Actually this makes me rather pleased with myself! I've had this G1 since Feb 2017 and it was a refurb then. Mid-2018 it slowed down and everyone I knew told me that's all the lifespan I should expect, but instead that's when I had a nose around the internet, found this forum and revived the phone. Spent time on it, but learning is never wasted and is almost always a pleasure, and I enjoy spending time far more than I enjoy spending money. I inherited the G2 in Feb 2018 and kept it as a spare (and have taken it out of the drawer now only because the G1 became unreliable with alarms/notifications - not much point when a 6am alarm tries to wake me at 2pm) - I'm very glad to have a "freebie" spare. The old files I took off the SD card dated back to at least 2016 so if it lasts the rest of this year, I'll take the cost of a new phone on the chin as I've done pretty well on the cheap so far.
And I'm careful to stay backed up in case one or other keels over without warning.
Heavens, that's a scary thought.
I can't get rid of:
- an antivirus;
- a file explorer app (FX is only 10 MB)
- Greenify because without it my battery life was literally half as good (only 4.4 MB);
- AirDroid because I use it all the time;
- AccuBattery because it is lengthening my battery's lifespan, and it's less than 6 MB;
- WhatsApp because the website can't be used without the phone app connected;
- Messenger Lite (only 18 MB) because the browser won't view FB messages but redirects to the Play store for the app (luckily I don't use FB very often so I might uninstall this after all);
- Business Calendar 2 because I live entirely through it(!) on an hourly basis;
- SleepyTime which with a sleep disorder is essential (4 MB);
- Naked Browser, which is unaesthetic and clunky but does allow tabbed browsing and is less than 2 MB!!
- iPrint&Scan which at 75 MB is huge by my standards, but without getting a different printer I have no option;
- Podcast Addict - well, in theory I could *but*... 24 MB not counting the downloaded podcasts;
- Notepad (2 MB);
- some banking apps and a fuel discount app, because you can't do online banking / get the money off without having the apps (and they're far from space efficient, grrr).
I could in theory get rid of:
- Equate calculator but it's only 1.3 MB;
- YNAB - but the whole point is that you log spending as it happens;
- App Manager, 7 MB, but so much more useful than android Settings;
- FairEmail, 13 MB and beautifully customisable;
- Textra, though i'd hate to be without it, it's so much the best thing for SMS;
- a weather app, but I'll be without forecasts (I can never catch them on the radio);
- a gallery app, though Android's own is next to useless;
- Puzzles, but it's my only "game" type app and it's only 6 MB.
I'm already living without:
- my favourite keyboard (I hate the native one);
- any password manager; backup; junk cleaner;
- internet speed check (Ookla won't work in the browser);
- anything to record voice notes/dictation; anything for audio editing;
- an archiver;
- any time/project management; habit tracker; multi timer (linked series of countdown timers, which I used to call can't-live-without); alarm clock that's customisable;
- anything that does anything with PDFs, any video editor;
- not only Wikipedia but all reference apps, dictionaries, subject-specific etc;
- BBC iPlayer; BBC Sounds (and I just realised I've probably lost my downloads when I uninstalled this);
- Facebook (though I had FB Lite anyway, which iirc is about 1/3 the size of the standard app);
- any "socialising" apps except WhatsApp - inculding messaging, forums, Skype, Zoom - I'm even without Tapatalk, though my social life is almost all through it;
- banking/shopping apps (except the banks I mentioned that force it on you);
- Google Home - but if I'm ever to use my chromecast I'll have to install it;
- Mondly, which I was hanging onto in the hope I'll get back to learning Greek sooner or later;
- any apps I had for for fun and/or interest. eg games!!
I clear the cache at least daily, and seek n destroy sent images etc (the ones where they copy themselves) as needed.
I've stopped keeping any photos on the phone and send them all to my laptop as soon as I've taken them.
I don't store music on the phone - was planning to start doing so, but never mind.
I've reduced podcast settings to keep maximum two episodes of each podcast (so now I keep missing episodes! - my listening's always sporadic).
I miss Wikipedia as the app rather than the website, because I'm used to leaving lots of articles open in tabs.
I miss doing text adventures in bed (not the same sitting at the laptop), and if I ever have leisure time again, I'd love to get back into graphics-rich RPGs!
I don't feel I'm wasteful in what I like to keep on the phone. (Wikipedia was the one thing I fantasised about carrying around in my pocket, before I had a smartphone!)
My phone is currently telling me "You're running low on storage" and that I have 691 MB available. - actually that does look as if it's limiting me to a GB.
All of the "can't get rid of" apps come to about 410MB. All of the "could get rid of" add up to another 108 MB. More if I download lots of podcast episodes, but they'd go on the SD card anyway.
Sorry if I'm a bit defensive on