Nexus phones, tablets speed up thanks to Android 4.3

Android 4.3, which just debuted on the brand-new Nexus 7, is also coming to the Nexus 10, the older Nexus 7, the Nexus 4 and the Galaxy Nexus. And, according to AnandTech, Nexus smartphone and tablet owners will notice some much needed speed improvements thanks to Android 4.3’s support for TRIM.

The app used for TRIM in Android 4.3, fstrim, works to reclaim unused data pages and blocks on your Nexus device’s solid state drive. You see, when you write a file to the SSD, those pages and blocks have data in them. When you delete a file, the pages and blocks it used are emptied, but they’re still treated as though they have data that needs to be tracked. This taxes the eMMC controller and makes the operating system feel sluggish over time. It also slows file access.

TRIM essentially tells the flash storage controller to recycle those unused data pages and blocks and tells the eMMC controller it no longer has to track them. Someone who hasn’t used a Nexus device before the newest Nexus 7 probably won’t notice any changes in Android 4.3. But someone who has used the previous-gen Nexus 7, which was notorious for slowing down over time, should notice better performance as soon as the TRIM process runs on their device.

It’s a shame that buyers of the 2012 Nexus 7 had to wait over a year to get this update for their tablet, but now that it’s here, that model can go on serving as a solid tablet for another year or two. If you’re someone who is in the market for a cheap but powerful tablet, this year’s Nexus 7 is worth every penny of the $229 you’ll pay. And, thanks to this Android 4.3 update, you can rest easy knowing that your tablet won’t slow down over time.

We’d love to hear some thoughts from those who have an older Nexus device. When you get the Android 4.3 update for your tablet or smartphone, email us or leave us a comment here and let us know about the kind of performance improvement you’re seeing.