New user here (ex-iphone) - any help really appreciated :)

[mcampellone]

Good morning to this great bunch of people on this forum! I have been reading many of the posts with great interest, and I am very impressed by how much knowledge there is in this forum and how supportive everyone is! So, I am hoping that someone can give me a little direction on this one...

I am an ex-iphone user (iPhone 4S 64GB), because I have a condition where my vision is rapidly getting worse and I just can't see the screen very well like I used to. So, changing to a phone with as HUGE of a screen as I could find was super important.

At first, I was going to try the Samsung Note - and I went to the store and played with it a bit. And I was just about ready to get it, when a friend of mine who knows a really nice reseller in Asia turned me on to his website.

On his website, I found an awesome 6-inch capacitive screen Android phone, which LOOKS just like the Samsung note, but only larger - much larger. The screen is so easy for me to see, and I am thrilled. I paid a little over $230 for the phone, and I am very surprised by the build quality and the fit and finish. I was expecting a very cheap horrible phone, but rather it is quite sturdy and the screen is responsive and rocks. However, I am having some problems that I hope someone can help with - and it is basically because I am a total and complete dumbass idiot when it comes to Android, since I was a brainwashed iOS user since day one LOL.....

So, first here is a little bit about the phone itself:

Upai N9880
MTK6575, Dual-Core 1.2GHz
Android 4.0.3

I am using Straight Talk unlimited plan in SIM Slot 1. I left SIM Slot 2 empty.

Also, I inserted a 16GB Micro SD in the memory card slot.

When I go into Settings, and then Storage, here is what it says:

"Preferred install location - choices are Internal storage, USB storage, or Let the system decide", and "Let the system decide" is ticked on.

Default Write Disk - the choices are USB storage or SD Card.

Next, it shows Internal Storage total space 503MB, Apps are using 197MB, with 283MB availalbe.

Next section down, it shows USB Storage, total space 2.00GB, Apps are using 192MB, Pictures & videos are using 46.91MB, and there is 1.76GB available.

Then, in the next section down, it shows SD Card, Total space 14.83GB, Available 14.74GB.

Then I have choices to unmount the SD card, or erase the SD card.

**HERE IS THE ISSUE after telling you all of this. I have installed App2SD Pro, as well as ASTRO File Manager Pro. What happens, is that apps seem to by default still install in the phone memory location. When I run App2SD, it shows which apps are movable, and when I move them it puts them onto that 2GB "USB storage" as they call it. I can never get anything to install onto the real 16GB SD card. The only way to get things onto the 16GB SD card is to manually move them (like photos and stuff) using ASTRO File Manager Pro.

The WEIRD part of this, and this may be where some of the problem might be - is that in ASTRO File Manager Pro, it shows the 2GB "USB Storage" as "sdcard", and then it shows my real 16GB SD card as "sdcard2".

So, as it stands, I can't get App2SD Pro, or even the phone's own built-in selection, to install the apps to the REAL SD card - and I am thoroughly confused LOL. In the past, when I had Android devices, I just used App2SD and it always worked. This is my first Asian phone - and while it is a very nice huge screen that I can see, this will be a problem for me (as far as being able to install apps and using up memory rather quickly.

I really like this phone, but if there is no workaround I suppose I will have to bite the bullet and go to AT&T and get the Samsung Note and settle for the smaller screen. My stupid eyes are a huge pain in the A$$.....

ANY insight or help that anyone can give, I would be very, very appreciative and it would mean a lot to me, and to my eyesight.

Thanks very much everyone!

Mike

 

[kct1975]

Good morning to this great bunch of people on this forum! I have been reading many of the posts with great interest, and I am very impressed by how much knowledge there is in this forum and how supportive everyone is! So, I am hoping that someone can give me a little direction on this one...

I am an ex-iphone user (iPhone 4S 64GB), because I have a condition where my vision is rapidly getting worse and I just can't see the screen very well like I used to. So, changing to a phone with as HUGE of a screen as I could find was super important.

