Database Users

Opinions on limited internal storage

I'm very interested in the Xperia Play, but the limited internal storage memory is a bit of a turnoff. Is there a true solution to avoiding this issue (app2sd?) or will even installing apps on a SD card still leave some data on the internal storage memory.
I'm a bit out of date with Android development since I've been into WebOS. Still plan on buying a Pre 3, but it's tempting to get a Xperia Play as a secondary phone.

vaxick said:
I'm very interested in the Xperia Play, but the limited internal storage memory is a bit of a turnoff. Is there a true solution to avoiding this issue (app2sd?) or will even installing apps on a SD card still leave some data on the internal storage memory.
I'm a bit out of date with Android development since I've been into WebOS. Still plan on buying a Pre 3, but it's tempting to get a Xperia Play as a secondary phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you use adb you can move 95% of your apps to the sd, freeing up HUGE amounts of internal memory. I was on 40mb free before using adb, now I've like an extra 5 or 10 apps since then and have over 180mb free
Sent from my R800i using XDA App

Nhialor said:
If you use adb you can move 95% of your apps to the sd, freeing up HUGE amounts of internal memory. I was on 40mb free before using adb, now I've like an extra 5 or 10 apps since then and have over 180mb free
Sent from my R800i using XDA App
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Click to collapse
I agree, also I'll point out that if you have the device rooted you can use Titanium Backup to do the same thing (I haven't got around to installing the Android SDK to my PC yet). All my Gameloft games etc are <1mb internal. I have loads of games & still running with 165Mb free.
Memory is only a concern if you don't have the know how
As for the Pre 3 I was tempted too cuz I loved all the old PalmOS devices, but I was put off by the fact that they went with a 3.5" screen. Even Apple will be going bigger than this on their next release.

That's not too bad. I might check the phone out soon to make a decision as to if I should get one. I always like having a spare phone just in case something goes wrong with my primary or I go somewhere where I'd like to use one phone over another.
Pre 3 screen is 3.6-inches and I actually don't mind that. I've had a Palm Pre Plus since launch and I've never really been turned off by the screen size. I kinda like the smaller profile of the phone and I'm looking forward to WebOS 3.0. I'm just hoping HP markets WebOS properly to make the platform more attractive to developers.

Trust me it wont be a problem. and like many have said all you have to do is use ADB once and then all your apps are installed on the SD card but even if you dont do that its still plentiful.

Nhialor said:
If you use adb you can move 95% of your apps to the sd, freeing up HUGE amounts of internal memory. I was on 40mb free before using adb, now I've like an extra 5 or 10 apps since then and have over 180mb free
Sent from my R800i using XDA App
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Click to collapse
How could you possibly have 40mb free before?
When I first got my phone last week the remaining memory was like at least 150 - 200mb? I'm running launcher pro now, have all sync and everything switched on, and my remaining RAM is 235MB, remaining INTERNAL STORAGE is 186MB now.
Can titanium backup FREE be used to do everything the paid one does?

everything except batch restore i beleve

danieljamie said:
How could you possibly have 40mb free before?
When I first got my phone last week the remaining memory was like at least 150 - 200mb? I'm running launcher pro now, have all sync and everything switched on, and my remaining RAM is 235MB, remaining INTERNAL STORAGE is 186MB now.
Can titanium backup FREE be used to do everything the paid one does?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dunno mate, but im not lying...?

I wasn't doubting it just seems odd lol
Sent from my R800i using XDA App

I use App 2 SD Pro and it has been working very well. That is why I paid for the pro.
I'm still in the air on the Advanced Task Manager app though. I need to get more into it. I kill the processes and it leaves 3 going. Then a minute later there is about 15 going again. I need to find a permanent stop to a bunch of those apps and figure out how to make them run as needed.
I like to pay for good useful tools.

1) Root phone
2) Install titanium backup
3) Batch move apps to sd card, including unmovable apps
4) Profit
It is as easy as that.

ncaissie said:
I use App 2 SD Pro and it has been working very well. That is why I paid for the pro.
I'm still in the air on the Advanced Task Manager app though. I need to get more into it. I kill the processes and it leaves 3 going. Then a minute later there is about 15 going again. I need to find a permanent stop to a bunch of those apps and figure out how to make them run as needed.
I like to pay for good useful tools.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You cannot stop the system apps or the bloat the phone starts itself unless you uninstall them. Task managers work well for apps you have installed yourself but the stuff that keep resarting will keep restarting no matter how many times to kill them (it will drain your battery and possiblale do more damage then good ).
Root and uninstall the crap from the safe apps to remove list. Also titanium backup free version lets you move the unmovable apps to sd such as ashphalt and fifa e.t.c less then 1mb instead of 30mb will help with internal storage

problem is you can't root 2.3.3
Sent from my R800i using XDA App

I have 2.3.2 still.
But I am nervous about killing my warranty.

