I have a Samsung SM-A260F phone, and I've had it for 5 years now.

Specs here:
<https://www.phonemore.com/specs/samsung/galaxy-a2-core/sm-a260f/>

My service provider keeps nagging me to "upgrade" but it seems to me
that if I do so, I'll end up paying for for less.

I would have 2 reasons to upgrade:

1. To have a bigger/better camera (this one has 5Mp)

2. To have more storage for all the nagging to "download the app now"
when my phone keeps telling me "your phone is getting full" and
suggesting that I zip the app, rarther than download mre apps. .

But every phone in the catalogue that I can afford seems to have less
storage space than the one I already have.

What are the people who say "download the app" thinking?

--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

Steve,

> What are the people who say "download the app" thinking?

More money in their koffers thru a sale (and monthy payments for an
abbonement?) and thru the selling of your personal data they leech from your
phone ? :-) :-(

> 2. To have more storage for all the nagging to "download the app now"
> when my phone keeps telling me "your phone is getting full" and
> suggesting that I zip the app, rarther than download mre apps. .

Isn't there a way to disable all that nagging ? (downside: at some moment
you might get a "I can't do that, dave" response).

All-in-all, buying a new, bigger phone just to get rid of the nagging ?
Thats a high price for it (assuming you don't really need more apps and your
phone does everything you want from it).

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

Steve Hayes wrote:

> I'll end up paying [more] for less.
> I would have 2 reasons to upgrade:
>
> 1. To have a bigger/better camera (this one has 5Mp)
> 2. To have more storage

I realise you live in a different part of the world, but are they really
selling phones with 16GB or less of storage there? I'd say most phones
here are 128GB or 256GB, do you use an SD card?

And of course with a higher pixel camera, photos will eat storage faster.

On 2024-12-03 14:20, Andy Burns wrote:
> Steve Hayes wrote:
>
>> I'll end up paying [more] for less.
>> I would have 2 reasons to upgrade:
>>
>> 1. To have a bigger/better camera (this one has 5Mp)
>> 2. To have more storage
>
> I realise you live in a different part of the world, but are they really
> selling phones with 16GB or less of storage there?  I'd say most phones
> here are 128GB or 256GB, do you use an SD card?
>
> And of course with a higher pixel camera, photos will eat storage faster.

And use more data when sending, eat more quota on the cloud, etc.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:
> I have a Samsung SM-A260F phone, and I've had it for 5 years now.
>
> Specs here:
> <https://www.phonemore.com/specs/samsung/galaxy-a2-core/sm-a260f/>
>
> My service provider keeps nagging me to "upgrade" but it seems to me
> that if I do so, I'll end up paying for for less.
>
> I would have 2 reasons to upgrade:
>
> 1. To have a bigger/better camera (this one has 5Mp)
>
> 2. To have more storage for all the nagging to "download the app now"
> when my phone keeps telling me "your phone is getting full" and
> suggesting that I zip the app, rarther than download mre apps. .
>
> But every phone in the catalogue that I can afford seems to have less
> storage space than the one I already have.
>
> What are the people who say "download the app" thinking?

As Andy mentioned, 16GB Internal Storage is indeed very/too small
these days. And while a (Micro) SD-card helps somewhat, most apps can
not be moved to the SD-card or at best only partially. Sometimes even
the apps' data can not be moved to the SD-card.

I have an old Samsung 10.1" tablet (with Android 5.0.2) also with
16GB (and SD-card), so I know where you're coming from.

As to getting a new phone from your "service provider". I would never
do that. I would just buy the phone and have a SIM-only contract or
pre-paid. Or don't you have those options in your country (SA?)?

As to which phone: As you have experience with a Samsung phone, I
would go for one of their A-Series phones which 1) you can afford and 2)
has 'plenty' of Internal Storage, 128GB or more, and preferably also a
SD-card slot.

