32GB only available in AUS. What options do I have for more storage?

[brad1549]

Hi guys,

I live in Australia and we only have the 32GB version available for now. I am in desperate need of a new phone, so 32GB is my only option right now.

Firstly. Can I get everyone’s opinions on the 32GB version so far? I’ve never used a 32GB phone before (always 64GB+). In total on my current Note 3, I have around 55GB used – however a lot of that could be stored in the cloud (thousands of old photos from years ago).

How is everyone finding the 32GB version? Because the camera is higher res, is this going to be severely detrimental on the limited storage?

Secondly, what options/accessories are available for external storage? I remember seeing ages ago a case which also held a MicroSD card which somehow connected to some phone (can’t remember which one). Is there anything like this for the Note 5?

Also – is it possible to buy an unlocked 64GB phone from a foreign country? Will it still work in Australia?

Thanks so much for your help!

 

[Teejai80]

Heya mate, welcome to the forums from a fellow Aussie.

I don't have a note but I think I can help on the storage. Are you backing up the photo's to google? My wife regularly fills her phone with photos and never deletes a thing. They are however, uploaded over wifi all the time. All I do is every couple of months delete all the really old photos and videos. They are still available in the photo's app, just not taking up space. You can upload as many photos you like in high res, however, if you want original quality its limited to your space. Again though google drive storage isn't that expansive, even with our Aussie tax.

I also use Box and onedrive to spread all my files around. Now I just keep a couple of playlists and maybe a movie on my phone for when I am flying.

You can buy microusb SD card adapters, I have one on my keyring. This could be handy if you need to carry a ton of data with you.

 

[debdroid1a]

Here's a discussion with a lot if ideas and links

http://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=576777

Posted via the *Note 5*

 

[dpham00]

You can buy an unlocked version,and so long as it is a gsm network then it will work. But it might not support all the bands used by your carrier

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 5

 

[random_uzer]

Very similar situation here and have some follow-up questions. New to the forum, I hope it's ok to start with this existing post.

1) Planning to use Google Drive (or OneDrive). It seems for automatic uploading to work you need to be logged into Google Drive (or OneDrive) on your android device. If someone were to steal the phone and figure out the lock screen code, is there a way to prevent them from viewing / downloading / deleting your cloud storage? From what I've seen so far Google Drive and OneDrive offer a 4-digit passcode, so maybe that's the solution to this concern?

And will the apps that automatically sync photos still work if a passcode is required? (separate question: why is a 4 digit passcode ok here but passwords in general today are much more robust than 4-digits ?)

2) From the phone, is it easy to determine which photos / videos have already been successfully uploaded, so I can feel safe about deleting them from the phone without fear of permanently losing them?

3) Seems there are photo sync apps and photo upload apps. When you photo sync to Google Drive, and then you delete the photo from the phone, will it also end up being deleted from the cloud storage the next day? (sorry, I should already understand the difference between sync vs upload-only)

Heya mate, welcome to the forums from a fellow Aussie.

My wife regularly fills her phone with photos and never deletes a thing. They are however, uploaded over wifi all the time. All I do is every couple of months delete all the really old photos and videos. They are still available in the photo's app, just not taking up space. You can upload as many photos you like in high res, however, if you want original quality its limited to your space. Again though google drive storage isn't that expansive, even with our Aussie tax.

 

[Ferbetta]

Other option is via USB OTG.

 

[random_uzer]

Thanks, and yes, I did see that. I think it's something I'm going to definitely keep as a separate method for urgent situations, as well as using external hard drive for overall redundancy. But after trying to be the administrator for all the phones in the family for quite a while and dealing with a lot of phone upgrades that haven't gone so well, I'm really thinking of converting heavily to cloud storage as the norm, and also being more willing to press Accept to all things Google. But it really depends on the answers to my questions above. The idea that losing a phone means someone could access my Google Drive or OneDrive files, well that's not very acceptable. It seems there should be some very simple safeguards that would do the trick just fine. (and maybe the Google Drive 4-digit passcode is it?) I also think I've learned my lesson not to get another 32GB phone if it doesn't have a micro-sd slot (the difference in $ for 64GB was a rip-off, but one I'll pay next time).

 

[mhunter6378]

2) From the phone, is it easy to determine which photos / videos have already been successfully uploaded, so I can feel safe about deleting them from the phone without fear of permanently losing them

Here's a helpful article on Google Photos app. Photos is a great way to backup and store images and videos.
Google Photos can now help you save space on your phone by easily deleting backed up photos | Android Central

 

[random_uzer]

Thanks, this looks essentially perfect for what I want, except that I still need to understand the security features.

Maybe it's time to try it. I still want to make sure someone can't access google drive or google photos from a lost phone and delete our files. So maybe Google Photos will work even with the 4-digit passcode enabled? If it does, do you think that sounds like a good solution?

