Spin-off Question - Servicing Existing Smart Phone

[OSUBearCub]

I've been reading the heated debate on the "Anyone Miss their Smart Phone" thread. http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/anyone-miss-their-smartphone/  The middle path for me based on all the arguments is to keep my Galaxy S3 and leverage my cell company to drop my rate closer to the Republic Wireless rate through firm negotiation.

The problem is that I'm having two significant problems with my 2 year old smart phone: significant lag issues, freeze ups, and the battery life is le shit.

Replacing the battery is pretty straight-forward and can be done for about 18 bucks on Ebay.  What do I do about the lag issues?  Is it possible to find a place who will give my phone a "tune up"?  Is it worth the fee?

(To put the dumb phone proponents to rest on this thread, I use the GPS on my phone daily as I'm fairly new to my city.  And, to be 100% truthful, I'd be a lonely dude without certain applications that help one be less...er, lonely.)

[Greg]

While I'm not familiar with the Galaxy phones, do a few simple things.  Reduce the number of apps that run in the background, things that give you notifications and stuff like that.  Make sure your wallpaper or background image is static, not moving.  Remove apps you never use.  Make sure your OS is up-to-date.  Offload your pics and other stuff, delete unneeded/duplicate/trash emails.  Essentially housecleaning, these things can help the phone speed.

GPS will eat battery charge like crazy though.  Try adjusting the settings for that app to update less often or be less accurate.

[Timmmy]

New battery and factory reset after backing up personal items.  Phone will feel brand new. 

[zolotiyeruki]

New battery and factory reset after backing up personal items.  Phone will feel brand new.

Bingo.  Phones today are like computers were 15 years ago--you end up with all sorts of programs running in the background and leaving fragments of themselves when they leave.  Factory reset it.  Then see if the battery life is good enough.