FYI, my current phone is a four year old Samsung Galaxy A51 phone with
128GB (of which 58GB still available), dual-SIM and SD-card slot.

Frank Slootweg wrote:

> while a (Micro) SD-card helps somewhat, most apps can
> not be moved to the SD-card or at best only partially. Sometimes even
> the apps' data can not be moved to the SD-card.

Don't most android phones allow SD cards to be used as "adoptable
storage"? If so, that acts like an extension of internal storage, I
don't know because Google hasn't supported SD cards in Nexus/Pixel
phones for many years ...

On 2024-12-03 14:57, Frank Slootweg wrote:
> Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:

....

> As to getting a new phone from your "service provider". I would never
> do that. I would just buy the phone and have a SIM-only contract or
> pre-paid. Or don't you have those options in your country (SA?)?

In Canada (Ontario), for instance, this is hard to do. Nearly impossible
to buy "free phones", not attached to a contract, at a normal site like
the phone section of a supermarket. Amazon sells them.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
> On 2024-12-03 14:57, Frank Slootweg wrote:
> > Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:
>
> ...
>
> > As to getting a new phone from your "service provider". I would never
> > do that. I would just buy the phone and have a SIM-only contract or
> > pre-paid. Or don't you have those options in your country (SA?)?
>
> In Canada (Ontario), for instance, this is hard to do. Nearly impossible
> to buy "free phones", not attached to a contract, at a normal site like
> the phone section of a supermarket. Amazon sells them.

Well, I don't expect unlocked phones at a supermarket, but I expect
them at a phone store or electronics store. A little Google search
indicates that that is the case, also in Ontario.

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:
> Frank Slootweg wrote:
>
> > while a (Micro) SD-card helps somewhat, most apps can
> > not be moved to the SD-card or at best only partially. Sometimes even
> > the apps' data can not be moved to the SD-card.
>
> Don't most android phones allow SD cards to be used as "adoptable
> storage"? If so, that acts like an extension of internal storage, I
> don't know because Google hasn't supported SD cards in Nexus/Pixel
> phones for many years ...

Good point! My old phones were Android 4/5, which didn't have
adoptable storage, and my current phone has ample storage (128GB), so
I've never tried it, but according to his referenced specs, the OP's
phone has Android 8.1 (Oreo), so he should have adoptable storage
functionality and could try it.

Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:
> I have a Samsung SM-A260F phone, and I've had it for 5 years now.
>
> Specs here:
> <https://www.phonemore.com/specs/samsung/galaxy-a2-core/sm-a260f/>
>
> My service provider keeps nagging me to "upgrade" but it seems to me
> that if I do so, I'll end up paying for for less.
>
> I would have 2 reasons to upgrade:
>
> 1. To have a bigger/better camera (this one has 5Mp)
>
> 2. To have more storage for all the nagging to "download the app now"
> when my phone keeps telling me "your phone is getting full" and
> suggesting that I zip the app, rarther than download mre apps. .
>
> But every phone in the catalogue that I can afford seems to have less
> storage space than the one I already have.

How do you work that out? Your phone has a maximum of 16GB of storage
(excl. any SD card). I doubt there any new phone with that little storage
these days. 64GB is more typical at the low end.

Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote in
news:dovtkj5c00tuoo57g5cgvondj2esr6akdl@4ax.com:

> I have a Samsung SM-A260F phone, and I've had it for 5 years now.
>
> Specs here:
> <https://www.phonemore.com/specs/samsung/galaxy-a2-core/sm-a260f/>
>
> My service provider keeps nagging me to "upgrade" but it seems to me
> that if I do so, I'll end up paying for for less.
>
> I would have 2 reasons to upgrade:
>
> 1. To have a bigger/better camera (this one has 5Mp)
>
> 2. To have more storage for all the nagging to "download the app now"
> when my phone keeps telling me "your phone is getting full" and
> suggesting that I zip the app, rarther than download mre apps. .
>
> But every phone in the catalogue that I can afford seems to have less
> storage space than the one I already have.
>
> What are the people who say "download the app" thinking?
>
>

