Database Users

What the **** is up with the ram?

On the nexus one there is about 500 mb of ram. Whenever I put my phone on and I kill all my tasks, I only have 120 mb. This is not the biggest problem because after about 30 minutes of using the phone, no matter if I kill all the apps, the ram goes to 70mb - 79mb.

Android 2.2 should fix this.
Or you can use a custom ROM such as cyanogen, with which i have over 230MB free RAM after closing apps

There are already a million and now one threads on this subject, search and you shall find all you could ever care to know about the subject.

You should be using the RAM, not freeing it. The only way you lose battery is if the Application/Widget is downloading or using the CPU/GPU. On your PC, do you go to task manager and kill apps every time?

I know it's a hard habit to kick coming from a G1 where it seemed necessary. But on a Nexus, you really don't need to. The only times I have to use it are when an application hangs.

What the **** is up with everyone not wanting the memory in their phones/computers to be used? That is what it's for! If its not being used it is going to waste.
If you guys are using task managers you have failed.

lol chillout!
People are obviously fine with it and welcome not to moan on the internet to people about not being able to use it.
Install a custom ROM if you want to dry your tears about not being able to use the extra RAM.

mets3214 said:
On the nexus one there is about 500 mb of ram. Whenever I put my phone on and I kill all my tasks, I only have 120 mb. This is not the biggest problem because after about 30 minutes of using the phone, no matter if I kill all the apps, the ram goes to 70mb - 79mb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Killing apps is 100% unnecessary on the Nexus One.
It actually wastes MORE power to kill apps and have them restart all the time, than it does to just leave them alone.
For the next week, uninstall all your task killer apps.
Then tell us how it went.

Ram goblins got to your ram, oh noes!

I'll answer his question. currently the nexus one only has half of the 512mb of RAM freed up, so you only have 256 mb right now. the next update is freeing up the other half.

RogerPodacter said:
I'll answer his question. currently the nexus one only has half of the 512mb of RAM freed up, so you only have 256 mb right now. the next update is freeing up the other half.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, you're right we didn't really directly answer his question I guess. But the point is, people shouldn't be looking at the free memory measurements anymore. Anything that isn't being used by applications will be used by the operating system for caching and other such things (this is a good thing). As soon as another applications starts up and needs that space, the kernel will give it up. Free memory doesn't use less power than memory that is in use by a sleeping process.
While you are correct that not all of the current memory of the device is addressable with the current kernel, when this limitation is removed in the next update (assuming it will be) it still wont solve the OP's problem. All it is going to mean is that even more memory will be taken up as cache space and buffers by the kernel and applications will be closed down even later so you'll still see a pretty small amount of "free" memory. If close to half of the RAM is going completely unused, then that's a lost opportunity by the kernel to cache or prefetch something.
Don't use task managers. They aren't needed and provide nothing. All they do is give fodder to the Steve Jobs' of the world that claim you need to manually micro manage memory on android devices as evidence by the number of people that use them.

Nerd rage much?

So just to clarify, apps don't really "run" in the background, they are just more readily available if they have ram dedicated to them? I'd rather not use a task manager but if it saves any of this pathetic battery I would sacrifice some performance...

DMaverick50 said:
So just to clarify, apps don't really "run" in the background, they are just more readily available if they have ram dedicated to them? I'd rather not use a task manager but if it saves any of this pathetic battery I would sacrifice some performance...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only thing task managers do is kill your battery. If you find that your phone is sluggish , doesn't respond well etc, uninstall some bad apps. Some apps aren't coded very well and remain active all the time killing your battery. Having an app checking all the time if another app is killing your battery is also killing your battery.
Bottom line: Don't use a task killer unless you find it absolutely neccesary to keep your phone running at decent speed.

DMaverick50 said:
So just to clarify, apps don't really "run" in the background, they are just more readily available if they have ram dedicated to them? I'd rather not use a task manager but if it saves any of this pathetic battery I would sacrifice some performance...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look at the link in my signature, it'll explain how the android system manages programs.

Only 180 ~ 200 MB RAM free on boot?

What's going on? even after using advanced task killer, I only have around 200MB RAM free from the 512MB
What is eating up all my RAM?
It doesn't make sense that the OS requires 300MB of RAM to run, since it runs on devices with 128MB

I know I'm not the only one seeing this
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Yeah, whats up with this????
After a reboot and letting it sit for a minute, I kill all tasks and it tells me 237Megs available....
Can the system be using all of that or something???

