Overclocking your Android device: Everything you need to know

The Android based smartphones / tablets had become more and more similar with a notebook or computer in both performances and usability (you can use your device for watching HD movies, for taking high res pictures, playing games, develop apps, organize and plan your work strategy and a lot more), so now most of us rather choose to buy a tablet or a high end smartphone with a “generous” display, instead of using the classic notebooks. That’s why, when having an Android device, you should always find new ways for improving and upgrading the performances, as it’s really unpleasant (mostly you can’t afford it) to buy a new smartphone from time to time.

And since the best way for powering up the performances of your Android handsets is to apply complex and risky operations, you should always do a proper research before tweaking your gadget. Else, you can end up in bricking your phones and that’s not a good thing especially due to the warranty aspect: when performing unofficial methods, the warranty gets void. Anyhow, during the present tutorial we will discuss about Android overclocking; basically, by reading the following lines you will be able to find out everything that’s related with the overclock operation, from advantages and disadvantages to proper ways in which you can speed up your Android devices.

You should overclock your Android smartphone / tablet if you want to obtain more power from it, as by overclocking we understand: increase the CPU frequency / speed in order to receive better performances. So, the overclock operation applied on a smartphone or tablet is similar with the one performed on a PC or notebook as both will increase the CPU frequency; the best is that is hard, almost impossible to burn your phone’s CPU (especially if you follow and use dedicated tutorials) by overclocking as the mobile CPUs are coming with more safety mechanisms to prevent CPU from burning up, this compared with computer’s CPUs.

So, is Android overclocking safe? Well, we can say yes, though you should overclock only 10-20% of your stock frequency, or else your device will encounter another issue: battery drain. Anyhow, let’s say you overclock your handset from 1 GHz to 1.5 GHz; now this doesn’t mean that your Android device will constantly run on 1.5 GHz, as that power will be used only when needed (running games, or multiple apps, showing HD movies or running 3D tools).

As already mentioned, usually, after overclocking the CPU, the Android users are complaining about battery drain issues. In order to increase the power and also keep the battery performances I recommend you to bump the CPU frequency only with 10-20% of your stock power.

Well, now you know what Android overclocking refers to. Furthermore, we will be checking on how to prepare your device for such operation and how to actually apply the same.

Overclocking – pre requisites

Of course overclocking the CPU frequency is an unofficial operation that has nothing to do with Android, Google or your phone’s company. Therefore, before completing this method you have to prepare your device. Unfortunately, here come the negative aspects, all being related to the warranty of your handset: it will get void. However, if you are about to overclock your device, first read and apply the tasks from the following list.

• Root your handset. Bumping the CPU performances can be performed only if you flash a custom Kernel; and for doing such thing you first have to unchain the system of your smartphone / tablet.
• By gaining root access you will also gain access to the internal system of your handset (the factory restrictions will be removed) so the warranty will get void.
• You can restore the warranty by downgrading to stock Android OS, or by updating with an official Android update.
• Replace the stock recovery with a custom one – like CWM recovery or TWRP recovery. The stock recovery can’t be used when trying to flash a custom Kernel, so the custom one must be previously installed.
• Take note that many custom ROMs are coming with custom kernel that supports overclocking; so if your device is currently powered by a custom firmware, then overclocking might be already enabled – in that case you don’t have to flash the custom kernel.
• It will be important to backup the data that is being saved on the internal storage of your Android device, because usually wiping operations are being required (when installing a custom ROM software or custom kernel).
• Also, it will be a good idea to make a Android Backup for saving the current ROM – you will be able to restore the same after overclockinng.
• A computer will be required, your handset and its USB cable.
• On the computer you will have to install the device’s drivers and there shouldn’t be running any security tools.
• You should charge the battery of your smartphone / tablet before beginning the process and you should also enable the USB debugging option from its system.

That’s all; you are now ready to overclock your Android device, so let’s see how to do that:

Well, as already stated several times now, a custom kernel is being required. Therefore, you will have to follow a suitable step by step guide that can safely be applied on your device; don’t install a custom kernel by yourselves as you can end up in bricking your phone.

Do remember that most of the custom ROMs are coming with kernels that enable overclocking. In that case you can skip the operation mentioned above.

Then, after enabling overclocking you need to download one of these apps: SetCPU, No-frills CPU Control, or IncrediControl; install the tool on your device and run the same. Follow the on-screen indications in order to increase the CPU frequency, reboot and that’s it.

So, that was all for today; now you should know almost everything about Android overclocking. Do use the comments area from below if you have questions or if you want to talk with our team (if you have problems with your handset try to resolve the same by using this Guide) – I will assist you as soon as possible. Also, stay close because we will bring overclock tutorials suitable for almost all the Android based smartphones / tablets out there.