Related
Hello Android Gurus
I have bought Galaxy S (My first Android phone) 2 weeks ago and i have been experimenting with it since. I have noticed one thing regarding how android manages memory and its quite alarming.
When i start my phone I typically have around 160 Mb of RAM. As i load an application that requires 10 MB for example, the available RAM evidently drops to 150 MB but when I kill the application the RAM goes up but not to the previous level (e.g. goes up to 157).
little RAM is always lost as applications are opened and closed. This means that after a couple of hours of using the phone, the RAM goes down to 40 MB and the phone becomes REALLY laggy and you have to restart
The above behavior is typical of windows mobile, and that is exactly why i shifted to Android thinking it is better.
My questions to the android experts out there are the following:
1- Why is memory leaking like this. Such a behavior results in a phone with very bad user experience
2- Is this typical behavior of Android, if yes then i'd better sell my Galaxy S and look for an alternative OS
3- Is this due to TouchWiz by Samsung, if yes then i will wait for subsequent updates to see if this problem could be resolved by Samsung
4- Will the 2.2 Froyo update resolve this issue ?
I used to have an iphone 3gs before this one, and no matter how much you open or close applications, the UI is always smooth and responsive. The thing that made me really hate Apple and its products is their "Closed OS" that does not enable you to do much with your phone. That is why i moved to Galaxy S thinking it would give me a better experience
Thanks for your thoughts.
FREE RAM IS A WASTED RAM, golden rule of android.
Some time ago I did even a video so you can check what i'm talking about... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewxuy12KuUA
Dexter666 said:
FREE RAM IS A WASTED RAM, golden rule of android.
Some time ago I did even a video so you can check what i'm talking about...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's an awesome video! I never knew the games looked so nice. I'm on a download spree because of that video now
Strange
Dexter666 said:
FREE RAM IS A WASTED RAM, golden rule of android.
Some time ago I did even a video so you can check what i'm talking about... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewxuy12KuUA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is quite strange, the less RAM you have the more non-responsive the phone is and laggy.
Enough RAM has to be maintained to guarantee a smooth user experience.
If the phone requires 100Mb of RAM to run smoothly, then this much has to be maintained.
from my experience with the Galaxy S, there has to be atleaset 80 to 100 MB to maintain a somewhat smmoth interface.
Edit:
I also understand from your input that this is a Samsung problem, not an android problem, and that no matter how low the RAM is, the interface will always be smooth ??????
Mate, just one word - google.
There are about a billion articles online on android memory management, how to impoove it etc.
Dexter666 said:
FREE RAM IS A WASTED RAM, golden rule of android.
Some time ago I did even a video so you can check what i'm talking about... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewxuy12KuUA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i dont understand how this shows anything? You are manually exiting each one of the games, forcing it to quit anyways. A better test is just to hit the home button, and continually load up the next game.
andy2na said:
i dont understand how this shows anything? You are manually exiting each one of the games, forcing it to quit anyways. A better test is just to hit the home button, and continually load up the next game.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This means that after a couple of hours of using the phone, the RAM goes down to 40 MB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+red baloon on vid which says phone was used for >day, so "free" ram was <50MB, becouse browser etc. reserve some MBs for quick comming back.
And still was no problem to run anything I choose.
Dont quite understand..care to explain more? I'm getting puzzled abt this shortage of ram thingy. Some suggest to use task killer to free up rams while you say dont. But looking at your videos its fast..please explain. Thanks
Sent from my GT-I9000
Android handles the memory management itself. The moment it runs below certain amount of free memory it will start the kill apps. There is no need to run an app killer. Altho the default settings are not enough to provide a smooth experience. Check out the freememmanager app in the market to change the settings. As long as min 45 mb is free everything will run smooth.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
RADLOUNI said:
2- Is this typical behavior of Android, if yes then i'd better sell my Galaxy S and look for an alternative OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is typical Android behavior. See ya later.
Really though, if you're killing tasks, then you're already taking horrible advice from people who haven't an inkling of an idea on how Android manages memory.
Keep in mind that your phone is only using 256MB of its total 512MB of memory. Once a newer kernel is released with himem the phone will use all 512MB.
Android's garbage collection can be set to be more aggressive which would sort of fix your issue by killing more background applications. However, you might as well wait for the newer kernel which will fix your problem anyway.
Though it was more 320 out of 512
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
RADLOUNI said:
The above behavior is typical of windows mobile, and that is exactly why i shifted to Android thinking it is better.
My questions to the android experts out there are the following:
1- Why is memory leaking like this. Such a behavior results in a phone with very bad user experience
2- Is this typical behavior of Android, if yes then i'd better sell my Galaxy S and look for an alternative OS
3- Is this due to TouchWiz by Samsung, if yes then i will wait for subsequent updates to see if this problem could be resolved by Samsung
4- Will the 2.2 Froyo update resolve this issue ?
Thanks for your thoughts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This has to do a lot with Android's garbage collector. The reason task-killers are not the best way to go, is because when you kill tasks a lot of the memory is not recovered (garbage collector does not work as it should). Android by default won't start killing apps until you get between 20-30MB of memory. For some reason, in the SGS, as you said, when ram drops below 70MB, the phone starts to feel pretty laggy; the best way to remedy this is to use applications like autokiller or minfreemanager, which require you to be rooted.
For a more in-depth explanation of how android kills processes see this http://andrs.w3pla.net/autokiller/details (from the developer of Autokiller).
I would like to know why the phone feels so laggy when ram drops below 70MB, from what I understand, this shouldn't be the case...
2- Is this typical behavior of Android, if yes then i'd better sell my Galaxy S and look for an alternative OS
--> No, this is not typical behavior of Android, i use my HTC Magic before Galaxy S, no lagging problem even the memory is lower than 15MB.
The galaxy S defaults are too low for when it starts removing apps from RAM, you need to root it and then install minfree manager or autokiller (which is not a task killer don't be deceived by the name)
Brantyr said:
The galaxy S defaults are too low for when it starts removing apps from RAM, you need to root it and then install minfree manager or autokiller (which is not a task killer don't be deceived by the name)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
doesn't solve the mystery because this is a non-issue on other android phones.
why do i need to keep 50-70mb free to get a smooth running phone where others can handle 30mb free without problems.
Goshh..thanks for simplified. Now ive removed the task killer..and stand firm by the android golden rules...cheers..
Sent from my GT-I9000
I noticed this same low ram behavior on my galaxy s. After boot the phone shows like 180 mb of ram free after a couple days the phone will drop down to 30 mb of ram all the while I'm killing apps running in the background with task killer.
The phone slows down significantly even after I kill everything.i thought android was supposed to circumvent these kind of low ram Issues.
inurb said:
I noticed this same low ram behavior on my galaxy s. After boot the phone shows like 180 mb of ram free after a couple days the phone will drop down to 30 mb of ram all the while I'm killing apps running in the background with task killer.
The phone slows down significantly even after I kill everything.i thought android was supposed to circumvent these kind of low ram Issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is.
And you're supposed to not be messing with how Android manages things cuz taskkilling screws it up.
reuthermonkey said:
It is.
And you're supposed to not be messing with how Android manages things cuz taskkilling screws it up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you suggest that I not force close any apps using taskkiller and just let android 2.1 do it's thing with memory management?
When I had the phone for the first week without taskkiller installed, the device ran very slow after the first couple days of use. Your saying that the slowness will go away as android dishes out memory effectively?
I'll uninstall taskkiller and let the device run longer than a week and see if it ever speeds up. thanks
I notice the phone start lagging when there are less than 100Meg of available RAM on both 2.1 or 2.2 SGS.
Questions....
1. How do i make sure there will always be min 130 available when not in use?
I'm currently using Froyo Task Manager, ATK and SystemPanel together to make that happen manually. A better suggestion or use of them will be appreciated.
I also tried MemoryPlus and Taskkiller (The red android logo)
2. There are so many background service running some of them start with com.samsung.... (what are these?) do we need them?
3. Why some Apps always run without us telling them to run, or ask us to give them to permission to run on background at will?
ATK
In ATK in settings you have auto kill level, which is disabled on default.
jakaka said:
In ATK in settings you have auto kill level, which is disabled on default.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using JPC, ATK autokill will not able to kill at a system level like SystemPanel, so after a day of active use, the memory will still continue to reduce as some of the background service start consuming more and more memory or run more background process. E.g. Touchwiz from 17 Meg to 25 Meg.
So at the start with ATK, i will have 130Meg, after a day of active use i left with 80Meg. With Apps killed.
I use autokiller set to aggressive. memory left 152mb
ivanchin99 said:
I use autokiller set to aggressive. memory left 152mb
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool, does that remain for few days? How often do you restart your phone?
free memory is bad memory!
why don't let android do it's job?! this ist linux with a clever memory management, not windows 95!!! deinstall all auto task killer android is handling the memory very well. it uses all it can get and if it's not enough it kills old uses apps from it. why have free memory, there is absolutely no reson for that! ram is fast, let the often used apps be there not on slow sd or nand!
Mykron said:
free memory is bad memory!
why don't let android do it's job?! this ist linux with a clever memory management, not windows 95!!! deinstall all auto task killer android is handling the memory very well. it uses all it can get and if it's not enough it kills old uses apps from it. why have free memory, there is absolutely no reson for that! ram is fast, let the often used apps be there not on slow sd or nand!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
QFT!
What is the point of having memory if it is constantly empty?
Think about it this way...If you had five friends at your house and you have five chairs, do you make 2 or 3 of your friends stand so there is always empty space or do you let everyone sit down and worry about something worthwhile?
Finguz said:
QFT!
What is the point of having memory if it is constantly empty?
Think about it this way...If you had five friends at your house and you have five chairs, do you make 2 or 3 of your friends stand so there is always empty space or do you let everyone sit down and worry about something worthwhile?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, upto a certain point... I don't think you need to have at least 100 or 150 mb free but it DOES seem to help to not let it get down to like 30mb...
For me:
-JM7
-animations off
-voodoo lag fix
-minfree manager set to preset agressive.
minfree manager customizes the android memory management system.
I love it this way, No lags when starting the Phone (DIALER) or anything else. The dialer annoys me the must, this must be lag free, if i want to dial i want to dial right away.
Btw, I think you have made some wrong assumptions about the Android memory management system, as mentioned, unused ram is wasted ram.
dagrim1 said:
True, upto a certain point... I don't think you need to have at least 100 or 150 mb free but it DOES seem to help to not let it get down to like 30mb...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed but I have never seen my Galaxy with free memory that low and I don't use a task killer. Of course I don't often have more than 3 or 4 apps running at the same time
This is not about letting ram do nothing.you surely don't wasn't your ram get used up by programs you don't want while you had no hand in this.All those services running I don't want.badly written programs that are hanging out in memory instead of closing.at least in symbian an app closed when you exited.
Why would you have 100MB free ? Do you have any application that needs 100MB to run ?! The android system already has enough memory to run so even if you could have 200MB of free memory you phone wouldn't run any faster you would just be able to lauch around 20 apps at the same time.
Read this:
http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/
Linux however isn’t generally affected by this. While I admit that I don’t know the architecture and reason for this… linux will run the same regardless of if you have 20mb free memory or 200mb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Finguz said:
Agreed but I have never seen my Galaxy with free memory that low and I don't use a task killer. Of course I don't often have more than 3 or 4 apps running at the same time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dunno, I just noticed that one time my phone was VERY sluggish and memory free was around 20mb or so. Cleaning it up did seem to help (unless one of the programs killed was causing the lag of course).
