OnePlus One equals 'killer' new mobe running CyanogenMod After months of teasing, Chinese smartphone startup OnePlus has formally launched the OnePlus One, a budget Android handset with specs so enticing that some industry watchers had suspected it of being vaporware. Described as a "2014 flagship killer," the One – not to be confused with HTC's product of the same name – has a high …
My Galaxy Note 1, by default, installs apps to internal memory. While most of the app data can be moved to storage (but why must it be done manually?), there is still a lot of data left behind in internal memory (why?). I am now having to delete apps to to enable other apps to update. I have an SD card installed but it is redundant when my phone installs apps in the least sensible place.
I cannot help but notice that memory management on my ipad air is much better.
Has memory management in Android improved since the release of the Galaxy Note 1, or is it still bad?
The original Galaxy Note came with Gingerbread (2.3). It subdivided its internal flash memory into two partitions (a) an applications partition which, by modern standards, was rather small, and (b) the (much larger) remainder of the memory. Apps had to install into the former. In later versions of Android (eg ICS, Jellybean, KitKat), the (low) limit of the size of that applications partition has been removed so, for newer Android phones, the problem you describe has gone away, because you can now install apps to the whole of the internal flash memory rather than some small partitioned-off part of it. Even if you upgrade the Android version on an original Galaxy Note to eg Jellybean using Samsung's stock ROM upgrade, the size of the small original applications partition remains the same (as no repartitioning takes place in the upgrade process). The only way to change that would be to repartition the flash memory yourself and then install Jellybean (quite an involved undertaking for the uninitiated). The only workaround I know of is an app called Link2SD, which you can find on Google Play. Using it requires you to root the phone, and then to create a second partition on a removable SD card which you put in the phone's SD slot. In effect, the app tricks the OS into using that removable SD card second partition as if it were the internal applications partition; since that removable SD card second partition can be pretty much any size you choose, it resolves your problem. Alternatively, you could get a new phone; the processor in the original Galaxy Note is getting rather sluggish for certain more recent versions of Android apps anyway. The Note 3 is fab, if you're interested.
Really depends on your definition of "ample storage".
This phone comes in 16GB and 64GB, while I agree the 64GB version will likely suit most people's needs the 16GB may not and in some cases the 64GB won't.
Music is one of the big storage hogs, for those people who don't have a huge data allowance on their mobile tariff streaming services are not really an option so they need local storage. 64GB (minus the amount stolen by the OS and apps) doesn't go all that far when you're music is 320kbps MP3s or FLAC audio files.
Personally I like having my entire music library available on my phone so I'd need a lot of storage just for that, though currently it's not a big problem as I have a large data allowance and use Google Play Music to stream it.
Having had this discussion in work a few times for me personally I like to DL my Spotify playlists, which are many. It ate through the internal memory quick. Not to mention, memory capacity is still increasing and developers are still managing to make megabytes worth of crap for simple tasks. So yeah, why not just throw in a slot? It's hardly going to break your design.
Given the number of phones out there without SD cards and with non-removable batteries that are successful I am assuming that your term "FAIL" refers to the fact that you do no want to purchase one rather than that you are prejudging without any supporting evidence what every other smartphone buyer with different priorities will think?
@Matt21 I agree completely. I am seriously considering getting this phone - I have a Note 3 and I smashed the screen in while drunk, and it will cost me £180 to have the screen fixed. I could buy this entire new phone outright for only £40 more and the specs look to be better than the Note 3 anyway.
Like, oh, 95% of the people on the planet, don't care about the lack of an SD slot; have never changed a battery in a phone, ever; and can't think of any way I'd fill up even 16 gigs.
But I DO care about a price that's closer to $300 than $700. I'm of the firm opinion that we've been getting robbed blind when buying smartphones. Given their ubiquity the prices should be a lot, lot less than what is charged now.
I assume that 95% of the people on the planet agree with me, though of course I have nothing to back that statement up.
If manufacturers have stopped supporting sd card in their phones it MUST be because people don't want them. The fact manufacturers can add a ludicrous markup to the same model with a bit more internal storage can't have anything to do with it.
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A £40 increase... to go from 16GB to 64GB is not what I call ludicrous, it is after all, this particular phone and pricing we are talking about here and what the complaints about no SD were about. If the smaller amount isn't enough, at this price just get 64GB, is that really ever going to be too small for most people?
Dear Normal Person,
I, too, have never changed a battery in a phone. However, I cannot count the number of times I've yanked the battery out of one to recover from a lockup. It's not a regular occurrence with my current phone, but it's not an option I'm prepared to give up.
I have a three year old Asus tablet and I have never had to open it up to remove the battery to recover from a lockup. But I did have to do this yesterday to a Windows 8.1 laptop when the battery meter stopped working. It recovered after a battery pull. I also have a 2 year old BlackBerry Playbook which has never had an unrecoverable lockup.
In short, it looks as if the battery yank problem is solved.
The pictures suggest that the battery probably is user replaceable, it just needs simple tools. What you can't do, is just swap it in and out. The availability of those handy USB battery-stuffed charger bricks makes this a bit irrelevant, as you can keep working while the phone charges.
