[Bob Atkins]

Good luck getting your phone back to normal after a factory reset no matter what you do. Now that Lollipop has limited apps to internal storage only you probably won't get a complete or good restore because the phone will run out of memory during the restore - especially if you had moved apps to the SD card to free up internal memory! You can pretty much expect your app settings and data to be gone, your home screens to be in some factory state your app icons to be 'generic' androids because the phone ran out of internal memory while restoring! There is no recovery option after a factory reset which unfortunately is needed whenever these [language redacted by Mod] phones can't send SMS anymore!

This all seems to be related to the Lollipop 5.1 update. The internal memory only for apps and the SMS send/receive bug!

The bottom line - Android is a massive [language redacted by Mod] - a HUGE time sync that can still can barely make and receive phone calls and SMS texts - the MOST BASIC FUNCTIONS OF A PHONE!

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Sorry that this happened to you. The ability to move apps to the SD is dependent on the device, not the Android version. Some devices let you move apps, some don't--that's up to the manufacturer. There are some decent app data backup solutions out there, like Helium, so in the future, you may want to consider that.

Part of the problem that you point out is the limited internal storage that your phone is hampered by. This is why it's always best to get a phone with as much internal storage as you can afford--8 GB is hardly enough these days. The SD card was never really intended primarily for app installation--it's always been best used for media storage. Entry-level devices aren't good for users who intend to install many apps or large apps.

[Rukbat]

Another part of the problem is that if you back up an app that's been moved to the SD card, all you're backing up is a link to a spot on the SD card, you're not backing up the app.

Also, if you root the Lollipop ROM, you'll be able to either make the SD card writable (NextApp SDFix: KitKat Writable MicroSD (root)) or switch internal and SD storage (External 2 Internal SD (Root)) to get more space.

[Bob Atkins]

So all anyone here has managed to do is confirm to me that Android isn't ready for prime time. It isn't ready for regular normal people to use and it is in fact a [language redacted by Mod] operating system written by a bunch of green behind the ears morons.

What [language redacted by Mod] concluded that it would be OK to provide a backup solution that IGNORES the apps that are on SD card?? What MORON thought that it would be OK to give a user the idea that they are successfully performing a full backup of their device EXCEPT for the apps that are on the SD card?!?! Do you even read what you write!?!? And finally how lazy do you have to be to write a backup and restore function that doesn't completely RESTORE the phone back to the original configuration as long as there is sufficient internal and external (SD) storage?!?!

8GB of internal storage isn't enough!?!? What [language redacted by Mod] planet are you on! Most phones in use today have 8GB or LESS! Good ones have 8G and occasionally you find phones with more but they have only recently been introduced and are both large and expensive. Few real people can just dump their phone for the next model with even more memory.

8GB isn't enough because of carrier bloatware and boneheaded stupidity on the part of Android coders (I can't call a brick layer anything more than a brick layer) since 'coders' don't think much beyond the next line of code they are tapping out. Clearly there are no software architects or system engineers involved with Android or there might be a little better lifecycle and product path.

The utter stupidity of not supporting or designing Android and the hardware to allow increasing the phone's OVERALL storage with an SD card is just so beyond ridiculous it should be criminal! It is an outright ripoff of consumers who purchase these [language redacted by Mod] products!

You have only reinforced what I said at the beginning - Android is a [language redacted by Mod] and those involved with its development are completely out of touch with the real world and the users that THEY are supposed to be supporting!

[B. Diddy]

Ok, thanks for your opinion. Thread closed.