At first, I was going to try the Samsung Note - and I went to the store and played with it a bit. And I was just about ready to get it, when a friend of mine who knows a really nice reseller in Asia turned me on to his website.

On his website, I found an awesome 6-inch capacitive screen Android phone, which LOOKS just like the Samsung note, but only larger - much larger. The screen is so easy for me to see, and I am thrilled. I paid a little over $230 for the phone, and I am very surprised by the build quality and the fit and finish. I was expecting a very cheap horrible phone, but rather it is quite sturdy and the screen is responsive and rocks. However, I am having some problems that I hope someone can help with - and it is basically because I am a total and complete dumbass idiot when it comes to Android, since I was a brainwashed iOS user since day one LOL.....

So, first here is a little bit about the phone itself:

Upai N9880
MTK6575, Dual-Core 1.2GHz
Android 4.0.3

I am using Straight Talk unlimited plan in SIM Slot 1. I left SIM Slot 2 empty.

Also, I inserted a 16GB Micro SD in the memory card slot.

When I go into Settings, and then Storage, here is what it says:

"Preferred install location - choices are Internal storage, USB storage, or Let the system decide", and "Let the system decide" is ticked on.

Default Write Disk - the choices are USB storage or SD Card.

Next, it shows Internal Storage total space 503MB, Apps are using 197MB, with 283MB availalbe.

Next section down, it shows USB Storage, total space 2.00GB, Apps are using 192MB, Pictures & videos are using 46.91MB, and there is 1.76GB available.

Then, in the next section down, it shows SD Card, Total space 14.83GB, Available 14.74GB.

Then I have choices to unmount the SD card, or erase the SD card.

**HERE IS THE ISSUE after telling you all of this. I have installed App2SD Pro, as well as ASTRO File Manager Pro. What happens, is that apps seem to by default still install in the phone memory location. When I run App2SD, it shows which apps are movable, and when I move them it puts them onto that 2GB "USB storage" as they call it. I can never get anything to install onto the real 16GB SD card. The only way to get things onto the 16GB SD card is to manually move them (like photos and stuff) using ASTRO File Manager Pro.

The WEIRD part of this, and this may be where some of the problem might be - is that in ASTRO File Manager Pro, it shows the 2GB "USB Storage" as "sdcard", and then it shows my real 16GB SD card as "sdcard2".

So, as it stands, I can't get App2SD Pro, or even the phone's own built-in selection, to install the apps to the REAL SD card - and I am thoroughly confused LOL. In the past, when I had Android devices, I just used App2SD and it always worked. This is my first Asian phone - and while it is a very nice huge screen that I can see, this will be a problem for me (as far as being able to install apps and using up memory rather quickly.

I really like this phone, but if there is no workaround I suppose I will have to bite the bullet and go to AT&T and get the Samsung Note and settle for the smaller screen. My stupid eyes are a huge pain in the A$$.....

ANY insight or help that anyone can give, I would be very, very appreciative and it would mean a lot to me, and to my eyesight.

Thanks very much everyone!

Mike

While someone smarter than me on this site can give you the technical terms...

Here is the basic answer from what I have read and learned...

Apps installed on newer Android devices can only be moved from the phones normal internal storage to a section of the memory called SD card, which in newer devices is actually a part of the internal storage seperate from the device's normal internal storage where the Operating system is stored.

Your physical SD Card chip is the file folder that ASTRO labels as SD2

As I said, someone smarter than me, like EarlyMon, can explain it better.

 

[mcampellone]

Hi there and thank you for the reply. I am still looking for a solution for this issue. You are quite right - the internal storage, which is labeled as "USB Storage", is recognized as the first SD card. I have made a step by step bunch of screen shots below, to show exactly what I mean. Also, why I feel that 2GB will not be enough storage for me - I have a LOT of apps purchased, however I will need more space, and on my last device installing many of these to the SD card was never a problem. So, here we go - these screen shots are just to make sure that we are on the same page and that I explain myself fully.....

