Is your Nexus 7 randomly crashing and restarting? Does it feel sluggish all of a sudden? Or maybe you’re just turned off by the new clock you see every time you turn the thing on!
We weren’t warned in advance that we’d run into these problems with the upgrade to Android 4.2 — the ones described by Android Police’s David Ruddock, in his article about “Android 4.2-Gate.” But don’t worry: Here’s how to fix your tablet.
Random reboots: Uninstall “HD Widgets” app
This one’s being tracked over on Google’s bug tracker, and it’s not just your Nexus 7 that’s being affected. According to people chiming in there, as well as Android Police’s info, it’s pretty much every Nexus device from the Galaxy Nexus on down to the latest Nexus 10. If it’s gotten the Android 4.2 update, there’s a pretty good chance it keeps restarting over and over again, sometimes multiple times in a day, for no discernible reason.
Some people have started to discern a pattern, though: It happened while installing or updating the HD Widgets app, which was recently put on sale in Google’s 25-cent blowout. And people who uninstalled the app (as in actually removed it, not just took down the widgets) noticed the reboots went away.
Tap the button at the bottom of the screen to bring up your app drawer. Tap and hold on the app called HD Widgets, then drag it up to the thing that says “Uninstall.” This fix worked for me, like a charm. You can find replacement widgets after your Nexus stops rebooting.
Sluggish UI: Disable Google Currents’ Background Sync
Google Currents is sort of a magazine-style newsreader app which may have come with your Nexus 7. “Fishingfon” of the XDA Developers forum found out that after the Android 4.2 update, Currents is slowing your tablet down by constantly pulling down data in the background, and gave instructions for how to put a stop to that. User “bkmaracas” notes that if you’ve set up your tablet for multiple users, however, it may still slow down.
Unpleasant clock: Install “Fixed 4.2 Clock Widget”
Maybe you’re not the type who cares about this sort of thing, but when I saw the new clock on my lock screen I was very disappointed by how unattractive it looked.
“Fixed 4.2 Clock Widget” brings back a clock style that looks much like the old one. It’s not official, despite what the name implies, but it works. Just install it from Google Play, then tap and hold on the messed-up clock on the lock screen, before dragging it away to remove it. Then tap the “+” to add a new widget, and select the Fixed one. There’s even a $1.99 donation version, if you want to reward the developer.