danieljamie said:
problem is you can't root 2.3.3
Sent from my R800i using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can now
Have a look in the Dev forum...

danieljamie said:
problem is you can't root 2.3.3
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Click to collapse
If your bootloader is unlocked you can install the rooted 2.3.3 rom which has been confirmed as being succesfully rooted http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1098736. If the bootloader is locked such as mine you are right and will have to wait for a rooting method to appear.
ncaissie said:
I have 2.3.2 still.
But I am nervous about killing my warranty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting does void it. But if you have a locked bootloader you can use SUES to reinstall the software without the root and not even SE would be able to tell.

Thats alright but I refuse to unlock my bootloader guess I have to wait and I'm stuck with bloatware lol

I see a lot about how to root and unlock the Bootloader but don't see anything on why. I know rooting gives you access to removing the bloat. What does unlocking do? And what can I do without restricting myself to one version of gingerbread for life? Like one guy said I don't know where to start.

Use the adb command to set the install location to memory card
adb pm setInstallLocation 2
It solves most of the issue, and gives the option to move 99% of it apps to sdcard. It also installs the future apps directly to the sdcard. Provided u must be on froyo or higher. Rooting or unrooting doesn't really matter with this.
Sent from my HTC Wildfire using XDA App

ncaissie said:
I see a lot about how to root and unlock the Bootloader but don't see anything on why. I know rooting gives you access to removing the bloat. What does unlocking do? And what can I do without restricting myself to one version of gingerbread for life? Like one guy said I don't know where to start.
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Click to collapse
Unlocking means that, when they get round to it, you can install your own custom roms that are specially themed and other improvements like overclocking the processor.
As you rightly said, rooting lets you remove the bloat, which is great. Also, unlocking means you can flash a rooted stock firmware. However I refuse to unlock my bootloader (YET).
You can wait for more sony ericsson updates, or wait for the android devs to make some cool custom ROM that we will eventually install (with unlocked bootloader).

AT&T S4 not 16gb internal?

Anyone else connect their phone to a PC and have the internal storage say 9.51GB and not 16GB? Does the phone use up over 6GB for the OS and stock apps? What gives?

highaltitude said:
Anyone else connect their phone to a PC and have the internal storage say 9.51GB and not 16GB? Does the phone use up over 6GB for the OS and stock apps? What gives?
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I show 9.62 available on mine. It is kind of odd, but they did add a TON of bloatware. Once we get root and can remove those apps, we should be able to recapture quite a bit back.

highaltitude said:
Anyone else connect their phone to a PC and have the internal storage say 9.51GB and not 16GB? Does the phone use up over 6GB for the OS and stock apps? What gives?
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Click to collapse
Could be like the HOX and have around 10 for whatever storage and 6 dedicated for app storage and software/rom
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app

Yeah...seems pretty typical for a phone. ..they arent lieing as they never said 16gb useable...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

Yeah mine shows 9.62 total space and 8.48 available after installing my apps from previous phone, kinda sucks but at least there is an SD slot.
I was curious so I checked my old Sprint GNEX 32GB, it also has a chunk missing, about 7.5GB missing, so it is similar.
It would be nice if they listed the missing space as Reserved or System etc. instead of not showing it.

Yup guys 16GB total internal. The ROM and software has to sit somewhere on there. And AT&T has added so much crap to it I'm not surprised. But thats what the SD card slot is for yeah?

The stock apps seem to use up at least 1GB, plus any data they have.
Unsure about the system, but even the system for CyanogenMod 10.1 seemed to be around 600-800MB with all cache/data included. With TouchWIZ on these phones and all the extra bloat, it wouldn't surprise me if there were at least another gig in there.

Aou said:
The stock apps seem to use up at least 1GB, plus any data they have.
Unsure about the system, but even the system for CyanogenMod 10.1 seemed to be around 600-800MB with all cache/data included. With TouchWIZ on these phones and all the extra bloat, it wouldn't surprise me if there were at least another gig in there.
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Click to collapse
Exactly. I heard the ROM file for the S4 was like 1.2 gigs or something like that. That's without cache and whatever else it needs to do.
I remember when I had the S3 the ROM file was like 800 megs for TW. And for AOSP it was like 250.