The os could be caching ram, maybe like windows 7 does now where it always shows low free ram even when it isn't truly in use. We need a linux or android expert to chime in.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App

Precaching photos for your contacts and their info and other photos in terms of widgets.
Droid X probably has some aggressive precaching.

Its pretty damn fast and everything runs great so i don't care too much how much it sais is free.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App

Yet it seems like nobody has thought to precache the app icons in the launcher. The launcher has always been the most lag-prone part of any android phone.

InspecterJones said:
Its pretty damn fast and everything runs great so i don't care too much how much it sais is free.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right there with ya ; )

yes this phone has 512mb of ram, but the hardware in the phone makes alot of that ram dedicated to it, hardware such as the awesome gpu! so even 200mb free! is still alot let over.

Ryan Frawley said:
Yet it seems like nobody has thought to precache the app icons in the launcher. The launcher has always been the most lag-prone part of any android phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only takes a second and they may have aimed for a limit.

I assume froyo may help with this...i hope! Im dropping down into the 50s will normal use and if i kill everything i can get back up to about 120s. there is a little lag on scrolling but ill wait for froyo. loving my first android!

I'm hovering around 75 or so, with mild auto task killing. Is this something to be concerned about? It feels relatively smooth.
EDIT: Will auto-killing tasks (useless ones) improve battery life or hurt it by wasting cpu cycles? I've heard that task killers aren't good for Android, and yet I also hear that they can improve battery life if used properly. I figure XDA will have a few people who can help answer that question

which tasks can you kill?
i wanted to know which tasks can be killed with my auto task killer without messing up anything with the phone? thanks.

Mikerrrrrrrr said:
I've heard that task killers aren't good for Android, and yet I also hear that they can improve battery life if used properly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless you're running apps that are poorly designed and behaving badly, you probably won't see any benefits from using a task killer.

Should I use Autokiller Memory Optimiser?

Hello Everyone,
I'm well aware of the damage that a task manager can do to an Android phone, as well as the changes in the Android SDK for Android 2.2 and later which makes most of the task managers on the Android Market obsolete, but one thing caught my attention, this app called Autokiller Memory Optimiser.
According to some posts I've read on some of the forums, Autokiller justs tweaks Android's minfree values so that Android can kill tasks more efficiently or something like that.
Is this true or should I steer clear of this app?
And did I post this in the right sub-forum?
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

I used a few different auto memory apps and have always found that my phone seems slower with them, uses more battery and I have less memory. So I just let android take care of me
Sent from my 'SilverBullet' HTCDesireZ running CM7

The only 'task killer type' application that I have used is Watchdog Lite.
I use it to monitor rogue applications that use excess system resources while running in the background.
It does use some system resources to do the monitoring but its nice to know when a background app is going out of control and hogging resources.

Android manages memory on its own, task killers are a waste of time. Unless you have a specific problem you need to troubleshoot with a poorly written app hogging app for no good reason (as mentioned above), I would not bother with them. Task killers waste resources, and can cause more issues then they solve.
http://lifehacker.com/5650894/android-task-killers-explained-what-they-do-and-why-you-shouldnt-use-them
Someone posted recently that a task killer was making his G2 power off randomly. He uninstalled the task killer, and the problem vanished.

The app that the op is posting about isn't a task killer. It modifies the system values/thresholds for when to kill stuff and flush memory and all that happy crap I don't really understand. I am guessing it would depend on the rom and how the dev have the values set to begin with. Just a guess tho.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA Premium App

if you have an automatic task killer in gingerbread you're an idiot.

xsteven77x said:
The app that the op is posting about isn't a task killer. It modifies the system values/thresholds for when to kill stuff and flush memory and all that happy crap I don't really understand. I am guessing it would depend on the rom and how the dev have the values set to begin with. Just a guess tho.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In addition to tweaking the system values, it includes a process/service manager, same as any other task killer.
Besides, any app that claims to improve battery life and performance by freeing up memory is immediately suspect. Having memory free affects neither in Android.

