1020 Getting Incredibly Slow

[DustinRyan]

Hey everyone, my girlfriend's Lumia 1020 is unbelievably slow. It takes forever to load apps like Messenger or WhatsApp, etc.

Any app in general. Just really slow to load up. It's also laggy sometimes.

Any idea what's going on and how to fix it? WP is a really efficient system, so there must be a software-related fix, as the hardware is still good. She is running WP 8.1 Developer Preview. She doesn't have a ton of apps, and she closes her apps after using them. I know she doesn't have a lot of space left of storage, around 1.2 GB, but it's something.

Any recommendations?

 

[heywhitmarsh]

The storage space seems like it would be the most likely culprit. You probably want to aim to keep as much as 5 GB free.

On the topic of general slowness, the 1020 no longer feels as snappy as it used to. Windows phone 8.1 added a ton of functionality to the OS, but that also means it demands a little more from the hardware.

 

[JamesPTao]

The storage space seems like it would be the most likely culprit. You probably want to aim to keep as much as 5 GB free.

On the topic of general slowness, the 1020 no longer feels as snappy as it used to. Windows phone 8.1 added a ton of functionality to the OS, but that also means it demands a little more from the hardware.

I agree. Also if she has the live lock screen beta app I recommend uninstalling it as the app did that to my 920 ( if she does have it, after uninstalling I she has to turn kids corner back on to get rid of left over code from the app).

 

[Chris_Kez]

I'd just back everything up, blow it away with a hard reset, download any OS updates and reinstall everything. Only bring back the photos and apps you really like. It's maybe a day or two of intermittent inconvenience but the phone will feel more like it's old self.

 

[DustinRyan]

@heywhitmarsh Yeah I was thinking about that. But gosh 5 GB? That seems a bit excessive. I mean, I have the Icon and having a gig still runs fine, but I know my phone is a little newer so I guess it's not fair to compare them.

And yeah I've heard 1020 is a bit sluggish on 8.1. Bummer

@Chris_Kez one big issue is that nothing backs up. Her backup setting tries to run and then says "There was a problem. Please try again later" every time. It's impossible to back up both apps+settings and media. No idea why. MS has no idea, either. So a hard reset is a scary option at this point.

 

[pankaj981]

Can't you just backup the media on a PC and then just wipe everything? Possibly flash it using Nokia Recovery Tool?

 

[DustinRyan]

Her phone won't connect to a computer. It gives an error. Many others here are having the same issue. No one can really find a fix to get it working.

 

[Midi_Amp]

I would refrain myself from using developer preview as daily use. I used DP on my 1020 before, but it's quite buggy and basically annoying. Through the help of Windowscentral forum user, I managed to reinstall the OS back to its original image and have no problem whatsoever. I'm not missing much from using base OS. Sure I missed the hell lot of the folder, but that's it, the stability trade off is worth it.

 

[Mathieu Ackermann]

Hello,
Same story here: the 1020 was blazing fast 1 year ago with WP8.0. Today with DP, WP8.1 and Cyan, it's so laggy it drives me nuts.
Few examples:
-Starting the camera always took too long (2-3s, an eternity compared to other phones), but now it can be up to 20s. Sometimes it wont even start. Switching from camera to picture library freezes the phone for 20s as well.
-Saving a 1minute video can take several minutes.
-Even root apps such as calendar, email, store, can take 10's of seconds to load. Sometimes I have to start them 10 times to finally open the app. Sometimes I have to reboot before I can use the email app.
-Rebooting takes minimum 4-5 minutes. The screen stays on "Goodbye" for that long. Just compared today with a Lumia 930 and I was amazed of the difference.
-Whatsapp will also launch 1 out of 10 times. Never works from the notification screen, always have to go through the start menu.

So yes I get it that the 1020 was developed for WP8.0 and with less features. But I still feel it's a shame that a flagship phone would be completely outdated 1 year after purchase. I feel they have made some stupid tradeoffs in terms of cost and should have gone for a top-class processor given the very heavy camera this phone carries. Putting 100$ more on this phone would have been worth it.

