To put actual numbers on the question, the m3-rc37a emulator (which may or may not be configured like a real device) has 46MB of internal storage available for user data, and in such conditions 8MB represents almost 20% of the available space.
The question you need to ask yourself is whether your application is so important that the user could only install 3 to 5 applications of the same size before running out of space. If you don't include the file in your apk and download it into internal storage when the user first starts the application, you haven't really gained anything in the big picture since you'll still be using the same amount of internal space. One direction you could look at might be to store the file on external storage (with the understanding that any application will be able to read it or modify it), after downloading it in small chunks (or using whatever download method that can be made reliable on a mobile device). Depending on the usage pattern, you might be able to download parts of the data "lazily" / "on demand" instead of downloading everything up-front. In that case, the biggest concern is that you need to deal with the possibility that the data might just disappear or get corrupted at any time, or simply that there might be no SD card in the device in which case your application simply can't have access to its file at all. JBQ On Fri, Mar 28, 2008 at 12:50 AM, hackbod <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Well I wouldn't go quite so far as to absolutely say it is too big. > For 99.9% of apps, it is probably too big, but there will surely be > ones where it makes sense. To help calibrate, consider that the more > space you use, the less things the user will be able to do with their > device (less apps that can be installed, less data stored in internal > flash). So unusually large applications should have some unusually > compelling reason to be so big, or else users won't install and use > your app. > > > On Mar 27, 4:31 pm, "Megha Joshi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi, > > > > The 8MB file is too large to be packaged with the application. The > > recommended way to do this would be to install the application and then > > download the file. Please see the post from Dianne below on the .apk size > > > limits:http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers/msg/c287b78edf7885ea > > > > Thanks, > > Megha > > > > On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 12:35 PM, OmarFlores <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > The included files get zipped in the resources.ap_ and being text it > > > will become much smaller. The problem though could be at the time > > > when you need to extract the information from it. Have you considered > > > splitting the file by regions? Asia, Americas, etc... Or even > > > further, by country. That way you would end up with files in the > > > order of tens of KB. > > > > > Hope it helps, > > > > > Omar Flores > > > > > On Mar 27, 8:03 am, dr123 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Is an 8mb file included with my app too much of a space? it is a text > > > > file with the list of all cities in the world. > > > > > > aris > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Announcing the new M5 SDK! http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2008/02/android-sdk-m5-rc14-now-available.html For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