Here's an unlocked Samsung A25-5G phone, 128 GB, dual nano-SIM, or single
nano-SIM with micro-SD. Very nice camera. $250 U.S.

https://www.samsung.com/us/smartphones/galaxy-a25/buy/galaxy-a25-5g-128gb-
unlocked-sm-a256uzkdxaa/

On 2024-12-03 17:08, Frank Slootweg wrote:
> Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
>> On 2024-12-03 14:57, Frank Slootweg wrote:
>>> Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:
>>
>> ...
>>
>>> As to getting a new phone from your "service provider". I would never
>>> do that. I would just buy the phone and have a SIM-only contract or
>>> pre-paid. Or don't you have those options in your country (SA?)?
>>
>> In Canada (Ontario), for instance, this is hard to do. Nearly impossible
>> to buy "free phones", not attached to a contract, at a normal site like
>> the phone section of a supermarket. Amazon sells them.
>
> Well, I don't expect unlocked phones at a supermarket, but I expect
> them at a phone store or electronics store. A little Google search
> indicates that that is the case, also in Ontario.

I failed to find them. Very few models.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

On 12/3/2024 8:00 AM, Steve Hayes wrote:

> What are the people who say "download the app" thinking?
>
I see that constantly on my local TV news. "Download the app to
get constant weather updates." What they're thinking is that if you
download the app they can spy on you, sell that data, maybe
show you targetted ads. If you just watch TV news they know
nothing about you.

On Tue, 3 Dec 2024 13:20:41 +0000, Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk>
wrote:

>Steve Hayes wrote:
>
>> I'll end up paying [more] for less.
>> I would have 2 reasons to upgrade:
>>
>> 1. To have a bigger/better camera (this one has 5Mp)
>> 2. To have more storage
>
>I realise you live in a different part of the world, but are they really
>selling phones with 16GB or less of storage there? I'd say most phones
>here are 128GB or 256GB, do you use an SD card?

My current phone has 16GB storage, according to the specs, and a 16GB
SD card.

It keeps telling me that it's getting full.

I'm offered an "upgrade" of a phone with 4GB of storage for 2.5 times
the price.

Banks and retailers keep telling me to download and use their app.

Every shop in the mall has its own app.

My question reaslly is how many people can afford a phone that is big
enough for all these apps? How many of their customers can do so? How
many banking or retailer apps do you have on your phone, and how big
is the storage on your pho0ne to hold them all?

>
>And of course with a higher pixel camera, photos will eat storage faster.

--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

On Tue, 3 Dec 2024 17:39:32 -0000 (UTC), Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com>
wrote:

>Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:
>> I have a Samsung SM-A260F phone, and I've had it for 5 years now.
>>
>> Specs here:
>> <https://www.phonemore.com/specs/samsung/galaxy-a2-core/sm-a260f/>
>>
>> My service provider keeps nagging me to "upgrade" but it seems to me
>> that if I do so, I'll end up paying for for less.
>>
>> I would have 2 reasons to upgrade:
>>
>> 1. To have a bigger/better camera (this one has 5Mp)
>>
>> 2. To have more storage for all the nagging to "download the app now"
>> when my phone keeps telling me "your phone is getting full" and
>> suggesting that I zip the app, rarther than download mre apps. .
>>
>> But every phone in the catalogue that I can afford seems to have less
>> storage space than the one I already have.
>
>How do you work that out? Your phone has a maximum of 16GB of storage
>(excl. any SD card). I doubt there any new phone with that little storage
>these days. 64GB is more typical at the low end.

The ones that I can afford offer 4-6 GB of storage, which is less than
the 16GB in the phone I have.

