Cell Phone apps and memory

[Dave Lehnert]

Kinda new to smart phones.
I searched on line and answers are all over the place. Tech guys are like if you don't have a $1,000 phone its not worth having.

What size would you consider minimum for memory on a smart phone? I do not use my phone as a computer replacement. I use prepaid cell service if that give you an idea how little I use one compared to some people. Seems like EVERYTHING requires an App. Go to the store, you need an app for special coupons etc....Right now I use a phone with only 8gb. It always says "memory getting low"

I started to set up a basic smart home to make things easier for my mom. I quickly found out that to set up my smart plug, you guessed it, I need an app. Keep in mind I don't need the app to use it. If I don't keep in the same brand of smart home hardware you need an app for each brand.

The reason I ask for the minimum. I prefer to buy a cheaper phone and just replace when needed. The one i'm looking at is 16gb

[Flamone LaChaud]

I went about my smartphone the same way I went about getting my desktop computer - get the best you can get for the price point you're willing to spend at the time . . . and then manage. Two years ago I bought an unlocked Motorola X w/64gb of memory, think it cost me between 225 and 240. Got a Tracfone SIMM card for another 15 . . . and I'm still using it today with no issues. For all the pictures and videos and whatnot that seems to keep getting taken I put in an external memory card to add another 128gb of storage. However, I'm also vicious about not allowing any apps on the phone that I won't actually use - and if I don't use them for a while they get deleted.
There's two actual issues in play here - the first is system memory, the actual amount of processing memory that the phone uses to function - the second is storage memory on the phone itself (because most apps do not want to be moved or run from an external memory card - best you can do is put their cache and/or storage there, but the main app itself will stay on the phone side of the fence).

Keep in mind I'm no millennial, and as such do not have my phone surgically attached to my body.

[Lee Schierer]

Get what you feel you can afford, you don't need the latest thing that came out of the factories.

Every body wants you to use their apps and on Samsung phones, apps only install on internal memory so adding a huge SD card does not give you more space for apps. What I do is: If I need an app I load it use it and then remove it if I'm not using it anymore. Remember every app you load wants to run in the background and that activity will use up your battery faster and faster with each app you ave installed. The same with many apps that come installed on your phone in the first place I don't use Facebook, or Twitter or any other social app so they get nuked as soon as I get a new phone. If you leave apps open on your phone they continue doing what they do and slow down everything else that is running and eat battery life.

Also your Email continues to store emails unless you routinely delete them and remember to empty the trash. People take lots of photos, make sure they are being stored on your SD card, not internal memory.

I have a Samsung Galaxy J3 and it does everything I need it to do and I get 2 to 3 days of battery life between charges.

[Mike Henderson]

Get one with 64GB of memory.

Mike

[Jim Becker]

The answer to your question revolves around your actual use of the device. Many apps use very little memory but that's not true for all. For example...my iPhone has a large chunk of my music library on it because I listen to it while traveling. Yes, it's not necessary to have it all local because my plan is "unlimited" relative to bandwidth, but should I get on a plane, I want the music there to listen to locally since streaming isn't possible/practical while flying. It's merely a personal preference. However, because I delineate what portion of my music library is available locally, I can control memory usage for storage and that allows me to "get away with" a 64GB device. iOS also can unload applications from memory that are not often used and bring them back if one wants to access them later. I'm not an Android guy, but there may be a similar feature in that OS, too....I don't know.

As to actual devices, if I were forced to move to Android, it would be the Google Pixel (whatever the current version is) because it's pure Android. They are priced nicely. A current generation Samsung would be my second choice in that scenario. But I'm a LONG time iPhone user and don't anticipate ever jumping ship. My current device was indeed expensive (XS-Max) even with a corporate discount and a trade-in, but I thoroughly enjoy it and use it constantly during the day and evening for staying in touch and social media. (most of my browsing/forum use is via my computer, however, unless I'm traveling) If my use was more incidental, than a less-than-top-of-the-line device would certainly be a better financial choice.

[Gary Ragatz]

My current phone is an LG Stylo2, purchased almost three years ago for $150. It says it has 16GB of memory and about 4.5GB "available." It says apps are using 4.3GB, images are using about 1GB and "system data" (whatever that is) is using just under 6GB.

I don't play music on the phone, I don't watch videos on the phone. I use the camera once or twice a month. I occasionally use the web browser when I'm away from home, but mostly I use it for email, texting (mostly my wife) and the occasional voice call.

