Android and the myth of internal storage

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.

So what actually you want to say here? What's the myth?

That 8 GB.

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.

sksundram said:
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.

The manufacturer isn't going to give you a secret partition where the OS is installed.

Insert a 16 or 32GB SD card & enjoy with your phone.... That's a great phone man, be happy

Luffy said:
The manufacturer isn't going to give you a secret partition where the OS is installed.

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.

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.

True, but those golden days are gone.

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

anupam_pb said:
Insert a 16 or 32GB SD card & enjoy with your phone.... That's a great phone man, be happy

I have a 32 GB card. But what is the point if I cannot make use of it!

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

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)

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

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)

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!

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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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.

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...

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...

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

R

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..

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...

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

I suppose a day will come when some manufacturer will add all the cloud storage too and claim it as phone memory.

sling-shot said:
I suppose a day will come when some manufacturer will add all the cloud storage too and claim it as phone memory.

Apple does this already

sling-shot said:
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

So I presume you dont want to root your phone?

The most annoying part is what you mentioned about the system apps updating. Instead of replacing the original files, they just add another file.

If I root it, then my warranty will be suspect. Further once I root it I am sure I would do all the shenanigans described by me earlier and might end up not getting an update.

I would rather wait until the end of warranty at least.

This particular phone seems to be not so much repairable and I would not like to end up with an expensive paperweight in case of any technical fault.

Sling-shot, Sony will dishonor your warranty only in the case you unlock the bootloader. Rooting doesn't affect your warranty

And nor will you "not get updates" after you root. Rooting will only give you all the benefits and no "side effects" at least when it comes to Sony Xperia :wink:

Ok. The language regarding that was a bit grey for me. I did not want to take a risk ;-)

sling-shot said:
Ok. The language regarding that was a bit grey for me. I did not want to take a risk

I was quite like you before I rooted my phone using DoomLord's script and recently unlocked the bootloader of my EOL Xperia P

Well, if you want to be in the comfort zone, wait till the warranty ends, or most of it..... But rooting in itself is actually harmless, and doesn't affect warranty (I have soft-bricked my phone at least thrice, and successfully repaired it, but that's another topic altogether

)

Enjoy stock for a while, before enjoying the freedom

^ Rooting is generally harmless @slingshot . The worst that can happen is a soft brick , which can be recovered. ( But only root as long as there are methods to bring back your phone to normal if bootloop or something similiar happens .)
Unlocking bootloader means , you're playing with the boot partitions. THis is where all the dangerous stuff happen. One mistake and you go the JTAG way.

I have read plenty of documentation regarding rooting.
And there is my experience of rooting the Live With Walkman and the exhilaration following.
So I am sure if I cross that bridge, there will be no looking back.

I run PCLinuxOS these days as my desktop OS. Just saying