--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

On Tue, 3 Dec 2024 17:41:31 -0000 (UTC), Boris <Boris@invalid.invalid>
wrote:

>Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote in
>news:dovtkj5c00tuoo57g5cgvondj2esr6akdl@4ax.com:
>
>> I have a Samsung SM-A260F phone, and I've had it for 5 years now.
>>
>> Specs here:
>> <https://www.phonemore.com/specs/samsung/galaxy-a2-core/sm-a260f/>
>>
>> My service provider keeps nagging me to "upgrade" but it seems to me
>> that if I do so, I'll end up paying for for less.
>>
>> I would have 2 reasons to upgrade:
>>
>> 1. To have a bigger/better camera (this one has 5Mp)
>>
>> 2. To have more storage for all the nagging to "download the app now"
>> when my phone keeps telling me "your phone is getting full" and
>> suggesting that I zip the app, rarther than download mre apps. .
>>
>> But every phone in the catalogue that I can afford seems to have less
>> storage space than the one I already have.
>>
>> What are the people who say "download the app" thinking?
>>
>>
>
>Here's an unlocked Samsung A25-5G phone, 128 GB, dual nano-SIM, or single
>nano-SIM with micro-SD. Very nice camera. $250 U.S.
>
>https://www.samsung.com/us/smartphones/galaxy-a25/buy/galaxy-a25-5g-128gb-
>unlocked-sm-a256uzkdxaa/

That's about 3x what I can afford.

--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

Steve Hayes wrote on Wed, 04 Dec 2024 04:22:06 +0200 :

> My current phone has 16GB storage, according to the specs, and a 16GB
> SD card.

My phones are all free but it has been a while since I've seen anyone
around me with less than about 64GB of internal storage, and with the sd
card, the portable memory can be as much or double that for almost nothing.

As far as I'm aware, the camera eats up most of the storage, but I haven't
seen a camera app in many years that doesn't automatically save to external
sdcards.

What takes up the rest of the storage?

Well, map apps have relatively large databases (which can also be stored on
the external sd card), as do video downloaders (e.g., NewPipe).

Also I have my Google Play Store replacement app save every APK ever
installed on the external sdcard, so that takes up a lot of storage space.

In fact, while I've lived with 64GB of external storage for a couple of
years on my free Samsung Galaxy A32-5G, I recently replaced it with a 128GB
external sd card (I forget how much it cost, but it was like ten bucks or
so) and everything went *perfectly* smoothly.

Yup. I just looked. About ten bucks for 128GB (three for 32 bucks).
<https://www.amazon.com/Lexar-128GB-microSDXC-Memory-Adapter/dp/B0CB11S919>

Of course, I plan years ahead by formatting every external sd card on
Windows with the same volume label so the phone doesn't realize it's a
different external sd card.

The phone sees *exactly* the same files on the new (doubled-size) external
sd card as on the old (half-sized) external sd card - but with more space.

My suggestion to the OP?

1. On Windows, look at what your 16GB external sd card volume label is
2. Buy a bigger sd card & set the volume label to exactly the same name
3. On Windows copy the files from the old sd card to the new sd card

That should vastly increase your external storage for only a few bucks.
<https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Basics-microSDXC-Memory-Adapter/dp/B08TJRVWV1/>

Steve Hayes wrote:

> Banks and retailers keep telling me to download and use their app.
> Every shop in the mall has its own app.

For my main personal bank account I use their app, all other banks I
only access from a browser on a PC.

I have loyalty cards for three supermarkets I mainly use (to avoid being
milked for "full" price) but I don't install their apps, I keep a scan
of the cards barcodes on the phone, in case I don't have the plastic
cards/wallet with me, but I use other shops who don't push use of
cards/apps too.

I have yet to install even one parking app when everyone seem to
complain about having to install a dozen of them, if they don't accept
coins or debit cards, tough on them.

Steve Hayes wrote:

> Boris wrote:
>
>> Here's an unlocked Samsung A25-5G phone, 128 GB, dual nano-SIM, or single
>> nano-SIM with micro-SD. Very nice camera. $250 U.S.
>
> That's about 3x what I can afford.
It's not good that you have a choice of one phone with 128GB for under
R1500, I suppose it's better than a choice of zero ...

