I've learned two important things about my underpowered Optimus V Android phone this week.  First, even apps that's aren't stored on your phone's internal memory may be eating up a pretty hefty chunk of that limited resource.  Use the indispensable DiskUsage app to look around in "App Storage" and see what's silently eating your space.  I took off lots of seemingly innocuous, rarely used apps (Walgreens (order pictures directly from phone), StubHub, and a few others) that seemed to plant small (1 meg or so) souvenirs into internal memory, and got a ton of space back.

Secondly, I've been wondering why Google's Maps app didn't keep at least a high-level, coarse map on SD card just so you could know you're in, say, Texas, not South Dakota, even without internet.  All too frequently, when I'm off the beaten path, all I get is a situated triangle/arrow stuck in a Tron-like grey grid.  Because I didn't have much space on internal memory, I'd kept uninstalling Maps' updates and hadn't noticed this new feature...

“Download map area” added to Labs in Google Maps for Android - Official Google Mobile Blog:
When you’re visiting an unfamiliar location, Google Maps for mobile is great for getting an idea of how close you are to your destination, where streets and landmarks are in relation to each other, or just for getting “un-lost.” But what if you don’t have a data signal, or you’re abroad and don’t have a data plan? We say that if you use Google Maps for mobile, you’ll never need to carry a paper map again. The “Download map area” lab in Google Maps 5.7 for Android is a step in making that statement true even when you’re offline.

Since I've freed up a good deal of internal memory, I was able to download and hang onto Maps comfortably.  Nice feature.

Now a cached 10-mile by 10-mile square isn't coarse data all over, but it's a huge improvement.  I've been riding the train a good deal recently, and it tends to go into places really near large roads, but apparently not close enough to get a good signal with Virgin Mobile.  So I've filled in the dead spots with caches to know about where I am even when the phone's 3G connection would prefer not to tell me.

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