[paulmd]

See my comments elsewhere but this is handset damage (flash and DRAM wear and battery performance leading to processor throttling) and would go away if you had your handset replaced with another 7. It's not the hardware spec that's the problem, it's your particular unit.

[irowe]

You're definitely right that some of the slowdown is due to physical wear. I have had the battery replaced once, about 2 years ago back when Apple was offering it at a reduced price, but it's back to "significantly degraded" status. I have a hard time thinking that the system software load increasing over time doesn't also have a significant impact, though.