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I have my Nexus S for over two weeks now, and I'm incredibly happy with it. Theming is a lot of fun, and you can do very cool stuff even without root and custom roms!
However, there is one (strange) thing I've noticed. It's about the RAM.
For your information: I use Go Launcher which has a tab in the App Drawer with running applications, and a button to close all (you can exclude certain apps). When I boot up my phone, I have 170-180 MB free RAM. The following programs (and widgets) are running in the background (I have excluded them from the close all list): Go SMS Pro (widget, notifications), WhatsApp (notifications), Lookout, Extended Controls (widget), Wiget Locker (I made it look like the MIUI lockscreen) and Clockr (widget).
There are two more apps that are on constantly, and those are the Miren Browser and PlayerPro. I don't know why Miren Browser keeps turning itself on. When I check how much MB it uses, it says 0,00 dB... As for PlayerPro, I use a widget called Phantom Music Control, a widget that hides itself when no music is being played. I also use it on my lockscreen. This widget controls PlayerPro, so that is probably why PlayerPro has to be running all the time (so that it can start up quickly when needed).
There are some Google apps that turn themselves on, like Gmail and Places, and they actually use RAM according to Go Launcher. I don't want them to be running, and synchronization is turned off with Gmail. When I want to know if I have mail, I open Gmail. It doesn't have to be running all the time. I've never used Places, and I never will use it, so I don't know why that has to be running all the time.
Every once in a while I hit Close All (with Go Launcher). However, I've noticed that over time my free memory keeps lowering. When I boot up my phone it is around 175 MB, but at the end of the day the free memory is 100 MB, 70 MB or even 50 MB, and yes, even after I've hit the 'Close All' button.
I know I don't use my phone very efficient, with programs like Go SMS, Widget Locker and that Music Control widget, and I will flash a custom rom later. My RAM memory will probably increase then (I've read something about Supercurio's kernel including a boost RAM management). It just bothers me that I don't have control over what programs are running (Gmail and Places), and that my free memory decreases over time. I haven't noticed any slow downs, I'm just worried. Or shouldn't I?
I don't know about the rest, but you shouldn't be concerned about free memory.
Android is designed in a way that all programs keep running (sleeping actually) in the background even when you don't use them at the moment. They are automatically killed when the system needs memory for something else. Any program that is sent to the background (e.g. by pressing back or home) can be killed by the system at any time and is (should be) ready for it.
Basically, the less free memory you have, the better. That means that many of the apps you use are running and you can return to them without delay.
There are some articles floating around the web about the architecture of android and process/application life cycle. They explain that better then me, and in more detail.
cgi said:
I don't know about the rest, but you shouldn't be concerned about free memory.
Android is designed in a way that all programs keep running (sleeping actually) in the background even when you don't use them at the moment. They are automatically killed when the system needs memory for something else. Any program that is sent to the background (e.g. by pressing back or home) can be killed by the system at any time and is (should be) ready for it.
Basically, the less free memory you have, the better. That means that many of the apps you use are running and you can return to them without delay.
There are some articles floating around the web about the architecture of android and process/application life cycle. They explain that better then me, and in more detail.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, thanks!
So I don't have to be afraid of any slow down? And what about Gmail and Places turning themselves on every time, even if I don't use them?
And why does the free memory decrease over time, but increases again when I turn off and boot up my phone?
Androyed said:
So I don't have to be afraid of any slow down? And what about Gmail and Places turning themselves on every time, even if I don't use them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
More like the opposite: your RAM is being put to good use.
When your PC get's low on RAM it will start swapping and trashing around. Your smartphone has no swap and is optimized for it. If it get's low on RAM, it will just kill some stuff in the background. All this happens without you noticing anything (if the app is programmed correctly).
I don't know about Gmail and Places. Most likely they are running because they registered broadcast receivers or something.
Androyed said:
And why does the free memory decrease over time, but increases again when I turn off and boot up my phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Every app is running in its own dalvik virtual machine process. Since creating a new VM process is expensive (in terms of processing time), the VM processes are reused to some degree. One app is unloaded, the new one is loaded.
There is more stuff going on behind the scenes, of course. There are likely some spare VMs sleeping in the background waiting for an app to use them.
However, the heap (dynamically allocated memory of a process) of a VM can only grow and never shrink (don't ask me why). So after a few apps or so a VM process is restarted, too.