Even with a debloated rom its gonna be the same as the system partition is already set regardless of whats on it...just so you guys know of course it is posssiboe for a dev to tweak partition amounts...but they typically dont unless necessary
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

Q. How are you managing with 9gb free memory? Your feedback please

It seems the 16gb S4 is still the only option at the moment in the UK, I originally cancelled my order when I found out about the internal memory issue and the fact you can't save apps to the sd card. If you root some of my banking apps won't work, so that is not an option, not that apps work all the time properly on the sd card anyway. Also if you rent films from Googlr these cache in internal memory.
So for all you 16gb owners what is the internal memory space left , what have you installed and how much of an inconvenience is it, if at all. Please be honest, I just want to see what you can get on each of your S4's. Are any of you struggling already or believe you might.
Your help here will make me decide whether I just bite the bullet and compromise with the 16gb. Thanks in advance.

I've been a bit more careful than usual, not installed any of the big storage hog games, disabled Document Sync (which inexplicably tries to fill the internal storage with dropbox content), moved TomTom data to the SD card, and now have about 100 applications installed and 6Gb of space left. Not really a problem for me as yet, I'm using DiskUsage to monitor the situation. I'm also dithering about the One, but at the moment I'd rather have the 9Gb+64Gb SD card than the One's 25Gb. Might change if I have problems later and the One gets a 64Gb variant.

Thanks for feedback. One of my friends has only 2.5gb free now and hasn't installed any of his fav games. No room if he tried.
Anybody else got feedback.

it's kind of dumb that it has this amazing quad core processor and one of the best phone gpu's around and yet, you cant even install all the best games on it... lol

I think a potential cure will be for android itself to have a proper api to utilize external SD for heavy resources like those in the obb folder.
Unfortunately I don't think google will support this since they have been on a no SD card agenda for quite a while now.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Xparent Skyblue Tapatalk 2

fade2green514 said:
it's kind of dumb that it has this amazing quad core processor and one of the best phone gpu's around and yet, you cant even install all the best games on it... lol
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Click to collapse
Just give it a week or 2 and you will have some nice xda devs throwing solutions at us
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

Rooting isn't the cure. I know for a fact that some of the banking apps won't work with a rooted device. Also, internal memory functions better so don't mind all apps being there but really need a bigger memory to start off with.

how to disable document sync?

DocumentSync is solved see : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2261385

gavinfabl said:
Rooting isn't the cure. I know for a fact that some of the banking apps won't work with a rooted device. Also, internal memory functions better so don't mind all apps being there but really need a bigger memory to start off with.
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Click to collapse
get the one ...
Sent from my Inspire 4G using xda app-developers app

oik01 said:
get the one ...
Sent from my Inspire 4G using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
I have but I want a S4 as well but one that is sufficient
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

Markuzy said:
I think a potential cure will be for android itself to have a proper api to utilize external SD for heavy resources like those in the obb folder.
Unfortunately I don't think google will support this since they have been on a no SD card agenda for quite a while now.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Xparent Skyblue Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We might see something because of that Google edition s4...
Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2

I am managing quite well, this is with around a 100 different apps, varying in size. With Spotify playlist download of a 100 songs. I will be happy when Samsung will fix this issue.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda app-developers app

For me the 9Gb of storage is enough i don't generally game on my phone, and only install what i use, music, vids & pictures all go onto my SD card.
But i think the S4 should have launched at 32Gb this time around, back in the day the S1 launched with 8Gb, when the S2 came it was bumped upto 16Gb at launch
I think the easiest option really would be for Samsung to come up with a way to allow you to save apps to SD card, even though Jellybean doesn't have this feature.
I do think though when the S5 arrives next year 32Gb will be standard, with options of 64Gb & 128Gb to.

I don't have any problems... Lots of apps and a few games installed... Batman, GTA, mini motor... I don't have much time to play but nice with the opportunity
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda app-developers app

Very well as I installed foldermount and folder downloader so Dropbox and games are stored in the external so got plenty of space left for apps. Also INT2EXT will be fixed soon for the s4
Swyped from another galaxy

skivnit said:
Very well as I installed foldermount and folder downloader so Dropbox and games are stored in the external so got plenty of space left for apps. Also INT2EXT will be fixed soon for the s4
Swyped from another galaxy
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Agree! FolderMount is great for this phone.
Sendt fra SGS4

Doesn't bother me at all as I don't game on my phone. If you're a gamer then it might sting a little but apart from that music is via google play and photos in the 32 gig SD card

I store my ROM and app backups on my external SD (32 GB G-Skill class 6).

