Help phantom pictures and video taking up internal storage

[Radonculous]

Newbie to android. I'm runnning a refurb A500 8gb with ICS update.
I recently tried to install a new game and didn't have enough room to download it. I've been frugal and kept apps too a minimum so this was a surprise. On checking my storage, it listed 2.8 gb of audio/video. Now I haven't downloaded any music or videos. I took a test video with the camera which I erased and all pictures were backed up and erased. Yet, there has been no change to this. I am at a loss for what could be causing this. I have uninstalled several of my largest apps and gone through each app to make sure there is not any accumulated data by any one app. My memory usage is dominated by the OS.
Any insights?

Thanks

 

[dbldipp]

If you are using the GPS that is your problem. The gps writes text files to the drive and fills it up since they don't self delete. You have to root your tablet to remove the files.

 

[Mrhelper]

I agree with Dbldipp. That seems to be the most likely cause, and appears to be a problem with every Iconia running Acer-based builds of Android 4.0.3.

Another option instead of rooting the tablet is to perform the Factory data reset to clean out the files, and then just keep the internal GPS turned off. If you don't actually use it for navigation, it is of very little value anyway. I only used mine long enough to test it, and then turned it off. My initial reason for turning it off was merely to save battery power. The choice to root or not is a matter of preference. When considering that decision, keep in mind how you most often use the tablet.

On a related note, if you do use the GPS receiver a lot for navigation, I have a suggestion. I have a nice Qstarz Bluetooth GPS receiver that I have used for navigation for years, and it works much, much, much (infinity) better than the internal a500 internal receiver. The Qstarz gets a very fast fix, always finds many satellites, strong signals, even indoors, under trees, etc. It also works well with the a500, notebook PCs, Windows phones, etc., and it does not cause the internal GPS file leak problem on Acer tablets.

 

[dbldipp]

OK!!! You're holding out on me there Mrhelper... I have an external gps reciever I can plug into my tablet... If that's all it takes to eliminate the text file problems. So, explain how I can get it to work with my A500 please.

 

[Mrhelper]

OK!!! You're holding out on me there Mrhelper... I have an external gps reciever I can plug into my tablet... If that's all it takes to eliminate the text file problems. So, explain how I can get it to work with my A500 please.

My receiver is a Qstarz BT-Q818 (see on Amazon) that communicates using Bluetooth serial port only. Mine is an older 32 channel version that I bought more than 5 years ago to use with an even older HP IPAQ and a Windows Mobile phone. I've never tried a USB model with Android, which I assume you are referring to. I'm guessing that there may not be any drivers on the Iconia to support that.

 

[dbldipp]

Will have to wait on that till the budget allows. Than you... I thought about it and my cell has GPS in it so I thought why not try that with bluetooth. The phone saw the tablet but the tablet didn't see the phone. It saw a bunch of other devices in the truck stop, but not my phone... Go figure. Once again... thank you Mrhelper!

 

[RMinMN]

Anyone want to venture an opinion on whether this bluetooth bps (NEW BT-Mini Mobile Keychain Bluetooth GPS Receiver | eBay) will work with my A500? I'm thinking about risking all of $25 to find out.

 

[dbldipp]

I paired up an old cell phone that has gps in it and hope Mrhelper can figure out how to make it work. I'd say go for it with the key chain gps. It sure beats the crap out of haveing to go in and delete the text files like I do.

 

[RMinMN]

Anyone want to venture an opinion on whether this bluetooth bps (

NEW BT-Mini Mobile Keychain Bluetooth GPS Receiver | eBay) will work with my A500? I'm thinking about risking all of $25 to find out.

The answer is yes, this NEW BT-Mini Mobile Keychain Bluetooth GPS Receiver | eBay works very well. It required the "Bluetooth GPS" from the Play Store to connect but within 10 minutes of trying different configurations and trying things it connected and had a fix very quickly. Sitting at my desk about 10 feet from the window I have 10 satellites in view and as far as I can tell it writes no files to the memory. I think this will be a winning combination.

 

[dbldipp]

I put my Android tablet away in my brief case and bought a referb Dell Latitude 10 with win7 on it. I upgraded to win 8 and put my mapping program on it. No more night mares in deleting files. Keeping my Acer for the games and other work related apps, but it is no longer my map tablet.