After GB, I'm permanently Low on Space

[smr260]

I did a factory reset and installed all my old apps on about 10/24. It took awhile to get everything back to where it was, but I had about 200 MB of internal memory after that. It was nice to not have to monitor the memory and make sure it was at 45 MB or above. My EVO had more capabilities, as I could use more widgets and carry more apps. Also, I don't think anybody has mentioned it, but gmail will not sync if there isn't at least that much memory available on the phone.

Long story short...I'm now down to 98 MB. There is definitely a leak. I run a cache cleaner at least once a day and clear out the hidden caches every other day or so (Dolphin, UberSocial, cached Google Maps, etc.). I guess this is where we are now: going to have to do a factory reset every 8 weeks or so.

 

[HamRadioNut]

Just got my wife a new EVO 4G this week, it came with GB 2.3.3 on it. we set it up and she has a total of about 19 apps on the phone and she still has 264MB of internal storage left on her phone. I on the other hand have a EVO 4G a year old, still has 2.2 Froyo on it, I have about 50 apps on my phone and it has 86.23MB of internal storage left.

Really sucks that here GB 2.3.3 phone is working so great and I am still afraid to update mine because of all the problems I have read about.

 

[PapaNoHair#AC]

That is weird! Mine is hanging around 213 to 235 depending on whether I use my cache cleaner. It seems to be holding just fine.

 

[jalaazul]

CM7 fixed my low space problems.: )


Sent from my EVOlved

 

[psychofox13]

CM7 fixed my low space problems.: )


Sent from my EVOlved

Same here. Nearly doubled my space.

I only have about... 116 apps, according to my cache cleaner, with just over 218MB of internal storage left (after clearing the cache, of course). I install everything I can to my SD card except the ones I like to use widgets for.

 

[Litt]

I think you only get this problem when syncing with an Exchange server. I have to hard reset every few weeks. Annoying. Hoping the Galaxy Nexus comes out on Sprint.

 

[edenney]

I think you only get this problem when syncing with an Exchange server. I have to hard reset every few weeks. Annoying. Hoping the Galaxy Nexus comes out on Sprint.

Wrong. I don't sync with an exchange server and I've been dealing with this effin space eating problem with the Evo Shift and have had to do 4 factory resets as a result since I bought it in April. It's NOT because of the amount of apps installed, that just expedites the problem, and moving all movable apps to the SD Card is just a temporary band-aid. Using various tools to analyze the space being used by apps and the OS., as well as the free space, it's been obvious to me for months that something has been consuming the free space in a manner which is not directly attributable to an app and cannot be reclaimed.

To troubleshoot it I've tried just about everything, including not installing a 3rd party email account, not adding a FB account or widget, not installing any 3rd party apps, not adding any news feeds or widgets, not using the internet, etc. etc., to see what might be chewing up the space and not freeing it up or allowing it to be free'd up by clearing the data or the cache for that app. Nothing worked, something kept eating up the space at an average of 2 to 5 MB per day, although some days that number would jump be as much as 30 or 40MB in a single day! Anybody that knows much about files, pictures, and data in general, knows that that's an INSANE amount of space to lose in that short of a time. Again, keep in mind that this happens even WITHOUT using an email account (and I don't use my default Gmail account so it gets almost zero email), so it isn't emails with big attachments taking up the space, and no other data driven app could possibly do that.

I finally think I know what the culprit is after all this time, but I'm still not 100% certain since I haven't done any substantial tests on it yet. I believe that every time an app updates, or at least certain apps update, the size of that update or the app that it was replacing is permanently lost. Obviously it shouldn't be that way by design, and would clearly be a bug if that's what's happening, but I'm pretty sure that's what it is. What disgusts me is that SPRINT, HTC, and ANDROID should've been doing tests themselves all this time to determine the problem since they introduced this stinkin' phone, but they don't even acknowledge that a problem exists unless you call the feeble amount of internal storage space a problem. But what REALLY pisses me off is that I'm STUCK with this phone for another year give or take, unless I want to spend hundreds of dollars to change phones before my 2 year contract is up.

 

[edenney]

Just got my wife a new EVO 4G this week, it came with GB 2.3.3 on it. we set it up and she has a total of about 19 apps on the phone and she still has 264MB of internal storage left on her phone. I on the other hand have a EVO 4G a year old, still has 2.2 Froyo on it, I have about 50 apps on my phone and it has 86.23MB of internal storage left.

Really sucks that here GB 2.3.3 phone is working so great and I am still afraid to update mine because of all the problems I have read about.

GB 2.3.3 isn't causing the space problem, I had to do 2 factory resets due to space issues before the GB update, and it wasn't because I had a ton of apps installed (see my previous post about the space issue). The same space eating issues existed before the GB update and after it, all other GB issues were resolved very quickly. I love the GB update, it fixed some things that needed to be fixed, and added some desperately needed simple features.

 

[edenney]

I did a factory reset and installed all my old apps on about 10/24. It took awhile to get everything back to where it was, but I had about 200 MB of internal memory after that. It was nice to not have to monitor the memory and make sure it was at 45 MB or above. My EVO had more capabilities, as I could use more widgets and carry more apps. Also, I don't think anybody has mentioned it, but gmail will not sync if there isn't at least that much memory available on the phone.

