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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
Hi Arc Users,
Do you guys encounter low memory after long period of usage? It seems like the memory does not free up after using the phone for a long time. I mainly use the phone for FB, Camera and messaging.
When the phone hits like 50+MB ram or so it starts to slow down and if it goes lower than 40MB my home screen starts to lag and the app icons take a few secs to load every time i return to home screen. I'll usually reboot the phone but its quite a pain considering the boot timing for my phone is rather long, like close to 1 min.
What are the possible solutions? I've heard that advanced task killers are unnecessary for Gingerbread. If thats the case, how do I free up more memory or have better memory management for the Arc?
Am a first time android user, appreciate any advice from you guys
Thanks!
___________________
+1
Root is the solution. Delete apps and services which you do not use.
I haven't any problem either when free ram goes down to 30MB and i don't use a taskiller.
Just what are you doing when you run out of ram? Never did I run out of ram yet. Running ram hungry games will free up more what is needed as I experienced. When I return to homescreen, it takes a while (around 2 secs) because it will free up ram from the game, then load the homescreen launcher from start/scratch.
Same here but my Arc works fine, even with 30-40MB RAM, so it isn't a real problem.
But it would be nice from SE to make 400-450MB of the 512MB RAM available for the user.
Sent from my LT15i using XDA Premium App
Flo95 said:
But it would be nice from SE to make 400-450MB of the 512MB RAM available for the user.
Sent from my LT15i using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What? That is a completely pointless excercise if you understand how ram is handled by the os.
You need to root and remove bloat, check ya settings etc to get better performance. I found letting things constantly access the network was a juice eater, I don't want fb to check every 4 seconds, I update it when I want to read it lol
I use a task manager, but only because I like to see what is running and using resources. I rarely actually kill any apps, just occasionally a few things I rarely use. Even then it fills the space with other stuff.
:edit: sorry flo95, that sounded a bit crappy, no bad attitude was intended.
Sent from my LT15i using XDA App
This is the solution...https://market.android.com/details?id=com.lim.android.automemman&feature=search_result
not a task killer... a memory manager that enhances googles memory management.
mariolouis said:
Just what are you doing when you run out of ram? Never did I run out of ram yet. Running ram hungry games will free up more what is needed as I experienced. When I return to homescreen, it takes a while (around 2 secs) because it will free up ram from the game, then load the homescreen launcher from start/scratch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do not play games with my Arc. I just used facebook, MSN, Camera and messaging occasionally throughout the day. Medium usage.
It runs smoothly for several days but maybe after a week or two, the RAM starts to get low.
im_iceman said:
This is the solution...
not a task killer... a memory manager that enhances googles memory management.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Working so far... will monitor after a week or so.
Try a cache cleaner also will free up some space for ya
Sent from my LT15i using XDA Premium App
I use battery guard as a task killer. It comes with a widget where you can see the available amount of ram.
I'm happy about it. Though a lot of people say a task killer doesn't help I have no negative experience using this one... and I never go below 130 ram.
I still think it does help to close tasks that otherwise keep running in the background... But I'm new on android so I could be wrong.
Hey guys
Have you tried this script
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1111145
maybe this can help w/o having to install apps or task-killers. Should work on Xperia Arc but I don't guarantee it.
That script seems to do basically the same thing as auto memory manager.. (per my previous post..)..
PS.. I currently have mine set to aggressive.
The Galaxy Nexus is supposed to have 1GB RAM
When I go into Apps and running Apps my phone says I have 326MB RAM used and 306MB free
I havent noticed the phone been slow at all but is this normal or am I missing RAM?
Also is there any way of stopping apps like WhatsApp, Facebook and Maps etc to be always running in background?
I also have like 350Mb used and 280Mb free. In total, is like 630Mb. But I think that are things running in background of the O.S you can't see.
But in any time I feel like my phone is going slow. In fact, it's the other way, I'm very satisfied with the speed and multitasking.
The apps like google maps or whatsapp will be always in background. Also, mention that opening the settings it consumes like 43Mb of ram. That is pretty huge.
bmulvany said:
The Galaxy Nexus is supposed to have 1GB RAM
When I go into Apps and running Apps my phone says I have 326MB RAM used and 306MB free
I havent noticed the phone been slow at all but is this normal or am I missing RAM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android keeps whatever it can in memory for quicker access; it's not like Windows where it's better to keep the memory free. You're fine. The missing 392 MB is reserved for the GPU.
bmulvany said:
Also is there any way of stopping apps like WhatsApp, Facebook and Maps etc to be always running in background?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uninstall them. Unless they're consuming CPU time, there's no harm to having them running in the background.
I was thinking it might have been reserved for OS
Im am not bothered by it been missing or the other apps running as the performance is great but was just curious
I just have to figure out which app is causing my screen going to sleep totally or not been responsive when trying to unlock via pattern unlock. It may be Juice defender as I rest the phone and reinstalled apps gradually. It was one of the ones I reinstalled again in last few days and its happened again
Hello there
I have just bought a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 tablet. But it consumes too much ram.
This causes instability and excessive battery usage.
Do I have any chance about this?
Thanks
Android isn't compareable to windows in ram usage. Your tab will run smoother if 1gig is used instead of 600mb, because some data is still in the memory which means faster app starts...
If android needs more ram it cleans the memory itself
Then it's something you installed, because out of the box it's fine.
blckstr said:
But it consumes too much ram.
This causes instability and excessive battery usage.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you make that connection?
There are multiple posts here about RAM usage on this tablet and many more about RAM usage in Android. You don't need to worry about your RAM, OS does a good job managing it.
Hi again
I Use "Clean Master" to montior my RAM usage and it always shows ram usage is around 92%
I didn't install too much stuff. A couple of games which I play rarely and a few drawing apps.
Sent from my Sony Xperia Z1using xda app-developers app
blckstr said:
Hi again
I Use "Clean Master" to montior my RAM usage and it always shows ram usage is around 92% I didn't install too much stuff. A couple of games which I play rarely and a few drawing apps.
Sent from my Sony Xperia Z1using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMHO a memory monitor could mess up with normal memory management, because if it is set to a too restrictive policy it could try to free memory that OS will reuse at once, and so on.
I would suggest trying to use your tablet without the memory monitor, then compare the behavior.
How does used ram cause battery drain? It does not. What causes battery drain is when your cpu is getting used. When your apps aren't precached your cpu will have to work a bit harder every time you start an app. Also your memory monitoring app will use more cpu cycles than it will save you. What you could look out for are apps that consume lots of cpu power. Sometimes apps are badly coded and consume lots of power. Those kinds of apps will most likely show up in the battery stats in the settings menu. No external apps are needed. They usually cause more harm then good.
Sent from my GT-P6800 using xda app-developers app
Yes maybe you are right. I managed to improved battery life. But I can't say the same for RAM usage.
Compared to my Sony Xperia Z1, Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 responds real slow. Although it has more RAM. (2GB vs 3 GB)
I did a research about speeding up it. But couldn't come up with a sollution.
More ram doesn't really make a device faster. Nowadays it's a lot more about the software and drivers etc.. Samsung sometimes neglects that and focuses on adding software stuff that they can advertise. I wrote a guide on speeding the device up. It assumes you have root, but you can just see how many apps you can disable in the settings. Might be enough.
After applying all the steps and keeping my device clean it's the fastest tablet I ever had in my hands.
blckstr said:
Yes maybe you are right. I managed to improved battery life. But I can't say the same for RAM usage.
Compared to my Sony Xperia Z1, Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 responds real slow. Although it has more RAM. (2GB vs 3 GB)
I did a research about speeding up it. But couldn't come up with a sollution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
More ram usage is a sign of more services running.... which means there is loads of stuff running in your background..
If I dont run a single app my ram has 1.3 Gig ram left... go to application manager and check whats running... if you see stuff you dont need freeze it with titanium backup.. or unistall if you are sure its not needed.. your system does not simply use more ram randomly...
Greetings
blckstr said:
Hello there
I have just bought a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 tablet. But it consumes too much ram.
This causes instability and excessive battery usage.
Do I have any chance about this?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
RAM is there to be used. Free RAM is useless RAM. The more RAM it's using, the lower the battery usage because it doesn't have to go to flash memory for data.
Gasaraki- said:
RAM is there to be used. Free RAM is useless RAM. The more RAM it's using, the lower the battery usage because it doesn't have to go to flash memory for data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like he says when it comes to Linux the more ram in use the better.
Sent from my HTC6600LVW using XDA Premium HD app
I found the problem. It is TouchWiz.
After disabling it and installing a new launcher, Nova Prime, I have no ram and lag issues.
Yes I agree about ram thing but with a huge amount of ram usage multi-tasking is not efficent.
Been running Nova Prime with Lag for several months, still lags. Disable the card reduces the lag a bit. That though is not an option.
Via my Note 3
{Diemex} said:
More ram doesn't really make a device faster. Nowadays it's a lot more about the software and drivers etc.. Samsung sometimes neglects that and focuses on adding software stuff that they can advertise. I wrote a guide on speeding the device up. It assumes you have root, but you can just see how many apps you can disable in the settings. Might be enough.
After applying all the steps and keeping my device clean it's the fastest tablet I ever had in my hands.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BclingergFJ said:
Been running Nova Prime with Lag for several months, still lags. Disable the card reduces the lag a bit. That though is not an option.