redpoint73 said:
In addition to tweaking the system values, it includes a process/service manager, same as any other task killer.
Besides, any app that claims to improve battery life and performance by freeing up memory is immediately suspect. Having memory free affects neither in Android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its not an auto task killer and its a supplemental part of the app. I used to use that app and never even looked touched or saw the taskiller part. Just saying. Its not its main use or strength and not really advertised as such!
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA Premium App

xsteven77x said:
Its not an auto task killer and its a supplemental part of the app. I used to use that app and never even looked touched or saw the taskiller part. Just saying. Its not its main use or strength and not really advertised as such!
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They don't seem to know much about the very much , it is actually quite helpful on tweaking the android's "built-in" killer. It is not a task killer, the author of the app is a member of XDA and you should check out his work. A task killer is nice too, since many apps like Camera, gallery, maps, browser, etc are not kicked out until memory is "extremely" low. The G2 has what, 300-340MB free on a clean boot? After you open a couple of apps that will go to low 200's or high 100's. You may notice a difference in performance or maybe more battery drain from those apps staying open. I've used android since the G1 and can tell you that you dont want certain intensive apps to stay alive. But, this is just my opinion, not trying to attack anyone at all.
P.S. Here's a link to the app dev
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=5861010

Ace42 said:
They don't seem to know much about the very much , it is actually quite helpful on tweaking the android's "built-in" killer. It is not a task killer, the author of the app is a member of XDA and you should check out his work. A task killer is nice too, since many apps like Camera, gallery, maps, browser, etc are not kicked out until memory is "extremely" low. The G2 has what, 300-340MB free on a clean boot? After you open a couple of apps that will go to low 200's or high 100's. You may notice a difference in performance or maybe more battery drain from those apps staying open. I've used android since the G1 and can tell you that you dont want certain intensive apps to stay alive. But, this is just my opinion, not trying to attack anyone at all.
P.S. Here's a link to the app dev
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=5861010
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't see it as an attack, your opinion is welcome. Although from what I have read (link I supplied above), Android does not benefit from having memory free, as having free memory does not improve performance and battery life.

PSA: Stop using Task Killers!

Buddy Chris says it all:

I use ATK, but only for Engadget because Engadget goes over my CPU limit thingy on watchdog.

Yup, he explains that use it for things like that

Well said!

Old news is exciting, isn't it?

There are still lots of users putting their faith in TKs. This is good advice. Hopefully more users start listening.

Lol this guy is corny. He talked too much though. No reason that should have been 7 minutes long.
I do my best to educate all my fellow Android users on the best way to manage their apps.

Um, I don't need to watch the video to know that it went too long and sucked.. he's not amusing. Having a 7 minute video for a simple subject is not cute
I have to use a task killer without touching the system ram managment settings. The phone runs out of enough free ram to run ram intensive applications. Android's free ram management system is nice, but it's not perfect. When the phone only has ~50MB free and no other applications are running, you HAVE no other options besides rebooting it or killing everything that's running in the memory. Android phones need at least 1GB of ram to keep everything running smoothly..
I can attribute a ton of lag issues to a lack of free ram.

I personally use auto killer memory optimizer or something like that. Its worked wonders for me and keeps my phone running smoothly and battery life good. I Haven't had any issues with it personally.
Sent from my Galaxy S via XDA App

I'm going to make an app called "make your phone better"
Description will only say "placebo"
Profit

Sorry I love task killers and I will continue to use them. Now I use the built in task killer from Samsung.
There are so many times my phone is starting to slow down and crash, I just go to the Task Killer and kill everything and it breathes life into my phone without having to reboot.
I'm a fan of the task killer despite what others say.

WTF with the ram

i can only open about 3-4 app before my ram is full and its forcing to closing app . seriously ? wtf is this .
i feel like this phone is worse than n95 .
if i open a web page one youtube link and i still have in memory my message app it will start closing app and sometime it even close the Touch wiz widget so they have to re appear and load for 4 second . i cant believe they only putted 1gb of ram with all there touchwiz bloarware.

Ram issues
Check what apps are running on the background, i would check primarily things you log into that are always logged in like FB, Gtalk, Skype. although even with all those running you shouldnt have issues, maybe try doing a cache and dalvik cache wipe reboot and check changes.
MY BEST FIX is rooting, flashing an AOSP based rom that normally for me they use 350 to 400mb on a normal basis instead of 550-600mb in a sammy based rom.

mine is usally 800-1g and im constantly clearing memory. I dont get it either.

1slow4G said:
mine is usally 800-1g and im constantly clearing memory. I dont get it either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
S3 has a horrible memory management.
1 gb ram ain't enough for the beast.
Launcher redraw on a Top end phone is an Epic fail.