<https://www.bobshop.co.za/brand-new-mobicel-x9-4gb-128gb-50mp-camera-r1460/p/631201657>

You could get 64GB for about R1000, but I see the weasel words "4GB RAM
extended" which I think means 2GB of real memory plus 2GB of fake memory?

<https://www.takealot.com/hisense-e34-64gb-lte-dual-sim-black/PLID95955510>

I don't claim to know the equivalent spending power of R vs $ vs £, but
it seems the real choice begins at R2000

On 04.12.24 03:22, Steve Hayes wrote:
> Banks and retailers keep telling me to download and use their app.
>
> Every shop in the mall has its own app.
>
> My question reaslly is how many people can afford a phone that is big
> enough for all these apps? How many of their customers can do so? How
> many banking or retailer apps do you have on your phone, and how big
> is the storage on your pho0ne to hold them all?

You should learn to say no. It would make your life a lot easier.
I think that your photos and other data are eating up your storage and
less the apps. A standard mid-range smartphone can handle that. 16 GB
were standard about 8-10 years ago when I bought my Nexus 5 (2016).

--
"Roma locuta, causa finita." (Augustinus)

On 04.12.24 03:29, Steve Hayes wrote:
> On Tue, 3 Dec 2024 17:39:32 -0000 (UTC), Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:
>>> I have a Samsung SM-A260F phone, and I've had it for 5 years now.
>>>
>>> Specs here:
>>> <https://www.phonemore.com/specs/samsung/galaxy-a2-core/sm-a260f/>
>>>
>>> My service provider keeps nagging me to "upgrade" but it seems to me
>>> that if I do so, I'll end up paying for for less.
>>>
>>> I would have 2 reasons to upgrade:
>>>
>>> 1. To have a bigger/better camera (this one has 5Mp)
>>>
>>> 2. To have more storage for all the nagging to "download the app now"
>>> when my phone keeps telling me "your phone is getting full" and
>>> suggesting that I zip the app, rarther than download mre apps. .
>>>
>>> But every phone in the catalogue that I can afford seems to have less
>>> storage space than the one I already have.
>>
>> How do you work that out? Your phone has a maximum of 16GB of storage
>> (excl. any SD card). I doubt there any new phone with that little storage
>> these days. 64GB is more typical at the low end.
>
> The ones that I can afford offer 4-6 GB of storage, which is less than
> the 16GB in the phone I have.

I have serious doubts that there are smartphones offered with 4 GB main
storage.

--
"Roma locuta, causa finita." (Augustinus)

On 04.12.24 03:29, Steve Hayes wrote:
> On Tue, 3 Dec 2024 17:39:32 -0000 (UTC), Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:
>>> I have a Samsung SM-A260F phone, and I've had it for 5 years now.
>>>
>>> Specs here:
>>> <https://www.phonemore.com/specs/samsung/galaxy-a2-core/sm-a260f/>
>>>
>>> My service provider keeps nagging me to "upgrade" but it seems to me
>>> that if I do so, I'll end up paying for for less.
>>>
>>> I would have 2 reasons to upgrade:
>>>
>>> 1. To have a bigger/better camera (this one has 5Mp)
>>>
>>> 2. To have more storage for all the nagging to "download the app now"
>>> when my phone keeps telling me "your phone is getting full" and
>>> suggesting that I zip the app, rarther than download mre apps. .
>>>
>>> But every phone in the catalogue that I can afford seems to have less
>>> storage space than the one I already have.
>>
>> How do you work that out? Your phone has a maximum of 16GB of storage
>> (excl. any SD card). I doubt there any new phone with that little storage
>> these days. 64GB is more typical at the low end.
>
> The ones that I can afford offer 4-6 GB of storage, which is less than
> the 16GB in the phone I have.

