Tearing Down the Droid to Replace Internal Memory w/ Bigger SD?

[PuneE]

phoneWreck Motorola Droid Teardown Images!

like many of us out there, we are constantly annoyed at the Low Memory warnings we get because we were given a measely 256MB onboard allotment of memory. Ive found a teardown of the phone (link above) but there is no mention of the whether the internal memory is built in or a soldered on microSD of sort. I've only done a brief search so far but @ 256mb it's probably very unlikely but i can only hope.

256MB ?!?! what were those guys thinking over at development?

if u had wanted to physically upgrade your onboard memory like myself, please help w this quest. I will post back if i find anything more

 

[rcrow490]

Use apps2sd.
It will move many apps to the sd card.
I very seldom see the low memory warning any more.
I think you'd be crazy to stick a soldering iron on your phone.

 

[tranz]

Wow!!!

Well, if you actually decide to do it, be sure to do a video and YouTube it. Then post a link here and let us all know about it.

I mean as an electronics hobbyist type it'd be cool to hear about it, and see it and all, but you can install so many apps to your SD that there's really not much practical reason to go for more system RAM.

 

[PuneE]

@rcrow: apps2sd and many apps of the like can only push apps that were specifically given that function from the developer (from what I understand in the app descriptions). I've already been doing that manually. Not to mention any app that is used as a widget function cant be pushed to SD or it'll stop working.

when u have toddlers @ home and u practically use your phone as a utility for almost every aspect of ur everyday life, coordinating your personal, business, and entertainment all into one device, 100 apps on ur phone happens easily. (yay for smartphones). as is, your phone already comes w 30+apps out of the box.

FORTUNATELY, with titanium backup and/or many custom roms that I have now loaded onto my droid, 99% of apps can now be forced to SD w/o the need to partition and creating some virtual drive of sort on the SD. So Im back up to 100+MBs of space. back then, even @ 60MB i would eventually start getting lowMEM because some apps like Gmail or facebook would mysteriously start harboring data building up to 20+MBs each, which then I'd have to clear data and set up those accounts from fresh again. It's a reoccuring annoyance I'd rather not deal with.

my quest for internal memory upgrade is currently on hold. but I would still opt for that if I know it can be done. at least the developers wised up to the problem and now the D2Global comes w 8GB Internal.

and for anyone wondering, 25.7 MBs is the threshold that prompts the lowMEM alert on my MotoDroid. once the alert is on, all ur msgs will float hang in the clouds until u free up mem to make the alert go away.

below is a pic of just the games I had left after dumping more than 5 games a few months back.

 

[rcrow490]

@PuneE
Sorry. I was just trying to help. I currently have 178 apps installed without the help of Titanium Backup. I too use my phone for everything and don't have the issues you have. Again, sorry for my puny advice.

 

[PuneE]

@PuneE
Sorry. I was just trying to help. I currently have 178 apps installed without the help of Titanium Backup. I too use my phone for everything and don't have the issues you have. Again, sorry for my puny advice.

same here, sorry as well, didnt mean to offend either. many times when i rant on it comes across that way. but at the same time, i wanted to be clear to anyone else that may come across this lonesome endeavor to be as informed as possible to what my situation is, to what their situation can be, or will be, and what other options can be explored or further suggested.

same here tho, i think MyBackPro recently clocked me @ 163 Apps on my last backup. maybe Iv been using the wrong apps that dont push too well, or i have some inherent software glitches causing moemory buildup. I kno NOOK is something like 25MBs and still up there abt 18MBs even after pushing to SD.

even tho Apps2SD wasn't new to me, grant it i didnt mention it either, but a great heads up for someone fresh on the smartphone scene. BTW, there's so many out there by such similar names, which one did you specifically use -- i.e. who's the developing author of the app. maybe the one u use is particularly more affective than most of the others.

putting a soldering iron to a 600$ phone is DEFINITELY crazy.. and i do get a little crazy with a purpose. and it's definitely fun too, haha, but that's why I will only do it w tried and true methods of success.. as that's all my time and finances currently permit.

 

[EPrintPro]

Shared Memory

Haven't read this whole thread - sorry if I'm rehashing old ground....

