Link2SD : never worry about internal memory limits again

Hi All!!

Guess you guys must have heard about Move2SD applications right. But sadly speaking, not all application can be moved to SD card, most of the application need to be installed in the internal memory of our android phones. But to add in more frustrations, with only 320MB of internal storage, how much can we install our applications without reducing the performance?

Worry not, as today i will share with all of you a great applications found on the internet, it is called Link2SD.

Basically, this apps can do the same work as Move2SD, but it can do more than that.


The idea behind is same, linking to SD card's second partition but differs in two ways.

One, instead of linking /data/app folder (that means moving all applications), you can select applications that you want to move.

Two, it's an application which means has a user interface. You can manage your applications, create or remove links with just one click.

It also provides native apps2sd features on Android 2.2 and higher. Plus, it can move any non-protected user apps to SD card (force move), with batch moving capability.

That feature uses Android's standard SD-card installation feature and does not require a second partition. It can break some apps if they are not meant to be moved to the SD card (Such as Widgets).

Features:

• Create and remove link for apk, dex and lib files of the applications you select

• Automatically link newly installed apps

• Move any user apps to SD even though the app does not support moving to SD (for Android 2.2 and higher)

• Shows the apps that support moving to SD with native apps2sd (for Android 2.2 and higher)

• Set the default install location of the apps; auto, internal, or external (for Android 2.2 and higher)

• Batch link, unlink, reinstall, uninstall, "move to SD", "move to phone" functions (multi-select mode)

• Uninstall system applications

• Freeze and un-freeze system and users applications

• Clear data and cache of the application

• Clear all apps cache at once (1-tap cache cleaner without being root)

• List applications, show detailed size information and link status

• Sort and filter applications

• Search applications by name

• Display available space information of internal storage, SD card and SD card 2nd partition

Sounds great eh, haha.

What you need for linking applications:

• root permission. (can be seen here)

• a second partition on your SD card. You should have two partitions on SD card and both should be primary.
  
  The first FAT partition is your standard SD card storage. The second partition is used for application files and can be ext2, ext3, ext4 or FAT32.
  ext4 is the latest ext format but several ROMs have issues with it while fewer have issues with ext3 and ext2. FAT works on all ROMs.
  
  I use free "MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition" (windows application) for this (can be obtain from here).
  You can create the second partition without repartitioning, formatting or deleting your existing partition with this tool. Connect your SD card to PC with a card reader or phone itself and make it visible as a drive. Open Minitool select this drive and resize down FAT partition, you will see an unallocated area at the end of the card. Create ext2, ext3 or FAT32 partition in that area (create as primary, not logical), click apply. Unplug from the PC and reboot the phone. (To be on the safe side backup your data before starting)

• That's all. Just install Link2SD, it will do all necessary. No need to copy files or run scripts.*

* Some phones lack the ext2, ext3 or ext4 file system support and you may get mount errors like "no such device", "invalid argument". These phones need a matching ext2.ko or ext3.ko modules and even some additional modules to be able to mount.
Using FAT32 on the second partition will eleminate such problems, because FAT32 is supported on all phones.

How it works:
Link2SD mounts the second partition of your SD card as /data/sdext2 and makes OS mounts it at boot time.

When you select an application and press "Create Link" button you can select which files of the application will be linked and moved to SD card. Apk, dex and lib files can be moved and you can select all three or any two of three or even only one of them.
Depending on what you select, Link2SD moves apk file, dalvik-cache (.dex) file and lib files (.so) to SD card's second partition and creates symbolic links in original directories.


I have use this Link2SD to link all my application to SD card, at the moment i have installed a lot of applications and games, and yet i still have around 230MB free space on my internal memory card.

All the best, and thanks for reading. :)

*more details on Link2SD can be found here.

*edited : step by step guide can be found here.

Ice Cream Sandwich coming to 2011 Xperia™ smartphones from end March/early April 2012

Hi All!!

A sneak peak on the current news regarding Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo, at last Sony Ericsson mentioned that ICS will be coming to Neo by next year! Can't wait! ^^

Below are the official statement from Sony Ericsson product blog here.

***************************************************************************

As previously communicated we will update the entire 2011 Xperia portfolio* to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) as part of our next software upgrade. Our developers are now busy merging our current Xperia™ software with the new features in Android 4.0.

With the holiday season around the corner, we’re happy to confirm that the first 2011 Xperia™ smartphones will be upgraded to Android 4.0 starting from end March/early April 2012. The first smartphones to get the upgrade are Xperia™ arc S, Xperia™ neo V and Xperia™ ray. Soon after, starting from end April/early May, Xperia™ arc, Xperia™ PLAY, Xperia™ neo, Xperia™ mini and mini pro, Xperia™ pro, Xperia™ active as well as Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman™ will get their upgrades.

This will be a phased roll out over several weeks and all kits for a specific phone model will not get the upgrade at the same time. For more information about what’s going on during the process of an Android software upgrade, please check out this blog post from our Developer World team. It gives a comprehensive overview of the steps we need to take to ensure great software qualityonce it reaches the phone in your hand. Below is a summary of the process:
It starts with public push when we as a manufacturer get access to the new Android release from Google
Our developers take the existing Xperia™ software and combine it with the new Android release
Once the coding is done we want to make sure the quality of the new software meets our, our partners and your expectations
Now we feel the new software is ready but we also need to make sure it’s approved by our external partners
All good. We’re all set to roll-out the new software. The story continues in your Xperia™ smartphone

As you can see, there are many steps involved and it’s a comprehensive upgrade in terms of number of products.

So, how do you know when the new software is available for your Xperia™ smartphone?

