[Q] What takes up so much RAM? - Huawei Ideos X5 U8800

Hi,
i just bought an Ideos x5 and it's great.
I've loaded most of the usuall stuff including task manager.
Now i found that on average my free memory when i'm not using so much apps is around 180(that's how much free RAM i have).
Is this normal..i mean...the thing says it has 512 mb of RAM.
Sorry for beeing a noob..
Van

its said 128MB go to the GPU, 32MB are used by android system, which leaves about 352MB (353MB as shown in Elixir) for application use..
and then those google apps (Maps, Search, Market, etc.) all take up RAM in the background, plus other background apps you have installed and widgets you have enabled..
on average i usually have around 80-120MB free RAM left.. and since android 2.2 is said to have a good task manager which frees up the RAM when needed, i dont think its a place to worry about..

As iamelton said, Android's in-built task managing system does a good job of managing what apps are using the processor, memory and battery. Task manager apps don't really do all that much useful, and can sometimes be counterproductive if you're trying to use them to save battery. Lifehacker has a really great article on this called Android Task Killers Explained: What They Do and Why You Shouldn’t Use Them (I can't link because I don't have enough posts, but the article's a search away and is really worth reading). It runs through why it's generally best to avoid task manager/killer apps, plus it also explains how Android uses RAM - in a similar way to Windows Vista/7 (basically to speed up launching or re-opening apps).
It's probably worth noting that Android already has a function to force stop apps. If you go to Settings > About phone > Battery use, you'll get a list of what's been using the battery since it was last unplugged. Some widgets like Switch Pro have shortcuts to Battery use. It's useful if you've got Maps or a launcher or a rogue app sucking up battery in the background. As a rough idea, you may have an issue if anything not a system process is using more than 10%.
If you do need to force close an app, Battery use is generally the best way to go about it.

thx to cyvros for ur mentioning of the good article..
http://lifehacker.com/5650894/andro...ed-what-they-do-and-why-you-shouldnt-use-them
its a good read indeed, and for this topics discussion, i think the following paragraph gives a very good view on androids ram usage:
The problem is that Android uses RAM differently than, say, Windows. On Android, having your RAM nearly full is a good thing. It means that when you relaunch an app you've previously opened, the app launches quickly and returns to its previous state. So while Android actually uses RAM efficiently, most users see that their RAM is full and assume that's what's slowing down their phone. In reality, your CPU—which is only used by apps that are actually active—is almost always the bottleneck.
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Related

Any suggestions for a good task manager?