I suggest that you start the big clean up.
Uninstall all apps you did not use the last 12 months or so.

--
"Roma locuta, causa finita." (Augustinus)

Jörg Lorenz <hugybear@gmx.net> wrote:
> On 04.12.24 03:29, Steve Hayes wrote:
> > On Tue, 3 Dec 2024 17:39:32 -0000 (UTC), Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:
> >>> I have a Samsung SM-A260F phone, and I've had it for 5 years now.
> >>>
> >>> Specs here:
> >>> <https://www.phonemore.com/specs/samsung/galaxy-a2-core/sm-a260f/>
> >>>
> >>> My service provider keeps nagging me to "upgrade" but it seems to me
> >>> that if I do so, I'll end up paying for for less.
> >>>
> >>> I would have 2 reasons to upgrade:
> >>>
> >>> 1. To have a bigger/better camera (this one has 5Mp)
> >>>
> >>> 2. To have more storage for all the nagging to "download the app now"
> >>> when my phone keeps telling me "your phone is getting full" and
> >>> suggesting that I zip the app, rarther than download mre apps. .
> >>>
> >>> But every phone in the catalogue that I can afford seems to have less
> >>> storage space than the one I already have.
> >>
> >> How do you work that out? Your phone has a maximum of 16GB of storage
> >> (excl. any SD card). I doubt there any new phone with that little storage
> >> these days. 64GB is more typical at the low end.
> >
> > The ones that I can afford offer 4-6 GB of storage, which is less than
> > the 16GB in the phone I have.
>
> I have serious doubts that there are smartphones offered with 4 GB main
> storage.
>
We're not confusing main memory with storage space are we by any chance?

E.g. a current Samsung A15 model has 128Gb of **storage** and 4Gb of
**memory**. (That's one priced at £149 here in the UK)

--
Chris Green
·

On 04.12.24 09:08, Chris Green wrote:
> Jörg Lorenz <hugybear@gmx.net> wrote:
>> On 04.12.24 03:29, Steve Hayes wrote:
>>> The ones that I can afford offer 4-6 GB of storage, which is less than
>>> the 16GB in the phone I have.
>>
>> I have serious doubts that there are smartphones offered with 4 GB main
>> storage.
>>
> We're not confusing main memory with storage space are we by any chance?
>
> E.g. a current Samsung A15 model has 128Gb of **storage** and 4Gb of
> **memory**. (That's one priced at £149 here in the UK)

I think I don't but perhaps the OP.

--
"Roma locuta, causa finita." (Augustinus)

Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:
> On Tue, 3 Dec 2024 17:39:32 -0000 (UTC), Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:
>>> I have a Samsung SM-A260F phone, and I've had it for 5 years now.
>>>
>>> Specs here:
>>> <https://www.phonemore.com/specs/samsung/galaxy-a2-core/sm-a260f/>
>>>
>>> My service provider keeps nagging me to "upgrade" but it seems to me
>>> that if I do so, I'll end up paying for for less.
>>>
>>> I would have 2 reasons to upgrade:
>>>
>>> 1. To have a bigger/better camera (this one has 5Mp)
>>>
>>> 2. To have more storage for all the nagging to "download the app now"
>>> when my phone keeps telling me "your phone is getting full" and
>>> suggesting that I zip the app, rarther than download mre apps. .
>>>
>>> But every phone in the catalogue that I can afford seems to have less
>>> storage space than the one I already have.
>>
>> How do you work that out? Your phone has a maximum of 16GB of storage
>> (excl. any SD card). I doubt there any new phone with that little storage
>> these days. 64GB is more typical at the low end.
>
> The ones that I can afford offer 4-6 GB of storage, which is less than
> the 16GB in the phone I have.

Can you post a link? 4-6 GB isn't enough to install Android so I find that
hard to believe.

However, if that is true, then you don't have to upgrade if your current
phone works for you.