Sunday, September 21, 2014

Memory Allocation & Managing Applications on Android

This post is about Internal Flash Memory Allocation and Managing Applications on Android Devices. Though I did research on my new tablet this post would apply to any Android device.

NOTE: There is a Update Firmware available that will increase application memory.

Memory Allocation

This device has 16Gb of Internal Memory.

Partitions (Memory areas)
System:1Gb (0.8Gb used)
Application:1Gb
Data: 12.3Gb (emulating a SD Card)

What is a Partition? You have Flash Drive which is 16Gb. You split it up into smaller logical drives. In this case you have a 1Gb partition for the system, a 1Gb partition for applications and a 12.3Gb partition for data. This looks like 3 Flash Drives.

Newer versions of Android are capable of using the whole 16Gb without partitions but when you connect the device to a computer then the computer will not see a 12.3Gb SD Card for data. A PC will not mount the device as a Drive.

There is also a microSD card slot that will take up to a 64Gb card. I have a 32Gb card in mine. Android will already have a bunch of google apps that are placed in the application partition. Updating them will take up even more room. Then there are a couple of apps included on the Nextbook or other devices which you may or may not want. This leaves little room to install your own apps.

What I would want. I would like to bring the Data Partition down to the 10Gbs and make the Application Partition 3.7Gbs. I would also have a microSD card too.

Managing Applications (Parts A and B)

Get a app like Clean Master to help you out. I highly recommend this application. You need to keep a couple of hundred megabytes open of Application Memory to do stuff with. For some it is tight.

Part A - Pre-Installed Apps

Pre-installed Apps come with your device. Most of them cannot be Uninstalled but there are still things you can do.

Using Clean Master go to App Manager - Uninstall then scroll down to Pre-installed apps. Some of these you may never use. Clean Master will tell you if what you are doing is safe and explain the effect of doing it. Things like Google+, Google Play Newsstand, Face Unlock, Play Games, VoiceCommand, Magic Smoke Wallpapers and more may be of no use. Hit Disable and Clean Master will take you to Setting-App Info for that app.

In Setting-App Info you can do 4 things. 1-Uninstall updates which usually makes the application smaller. 2-Clear data so any extra data for that app is deleted. 3-Clear Cache 4-Disable so the system does not have to deal with that app anymore.

Part B - Adding Apps

Some applications can move a part of themselves to Data Memory and some don't. The ones that can be moved will take up less space in the Application Memory. However all apps will take some space in the Application Memory. Also moving some of a app to Data Memory will probably make that app a little slower and the total memory (Application and Data) the app uses will be greater. But the Application Memory is what is important.

In Setting-App Info you can Move to internal storage which will put some of the app into Data Memory. Not all of the app can be moved. The size of the app left in Application Memory is shown as App below the Total.

Do I have to say - try to take up as little Application Memory as possible. It is kind of like a crazy game of install app - is app ok? - if not then uninstall app.

Examples for NX700QC16A

Vudu and Flixster do the same thing if you only have ultraviolet movies. Vudu is 3 times bigger than Flixster and none of it can be moved to Data Memory. Flixster is much smaller and some of it can be moved to Data Memory. So get rid of Vudu and just use Flixster. Of if you are not into ultraviolet movies then uninstall both.

Do you need Net Nanny or Nook? If not then uninstall them.

Other things you can do

Pressure manufacturers to give more Application Memory. Maybe they can have a setup app for your device where you define the size of Application Memory and Data Memory.

Root your device. Probably voids warranty. Tricky. Do lots of research. Hopefully someone does your kind of device and writes about it before hand. You are on your own. But you can make the device the way you want.


2 comments:

  1. Has anyone tried running the executable on Windows 8 (or 8.1) in compatibility mode for Windows 7?

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    1. Someone else found a solution to the windows 8 problem. Check out http://nextbook7.blogspot.com/2014/12/how-to-install-nextbook7-nx700qc16g-usb.html

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