Hello, all. I am currently running the free version of Advanced Task Killer, which seems to work ok, but there has to be something better. What I've noticed is, that after a reboot, the app will tell me that I have about 240 MB of available memory when all apps are closed with the exception of the task killer itself.
However, by the end of the day, after I've opened and closed a few apps, sent some messages and emails, made some calls, etc, the task manager will show significantly less available memory available. It could drop to as low as 135 MB with all apps closed with the exception of the task killer.
This leads to me to believe one of two things:
a) The Task Killer is full of it and it does not have an accurate read of how much memory is actually available.
b) The Task Killer is only able to "kill" certain tasks while others remain running in the background and it does not show that the app(s) are actually running.
Honestly, I think it is option B, because I do notice that when the app tells me that I have less than normal available memory, the phone does tend to function slower and lag a bit. Nothing that cannot be fixed by a powering it off and on, but I am hoping that someone knows of a good app (even if it is a paid app) that will actually bring up ALL tasks running and kill them. I've also noticed that even with this task killer, Google Talk (which I have never used) always remains open in my phone and I have to manually go into into the settings and turn that off.
Any suggestions?
My suggestion is to not use one.
I do use Autokiller though which tweaks the thresholds for Android's internal "task killer".
It's best to let Android do it's thing.
Tikerz said:
My suggestion is to not use one.
I do use Autokiller though which tweaks the thresholds for Android's internal "task killer".
It's best to let Android do it's thing.
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Really? Do you mind elaborating on why you feel that way a bit so I can understand? Because I do notice that when the I am running a bunch of things at once and I use this app to kill the tasks, it does improve the performance of the phone.
I can understand why some people say you don't need one but I do think it is necessary to have it installed for when you do. I'd rather kill apps than pop the case, battery cover and battery to fix a frozen phone.
I have some GPS apps I run occasionally that after exiting them they don't turn off the GPS or lock the GPS on and drain my battery. So for those apps where the developer didn't put a close buton on the menu it helps shut them down. I don't know why Google Market doesn't require apps to have a close option.
get OS MONITOR from the market
PAPutzback said:
I don't know why Google Market doesn't require apps to have a close option.
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Because users shouldn't have to manage their own memory. Apple folks already love laughing at us for that very reason, and even though it pains me to say it they're absolutely correct.
I can certainly buy the argument that task killers are nice for those occasions when something does go haywire and it needs to be forcibly killed, and I can understand using one just because you're curious and want to see what's running and how much memory you have, etc, but beyond that I find that they're unnecessary. My EVO runs very smoothly without me manually intervening, even after many days of uptime with many apps running.
GHOST99K said:
get OS MONITOR from the market
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Wow! That's detailed and a lot more than I bargained for....lol. Thanks! Good thing my phone is rooted and I was able to use it since I never did the recent update to the 1.47.xx OTA update and I'm waiting for a fully functional version to be released, but there is a lot of stuff on this that goes well beyond my basic knowledge. Apparently, my phone has 89 processes running with no apps running (according to Task Killer) and only one widget running and the CPU is fluctuating at 10-40% usage.
Interestingly enough, but apps report the same amount of available memory......EXACTLY the same. So it can be assumed that both apps provide an accurate figure of available memory.
I would advise against using a Task killer. Android has its own memory management, which works extremely well on the EVO, to be honest. The latest update (1.47) feels like its makes the EVO perform much better and allows it to be more efficient.
If anything, I would suggest you read this thread about an app called Autostarts, which isn't a task killer, rather a startup manager that can be tweaked to do many different things. By not allowing certain things to start up when your phone boots, you'll have more memory to begin with and Android will be more efficient in memory management. I would try Autostarts before using a task killer.
Hope that helps.
eagle63 said:
Because users shouldn't have to manage their own memory. Apple folks already love laughing at us for that very reason, and even though it pains me to say it they're absolutely correct.
I can certainly buy the argument that task killers are nice for those occasions when something does go haywire and it needs to be forcibly killed, and I can understand using one just because you're curious and want to see what's running and how much memory you have, etc, but beyond that I find that they're unnecessary. My EVO runs very smoothly without me manually intervening, even after many days of uptime with many apps running.
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I agree, but having to run a task killer is a small price to pay to not be part of the iPhone bandwagon crew, IMO.
Are you running a custom rom on your phone? I just have a rooted stock rom. Maybe that's why your phone can go days without the performance being affected? I still have all the bloatware on mine, and I've put off removing it because I am still a noob at this and I'm in the learning process. I wonder if the new update that was just released improves this aspect of the phone at all.....?
pseudoremora said:
I would advise against using a Task killer. Android has its own memory management, which works extremely well on the EVO, to be honest. The latest update (1.47) feels like its makes the EVO perform much better and allow it to be more efficient.
If anything, I would suggest you read this thread about an app called Autostarts, which isn't a task killer, rather a startup manager that can be tweaked to do many different things. By not allowing certain things to start up when your phone boots, you'll have more memory to begin with and Android will be more efficient in memory management. I would try Autostarts before using a task killer.
Hope that helps.
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Thanks, I will definitely look into it. All advise is appreciated as I am very new to all of this. You answered my last question on my previous post with this, too.... I can't wait for a fully functional rooted OEM rom to be released with the goodies from the new update to try it out. I'm hesitant to update my phone now and lose superuser as I use the WiFi tether a lot.

Accounts & Sync and RAM

I noticed something funny while setting up my wildfire.I found out that disabling the automatic sync for all accounts (except the weather) from the accounts & sync menu frees a lot of ram and makes the phone run very smooth and fast.I have now 150mb of ram free (instead of 60mb i had before disabling the account syncing).This is how the accounts & sync menu looks like now in my phone.
I only sync Facebook&gmail
Actually, I've read on Lifehacker in an article about why task killers are not so good for Android , that having lots of free RAM doesn't help that much.
I don't have a link to the article right now but basically it explains that Android knows very well how to handle applications and free up RAM all by itself and that actually closing applications when you know for sure that they will pop up again is not such a good ideea. Because applications, when closing or starting, use more CPU cycles than when they stay open (somewhat in a suspended state in the RAM) and that leads to faster draining speed of your battery.
I sync everything manually (only the weather is auto) anyway so i dont have a problem.I use task killer only for certain apps (like games,opera,).Every system app (and apps like friends stream,news,email,messages ect.) is ignored by the task killer.
I heard about that thing with the free ram too.
First it seems very stupid why much free RAM could me bad, but then I just tried some things myself.
On my Kaiser I'm running a vanilla Android 2.1 (Polymod) and 1min after startup I have only 5mb of free RAM, but anyways I can use the phone for days and doesn't even recognize that it is nearly out of RAM it runs nearly as good and fast as the Wildfire, the only thing you can recognize are the 100MHZ less CPUspeed.
So if you think about that maybe 60mb of free RAM are as good as 160 and also as good as 6. (That would fit the things the normal Linux kernel shows us too)
Maybe someone who knows more about Dalvik VM and how the Android patched kernel handels the RAM should confirm or deny this, but I think that the idea that the amount of free RAM doesn't really matters should be right.
The fact that more ram is available means that some services do not execute.That could mean that the processor handles less processes,so the phone is more responsive.My point is that all the syncing processes seem to slow down the phone.Or is it just my idea?
I 'm using the Ruu 1.37 rom.

Alternatives To Task/App/Ram Killers????

