My current phone is a Sony M4 aqa. It is duying due to abuse

My only current dislike is that the 8Gb is not enough with the huge Sony install

I think with Android 6 allowing any App to run from the sd card and a lighter install 8Gb will be fine

But I’m halving the RAM to 1Hb a disaster?

Phone is mainly Facebook, Strava, weather and mapping (back country navigator)

FYI the 16GB/2Gb is sold out. The 4g and 5g aren’t waterproof. But that might be the lesser of 2 evils

I’ve just installed Android 6 on my M4 Aqua (you could too, it is an official build). You can’t move ‘any’ app to the SD card – in fact it doesn’t seem to allow you to move any more to SD than you could under Android 5. So your only advantage would come from the lack of bloatware on the Moto, and I would expect the 1GB to be a serious limitation.

I think with Android 6 allowing any App to run from the sd card

It depends on the app, many of them (including the Google core apps) won’t run from the card. After Android it reports 4.5Gb of the internal memory available for apps. I’ve a 1Gb/8Gb G3 and it generally runs fine, including streaming Netflix, iPlayer and Now TV smoothly. I mostly use it for music and podcasts though, which I’d guess isn’t too demanding. A lot of my use is offline and the 64 Gb card is very useful.

Unfortunately I’ve never used it for Facebook. Strava or any map other than Google so can’t comment on those specifically but I don’t think it’s got a compass.

You can’t move ‘any’ app to the SD card

Along with the Google core apps the Sony stuff is probably protected too so I wouldn’t be too surprised if the manufacturer prevented those from being moved.

8gb not enough imo

As above not everything can be moved to sd card, its an urban myth that with Android you “just buy an sd card and all memory problems are solved”

I went from Sony xperia m5(?) to Moto g4. It’s not quite as “nice” (feels a bit more plastic, not waterproof etc) but seems to work well doing the same things you want to do. I tended to put it into a waterproof bag anyway so don’t miss this too much and it does everything else I need.

You will regret it. I ditched mine because it constantly ran out of internal storage despite the SD card being formatted as internal storage.

16Gb/1Gb Moto Play much better. Its sometimes slow when switching apps, but it is a (very good) budget phone.

8GB is definitely not enough space – I recently had to use an only 8GB phone while mine was being repaired and it ran out of space almost as soon as I restored my account.

I like Android but I think that they have made a mess of their SD card implementation (probably as is based on Linux) up until v6. As others have said you cant just move anything to the SD card, I think its only really useful for music and photo storage.

v6 Allows an SD card to be formatted as internal storage but Ive not tried it

Edit: Found some instructions (I’ve not tired it)
How To Geek
Moto

I’ve got the 2gb/16,gb version and it’s a very impressive phone, strava, streaming, browsing, music all work well , got a 32gb card in it, moved enough stuff over that i dint have any memory issues

I’d be tempted to look at the huge battery life Lenovo P2, or wait and see if the Moto G4 models drop in price, given the G5 is due anytime.

You could always place whatever mobile you choose in a waterproof carry case, if you are concerned about water ingress.

I ditched mine because it constantly ran out of internal storage despite the SD card being formatted as internal storage

I believe it’s how the app is configured that determines whether it’s moveable to SD, whether or not the card is formatted as internal storage. And even if you can move it, IME it will jump back to internal storage when updated then require moving out again (at least that seemed to be happening).

A lot depends how important IPX7 is to you, if 8Gb is tight now then you’ll continue to struggle even with a relatively clean Android, I can’t really see the Sony implementation being that much bigger. Most of the “bloat” issues are not so much the space the app takes but arise from processes which are of no use to you running regardless.

Recently acquired a Sony Z3 Compact to replace a Motorola that died after a year – I used it for a 5-day race in the arctic where it worked faultlessly down to -27C, frequently fished out of my jacket pocket coated in ice. I got mine on ebay unused demo phone for £150 with warranty. Excellent camera too.

