Is LG's skin really so heavy on RAM usage? - G3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I was watching a video review of the LG G3 by The Nerd Herd, and the guy said, and even showed that the LG's skin constantly used over 2 gigs of RAM all the time. Here's the link with timecode, so you can see the part where he talks about it: YouTube.
I want to buy the phone, but 2GB version is my only option and I'm a little bit worried after seeing this. Is this version noticeably slower than the 3GB version? How bad is it?
I also wanna mention that I will install a custom software for sure, probably the CloudyG3, or Cyanogenmod, or something close to stock Android, so I won't stick with LG's firmware.

It really isn't bad at all, I have had this phone since Kitkat and at maximum the RAM will go as up as 80% percent. It never passes it and it usually is at 56% percent with a GB free for use of the 1.8 it shows. I love this phone and actually the only problem I have is the fact that it overheats and it scares the hell of me but it never throttles or anything

In this moment, and for current android versions, 2GB is more than enough. I've read an article about tests with both G3 versions, and 3GB version was 5% or so faster, unnoticeable in real life usage. Before I bought my phone, I had same dilemma, so I've investigated a lot and asked oppinions from some professionals, and I am convinced that 3GB is not needed in this moment ;

I can't tell you exactly how much RAM I'm using, but it's really not going to be that much. If I've got a lot of stuff open and I'm constantly doing things, sure I'll get the odd slow down, but it runs smoother than a baby's bottom, and that's coming from someone who is incredibly picky with their system (My old S3 had over 200 custom flashes... oops).

Related

Un-faking the specs of a Chinese phone

I got a cheap no-brand Chinese smartphone. We shall gloss over the wisdom of this purchase, but suffice it to say it turns out it isn't the MTK6582 quadcore with a gig of RAM that was promised. A quick peek in the options revealed a Spreadtrum SC8825 dualcore and 512 megs of RAM running 4.0.3 ICS. This was confirmed by other sources. Long story short I got another phone that's now my main one, but the Chinese one was so cheap that I took the loss as a life lesson and didn't even bother sending it back to Hong Kong, figuring a backup crappy phone is better than no backup at all.
I therefore decided to decrapify the cheapie as much as possible. I found a mention in dx's forum of a newer, better ROM for it with less crap, so I downloaded it and flashed it. Proving that I apparently can't make a good decision about this thing at all, what I now have is a phone whose settings show a "MT6582" CPU that reports itself as having four cores, plus a ludicrous 1.5GB of RAM and running Android 4.2.2. Weird thing is, the apps do in fact see this - for instance, Antutu does report four cores and all that RAM, and other benchmark apps do as well - though two of the cores are mysteriously always inactive. I know that the CPU and RAM are wrong, and I suspect the Android version is faked as well. I suspect this is what's causing some apps to misbehave; they expect specs that aren't there, and freak out and crash as a result.
Thing is, because it was showing the correct specs before the ROM flash, I know for a fact that whatever fakery is going on is exclusively at a software level. I don't know if Android does any checking on the hardware or if it just displays what the ROM's reporting, but either the checks are being bypassed or the ROM is simply reporting the wrong data.
Edit: tried cat /proc/cpuinfo in adb and got this, which shows the fakery to extend there as well.
Which brings the question: having rooted the phone and being able to access it via adb, where in the system partition do I go looking for the fakery so as to get rid of it and have, at least, a phone that reports itself as what it actually is?
Bumpy bump.

[Q] why so little support for the LG G3 but the G S5 has so much?

