Welcome to JimTDI's Guide - Tuning the Nexus 7 with Android 5 Lollipop for Maximum Performance!
What's Up
The goal of this guide is to provide you with a well performing base for your Nexus 7 on which you can then build upon, enabling all the features of Lollipop that you want and need, and leaving the ones that affect performance and are unnecessary or unneeded by you, off or disabled.
Don't worry... we're not going to harm or do anything to your Nexus 7 that can't be easily undone. None of my tuning tips "alter" or "root" your Nexus 7, or do anything that would void your warranty - but let's face it, if you have a Nexus 7, it's probably old enough that it doesn't have a warranty anyway. :-) That being said, use common sense, and make your own choices - I am not responsible for any damage to your Nexus 7 because of my recommendations and tuning tips. Rest assured though, I have tested my recommended settings extensively on both the Nexus 7 2012 and Nexus 7 2013 Wi-Fi models. I'll be as gentle, and as non-technical as possible as we tune your Nexus 7. So, let's begin...
This guide has been recently updated to cover tuning the latest released versions of Android 5 Lollipop on both the Nexus 7 2012 and Nexus 7 2013 Wi-Fi models. I'll refer to them as the Nexus 7(12) or Nexus 7(13) hereafter when we need specifics.
What's New
This guide is written assuming you already have Android 5 Lollipop installed on your Nexus 7 tablet.
Because of this, if you are experiencing slowness and lag AFTER applying these tuning tips, I then recommend that you do a "Factory Reset" (see the Factory Reset section at the bottom of this guide). Just so you know, "Factory Reset" is a bit of misleading term, as your Nexus 7 probably did not come with Lollipop on it from the factory, and a "Factory Reset" will take you back to a clean base Android 5.0 Lollipop installation without any of your applications or settings retained. Try my recommended settings below first - many of these settings may make a difference in the performance you see on your Nexus 7 without doing the Factory Reset. If you flashed a factory image to get Lollipop on your Nexus 7, you got a clean base install, and probably don't need to worry about a Factory Reset.
Do you have enough cash?
Wipe Recovery Cache
Turn off your Nexus 7
When the device turns off, press & hold the Volume Down button, and then press & hold the Power button simultaneously until the device turns on, then release both buttons.
You'll see the word "Start" with an arrow drawn around it.
Press the Volume Down button twice to highlight Recovery mode.
Press the Power button to start Recovery mode, and release it. You'll see the Google logo, and after a moment you'll see an image of an Android robot laying on it's back with a red exclamation mark.
While holding down the Power button, press and hold the Volume Up button for a second, then release both buttons.
Use the volume buttons to scroll to "wipe cache partition" then briefly press the Power button to select it.
When the cache is cleared (may take a few seconds to a few minutes), press the Power button on the option "reboot system now."
OK, First Things First
When you first run Android Lollipop, it has some housekeeping it needs to perform. You want to help these processes as much as possible to improve the performance on your Nexus 7 both when you first run Lollipop and as time continues.
Lollipop uses a new Android Run Time "engine" (ART) to run programs. ART needs to pre-compile all of the Apps that you install before Android can run them for the first time. This pre-compile is very resource intensive, the more Apps you install, the more compiling will take place. But it doesn't all take place at once! This compilation takes place in the background, usually in idle-time so if you install a bunch of Apps - be patient as Lollipop needs time to compiles them. Lollipop assumes you want to run some Apps too, so it balances time for you to run Apps while it waits to pre-compile others as system time allows. Give Lollipop a day or two (or week) to settle-in on your Nexus 7, then just remember ART will work in the background after you install new Apps before you actually have the App available to run. ART likes battery too, so be sure to keep your Nexus 7 charged as much as possible until things settle in.
Now that you know a little about ART, Launch the Google Play Store. Tap the 3 stacked bars in the upper left corner and then select "Settings". Select "Auto-update apps" and set the radio button to "Do not auto-update apps".
Settings --> Wi-Fi --> tap 3 dots upper right --> Advanced --> Scanning Always Available --> OFF
Settings --> Wi-Fi --> tap 3 dots upper right --> Advanced --> Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep --> Always
Settings --> Wi-Fi --> tap 3 dots upper right --> Advanced --> Wi-Fi frequency band --> Automatic (Nexus 7(13) model setting only!)
Settings --> Bluetooth --> OFF (unless you use it)
Settings --> More --> NFC --> OFF
Settings --> Display --> Adaptive Brightness - OFF
Settings --> Display --> Sleep --> 2 minutes
Settings --> Display --> Daydream - OFF
Settings --> Display --> When Device Is Rotated --> Stay in current orientation (will save you about 3-5% constant CPU usage, this turns Auto-Rotate off)
Settings --> Sound & Notification --> Set all Volumes to lowest level you still can hear comfortably.