To come back to your question: When your device boots up, only the processes needed for boot are running. That will be the launcher, some widgets and so on. So basically, this is the moment with the most free RAM. However, this is also when your device is slowest, because every new app you launch has first to be loaded into memory and executed.
While you use your device, many of the apps you used will be kept around in the background, so when you start them again, they will reappear instantly, because the whole "create vm process --> load app from storage --> execute and initialize app" chain has already happened.
"Free memory is wasted memory."
When you open an app, the system loads it into ram. When you close it, the system should not bother to remove it from ram because there is a good chance you will use that app again and having it pre-loaded makes it open significantly faster.
Just because ram is "used" doesn't mean it can't be re-allocated for something more important.
That being said, it is entirely possible that some of your apps have memory leaks. Does it get worse after two days, or three days?
d-h said:
"Free memory is wasted memory."
When you open an app, the system loads it into ram. When you close it, the system should not bother to remove it from ram because there is a good chance you will use that app again and having it pre-loaded makes it open significantly faster.
Just because ram is "used" doesn't mean it can't be re-allocated for something more important.
That being said, it is entirely possible that some of your apps have memory leaks. Does it get worse after two days, or three days?
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Click to collapse
I turn my phone off every evening, so I don't know. It's not a problem by any means, I'm just curious.
I've left my RAM alone today, and I didn't noticed any slow down. It was on 110 MB free RAM when I left it alone, and when it was at 35 MB RAM, I decided to hit the close all button (there was no slow down btw). Guess what? My RAM went back up to 140 MB! Not as much as when I boot my phone up, but it's still strange: when I hit close all when the free RAM is very low, I get more free RAM then when I hit close all when my free RAM is around 100 MB (I only get 5 or 10 MB free RAM extra then).
Thanks by the way, good first post!
Whats best way to free up the more ram? I have root and froze the safe stuff. The lowest I can get free is about 185MB / 328MB.
Rooting and freezing apps doesn't give you more RAM, since there is only 512MB of RAM and the OS takes part of that to run.
You can free up internal app storage space, by deleting bloatware, or cut/paste the bloatware into a folder on the SDcard (I call mine VZWBloat) and that will save you space.
You can run a task killer to kill off apps that you don't need but you have to be careful, Android does need certain apps to be available in the background and it will just reopen automatically and that will put them into a cycle and drain the battery.
rcb929 said:
Whats best way to free up the more ram? I have root and froze the safe stuff. The lowest I can get free is about 185MB / 328MB.
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Click to collapse
Please do not post Questions or problems in Android Development
Moving to General
RaptorMD said:
Rooting and freezing apps doesn't give you more RAM, since there is only 512MB of RAM and the OS takes part of that to run.
You can free up internal app storage space, by deleting bloatware, or cut/paste the bloatware into a folder on the SDcard (I call mine VZWBloat) and that will save you space.
You can run a task killer to kill off apps that you don't need but you have to be careful, Android does need certain apps to be available in the background and it will just reopen automatically and that will put them into a cycle and drain the battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey im using root explorer when im in system/app/ how do i single out the bloatware apps?
rcb929 said:
Whats best way to free up the more ram? I have root and froze the safe stuff. The lowest I can get free is about 185MB / 328MB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Freeing up that much RAM is probably detrimental to the overall efficacy of the memory management system, I've never seen mine at 185MB, and if I did I'd worry something was wrong.
If you really want to free up more RAM, for no benefit whatsoever, use something like Advanced Task Killer and set it to allow killing of the lowest level processes it can, then kill everything. Bam, tons of free'd up RAM. Again, this has pretty much no benefit whatsoever and for a short time will probably make your phone more sluggish and slow.
In Android (Linux) free memory is considered wasted memory.
That said, I remember on my galaxy S that the phone ran snappier when I tweaked the memory management of the phone.
Task killers are generally considered a bad idea on android, so I would avoid using one of them to free up memory. However, there is a poorly named app called auto killer that is actually just an interface to tweaking androids built and memory management. I recommend giving it a try, here's a link: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.rs.autokiller
Note that it is not a task killer per se, it is just a tweak for android phone memory management schemes.
I haven't used it on my droid charge yet, but play with the settings maybe starting with aggressive. Good luck and let us know how it works for you.