I am curious as to why there is very little dev's supporting the lg g3. The samsung on the other hand is being supported alot almost make me think i made a mistake getting the lg g3 but i do really like the phone. I guess i was spoiled before the lg because i had all htc phones and there was an unbelievable amount of support for the evos. so what do you guys think are we at the height of our support or will there be more devs picking this phone up?
garrettstump said:
I am curious as to why there is very little dev's supporting the lg g3. The samsung on the other hand is being supported alot almost make me think i made a mistake getting the lg g3 but i do really like the phone. I guess i was spoiled before the lg because i had all htc phones and there was an unbelievable amount of support for the evos. so what do you guys think are we at the height of our support or will there be more devs picking this phone up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, more people bought it, so there are more devs.
What exactly you want developed for G3?
Kernels? Nah, you can't jump higher than lg did. It's already optimised. You can, of course, add some GCC flags, change toolchain, etc etc etc... For a marginal improvement, at best. Well, you can add undervolting, some modules (ntfs, gamepads, etc), advanced sound control... What else?..
Roms? Well, developing "only for G3!" roms isn't the best idea. Besides, some popular AOSP roms are already ported to g3, ones that haven't been ported don't even have stable 5.0 builds yet. Modding stock rom is almost impossible right now, apktool doesn't fully support neither 5.0, neither lg's special apk's (two apk's with id of 127 sharing resources? LG-way, lol.), so good custom roms aren't even possible yet.
And no, we won't get more support. If you want tons of support - buy Samsung.
I didnt get that too comming from nexus 5 i was expection great dev support for G3 as i consider it the best smartphone specially compare to Lagsung devices...but most of android users see only benchmarks so they go and buy that plastic piece of awfulness....but G3 has a great support..its better to have little and good rather than have 30 same kernels like it was on N5 community...the only thing i can't get is why at least CM isn't official supported!!
pikachukaki said:
I didnt get that too comming from nexus 5 i was expection great dev support for G3 as i consider it the best smartphone specially compare to Lagsung devices...but most of android users see only benchmarks so they go and buy that plastic piece of awfulness....but G3 has a great support..its better to have little and good rather than have 30 same kernels like it was on N5 community...the only thing i can't get is why at least CM isn't official supported!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i agree with both of the posts here and to really answer the first question, there is nothing that i specifically want developed i just was kinda confused as to why the forums are not filled with roms and kernals but you made a good point about saying quality over quantity.. I do really enjoy this phone and consider it the top of the line right now but we will see......
Honestly we have a fair amount of roms at this stage and it will only get better and better but as far as kernels goes I'd wish to see some more with overclocking/undervolting/profiles features in them ..
Sent from my LG-D852 using XDA Free mobile app
Ive had the phone for a month or so now and while the design specs etc are top notch
The performance is not
I find it to be slow and laggy especially the stock messaging app (i know i can use an alternative)
I have the 16gb version and it always seems to be using 88-90% ram at all times with very minimal apps in use
Cant see it being the fact i have the 2gb ram version as previous phones with 2gb ram have performed much better.
Considering getting rid for anther device
^^
Agree fully, had my g3 for just over a week. Bought it from amazon so I have a month to decide.
Phone is terrible for lag, battery usage is woeful.
Perhaps my expectations were too high.
Won't go back to Samsung. Knox has ruined that.
The Moto G Play looks fantastic but no European release.
HTC is speculated to have fantastic new models.
Think the G3 might find itself replaced in the New Year
Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk
nc35 said:
^^
Agree fully, had my g3 for just over a week. Bought it from amazon so I have a month to decide.
Phone is terrible for lag, battery usage is woeful.
Perhaps my expectations were too high.
Won't go back to Samsung. Knox has ruined that.
The Moto G Play looks fantastic but no European release.
HTC is speculated to have fantastic new models.
Think the G3 might find itself replaced in the New Year
Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Been offered a straight trade for HTC one M8 might take them up on it
As a person coming from Samsung S2, S3, Note 3, I can say that Lg is doing a great job with the G2/G3 stock software! Way better than Samsung! Yes you'll find fingerprint features and some other useless bells and whistles, but LG software is solid, almost lag free, and battery life is king!
During my lifetime with Samsung, I spent most of my time cheating its software with Cyanogenmod.
So, would I be sad to not have the same amount of support on S5? Definitely no! I think what we have is valuable and I haven't felt yet that I need to run away to CM11/12.
manemzjum said:
Ive had the phone for a month or so now and while the design specs etc are top notch
The performance is not
I find it to be slow and laggy especially the stock messaging app (i know i can use an alternative)
I have the 16gb version and it always seems to be using 88-90% ram at all times with very minimal apps in use
Cant see it being the fact i have the 2gb ram version as previous phones with 2gb ram have performed much better.
Considering getting rid for anther device
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess my question with those who see terrible battery life, what is it exactly you expect? I always here "terrible battery life", or "laggy". But no one backs it up with examples.
So, for those that are seeing poor battery life, answer these questions:
What is "poor" in your mind? Please provide a measurement such as you expect x amount of hours.
Exactly what are you using your phone for? Are you playing games for hours, shooting and/or viewing HD videos? Listenting to music?
