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Apps live in 256M internal memory only. Your thoughts?

D

dep

Newbie
It was too bad to hear about the fact that the Applications live and function within the Droid's 256M of internal memory instead of utilizing all of the micro-SD space that the phone can have.

This really hurts the Droid's ability to compete with the iPhone on things like handheld gaming since programs have to stay very small in order to not take up all your phone's space. Games can get quite large.

I had an old Palm V back in the day, and I do recall being able to eventually run applications off of the SD card. This was nice.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you think there will be apps that allow Droid to run apps off of the SD card?

dep
 
It was too bad to hear about the fact that the Applications live and function within the Droid's 256M of internal memory instead of utilizing all of the micro-SD space that the phone can have.
Click to expand...
Only the executable itself has to fit within the 256MB. All of the associated artwork and sounds (which make up the bulk of space for most games) can be offloaded to the SD card.
 
dep said:
It was too bad to hear about the fact that the Applications live and function within the Droid's 256M of internal memory instead of utilizing all of the micro-SD space that the phone can have.

This really hurts the Droid's ability to compete with the iPhone on things like handheld gaming since programs have to stay very small in order to not take up all your phone's space. Games can get quite large.

I had an old Palm V back in the day, and I do recall being able to eventually run applications off of the SD card. This was nice.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you think there will be apps that allow Droid to run apps off of the SD card?

dep
Click to expand...

My thoughts?

This is a bunch of FUD. If you haven't heard of FUD, it means Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. It is a tactic used in the technologically industry frequently.

Android does not have the limitation the iPhone has of requiring everything for the app to be stored on the internal memory. Only a small executable file is required to be stored on the internal memory; the graphics, audio, and other large files get stored to the SD card. It is not a problem to install hundreds of graphics intensive applications. Since the SD card can be changed out and upgraded, this makes it much more flexible than the iPhone, where you are limited to the total amount of space you purchased with the phone and can never upgrade it. Of course, Apple will be happy to sell you a whole new phone just to change out the amount of memory inside.

There are good and bad to each approach, and I much prefer the way Android handles it.

Also, please read the article here at phandroid regarding the new development coming out for Android. I listed the basics of what it will do below. Click here for the full article: Google: “ISO Developers for App2SD” | Android Phone Fans

1) totally obsolete current hacker apps2sd approaches by allowing actual sdcard removal from device.
2) ultimately ship with devices stock (when in a state where it is easy to use, stable, and at least as secure for non-root users as internal storage currently is).
3) keep application data on the same device as the actual application with no side-effects (like internal apps being broken while waiting for second partition to mount).
4) allow MULTIPLE sdcards containing apps to be swapped on the same device.
5) allow sdcard containing apps to be swapped between DIFFERENT devices.
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The Dictionary app is a good example of this in action. The dictionary data file is big and sits on SD; the app itself executes as a normal app using the data file on SD.
 
Nepherim said:
The Dictionary app is a good example of this in action. The dictionary data file is big and sits on SD; the app itself executes as a normal app using the data file on SD.
Click to expand...

Off-topic, but why would you want a dictionary app that stores the DB on your device? Why not just look it up over 3g on some sort of virtualized data source?
 
There are plenty of situations where you've got no service and no wifi - in older buildings for example. That's one situation where having the ability to do something offline helps. I've got plenty of apps that function well with zero connectivity, so whenever I'm in that situation I won't be sitting bored with a brick in my hands.
 
dep said:
automagically? or the developer has to maintain that?
don't JAR files typically package everything?
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The developer decides what goes on the SD card. I am not a developer, so I cannot comment regarding jar files. You may want to read through the Android page on data storage to get a better idea.
Data Storage | Android Developers

Files
You can store files directly on the mobile device or on a removable storage medium. By default, other applications cannot access these files.
Click to expand...
 
Here's an example. I downloaded an app called CPR-Choking that has videos that show tecniques for administering CPR or helping someone who is choking.

It put 4MB of video on my SD card - not in main memory.

I have over 40 apps on my phone (including the stock apps) and I still have 199MB free, so I'm not worried about storage space.
 
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