Sent from Thunderbolt
I don't have my phone with me right now, but you need to make the folder read/write and then hit menu and multi-select or select multiple. This thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1082588 shows what is ok to freeze, but I am not familiar enough with those to say you can remove all of them. Typically I would look for the Verizon specific apps, games like lets gold, guitar hero etc. If you remove anything related to touch wiz (widgets) you need to remove both of the associated files. I am pulling this from memory on my previous TB.
These are the ones I recognize, but the others in that long list I would like to see better clarification of what they are and how they are tied into the TouchWiz UI so we don't get errors. Please exercise caution when doing this.
• Bitbop 1.0
• Blockbuster 0.6
• City ID 1.1.4
• Lets Golf 2 3.2.2
• Rhapsody 1.0
• Rock Band 4.4.3
• Slacker 2.1.170
• TuneWiki 2.2
• VCAST Media Manager 4.2.96.3
• VVMService 1.0.30
• VZ Navigator 7.1.2.87
• WeatherBug Clock 11.04.07.01
rcb929 said:
Whats best way to free up the more ram? I have root and froze the safe stuff. The lowest I can get free is about 185MB / 328MB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BY FAR.... BAR NONE.... The best way to free up memory and keep it free without messing with task killers is to use a program called startup auditor. This app prevents apps from starting up automatically on startup and throughtout the day without interfering with normal app processes. You can shut down or enable any app you want.
Even cooler, if you select the option menu and hit disable all, it only disables programs that won't interfere with the phone operation so it knows which apk's are critical for phone integrity. PRETTY COOL!!!
burningembers said:
Freeing up that much RAM is probably detrimental to the overall efficacy of the memory management system, I've never seen mine at 185MB, and if I did I'd worry something was wrong.
If you really want to free up more RAM, for no benefit whatsoever, use something like Advanced Task Killer and set it to allow killing of the lowest level processes it can, then kill everything. Bam, tons of free'd up RAM. Again, this has pretty much no benefit whatsoever and for a short time will probably make your phone more sluggish and slow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NEVER USE ADVANCE TASK KILLER... See other post
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1106265
RaptorMD said:
Rooting and freezing apps doesn't give you more RAM, since there is only 512MB of RAM and the OS takes part of that to run.
You can free up internal app storage space, by deleting bloatware, or cut/paste the bloatware into a folder on the SDcard (I call mine VZWBloat) and that will save you space.
You can run a task killer to kill off apps that you don't need but you have to be careful, Android does need certain apps to be available in the background and it will just reopen automatically and that will put them into a cycle and drain the battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DON"T USE A TASK KILLER ON ANY SAMSUNG DEVICE. See other post
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1106265
I wasn't really condoning the use of task killers. I disagree with them 99% of the time (there are some edge cases). I just gave the OP an option if he really, really wanted to for no reason whatsoever.
@OP: I would recommend leaving the pasture gate open.
rcb929 said:
Whats best way to free up the more ram? I have root and froze the safe stuff. The lowest I can get free is about 185MB / 328MB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is an app called Greenify. Its available on Play store.
Just check it out.
It also helps to maintain the juice of the battery.. !!
To Free Ram
A more easy way to delete a minimum of 1gb of space which by doing so also frees up ram is to delete the dump state log cat. See every time your device has an error or force close issue, date is collected / written to the log file and this can take up ane enormous amount of space which when space is low also means your device user more ram. To do this go to your dial pad and type in *#9900#
This will automatically brings up options and then just choose to delete the dump state/log cat. Let it clear for a few minutes and that's it's. Try seeing how much space you have before and after and you'll realise this is a blessing.
My Samsung Galaxy S5 is 1 week old, and it's using a lot of RAM. It has a total of 1.75 GB of RAM, and when I'm running no apps, it's using around 1.2 GB of RAM. Is this normal for Galaxy S5?
same problem to me
..
Same here not S5 thought
My galaxy note n7000 alway use 400-500 mb while it idle
(Seem normal for note) (Dirty unicorn rom)
Now i got galaxy mega 2 it's alway use 0.9-1 GB ram
No apps running
Why would samsung need that much ram for system?
Okay i found a reason
"RAM, either full or empty, consumes the same amount of electricity, unlike RAM in computers.
