Cut down your android phone memory usage with 1 weird old tip.
October 14, 2013 11:59 AM Subscribe
Please help me free up RAM on my Android Froyo (2.2.1) phone.
I have an LG Optimus V VM 670 running Android Froyo (2.2.1) Yes, it's old, but it's good enough and so long as I keep it, I keep a really good rate that was locked in when I got it.
But it's only got 160MB of RAM, and it's increasingly a struggle to keep space free. I've moved every app I can to the SD card (but it comes with a bunch of stupid stuff that anti-socially refuses to budge.)
So can anyone recommend one or more of:
A sophisticated memory management program that can tell me exactly where the memory is being consumed and (I hope) how I might offload more of it to the SD card
A means of deleting or moving the stupid stuff that won't budge, short of rooting the phone
A recommended means of rooting it (I could and ultimately maybe will do this, but I haven't put the effort into figuring out what the implications and potential pitfalls are in terms of bricking the phone or being unable to use existing apps)
thanks.
I have an LG Optimus V VM 670 running Android Froyo (2.2.1) Yes, it's old, but it's good enough and so long as I keep it, I keep a really good rate that was locked in when I got it.
But it's only got 160MB of RAM, and it's increasingly a struggle to keep space free. I've moved every app I can to the SD card (but it comes with a bunch of stupid stuff that anti-socially refuses to budge.)
So can anyone recommend one or more of:
A sophisticated memory management program that can tell me exactly where the memory is being consumed and (I hope) how I might offload more of it to the SD card
A means of deleting or moving the stupid stuff that won't budge, short of rooting the phone
A recommended means of rooting it (I could and ultimately maybe will do this, but I haven't put the effort into figuring out what the implications and potential pitfalls are in terms of bricking the phone or being unable to use existing apps)
thanks.
Your question is unclear - are you concerned about internal storage for apps (ROM) or memory (RAM)?
posted by turkeyphant at 12:41 PM on October 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by turkeyphant at 12:41 PM on October 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: This is a one-click root for the LG Optimus V. At this point, the odds of you bricking it or somehow losing access to existing apps are nil--I've rooted literally dozens of phones, and the one-click root is relatively foolproof. The worst thing I've had happen was having to forcibly restart my phone and then run root a second time when it started hanging, and I suspect that had I waited a while, it would've resolved itself. (But I am impatient, and I want my things rooted now, damnit...)
Once you've rooted it, Root App Delete or Titanium Backup will allow you to remove the unwanted apps. You could also consider installing a custom ROM, which is (generally) pretty easy, and usually eliminates the unwanted bloat.
posted by MeghanC at 12:58 PM on October 14, 2013
Once you've rooted it, Root App Delete or Titanium Backup will allow you to remove the unwanted apps. You could also consider installing a custom ROM, which is (generally) pretty easy, and usually eliminates the unwanted bloat.
posted by MeghanC at 12:58 PM on October 14, 2013
Do the root, well worth it on that phone considering it has enough support for the community.
The great part is the developers have been working tirelessly upgrading it to Jellybean.(4.3)
There are already roms for gingerbread/ics which means better system performances
posted by radsqd at 1:12 PM on October 14, 2013
The great part is the developers have been working tirelessly upgrading it to Jellybean.(4.3)
There are already roms for gingerbread/ics which means better system performances
posted by radsqd at 1:12 PM on October 14, 2013
Your question is unclear - are you concerned about internal storage for apps (ROM) or memory (RAM)?
From the context given in the rest of the question, he's talking about internal app storage.
My dad has this phone, and he's been having the same issue. He's a Yahoo mail user, so one thing that helped is moving him off the Android mail app (which was storing his mail on the internal memory) to the Yahoo mail app (which keeps the mail on Yahoo's servers).
To generalize from this example, don't just look at the app size. Make sure none of your apps are storing lots of data on the phone.
posted by zixyer at 1:43 PM on October 14, 2013
From the context given in the rest of the question, he's talking about internal app storage.
My dad has this phone, and he's been having the same issue. He's a Yahoo mail user, so one thing that helped is moving him off the Android mail app (which was storing his mail on the internal memory) to the Yahoo mail app (which keeps the mail on Yahoo's servers).
To generalize from this example, don't just look at the app size. Make sure none of your apps are storing lots of data on the phone.
posted by zixyer at 1:43 PM on October 14, 2013
Link2SD will move things to the SD card for you, and can be set up to automatically install things on the SD card if you want it to. Also, use it to clear the Dalvik cache. I cleared up about 30mb of space by doing this and haven't noticed any other difference.
Root App Delete will let you shift pretty much anything off your phone, including things that are necessary for your phone to actually run. Be careful unless you know what you're doing.
posted by Solomon at 1:51 PM on October 14, 2013
Root App Delete will let you shift pretty much anything off your phone, including things that are necessary for your phone to actually run. Be careful unless you know what you're doing.
posted by Solomon at 1:51 PM on October 14, 2013
Response by poster: Your question is unclear - are you concerned about internal storage for apps (ROM) or memory (RAM)?
Clearly, smartphones make me stupid. I'm talking about its 160MB of internal "disk", not RAM.
The verdict is in; a-rooting I shall go. thanks, folks.
posted by Zed at 2:17 PM on October 14, 2013
Clearly, smartphones make me stupid. I'm talking about its 160MB of internal "disk", not RAM.
The verdict is in; a-rooting I shall go. thanks, folks.
posted by Zed at 2:17 PM on October 14, 2013
One point, rooting, which is pretty easy, will let you delete the crapware and reduce the dreaded "Phone storage low" messages. Flashing a new ROM takes a lot more technical work but will give you much better performance, since the Android system improved so much between 2.2 and 2.3. One other note, check whether those Ice Cream Sandwich ROMs are working well; last I looked the performance and stability was not as good as Gingerbread.
posted by wnissen at 7:03 AM on October 15, 2013
posted by wnissen at 7:03 AM on October 15, 2013
Response by poster: Took me a while, but I finally rooted my phone and installed Mirage 2.3.7, a derivative of Cyanogen. Now I have a ton of free space. thanks, folks.
posted by Zed at 2:01 PM on February 9, 2014
posted by Zed at 2:01 PM on February 9, 2014
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The good news is with Gingerbread it's a pretty decent phone. Not fast, by any means, but at least useable. You won't believe the difference.
posted by wnissen at 12:09 PM on October 14, 2013 [2 favorites]