Ah well... Whatever people choose right?
You guys can argue all you want that free RAM is a waste of RAM....
But it is a fact that the SGS runs much slower when the free RAM is low. This is the experience of all the SGS'es I have tried and my own as well. At least this is the case when running 2.1. I have not tested anyone with 2.2 yet.
It s starts to lag when memory is below 40 mb. So when it s low and you start an application it starts to lag. I set it to 50-55-60 and got hardly any lag. No need to keep so much free ram
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
matty___ said:
It s starts to lag when memory is below 40 mb. So when it s low and you start an application it starts to lag. I set it to 50-55-60 and got hardly any lag. No need to keep so much free ram
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which ROM are you using? as the low memory killer level for background apps is set at 40M which means you should have 40M free all the time or it will start killing background apps. This is also why task killers are useless, free ram is wasted ram for android.
I never had the experience that more free RAM is faster, perhaps with the stock rom but JC and upwards are all good by default. Animations off + Oneclick lagfix (or another) and the phone stays totally lag free.
Being an android user for 1,5 years now i'm very confident Taskkillers are useless except when an app is stuck. I've had periods where I used them allot but the phone only gets slower as the killed apps have to be loaded into the memory again.
Finguz said:
QFT!
What is the point of having memory if it is constantly empty?
Think about it this way...If you had five friends at your house and you have five chairs, do you make 2 or 3 of your friends stand so there is always empty space or do you let everyone sit down and worry about something worthwhile?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Provided you are not expecting anymore friends. The problem happens if all your 5 friends are happily seated and along comes 2 more friends a-visiting. So you have to now move 2 inactive (for want of a better word) friends out of the seats so that you can accommodate the 2 new ones. This takes time. So why not move these friends out as soon as they become inactive so that the space is readily available when someone comes calling?
Try to have a read about garbage collector before argueing about free memory.
The more you try to have a large amount of memory, the more you will need major GC (and during major GC all activity is frozen).
If you let the system manage memory, it does minor GC as needed when it reaches min memory waterline (seems to be 50Mo on SGS).
Let the system do its job.
Get rid of task killer.
Mykron said:
free memory is bad memory!
why don't let android do it's job?! this ist linux with a clever memory management, not windows 95!!! deinstall all auto task killer android is handling the memory very well. it uses all it can get and if it's not enough it kills old uses apps from it. why have free memory, there is absolutely no reason for that! ram is fast, let the often used apps be there not on slow sd or nand!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I completely disagree. OK, it is better to use memory, but the android memory management is extremely inefficient since it does not know which foreground and background processes are important to the user and which are not, even though it tries to figure that out. Since the Galaxy S does not allow the system to use the full 512MB of memory, this can be a critical factor. And the Galaxy S definitely lags massively when less then 70 or so MB of free RAM is available this is definitely a fact.
The biggest problem is that you cannot manually close apps and only have multitasking access to the last 6 apps used. If you use 7 apps simultaneously, the 1st app still consumes memory but you cannot even switch back to it. And there are so many useless background processes, starting up over and over again and consuming hundreds of MB memory if they are not killed in regular fashion.
Who needs gesture search, amazon mp3, layar, and all the samsung crap running in the background all the time. If you only have 10 such applications and each of them only consumes 15MB of ram, 150MB are wasted for nothing.
Every second market application registers itself as autostart on every boot, so to use a autostart manager is also mandatory.
Since everybody can easily develop for Android the application quality and resource efficiency is not always perfect. So in my opinion Android needs a task manager, this is why even Samsung integrates such a application.
Using a well configured ATK (set to ignore system applications, widgets and apps frequently used for multitasking and killing every else on screen off) and autokiller (strict setting) in addition to Autostart Manager (had to remove 40!!! useless apps from automatic startup) and lagfix, the SGS runs perfectly smooth.
The title is basically the question, im fed up of alot of programs auto opening on my android phone, it takes battery and is slightly annoying receiving notifications off apps i dont really care about such as the NFL game tells me about small things in the NFL, im in the UK, i dont care.
If you argue that it doesnt take alot of battery currently have 117mb free ram, (2 secs later) killed all my selected apps now have 201mb free so im using 80mb of ram on apps im not using. Ive made 2 or 3 phone calls today no more than 30 mins long altogether and ive lost 55% of my battery since about midday, which is when i unplugged the phone.
And I think all these apps are the problem so how can I stop them from auto opening, please help
Search the market for startup cleaner
Sent from my A101IT using xda premium
yusuo said:
If you argue that it doesnt take alot of battery currently have 117mb free ram
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
More free RAM doesn't really equate to longer battery life or lower power consumption.
Better search for auto starts, this asp shows you the conditions an asp can turn back on and you can bin it off, Facebook for example had like 8 conditions, from full to medium battery life, on charge and change in network....... Use it
Sent from my HTC Desire using xda premium
rootSU said:
More free RAM doesn't really equate to longer battery life or lower power consumption.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's still no reason for most of this apps to use RAM. Apps like facebook and skype shouldn't be actice without user permission. Without login they are complete useless.
I'll try Startup Cleaner, thx.
It's how android works and what RAM is for. There is always a reason.
Sure if someone doesn't use Facebook, it should be uninstallable, but its not and its not causing any harm
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
The problem isn't that apps start when I turn on the phone its that even after i use task manager to close they keep reopening and use over 100mb of ram, earlier I checked and only had 78mb ram available.
This must have an effect on battery to some degree i want to kinda ban certain apps from running in the background unless i specifically tell them to
RAM doesn't use more power, the more its used, no.