After x hours of usage, how much battery is left after use (and whatever you were doing)?
For those with lag, answer these questions:
How are defining lag? Where are you seeing it and how are you perceiving it?
What apps do you have installed and how many?
What is the amount of storage you have left?
I know some have stated they see lag in the UI such as when they open a drawer, or swipe between screens and such. I guess I've never noticed that before, so maybe they come from a different phone that responded better in their eyes. Things that can help are possibly reducing the animation, but a possible issue could be the screen size. This phone packs a lot more pixels in it than the S5, so I could see how rendering on a screen with a larger pixel density could cause this. However, for me, I don't really notice it, and even if it is there, it must not be a huge amount or else I'd notice it.
As for battery life, I don't know what people are expecting. I get at least a days (24 hours) worth. Now, granted I'm running Greenify which has helped me on other phones, so I'm sure that has a hand in it. However, there was a time I wasn't running Greenify at first with this phone and I remember having the phone charged at 100% when I went to bed, took it off the charger, left it on (I used it as an alarm clock plus as my on-call phone) and when I woke up 6+ hours later, it was STILL at 100%. Adding Greenify has helped to prevent apps from wake locking, but that's not the phone's fault. That's how some apps are written and that in and of itself can cause battery drain, but it's even worse if you out-right kill the app/service all the time.
I make and take phone calls (not all day, mind you), I send and receive texts (not every minute). I do play games (Game of War a lot) and that does drain the battery, but that's going to happen on any phone. I've listen to music on my phone, especially when driving to/from work and other errands. One time, I must have logged over 2 hours on Power Amp. I wanted to see how much it drained the battery, so I kept note of where the battery was at when I started listening and where it was when I stopped listening. Over a two hour total period of listening to music, the battery drained 2%. Not bad if you ask me.
I'm just curious because right now, with this phone, I'm getting better battery life than I did with my RAZR MAXX and my RAZR HD phones. This phone I could possibly go two days before charging. After about 36 hours, I'm at 40% battery, so I could probably go another 12 hours, but when I get to 40%, that's when I start charging back up again.
I'm not trying to dispute what people are saying. I'm just curious as to what people are expecting vs. what they are getting (or perceive as getting) from this phone. Again, most of the time, we get generic statements as "battery life sucks" or "it lags". Great. Please back that up with examples because otherwise, it's all in the eye of the beholder as to what great or sucky battery life is and/or what lag is.
Just to show, im currently at 60% after 21 hours of use. That's with phone calls, playing Game of War, texting, etc. I've attached the screenshot as well.
Just comparing to my Note 3, with stock FW but apex launcher.
Battery would last in excess of a day with quite heavy use, games Internet browsing etc. BT always on auto brightness.
Apps would also open instantly or as expected.
The G3 can has a battery life of less than 4hrs with little or no use. Consumes 18-19% in 7hrs overnight.
Finding myself charging the phone at every opportunity.
I know the Note 3 didn't come with qi, but the qi on the G3 is sooo picky. 1mm off and it doesn't charge.
Using stock launcher just pressing home, first the wallpaper loads followed by the icons then the widgets. No what would be called snappy.
And OMG does it get hot!!! For no reason at all. Not playing games, just emails and Web browsing.
So now I am left wondering if the phone is faulty.
Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk
iBolski said:
I guess my question with those who see terrible battery life, what is it exactly you expect? I always here "terrible battery life", or "laggy". But no one backs it up with examples.
So, for those that are seeing poor battery life, answer these questions:
What is "poor" in your mind? Please provide a measurement such as you expect x amount of hours.
Exactly what are you using your phone for? Are you playing games for hours, shooting and/or viewing HD videos? Listenting to music?
After x hours of usage, how much battery is left after use (and whatever you were doing)?
For those with lag, answer these questions:
How are defining lag? Where are you seeing it and how are you perceiving it?
What apps do you have installed and how many?
What is the amount of storage you have left?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have both "issues".
"poor" is g3's screen-on time on 5.0 while browsing using 4g. 5-5:30 hours on latest firmwares isn't much. It was nearly 7 hours on 4.4.2... I always set brightness to 20% auto, lighting conditions are always same.
I use phone for browsing and listening to locally stored music via Bluetooth. No watching or shooting videos or playing games.
After 5 hours of 4g web browsing i am left with empty battery.
Lag:
I define lag as "animation stuttering". I am seeing it everywhere: Vkontakte, Google Play Store, while opening drawer, switching tasks, etc... It lags often, but not always.
I have 47 user apps installed, 0 additional system apps.
The only apps that keep background services or use alarms are: Aqua mail, LMT, SBH52 smart headset, Titanium backup.
There are 4 apps using GCM for push.
There are 6 accounts (Google, Shazam, Skype, VK, tutu.ru and one money app) at sync section.
And i have got 5.4 gb free out of 25 on intsd. Shouldn't slow down writing much.
A perfect setup, right? But it still lags on official firmware.
I would assume you aren't running anything like Greenify, etc. What it sounds like is there are a lot of wake locks going on. That's where Greenify comes in. I also turn off a lot of syncs as I don't need them. As you can see with my screenshot, 60% is where I was at after 21 hours so thus phone can definitely get good battery life. But, if you do a lot of stuff for hours, no phone can keep it's battery life for long. Also, with the quad hd screen this phone has, that is a big drain, but even then, I'm getting great battery life.
