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Hey guys,
I was watching a demo of this phone from the French blog Frandroid and came across some useful info about the available amount of RAM:
We know the Galaxy S has 512MB of RAM, however, being the owner of an i8000 Omnia II (only 256MB), I can tell you that there are major issues with the very low available amount of RAM the phone actually had (the people over at Modaco were fighting like crazy to bring the amount up).
- Apparently, the phone has 180MB of available RAM (the rest seems to be used by Samsung/Android and not available for apps and all that).
- The phone has 79MB of available RAM with the following apps running:
+ Email
+ Clock
+ Amazon MP3
+ Voice Recognition (from Google)
+ Browser (however I don't know if it's Web or not)
+ Social Hub
+ Video Player
+ MP3 Player
+ "Advance Task Killer Free"
I hope this helps.
Cheers,
Will
Will.1 said:
The phone has 79MB of available RAM with the following apps running
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Click to collapse
That looks pretty good to me. (I can't see what other apps i would be using with all of those running. To use GPS or read ebooks or write documents, etc I would close half of them)
Does anyone know if froyo uses more resources than eclair?
PS. I assume you mean those apps were all running simultaneously, and there was still 79MB free?
PPS. This will be my first android phone, so I hope 79MB free is pretty good. For some reason I seem to think that your post is criticizing these results, but I could be mis-reading. It is so late...
Because they are using the prototype version.
As gsmarena have stated the prototype version does only have 256 Mb while the final version will have 512 Mb
Dark Sector said:
Because they are using the prototype version.
As gsmarena have stated the prototype version does only have 256 Mb while the final version will have 512 Mb
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Click to collapse
No, the prototype had 512 meg of ram, just the software wasn't reporting it correctly
There are two things to consider here: first, with 2.1, the system can't use all of the available RAM. That will have to wait until Froyo arrives. Second, Android isn't Windows! Its Multitasking is very advanced and specifically designed for mobile devices. Even if you think all these applications are currently running, and the device does its magic to let it appear so, they don't always eat their share of RAM.
Free RAM says nothing at all on Android. Even apps that aren't currently "running" are kept in Memory when they are likely to be started again soon. What use is a large sum of unused memory? If you really need it, it will be there - at other times be glad it is put to use!
That might be true but as an i8000 owner I strongly advice everybody who want to buy that phone to what still somebody realiable got the phone and can report about the total amount of ram that is aviable to the system (OS + apps).
The I8000 only has about of 139 - 156 mb ram aviable to the system besides being sold as a 256 mb device.
TheGoD said:
That might be true but as an i8000 owner I strongly advice everybody who want to buy that phone to what still somebody realiable got the phone and can report about the total amount of ram that is aviable to the system (OS + apps).
The I8000 only has about of 139 - 156 mb ram aviable to the system besides being sold as a 256 mb device.
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Click to collapse
I think this is why the I800 was fast because "maybe" samsung came up with away to use some of the RAM space to speed up the device .
It might happen again specially while the Galaxy S looks so fast
For now let's say that Galaxy S will have 412 MB of available RAM .. still this looks too much
goood..
Just got a Samsung Vibrant.
I noticed the phone says I only have 326MB of total RAM. I thought this phone was suppose to have 512MB of RAM? Is 326MB normal or did I get an odd phone?
No that's right. It's all the kernel will allow us to use. Even with the unofficial froyo roms out, we only get 341mb.
Friends don't let friends flash drunk...
Cool. Thank you for the information.
Ravynmagi said:
Hmm... Seems strange they make Android phones with 512 and 768MB of RAM. Will the official Froyo be able to access more RAM?
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It's also strange that hard drive manufacturers advertise a "500GB" hard drive when you really only get about 465GB of actual usable space.
Same concept. Froyo may be able to utilize more RAM than Eclair but you'll never get the full "512MB"
jrizk07 said:
It's also strange that hard drive manufacturers advertise a "500GB" hard drive when you really only get about 465GB of actual usable space.
Same concept. Froyo may be able to utilize more RAM than Eclair but you'll never get the full "512MB"
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Click to collapse
I would say it is more like on your PC. You may have 4 GB installed, but when you look at it it will tell you you have only access to 3.5 GB because other hardware is using the memory, like a shared GPU etc.
jrizk07 said:
It's also strange that hard drive manufacturers advertise a "500GB" hard drive when you really only get about 465GB of actual usable space.
Same concept. Froyo may be able to utilize more RAM than Eclair but you'll never get the full "512MB"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm getting tired of people making these retarded f****ng comparisons. Hard Drive capacities go down due to formating. Also, a 1 byte file takes up the smallest allocation unit on the drive, so space is wasted there as well. Better file systems are better about it, but unless you're writing raw data to the hard drive there's no way to avoid formatting it and losing space or writing data to it and losing space due to allocation boundaries. I've never heard of anyone Formatting RAM, have you? If the smallest allocation unit on the HDD is 4KB, then a 1Byte file will really take up 4KB on the drive's FS.
RAM is totally different. If there is 512 RAM there's 512 RAM. The only time you will see less than your amount of RAM on a computer is if the computer is allocatting a certain amount of RAM for use by an integrated graphics card (or something else).
Problem with our phones is that they're set up like the latter.
We don't have 512 RAM. We never have, and we never will. We haev 340'ish and the rest is GPU RAM. You're never going to run general applications on that RAM.
Oh. I had edited my reply because I had assumed I found my answer from this...
developer.android.com/sdk/android-2.2-highlights.html
"HIGHMEM support for RAM >256MB"
I had assumed that mean the official Froyo when we got it would have 512MB available.
So I guess I misunderstood their meaning there. So the 326MB is pretty much the max my applications will have to work with on this phone?
I guess I'm puzzled because I was in T-Mobile a couple days ago and I was going back and forth between getting this Vibrant and the MyTouch 4G. The MyTouch 4G advertises 768MB of RAM, while the Vibrant advertises 512MB of RAM.
So now I'm back to my original confusion. Why would HTC put 768MB of RAM in the MyTouch 4G if Android can't even use 512MB? *confused*
Ya'll compared it to the Windows XP limitation with only seeing 3.2-ish GB of RAM. But Dell doesn't install 8GB of RAM in Windows XP computers either. I guess I could maybe understand the 512MB phones if some of the memory is going towards video. But the 768MB phone doesn't make sense then.
This is my first Android device, so I'm still trying to figure out these things. Sorry for the dumb questions.
Ravynmagi said:
Oh. I had edited my reply because I had assumed I found my answer from this...
developer.android.com/sdk/android-2.2-highlights.html
"HIGHMEM support for RAM >256MB"
I had assumed that mean the official Froyo when we got it would have 512MB available.
So I guess I misunderstood their meaning there. So the 326MB is pretty much the max my applications will have to work with on this phone?
I guess I'm puzzled because I was in T-Mobile a couple days ago and I was going back and forth between getting this Vibrant and the MyTouch 4G. The MyTouch 4G advertises 768MB of RAM, while the Vibrant advertises 512MB of RAM.
So now I'm back to my original confusion. Why would HTC put 768MB of RAM in the MyTouch 4G if Android can't even use 512MB? *confused*
Ya'll compared it to the Windows XP limitation with only seeing 3.2-ish GB of RAM. But Dell doesn't install 8GB of RAM in Windows XP computers either. I guess I could maybe understand the 512MB phones if some of the memory is going towards video. But the 768MB phone doesn't make sense then.
This is my first Android device, so I'm still trying to figure out these things. Sorry for the dumb questions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all. There are no dumb question. Second. Android uses all of the RAM. But as the phone reserves memory for hardware and other system essential services, you will only be able to use a certain amount of the memory. In this case around 345 out of the 512. The rest is put away so that the OS can run stable etc.
So for the MyTouch 4G it says that there is 768 MB installed, but you won't see all of that. The phone will reserve certain amount for it's hardware and you will never be able to free it unless you know how to change the kernel.
Hope this clears any confusion up.
Ravynmagi said:
Ya'll compared it to the Windows XP limitation with only seeing 3.2-ish GB of RAM. But Dell doesn't install 8GB of RAM in Windows XP computers either. I guess I could maybe understand the 512MB phones if some of the memory is going towards video. But the 768MB phone doesn't make sense then.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
for xp, the memory limitation is due to 32bit memory addressing. 32bits can address a theoretical 4gb, however due to also addressing gpu memory and probably some other reasons xp can't address the entire 4gb and so you see 3.xGB.
i can't really speak to android or the vibrant, but i'm guessing (like others have said) we are losing some of our ram in a share with the gpu.
I think most people are missing the issue here.
The phones are advertised as having 512 MB RAM.
When you buy a computer, and it says 512, it comes with 512 (only exception is the one I stated - integrated graphics cards sharing system RAM - but that is usually listed on the Computer Spec sheet).
So, when they get a phone and it says 512 MB RAM, they expect for there to be 512 Application-accessible RAM on the device.
HTC adds more RAM to put the user closer to the advertised specs. Most other manufacturers do not.
So users end up with 326 MB RAM wondering if they got what they paid for.
Which... they really didn't if you use you common sense, but companies will always use technicalities tand semantics o defend their decisions and/or actions.
N8ter said:
I think most people are missing the issue here.
The phones are advertised as having 512 MB RAM.
When you buy a computer, and it says 512, it comes with 512 (only exception is the one I stated - integrated graphics cards sharing system RAM - but that is usually listed on the Computer Spec sheet).
So, when they get a phone and it says 512 MB RAM, they expect for there to be 512 Application-accessible RAM on the device.
HTC adds more RAM to put the user closer to the advertised specs. Most other manufacturers do not.
So users end up with 326 MB RAM wondering if they got what they paid for.
Which... they really didn't if you use you common sense, but companies will always use technicalities tand semantics o defend their decisions and/or actions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I completely agree with you. In fact some of us in xda have discovered that sgs indeed has less than 512MB of RAM. We are still somehow trying to defend Samsung by say Galaxy TAB has more RAM (when Samsung advertise 512MB only for TAB)!
On a side note - Hard Drive capacity is measured in millions of bytes hence 500,000millionbytes
will be around 465GB only (unformated)!
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
I doubt ~170 mb is being allocated for the radio and for hardware addressing space. It's my opinion that the phone actually only comes with 384mb ram.
raduque said:
I doubt ~170 mb is being allocated for the radio and for hardware addressing space. It's my opinion that the phone actually only comes with 384mb ram.
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Click to collapse
no.
10ch
Prankey said:
I completely agree with you. In fact some of us in xda have discovered that sgs indeed has less than 512MB of RAM. We are still somehow trying to defend Samsung by say Galaxy TAB has more RAM (when Samsung advertise 512MB only for TAB)!
On a side note - Hard Drive capacity is measured in millions of bytes hence 500,000millionbytes
will be around 465GB only (unformated)!
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Many do list that but what makes the drives smaller is formatting. The raw size is what it is, but the formatted capacity is much less. You can ser this on sf cards easily. Format it as fat32 then ntfs, and the end (formatted) capacities will be different. Then play with allocation sizes as well ;p
If you have hordes of small files it can really eat inyo the space on ut hard drive, as well, since a file can only be as small as the smallest cluster size in the filesystem.
Even if they made the drive 1024mb x however many gb they say it is, that will be instantly cut fown tje minute you format a fs onto the drive. There is also space the fs reserves for system use, as well. Mft and such.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
anthonys2r said:
no.
10ch
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He's right hardware addrrssimg shouldn't need that much, and graphics in a phone shouldn't need that much either. Maybe so,eone should sue Samsumg for false advertisement and see what they say.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
anthonys2r said:
no.
10ch
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can "no." all you want, but unless you have proof to the contrary, I'm going to stick with my OPINION that the phone has 384mb.
There's no way in hell the Radio, hardware addressing space and/or GPU frame buffer use 170-180mb of the ram.
raduque said:
You can "no." all you want, but unless you have proof to the contrary, I'm going to stick with my OPINION that the phone has 384mb.
There's no way in hell the Radio, hardware addressing space and/or GPU frame buffer use 170-180mb of the ram.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree just checked and vibrant shows similar ram to htc aria, which has 384mb ram stock.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
raduque said:
You can "no." all you want, but unless you have proof to the contrary, I'm going to stick with my OPINION that the phone has 384mb.
There's no way in hell the Radio, hardware addressing space and/or GPU frame buffer use 170-180mb of the ram.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a thread in the i9k forum that details the amounts of ram reserved in the kernel source. Just about every feature on the phone has dedicated ram, weather or not it's currently in use. That plus what the kernel shows as available adds up to 512mb. It's stupid, but that's how it is. Poor and lazy software engineering, IMO. Unfortunately, doing the allocation in a sane way and having it work in android properly is very difficult without all of the source, which we will probably never have.
It's not really any better with other manufacturers. They all do it. I think they ought to be required to disclose user available ram amounts, but nobody cares what I think.
N8ter said:
I'm getting tired of people making these retarded f****ng comparisons. Hard Drive capacities go down due to formating. Also, a 1 byte file takes up the smallest allocation unit on the drive, so space is wasted there as well. Better file systems are better about it, but unless you're writing raw data to the hard drive there's no way to avoid formatting it and losing space or writing data to it and losing space due to allocation boundaries. I've never heard of anyone Formatting RAM, have you? If the smallest allocation unit on the HDD is 4KB, then a 1Byte file will really take up 4KB on the drive's FS.
RAM is totally different. If there is 512 RAM there's 512 RAM. The only time you will see less than your amount of RAM on a computer is if the computer is allocatting a certain amount of RAM for use by an integrated graphics card (or something else).
Problem with our phones is that they're set up like the latter.
We don't have 512 RAM. We never have, and we never will. We haev 340'ish and the rest is GPU RAM. You're never going to run general applications on that RAM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had 326 RAM .After installation of FROYO 2.2,my Galaxy can see only 304 RAm.Why?I expected to get more RAM with FROYO 2.2 Why did this happened?
N8ter said:
He's right hardware addrrssimg shouldn't need that much, and graphics in a phone shouldn't need that much either. Maybe so,eone should sue Samsumg for false advertisement and see what they say.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you should do it. You know, since you know exactly what you're talking about.
The Nexus S details are a little more enlightening. Keep in mind the original version might have been scrapped, so these leaked specs are subject to change:
ArmV7 CPU Open GL ES Supported
~328 MB Ram
1 GB Internal Memory
800×480 Resolution 4″ Super Amoled (2?)
Screen 720p Video Recording
T-Mobile (at least this one)
Source: androidandme.com
I really do hope these specs are wrong. I was going to buy this phone for sure. I really was. Despite how everyone has been hating it for being by Samsung and being plastic. I was still going to get it. But now? Forget it. I don’t care if it has a dual code processor and great screen. It needs to have 1 GB of RAM or 768 MB at least. This phone may be ugly but it needs to have amazing specs and no GPS problems or any lag problems. Otherwise I will stick with my nexus one.
I will believe it comes with only 328MB RAM when I see it in front of me.
I'd say its a typo.
ksc6000 said:
words...
I don’t care if it has a dual code processor and great screen. It needs to have 1 GB of RAM or 768 MB at least.
...more words...
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Click to collapse
dual core ? oh, okay dokay.
see, typos aren't targeting creatures. they can strike anyone, anytime. obviously it was meant to say 328Gb, and 1Tb on the not-here-yet S.
just wait.
The Nexus S probably only showed 328 MB FREE, if I remember correctly the GPU in the Hummingbird dedicates a ton of RAM to itself. This phone definitely needs at least 768 MB leaving 5xx MB free.
If it's 512MB (which it currently looks like), 1GB of ROM and the same Hummingbird, I'll pass. I'll just wait for CM to port 2.3 to the EVO and wait for the HTC dual cores.
id hope it doesn't have 328 mb ram
Just sounds like a Galaxy S then really.
All the people whining about lack of RAM - did you ever bother to check the amount of free RAM at any given time on Nexus One since Froyo?
Well, I guess you didn't, since Nexus doesn't go below 160MB free RAM, and you need to work hard to make it go below 200MB - which is a HUGE waste. You want to waste even more? 1GB of RAM? Really? Did you see applications that can use 1/10 of it?
328MB RAM can't come with the phone, because 99% of the time RAM comes in powers of 2, and very rarely there are 3 banks used, making the last multiplier 3 instead of 2. 328MB doesn't fit anywhere, so it's not a real number.
Jack_R1 said:
All the people whining about lack of RAM - did you ever bother to check the amount of free RAM at any given time on Nexus One since Froyo?
Well, I guess you didn't, since Nexus doesn't go below 160MB free RAM, and you need to work hard to make it go below 200MB - which is a HUGE waste. You want to waste even more? 1GB of RAM? Really? Did you see applications that can use 1/10 of it?
328MB RAM can't come with the phone, because 99% of the time RAM comes in powers of 2, and very rarely there are 3 banks used, making the last multiplier 3 instead of 2. 328MB doesn't fit anywhere, so it's not a real number.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I stated earlier, it's probably 512 MB but the GPU in the Hummingbird dedicates a huge chunk of it for itself. The Adreno 200 GPU in the Nexus One still leaves over 500 MB free -- 5xx MB vs 328 MB is a HUGE difference. So that considered, it'd be a huge step down from the Nexus One if it doesn't at least have 768 MB to even things out.
Jack_R1 said:
All the people whining about lack of RAM - did you ever bother to check the amount of free RAM at any given time on Nexus One since Froyo?
Well, I guess you didn't, since Nexus doesn't go below 160MB free RAM, and you need to work hard to make it go below 200MB - which is a HUGE waste. You want to waste even more? 1GB of RAM? Really? Did you see applications that can use 1/10 of it?
328MB RAM can't come with the phone, because 99% of the time RAM comes in powers of 2, and very rarely there are 3 banks used, making the last multiplier 3 instead of 2. 328MB doesn't fit anywhere, so it's not a real number.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Guess you have never owned a galaxy s either then which lags terribly when it's used pretty much all of its paltry sum of ram?
Trust me if this doesn't at least have double the amount of ram that this article says it has then that is a major mistake imo. Time will tell though.
512MB of RAM should be more than sufficient. Here is a quote from Dianne Hackborn, Android Framework Engineer
The Nexus One has 512MB of RAM and honestly that is really more than we know what to do with. It is great. I ended up putting some code into the
activity manager to put a hard limit on the number of processes we would
keep around, because there was so much memory we had often could keep way
more processes than was useful. That was never an issue on Droid.
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Click to collapse
From http://groups.google.com/group/android-porting/msg/d4f60db2793f23d2
bgoldie said:
512MB of RAM should be more than sufficient. Here is a quote from Dianne Hackborn, Android Framework Engineer
From http://groups.google.com/group/android-porting/msg/d4f60db2793f23d2
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Click to collapse
The Nexus != SGS/Nexus S
Again, you're forgetting about the available RAM. I just checked my EVO (very similar CPU/GPU) running CM6.1 and I was wrong about the 5xx figure, it actually has 424 MB to use. That's almost a 100 MB difference. And what if apps get more complex/heavy? Dual cores are around the corner so why not?
It sounds like a great phone but no better than my vibrant. Its the new generation of android so I would expect new gen hardware like high Res screen, 1080p and all those other great things. The vibrant has amazing hardware so the next generation will be mind blowing, to me anyway. I see no reason to move to the nexus s. I have a nexus one so ill get gingerbread and the S is not better enough to upgrade from a nexus one or vibrant. I understand that they just want a phone on which to release gingerbread but it seems a bit thrown together last minute, not a lot of effort, which is fine but I don't want to have to hear stupid things about Google phones not selling well, as if that's some sort of negative for android generally. I would expect that by now people that want a nexus one or vibrant type hardware already have it so this phone may not sell well. Plus people that know anything are going to be waiting to hear about the next stage of hardware. Definitely not worth jumping on unless you are coming from a lesser phone than the nexus or galaxy s, hardware-wise. On second thought if the GPS works like it does on the nexus one I'd seriously consider selling my vibrant for it. I'm appauled that the vibrants GPS still doesn't work, the most frustration I've experienced with android since its 2008 release is when in the middle of a navigation the screen starts spinning and doesn't regain its composure, happens literally every time. Hell now I think I'm pumped about this phone, I can stop carrying my damn nexus just for the GPS. Its no way to live.
Jack_R1 said:
328MB RAM can't come with the phone, because 99% of the time RAM comes in powers of 2, and very rarely there are 3 banks used, making the last multiplier 3 instead of 2. 328MB doesn't fit anywhere, so it's not a real number.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It could be a typo. 328 doesnt fit but 320 does. I think its going to be 512 minimum personally.
Can someone confirm the amount of RAM that is available to the user? There were rumors that only 512mb was available (leaving the other 512 for the laptop dock). However, I've also heard that around 800mb was available to the user (meaning the full gig, essentially). To easily see this, download Android System Info from the market, open it, and on the first page/tab you can see RAM (total available, etc.)....
Thanks in advance!
I, too, would like to know the answer to this. It would be pretty weak of Motorola if it only allowed 512 of it to be used.
+1.
I would like to know this as well.
Bump
It says 425M available + 172 if I'm not mistaken.
From android system info there is 818MB RAM available, but after killing all threads the free RAM is no more than 510MB
motoblur/android cant be gobbling up 512mb worth of RAM. perhaps some is allocated to webtop? i would be very dissapointed if that were the case.
Thanks guys
Mine says 818MB with 432 available.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Bit advanced task killer only shows 394 + 111
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Mine says..
Max: 818MB
Free: 280MB
Maybe it allocates 512mb for webtop and when the other 512mb (or whatever size after format) runs out it starts using the 512mb from the webtop
Jesus i hope that's not true, there has to be a way to disable that.
Hey guys, those of you with the device, go into the "tasks" tab of Android System Info.....here you should be able to see EVERYTHING that is consuming memory.....in a task killer, you likely won't be able to kill everything (and you shouldn't). For example, on my inspire, there are a lot of core processes and things that wouldnt show up in a task killer (like phone, etc.). A close look in this tab should give us a clearer picture. It does, however, appear that the full gig (essentially) is available. My inspire's ram is 768 and my max ram is 623, so the atrix seems somewhat comparable in the proportion of available ram.
I am wondering what is the deal with our HD2 (TMOUS version I have), supposedly our phones have 576mb of ram internally, but on every rom I have tried I am limiting to something much lower according to running services or quaddrant system info, I have flashed 2.15.50.14 radio which is supposed to have the 576mb of ram, from my understanding the phone shares 128mb of ram for video which leaves 448mb to use but I don't even have that according to running services. According to my phone I am using 90mb of ram and 292mb are free which is a grand total of 382mb of ram my phone has access to, where is the other ram?? I am getting really frustrated searching google and stuff trying to find answers, I know its a difference of about 64mb that I think im missing here but its the principle that our phones should have 576mb of ram and im over here getting 382 on every rom I try. Anyone have some ideas on this??
I would like to add that I just checked quadrant system information and this is what it says.
Memory:
Total: 421004 KB
Free: 172356 KB
Inactive: 46692 KB
Doesn't this mean about 50mb of ram is inactive? I don't understand the deal with that.
The missing ram is taken by the GPU.
Please reread my post completely, I think you missed something, I covered the gpu using some of the ram in my original post.
i would say those figures are 421MB total ram, 172MB out of 421MB is genuinely free, and 46MB is loaded with apps that have stopped but not been unloaded from memory.
Example, mine says
421004
80228
85188
i start a few programs and go back to quadrant, and it changes to
421004
85140
88916
As mentioned, the graphics chipset takes up 128 meg, and it grabs it before the OS has even loaded, so it never sees it, so you start with 448MB total. For some reason Android loses 25 or so MB, and so we all (tmous and regular) show total RAM as 422 or so.
As said the system and the GPU takes it. Come on do you think the guys who made linux would really be as stupid as to just leave out some ram for no one to use or for it not be used? Or any person who makes an operating system?