Long story short...I'm now down to 98 MB. There is definitely a leak. I run a cache cleaner at least once a day and clear out the hidden caches every other day or so (Dolphin, UberSocial, cached Google Maps, etc.). I guess this is where we are now: going to have to do a factory reset every 8 weeks or so.

YES, there is a HUGE leak. Space that CANNOT be reclaimed by ANY method short of a factory reset, which I've done 4 times now since I bought the phone in April 2011. Before anybody says something like I have too many apps installed (an ignorant response, it happens eventually if you don't install ANY 3rd party apps), or it's email related, or caches, or clearing data, etc. etc., DO YOUR HOMEWORK. None of that is the real culprit, although they can all temporarily help or hurt. Doesn't matter though, no matter what you do, you WILL eventually run out of space with your Evo Shift, usually in a matter of 2 to 6 months depending.

As I stated in a previous post, I now believe it's related to the app updates, and I believe that when all or at least certain apps update, the space that app or update takes up is permanently lost. I don't know if the stupid phone is storing a copy of the old app, or a copy of the update, or whatever, but that seems to be the net result. I'm still troubleshooting it, but it pisses me off that WE'RE still dealing with this problem and having to troubleshoot it ourselves, when I KNOW that Sprint, HTC, and Android MUST have been aware of it for many months.

 

[PapaNoHair#AC]

That is a LOT of work you went thru - thanks! That seems to eliminate some areas as being the culprit.

 

[PapaNoHair#AC]

Here is a copy of the response from HTC to my complaint about the leakage: (a bunch of gobbledegook)

Dear ***********,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us here at HTC ****. We appreciate your feedback regarding the HTC Evo 4G from Sprint.

HTC strives to bring the best possible products to our customers based on the needs and desires of cellphone users today. We continue to improve upon manufacturing techniques for our devices, and make changes as necessary when new models are developed. In some cases devices can develop unforeseen issues after being launched that need to be addressed either via troubleshooting or through maintenance releases and updates. We do our best to detect these issues and report them as quickly as possible, and have our developers create any necessary updates in a timely manner.

We are always ready and willing to help you address any issues that you may be having with your phone and correct them with you to the best of our ability. When you contact HTC, please ensure that you always provide the serial number of your device located inside the phone under where the battery is seated and beginning with HT or SH. We would also accept the IMEI beginning with 35... or the MEID that starts with A1000.

The serial number you provided as ************* does not populate any data in our database. Perhaps a number or letter was transposed incorrectly when you typed it into the email. If you do respond to this message, please take a moment and verify the serial number on your phone for us.

In the interim we will pass along your comments and feedback regarding this phone to our developers on your behalf. Any constructive suggestions received are used in determining new features and functions of our phones, or find areas that could be improved with future models of HTC devices. To stay on top of release dates for upgrades and new devices, you can follow our official social network feeds on Twitter and Facebook, or our official website at HTC - Mobile Phones, Smartphones, Cell Phones, PDAs or HTC Press Releases - HTC Mobile Phone News & Updates . Remember that on most phones you should receive direct notification of any updates and maintenance releases once they are available for download and installation.

Regarding the hardware and the paint, the white Evo 4G was a specialty item carried only at Best Buy and produced as a special limited edition device. All devices are subject to normal wear and tear and paint will wear off of the device over time from placing the phone in and out of your pocket from keys, pocket change, zippers, counter tops and desks, etc. Even the secretions from your skin can break down the finish on the phone over time.

To protect your device from this type of damage you may wish to consider a case. These are sold by third party companies for HTC phones and can be obtained from your carrier or our official reseller of HTC accessories Shop America at HTC Online Store (US) - Free Cell Phones & Cell Phone Service .

Note : We do not recommend obtaining accessories from online auction sites or little known retailers outside of the US and Canada.

Regarding the memory leak, have you or any of the people in the forum ever spoken to anyone at HTC to have the issue escalated and reported to the software developers? We can do this for you, but we would require some troubleshooting to be done first before escalating this type of issue for further analysis. If you would like to pursue this line of troubleshooting with us, we will be more than happy to do so with you.

We deeply regret any inconvenience you may have experienced with your HTC Evo 4G Skip. As always, we are here to answer any technical questions or concerns you may have between 6am and 1am EST, 7 days a week for your convenience, or by phone at 1-866-449-8358.

Let me know if I have successfully answered your question, please click here to complete this.

To send a reply to this message, please click here.

Sincerely,

*******

 

[giograves]

Yo, I'm beginning to think this is a GB problem, not just an EVO problem, just most devices never notice it since newer devices have so much more internal space.

How is it possible that I flash a completely new ROM (Syneargy) and I'm having the same issue? Sure that ROM is a bit bloated, but I'm losing like 2-3 MB a day even after app cache flush. wth???

