One
of the main challenges of owning a smartphone is making sure you don't
run out of space for photos, music, video or apps. Recent updates to
Windows Phone 8 have made storage space management easier than ever.
Whether
you're a music fan who rarely removes their earphones, or someone who
loves to snap photos, eventually you're going to run out of space on
your Windows Phone. The same goes for regular gamers (especially those
playing the Xbox Live titles which are usually more sophisticated and as
such take up more storage space) and anyone who uses their phone for
podcasts and watching or recording video.
There
are various ways to monitor data use and remove files from a Windows
Phone. Before deletion, of course, you should ensure that you have your
data synced to your PC or to the cloud (using SkyDrive, for instance)
before you lose something you might regret later on... Monitoring
Storage Usage
Before you delete any data from
your Windows Phone, you should check how much space you have on the
device, and consider how much you will need.
There are two good ways to see how much space you have left on your device.
First,
and an option open to all Windows 8 users, is to install the My Windows
Phone app and sync your phone with it. Once open, look for the bar
across the bottom of the window and tap Details to see more.
Meanwhile
you can also check remaining space on your phone. All Windows Phone 8
users can open Settings > Phone storage to see a mobile version of
the information displayed in the Windows Phone Sync Tool.
However,
if you use a Nokia phone and have the Amber update, then you'll also
have the Storage Check option available to you in the Settings menu. As
well as displaying your data use in an attractive ring graph, a swipe to
will open the Details page where information about specific data types
is displayed.
Delete files via Windows Explorer
When
you know what data you want to remove, there are several approaches you
can take. The first is by connecting your phone to your computer via
USB and opening Windows Explorer.
You should
see your device listed in the left-hand pane (complete with a small
Windows Phone icon). Select this to open the browsable files in Windows
Explorer, where you can copy, paste and delete files in the Documents,
Music, Pictures, Ringtones and Videos folder.
Use the Windows Phone tool to delete files
The Windows Phone Sync Tool can also be used to delete files, although this can be time consuming.
In
Windows 8, with the phone synced and the app open, tap the Photos or
Music tiles, depending on which type of data you want to delete.
In
the next screen, tap and hold a tile to be deleted. The context menu
across the foot of the screen will appear, inviting you Delete the item.
You can also use Select All to prepare for bulk media deletion.
Windows
7 users have a different interface for the sync tool. Here, all you
need to do is select from Music, Photos, Videos or Podcasts and click
the box or select a range of files you wish to remove, clicking Delete
when you're done.
Delete files with the Windows Phone Storage Check tool
Owners
of the Nokia Lumia 920 and above have the advantage of the Storage
Check tool, a new feature of the summer 2013 Amber update for Nokia
Windows Phone 8 handsets, as mentioned above. Using this tool, you can
easily delete temporary files from your phone. These can be discarded by
opening the utility, swiping to Details and tapping the Clear button
under Temporary files.
Further data can be
removed by opening Settings > Applications and selecting Internet
Explorer. Here, use the Delete history option to discard temporary
Internet files and web history.
Finally, if you
want to make more space by removing apps, you can delete these from the
apps list. Tap and hold the app you want to remove and select Uninstall
from the menu.
There is, of course, one other
way to remove data from your Windows Phone - the nuclear option of
reverting to factory settings, which can be achieved via Settings >
About > Reset your phone. If you want to clear your personal data and
media files from your phone - perhaps to sell it on - then this is the
option for you.
As you've seen above, however,
there are three simple ways to manage storage and delete data on your
Windows Phone. If you have any comments or questions, please share them
below.
Here's
another leak on mobile giant Nokia's forthcoming event scheduled for
October 22 in Abu Dhabi. EvLeaks has posted what it claims is the first
press shot of Nokia's upcoming tablet dubbed "Lumia 2520."
Google
is expected to soon launch the Nexus 5 smartphone and Android 4.4
(KitKat) operating system. While most details about the smartphone are
already known from leaked photos and rumours, the tech community is
largely in the dark about the new features that the upcoming version of
Google's mobile OS will bring to the table.