 

[msirapian]

I run official Cyan (and 8.1.0) on my 1020 and it's not laggy at all. I have 18 GB free (maps downloaded, but I don't let pictures on the device: I shoot in RAW, so when the session is finished, I move the .DNG/.JPG to the PC). I can't recognise what's described here (10sec+ for basic operations).

This being said, I'm aware this won't help in getting your slower 1020 faster. Maybe it's the DP. I've never installed that on my device (I don't mess with my camera lol and I need the productivity part of my phone, so I wait for official OS/FW updates).

 

[Mathieu Ackermann]

I definitely think one of the main issues is indeed the storage management. A few months ago I shot a rather long video (2-3 minutes) and my phone ran out of storage. Everything got stuck while saving the video to the disk. I had to soft reset it. Below 1GB of free storage the phone is unusable. Now I cleaned some stuff and at 2GB it's slightly better. I will delete more pictures to see how it goes.

 

[DustinRyan]

Yeah that seems to be one of the only real variables that we have control over. I just wish my girlfriend's phone could back up to her computer or to OneDrive or to anything. None of the backup features work, so she's afraid to delete photos of our big European trip this year because there are no copies of them. And the OneDrive uploads are lower quality.

 

[Tommy B Nielsen]

I can't recognize this problem on my 1020. I always empty my picture if I have less than 10 gb left. Once my photo was slow to wake up. It took long time to think it out. But the problem was when I have a lock screen picture from my library. Solution was to use Bing picture. �� no matter what. U have to empty your phones pictures. That would be ur first move. Try connect to another PC. Then empty or in worse case soft/hard reset. Good luck

 

[Futra Hurairah Salleh]

1. Free space : Like someone said, at least 5gb free. Even I have 2gb and it still lags. Seriously.
2. Skype : if ur gf doesn't use it, uninstall it.
3. Cortana : also, uninstall if not in use (or ur region doesn't support yet).

These 3 things will bring back the snappiness. Oh, and hard reset works too or if u don't wanna lose ur data, just soft reset after everything's done. Works for me.

 

[DustinRyan]

Hmm, we actively use Skype. She would like to free up space, but nowhere to offload high quality images since her phone is bugged like many 1020s and can't connect to computer.

I'll see what she can do about Cortana. Is Cortana even installed on 8.1 in countries that doesn't support it?

 

[SL2]

8.1 Developer Preview messed up my 1020 so bad in the end, even tho it worked well in the beginning.

Removing all apps and all data, go back to 8.0 and then upgrade to 8.1 got it working again, and I've had no issues since then.

Did you ever try Easy Transfer that someone recommended in the other thread?

Edit: I'm not talking about Windows Phone Easy Transfer. I'd post a link if I could, instead you have to seach for this in google:
5ccb6655-2ff9-4977-bf8b-577e92bbb236

Follow the instructions in the app, then click the blue arrow in your web browser, see picture. This will save the whole folder on your computer as a zip file. It uses your WLAN router locally, so actual internet speed doesn't affect the download.


Also, go to Storage Sense in settings and delete unneeded files like maps and apps.

 

[Ixia]

I've been working up to a hard reset for ages. My 1020 is on 8.1 cyan I don't have DP, 2.8gb free space.
But since 8.1, I've had lots of problems and the phone is slooow.

 

[SL2]

I've been working up to a hard reset for ages. My 1020 is on 8.1 cyan I don't have DP, 2.8gb free space.
But since 8.1, I've had lots of problems and the phone is slooow.

I honestly believe that starting from scratch is the best idea when it starts to get slow, just like Windows on computers. I can't see any difference in speed and responsiveness anymore when comparing 8 and 8.1.

 

[Chris_Kez]

. She would like to free up space, but nowhere to offload high quality images since her phone is bugged like many 1020s and can't connect to computer.

This morning I used the Files app from MS to share a RAW/DNG file from my 1020 to OneDrive.

 

[Mathieu Ackermann]

I'm now at 4Go free and there is visible improvement although it's not yet perfect. Still a bit disappointed that storage is not better managed by the OS itself.