Selina40Kyle said:
S3 has a horrible memory management.
1 gb ram ain't enough for the beast.
Launcher redraw on a Top end phone is an Epic fail.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, I just opened every app i have and went up to 1.26gb.. and when i have no apps open it jumps from 800-1gb on its own.. so i guess its all in the system that takes up most of the space

Selina40Kyle said:
S3 has a horrible memory management.
1 gb ram ain't enough for the beast.
Launcher redraw on a Top end phone is an Epic fail.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Jeez 1gb is more than enough

Problem is with the Samsung bloatware. Kies, Remote Controls and all those other services. Delete kiesexe and freeze the Samsung crap inc SVoice..
I see no need to sync to Samsung and Google. The Google services are enough.. The Samsung store is only worth unfreezing for those free offers. The four tracking services ain't needed etc I use Avast to do that etc.
Getting 285M free apx after bootup, same as ICS, on 4.1.2 now. 12 widgets, FB, G+, Fancy widgets, Jorte etc
Also make sure not to run supercharger. It kills multitasking!

Disable all the Bloatware or freeze it using link2sd.
(all share, talk back, s-voice)
Still sitting between 540mb and 630mb maximum
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app

Kojaes
My 2gb i747m really makes use of the extra ram. It not only can handle 50 background apps with stock rom as apposed to 15-20 for the 1gb version (assuming there is enough ram), but it will boot with about 1.6-1.7gb available, about 700mb used, and 1gb free, and will use memory up to about 200mb free before killing apps to make room for new apps. Bottom line, it multitasks like a S.O.B. My opinion based on 2.5 years Android experience...is that 2gb ram helps big time...especially if you do not optimize your system.
If I had the 1gb version, I would consider a lighter rom as some have mentioned, but also the V6 Supercharger app with specific settings to allow maximum multitasking while remaining stable...which might take some experimenting. I would install Titanium Backup Pro and freeze as many non needed apps to prevent them from loading at boot and using up precious ram. Also, for some apps, I use AutoRuns to prevent them from loading at boot time.
Also remember...that some apps will stay in RAM when it's plentiful. But other apps are programed to allow Android to kill them after a certain length of idle time when they haven't been used.

Ram management is fine on the S3.
If you are not happy with it use a task killer, custom rom/kernel and/or supercharger v6 script.
Also if your ram<100 then you should start making complaints.
My free ram is at 120mb-160mb and i'm happy,no lags,no slowdowns,nothing at all.
Android preloads apps in memmory in order to open faster when we launch them.
Free ram really is wasted ram...it cancels multitasking and if you've bough a 600$ phone and can't multitask with it then you're worth of your fate.

nfsmw_gr said:
Ram management is fine on the S3.
If you are not happy with it use a task killer, custom rom/kernel and/or supercharger v6 script.
Also if your ram<100 then you should start making complaints.
My free ram is at 120mb-160mb and i'm happy,no lags,no slowdowns,nothing at all.
Android preloads apps in memmory in order to open faster when we launch them.
Free ram really is wasted ram...it cancels multitasking and if you've bough a 600$ phone and can't multitask with it then you're worth of your fate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The fact that an user has to get task killer and manage memory by him own: FAIL!
I know android pre loads stuff in memory, but it got the priority all wrong.
Why does it keep killing msging, phone and the GODDAMN launcher .
While it never kils the stupid stuff like "Google Book mark Sync", unless you freeze it.
There's no denying that 1gb has crippled S3 badly.
You can claim "Free ram is wasted ram" and throw down links, but at the end of the day it is giving me a bad experience.
Case in point:
1) Launcher Redraw:
Two points to it:
->Bad priority (I'm not sure if it's either a Samsung fault or Android; OOM 6 isn't the way to go).
-> Less ram.
The fact that browsing through play store for 15 mins and then hitting Home button results in launcher redraw is pathetic.
Less ram is the culprit( atleast one of the).
On such an expensive device this is just EPIC FAIL.
Sure we can do Super recharge and try removing the bloatware, but these are quick fixes and doesn't get rid of the main problem.
Not to mention not every one finds all this stuff easy.
The fact that you have to do tweaking on the 'supposedly greatest android phone' to make it work smoothly is an EPIC FAIL.
Custom Roms for an device as expensive as S3, should be there to enhance functionality and increase features. Not to make it works the way it should have out of the box.
2) Sh**ty Multitasking:
Trust me, my iPod touch does better multi tasking that S3 for day to day experience. (I am not an apple troll, btw)
And it doesn't even have a true multitasking and the specs are no where near S3.
When I pause a game, and resume it after an hour it starts from exactly same place . Try that with S3.
Try to use your phone when many apps are getting updated and notification bar is constantly changing.
It'll lag the hell out.
There's no defending to these points.
This is where Apple excels , by giving user everything perfect from out of the box.
Sure you can't do much, but what ever you can, you do it smoothly.
What makes me sad is that Samsung is so close to it, yet they screwed the experience.
And I'm not even going to talk about Contacts and Phone apps.

