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General discussionA quick discussion about smartphones(52 posts)(52 posts)
(52 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted January 13, 2016
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timppu: What I dislike about (at least Android) phones is that they always seem to run out of space. Whenever I check someone's phone, it usually can't install updates because there is too little free room on the device.
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mindblast: I personally don't have this problem, as i got used to cloud storage and i find it pretty useful. Having an Google Drive or Dropbox account where you can throw all the stuff you don't use daily, but that you need to be able to consult from time to time, it's great.
Well, apparently the phones I've seen and tried to fix were cheaper models that didn't have 16GB of internal memory, but much less than that. It wasn't necessarily photos and videos which were taking the room, but just having a few social apps and their cached files or such. I presume those can't be installed on the cloud, they need to exist locally on the device.

Also quite often those phones have some phone vendor specific crap apps installed as well (e.g. from Samsung), which take part of the space too. I am unsure if it is safe to try to uninstall them, or does the phone somehow rely on them too.

My (old) ASUS TF101 tablet has 16GB of internal memory (and also an external 32GB SD card installed), but I recall even there I have sometime run out of the internal storage, by simply having too many (bigger) Android games installed at the same time. After all, some Android games already take even several gigabytes per game, so 16GB will not last long. I use the external storage for any photos, videos and other stuff that doesn't necessarily need to be in the internal memory. Even Humble Bundle Android game installers (.apk), those which I couldn't install in the internal memory.

Relying more on the cloud is one solution that may somewhat alleviate the problem, but then the mobile internet connection is not always super-speedy, and there may be data caps too (e.g. the SIM on my work phone has laughably low data cap, I think the speed goes to very low speeds if I transfer more than 1GB per month; damn my cheapass employer. I easily go beyond that limit by simply browsing the web a bit.).
Post edited January 13, 2016 by timppu
Posted January 13, 2016
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dtgreene: Why not base it off something like the Raspberry Pi?
Mostly i'd want to see if the 8bit processor would do the job. Yes the Pi would be far stronger, and maybe cheaper since most of the components are already made on a board ready to go. Still begs the question if it would have worked.
Posted January 13, 2016
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timppu: I presume those can't be installed on the cloud, they need to exist locally on the device.
That's what the Nextbit Robin says it does. It identify the apps that you are rarely use, uninstall them automatically from your phone, but keeps their cache on the cloud. So, if it happens to need that app again, all you need to do it's to tap on it, it will re-download and it will be exactly the same as it was when you last used it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCFX5SKEHq0

It seems simple, it might be effective.
Posted January 13, 2016
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dtgreene: Why not base it off something like the Raspberry Pi?
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rtcvb32: Mostly i'd want to see if the 8bit processor would do the job. Yes the Pi would be far stronger, and maybe cheaper since most of the components are already made on a board ready to go. Still begs the question if it would have worked.
Maybe look into using something like an Arduino? It has less RAM than early microcomputers (only 2k SRAM and 1k EEPROM), but it could be good if you want the challenge. One issue will, of course, be managing the display; another will be handling the audio with such a weak processor and so little RAM, but you could still try and see what happens.
Posted January 13, 2016
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anothername: Smartphones, Tablets. While very common these days are still complicated high-tech gadgets with a gazillion of functions. They are not meant to be dropped and we can be thankful that they are durable enough to survive something like that sometimes. I dropped mine too once (the last time I trusted the belt clip) and lucked out. If it had been broken by that I would be the only one to blame.
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mindblast: That's what i'm trying to say, i don't think that you should be so much to blame if your MOBILE device breaks at a simple shock like that. That's the point with all these devices. You carry them around all the time. That's their point. You will drop them, you will wet them, they shouldn't crack if you drop them in the wrong angle.

It's all about confidence. I'm confident in my Kindle as much as i was in my Blackberry phone. I can drop this things, they are perfectly for using them outside your house. But with my smartphone, i need to be a little bit careful.

As a story, a while back, i was in a bar, had an Nokia 1100. one guy that i barely knew comes up to me, ask me if he can borrow my phone to give a phone call, i gave it to him, just to go search for him after a while as he didn't came back. It was gone, figured out he stole my phone, so i go to police, mostly because i wanted the contacts, as the phone was cheap.
Managed to identify him, as he was known as phone thief in their database, so we go at his apartment.
Now, when he saw the police, he thought to get rid of the "evidence", so he throw my phone on the window. He stayed at second floor and down it was concrete. Whatever, he said what he did, we found the phone in parts, battery, and back cover separated from the phone, i put them together, the phone was perfectly fine.

Now, of course, i'm not expecting a modern piece of technology to survive from an 2nd floor drop, but i think that expecting it to survive from a pocket-level drop it's not so crazy.
I own a Kyocera Brigadier, which is ruggedized to military specs. Guy at the store said "Wow, I almost never sell these!"

http://www.kyoceramobile.com/phones/#

Yeah, that's because the people who buy them are like me. We don't replace phones often (my previous phone, also ruggedized, is still being used by one of my kids, after I used it for 6 years), and we pay cash. Therefore, we buy ones that are less likely to break!
Posted January 13, 2016
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dtgreene: Maybe look into using something like an Arduino? It has less RAM than early microcomputers (only 2k SRAM and 1k EEPROM), but it could be good if you want the challenge. One issue will, of course, be managing the display; another will be handling the audio with such a weak processor and so little RAM, but you could still try and see what happens.
The display would probably be 1-2 lines, text only output. I'm not sure if 2k & 1k is enough, I'd probably go full blown at 64k (or 48kram and 8k ROM) and lower it once I'm satisfied the requirements could be less. Guess I could also look up microchips from Mouser, I know they had listings for fairly tiny chips that are 8 or 12bit processors and having very tiny programmable roms.
Posted January 13, 2016
I'm quite happy with my N73. We were in trouble for many times in many environments in the last almost 9 years, but we're still alive.
I'd change my phone only for N900 or N950 ; p
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionA quick discussion about smartphones(52 posts)(52 posts)
(52 posts)