"Killing" a cell phone?

Home Archive Serious Business "Killing" a cell phone?
Captain Cavalier's avatar

Captain Cavalier

Senior Member

208 posts
Aug 3, 2011 5:26 PM
Recently I was told by a sales rep that if I used all the internal memory of a cell phone on texts and/or photos that it would PERMANENTLY shut down the phone and would not be able to be fixed...in a sense, killing it.

Anyone else hear of this or is this some scheme to get you to buy memory cards or a more expensive phone?
Aug 3, 2011 5:26pm
Pick6's avatar

Pick6

A USA American

14,946 posts
Aug 3, 2011 8:13 PM
Could be wrong, but I believe your sales rep is wrong. For example, I used to have the original droid and would download music onto it. Sometimes I would try to download a song, and a notification saying "memory full" would pop up. So I would just delete some songs and then I could download just fine. Never heard of "killing" a phone by using all the memory.
Aug 3, 2011 8:13pm
G

gport_tennis

Senior Member

1,796 posts
Aug 3, 2011 8:59 PM
Captain Cavalier;850983 wrote:Recently I was told by a sales rep that if I used all the internal memory of a cell phone on texts and/or photos that it would PERMANENTLY shut down the phone and would not be able to be fixed...in a sense, killing it.

Anyone else hear of this or is this some scheme to get you to buy memory cards or a more expensive phone?

I am a sales rep for verizon wireless. having too many text messages or photos on a phone can slow it down it won't cause a phone to turn off and not be turned back on

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
Aug 3, 2011 8:59pm
R

raiderbuck

Senior Member

1,623 posts
Aug 3, 2011 9:14 PM
That rep is smoking crack. Would using all the memory on your computer "kill" your computer?
Aug 3, 2011 9:14pm
karen lotz's avatar

karen lotz

TuTu Train

22,284 posts
Aug 3, 2011 9:55 PM
raiderbuck;851114 wrote:That rep is smoking crack. Would using all the memory on your computer "kill" your computer?


Yes?
Aug 3, 2011 9:55pm
Curly J's avatar

Curly J

Self Pwner in Training.

7,282 posts
Aug 3, 2011 10:07 PM
karen lotz;851163 wrote:Yes?
No?
Aug 3, 2011 10:07pm
FatHobbit's avatar

FatHobbit

Senior Member

8,651 posts
Aug 3, 2011 10:13 PM
Curly J;851182 wrote:No?

Maybe?
Aug 3, 2011 10:13pm
Captain Cavalier's avatar

Captain Cavalier

Senior Member

208 posts
Aug 3, 2011 10:16 PM
gport_tennis;851108 wrote:I am a sales rep for verizon wireless. having too many text messages or photos on a phone can slow it down it won't cause a phone to turn off and not be turned back on

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
Thanks for the input gport.

I talked to a 2nd rep who stated that a loaded internal memory would, as you stated, slow it down and in turn suck more battery power. This could, in rare cases, ruin the phone.

The 1st rep also said that if you get a memory card ($35) you could set the phone up to store photos only to the card and avoid the possible "death sentence" from storing them in the internal memory.

Again, sounds like a sales gimmick. If this is true, I would think that I would've heard of it by now. Googled it and nothing came up. That alone sends up red flags for me.
Aug 3, 2011 10:16pm
karen lotz's avatar

karen lotz

TuTu Train

22,284 posts
Aug 3, 2011 10:17 PM
Yeah that first rep was just trying to get you to buy a new phone or something. Shady.
Aug 3, 2011 10:17pm
coyotes22's avatar

coyotes22

Go Tigers

11,298 posts
Aug 3, 2011 11:45 PM
karen lotz;851163 wrote:Yes?
Curly J;851182 wrote:No?
FatHobbit;851196 wrote:Maybe?
Kinda?
Aug 3, 2011 11:45pm
Curly J's avatar

Curly J

Self Pwner in Training.

7,282 posts
Aug 3, 2011 11:46 PM
karen lotz;851207 wrote:Yeah that first rep was just trying to get you to buy a new phone or something. Shady.
Was his name Sherm ??? ;)
Aug 3, 2011 11:46pm
sherm03's avatar

sherm03

I go balls deep.

7,349 posts
Aug 4, 2011 12:07 AM
Curly J;851301 wrote:Was his name Sherm ??? ;)

LOL. When I was working in stores, I never really crushed my numbers because I just wouldn't lie to customers...like the first rep did to the OP.

You'll never be able to successfully use up all the internal memory on your phone because, as others have said, you will get a "low memory" message before it gets to that point. That first rep was just trying to sell a memory card.
Aug 4, 2011 12:07am
Captain Cavalier's avatar

Captain Cavalier

Senior Member

208 posts
Aug 4, 2011 9:56 PM
sherm03;851305 wrote:You'll never be able to successfully use up all the internal memory on your phone because, as others have said, you will get a "low memory" message before it gets to that point. That first rep was just trying to sell a memory card.
What if the "Low memory" warning is ignored...teenagers? I would think that the phone would just not accept anymore texts or photos...not PERMANENTLY shut down.
Aug 4, 2011 9:56pm
sherm03's avatar

sherm03

I go balls deep.

7,349 posts
Aug 4, 2011 10:37 PM
Captain Cavalier;852032 wrote:What if the "Low memory" warning is ignored...teenagers? I would think that the phone would just not accept anymore texts or photos...not PERMANENTLY shut down.

Most phones now have an automatic "first in, last out" type setting where it will automatically start deleting the oldest messages to conserve memory.