I'm sure some may suggest "use a better lock screen code or the fingerprint reader" which may be part of our solution. But I'm not satisfied with that alone. Inside the family we're kind of open book with our swipe codes and we'll borrow each other's phones in a pinch. Thus we tend to pick simple swipe codes instead of Fort Knox type lock screen codes (maybe that will have to change going forward).

As bad as it would be losing info on the phone, I'm more worried about someone gaining access to Google Drive or OneDrive.

 

[mhunter6378]

Thanks, this looks essentially perfect for what I want, except that I still need to understand the security features.

Maybe it's time to try it. I still want to make sure someone can't access google drive or google photos from a lost phone and delete our files. So maybe Google Photos will work even with the 4-digit passcode enabled? If it does, do you think that sounds like a good solution?

I'm sure some may suggest "use a better lock screen code or the fingerprint reader" which may be part of our solution. But I'm not satisfied with that alone. Inside the family we're kind of open book with our swipe codes and we'll borrow each other's phones in a pinch. Thus we tend to pick simple swipe codes instead of Fort Knox type lock screen codes (maybe that will have to change going forward).

As bad as it would be losing info on the phone, I'm more worried about someone gaining access to Google Drive or OneDrive.

Fingerprint security lock is probably your best option. With that you also set up a backup pin of six characters. If you choose to, you can share the pin with those you want to have access to your device. This would probably be your best option to safeguard your files.

 

[random_uzer]

After trying, it seems that Google Drive does not offer the 4-digit passcode for Android devices. I read that it is offered for iOS, but I don't know if it is actually true. (if it is true, it wouldn't make sense not to offer it to Android as well)

I tried it and did confirm that OneDrive does indeed offer the 4-digit passcode (but that wouldn't work with Google Photos, right?). Although I didn't want to, I might go OneDrive instead of Google Drive for important uploads.

Fingerprint security lock is probably your best option. With that you also set up a backup pin of six characters. If you choose to, you can share the pin with those you want to have access to your device. This would probably be your best option to safeguard your files.

I think you're right, especially if we go with Google Photos. But bugs me that Google Drive doesn't offer the passcode for Android.

 

[random_uzer]

Just confirming that Google Drive does indeed support the 4-digit passcode for iOS but does Not support it for Android. (what the heck)

If nothing else, if I use Google Photos, I would be satisfied if there is just some method to make sure there is no way to use the phone to delete a file that has already been uploaded (and to do this protection automatically, not require some special step each time). In other words, will forego the privacy if at least could know precious photos can't be wiped out.

 

[mhunter6378]

Just confirming that Google Drive does indeed support the 4-digit passcode for iOS but does Not support it for Android. (what the heck)

If nothing else, if I use Google Photos, I would be satisfied if there is just some method to make sure there is no way to use the phone to delete a file that has already been uploaded (and to do this protection automatically, not require some special step each time). In other words, will forego the privacy if at least could know precious photos can't be wiped out.

Yes there is a pin passcode option on iOS. I look at it this way, with iOS you are signed into iCloud services by virtue of attaching your device to your Apple ID. The same is true with Android. Since Android devices utilize Google services, when you use an Android device you sign in with your Google ID. By doing so, you are essentially signed into the Google services you subscribe to. The level of security you desire in both cases, iOS and Android, is in large part determined by how you secure access on your device through lock screen security.

Google Photos offers backup of all your images and videos and does a great job at it. You get to choose high resolution versions (unlimited storage) or original resolution (limited to the storage amount you have on Google Drive). You can also easily delete images and videos from your Gallery after they have been uploaded and rest assured they remain available in Google Photos. Once uploaded, images found in your local Gallery can be removed and not affect the images stored online. However, if you access them directly though the Google Photos app or remotely through a browser, changes made here will be reflected across all devices syncing to that online storage as you are accessing the stored files directly.

 

[random_uzer]

Ok, thanks for the quick reply. In essence, if you crack through the phones lock screen defenses, then you can gain "delete" access to the uploaded Google Drive and Google Photos material. I realize a proper lock screen should not really be penetrable, but just based on how our family does things I worry about our discipline with that and prefer the second layer of protection.

Know of any photo backup apps that work with OneDrive that are almost as nice as Google Photos? What I like about Google Photos (although I haven't actually tried it but what I've learned here) is that it will actually prompt you to delete files that have been backed up. It is that kind of simplicity that we need in our particular case. Maybe there are other apps that do it similarly, and still integrate reasonably well with Android?

 

[mhunter6378]

One Drive offers auto backup within the app

 

[random_uzer]

Thanks again, you've been very helpful. I've been trying the OneDrive app today and, although it doesn't have some of the things in Google Photo that I want, it does seem to be "good enough". Obviously I really like the passcode feature. And I like that it allows me to require both WiFi and being plugged into charger before it automatically uploads (Google Photos probably has that feature too)

By the way this is actually on a S6 (not a Note 5) but I thought that didn't matter to this particular discussion.