Database Info

Memory Leaks

Do you know some tool that can be ran sporadically, able to perform some sort of garbage collection, in order to minimize the memory leaks of WM05 and other apps?

The latest version of memaid has a feature called "Reclaim RAM", but from what I read its practically useless.
Still, you can't know till you try.

it's not true memory leaks the system know where the ram is and which minimized process is using it
and will reclaim it if another process is started which need more ram

Excuse me Rudegar, but did I understand you correctly:
There is no such thing as memory leaks no WM5?
If that's what you meant than I am sorry, but you are very wrong. No windows system up to date has automatic garbage collection, and if a programmer is not careful, I is easy to "full" the system in to thinking the app still needs some memory after it exited.
The lousiest example I encountered is the comm manager on the Jamin (see my ROM version in sig). It leaves about 1mb more after I close it (from setting->system->memory) than when it started. Also it refuses to fully close when I click 'exit' and I suspect the two problems are related.

of cause i'm not saying there is no such thing as mem leaks
on any os or 3th party applications
what i say is that ppl should not confuse it with the way that pocketpc's always minimized applications rather then close them so they start faster if the user want to start using that application once more

sktools, Pocket Mechanic, memmaid have Ram cleaning tools, Not sure if or how they work.
Both have trial downloads of handango.

http://www.oxios.com/memory/
read about this one not sure if it's any good but it's free

[Idea]add memory to myTouch

Originally, a2sd was developed to allow installation of many apps on G1 as G1 has limited memory. The MT3G has more internal memory so it does not need a2sd.
My question is if we can enable a2sd on a MT3G and than use the additional memory for the system. This can improve performance so much ....
Is this possible? I'm a dev, but not on this kind of platform . I know shell scripting, Unix, C so I can help if needed, but don't know how to approach this thing.
Thx.

mr.tenuki said:
Originally, a2sd was developed to allow installation of many apps on G1 as G1 has limited memory. The MT3G has more internal memory so it does not need a2sd.
My question is if we can enable a2sd on a MT3G and than use the additional memory for the system. This can improve performance so much ....
Is this possible? I'm a dev, but not on this kind of platform . I know shell scripting, Unix, C so I can help if needed, but don't know how to approach this thing.
Thx.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It depends. Now if you have a 32a board, this is pointless. Unless you have 300+apps installed it will not hurt performance.
I sugest App killer to kill off unused apps that never shut down, it helps so much/
Me really dont need Apsd for mytouch, especially the new 32a boards. Running from the sd card slows everythign down. To improve your performance..
1. Get CPU overclosk from market, set lowest to 386, high to 528 screen on, screen off 256/256.
2. Download swapper, set to size of yoru swap partition etc...
3. Get any free app killer ( ifully suggest Anvanced task killer) and every hour or so, go in and ignore what u use all the time, and kill everything else.
Also, get Cachemate from market or Clean up. this clears out all the garbage.
Doing this, on a good day, my battery lasts 17 hours with data going. and My Live wallpapers never lag

Hi,
Thanks - I already have all that set up. I was thinking on a MOD that will allow improvement of performance in a different way.
My Idea is to actually use the memory that becomes available under /data as we move the app to SD to be used by /system partition. Maybe we can also do a "reverse RAM hack" and increase the 3D RAM.
Again, as I'm not very familiar with the Linux system I don't know how exactly this should be done, or if it can be done at all.
Thanks for the reply though

storage memory in the phone is different then addressable ram.. therefore what your saying is not possible...if you really want something like this set up a swap partition on your sd card.
also task killers are not needed for android... its been well documented here and on other forums as android handles processes much differently than your standard windows box (so no need to have the mindset that background apps are slowing down your system). android itself does an excellent job of managing memory and kills tasks itself when more mem is needed. i used to run ATK myself, and found after removing it my phone actually ran better than killing processes all the time.
your likely just having a placebo affect if you think it speeds up your phone.. however killing process can increase battery life.. albeit only slightly...try it yourself and you will see what im talking about..
regarding task killers, just google it and you will see what im saying...
edit: most roms have cpu scaling in them, if you want an app i find set cpu to be the best, followed by overclock widget...
edit2: forgot to mention autostarts . a great program to edit which programs start up upon boot .. if your still worried about having things running in the background...