Another thing with going to 5.0, it's best to start fresh. Do a factory data reset and start from scratch. Going from 4.x to 5.0, especially with Lollipop, had a lot of changes underneath the hood. There are others getting better or the same battery life, but i also think it all depends on usage.
I dont know with other guys here.but i am very happy with the lg g3 forums
Sent from my LG-D855 using XDA Premium HD app
I already dumped mine at a huge loss. I would say worst phone ever, but that goes to my first Android, the Moto Backflip. Thank goodness my other phone is a M8.
Battery is kinda the only area i don't really have a problem with the phone its not the best but its not the worst
As someone has previously said i also came from a note 3 which in performance blows the G3 out of the water snappy and quick with no lag and instant app openings
Greenify shouldn't be something you should need to do to get rid of lag on a quad core 2.5ghz device with 2GB of ram
Out of the box the thing uses 88% ram considering the actual ROM itself is like 1.6gb just HOW is that possible if the entire contents of the ROM was loaded it into RAM should still only use 76%
Its a high end high spec device extremely poorly calibrated i have an old galaxy S3 that out performs it
To say im bitterly disappointed with this device is an understatement
Only thing i'm having problems with is the fact that the ram is always overload. Used titanium to remove and freeze alot of stuff but still the ram usage is about 1.3 to 1.6gb.
This is on stock rom which is very good to me with no lag and everything an launcher needs.
Battery life from the G3 is very good, on my previous phone I was affraid to leave the house if the battery wasn't filled to 100% with the G3 i left yesterday at 62% and returned from work with still 46% (off course with no heavy use) while my data is always on.
Conclusion for me after a month of use, good value for the money.
manemzjum said:
Battery is kinda the only area i don't really have a problem with the phone its not the best but its not the worst
As someone has previously said i also came from a note 3 which in performance blows the G3 out of the water snappy and quick with no lag and instant app openings
Greenify shouldn't be something you should need to do to get rid of lag on a quad core 2.5ghz device with 2GB of ram
Out of the box the thing uses 88% ram considering the actual ROM itself is like 1.6gb just HOW is that possible if the entire contents of the ROM was loaded it into RAM should still only use 76%
Its a high end high spec device extremely poorly calibrated i have an old galaxy S3 that out performs it
To say im bitterly disappointed with this device is an understatement
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Greenify isn't for lag. It's for battery life.
Again, each to his own. I think it all depends on the perception of the user and what they expect and what they've gotten in the past from other phones.
Form me, this phone blows the RAZR MAXX and RAZR HD out of the water, which is what I came from and I get great battery life (well over 36 hours) before I have to recharge. And even then, at 40%, I probably could go another 12 hours but I choose not to.
Just last night, before I went to bed, the phone was at 100%. When I woke up 6 hours later, it went down only 2%, so I had 98% battery left. I've since used it to check email, read the news, played about 45 minutes of Game of War and did some updates via Google Play and I'm at 90%. That's after 9 hours since I last charged. I'd say those are pretty darn good stats for me.
Again, mileage may vary from user to user and what they expect. And from the responses I'm seeing, that's what I'm gathering. Some are saying the phone is great, others say it's okay, and others say it's awful coming from another phone. So, that definitely shows that it's all in the eye of the beholder.
But I appreciate what everyone has posted. It does appear that some who didn't like this phone have been able to find a phone that works great for them. I always try to state why a phone works great "for me" because that's what it is. It's not necessarily going to work great for someone else, but I also don't want to steer someone towards this phone if it doesn't meet their needs, so I try to explain why and how it works for me as I'm the user of this phone, and everyone else might use it differently.
Ciao!
I don't get why a lot of people are complaining about lag and support and s*** like that.
You are getting lag probably because:
(A) You don't know how to use your phone.
(B) You picked up the 16GB model (which only has 2GB RAM
(C) You're not rooted (seriously, who doesn't root their phones nowadays)
When I got this phone, I didn't have it rooted for a month. Everything was smooth despite having a lot of apps installed. It only became a lag machine when I installed Facebook and its Messenger app.
Yes there are lags from time to time, but do iPhones not lag? Of course they do, all phones do. I don't see all you guys' point.
A good phone doesn't need any sort of custom ROM and kernel, etc etc. Mine has always been on Stock ROM and Kernel, minimal lag. iPhone-like smoothness, I must say (but plus good multitasking. iOS multitasking is s***) In fact, when I upgraded to Android 5.0, it got even better.
I have stayed stock most of the time but I always have Greenify installed, (but battery life was still great before rooting and installing Greenify)
You people are just picky.
Not sure why people are seeing 18%+ drop in battery overnight in standby mode. Must either have a lot of synching going on or a misbehaving app or two.
Me, when I'm at home, WiFi is turned on. I have minimal syncing (apps, calendar, google+, photos).
Here is a screenshot I took this morning. When I first woke up, I was down to 98% overnight (was at 100% when I went to bed at midnight and when I woke at 6:30 am, it dropped only 2%).
At the time I took this screenshot, I had already read the news, did some updates, checked emails, and played about 30 minutes of Game of War and I was down to 94%. That seems like good battery life to me.
Of course, if you really want to improve the battery life of this phone, maybe you can go to Amazon and get this upgrade for the G3:
http://www.amazon.com/Warranty-Zero...id=1411938311&sr=8-1&keywords=zerolemon+lg+g3
:silly: :laugh:

Anyone tried this app?

I guess some OUYA users tried it for games that demanded more memory, but I'm not a OUYA user.
You can probably chalk this up to boredom, but I'm intrigued by the RAM Expander app by ROEHSOFT.
So I'm wondering if anyone's tried it with AFTV? And since I haven't read about it in these forums at all I'm guessing it's either incompatible or useless, since aftv comes with 2 gb and the app says "up to 2.5 gb"
Basically I'm just curious. I've heard it could put unnecessary strain on your device. Of course if it is safe I don't see the harm in using it. I'm just not certain it'll make a noticeable difference...and it is a bit costly but they offer a trial (I think.)
Like I said. It's a slow night. I'm just looking for some info or an opinion if you have it. Thanks.
If your Fire TV is slow something is wrong. Maybe some high quality streams or videos may jitter, but the function should never be slow. I Have yet to get down lower than 680mb of ram. 2gb of ram and four cores is more than enough for any device and should never be slow.
porkenhimer said:
If your Fire TV is slow something is wrong. Maybe some high quality streams or videos may jitter, but the function should never be slow. I Have yet to get down lower than 680mb of ram. 2gb of ram and four cores is more than enough for any device and should never be slow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not slow. In fact it's very fast. But a wise man said the more ram the better (2 things there--1. I'm paraphrasing horribly
2. I'm NOT the wise man
I do read here that people oc with hard to measure results. So while it was just an--I'm bored and curious type question, I feel like other people have considered possibilities of speeding things up. I've seen some streaming boxes from China with 4 gb yet the processor, I think, was on par or a bit less powerful than aftv.
I have no need to increase ram. Only scenario I think it MIGHT help (and this is through novice eyes) is if you're using the swap data option for games or perhaps storing thumbnails on usb. Maybe you'd get quicker reads??? But I could be way off there.
You did confirm what I thought--it's not necessary, but I'm thinking more along the lines is there any benefit?
Either way. I doubt I'll test it and definitely don't want to encourage any curious novices like myself to try. It's just if someone has tried it I'd be interested in hearing about it.