Via my Note 3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Diemex's guide is really helpful. Try it. Great work Diemex
After freezing TouchWiz via Rom Toolbox. My device became a '14 Ferrari from a '68 Beatle
Has anyone else noticed some slowdowns on their pixel 2 XL? I had noticed slow animations on Android Oreo, I thought that maybe they would be fixed in the Pie update, but i am still noticing slow downs every so often.
For me, Pie has actually been the smoothest compared to DP2 though DP5. There's a similar thread already here:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel-2-xl/how-to/phone-sluggish-time-t3826729
harryfornasier said:
Has anyone else noticed some slowdowns on their pixel 2 XL? I had noticed slow animations on Android Oreo, I thought that maybe they would be fixed in the Pie update, but i am still noticing slow downs every so often.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
I've been getting stutters too. Occasionally it will just catch up and lag.
Haven't noticed any stuttering, just seems smooth for my usage...
harryfornasier said:
Has anyone else noticed some slowdowns on their pixel 2 XL? I had noticed slow animations on Android Oreo, I thought that maybe they would be fixed in the Pie update, but i am still noticing slow downs every so often.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's micro stutters here and there but they're insignificant, I wouldn't call them slowdowns. Google really needs to up their ram for the next phone, the 4gb is starting to show it's limitations. Compared to the iPhone , the pixel doesn't seem very smooth with it's animations.
Actually my test shows after couple hours usage, the free RAM of Android P will drop around 600MB.
At this stage, you will start getting stutter or even no response from apps due to system try to release free RAM.
Right after boot up, Andrpod P will have around 1300MB free RAM, however after couple hours use (depends on how heavy you use your phone), the free RAM will go down to around 500MB and you will notice stutter if you launch some App which requires RAM.
You can verify this by launch Google Map, Google Photo and Street View together... or you could launch Camera App then take some panorama after a day's use. When fresh out of reboot, Pixel 2 XL has no trouble running those App together or handling multiple Panoramas but will run into stutter or even kill your Launcher for free RAM after couple hours useage...
I checked the OOM setting on "empty app" and it's defaulted at 318MB. I suggest raise it to 512MB to get better, longer stutter free operation (YMMV). With default OOM setting when I launch camera app, sometimes Nova Launcher will be killed for free RAM. However after modifing the empty app OOM limit to 512MB I seldom got any kill rampage when launching camera app.
For me, Android P is smooth when free RAM is over 900MB and you will definitely get into stutter when free RAM under 600MB. And it's unavoidable to went to this low ram stage after some use...
If you don't have above issue then lucky you, or you just didn't use your phone heavy enough as Google think you should... I don't want to argue how good Android can manage RAM since for me, kill my Launcher to make RAM for Camera is not a solution... Which happened to me quite often. I use Greenify to block most background app and do check what runs behind the scene quite regularly and kill those unwanted... Still, Android P will go to 600MB free RAM unless I modify OOM... (It's now aound 800MB when Nova Launcher is foreground App)
You can use this app for monitoring your free RAM.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=info.kfsoft.android.MemoryIndicatorPro
lssong99 said:
Actually my test shows after couple hours usage, the free RAM of Android P will drop around 600MB.
At this stage, you will start getting stutter or even no response from apps due to system try to release free RAM.
Right after boot up, Andrpod P will have around 1300MB free RAM, however after couple hours use (depends on how heavy you use your phone), the free RAM will go down to around 500MB and you will notice stutter if you launch some App which requires RAM.
You can verify this by launch Google Map, Google Photo and Street View together... or you could launch Camera App then take some panorama after a day's use. When fresh out of reboot, Pixel 2 XL has no trouble running those App together or handling multiple Panoramas but will run into stutter or even kill your Launcher for free RAM after couple hours useage...
I checked the OOM setting on "empty app" and it's defaulted at 318MB. I suggest raise it to 512MB to get better, longer stutter free operation (YMMV). With default OOM setting when I launch camera app, sometimes Nova Launcher will be killed for free RAM. However after modifing the empty app OOM limit to 512MB I seldom got any kill rampage when launching camera app.
For me, Android P is smooth when free RAM is over 900MB and you will definitely get into stutter when free RAM under 600MB. And it's unavoidable to went to this low ram stage after some use...
If you don't have above issue then lucky you, or you just didn't use your phone heavy enough as Google think you should... I don't want to argue how good Android can manage RAM since for me, kill my Launcher to make RAM for Camera is not a solution... Which happened to me quite often. I use Greenify to block most background app and do check what runs behind the scene quite regularly and kill those unwanted... Still, Android P will go to 600MB free RAM unless I modify OOM... (It's now aound 800MB when Nova Launcher is foreground App)
You can use this app for monitoring your free RAM.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=info.kfsoft.android.MemoryIndicatorPro
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is only valid for people who buy the phones direct from Google and are able to root. For those from Verizon, you are out of luck, as there's no way to mess with memory settings.
This post is one reason in won't buy from Verizon.
Sent from my [device_name] using XDA-Developers Legacy app