 

[muelgrub]

Is there any new solution to this issue. I have over 40 megs of internal space, but still get low on space message. Sprint says it's an Android issue and that I have to reset my phone. Don't want to do that. It's rooted, so is there anything else I can do?

 

[MrClarenceCat]

Sprint says it's an Android issue and that I have to reset my phone.

Gotta love the Sprint customer service! I had an issue (not this one) with my phone and was told the same thing (except that it was HTC's fault instead of Android). I guess "Factory reset" must be the last line in the official Sprint Customer Service script.

This would be funny if it wasn't that they make you sign a 2 year contract on a product that is supported for only 1 year (at best).

 

[RBorden629]

HTC has forgot about EVO 4G users. They have moved on. I love my phone. I will keep it until motorola makes a Razor for sprint, then I will move to motorola. It's been a nice ride HTC.:'(

 

[edenney]

It's been a few months at least since I last posted, so I'll chime back in, considering there are still thousands and thousands of Evo Shift owners out there dealing with this problem.

Due to the space leak problem I've gone through a few more resets since my last post, bringing the total resets in the last 12 months to about 5 or 6 per Evo Shift in my family. We have two Evo Shifts in our house, and my daughter has another, so I have to do a factory reset on one phone or another at least once a month. I've long since given up on looking for cool apps to use on our phones, and instead only install a handful of essential apps and a couple games. It just takes too friggin long to reconfigure all the apps each time, in addition to re-installing them. I would estimate that all of the apps/games I reinstall after each reset totals LESS than 50MB.

The whole thing is flippin RIDICULOUS, and I'm stunned that neither HTC, Sprint, or Android has addressed this issue or even admitted that it exists. It's BS that we're just expected to lay out several hundred dollars for a new smart phone, just because of this one issue. I think it's safe to say that most of us would be mostly happy with our Evo Shifts if not for this stupid space leak problem. Sure, we'd all like more internal store space, but personally I could live with having 300-400MB of useable app and data space if there wasn't a space leak.

Last time I came around I mentioned that I thought the culprit MIGHT be related to the application updates, after extensive troubleshooting of this problem over the last several months. I had turned off automatic updates on every single app that has that feature, and it did seem to help substantially for a while, but it didn't eliminate the problem entirely I discovered (though I still keep it turned off). Much like so many of the other band-aids people have mentioned and tried, especially myself, it just slows the loss of space.

To date, I've tried every single thing I can think of that an end user can do or control (read my past posts in this thread and others), and nothing "solved" the problem completely. I have noticed however that after a recent Sprint software update this March (sorry, I don't know the number), my phone has been holding steady at just over 200MB free for at least a week now. It hasn't been long enough for me to be convinced one way or another, since I've seen the free space hold steady before for a week or more, then suddenly lose 50MB+ OVER NIGHT without using the phone. Still, I'm holding out a glimmer of hope that perhaps this most recent update FINALLY addressed the space leak.

I will mention one thing... It seems that people that have rooted their phone do not suffer from the evaporating space problem. I'm a computer techie but I've only been using a smart phone for about a year, so it just wasn't something I was really comfortable doing. Not sure if we can still root our phones with the current software update on them, but if we can, and if this most recent update doesn't 't solve the problem, then I'm seriously going to consider going down that road.

If anybody else has anything to contribute on this subject, by all means please chime in.

 

[giograves]

I'm rooted and flashed and I still have the issue.

I noticed that even if I move an app to the SD card, the "data" space still goes to the internal. So if I'm running out of space j just go to a few rarely used apps who I don't mind losing the data on and clear it.

Sucks big time. I'm really willing to give up my money for a new ics phone if Sprint will actually release in this century....




- Sent from my HTC eVo with Tapatalk

 

[edenney]

Thanks for posting that. You're the first rooted user I've seen that's said they had the problem and couldn't free up the space. I guess I shouldn't have said that rooted users don't experience the problem, but rather the ones I've read about that did experience were allegedly able to reclaim the space.

It's the dreaded "System Data" area that grows and grows and grows, but we have no means of peering into that area of the phone (at least non-rooted, can't speak for rooted phones) much less cleaning up anything in it. All of the apps and app data, including contacts and msg storage etc. can all be accounted for and reclaimed, but System Data grows at a typical average rate of about 2 to 5 MB per day, and eventually you can delete every 3rd party app you want, you'll still run out of space. What's intriguing is that I've seen the system data number hold steady for as much as several days at a time, but then suddenly grow by as much as 50MB OVER NIGHT without using the phone. It's just crazy.

Still holding steady at 206MB free now for several days. Holding out more and more hope that the most recent update may have finally addressed the problem, but only time will tell. I'll post again in a week or so and won't download any apps in the meantime.

 

[muelgrub]

I'm also a rooter user (but not flashed) and I'm having the issue. sucks big time is right!!!

 

[djjeffa]

Ok so i got my phone to force all apps to sd so im only running 20 total apps wich includ all the defaults you cant move or delete. (Im not rooted) th apps take up less than 150 megs. Contact,phone dialer take up another 35 and it says i have 25 free? I thought its was like 400 so am i missing somthing?

Also im only using 50% of my ram

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2 Beta-4