[Q] Available Internal Storage on S4

So I just got my hands on an i9500 Octa Galaxy S4.
I'm generally happy with my purchase except for one thing - the storage available to me for apps and games on the device itself.
Right now - I'm seeing about 8.82GB total storage out of which I have about just over 6GB free. That's just shocking !!!
This is supposed to be a 16GB device and I would have expected to see alot more than this. I understand that the other 7GB is taken up by Samsung's own bloat.
This might be a stupid question but is there any way that some of this 7GB can be recovered and used for installing apps etc. I mean, even my old S3 has over 11GB available to the end user.
Yes - I know I have the option of getting an SD card and using an app like Link2SD to move some the existing bloat off internal storage. However, when a device is advertised as having 16GB then it sure as hell should have close to what was advertised.
I really hate the fact how Samsung have marketed this to the general public - especially considering it's their flagship device.
Sorry if this has been asked already but I did do quick search and couldn't find anything on the subject.

mzaslam said:
So I just got my hands on an i9500 Octa Galaxy S4.
I'm generally happy with my purchase except for one thing - the storage available to me for apps and games on the device itself.
Right now - I'm seeing about 8.82GB total storage out of which I have about just over 6GB free. That's just shocking !!!
This is supposed to be a 16GB device and I would have expected to see alot more than this. I understand that the other 7GB is taken up by Samsung's own bloat.
This might be a stupid question but is there any way that some of this 7GB can be recovered and used for installing apps etc. I mean, even my old S3 has over 11GB available to the end user.
Yes - I know I have the option of getting an SD card and using an app like Link2SD to move some the existing bloat off internal storage. However, when a device is advertised as having 16GB then it sure as hell should have close to what was advertised.
I really hate the fact how Samsung have marketed this to the general public - especially considering it's their flagship device.
Sorry if this has been asked already but I did do quick search and couldn't find anything on the subject.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
That is your lot.
Samsung were a little reticent about how much the user could actually use.
Mine was about 9.5GB on an unbranded device.

Yes you can free up some space. Root it and then then download Titanium Backup and freeze (uninstall) every bloat you want
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app

Thin_Bezel said:
Yes you can free up some space. Root it and then then download Titanium Backup and freeze (uninstall) every bloat you want
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
That will only free up space in /system though. You would have to repartition to make use of it for other things.

JihadSquad said:
That will only free up space in /system though. You would have to repartition to make use of it for other things.
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Click to collapse
Yes - that makes sense. So the next question is, how feasible is this, if at all ?
I expect that this "other" system partition is hidden and protected. So can we access it and if so, can we in effect, re-partition this storage for general purpose use ?

Galaxy S4 Space and Availability Questions

Hi
I am probably going to get a G54 soon and can't wait! But I have two questions before I take the plunge:
1) How much space is available on the 16gb version after removing all the bloatwave via root? This is a major concern for me in the chance there is not a white 32gb version because of the 9gb only available
2) Does anyone know if there are any plans for a White 32gb version to be released? I only see the black version available and I prefer the white version.
Thanks to anyone that can help and I hope all of you are enjoying your GS4's!

I have the same question... would love to know the answer! Thanks
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda app-developers app

I've said it many times in many threads....debloating will not give you any use able space
-All the "bloat" is located in the system partition.
-the size of the partition is set to a certain amount, for our case it leaves us with about 9gb
-yes debloating will free space in the system partition, but its not going to change the size of the actual partition. Not to mention the system partition space is unusable for the user, it is there primarily for system/root purposes
-we will need Devs to change partition layouts if we want more free space
Sent from my SGH-I997 using Tapatalk 2

Ah okay, I guess I'm stuck waiting for a possible white 32gb version...

Just get a 32gb sd card. I don't know why people need 32gb internally. I have 2000 songs, videos etc... I still have 5gb free internally and 90 apps installed.
Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk 2

Brava27 said:
Just get a 32gb sd card. I don't know why people need 32gb internally. I have 2000 songs, videos etc... I still have 5gb free internally and 90 apps installed.
Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk 2
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Don't the apps download extra information that can slow them down if all that information is moved to the SD Card? The main two that have information like that for me are GroupMe and Facebook. Because for some reason on my iPhone my GroupMe app, among others, has data saved on my phone that boosted it's size from like 30mb to 600mb which I am sure is local data the app saves on my phone. So its a concern for me if the limited space on the 16gb is taken up by things like that. Also, is it possible to automatically save recorded videos and photos to the SD card? I know music can be played directly off of it but not sure about those two.