Android and the myth of internal storage

sling-shot

sling-shot

Wise Old Owl
I bought a Sony Xperia ZR recently. It was advertised as a phone with 8 GB of internal storage and allowing additional MicroSD expansion.
I knew that not everything would be available for use.

1. I think only about 4.7 GB of free storage was available at first boot because the rest of it was taken up by the OS?

2. The updates to the dam* pre-installed Sony / Google applications install to user space along with the previously existing older versions rather than replacing them. This could easily take up more than 250 MB I guess.

3. All the games that I have installed and another particular application that stores around 400 MB of data put their storage in this internal memory with no way of moving them to external.

4. I could change the default image storage location to external in the Camera application but after some time I observed that the DCIM folder in internal storage is still more than 600 MB!! On closer look using a file manager, it was made up of THUMBNAILS! Now this is like a boomerang. No matter how many times I delete it, it will get recreated next time Gallery is opened.

So finally I have ended up with just about 1 GB of free space after mercilessly cutting out applications and looking at the storage from all angles to move anything that could be moved to external.
 
sksundram

sksundram

In the zone
That's not a myth. System apps and bloatwares are bound to hog phone's internal storage. One should therefore fully know the cons of the phone before buying.
 
OP
sling-shot

sling-shot

Wise Old Owl
Luffy said:
:+1:
The manufacturer isn't going to give you a secret partition where the OS is installed.
Click to expand...

I also have a Live With Walkman. It has around 450 MB of user available storage (manufacturer claimed 512 MB) along with "400 MB" of OS storage which was not advertised. And there is MicroSD slot.

That is the way it should be done. This is not a 5 K phone. I paid 26 K for this.
 
debarshi

debarshi

Otaku
sling-shot said:
I also have a Live With Walkman. It has around 450 MB of user available storage (manufacturer claimed 512 MB) along with "400 MB" of OS storage which was not advertised. And there is MicroSD slot.

That is the way it should be done. This is not a 5 K phone. I paid 26 K for this.
Click to expand...

True, but those golden days are gone.
 
Nerevarine

Nerevarine

Incarnate
Here is what you can do.. Buy a 32 GB SD card, swap storage
The 32 GB becomes your internal memory and the 4.7 GB becomes your external memory..
PS: Dont try to run apps without your memory card out :D
 
Hrishi

Hrishi

******************
Think about those poor Nexus 4 owners with 8gb version . Learn memory management from them. :p

Tbh , yes it really sucks.....I sometimes feel that even the 16gb internal storage on my phone is just nothing. Planning to buy a 64gb Class 6 card.
my content library is so huge ( several hd games , tons of apps , loads of nandroid backups , couple of hd movies and countless music tracks.(flac)
 
debarshi

debarshi

Otaku
Rishi. said:
Think about those poor Nexus 4 owners with 8gb version . Learn memory management from them. :p

Tbh , yes it really sucks.....I sometimes feel that even the 16gb internal storage on my phone is just nothing. Planning to buy a 64gb Class 6 card.
my content library is so huge ( several hd games , tons of apps , loads of nandroid backups , couple of hd movies and countless music tracks.(flac)
Click to expand...

And what will people with no micro-sd slot do? I've learnt to manage my backups, videos and music files with only 11 GB of space. Anymore, and I carry a OTG cable and pendrive.

sling-shot said:
I have a 32 GB card. But what is the point if I cannot make use of it!
Click to expand...

I think you can transfer app data to SD card with root
 
Hrishi

Hrishi

******************
debarshi said:
And what will people with no micro-sd slot do? I've learnt to manage my backups, videos and music files with only 11 GB of space. Anymore, and I carry a OTG cable and pendrive.



I think you can transfer app data to SD card with root
Click to expand...

In reality I had hard time figuring that out .! So I dropped plans for any devices with lack of sd card support. I personally hate the devices that do no have sd card facility. One of the major reasons for me to not buy Nexus phones.

I can carry multiple sd cards and swap them anytime. I dont have to worry about managing space.
No matter how much space I try to manage , it still won't be enough.
 
OP
sling-shot

sling-shot

Wise Old Owl
debarshi said:
And what will people with no micro-sd slot do? I've learnt to manage my backups, videos and music files with only 11 GB of space. Anymore, and I carry a OTG cable and pendrive.



I think you can transfer app data to SD card with root
Click to expand...

If I have root, the whole thing is moot :) I can easily do the following and be in heaven while not yet having left earth:

1. Link all the nonessential applications to the 2nd 10 GB ext2 partition I have created on the MicroSD card freeing up loads of internal memory.

2. Integrate system/Sony/Google application updates into system eliminating duplication and leading to further savings.

3. Convert any bloatware 'system' applications to user application and link them to MicroSD.

----------

I will in general NOT buy a phone with no memory expansion slot or with non-removable battery.

----------

All of my media such as photos, music, videos, ebooks and office files already reside on memory card.

----------

The problem here is not actually the limited 8 GB of storage but artificial restrictions on making use of it as per my needs such as not allowing application on SD card, duplication of existing applications with updates rather than integrating into the system.
 
AndroidFan

AndroidFan

Peak Oil is real!
This is where Nexus phones shine... On My GNex, I have a lot of large games, apps, movies, music... 13.33 GB total space out of 16 GB out of the box... Still 4.3 GB free which can be used for anything. Not some crap 2 GB space to install apps... All of it can be used...
 
Nerevarine

Nerevarine

Incarnate
A simple microSD swap will fix this issue in most phones, my Phone has only 2.05 GB of free space internal but after sd card swap.. problem fixed.. No lags, everything normal
Besides only games need large amounts of internal SD card.. Rest everything can be transferred to the external one..

This is where Nexus phones shine... On My GNex, I have a lot of large games, apps, movies, music... 13.33 GB total space out of 16 GB out of the box... Still 4.3 GB free which can be used for anything. Not some crap 2 GB space to install apps... All of it can be used...
Click to expand...

Memory is the biggest problem of the Nexus devices because of lack of microSD
 
R

rish1

Cyborg Agent
the thing that i feel is so frustrating is not that manufacturer gives 4gb or 8 gb internal memory , it is that they do not provide app/feature to transfer to sd card. look at xperia c , look at flagship like galaxy s4 they can happily transfer them to sd card without root or anything.. but this feature is needed in low end phones more like xperia m and other 4 gb roms . yes everyone can root but if oem aren't able to provide a decent storage at least provide the feature to transfer apps to sd card. with that even 1 gb should be more than enough..
 
Hrishi

Hrishi

******************
AndroidFan said:
This is where Nexus phones shine... On My GNex, I have a lot of large games, apps, movies, music... 13.33 GB total space out of 16 GB out of the box... Still 4.3 GB free which can be used for anything. Not some crap 2 GB space to install apps... All of it can be used...
Click to expand...

Are you serious ?? Memory is where they s**k most of the time.
 
OP
sling-shot

sling-shot

Wise Old Owl
I suppose a day will come when some manufacturer will add all the cloud storage too and claim it as phone memory.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom