Android Phone Updates Frustration

The Gorse Fox is great proponent of the Android-based phones and has been a faithful user for about 18 months. However, he does get frustrated with the lack of storage on the phone itself – and this limits the applications that can be downloaded.

Now, before you yell, the Gorse Fox knows that with the 2.2 version of the code (Froyo) he can move some apps to the huge SD card he has installed. He’s done that. But still, every time the updates come in – the phone’s storage fills up and GF has go through and trim out some app or other.

Today, was just such a day, but he determined to have a more concerted attempt at finding a longer term solution.A bit of web browsing came up with a work around – though it didn’t work exactly as described, so GF will explain what he had to do.

1. You can download the Android SDK but do check the pre-reqs first. GF didn’t and had to go back to install the Java SDK.
   Once they are installed check that you have the latest Sync Software from HTC (if you have an HTC device).
2. Set up the Android phone for USB debugging. On the phone, go to Settings > Applications > Development > USB debugging
3. Connect the android phone to a USB cable and connect that to the PC. The USB drive for the phone should be installed.
4. Now, open a command window on the PC and navigate to the C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools folder (or wherever!) and run the adb command:
   
   adb devices
   
   This should return the serial number of your device and prove that you have an open path to the phone. Now end the command:
   
   adb shell pm setInstallLocation 2
   
   and this should set the default to the SD Card for future installations. Note that if you need to reset this, you use the command: adb shell pm setInstallLocation 0
5. Now you can go through your apps on the phone and move most of the to the SD Card. GF has found a few that won’t move, but most transfer just fine.

The original source of this info was http://www.getele.com/how-to/how-to-install-apps-to-your-sd-card-on-android-froyo.html but Gorse Fox found a couple of minor errors in the procedure – which is why he has re-written it here.