You don't need a task killer. You do not need to obsess about RAM. Forget about RAM and enjoy your phone
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
rootSU said:
RAM doesn't use more power, the more its used, no.
You don't need a task killer. You do not need to obsess about RAM. Forget about RAM and enjoy your phone
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for you reply but its not really an answer its more of a contradiction, what I was asking is how to I stop apps from auto starting and eating up RAM, regardless of how long the phones been on
...and I'm telling you its a pointless, unecessary waste of time. Also it is not possible. Autostarts as already mentioned is the closest you'll get
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
I also turned off the autorun permissions of a lot of apps, for 2 reasons: 1) a device that is smooth sooner after booting, using less cpu cycles/power. 2) preventing Sense from reloading due to RAM shortage and have smooth multitasking.
1) Android loads a bunch of apps to the RAM that have the autorun permission, until it thinks it is "enough" and useful to you. No matter how many apps you have installed, the amount of free RAM is always about the same, just the number of "unwanted" apps in the RAM differs. Removing the autorun on boot permissions prevents the loading of unnecessary apps that will immediately be removed from the RAM the moment you start the browser/a game, saving cpu cycles=power. So for me there is no point in loading them in the first place, because I am never going to use them (right away). I want the apps that don't to any syncing loaded on demand.
2) I hate slow multitasking and I hate it even more when Sense reloads because it got kicked out of the RAM after each time I press HOME.
I use 3G Watchdog (~12MB RAM), Unlock with Wifi (~8MB), Whatsapp (~15MB), Handcent SMS (~18MB), Droidstats (~13MB), Extended Controls (~12MB), Battery Monitor Widget Pro (~13MB). Okay, I maybe could delete some of them, but these app are "OK" to me, because I use them actively or just need a background service to operate normally.
With Gemini I disabled apps like Facebook, a screenshot tool (just load when I want to make a screenshot..), various public transport planning tools, etc from autostarting.
No joy moment: after using the Facebook app (market version), it may take up 50+ MB and it will not be closed when I start another RAM intensive app, because it is a high priority service. Result: Sense gets kicked out of the RAM. Or, when the situation is somewhat less critical: multitasking is as good as unusable: switching between apps makes them load over and over again, because app2 kicks app1 out of the RAM and vice versa, causing unnecessary lag. Therefore: when I am done with facebook, I close it, then STAY the hell closed It may only autostart when it receives a push message. In that case it is nice to have FB already in RAM when I tap the notification.
Why do even some games have background services, or the Engadget app, or .. , or... all eating precious RAM. And yes, I know, once IN the RAM they eat no battery, but they DO eat battery when the app loads itself back in the RAM when it thinks it needs to, after it got kicked the moment I decided to so something else.
Hmm, spent way too much time to try to explain my frustration Oh and by the way, I have a Legend, but the basics are the same of course.
Dwnload an app called internet commander from the market. It shuts off the internet when your screen turns off but still let's you get calls and texts. I've got my phone , rooted of course, clocked to 710 and my battery will last for days.
Sent from my Eris using xda premium
I just re read your post, that won't help with apps but it will help save battery. And when you turn your screen on the internet kicks right on instantly. Good luck
Sent from my Eris using xda premium
yusuo said:
The problem isn't that apps start when I turn on the phone its that even after i use task manager to close they keep reopening and use over 100mb of ram, earlier I checked and only had 78mb ram available.
This must have an effect on battery to some degree i want to kinda ban certain apps from running in the background unless i specifically tell them to
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The guys here have already suggested you use a certain program from the Market. Have you tried it?
Regarding the whole RAM consumption issue, Android has its own built-in memory management system that ensures that there's always enough RAM for an app whenever it needs it, even if the memory manager shows like 40 MB free. Basically it "ejects" all background, unused apps, from memory making room for the foreground app which needs it most. If for some reason you need to fiddle with that, you can try using the V6 Supercharger script. I find it suitable for my needs but YMMV. It's completely reversible, so if you don't like it you can uninstall it just like that.
P.S. - I agree with rootSU, the ammount of free RAM has nothing to do with battery consumption. If you suspect that an app is draining your battery, check Android's battery statistics to find the culprit.
TVTV said:
Regarding the whole RAM consumption issue, Android has its own built-in memory management system that ensures that there's always enough RAM for an app whenever it needs it, even if the memory manager shows like 40 MB free. Basically it "ejects" all background, unused apps, from memory making room for the foreground app which needs it most. If for some reason you need to fiddle with that, you can try using the V6 Supercharger script. I find it suitable for my needs but YMMV. It's completely reversible, so if you don't like it you can uninstall it just like that.
P.S. - I agree with rootSU, the ammount of free RAM has nothing to do with battery consumption. If you suspect that an app is draining your battery, check Android's battery statistics to find the culprit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I respectfuly disagree. Android built in ram management is just silly. If I open xda app for example (it could actually be any app for that matter), reply to a few posts, read a few more and close it, why does it need to stay in ram? It reloads anyway when I run it again after I've closed it (using the back button or the actual exit command in the app itself). Why does the camera app need to stay in the background after I just shot a few photos and closed it? Because I may or may not use it again in some time? It's rediculous. And the whole theory that ram management doesn't require any power/cpu usage, how do you guys think all those apps get killed? Android will power?! No, kernel scans all running apps and kills the ones based on built in heuristics so it also reads them first. So that doesn't require any power/battery? Awesome if it's true! Although I wouldn't bet on that. And all this fuss just because you may or may not launch the same app sometime during the next day/week/month/year or it'll eventually get killed? Now that's just plain stupid. I get apps that need services like widgets, push notifications etc. but random apps like root explorer, xda app, titanium, youtube etc. which are opened specificly by the user shouldn't be in ram just for the sake of it after they're closed. I closed it, meaning I don't need it anymore. And I don't need the kernel to scan all apps and running services every time I launch an app so it could provide the free ram that app needs. Consumes cpu time, battery, i/o ... every piece of hardware actually just to free some ram that shouldn't be occupied in the first place. Every app that I ever opened on my phone got loaded almost instantly and that's just after phone had been booted. So after that it should stay in ram so I could open it in a blink of an eye instead of instantly? That's just funny.
