How To Deal With ‘Memory Full’ issue on Samsung Galaxy S4

A lot of users are being confused about the actual internal storage capacity of Samsung’s latest flagship device, the Galaxy S4. In fact, many owners of the SG4 16GB variant have been complaining about ‘memory full’ error they encounter after adding a number of their own contents to their phone. And one email telling about the same issue has reached our mailbag.

This is the shortened email message we got from one of our readers/senders:

“I got an SG4 and lately, I’m getting a ‘memory full’ or ‘out of memory’ message. Need help please.”

How To Deal With ‘Memory Full’ issue on Samsung Galaxy S4

DETERMINING POSSIBLE CAUSES

* The photos and videos stored on your phone eating up your phone memory.  The easiest way to solve is this to sign up for Amazon’s Prime subscription with 30 day free trial, all member will get unlimited storage for photos saved onto the cloud.  Once set up correctly, you can have all photos automatically saved onto the cloud and you can safely delete all photos on your phone to clear the memory space.  Oh, and be sure to check out all the other perks that comes with an Amazon Prime account.

* Third-party application problem

* Too many apps running or open in the background

* Insufficient RAM to process request

* Memory card communication error

* Temporary device issue

* Available internal memory is not enough to complete requested action

* Memory card is full or almost full

WORKAROUNDS

* Remove the battery from the device for 30 seconds while it is still ON. Wait for a moment then replace the battery and turn the device ON.

IMPORTANT NOTES

If the ‘memory full’ problem occurs after you rooted your device and installed a custom version of the Android OS, then you may need to reinstall the original Android operating system for your device. Use Samsung Kies to install a precise Android OS for your device.

RAM or Random Access Memory refers to a temporary memory location being utilized by applications to load data for specific functions that the application performs. RAM however, is not part of the internal storage of your device.

The issue about your device not able to complete requested action may likely indicates that your device is already low on RAM when you try running the application or request an app to complete an action. The app can only complete the request until you free up memory for it to use.

HOW TO FREE UP RAM on SG4

1. Press and hold the Home key (simultaneously) for 1 to 2 seconds until the Recent Apps screen shows up.

2. If there are any open apps, swipe the app thumbnail to the left or right, to close and dismiss it.

3. Touch the Task Manager icon.

4. Touch the RAM tab to see its current RAM usage/status.

5. Check your device’s current RAM usage. If you notice a close gap on the “used/total numbers, then touch Clear Memory to empty its RAM of any currently unused data.

6. In case you see the “used” amount does not lessen after clearing the memory, try to make some adjustments to your device’s settings or configuration. Doing so will also free up RAM. Phone features such as live wallpapers, widgets and unused Home screens are all using RAM.

7. Remove any unnecessary widgets or home screes, and change your live wallpaper to normal wallpaper instead.

If problem persists, then you may need to uninstall applications that can cause issues with the device’s system when turned on. You can also contact technical support for further assistance in getting the issue completely and carefully resolved.

ABOUT SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 INTERNAL STORAGE DISPARITY

Samsung has already responded to prior complaints made by several GS4 owners about the disparity between the branded internal storage space and actual storage space of the device. And it was explicated that the voluminous features embedded into the GS4 system had caused the phone’s internal storage being occupied by its operating system and pre-loaded applications. As a result, the actual internal storage capacity is less than what is labeled on the variant. So instead of 16GB, the phone only has 8.82GB of internal storage space available for user’s own content. This denotes that the system software as such with its high resolution display and powerful features have already used up more than 6GB of the actual storage.