Prompted by this thread I’d done a bit of investigation. It seems that Sony removed the ‘Format as Internal Storage’ option from their 6.0.1 Android release because of performance concerns.

It depends on the app, many of them (including the Google core apps) won’t run from the card

You can’t move apps that are required to be present at boot. The common one here is anything that uses widgets.

It depends how the 8Gb of internal storage is divvied up, I reckon.

I’ve got an Xperia T, which I think is 16Gb, but there’s only 2Gb available for ‘Device Memory’. The remaining memory is devoted to ‘internal storage’.

Device memory as far as I can tell is for apps and the operating system, so is starting to become severely limiting.
As it stands I have 1.97Gb full, but then have 10.85Gb of internal storage completely empty that I can’t access.

I use a large SD card for video/photo/music storage.

If the phone you are looking at has a larger allocation of ‘device memory’ compared to ‘internal storage’ then you might be OK….?

Personally, I’d be looking for something a bit more up to date & capable. I think I am going to buy myself a Lenovo P2 later this year (if I don’t find the screen too large) because my current phone is far behind ‘decent performance’ now & I would prefer not to buy a phone that is already gonna struggle when ‘new’ to me.

Watching this with interest – was looking for a replacement for a 2nd gen moto g for MrsAFU (serious runnerist)
Some of the xperia seemed to get a reasonable review

Looking for a small smart phone with decent storage – waterproofing a bonus

Prompted by this thread I’d done a bit of investigation. It seems that Sony removed the ‘Format as Internal Storage’ option from their 6.0.1 Android release because of performance concerns.

There some to be some confusion from other replies. Android 6 should let the sd card act simply as internal storage allowing all apps to run from it. See this from motorloa

https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/answers/prod_answer_detail/a_id/109134/p/1449,9582

Thanks for the very useful replies

You can’t move apps that are required to be present at boot. The common one here is anything that uses widgets.

I think you’re right but I think there are also some where the developer is just unwilling to risk the performance hit from running from a card. Then there are the worst examples like BBC iPlayer where not only will the app not go on the card, it won’t even let you store data there.

I think that’s the version I had and it used to crash quite a bit when playing music and using Google maps for navigation (in the car) which got quite annoying.

I tried some unoffical “ROMS” from XDA Developers but they didn’t help and I can’t really be bothered with all the faff anymore.

Was great apart from that though.

I’ve got an Xperia T, which I think is 16Gb, but there’s only 2Gb available for ‘Device Memory’. The remaining memory is devoted to ‘internal storage’.

Device memory as far as I can tell is for apps and the operating system, so is starting to become severely limiting.
As it stands I have 1.97Gb full, but then have 10.85Gb of internal storage completely empty that I can’t access.

My understanding is that “device memory” is for apps etc preinstalled, and “internal storage” for apps you’ve installed. Device memory might be nearly full, but you shouldn’t need any more of it (aside from firmware upgrades).

See this from motorloa

and see this from Sony:

https://talk.sonymobile.com/t5/Xperia-Z3-Compact/Android-6-0-1-update-unable-to-format-SD-card-as-internal-memory/td-p/1113905

Android 6 should allow you to format the SD card as internal storage. You actually have to actively do this – you can’t just upgrade to Android 6 and start moving your apps over. Once you’ve done the format, you should be able to move most apps to it, but has some downsides (can’t use it in any other phone, can’t move music to it by plugging it into a computer etc). However, Sony decided to remove the feature from their Android 6 build, citing performance issues.

If it is any use, hot U.K. Deals listed a code for the Motorola site to buy the Motorola G4 play for £79.
Mrs Rock is getting one, presuming they are unlocked.

Cougar – Moderator

My understanding is that “device memory” is for apps etc preinstalled, and “internal storage” for apps you’ve installed. Device memory might be nearly full, but you shouldn’t need any more of it (aside from firmware upgrades).