Many people say it's harmful using app killers, especially on android as it may interfere with important system resources or close important system files and can do harmful damage in the longrun such as errors, things not working, etc...
When you open various programs such as file manager, picture gallery, etc you then see a list of all running programs in system/task manager.
Many of these running programs are ones you have recently used and are draining ram/cpu/battery.
Is there not ANY safe app to use that will ONLY close apps that YOU have used?
There must be some app out there that closes/kills open apps, not system or phone apps but only the ones you have installed and used?
This could be a ram killer or maybe a simple app which is not dangerous and will safely close running apps not needed.
Looking forwards to seeing what others recommend.
Thanks in advance guys,,,
kanej2006 said:
There must be some app out there that closes/kills open apps
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yes, there are, but android just restarts them after they have been closed (froyo only)
panyan said:
yes, there are, but android just restarts them after they have been closed (froyo only)
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Names please of a good app that kills ONLY programs you open, not system files.
What if I was to install an appkiller, but instead of having it on autokill, I was to manually click apps I opened and kill them?
Surely this way there is no danger as I'm only closing selected apps, not system files?
kanej2006 said:
Names please of a good app that kills ONLY programs you open, not system files.
What if I was to install an appkiller, but instead of having it on autokill, I was to manually click apps I opened and kill them?
Surely this way there is no danger as I'm only closing selected apps, not system files?
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The point is, even after killing your own apps, most of the time froyo will restart them
I very much like ES' offerings - ES File Explorer and ES Task Manager. They're both free, give em a birl.
You can install Advanced Task Killer (free) and there you can perfectly select which apps to close and which not... still I rarely use it
for example your homescreen widgets are always unchecked when killing tasks, so unless you check them, they won't be killed...
Hmmm, ok.
What is the BEST way to preserve & save battery/cpu & free up as much ram as possible without harming/interfering with the phone??
When I used to use the task killer app it would consistently give me around 400-424mb free ram.
Without the app killer I would only have around 100mb of free ram since all the programs are running in the backround.
So to all you experts out there, what can I do or what options do I have in which I can safely free up as much ram as possible and safely close running apps not needed when not using the phone?
I just want the best and most effective way to make my battery last longer.
I'm having to charge my phone every day, it struggles to get through the day even when hardly used.
Looking forwards to hearing some expert opinions based on the above.
kanej2006 said:
I'm having to charge my phone every day, it struggles to get through the day even when hardly used.
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There's definitely a problem there but you're not going to find it chasing free ram. I have approx 20Mb free ram at the moment, the phone hasn't been rebooted for at least a week but I'm easily getting through 2 days with light use. Task killers / app killers are not the answer, (in froyo at least) free ram is wasted ram.
The programs that are 'running' in the background are not actually using CPU resources unless they have a service running (see the eBay app/service for an example). Your best bet is to check the running services (settings/applications/running services) and battery usage to work out what process is hogging the CPU time. Also check your sync settings, though I'd imagine you've already tried that.
christonabike said:
There's definitely a problem there but you're not going to find it chasing free ram. I have approx 20Mb free ram at the moment, the phone hasn't been rebooted for at least a week but I'm easily getting through 2 days with light use. Task killers / app killers are not the answer, (in froyo at least) free ram is wasted ram.
The programs that are 'running' in the background are not actually using CPU resources unless they have a service running (see the eBay app/service for an example). Your best bet is to check the running services (settings/applications/running services) and battery usage to work out what process is hogging the CPU time. Also check your sync settings, though I'd imagine you've already tried that.
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Maybe it's the anipet fish aquarium live screensaver...
Systempanel is good, I use it to stop a bad app thats using to much memory..you should never kill your apps with froyo, the OS wasn't designed like that, thats the whole point of Android, it looks after the apps perfectly well by itself, systempanel is just there as a....just in case method.
Saving battery power is a common misconception, Task killers actually get in the way of Android handling memory management as intended.....a pointless app to have with 2.2 which actually drains you battery quicker.
The LCD screen is the biggest drain on battery power, turning the brightness down, stop using a live wallpaper, turn off wifi, bluetooth, GPS ect....
With all that said the 1250mah battery is just not powerful enough to run this device period...but then most of us knew this before we bought the phone..we needed a 2000mah battery really, its just a lipo battery and can be easily increased, maybe next year we will see an improvement in the new smartphones.
kanej2006 said:
Maybe it's the anipet fish aquarium live screensaver...
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I hope you're joking
Black1982 said:
I hope you're joking
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LOL, well some people do say that live wallpaper kills battery...

RAM and Task Manager/Killers explained!

This article was posted on Android Central and should be mandatory reading for everyone in these forums:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/andr...hat-it-how-its-used-and-why-you-shouldnt-care
Good read, reminds me of how XP's memory handleing is compared to Vista/7's system.
Basic jist:
XP: System asks for very little: Task manager shows only ~100mb used on a very slim system
Vista/7: System uses ~40% of available memory if it's free, surrenders it back as programs are loaded that need it. Task manager shows ~2gb used on a slim system (assuming 4gb total rom)
What's it look like? Vista/7 uses 2gb vs XP uses 100mb.
What it does: Not much difference really, Vista/7 is just as stable with ram intensive apps (example: a virtual machine asking for 3gb ram on a 4gb system) both on XP and Vista/7 it will run and not bog the system down (from a ram perspective, we're completely ignoring cpu usage).
It's reasonably similar in android: recently loaded apps stay resident in memory, if the foreground app needs more ram android will unload older apps that arnt running. If you wanna run an app unloaded from memory, android has to reload it from storage.
If you task-kill everything immediately, android will ALWAYS have to reload from memory. The only exception is if the app didnt behave well in the first place (like auto-loading with a memory heavy service), if that's the case you're just as well off complaining to the dev because he/she needs to fix it anyway.
Though with the streak stageui is a pretty good example of this, widgets pretty much always stay loaded as they're widgets. Most of them use background services to update themselves and they're rather cpu/ram intensive.
You could task-kill them, but the right thing would be to freeze/completely remove them if you dont use them.
Thanks for sharing
I repair cell phones for a living and I notice carriers puting task killer on peoples phones....this is a phone killer some important processes get killed and I've had customers complain about phones not rotating right cause of thus also it causes alot of phone freezes and other problems cause of this....if u haveba task killer get rid of it and you will notice the difference..
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very useful.
personally never used task killers and the like , coming from the old school just dont feel at ease with applications doing things