Anyway, I'm just thinking out loud so don't flame me immediately. There probably are apsects of it that I didn't mention here or am not aware of. And I'm not saying that I'm right and you guys are wrong, I'm just saying what I know and think about this subject.
-. typewrited .-
PlayPetepp, while it might be true that the OS allocates (thus use) some resources to memory maintenance, the impact on battery life is negligible. In the Android OS, apps in memory are ordered according to priority and state, so the OS always knows which apps to kill first if it needs to make room in RAM, without much of a hassle. The only bad consequence of this system seems to be the fact that once the memory fills up, the launcher may lag or even be evacuated from memory. But, as i've mentioned in my previous post, there are ways to prevent that, either via scripts or, if you know what you're doing, via editing system files.
So the OS doesn't need to scan anything as it keeps everything in memory again? Seems like an endless loop. Open, sort, kill if needed, reopen, sort again, kill ... to what end, constant unneccessary multitasking that user is unaware of? I really don't see any benefit of that system and am only seeing the downsides. I mean, who needs every app they ever run remain in ram even if they close them after using? And then opening another app and "waiting" for whatever needs to be closed to get it running. Sure you can mess with the scripts (init.d, init.rc, etc.) but the underlined conditions stay the same. I hope I'm making sense here. Or am I fighting against windmills.
I just figured out that I strayed from the topic of this thread so won't be continuing this discussion if it's considered offtopic.
-. typewrited .-
Stop looking for excuses for poor multitasking in Sense 3+ roms
erklat said:
Stop looking for excuses for poor multitasking in Sense 3+ roms
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello again nice to see you here
Here's an interesting article on what I was talking about. Sense 3.5 doesn't need that many mbs of ram to work smoothly. After booting and setting everything up I have 150+ mb free. That should be enough for decent multitasking but all those apps not getting killed when you close them are eating too much. Can anyone explain in detail what hidden app, perceptible app, backup app and heavy_weight app means? I've been googling this for a week and can't find any decent explanation.
@PlayPetepp - I think i have already said (in my previous post) that the OS does indeed use some resources for managing the memory, but they are negligible in terms of their impact on battery life. IMHO, the only thing a 3'rd party memory manager (task killer) WILL do is improve lanuncher responsiveness (lag) as the lag does increase when free RAM drops under a certain limit. Thus used wisely, a task killer can improve responsiveness, but battery life... very little, in rare cases (it does the opposite, most of the time).
Regarding the so called "memory slots", here's an excerpt from this article:
FOREGROUND_APP: This is the application currently on the screen, and running
VISIBLE_APP: This is an application that is open, and running in the background because it's still doing something
SECONDARY_SERVER: This is a process (a service that an application needs) that is alive and ready in case it's needed to do something
HIDDEN_APP: This again is a process, that sits idle (but still alive) in case it's needed by an app that's alive and running
CONTENT_PROVIDER: This is apps that provide data (content) to the system. HTC Facebook Sync? That's a CONTENT_PROVIDER. So are things like the Android Market, or Fring. If they are alive, they can refresh and provide the content they are supposed to at the set interval. If you kill them, they can't of course.
EMPTY_APP: I call these "ghosts." They are apps that you have opened, but are done with them. Android uses a unique style of handling memory management. When an activity is ended, instead of killing it off Android keeps the application in memory so that opening them again is a faster process. Theses "ghost" apps use no battery or CPU time, they just fill RAM that would be otherwise empty. When this memory is needed by a different application or process, the RAM is flushed and made available for the new app. To satisfy the geekier people (like myself) Android does this by keeping a list of recently used apps, with the oldest apps in the list given the lowest priority -- they are killed first if RAM is needed elsewhere. This is a perfect way to handle 'ghost' processes, so there's no need to touch this part
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm still pretty new to Android so I don't know what is normal, but why does the system use so much RAM when it is supposedly doing nothing? On my 2GB model, after a reboot it says that 1.2GB are free, but this soon drops to 900MB and continues to drop to 500 or 600MB, even if all apps are closed. Is this something I should just ignore and trust that tge Android system knows best and uses RAM appropriately?
kanagawaben said:
I'm still pretty new to Android so I don't know what is normal, but why does the system use so much RAM when it is supposedly doing nothing? On my 2GB model, after a reboot it says that 1.2GB are free, but this soon drops to 900MB and continues to drop to 500 or 600MB, even if all apps are closed. Is this something I should just ignore and trust that tge Android system knows best and uses RAM appropriately?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This must be the well-publicised Android 5.0.x memory leak.
DanielKennethRego said:
This must be the well-publicised Android 5.0.x memory leak.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Possibly, but my Memo Pad 7 seems much the same, and that's still on 4.4.2
If there is free memory then Android will let the apps sit in memory invisibly even after you have closed them - this way they will load faster next time you launch them. If the amount of free memory gets low Android will close some of those invisible apps. So that is normal, unless the amount of free RAM keeps decreasing while you do nothing with it - in that case there must be some bad memory leak.
In android, unused memory is kind of waste so system will allocate usage in a high percentage for efficiency.