Phones have segmented memory. There is memory set aside and fragmented out for the running of the phone. Essentially, the rest of it is just a large memory card. So even if that memory is used up, it will not tap into the fragmented memory set aside for the operation of the phone. So you can never successfully use up all the internal memory on your phone.
Aug 4, 2011 10:37pm
Captain Cavalier's avatar

Captain Cavalier

Senior Member

208 posts
Aug 6, 2011 10:03 AM
sherm03;852071 wrote:Most phones now have an automatic "first in, last out" type setting where it will automatically start deleting the oldest messages to conserve memory.

Phones have segmented memory. There is memory set aside and fragmented out for the running of the phone. Essentially, the rest of it is just a large memory card. So even if that memory is used up, it will not tap into the fragmented memory set aside for the operation of the phone. So you can never successfully use up all the internal memory on your phone.

Thanks sherm
Aug 6, 2011 10:03am
tk421's avatar

tk421

Senior Member

8,500 posts
Aug 6, 2011 10:26 AM
sherm03;852071 wrote:Most phones now have an automatic "first in, last out" type setting where it will automatically start deleting the oldest messages to conserve memory.

Phones have segmented memory. There is memory set aside and fragmented out for the running of the phone. Essentially, the rest of it is just a large memory card. So even if that memory is used up, it will not tap into the fragmented memory set aside for the operation of the phone. So you can never successfully use up all the internal memory on your phone.
It's the same as with a computer, don't know why anyone would think otherwise. Even if you used up 100% of your hard drive, you still have the OS and programs installed. They will still run, it's not going to magically shut down your computer, you just won't be able to use any more memory.
Aug 6, 2011 10:26am
M

MontyBrunswick

Aug 6, 2011 12:03 PM
Phones...I'm not sure. Computers can indeed "stop working" if they are completely full...but the process is fixable.

I would imagine phones would also stop working if they are full, but the process is likely to be fixable.

I know for a fact on Android phones, if the phone was "filled", you could boot into recovery mode and just wipe the damn thing. You'd lose everything on the phone, but it'd still boot.

tk421;853253 wrote:Even if you used up 100% of your hard drive, you still have the OS and programs installed. They will still run, it's not going to magically shut down your computer, you just won't be able to use any more memory.

It may not boot. The computer will chew up some space while it is booting, writing event logs and paging virtual memory. If a vital system service requires a little bit of space to be paged to virtual memory on the computer and the HDD is full, it will likely fail to start.
Aug 6, 2011 12:03pm
Captain Cavalier's avatar

Captain Cavalier

Senior Member

208 posts
Aug 6, 2011 2:18 PM
dlazz;853292 wrote:Phones...I'm not sure. Computers can indeed "stop working" if they are completely full...but the process is fixable.

I would imagine phones would also stop working if they are full, but the process is likely to be fixable.

I know for a fact on Android phones, if the phone was "filled", you could boot into recovery mode and just wipe the damn thing. You'd lose everything on the phone, but it'd still boot.




It may not boot. The computer will chew up some space while it is booting, writing event logs and paging virtual memory. If a vital system service requires a little bit of space to be paged to virtual memory on the computer and the HDD is full, it will likely fail to start.
Hence why I ask...Don't manufacturers make a phone or PC that has plenty of space set aside for the OS that is absolutely unusable to the user to use for storage so as to avoid such a situation????

For me anyway, this is kind of an obvious thing to do. Sure there's warnings but there's always the possibility that people won't heed those warnings.
Aug 6, 2011 2:18pm
T

thavoice

Senior Member

14,376 posts
Aug 8, 2011 12:55 PM
Let me guess.....was he trying to sell you a memory card or a phone with more internal memory?

Been in the business over 10 years and I had never heard that.

You see plenty of times when the phone will say low memory, or no be able to download another song or app or make you delete text messages or pics ifyou want to get more, but I have never seen or heard of totally ruining it.
Aug 8, 2011 12:55pm
Captain Cavalier's avatar

Captain Cavalier

Senior Member

208 posts
Aug 8, 2011 1:36 PM
thavoice;855046 wrote:Let me guess.....was he trying to sell you a memory card or a phone with more internal memory?

Yep.

That's why I started to get suspicious.
Never heard of it and google posted not one result for it.

I'll be stayin' clear of that store.
Aug 8, 2011 1:36pm
sonofsam's avatar

sonofsam

Wee' Gonna Win..

2,052 posts
Aug 8, 2011 1:45 PM
I was told by this guy one time that if I gave him $5000, a pack of smokes, and a case of beer, He would make me a millionaire...

LOL
Aug 8, 2011 1:45pm
wes_mantooth's avatar

wes_mantooth

Tomfoolery & shenanigans

17,977 posts
Aug 8, 2011 1:45 PM
Captain Cavalier;855097 wrote:Yep.

That's why I started to get suspicious.
Never heard of it and google posted not one result for it.

I'll be stayin' clear of that store.

If you do buy memory....never buy it or any accessory from verizon.....overpriced
Aug 8, 2011 1:45pm
I

I Wear Pants

Senior Member

16,223 posts
Aug 8, 2011 1:49 PM
That's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard.
Aug 8, 2011 1:49pm
J

Jawbreaker

Senior Member

520 posts
Aug 8, 2011 1:52 PM
Step 1: Go and find the original sales rep.

Step 2: Kick him in the nuts.

I always hated when I worked retail and my co-workers would lie to sell crap.
Aug 8, 2011 1:52pm
Captain Cavalier's avatar

Captain Cavalier

Senior Member

208 posts
Aug 8, 2011 1:54 PM
wes_mantooth;855109 wrote:If you do buy memory....never buy it or any accessory from verizon.....overpriced
You got that right.

A co-worker said they bought a card (brand new) off e-bay for $8. Verizon wanted $35
Aug 8, 2011 1:54pm