This first screen shot is the main screen of my phone after powering on:

This next photos shows that I just pull up the settings menu:

Under "Settings", I select "Storage" as follows:

This next screen shows that the "preferred install location" is the SD Card and NOT the USB Storage. (The USB Storage is what it calls the built-in 2GB storage in the phone). It also shows the Internal Storage is 503MB as shown:

Now, when scrolling a bit down, you see that the internal phone storage, which is 2GB, is called "USB Storage". Why they gave it this name, I will never know. This is where the apps are moving to whenever I run App2SD Pro......

Scrolling a bit further down, you can see how that 2GB of internal memory, called "USB Storage", is broken down as 352MB Apps, 99.64MB Pictures and videos, and leaving 1.54GB available. Then, below that it shows the TRUE physical external SD card that I have inserted in the card slot, with total space of 29.70GB, with 29.62GB available, as shown:

Here is the very end of scrolling to the bottom of that same screen, just for reference......

Now, with that out of the way, here is where I go into Apps and I launch App 2 SD Pro as shown:

Here, in App 2 SD's main screen, I will use Adobe Flash as the example app here. You can also see at the bottom that it is referencing the total INTERNAL storage, and NOT the secondary "USB" storage...

Here, once I select the "On SD Card" tab, if you look at the bottom, it is actually referencing the internal "USB" storage, and NOT the SD card...... as shown.....

Now, to start the example - I will select Adobe Flash from the "Movable Apps" screen as shown...

You will see that my only choice is to "Move to USB Storage" and NOT to move to the SD card - that is not even an option....

Once the move is finished, the choice changes to "Move to Internal Storage" as shown:

You can see now, on the "On SD Card" tab in App 2 SD Pro, Flash is now there, but the bottom is still referencing the 2GB of internal "USB" storage and not the SD card.... as shown....

Now, back to my apps, I will launch my ASTRO File Manager Pro as shown:

Here, in the mounted volumes, you will see that it shows "SDCard" and "SDCard2" rather than "USB Storage" and "SD Card", as shown:

When you go into "SDCard", which is actually the 2GB internal "USB" storage, you will see all of the folders created, etc. and this is where all of the installs are going. As shown:

And finally, when you go into SDCard2, which in reality is my large SD Card, the ONLY folders that were created were Android and LOST.DIR - both of which were pretty empty. I manually created the rest and moved any pictures, movies, etc. that I could from the internal storage....

Now, I DID download the SDK tools, installed the USB driver for my phone, hooked up to the PC via USB in debug mode, and I carried out the "adb shell pm setInstallLocation 2" command and it took. Even after doing that, this is still a problem, and has had no effect at all.

I SHOULD be able to install apps to the SD card, otherwise 2GB of storage to work with, at least for me, is NOT ENOUGH for apps - especially since I use a LOT of business apps, etc. - - and coming from my iPhone, where I had NO music, but rather 20GB of apps, I will need the space.

Someone told me to root the phone, convert the two internal partitions and create a single new partition for Android etc., forcing the system to see the external as SD Card.... I have one of our techs who is very used to rooting Android devices coming to help me tomorrow. But, in all honestly I would much rather not - I would like to keep the phone original, etc. and just get this to work if possible?

What really pisses me off, is that even in the phone's OWN settings, it specifically gives the choice to make the default installation location for new apps EITHER the "USB Storage" location, or the "SD Card" - and STILL it installs to the internal "USB" storage. I just don't get it.

I have heard this is also very common on a lot of Samsung devices too.

AT ANY RATE - MY QUESTION (YES!! I have a question! LOL) - is, can ANYONE out there who might have dealt with crap like this before possibly give me any help or pointers at all? If I can't figure this stupid thing out, I will have to scrap the whole phone and get another device..... Maybe go back to iPhone. But I would really like to make this work.

THANK YOU very much ahead of time for any help or advice you can give me - I really do appreciate it!

Thanks,

Mike