nfsmw_gr said:
Ram management is fine on the S3.
If you are not happy with it use a task killer, custom rom/kernel and/or supercharger v6 script.
Also if your ram<100 then you should start making complaints.
My free ram is at 120mb-160mb and i'm happy,no lags,no slowdowns,nothing at all.
Android preloads apps in memmory in order to open faster when we launch them.
Free ram really is wasted ram...it cancels multitasking and if you've bough a 600$ phone and can't multitask with it then you're worth of your fate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry but this is complete and utter drivel. Stop quoting websites and Google and start wising up.
If you have a game that needs to run and it uses 100mb and the phone has no free ram it kills something else.
This would be fine if the phone loaded the apps quickly but it doesn't.
Custom ROMs do not fix the lack of ram and neither do any of the memory management scripts.
My phone has around 200mb to 300mb though and it still loads and reloads phone and messaging and browser randomly.
Sgs3 is useless at memory management and anyone who says otherwise is living in a dreamland.
No lags and slowdowns is just blatantly not true as your messaging app and phone app will frequently take up to two seconds to load if you are using any Samsung ROM.

biffsmash said:
Sorry but this is complete and utter drivel. Stop quoting websites and Google and start wising up.
If you have a game that needs to run and it uses 100mb and the phone has no free ram it kills something else.
This would be fine if the phone loaded the apps quickly but it doesn't.
Custom ROMs do not fix the lack of ram and neither do any of the memory management scripts.
My phone has around 200mb to 300mb though and it still loads and reloads phone and messaging and browser randomly.
Sgs3 is useless at memory management and anyone who says otherwise is living in a dreamland.
No lags and slowdowns is just blatantly not true as your messaging app and phone app will frequently take up to two seconds to load if you are using any Samsung ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True that.
I have no idea what is stored for 500-600Mb ram if not the important things like Phone, Msg and Launcher.
Useless stuff.

It is just marketing and business politics, Samsung knew that 1GB is not at all future proof but that is exactly what they need so they can sell the Note 2 and the i9305.
And still they sold over 30M i9300 devices.
eggman89 said:
True that.
I have no idea what is stored for 500-600Mb ram if not the important things like Phone, Msg and Launcher.
Useless stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man, Android loads that stuff itself based on usage, OOM settings and Minfree values. The other stuff is services that need to run full time so that Kies sync, Location and other Samsung bloat that is really not doing anything most of the time.

Ya I know.
I wonder how can the most important thing, launcher, has an OOM of 6.
Stupid really.
Is it a fault of Android or Samsung messed it up.
In all the galaxy nexus videos I've never seen launcher redraws.
So maybe Samsung messed up for whatever reason.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3

"Free ram is wasted ram"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that remark has been misused greatly by people that can't code for ass and fail at memory optimisation.
It was originally in reference to the Superfetch feature in Vista/7 storing frequently accessed data in ram for faster application startup. It wasn't meant to be applied to applications that use huge amounts of memory for no good reason.
much of Androids poor memory management is Java related, who knows, maybe Google will get a clue and dump the Dalvik VM eventually for a native operating system.

Use aokp or cm 10
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

Diaze said:
Use aokp or cm 10
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For many of us, camera is an important thing.

aakarani said:
Disable all the Bloatware or freeze it using link2sd.
(all share, talk back, s-voice)
Still sitting between 540mb and 630mb maximum
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it in the app store ?
Is there any way to freeze samsung permanently without root ?
does link2sd need root to work ?
is advance task killer enough to kill all samsung bloatware ?

Kojaes said:
Is it in the app store ?
Is there any way to freeze samsung permanently without root ?
does link2sd need root to work ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Yes.
2) Yes. You can go to "manage apps", select the applications. There will be an option called "Disable". No need for any app.
3) See above