DanielKennethRego said:
This must be the well-publicised Android 5.0.x memory leak.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
graphO said:
If there is free memory then Android will let the apps sit in memory invisibly even after you have closed them - this way they will load faster next time you launch them. If the amount of free memory gets low Android will close some of those invisible apps. So that is normal, unless the amount of free RAM keeps decreasing while you do nothing with it - in that case there must be some bad memory leak.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
xda_husky said:
In android, unused memory is kind of waste so system will allocate usage in a high percentage for efficiency.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
kanagawaben said:
Possibly, but my Memo Pad 7 seems much the same, and that's still on 4.4.2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is not a memory leak. All devices which are on papers 2GB are actually less than that. Take memory for example. My Nexus says 32GB but I get around 27GB. Same goes on with USB flash drivers/ pen drives.
Secondly, On Windows, you want to keep as much RAM available as you can so that programs have enough room to operate. When RAM fills up, Windows is forced to start using hard drive space as virtual RAM and hard drives are much slower than physical RAM.
This is not true for Android.
Android’s operating system has its own native handler for assigning RAM to apps and making sure that all of it is being used in the most optimal way. In fact, Android purposely tries to keep apps loaded into RAM for better performance. RAM is fast, remember? On mobile devices, every bit of speed is critical for a good user experience, so keeping apps in RAM is actually a good thing. So regardless how much your RAM is shown, it wouldn't affect your user experience unless the apps installed in your phone are more than RAM can handle at a time which means either update your phone with more RAM or uninstall your apps that you do not use!
Hnk1 said:
It is not a memory leak. All devices which are on papers 2GB are actually less than that. Take memory for example. My Nexus says 32GB but I get around 27GB. Same goes on with USB flash drivers/ pen drives.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is not what OP is saying, at all.
DanielKennethRego said:
That is not what OP is saying, at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The OP says that the memory decreases over time. If you read my post again, i simply said as you more applications are loaded over time, the memory starts to decrease! This is what causes the memory to decrease and if you could use a bit of logic, you could have easily come to the conclusion
Hnk1 said:
The OP says that the memory decreases over time. If you read my post again, i simply said as you more applications are loaded over time, the memory starts to decrease! This is what causes the memory to decrease and if you could use a bit of logic, you could have easily come to the conclusion
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...And that is not what I quoted in my reply, is it?
DanielKennethRego said:
...And that is not what I quoted in my reply, is it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sometimes it's good to swallow some pride and in that there's more dignity. I explained everything from bits and pieces and I'm sure OP can conclude it unlike you.
Do not hesitate to quote me for any query. Always welcomed
Hnk1 said:
It is not a memory leak. All devices which are on papers 2GB are actually less than that. Take memory for example. My Nexus says 32GB but I get around 27GB. Same goes on with USB flash drivers/ pen drives.
Secondly, On Windows, you want to keep as much RAM available as you can so that programs have enough room to operate. When RAM fills up, Windows is forced to start using hard drive space as virtual RAM and hard drives are much slower than physical RAM.
This is not true for Android.
Android’s operating system has its own native handler for assigning RAM to apps and making sure that all of it is being used in the most optimal way. In fact, Android purposely tries to keep apps loaded into RAM for better performance. RAM is fast, remember? On mobile devices, every bit of speed is critical for a good user experience, so keeping apps in RAM is actually a good thing. So regardless how much your RAM is shown, it wouldn't affect your user experience unless the apps installed in your phone are more than RAM can handle at a time which means either update your phone with more RAM or uninstall your apps that you do not use!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I must say, although most of what you say is true, having less free ram absolutely does have a negative effect on user experience. My browser tends to crash, non-intensive games face lag spikes and the general UI stutters. Is this due to Android or Asus' tweaks to Android doing a poor job at managing ram? I don't doubt that in a perfect scenario with a perfect OS, what you said holds true.
I've not had good experience with the RAM so far. My browser tabs fall out of memory more than my cheap 1GB phone. It's rather disappointing. Even just switching between 2 or 3 tabs and going back to a tab after a few seconds and it's already fallen out.
aloy99 said:
I must say, although most of what you say is true, having less free ram absolutely does have a negative effect on user experience. My browser tends to crash, non-intensive games face lag spikes and the general UI stutters. Is this due to Android or Asus' tweaks to Android doing a poor job at managing ram? I don't doubt that in a perfect scenario with a perfect OS, what you said holds true.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
damian5000 said:
I've not had good experience with the RAM so far. My browser tabs fall out of memory more than my cheap 1GB phone. It's rather disappointing. Even just switching between 2 or 3 tabs and going back to a tab after a few seconds and it's already fallen out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes as I mentioned before, if the apps which are preloaded are more than RAM can handle, you'd surely see a lag but killing background apps wouldn't be of much help either unless your RAM memory has too many preloaded apps already which is affecting performance of your phone. If you are rooted, apps like greenify / titanium can hibernate / freeze apps which take up memory and usually this helps in better user interface but again many other argue the opposite.
Are you using Asus Browser ? If yes, I'd suggest to use chrome as your default browser because Asus Browser is not only slow but also it drains a lot of battery. This has been proven extensively and even reviewed on different websites including gsmarena.
Basically Nexus provides pure Android interface which every manufacturer tweaks a bit according to their own needs. Usually this tweaking means more memory usage(Ram) by system UI. This is one reason that Samsung's touch wiz lags a lot on lower end phones but the same hardware runs smooth without touchwiz. The reason is Samsung has lots of tweaks in system UI .
Some browsers conserve memory by only keeping the tab used in memory and rest are loaded when you switch them. They aren't preloaded but usually this option is available in settings to preload pages which would use more memory.
I have preordered the device with 4gb so I'm afraid I can't compare your device with mine in this regard.
