phone aborts aps soon after starting them, won't download or install new aps..

[linuxrocks]

Hi all,

I recently got an old droid x smart phone. I don't need all the fancy features and capability and found the droid x to be more than adequate and the price is low.......

However, my problem is with my daughters cell phone. We bought it for her as a safety item, not because it would do all sorts of fancy stuff. It's a Huawei, model H881C with android 3x operating system. We use Straight Talk unlimited.

It's a low end smart phone, but it should run android aps.....

The phone has gotten progressively worse with the passage of time.....at this point, it won't update installed software or install new aps, saying there is not enough memory available. When she tries to run an ap, it tends to shut down without warning after 2 or 3 minutes. When the ap is restarted, it just keeps aborting. Most recently, it is making her wait up to 30 seconds before she can even make a phone call. Pressing any key at all does nothing for some period of time. Basically, the phone seems 'broken'.

I have linux experience, so I wondered if the trash can might just need to be emptied. I found email messages (293 of them) in the gmail ap and deleted those.

I found it has no SD card. Is it possible that the lack of an SD card (it does have a slot for one) is the problem with the lack of functionality????

If it needs an SD card to function properly, what size SD card should I buy for it?

TIA.

Art

 

[Jeffrey]

Welcome to the Forum Art.
looks like she needs to remove the Apps she rarely or never uses to free up some space.
An SD card is a good add on as well. I would suggest a 16 or 32G.

 

[linuxrocks]

looks like she needs to remove the Apps she rarely or never uses to free up some space.

Thanks for the warm welcome Jeffrey.

She has added a few aps since she started using it, but not many. If there are items to be deleted, I would guess that temporary cached internet files, old text messages and maybe the old downloads might free up memory.

If I wanted to make it run without uninstalling aps, will the addition of an sd card make it functional again??? I think moving some aps to the sd card might be the way to go?

I am reading in the forum quite a bit now, as a learning process.....fortunately I have ubuntu experience although the interface used in the cellphone is significantly different than linux.

Right now, I can't even find the application data files or even the aps themselves!!! I hooked the phone up to my computer (with the usb data cable) and can see the directory structure, but there are no application folders in the home directory (yes, I di enable hidden folders so they show up)!!!

By the way, she had 293 old (previously deleted) emails in the google mail program. When I deleted those, her phone became much more responsive-when she presses a button now, the phone responds promptly. But, she can't open any aps or update anything yet. So, clearly I need to delete more........

She primarily needs the phone to run facebook 24/7 and to send text messages, and stream music. She wants an iphone, but I'm not going to buy an iphone for a teenager who loses things.

I pointed to my droid x, which can be bought new for $80 at the present time.....but she wants no part of spending any money for any phone unless it's an iphone:>> She thinks money grows on trees........

Are there aps that will clean up unneeded data files automatically???

She wants to store music and videos on the phone, so I should probably get a larger capacity SD card. I'll check the manual to see how large an sd card is supported before spending big buks on an sd card.

Thanks so much for the guidance! Would appreciate any suggestions or guidance.

Regards,

Art

 

[Jeffrey]

Art, I would get her an SD. Move the vids and music to it. Then do a factory reset which will take the phone to out of the box condition. Now I would only download the must have apps and she should be all set.

 

[linuxrocks]

Art, I would get her an SD. Move the vids and music to it. Then do a factory reset which will take the phone to out of the box condition. Now I would only download the must have apps and she should be all set.

Thanks Jeffrey.

She deleted music and photos long ago......and deleted all the aps she thought she didn't need. So, she's already stripped out all the excess aps and fluff from the phone.

It seems the phone is a walmart straight talk only phone, the manufacturer refuses to support it and won't even acknowledge they made it. No one knows the full specs.

And, the straight talk page on this phone says aps cannot be moved to the sd card, they can only be 'copied'.

Many users report this model has this particular problem and most report it can't be 'fixed'.

I'm going to go ahead and get her the sd card and then do a factory reset after it's installed.

I'll post info on the results on this thread later on.

Regards,

Art

 

[Jeffrey]

Perhaps this will help

http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=5293&c=huawei_m881__h881c_huawei_asura

 

[Jeffrey]

Another thought.. Root is available for this model. Once rooted you can move app anywhere you wish. You can flash a custom ROM which will get you better performance as well. Check it out..

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2294345

 

[LoudRam]

If your looking for an app that cleans the cache and old files then try "All-in-one toolbox". I haven't found anything that cleans better and I've tried most other cleaners. It does have a task killer but I don't recommend using that feature.

 

[promo87]

Thanks Jeffrey.

She deleted music and photos long ago......and deleted all the aps she thought she didn't need. So, she's already stripped out all the excess aps and fluff from the phone.

It seems the phone is a walmart straight talk only phone, the manufacturer refuses to support it and won't even acknowledge they made it. No one knows the full specs.

And, the straight talk page on this phone says aps cannot be moved to the sd card, they can only be 'copied'.

Many users report this model has this particular problem and most report it can't be 'fixed'.

I'm going to go ahead and get her the sd card and then do a factory reset after it's installed.

I'll post info on the results on this thread later on.

Regards,

Art

Well, I have tried reading the whole thread from top to bottom and seemed that you are going through a number of problems. I would say why don't you try performing the full clean up, I think you may move ahead at first with the factory resetting and then head over with something else.

 

[sabahat]

I know this probably wouldn't bother you guys, but as a woman, I don't like having to look at ads geared towards men (bikini women, etc...check'em out now!) when I download an app...specifically, workout or weightlifting log apps. ...wtf are they thinkin? That only men lift weights? I think I'll try and root my phone and look at white rectangles...

 

[Jonny Kansas]

I could get into how you've stated that the phone is supposed to be a "safety item," but you're concerned that it won't do the fancy stuff that you said it didn't need to do, but that won't give you any useful information, so...

When it says the phone is low on memory, that's not storage space. An sd card will add more storage space, so you'll have more room for apps that can't run because the memory is low.

Memory, in this case is RAM (Random Access Memory). This is temporary data storage, where the OS (Operating System) stores bits of information about apps that you're running or have just finished running, which allows it to perform operations more quickly. Instead of digging through everything in the storage space of the phone or sd card, it keeps info for apps that are currently in use in a smaller container.

Android itself is very good at dumping data from RAM when the apps it's tied to have been idle for a while and you need more of it, but it can only do so much. Since you've stated that no one seems to know the specs for this phone and it's a budget phone, chances are, there's not much RAM to begin with. The OS itself takes up a certain amount of RAM by default and can't be stopped. This amount is different for each phone, as manufacturers all put their own spin on the OS.

Based on the information that you and others have provided, if you want her to be able to be on Facebook 24/7 and do much of anything else at all, you should probably consider purchasing a little higher grade phone. Straight Talk has some decent phones that won't break the bank, but will work better than it sounds like this one is.

On the other hand, if it's just for safety as you originally claimed, they'd also got great deals on dumbphones.