Owners of 2011 Xperia™ smartphone will receive a notification in the phone instructing them to download the software over the air via 3G or WiFi. Alternatively, they will have the option to connect to a computer and download it via PC companion.

Over the next months we will be keeping you up to date on progress and we will also share video demos of the new software running on 2011 Xperia™ smartphones.



* “2011 Xperia™ Portfolio” refers to the following products: Xperia™ arc and arc S, Xperia™ PLAY, Xperia™ neo and neo V, Xperia™ mini and mini pro, Xperia™ pro, Xperia™ active, Xperia™ ray as well as Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman™

***************************************************************************

So let us hope this new update for Xperia Neo will enhance the greatness of these already-great phone.

All the best, and thanks for reading. :)

Auto Memory Manager..

Hi All!!

After a month of exploring my Xperia Neo, it seems like sometimes my smartphone got stuck for no reason. When i am playing a games or anything, it suddenly hang and force to close. A friend suggest me to use the Task Killer, so that i can kill all the unwanted apps that is running in the background to free some memory and to increase my Neo's overall performance.

But with the help of uncle Google again, i found out that the memory manager inside Android smartphones is good enough to cater with this kind of problem. By itself, Android can determine either it need extra memory to run the new application and it would automatically kill the old apps that is running at the background.

So how does the Android system determine what application to kill and what not? By referring to the so-called memory threshold settings. Android has divided its applications into six categories;

1. Foreground Application
2. Visible Application
3. Secondary Server
4. Hidden Application
5. Content Provider
6. Empty Application

Each of these categories have its own memory threshold, meaning that for example Empty Application have its memory threshold set to 24 MB. This way, Android will start killing all of its Empty Applications when the memory available has drop down to 24MB, to free up the memory for other more important application to run. Hard to digest eh, me too. :)

But anyway, we can adjust the threshold of these six categories by using the Auto Memory Manager, which is free of charge. The only requirement here is that you must already root your system. as described in my previous post here.

All you need to do :

1. Download Auto Memory Manager for free here.
2. When starting up Auto Memory Manager for the first time, it will prompt user for Superuser permission. Do grant the request.
3. By default, the Android original threshold values is as follows.
4. To change the threshold value, just drag the bar according to your preferences. You can also choose the predefined settings. My prefered settings is as follows.
5. After that, it would be recommended to restart your smartphones so that the Auto Memory Manager can start governing your memory usage fresh from the start.

Grant the Superuser access to Auto Memory Manager

Default configuration for Android Xperia Neo

My current settings for the memory threshold of Android system.

My Xperia Neo exhibit improved performance after using this applications. Bear in mind that using Task Killer is not a good way to treat your smartphones, some even say that using Task Killer will interfere with the built-in Android task manager, and it would not help maintain a good Android system in the long run. Hope it would also help all of you. :)

All the best, and thanks for reading. :)

Rooting The Neo . . .

Hi All!!

First thing first, if i want total control on my Android smartphones, rooting my phone is a must. At first, i am also wondering what do they mean by rooting? A quick search using uncle Google explains it all. According to wikipedia :

Rooting is a process that allows users of mobile phones and other devices running the Android operating system to attain privileged control (known as "root access") within Android's Linux subsystem with the goal of overcoming limitations that carriers and manufacturers put on some devices. It is analogous to jailbreaking devices running the Apple iOS operating system or the Sony PlayStation 3.

Easy to understand, by rooting my Android smartphones, i will get something called the 'Superuser' applications on my phone. With this apps, i can modify my phone however i want, without any restrictions at all. *Somehow i keep on wondering, why did Android put restrictions on their phones in the first place? Hurm2...*

Initially, in order to root my phone, i need to flash my firmware, downgrade it, do some tweaking here and there, update my firmware OTA and so on. Sound hard right?

But not anymore, now there are easier way to root your smartphones without do all the flashing things that may break your precious phones. Thanks to DooMLoRD, my smartphone have been rooted without any harm. :)

All you need to do :

1. Download the rooting toolkit from here.
2. Make sure you have installed adb drives for your device. By right this step should be automatically done when you connect your smartphones at your pc for the first time.
3. Enable "USB DEBUGGING" from (Menu\Settings\Applications\Development)
4. Enable "UNKNOWN SOURCES" from (Menu\Settings\Applications)
5. Connect USB cable to Phone and then connect to PC.
6. Skip "PC Companion Software" prompt on device.
7. Extract the downloaded rooting toolkit using winzip / winrar.
8. Go to the folder where its extracted and execute "RUNME.bat"
9. Read and follow the instructions on the screen.

Run the "RUNME.bat" from the downloaded rootkit.

The rootkit is sending zerglings to root your phone.

Zerglings succeded, your phone should be restarting by itself.

"Superuser" apps has been installed.

 So that is it, your smartphones has been rooted and ready to rumble! :)

This method has been tested and working on several Android phones, check your model availability here.

All the best, and thanks for reading. :)

An Introduction . . .

Hi All!

I just got my new Xperia Neo for about a month, actually i bought it in pair, one for me and another for my someone special. *blush*.

But as i am some kind of gadget-maniac, i will never satisfied with just the out-of-the-box Neo. I will tend to personalize it, inside and out, so that it would become my one-of-a-kind smartphone.

Previously i had owned a Nokia phone, a Blackberry phone, and now i am ready to explore all the endless experience with a Sony Ericsson phone. And as an added bonus, this phone comes with Android platform, which is on its way to be a major operating system in this new era of smartphones war.

So, as i am exploring the smartphones world with my Xperia Neo, here i will jot down all the knowledge that i got, so that i can share it with the world out there. I will write down all tips and tricks, all new applications and games, and everything just for my brand new Xperia Neo.

All the best for me, and thanks for reading :)

Xperia Neo looking elegant in dark blue theme :)