Kindly tell me which browsers are you using so I can comment further
Hnk1 said:
Yes as I mentioned before, if the apps which are preloaded are more than RAM can handle, you'd surely see a lag but killing background apps wouldn't be of much help either unless your RAM memory has too many preloaded apps already which is affecting performance of your phone. If you are rooted, apps like greenify / titanium can hibernate / freeze apps which take up memory and usually this helps in better user interface but again many other argue the opposite.
Are you using Asus Browser ? If yes, I'd suggest to use chrome as your default browser because Asus Browser is not only slow but also it drains a lot of battery. This has been proven extensively and even reviewed on different websites including gsmarena.
Basically Nexus provides pure Android interface which every manufacturer tweaks a bit according to their own needs. Usually this tweaking means more memory usage(Ram) by system UI. This is one reason that Samsung's touch wiz lags a lot on lower end phones but the same hardware runs smooth without touchwiz. The reason is Samsung has lots of tweaks in system UI .
Some browsers conserve memory by only keeping the tab used in memory and rest are loaded when you switch them. They aren't preloaded but usually this option is available in settings to preload pages which would use more memory.
I have preordered the device with 4gb so I'm afraid I can't compare your device with mine in this regard.
Kindly tell me which browsers are you using so I can comment further
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using Chrome. That's the whole point of having more memory, so they don't have to be reloaded when switching.
If I had 10 tabs open and switching back and forth over a long period of time, this is understandable. Not 2 or 3 tabs and switching between two tabs within 10 seconds. Defeats the entire purpose of having 2GB of RAM. The same thing happens switching between apps. Many of them fall out of memory within just a few seconds of switching back and forth. My 1GB phone does better than this. Something to do with whatever memory management Asus has set up.
damian5000 said:
Using Chrome. That's the whole point of having more memory, so they don't have to be reloaded when switching.
If I had 10 tabs open and switching back and forth over a long period of time, this is understandable. Not 2 or 3 tabs and switching between two tabs within 10 seconds. Defeats the entire purpose of having 2GB of RAM. The same thing happens switching between apps. Many of them fall out of memory within just a few seconds of switching back and forth. My 1GB phone does better than this. Something to do with whatever memory management Asus has set up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand your frustrations and it could be Asus related buy I think this is how chrome operates generally so it's the browser in my opinion. I suggest you use dolphin browser (not mini version) because it usually preloads pages on my devices and it is fast as well but I usually use it for flash support only. I prefer opera classic (now opera) on my phone with chrome . On my tab, I use chrome only. It always works for me and it's Asus made. Tell me what you think of it after using it a bit . I like chrome for its sync support which is very simple and helpful.
Hnk1 said:
Yes as I mentioned before, if the apps which are preloaded are more than RAM can handle, you'd surely see a lag but killing background apps wouldn't be of much help either unless your RAM memory has too many preloaded apps already which is affecting performance of your phone. If you are rooted, apps like greenify / titanium can hibernate / freeze apps which take up memory and usually this helps in better user interface but again many other argue the opposite.
Are you using Asus Browser ? If yes, I'd suggest to use chrome as your default browser because Asus Browser is not only slow but also it drains a lot of battery. This has been proven extensively and even reviewed on different websites including gsmarena.
Basically Nexus provides pure Android interface which every manufacturer tweaks a bit according to their own needs. Usually this tweaking means more memory usage(Ram) by system UI. This is one reason that Samsung's touch wiz lags a lot on lower end phones but the same hardware runs smooth without touchwiz. The reason is Samsung has lots of tweaks in system UI .
Some browsers conserve memory by only keeping the tab used in memory and rest are loaded when you switch them. They aren't preloaded but usually this option is available in settings to preload pages which would use more memory.
I have preordered the device with 4gb so I'm afraid I can't compare your device with mine in this regard.
Kindly tell me which browsers are you using so I can comment further
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using Firefox, I read about the stock browser issues before getting the phone.
Clearing ram using the built in booster appears to help with performance, although it could be a placebo, and it's certainly less pronounced than on my previous phone with only 1GB of ram.
I have greenify'd/frozen a lot of apps, including some of the Asus bloatware. No comment on improved performance though.
Overall, I'm happy with the performance but low ram still seems to bother me, although such scenarios are rare.
aloy99 said:
Using Firefox, I read about the stock browser issues before getting the phone.
Clearing ram using the built in booster appears to help with performance, although it could be a placebo, and it's certainly less pronounced than on my previous phone with only 1GB of ram.
I have greenify'd/frozen a lot of apps, including some of the Asus bloatware. No comment on improved performance though.
Overall, I'm happy with the performance but low ram still seems to bother me, although such scenarios are rare.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you are more worried about RAM that is left in your memory rather than actual performance. This can happen especially if you had very high expectations from this phone. According to ASUS, this is a midrange phone on their website. Not a flagship if you are hoping!
I suggest check the performance by installing some heavy graphic games and see if it lags or not. I am sure that would be the best way to find out!
Good Luck!
The browser pages redrawing is almost certainly the lollipop memory leak. I don't have a zenfone 2 yet, but my nexus 7 had this problem up until the release of 5.1, so hopefully Asus updates to that soon.
i notice when i uninstalled clean master..my ram always on 1 gb free unlike before it stays at 650..700 free...notice my phone is even faster now
TOT_tomdora said:
The browser pages redrawing is almost certainly the lollipop memory leak. I don't have a zenfone 2 yet, but my nexus 7 had this problem up until the release of 5.1, so hopefully Asus updates to that soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct, thank you for finally making that point clear as it's the main reason, which clearly isn't Asus' fault.
pato2015 said:
i notice when i uninstalled clean master..my ram always on 1 gb free unlike before it stays at 650..700 free...notice my phone is even faster now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
An ironic, yet awesome find pato!:thumbup: Be sure to relay this to the other places on the net that you're involved with that pertains to the Zenfone 2.