Ram always over 600mb...

My note's ram is always above 600 mb. ...pls help
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I always use back button to close apps. Clicking home button will not close apps but minimized. More apps opened equal more RAM used.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk
Totally normal. Apps are loaded into RAM so when you want to open an app it loads faster. That's how Android works.
My advice is to not go on a killing spree and kill every app that's running. This will make your device slower and it'll use more battery since it has to use more power to load the apps again and again - and again.
If you want to free up some RAM you can do this:
- Switch launcher. TouchWiz is a resource hog, and you'll gain some RAM if you switch to another launcher like ADW, GO Launcher or LauncherPro
- Freeze/Delete system apps that you don't use/want. If you're not using SocialHub, Reader and Swipe, there's no reason having them. Freeze them and they won't use RAM.
- Flash a custom ROM. You can flash a custom ROM if you want. Your device will be faster and use less battery. Some ROMs has been stripped for "bloatware" like SocialHub etc. so they're fast "out of the box".
I'm currently running ROMOW ROM with ADW EX (and i've frozen a lot of system apps), and my Note is only using around 250MB on boot.
What's the problem with that? You have 800 MB for OS and applications, it's meant to be used. Applications loaded, compiled and the code is stored in RAM, the more RAM you have the more apps you can keep open. With less RAM (like my previous phone, Galaxy S, which had only 330 MB available), the apps have to be unloaded from RAM when you open a new one, so the CPU works more, loading apps again and again.
The RAM contains compiled apps and cached data, to make access faster and save battery, it's good that it's used. Android manages the RAM itself, if you launch an app that needs RAM, it will make room for it, discarding the least used pages. You don't need to take care of this yourself.
In the Samsung system administrator there's a button to clear RAM, press it and it will unload even the touchwiz interface, you'll end up with 400 MB used, but it will increase soon, as apps are opened.
The issue is that when you run a high resource game, have a few web pages open or use google earth then the device closes down touchwiz to free up memory so you may find your homescreen empty or on other occassions android closes the internet application if you switch to another program even briefly so multitasking is poor on the Note.
Its absolutely true,RAM management is implemented very badly on the GNote.Even my HD2 has much much better RAM management with its mere 480MB.
However since this is my first Android device I am not quite sure if this is a Samsung thing or an OS inconvenience.
On my HD2 I could keep multiple web pages open for latter offline reading when internet access is not available and it would keep it in memory even though many services would still be running.
Unfortunately its not the same with my Note,it just rushes to close apps on the first occasion.
Say what you may but being a long time PDA user I found that the old shot-in-the-head by its very same creator the Windows Mobile is the best multitusker I have ever used despite the fact that on those days the RAM was just minimal.
High RAM usage is due to the high number of pixels that need RAM & processing to drive them.
On my old stock rom (KKA) I had the same....usually over 600Mb used.
A few days ago I flashed the latest LA4 stock rom. And what a big improvement that was. Smoother, 2 days on a battery with moderate use. And about 420MB ram used on average. A very big improvement.
I think it would be better if we know which version you have.
So you could upgrade to a newer version or just flash a custom rom.
most of the customroms are better than the stockrom
airwater9 said:
High RAM usage is due to the high number of pixels that need RAM & processing to drive them.
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Yup, that's also correct.

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