The CPU copies data from storage to RAM and then runs the app. If the app is already in RAM, the CPU won't reopen it, it'll directly use it.
So making the RAM full of opened apps helps the CPU. The phone becomes faster, and the need of electricity running through the CPU to open the app is now nonexistent."
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2601318
Longbottom said:
My Samsung Galaxy S5 is 1 week old, and it's using a lot of RAM. It has a total of 1.75 GB of RAM, and when I'm running no apps, it's using around 1.2 GB of RAM. Is this normal for Galaxy S5?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, that's normal. TouchWiz is a very heavy ROM, with lots of extra features, which means lots of processes running in the background. S Voice, S View, S Finder, gesture controls, etc. And if you've purchased from a carrier on a subsidy or payment plan, that means you'll have some carrier bloat running too. Some only a handful of MB, some take more, but when you have so many running at once, it all adds up. On my Galaxy Light (a lower end device), 700-800MB of the 1GB RAM is typically taken up. On my Note 3, which I've barely done anything with yet, .9-1.5GB can be used up pretty easily without any multi-tasking. Obviously, the Note 3 has many more features, which needs more RAM. TouchWiz is very heavy, which is why most of their newer mid-end models have been coming with 1.5GB RAM instead of the "standard" 1GB - one gig just isn't enough to run TouchWiz, even though it's plenty for stock or near-stock phones like the Moto G.
What you need to understand though, is that even if 1.2GB RAM is used up, that leaves 500MB or so for all the apps you'll be wanting running in the background. Facebook, Words with Friends, the camera, music, etc. That's actually quite a lot. Also realize that "no apps running" does not mean that no apps are running. There are LOTS of apps running (every feature/function is an "app"), but they're not ones that you've loaded, but they're part of the "system", so they're already running and can't be killed. Facebook is one you've loaded. Smart Screen is not, but if you have it enabled, it's still running, and it's still taking up some RAM.
What you also need to understand is that you want these apps running in the background, taking up your RAM. And you don't want to be using a task killer like Clean Master to obsessively free up RAM pointlessly. When an app like Facebook is running in the background, it's quickly retrievable. Kill it, and next time you want to load it, it has to load from the internal storage into the RAM again, which takes time, processing power, and battery life. You can still use a task killer like Clean Master to free up some RAM if things get sluggish, but it's best to white-list the apps you use a lot so you're not constantly loading them from storage and killing your battery and wasting time. Or, if you were playing an intense game for a while, but don't plan to again for the rest of the day, by all means kill it with the task switcher. Android actually does a very good job of managing your RAM, and except in certain circumstances, it's best to just let it do what it does by itself.
If you can't help but obsess with free/used RAM, or you actually multi-task to the point of things getting frustratingly sluggish, turn off all the features you don't need or rarely/never use. Go into your app manager and disable (Turn Off) apps/features you don't use. Find a "de-bloat" guide for your phone and find out what's safe to delete or turn off. This includes Samsung crap, carrier crap, and even Google stuff as well. If you don't need Lookout, disable it. If you don't use Google Wallet, disable it. Samsung Print Service? You don't use that. Disable that crap. Some of these wouldn't be running in the background anyway, but it's easy to accidentally load them, in which case they'll needlessly be taking up RAM.
---------- Post added at 09:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:18 PM ----------
skyhot004 said:
Same here not S5 thought
My galaxy note n7000 alway use 400-500 mb while it idle
(Seem normal for note) (Dirty unicorn rom)
Now i got galaxy mega 2 it's alway use 0.9-1 GB ram
No apps running
Why would samsung need that much ram for system?
Okay i found a reason
"RAM, either full or empty, consumes the same amount of electricity, unlike RAM in computers.
The CPU copies data from storage to RAM and then runs the app. If the app is already in RAM, the CPU won't reopen it, it'll directly use it.
So making the RAM full of opened apps helps the CPU. The phone becomes faster, and the need of electricity running through the CPU to open the app is now nonexistent."
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2601318
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cross-posted with your edit, but you've found some of the reason. As I said above, you want your apps running in the background, taking up RAM, unless you don't plan on using it again for a while. The other reason, as I said, is that heavy ROMs like TouchWiz, LG's Optimus UI, Sense, etc, have a lot of features and running processes compared to stock, near-stock, or the custom AOSP ROMs.