Sent from the Ace's MB865 using Tapatalk
Hi,
i guess Stock Pie has a Memory Leak and Garbage collector doesnt work.
I background restricted some apps in Settings but all of them still works on background. I cant see them on the Task Manager but i can see the Ram usage on AIDA64 app.
What i did:
- i set background restriction to these apps. (64 app restricted)
- i select app restrict behavior to Frequent. (for all of them)
- Task manager is empty.
- Cant see these leaked apps even on Android 9's built in Ram usage feature.
- i tryed kill apps when leave feature on the developer options. (These apps garbage still stays on the Ram)
- i even set background app limit 4 (Somehow developer options closed it self and everything i set reverted back to stock when i restart my phone)
But apps still eats the Ram from the background. I know because i can see Ram details on the AIDA64 app.
Phone starts with ~1600'ish mb available Ram. Available Ram decreases when i open-close these background restricted apps. (Hey! I am restricting apps because i dont want them working on the background. Like a Google Translator, Mi Remote, Hd Wallpapers app etc. i restricted all but these apps still works.) If my phone's Ram decrease everything starts slowing down. I am seeing it and i can feel it. After 5 or 10 minute later Ram usage jumps ~2000 mb. Some pieces of background restricted apps still stays in the Ram and i cant avoid from it on Stock Pie and these pieces slowing down my phone's performance. I am not using 26 apps!! Maybe 4 or 5 apps i am frequently using. I dont want unused apps garbage on Ram.
Huawei's EMUI has a built-in feature to avoid auto-start apps. Some custom roms has a Wake-Lock blocker. But i dont have anything on Stock Pie.
I just dont want these apps garbage on my phone's Ram. Because of these reasons i can clearly say Mi A2 Lite's Stock Pie rom has bad garbage collector. Dont know Xiaomi modified it or not. Probably thats why Stock Pie roms consumes more battery than Stock Oreo.
I am not the man who believe 'unused Ram is a waste'.
I just want most important system apps on the Ram and other almost everything shouldnt occupy a space on the Ram. This motto is the key reason of performance for Budget phones on my perspective.
Rom details:
Locked - Stock Android 9 - v10.16.0 (November 2019)
What i am asking is:
- Which Roms has built-in feature to avoid from this?
- Which Roms has a best Garbage collector?
- Which Rom fits to my requirements?
Thanks.
perfect_ said:
I background restricted some apps in Settings but all of them still works on background. I cant see them on the Task Manager but i can see the Ram usage on AIDA64 app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are fundamentally misunderstaning how task management works.
Restricting stops apps from using the CPU (and thus, the battery).
Android will leave unused apps in RAM for faster launching later. Some "AI" decides which of these to keep when more RAM is needed.
If it offends you to see these apps in a low-level task manager you can kill them. Heaps of task manager apps can do this automatically. You need something like greenify if you want them to stay dead.
a1291762 said:
You are fundamentally misunderstaning how task management works.
Restricting stops apps from using the CPU (and thus, the battery).
Android will leave unused apps in RAM for faster launching later. Some "AI" decides which of these to keep when more RAM is needed.
If it offends you to see these apps in a low-level task manager you can kill them. Heaps of task manager apps can do this automatically. You need something like greenify if you want them to stay dead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did not misunderstand anything. You didnt understand what i mean exactly.
Why Hd Backgrounds app or Mi Remote app should stay on the Ram even i dont use them? I am using them once a week or so. Thats why i dont need faster launch. Because i am not using them? Clear?Youre talking about app restart power consumption. Thats the point. I am not using them and i am not starting them in a single charge. Even if i want to restart these (as i said this thing happens once a week) apps restart power consumption consumes incomparably less energy than phone restart power consumption. I dont want to use my phone’s Ram with junks.
Do you prefer trashy Ram with bunch of junks? I dont prefer it. I cant clean these apps Ram garbage until restart my phone. The restart consumes a lot of energy and when my phones Ram become trashy i should restart all system to clean them.
Restart has benefits;
- More performance
- Clean Ram
- Better Battery life until Ram become trashy
What i am saying is why i cant use these benefits without restart. Think about all these power consumption when we restart our phone.
Its all about garbage collection and this thing doesnt work on Android Pie. I tryed Greenify gived it all what app wants still nothing changed. Ram still gets trashy and this causes; slowdowns, hiccups, more battery consumption,.. etc. Even my phone’s processor and battery doesnt like garbage on Ram.
I hope Huawei’s HarmonyOS will work better than Google’s trashy Ram management.
perfect_ said:
Why Hd Backgrounds app or Mi Remote app should stay on the Ram even i dont use them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because there is no benefit to removing them from your RAM.
perfect_ said:
I dont want to use my phone’s Ram with junks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not junk. If you want tasks killed, get a task killer. If you want to prevent apps from starting, get a hibernation app.
perfect_ said:
I hope Huawei’s HarmonyOS will work better than Google’s trashy Ram management.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Chinese OEMS are notorious for evicting programs from RAM and preventing them from running in the background, fundamentally breaking the android API contract in the process. If you think that's better then by all means, go use one of those ROMs.
I for one got the A2 Lite instead of the Redmi 6 Pro precisely to avoid MIUI and its task management policies.
a1291762 said:
Because there is no benefit to removing them from your RAM.
It's not junk. If you want tasks killed, get a task killer. If you want to prevent apps from starting, get a hibernation app.
The Chinese OEMS are notorious for evicting programs from RAM and preventing them from running in the background, fundamentally breaking the android API contract in the process. If you think that's better then by all means, go use one of those ROMs.
I for one got the A2 Lite instead of the Redmi 6 Pro precisely to avoid MIUI and its task management policies.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no point to talk with you. You dont even know what junk it is. Do not write to my threads!