I was trying to get a swapfile on /Data (being a lot faster than sdcard, probably), but It didn't work :/

Lets Talk Memory

Been reading through searchs on threads re: memory, and found a few, but not a lot.
How much memory?
First I'd like to get to an understanding of what I see with the memory tool and what the device is supposed to have: Specs I've read say the Captivate comes wiht 512MB of memroy. And of course with Android 2.1, they say it will only recognze 256.
Now, I just installed Memory Usage, and it reports this:
When I first boot up, and run it to check memory, I get these readings:
Total: 325MB Avail: 103MB
Active: 116MG Inactive: 141MB​
And it seems to vary from boot to boot.
I don't understand what I'm seeing in those readings. I presume the 325 is the total memory that is referenced when we say the memory is 512, but 256 availble. So why am I seeing 325?
Apps, Task Killers, et al
Moving on to a controversial topic. I have experimented with this a bit, and read quite a few posts with varying opinions on the topic. In general a person can say who knows who is right. But, it would seem that the information from a Google Resource talking on the subject officially in an interview, that we should assume they are right.
What did they say? (Sorry, I don't remember where the article was): Don't need task killers. Talked a lot about how memory is handled by Android.
During reading all that I installed one, and it seemed that what I was experiencing was the opposite like many others: memory shrinking; kill some tasks; turn on auto killer, and memory stayed considerably higher.
But after installing Juicedefender (per this interesting thread ) and messing with a bunch of more stuff I was starting to have freezes, lags, etc. (We've all heard that before). But then I somewhat am expecting to ultimately have to hard reset after doing all my experimentation.
But, after having someone in that thread say they weren't having much help from teh Auto killer, told me to remove it and see how it goes. I was thinking that my work in Juicedefender was causing my locks. When I did the things per that thread, my free memory jumped to 141, and later 151.
So, when its all said and done, I find the memory to not be consistent from one boot to the next. I find that sometimes there is a long list of apps that load at boot. I don't understand why some of the apps load at boot. I see Vlingo Voice in memory twice; I see Tapatalk Pro loaded. Earlier I saw several more.
This is long enough for one post. Curious what others have to think.

I use ATK to kill apps once i'm done with them.
when ever I'm done with an app i usually do this (ocd) and I keep my memory up near 190mb.
people can say what they will it all depends on your phone's real world usage. I saw a benefit. but lets not forget, even 2.1 has a stock task killer. so it's not like you have to get a specific app

from what I understand, 512mb is installed, but only 315 is accessible with 2.1 Eclair. when 2.2 Froyo is released then it will be able to access the full amount of memory.

Now, all I can say is that if I don't use Auto Killer, the memory keeps getting smaller and smaller and the phone gets to where it won't work. And with Auto Killer, I still ultimately need to do the same thing. I don't know what to think about this.
Another strange thing: when I first reboot it, and go in and look at what is loaded with Auto Killer, its a long list of programs.
Any idea whats up with that?

the way I understand it is that android tries to keep at least 90mb buffer between how much memory your using, and your max. then when you go into the 90mb it runs a garbage collector or starts dumping multitasked apps or something
then again it might only be doing that for apps and not processes
maybe someone with more knowledge can confirm/correct me?

Memory leaks?

My Cappy starts with about 165mb of free RAM, but it quickly goes away as I use apps. I have Task Killer installed and set to kill apps every 30 minutes, but once I get down to about 90mb of RAM it is impossible to get anywhere near what I boot with free. I'm used to memory leakage on my WinMo phones, but this is way worse. I had CleanRAM on my Tilt 2 (from XDA) and it worked pretty good and allows scheduling. Is there a similar app for Android?

I'd get rid of Task Killer, you don't need it.

its not leaking memory...it handles memory differently than windows of yore....stop fretting about how much memory you have available and just reboot your phone once every few days....thats not needed, but if it makes you feel better to look at useless numbers...

