's the third party ROM path if you're happy to hack around and maybe risk apps that require SafetyNet not working, but I don't know what ROMs exist for the S7 Active and it's not really a 'mainstream' approach these days (definitely not for a 'non-tech person'). You're still dealing with a six year old battery and trying to run modern software on outdated hardware.

[crimp]

What do you use the old S7 for? To me the biggest impact of using a device that no longer gets support is security. If you don't get updates, you don't get security patches. If you're just using it for browsing / calling and you don't log into any important services on the device... you might not care. If you're using it to access an email address that has password reset configured for any of your critical services (e.g. banking, etc), this is a fairly significant risk, especially if you use two-factor authentication over SMS on the same phone.