About to buy a G3 but i'm a bit worried about performance.

The G3 seems great in almost every category, but I've seen a few issues in its performance that worries me a bit. I've seen some speed tests that show pretty long load times when opening apps(Mostly Chrome/youtube) and really poor background app management, needing to re-open every app instead of keeping it open in the background. I wanted to ask if those problems are common and if so, are they still happening in lollipop or in custom roms?
Also, I'm pretty low on budget, so I'm thinking about the 2GB ram version instead of the 3GB. Is the difference between the 2 versions noticable? Or will I be fine with the 2gbs?
Thanks.
PriStol said:
The G3 seems great in almost every category, but I've seen a few issues in its performance that worries me a bit. I've seen some speed tests that show pretty long load times when opening apps(Mostly Chrome/youtube) and really poor background app management, needing to re-open every app instead of keeping it open in the background. I wanted to ask if those problems are common and if so, are they still happening in lollipop or in custom roms?
Also, I'm pretty low on budget, so I'm thinking about the 2GB ram version instead of the 3GB. Is the difference between the 2 versions noticable? Or will I be fine with the 2gbs?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just recently got mine, been using it for about 3 weeks, and I have yet to have any of the issues you are describing. I have no issues loading apps, and I am using the Jasmine rom for 5.1.1, hope this helps. As for the 2gb/3gb, I have only used the 3gb, so I can't help you there.
Go for 3gb version..if you can
I got mine about 3 months ago. At first, I just could at most 2:30/3 hours SOT. Now Im using XenonHD. I get at least six hours, even 7: 30h. With some mods, tweaks and patience battery ceased to be a concern for me.
My model is the 16GB / 2GB ram. I never felt any great impact on performance when multitasking

anybody else getting serious lag and ram being used up

I know unused ram is wasted ram, but I'm constantly at 90% ram and it's causing the phone to lag and stutter to the point its unusable unless I reboot then I'm good. Just wanted to see if anybody was going through the same thing or if I have a rouge app up to something.
I've noticed that myself.. That is why I have debloated my phone without root. I have also notice the biggest user of the ram is the Android OS 1.3 Gb.
Joe199799 said:
I know unused ram is wasted ram, but I'm constantly at 90% ram and it's causing the phone to lag and stutter to the point its unusable unless I reboot then I'm good. Just wanted to see if anybody was going through the same thing or if I have a rouge app up to something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. It's a typical LG thing. Their Android mods are slick and lovely, but they're far from lightweight.
I moved from a Sony XZ1 Compact to a G7, and it is generally a significantly slower, laggier experience. With the Sony it would generally use less than 2gb of RAM at the outset. I could come back to an app a week later and it'd still be open. With this G7 I think it's rare to see it under 3gb consumption, and every time I open the camera I'm evicted most other apps from memory.
Then there's the lag! I thought a years newer flagship tech would have minimized the LG lag experience, but no.
Also no, at least for T-Mobile uS G7, no root, no AOSP and official device trees. I am made of regret, definitely never another LG, and Sony for me from here on out.
This phone has given me the least amount of issues with lag and freezes out of any phone I've had. I do a lot of gaming on here and rarely have an issue. I try to install as much as possible on my SD card, I don't know if that would make a difference with RAM usage, and I don't leave a bunch of apps running in the background.

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