Yeah you need to stop looking at this as either a windows pc or an old device (think g1). Get rid of the task killer and never look at how much free ram you have again. Its not important at all. I've had this phone for months and I literally have no idea how much ram it uses on average because I have never checked or cared. My phone has been running smooth since day one. Yours will too.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Available RAM is a useless number? Having unused apps continue to run in the background is nothing to worry about?
Does anyone have anything usefull to respond with?

Miami_Son said:
Available RAM is a useless number? Having unused apps continue to run in the background is nothing to worry about?
Does anyone have anything usefull to respond with?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you look at Window 7, there is a concept called pre-fetch. This allows the OS to load the programs into memory based on past usage, and frequency of usage. This lets us open the program much faster, than fetch when requested. This info is loaded to memory, and kept there, until some other program comes in that needs more memory.
And just 'cos a program is present in RAM doesn't mean it would use CPU.
And, based on my observation of android, I see that I have close to 180 MB free when the phone boots up. But this quickly reduces to around 120-150 in less than an hour based on what I use. After like a day this I see that free RAM is about 80-120 MB. And even after 3-4 days of no reboots, the free memory is still present at the same 80-120 levels. I am not sure what kind of memory management android uses, but its very effective, and never caused any noticeable lag in the system.
And, I do not use any task killers, not free up RAM in task manager.

Your concerns are flawed in the fact that the Linux kernel handles memory different than what you are used to. Simply speaking, Linux keeps memory used by applications on need to basis. It keeps it loaded until something else needs to use it. It will take from something else at the required time. A system actually performs faster when there is less memory available because that means that applications are able to be recalled quicker. It's not like it can only load from what is left available.
You will also notice that many applications take up memory but are using 0 CPU. This speaks to the fact that it simply loaded into memory and not taking up resources required for other operations.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Lot to learn about this Android, I see. So, why are there so many task killers on Market and other RAM-related programs if it is not important? Should I really not be concerned when I see a program I hardly use being shown as running on startup?

Miami_Son said:
Lot to learn about this Android, I see. So, why are there so many task killers on Market and other RAM-related programs if it is not important? Should I really not be concerned when I see a program I hardly use being shown as running on startup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I got my android phone, the first thing I did was put up things like task killer, start up auditor, etc. But as weeks passed, I realized these were more of deteriorating performance, than improve it. So got rid of them. Android can handle itself.

Autokiller optimises memory by changing values in android rather than kills apps. I reccomemd it, definately makes the phone faster. Set it to agressive.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

Miami_Son said:
Lot to learn about this Android, I see. So, why are there so many task killers on Market and other RAM-related programs if it is not important? Should I really not be concerned when I see a program I hardly use being shown as running on startup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It started with the combination of old versions of android (think cupcake and doughnut) and phones like the G1. Older versions didn't handle ram as well as they do in eclair and up. If you combine this with the fact that those older phones had less ram, and likely didn't use any gpu acceleration (unsure of this though), then task killers and other programs were considered necessary to get a fluid feeling experience.
They are still in the market now for 2 reasons.
1. Because some people still have those old phones and still run old versions of android. (less likely)
2. Habit. If people are used to using them and tell others they are necessary because they've always worked, why would a developer pull his money making app from the market? (much more likely)

So when Pandora or Grooveshark freeze, which happens all the time, and leaves my phone utterly useless until they're done doing whatever it is they're doing, how is using a task killer to...kill the process...not useful? It's much faster than rebooting the phone. I also think it's much faster than going into each application's individual settings to use the 'force stop' command. Is there a different way to kill a stuck app other than these methods?

Miami_Son said:
My Cappy starts with about 165mb of free RAM, but it quickly goes away as I use apps. I have Task Killer installed and set to kill apps every 30 minutes, but once I get down to about 90mb of RAM it is impossible to get anywhere near what I boot with free. I'm used to memory leakage on my WinMo phones, but this is way worse. I had CleanRAM on my Tilt 2 (from XDA) and it worked pretty good and allows scheduling. Is there a similar app for Android?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Along with what everyone else said, remember that a memory leak is a LEAK, something that is continuously draining, not a one-time thing. So, if memory goes to 80MB free and holds, that's not a leak, that's simply memory that is being used. If free memory drops to 75, then 60, then 55, 50, 45, and so on, then you have a true leak to worry about.