Settings --> Sound & Notification --> Events and Reminders --> ON
Settings --> Sound & Notification --> Messages --> OFF
Settings --> Sound & Notification --> Other Sounds --> Screen Locking Sounds --> OFF
Settings --> Sound & Notification --> Other Sounds --> Touch Sounds --> OFF
Settings --> Sound & Notification --> Pulse Notification light --> OFF (Nexus 7(13) only!)
Settings --> Sound & Notification --> When Device is locked --> Don't show notifications at all
Settings --> Sound & Notification --> App notifications --> be aware there are settings for notifications from each App you have. If you don't want Pandora for example notifying you when new music is added to a channel you are subscribed to, or song notifications, you can either set Pandora to Block --> ON, and/or set the Pandora Notifications to --> Priority
Settings --> Sound & Notification --> Notification access --> Uncheck All Boxes (don't allow any, also helps with data privacy!)
Settings --> Storage --> Tap the 3 dots in the upper right, USB computer connection --> uncheck both boxes.
Settings --> Battery --> Tap the 3 dots in the upper right, Battery Saver --> OFF, and Turn on Automatically --> Never
Settings --> Location --> ON, set Mode also to Device Only for now. This activates the GPS chip/hardware location of your Nexus 7, but not software location services.
Settings --> Security --> Power button instantly locks --> OFF
Settings --> Security --> Owner Info (enter your name and phone number, "Reward if Found..., etc." here, this displays on the lock screen or if your Nexus 7 is rebooted.
Settings --> Security --> Trust Agents --> Deactivate All
Settings --> Security --> Screen Pinning --> OFF
Settings --> Accounts, select your Google account --> Privacy --> Search --> Google Now --> OFF
Settings --> Accounts, select your Google account --> Privacy --> Search --> Tablet Search --> Uncheck all boxes
Settings --> Accounts, select your Google account --> Privacy --> Search --> Voice --> "OK Google" detection --> all sliders set to OFF
Settings --> Accounts, select your Google account --> Privacy --> Search --> Voice --> Audio History --> OFF
Settings --> Accounts, select your Google account --> Privacy --> Search --> Voice --> Block offensive words --> OFF (damnit!) :-)
Settings --> Accounts, select your Google account --> Ads --> Opt out of interest-based ads - slider set to ON
Settings --> Language & Input --> Voice Input --> Turn OFF "Enhanced Google services", turn ON "Basic Google recognition"
Settings --> Printing --> Cloud Print - OFF (this one really seems to help performance!!)
Developers Options
The following settings are in the 'Developer Options' section of your Settings. If you don't have a 'Developer Options' listed in your Settings, go to Settings --> About Tablet and tap "Build Number" 7 times to enable Developer Settings.
Settings --> Developer Options --> USB debugging --> ON (checked)
Settings --> Developer Options --> Use NuPlayer (experimental) --> OFF (unchecked)
Settings --> Developer Options --> Window animation scale --> Animation OFF
Settings --> Developer Options --> Transition animation scale --> Animation OFF
Settings --> Developer Options --> Animator duration scale --> Animation Off
More Google Settings
Now let's make some more changes to how your Google Account is associated with your Nexus 7. We covered some of these settings above, but lets go through them again anyway. Go to your App List (where you select icons from to drag to your desktop), and run the already installed App called "Google Settings" (you may be really surprised at some of the default settings!)
Tap the 3 dots upper right - Usage & Diagnostics - set Slider to OFF
Play Games - (you may receive a notice about a Google Account problem, just ignore it) "Level Up Notifications" - uncheck the box, make sure all boxes are unchecked. Also make sure to set "Game Profile" to "Hidden" in the Play Games settings.
Location - set slider to On, and Mode to "Device Only"
Disable 'Google Now' Search & Now --> Google Now, slide to OFF
Turn Tablet Search off - Search & Now --> Tablet Search, uncheck all the boxes.
Accounts & Privacy - all sliders set to OFF, especially "Personal Results", also, "Manage App History", uncheck App History
Voice - all sliders set to OFF
Security - set all sliders to OFF
Do not use a Live Wallpaper! Live Wallpapers eat CPU and battery. Later, once you achieve your performance nirvana on your Nexus 7 - you can then try a Live Wallpaper if you so desire.
Too many Nexus 7 users having problems with performance are using the Facebook App. This can not be a coincidence. It is recommended that you use Facebook with a browser such as Firefox until you stabilize your Nexus 7, and/or until Facebook updates their application. Some users have reported great success using the App "Tinfoil for Facebook", available on Google Play to access Facebook.