Today I formatted my phone and installed several new apps and removed several old ones. As expected there was a drastic improvement in speeds, came across some really interesting apps ( one for tech news and another for opening keepass ) and was also able to overcome the photo talking issue ( after taking a photo, the camera freezes up and sometimes results in a blank photo )
Overnight it was almost like having a new phone and I have again begun enjoying using my phone. I even got 4 GB of free space. Exploring new apps was also fun, something I have been missing for so long