Thoughts on a new mobile.

[ninthace]

I have just put down the deposit on a new car to replace my aging but faithful motor. The new one is a gadget ridden plug in hybrid which means on a long trip I might need to know where the nearest appropriate charging points are so I will probably need a suite of phone apps to find and pay for my electric. The new car will also talk to my phone via the manufacturer’s app and has wireless phone charging.
The snag is that, despite having a decent SD card and judicious use of the application manager, my Samsung J5’s memory is virtually maxed out by ViewRanger, the OS app, parking other apps that insist on using the internal memory.  I need a replacement phone with a decent memory that which will support my walking apps and have space for a few more apps besides, ideally with wireless charging as well.  I make very few calls and messages so to date I have bought my phones outright and used a pay-as-you-go plan rather than a contract
The car is iOS and Android compatible, any suggestions?

[sussamb]

ViewRanger is mostly map files that you can run from the SD card, do you already have the map files there?  If not that should free up a fair bit of space.

[jimbob]

What Sussamb said. Get a card. Cheaper than a new phone. Other apps that use storage space can have their needs switched to the card also.
I am with 3phone and find that if I have any problems with new apps (within limits) , the staff in the local shop are ever so helpful.   They fitted the card and showed me how to divert most storage onto that rather than using the phones own RAM memory space. Result, plenty of space at a fraction of the cost of a new phone. I' m sure the staff at other phone suppliers shops are just as capable.

[ninthace]

ViewRanger is mostly map files that you can run from the SD card, do you already have the map files there?  If not that should free up a fair bit of space.

Did that ages ago. I have been through the Application Manager app by app and anything that can use the SD card for storage already does. I also run the Storage Manager often and clear out chats and images weekly.
My phone has a total of 8GB of storage and only has 712 MB left. The SD card has 120GB but has only used 1.93 GB. The only other option is to start deleting apps

[gunwharfman]

My wife and a similar gadget and app ridden car, totally ridiculous at times and we both think potentially very dangerous as well. My wife refuses to get involved with any of it.  As she says "What is the point of it all?" My suggestion is that the manufacures can increase the prices by claiming the new technology will benefit you in all sorts of ways and the dealers will offer you wonderous stories of what the car can do for you, you knowing you can now own your own space ship and so on. Its a car, rusting metal on four rubber tyres!

With your present phone can you buy a bigger capacity SD card? Thats what I did with my Motorola. It transformed it. The problem seems to be today that the manufacturers seem to be boxing people in, batteries that cannot be changed, phones that do not accept SD cards, no way of securing the phone to your wrist any more and loads of obvious bloatware.

My phones are always Android but I always make sure that I always buy a 2 x SIM card mobile phone. One SIM is for my phone calls, the other is for my internet, or if I'm abroad I can just slip in a local SIM card.

[ninthace]

I find that part of my problem is bloat caused by successive operating system upgrades - it is 4-5 year old model and was a low level entry smartphone - the cheapest that Tesco sold.  A lot of the apps insist on using the phone memory and apart from my parking and navigating apps, will not use the SD card I added, hence why it is virtually empty. Most of VR lives on the SD card as do the the OS offline maps.


I'm hoping my new car won't rust - it is mostly made of Koreaium and plastic with an awesomely long warranty.   To be fair, many of the gadgets are to stop it running into things/people while saving the planet.

[GnP]

I bought a phone a year ago and it is always telling me it is low on memory even though I have installed an SD card..I have done what you did ninthace and found that most of the preinstalled apps cannot be moved onto the SD card..try as I might. I often think it is done on purpose for the sole aim of built in obsolescence over a very short time.
I find that any phones with a bigger internal memory are very expensive indeed. It appears that the Apple i phones have mostly 128GB of memory as standard...but look at their prices, & of course are not Android.
Its a problem finding a decent android with a large storage. I read recently that it makes sense to try and get an Android phone with at least 64 GB of internal storage. So maybe it`s googling time to try and find some.? Not sure there are many...?

[gunwharfman]

My phone has 64GB, more than enough for my needs, its a Chinese Xioami. Really good, very fast and the battery lasts quite well, for a whole day anyway. I may sure that at all times that my phone is using the minimum of power, I have a button that I press that does this for me. My son tells me that my phone is as fast as his Iphone, not that this bothers me, but my phone was more than half the cost of his!

I just Googled in 'best 2 SIM Android phones' and bought from there. The OnePlus 6T phone seems to be highly regarded.

[gunwharfman]

I saw this today and thought of you.

https://www.expertreviews.co.uk/xiaomi/1408878/xiaomi-mi-9-review

[lostme1]

I saw this today and thought of you.

https://www.expertreviews.co.uk/xiaomi/1408878/xiaomi-mi-9-review

That's an eye watering price.

[ninthace]

That's an eye watering price.

Does it include Chinese Intelligence as a copy addressee to all calls too?

[jimbob]

Does it include Chinese Intelligence as a copy addressee to all calls too?

Why should the CIA be the only ones?

[gunwharfman]

Maybe these might be of interst?

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjA0rCw1JDhAhU6ShUIHU7aB0cQFjACegQIDhAM&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.techadvisor.co.uk%2Ftest-centre%2Fmobile-phone%2Fdual-sim-phones-3511526%2F&usg=AOvVaw3_8JK-cd9U-8gwu3NI-zfd

[Hillhiker1]

I've been following this thread with interest as I'm EXACTLY the same position as the OP. I looked at GWM's post and thought "450 QUID FOR A PHONE?"
Last night I was on amazon, and I've gone for the much more humanely priced Samsung J6;


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Galaxy-SIM-Free-Smartphone-Version-Black/dp/B07FJ36KLG/ref=sr_1_5?s=telephone&ie=UTF8&qid=1553083610&sr=1-5&keywords=samsung+mobile+phone

[gunwharfman]

Did I read or hear somewhere that loads of people are still paying their monthly contract and the phone comanies are not letting on when your phone has been paid for? As I'm a PAYG man, does part of a contract pay off the retail cost of your phone and then it becomes your personal property?