I don’t think your understanding is correct.

Like I say, I have barely any ‘device memory’ left, but almost 11Gb of ‘internal storage’.
If I try to do an app update (spotify being a frequent pest) I generally get a ‘not enough device memory’ type of error. If I delete the cached data within ‘device memory’ then I can generally install the update.

I’m pretty sure with 11Gb of free space in ‘internal storage’ this would not be an issue if apps I installed were going in there.

I did a factory reset around Christmas time, because I figured it would probably be a good idea after almost 4 years of use. There was definitely more ‘device memory’ available before I started re-installing the apps I wanted on the device.

This is an old version of Android though – Jellybean I think, so perhaps things have changed since then in that regard?

Codes now expired, just checked.

If I try to do an app update (spotify being a frequent pest) I generally get a ‘not enough device memory’ type of error.

Oh? How odd. Was Spotify a pre-installed app? (Even so, I’d have thought that updates went to internal storage leaving the core untouched?)

Aha. You’re right.

https://talk.sonymobile.com/t5/FAQ/Memory-in-Android-devices/m-p/348064

Please note that in Sony Mobile 2013 products, “Internal Storage” is now the combination of what was previously known as “Device Memory” or “Phone Memory” (for applications and their data – also previously known as “/data”) and “Internal Storage” (for user’s content – also previously known as “/ sdcard”). The reason for this change is to make the use of available memory more flexible, and also to enable the optional encryption of user’s content.

So it’s legacy Sony stupidity, basically.

Cougar – Moderator

Aha. You’re right.

I wish I wasn’t, because it’s bloody annoying having a ton of useless memory sat on the phone, when the system is whinging about not enough memory to do a simple update…..

That quote from Motorola is wrong.

According to
https://source.android.com/devices/storage/adoptable.html “Apps can be placed on adopted storage media only when the developer has indicated support through the android:installLocation attribute”.

I have a Moto G4 (was running Android 6 and now running Android 7) with SD card formatted as internal and most apps cannot be transferred to the SD Card.

8GB will be brutal don’t do it.

8GB is plenty if you avoid crappy bloated apps (eg Facebook). And turn off any auto-updates.

For offline mapping, most apps will let you store the maps on the SD card. I use MM-Tracker, with OS maps for most of GB.

Interesting stuff, currently got an 18mth old Huawei 8gb and have no space to install updates (let alone any new apps)

8GB is plenty if you avoid crappy bloated apps

Can’t be avoided on the Sony! I’m in the same position as the OP and I’m slowly running out of apps as I have to delete more to free up space. Waiting for the Moto g5- g4 would be fine but it’s bigger than I want.

Can’t you just root the bugger and set it up properly?

I have a 16gb moto G3 and i think its great!

Apparently the g5 is back to a 5 inch screen.

Look like is going to be a g4 and a plastic bag is the best answer

I have this update issue on my Sony.
First step is to delete the cache memory, see if that frees up enough to update.
If there are a lot then it usually flags that those updated can be transferred to sd card.
Agree that,then it does the next few updates.
And repeat.
If it’s desperately slow, then delete the data off Facebook, strava etc then log on again once they all updated and on the sd card.
Faff doesn’t come close.

Moto G 3rd gen is a great phone, but 8GB is not enough memory unless your use of the smartphone is fairly light. I purchased the exact same model for my wife about 7months ago and its been nothing but trouble as the memory ran out so quickly, and it isn’t even like she has a lot of apps on it. Expanding the ‘internal’ memory with an SD card won’t work well. The phone takes much longer to access this memory plus the info is encrypted first, what you’ll get is apps crashing all time and working really slow. Now promised my wife a 5th gen as soon as they are out at the end of this month.

Got one, its shite.

I used to have a 3rd gen, it’s slow regardless of how much ram you have. The processor is slow an the screen lag is horrendous, but tfor the price you can get them for it’s ok

16gb internal storage is the minimum really.