Every app needs some shared memory with the phone even if it's installed to the SD card......My phone only had 160MB left over after the required apps that were preloaded onto the phone to begin with... and that went REALLY quick even after I ported everything over to the SD. I'm not a conspiracy theorist by nature, but I have to wonder if they didn't cripple the phone to begin with just to prompt people to upgrade later... I will buy another smart phone soon - but it won't be you, LG. :icon_cussing:

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[voodoodaddy]

Here is my tip. Get an iPad and keep your phone away from your kids. And I say that as a parent of 4 myself.

 

[diesburg]

Link2sd from the market is an awesome option that puts apps and dalvik file and lib files on an ext partition. So it doesn't just move the app to the ext partition but moves all the files with the app. That means app space is as unlimited as the size of your ext partition. Another plus with this option is widgets and apps that usually don't work on sd, work fine being installed on an ext partition.

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

 

[jimmiethemum]

I have the same problem with my original Droid. yea, I'm due for a new one and haven't decided yet what to get. I heard a new phone is coming out in September, anyone know of that?
Anyway, about 3 weeks ago my phone started to freeze up. I moved what ever I could to the SD card. No help. So I did a re boot and deleted all my apps. The phone still freezes up on me. I love the Droid up till that point. Now I have no additional apps and am not sure what to get.

I know I want a phone with tons of internal memory and not just 256MB.

Any recommendation on what you experts would buy? Is there something coming out in September that I should wait for and suffer till that point?
Also, i had put something in voice mail where I didn't have to put in my pin nbr. but that was deleted with the re-boot. Does anyone remember what I need to do to re program that so I don't have to put in my pin when checking voice mail.

Thank you for your anticipated answers.

 

[diesburg]

I reallt don't think there's any way to increase memory on the droid. Its on board memory, not an sdcard. Even if you soldered a bigger nand memory chip on board it wouldn't work because I think the bootloader and other things would have to be programmed to use the extra memory added. Like I said before, just get a rom that link2sd works with. Your internal memory won't lose anything with each app if you move app, dex, and lib files to ext partition. If you're not willing to do that then forget this thread and deal with low memory because that's your only option if you expect a droid to hold that many apps without running low on memory. This may sound rude but you've been told what your only options are and you obviously don't like those options so there is no more help to be offered. Resoldering a memory chip in a phone is a pretty far out, not do-able solution. And if it was possible, the required equipment to solder something that small would probably cost more than a used droid 2 or a similar phone with more internal memory.

Sent from my DROID using Tapatalk

 

[diesburg]

And if I didn't already mention it, all apps I have moved to ext partition with link2sd worked, even widgets, live wallpapers and things that don't work moving apps2sd with the old froyo method, so you lose no functions of apps.

Sent from my DROID using Tapatalk

 

[Byakushiki]

While you're at it, try replacing the ram chip with something more substantial, maybe a 768mb chip. If it boots, show us, since that'll be one fast D1.

 

[nbucko]

The Bionic is coming out in September and should be one hell of a phone. It does not have a physical keyboard though which I prefer to have.

I about jumped on the D3 but was smart enough to hold off and see what other people said about them. Glad I did. There have been a lot of complaints about random FC's and reboots. Also right before the D3 came out there was no mention of 4G being in my area any time soon (KCMO) so I was going to settle with the 3G. Now I have heard that 4G will be in the area sometime in December/January.

Back to the original topic. In theory this is a great idea. I love my D1 especially rooted, rom'd and OC'd. The RAM does leave you wanting more especially with todays memory hog apps/games. Up until recently I had never run into the low memory message. I started playing Dragon, Fly (great game) and now get a low mem warning every time I play with very little running in the background. But in reality I don't think it would be worth the time/effort since like someone else said, it won't be as easy as just slapping a bigger SD card in if it is an SD card at all. I'm sure there will be programming issues to make the phone work with the extra memory. And even if you do get it to work you're still left with a 600Mhz single core processor underclocked to 550 stock with phones out now with dual core 1.5Ghz and quad core on the horizon.

If you're just looking for something to tinker with, great. If you're looking for a way to make your D1 stay up with the times, save your money and spend your time researching the phone you want to make sure you'll be happy with it.