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android phones and enough ram?

A

Advait

Well-Known Member
Hi All,

Newbie question:

I've never used an Android phone and I plan to soon purchase a mid-range Android 4.0 unlocked GSM phone. How important is RAM on an android phone? For Windows, not enough RAM makes it run slower and less stable.

What is the correct amount of RAM for an Android phone? What do I need to think about for choosing a phone with enough RAM?

I don't plan on running tons of apps. Just a few basic apps and the LookOut security app. I'll be using the music app a lot to send music to my bluetooth stereo headset.

Thanks!

Advait
 
512MB is okay but you really want to have around 1GB to avoid frequent app crashes. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is an excellent phone and very reasonably priced for $350 unlocked direct from Google.
 
Hi, welcome to the forum.

1 GB of RAM is plenty on an Android phone. There are phone out there that have 756 MB of RAM that will also work well and some that have 512. 756 is probably the lowest you want to go if you plan on playing games.

Since you brought up RAM on a Windows PC I think it important to mention that the two do not use RAM in the same way. On a PC having extra RAM is improtant. As you mentioned, an insufficient amount of RAM can cause the computer to run poorly and even freeze.

With Android, unused RAM is wasted RAM. The OS is designed to keep apps sitting in the background holding on to the RAM they need to run. Over time the OS will learn which apps you use the most and keep them in the background accordingly. The RAM will be used, but this does not mean that the apps are necessarily running using the CPU or battery. Once an app or game is launched that requires RAM already allotted to a different app that RAM will be released for the newly running app.

I mention this so that you don't do anything crazy like start using a task killer or anything as they are not needed on these devices.:D They tend to disrupt the OS's normal function and can cause problems.
 
OfTheDamned said:
Since you brought up RAM on a Windows PC I think it important to mention that the two do not use RAM in the same way. On a PC having extra RAM is improtant. As you mentioned, an insufficient amount of RAM can cause the computer to run poorly and even freeze.

With Android, unused RAM is wasted RAM. The OS is designed to keep apps sitting in the background holding on to the RAM they need to run. Over time the OS will learn which apps you use the most and keep them in the background accordingly. The RAM will be used, but this does not mean that the apps are necessarily running using the CPU or battery. Once an app or game is launched that requires RAM already allotted to a different app that RAM will be released for the newly running app.
Click to expand...
Something worth mentioning, Windows Vista and 7 actually work this way now. I believe Microsoft calls this feature SuperFetch.

Another thing, PC apps tend to be bloated. I used to think 4GB of RAM (around 3~3.5GB useable on Windows 32-bit) was plenty but with a couple of windows (or, ya know, 5 windows with 20 tabs each :p) of Firefox or Chrome open, I keep running out of memory all the time now.
 
rui-no-onna said:
Something worth mentioning, Windows Vista and 7 actually work this way now. I believe Microsoft calls this feature SuperFetch.

Another thing, PC apps tend to be bloated. I used to think 4GB of RAM (around 3~3.5GB useable on Windows 32-bit) was plenty but with a couple of windows (or, ya know, 5 windows with 20 tabs each :p) of Firefox or Chrome open, I keep running out of memory all the time now.
Click to expand...

I was unaware Vista offered this, but knew 7 did. However, I believe the feature is capable of being disabled or comes disabled. I may be thinking of something else though. Either way, I typically bring it up because most people have a different mindset when it comes to RAM because of their PC. Since that mindset doesn't work so well with Android it sometimes helps prevent problems.
 
OfTheDamned said:
I was unaware Vista offered this, but knew 7 did. However, I believe the feature is capable of being disabled or comes disabled. I may be thinking of something else though.
Click to expand...
SuperFetch is enabled by default on both Windows Vista and 7. Prefetch (which caches some app data to a faster part of the HDD) is automatically disabled on SSDs with Windows 7 since it's pointless there.

Curious, though, what Android devices (tablets in particular) are available with more than 1GB RAM? I tend to experience frequent browser crashes when I open too many tabs. :o
 
Wilkas said:
I think the Galaxy Note 2 is coming with 2gb Rui, that's almost as big as a tablet.
Click to expand...

Need something in the 9~10" range. Currently have the TF700T which is nice (should be even nicer with Jelly Bean) although I find myself using the iPad more due to its aspect ratio (I'm not overly fond of widescreen). The Nexus 7, I'm already finding a bit too small for comfy web browsing (although it works well enough).
 
OfTheDamned said:
Hi, welcome to the forum.

1 GB of RAM is plenty on an Android phone. There are phone out there that have 756 MB of RAM that will also work well and some that have 512. 756 is probably the lowest you want to go if you plan on playing games.

Since you brought up RAM on a Windows PC I think it important to mention that the two do not use RAM in the same way. On a PC having extra RAM is improtant. As you mentioned, an insufficient amount of RAM can cause the computer to run poorly and even freeze.

With Android, unused RAM is wasted RAM. The OS is designed to keep apps sitting in the background holding on to the RAM they need to run. Over time the OS will learn which apps you use the most and keep them in the background accordingly. The RAM will be used, but this does not mean that the apps are necessarily running using the CPU or battery. Once an app or game is launched that requires RAM already allotted to a different app that RAM will be released for the newly running app.

I mention this so that you don't do anything crazy like start using a task killer or anything as they are not needed on these devices.:D They tend to disrupt the OS's normal function and can cause problems.
Click to expand...

That's something I did not know. Thanks!
 
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