Help with new smartphone

strangeotron

Hi, I bought an Alcatel U3 smartphone from Tesco as it seemed like a good deal. I'm not bothered about it being a cheaper phone.

But I cannot find anywhere how to install apps, from theplay store, onto my sd card. The card is working, the devices recognises it, and i've selected the option to install to the card but it doesn't.

If i go into the file manager i can't find anywhere in the phone storage where the apps are listed and if i use the settings and go into the app of choice that way (eg facebook) there is no option to move to SD card.

Is this normal? Thanks

Herongull

Apps are mostly stored in the memory rather than on the SD card. If you set it so that the default storage is the SD card, then some apps can partly live on the SD card but most of them will still be in memory. You should find that your photos, videos, ebooks, music, audiobooks are on the SD card.

joyknights

Apps are usually stored on your phone's memory not on SD card.

grumbler

strangeotron wrote: »

But I cannot find anywhere how to install apps, from theplay store, onto my sd card. The card is working, the devices recognises it, and i've selected the option to install to the card but it doesn't.

Some apps can be moved to the card, some cannot.
In the Settings >> Apps there is a section "SD card" (scroll to right/left between sections).

If you tap an app in "Downloaded" some will have an active "Move to SD card" button (at the bottom in my version - scroll down) that changes to "Move to internal storage" after moving.
Not sure if SD card can be used before/during installation.

If i go into the file manager i can't find anywhere in the phone storage where the apps are listed

I don't think that File Manager shows them/

Neil49

I've just checked my Galaxy S7 for the procedure to move parts of apps to the sd card and have found that the option is no longer there.

I'm running on android Oreo (version 8).

My wife is stuck on Kit Kat and the option is definitely there as I have to frequently make use of it to free up memory.

[Deleted User]

Neil49 wrote: »

I've just checked my Galaxy S7 for the procedure to move parts of apps to the sd card and have found that the option is no longer there.

I'm running on android Oreo (version 8).

My wife is stuck on Kit Kat and the option is definitely there as I have to frequently make use of it to free up memory.

How have you set your external storage up? You can set it as removable storage (for music/photos/videos etc) in which case apps can't use it.

Go to Settings > Storage and see if the card is shown as "Portable storage", if so and you want to change this then tap on the card name and then on the menu (top right) and select "Storage settings". You can format as internal from there but you will lose anything on the card so back up first.

Neil49

Colin_Maybe wrote: »

How have you set your external storage up? You can set it as removable storage (for music/photos/videos etc) in which case apps can't use it.

Go to Settings > Storage and see if the card is shown as "Portable storage", if so and you want to change this then tap on the card name and then on the menu (top right) and select "Storage settings". You can format as internal from there but you will lose anything on the card so back up first.

Thanks for your reply. I've just investigated further and discovered that my S7 is actually set up to move parts of apps to the sd card but very few of them actually have the option.

I'd checked the Facebook app for the procedure but there's no option to move anything on that app to the sd card on my phone but you can do on my wife's S4 mini. I think that with current phones having more inbuilt storage many apps are removing the option.

strangeotron

I bought an alcatel 3 + a £10 'rocket pack' (£30 total) from tesco a couple of days ago. The phone itself however is just useless; it's too slow to be of any use. Apps don't load or if they do it takes ages and ages with me having to restart the device. I constantly get 'app not responding wait/close' messages.

Even though it's a cheaper phone it should still function. I don't expect it to be all singing all dancing, but basic functionality i think is reasonable - a light browser, some email perhaps.

What are my rights here if I take this back, because I imagine the vendor won't be happy to refund me.

[Deleted User]

Neil49 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. I've just investigated further and discovered that my S7 is actually set up to move parts of apps to the sd card but very few of them actually have the option.

I'd checked the Facebook app for the procedure but there's no option to move anything on that app to the sd card on my phone but you can do on my wife's S4 mini. I think that with current phones having more inbuilt storage many apps are removing the option.

That surprises me to be honest, I've got mine set up as removable storage but I may look into swapping it over to see. Mine is a brand new model with 32GB internal so should do the same as yours I'm presuming.

[Deleted User]

Neil49 wrote: »

I'd checked the Facebook app for the procedure but there's no option to move anything on that app to the sd card on my phone but you can do on my wife's S4 mini. I think that with current phones having more inbuilt storage many apps are removing the option.

Strange, I've just changed my SD to app storage and Facebook moved over with no issues, I'm currently moving everything else that can move.

pmduk

strangeotron wrote: »

I'm not bothered about it being a cheaper phone.

It's a phone, it makes calls, sends texts. You knew you weren't going to get much from your quote [from a different post]. You can hardly complain that you've got what you paid for. A rubbish phone.