I thought I needed battery swap on my present phone, but it's now a year old and the back hasn't come off since the SIM was inserted.
Give your average punter a choice between having this phone as is or having it heavier and/or chunkier and/or have less capacity but with a removable battery and I think I know which would be more popular. The decision in these phones to make the battery fixed in not just some arbitary descision there are real advantages in terms of weight and size by using fixed batteries. As to the lack of an SD slot I have had a number of phones with SD slots and have only had to change cards once or twice a most. Usually the call for an SD card slot related to products like the iphone 5S where there is an excessive premium ($200 or so) between the lowest and highest memory models. For the oneplus one the difference in price is a lot closer to the cost of a suitably sized SD card so the argument has less force IMO.
For most people an SD card slot is about getting extra storage on the cheap but it does not come without its hassles. Firstly running programs of SD cards is generally slower than runnng them from main memory but from my experience the main hassle is having to maintain storage in 2 locations. I cannot be the only person who has had to go through all their installed apps and moved as many as possible to the SD card to make space for something else in main storage. Give me choice between 16gb fixed + 48gb removable SD card and 64GB fixed I would choose the 64GB fixed every time. Yes you lose some flexibility but you remove the more regular and annoying hassle of maintaining two storage locations. Expecially in this case where the premium for 64gb over 16gb is so small compared to other phones.
No because a new washing machine motor was cira £150 last time I looked and I can get a new machine for near that.
Have replaced pumps on dishwashers as it is economically viable to do so.
If I could up the spin on a cheaper 1400 spin washer to 2000 then I would as it would halve the initial price of the machine but I would fear for my silk undies in a machine not designed to go that fast.
http://forums.oneplus.net/threads/the-oneplus-one-battery-long-lasting-compact-and-reliable.327/
"With these two goals in mind, we ultimately decided on a 3100 mAh non-removable battery for the OnePlus One.
The decision was clear for us. A removable battery would have meant adding a protective layer to the motherboard as well as extra circuitry, resulting in a smaller battery (2500mAh, 20% less battery juice!) or a significantly thicker phone.
With our configuration, the battery will last long enough to get even the most active users through an entire day of use without adding bulk to the overall build and design."
" the battery will last long enough to get even the most active users through an entire day of use"
No. Just no. Maybe if you don't actively use a GPS and have the screen on most of the time. 3100 is nice, but I can burn through an entire zero lemon (7000 MAh) in a day no bother.
Why don't you change the settings on your phone to turn off the screen unless you touch the screen/hit a volume button? You'd still get audio announcements from the navigation software, recording of the GPS track, and most other things I can think that you really *need* for a heavy GPS usage scenario.
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Given Google's lockdown of the SD card (finally) and the way it can make apps which don't play well with the new handling strategy not work too well... perhaps Android should generally face up to getting rid of removable SD cards.
Like the other posters said - 95% of the population simply don't care if the SD card is removable. So the device manufacturers will make a reasoned decision to stop supporting them: another socket and mounting point you can lose from hardware designs, less on the BOM cost... etc.
> Given Google's lockdown of the SD card (finally) and the way it can make apps which don't play well with the new handling strategy not work too well... perhaps Android should generally face up to getting rid of removable SD cards.
It's pretty clear from the Nexus line that Google don't like the idea of SC Card storage.
> It's pretty clear from the Nexus line that Google don't like the idea of SC Card storage.
Removable SD cards usually need to be compatible with other devices, such as Windows PCs or Cameras, and thus must be FAT32 formatted. Internal memory can be ext3 or some other more suitable format. So having a removable SD card slot usually means that Microsoft can extract their patent tax.
It is not that Google does not like external storage, they don't like Microsoft making money on their products.
The 3G bands that it uses have been released already:
1/2/4/5/8 (850/900/1700/1900/2100MHz) so there shouldn't be any issues.
The 4G banding is limited to 1/3/4/7/17/38/39/40/41 , so you may have issues with 4G with some suppliers in the UK (from memory, EE is fine but most others not so much).
The reason they can charge so much less for the same specs is that they are aiming to cut out the middle man. If you buy this phone, it'll be from the manufacturer, not Carphone Warehouse or Vodaphone.
In principle, I'm a target market for that sort of purchase, but on this occasion the phone doesn't tick my wish list. I don't really want a 5.5" screen. I like larger screens, but this is too big for my womanly hands. I was interested initially in this phone as the marketing was suggesting that it fitted that size of screen in a phone smaller than the xperia Z2. Alas it isn't smaller. Oh well.
In a discussion of this phone, someone brought up the possibility that this is all just a publicity stunt; the phone will never be widely available and is just being used to hype up future products, which is why they can afford to sell it for £229.
I hope its not true, but it certainly seems like a possibility.
Their "Smash my phone" promotion has a rather limited number of phones (27) to choose from that you will smash, and most are fairly new. For example, the only iPhone models they list are 5, 5c, and 5s (although they do go all the way back to a Galaxy S3 and Note 2). I guess I don't qualify for their promotion as my Moment is more than 4 years old...
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