Friday, September 16, 2011
Android: 5 ways to get rid of lack of memory issue
Many Android cell phone users always run into the issue of lack of memory, or the phone is less responsive, especially when you installed too many applications. There are a lot of ways to save space, but some of them are most effective, if you have the same problem, you can try below methods.
1. Clear caches generated by apps
Since every cell phone has limited ROM space and Android V2.2 earlier versions won’t let you install applications in SD card, we have to clear the cache generated by apps to free the memory. Go to Settings->Applications->Manage applications, you can find that some apps have caches, just press Clear Cache, that would save you a few MB memory for you, sometimes even over 10 MBs.
2. Cleanup /data/dalvik-cache
If you run out of memory, try first to remove everything in /data/dalvik-cache then reboot immediately. The necessary .dex files will be recreated automatically. I had about 15 MB of old unnecessary .dex files.
3. Delete old applications
If you have already upgraded Google Maps from the Market, you can delete /system/app/Maps.apk and /data/dalvik-cache/system@app@Maps.apk@classes.dex since the new version uses different file names. You must remount /system rw as shown below to be able to delete stuff from /system/app. Be very careful when modifying /system, you can break your phone. Don’t forget to remount it afterwards.
4. Use cache cleaning apps.
There a many cache cleaning apps on Android market, like Quick
App Clean Cache, but you need to pay for it. If you get root, you can also try CacheCleaner, CacheMate, and MoveCache to clear caches easily.
5. Move apps to SD card
This requires a lot of Linux expertise because you may mess it up, but this will surely save a lot of memory for you. But keep in mind Widgets and system apps won’t work when you move them to SD card, so you need to make sure apps are supporting apps to SD. You can also use Apps 2 SD or SDMove to help you when doing so.
Above 5 ways are the best to help you save memory and make your cell phone more responsive. Besides, you can uninstall apps you never or seldom use, or reboot your cell phone when it runs slowly, this helps as well.