My phone came with probably 40 apps pre-installed, many of which I never use. I think the only apps I've added are Outlook (for easy compatibility with my former employer's email system), a weather app, and an app to control a set of wireless speakers I use to stream satellite radio at home.

If you're getting "low memory" messages on your 8GB unit, but you're not actually running out, my guess is that you'd be fine with 16GB.

[Kev Williams]

The wife got me a 'starter' smart phone last xmas, LG Rebel Trac phone. I've never needed a smart phone, never wanted one, and this phone proved that to me on all fronts. First thing it wanted me do to is connect to google everything. Took the wife and stepson 3 days to figure out how to get rid of the google popups. But nobody's been able to stop every other app's popup on the planet that shows up every single time I enter my password to log on to call the wife- which is the absolute only thing I do with it, or NEED to do with it. Most popups now don't have an X button to kill it, and I can't use the phone till the app's gone. And the final insult is when the wife calls ME, like last night, I can't answer the call, phone says 'swipe answer button in any direction'. Nope. No button swiping, pushing, tapping, finger-thumping, yelling did anything, nothing worked. Phone just kept ringing. And with all the cellphone robo, scam and sales calls, well- this thing is as useless to me as box of padlocks with no keys. If I'd spent MY money on the thing, it would've been laser test fodder long ago. But since it was a gift, I endure the utter frustration and keep trying.

And FWIW, trying to get the wife's Iphone 8 to do anything I want doesn't work either. I've tried online shopping on her phone, what a joke. How does anyone have the patience for that? My computer with a 32" monitor, much easier, and faster...

I just want my old LG flip phone back. It's a great phone, and does texts. All I need...

[Jim Becker]

Kev, if you want a flip-phone type phone, they are still available...not many choices, but available.

[Jerome Stanek]

Even Tracfone has flip phones

[Lee Schierer]

The wife got me a 'starter' smart phone last xmas, LG Rebel Trac phone. I've never needed a smart phone, never wanted one, and this phone proved that to me on all fronts. First thing it wanted me do to is connect to google everything. Took the wife and stepson 3 days to figure out how to get rid of the google popups. But nobody's been able to stop every other app's popup on the planet that shows up every single time I enter my password to log on to call the wife- which is the absolute only thing I do with it, or NEED to do with it. Most popups now don't have an X button to kill it, and I can't use the phone till the app's gone. And the final insult is when the wife calls ME, like last night, I can't answer the call, phone says 'swipe answer button in any direction'. Nope. No button swiping, pushing, tapping, finger-thumping, yelling did anything, nothing worked. Phone just kept ringing. And with all the cellphone robo, scam and sales calls, well- this thing is as useless to me as box of padlocks with no keys. If I'd spent MY money on the thing, it would've been laser test fodder long ago. But since it was a gift, I endure the utter frustration and keep trying.

And FWIW, trying to get the wife's Iphone 8 to do anything I want doesn't work either. I've tried online shopping on her phone, what a joke. How does anyone have the patience for that? My computer with a 32" monitor, much easier, and faster...

I just want my old LG flip phone back. It's a great phone, and does texts. All I need...

There are ways to turn off almost all notifications and popups, one of which is to uninstall the app. Figure out which apps you use and then get someone to either force stop or uninstall the ones you never use.

[Lee DeRaud]

I have a Samsung Galaxy J3 and it does everything I need it to do and I get 2 to 3 days of battery life between charges.Yup. It's what I call an "80/20" widget: 80% of the functionality at 20% of the cost. Mine's three years old now...I stuffed a 64GB SD card in at the beginning and have never even considered needing more.

My only beef with it is that Samsung is brutally slow about releasing Android updates, so when I google how to do something obscure with it, the descriptions are almost always for a newer version with different menu options.

[Curt Harms]

I bought an unlocked phone recently. Little of the 'shovelware' of carrier sponsored phones, what's there I use most of. There is a program called "android one" that as I understand it guarantees updates for at least 2 years. I cannot see a phone replacing a PC/laptop, a 12" screen is none too big, I can't imagine doing much of significance with a 6" screen.

[Tim Milligan]

I noticed that xiaomi phones are very cheap. I've seen one with 64 gigabytes of memory for very little money. If you do not care what kind of phone, you'll like xiaomi or Huawei.