Well, what we Windows Mobile users often also refer to as leaks is the bad habit of some apps to not release their memory when closed. For instance, a program that carves out 25mb of RAM when started and returns less then half of that when closed.

jaju123 said:
Autokiller optimises memory by changing values in android rather than kills apps. I reccomemd it, definately makes the phone faster. Set it to agressive.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anyone else know much about "Autokiller"?

i used to use a task killer with my G1, and continued to do so with my captivate but i saw a few things like this: http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/ and decided to get rid of my task killers and my phone seemed actually a little faster and seemed my battery life increased.

matt310 said:
So when Pandora or Grooveshark freeze, which happens all the time, and leaves my phone utterly useless until they're done doing whatever it is they're doing, how is using a task killer to...kill the process...not useful? It's much faster than rebooting the phone. I also think it's much faster than going into each application's individual settings to use the 'force stop' command. Is there a different way to kill a stuck app other than these methods?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is useful in those situations but realistically when people give that argument they are just looking for a reason to keep it. Android has the ability to kill tasks built in. If you're on 2.1 then yeah it's buried deeper in the menu but not a big deal. I can't imagine an app freezing enough to warrant having a task killer for. If you're on 2.2 it's much more easily accessible.
When we talk about task killers we're talking about people using them to kill open tasks that aren't causing issues simply to see more free ram available.

[Q] What's Hoggin All The Memory?

Hello Guys and Gals,
After a couple of weeks running the factory update I find the mem available to twindle down as the hours go by.
I run task manager to free up mem after closing apps but after about 4-5 hours mem available is Regards to 185.
Any suggestions, hints or tips please?
Regards,

billygtab said:
Hello Guys and Gals,
After a couple of weeks running the factory update I find the mem available to twindle down as the hours go by.
I run task manager to free up mem after closing apps but after about 4-5 hours mem available is Regards to 185.
Any suggestions, hints or tips please?
Regards,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stop using task manager. I have read that Froyo takes care of it by itself and using a task killer can actually make things worse. You shut something down that Android needs, it starts it up. You shut it down, something else wants it. Somehow that ends up using more battery and memory.
Other than that I don't know.

Tip: Stop thinking of the ram that Android uses the same way you think of ram in a PC. Period.
Why, Ever wonder why there is no 'exit' or 'close' button on most apps? It's b/c Apps don't close on Android, they just get moved down the stack so to speak. Think of it like a deck of cards. Some apps are thin (use little ram), some are thick (use lots of ram), the deck is only so big (total amount of ram). So if you have a bunch of small apps, then they will all be in memory. if you have a large app, it will push everything else out of ram to make room for it to run. So, if your ram usage is 100% then Android is working properly. This is why Task Killers are a bad idea on Android. The above is a pretty simple explanation and this topic has basically been beaten to death ever since Android was released. For some info, just google,
http://www.google.com/search?q=why+...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
chad

Thank you both for your insight.
I will take your advice!
Thanks again... great forum!

Apologies, but based on my experience, I kind of disagree about ignoring RAM usage. I'd read some of that info awhile ago, and it made sense. But I noted that my Gtab would occasionally act weird, freezing, reboot, stuff like that.
So, I installed System Panel, and when things started grinding to a halt, I'd check that, and I often found avail memory in the 10-50MB range.
One thing was that Xscope would sometimes take almost 200MB, so I emailed the dev, who suggested changing cache from default 8 to 4. I did that, and then rarely found avail memory less than 150MB.
The other thing is I noticed that there a lot of Apps taking about 10MB, that I wasn't using. Things like Settings, Email, etc. So, I installed Startup Auditor, and configured that to stop several of those non-used apps. The thing I noticed after that is that booting is faster. Specifically, instead of sitting on the Tent boot screen for a long time, it would boot past that in maybe 10 secs. I'm thinking of buying the paid apparently so I can stop more than 5 Alps.
Anyway, YMMV, but that's my experience.
Jim