When you've had a smartphone for a while it can start to feel slow, and RAM — random access memory, which is where your phone stores its stuff as it's using it — can be part of the problem. If your phone doesn't have enough RAM it can struggle, but there are ways to address that. You can even create extra RAM without cracking the case or reaching for a soldering iron.
Find out how to increase your smartphone's RAM right here!
How to fix phone lag on Android
Android Lollipop tips and tricks
What is RAM (Random Access Memory)?
RAM is what your device uses when it's doing something. For example, when you're editing a photo both the photo and the app you're using to edit it are in the device's RAM; when you finish editing the photo is then saved to your device's storage so it can't get lost. The more RAM you have the more you can do, so for example you can have more browser tabs open, more apps running or more system features doing their stuff.
The problem with RAM is that it isn't always emptied properly, and apps don't always behave. Some apps and system processes run when you don't need them to, and others don't clean up after themselves when they quit. After a while those issues can produce noticeable results such as slow performance, lagging and stuttering, and the odd crash.
Like internal storage, RAM is a physical component of your device so you can't just stick more in. What you can do, though, is use it more efficiently — or use some clever tricks to create RAM from other kinds of storage.
RAM — shown here in desktop form — is physically limited in every device. Unlike PCs, you can't just stick more memory into your phone or tablet. / © Taringa
How to increase your RAM without root access
Now that you know what RAM is, we'll show you how to preserve it. In this first part, we focus on tips for non-rooted devices. For those devices you can't magically add more memory, but you can make better use of what you've got. As a rule of thumb, the more your phone is doing the more RAM is being used, so if you can reduce what's running you can free up more memory for the tasks that really matter.
Limit widgets and live wallpapers
Widgets and live wallpapers are both pretty greedy when it comes to RAM usage. Many refresh often and occupy bandwidth, while some are continuously active. This can also cause your battery to drain faster. So remember to limit the number of them in effect to optimize your current available memory.
Animated wallpapers can take up a lot of RAM.
How to root your phone without voiding the warranty.
Disable applications
Some applications take up RAM even if they aren't currently being used, so you're getting all the downsides of unnecessary RAM use without anything to show for it. Organizing which apps should and should not be running in the background can take time, but it's worth it to improve your smartphone performance.
To disable an application, go to Settings and then Apps or Application Manager. Next, go to the All tab to get the list of all the applications currently on your device. To disable an application, tap on it, then tap Disable and confirm. Be careful not to disable everything and anything, unless you want to end up with an unstable system, but most apps that don't come pre-installed on your handset are pretty safe to disable (or delete entirely if you never use them).
Head to your device settings menu, then the apps page.
Next, tap on the app you wish to disable and tap Disable.
Disable animations
Animations often steal RAM and are quite inessential; you can manage these in the developer options. To enable Developer Options on your device, go to your Settings, then About Phone and then tap on the build number about seven times until it notifies you that you have become a developer. (Please note that this has no negative effect on your device, it just adds the developer options menu in your settings. You just need
???
tra_dax
Nice copy pasta
This is straight off Android Pit
HMpenguinify said:
This is straight off Android Pit
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah it is not even copied completely. The text is missing the last part
Why don't you post something from your own experience or your own thought, please don't copy from other sites.
I think it's called ram optimization and not increasing the ram. BTW.
max24328 said:
I think it's called ram optimization and not increasing the ram. BTW.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.swapit.expander.de&hl=en
Can't post from other sources without due credit. Thread closed.
Also given lower post count of OP, this is potentially posted to increase post count.
alright i just got the p30 pro (6 GB) and I ran my own speed test where I load a bunch of my commonly used apps (starbucks, uber, whatsapp, chrome, etc.)
sure, when i re-open these apps immediately after loading them (like 15 total), they're all still in memory, but I find that over time, they need to be reloaded even tho I'm not really opening new apps. just seems to be like these speed tests are stupid because the OS, over time, closes inactive apps.
yes, I disabled Huawei's aggressive app killing by going to "battery:" -> "app launch" and disabled "manage all automatically"
OR is it because I "only" have 6 GB of RAM? Would getting the s10 Plus with 8 GB of RAM (or p30 pro 8 GB) make a difference? i mention Samsung cause I read soemwhere it has better RAM management than huawei.