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how much ram are you using?

S

_sC

Well-Known Member
happy holidays everyone,

i've been sitting here messing around with my phone, customizing, when this question came to mind, so i figured i'd post here.

so, how much are you using?

please "clear memory" before you post your figure!

heres mine:


 
SC20111227-011855.png
 
ooo niiice. is that the beta 2 ur running?

im guessing ics is the only thing u have running? no crazy wallpapers or widgets that suck up juice?
 
When I go to Settings -> Applications -> Memory usage, I see these tabs: Downloaded, All, On SD card, Running.

Where do I go to get screen similar to the above screenshots?
 
Slug said:
medium.jpg


Real-life usage, after 101hrs uptime.
Click to expand...

What many people won't realize is that YOUR usage is more desirable. People are conditioned to believe that using less RAM is better. What they need to realize is that available RAM is wasted RAM. It's why Vista SP1+, Win7, and Mac OSX develop better performance over time. Applications, when "closed" remain dormant in memory so that they can be recalled quicker. If the system needs RAM, it drops the least used or least recently used application(s) in order to free up the necessary space. (These desktop OSs actually do far more than that, but that's no relevant here).

By clearing your RAM you're not improving performance. All you're doing is telling your system that the next time you want to load a specific app it's going to have to do so from scratch. This increases both load time and battery consumption.

The only applications that should be closed, if you deem necessary, are active applications that are using CPU cycles. Rogue apps that continually abuse the CPU after being "closed" are the true resource hogs that need to be killed.
 
I hover around 300-350mb, so that's pretty standard. Obviously a graphics-intensive game can knock it up another 100 or so, that's about it.

I agree higher usage means you're getting a lot more out of it! Of course, when it's idle at night, you want it as low as possible to minimise battery drain.
 
Noticed that if clear RAM, sometimes it helps to keep Voice Command from restarting and running and draining battery after you already closed it.
 
Usually when i don't restart my phone for over 72 hours the RAM usage is around 500 - 560 which is the highest i've seen. My usual RAM usage depends on how much i use the phone, usually since i just let it sit there and i do a restart every 48 hours approximately my RAM usage is around 350 - 450 but i would say that the normal RAM usage is around 500 - 560! :D:D
 
Kie said:
when it's idle at night, you want it as low as possible to minimise battery drain.
Click to expand...

The amount of RAM used has no bearing on battery consumption. Android keeps inactive apps/processes in RAM if possible, but if these aren't consuming processor cycles i.e. working then they use negligible power. Using a Twitter client as an example, it will occupy RAM but if it only polls for updates every 4hrs then it will only become active briefly at that interval and then use the battery. If it happens overnight and the screen remains off the drain will be miniscule.
 
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oh wow i thought i was the only one with tons of stuff running on my memory, i guess not!

and to whomever asked: i had his initial question because i checked with my friends phones and the figures were all low, so i was wondering how much more crap i was running vs them. thats all..

thanks for the replies guys.
 
_sC said:
oh wow i thought i was the only one with tons of stuff running on my memory, i guess not!
Click to expand...

You're missing the point - it might be in RAM but it's not necessarily running (active) right now. And just because it's inactive doesn't mean that it's superfluous. Not to labour the point, but Android functions in a completely different way to Windows.
 
Slug said:
The amount of RAM used has no bearing on battery consumption. Android keeps inactive apps/processes in RAM if possible, but if these aren't consuming processor cycles i.e. working then they use negligible power. Using a Twitter client as an example, it will occupy RAM but if it only polls for updates every 4hrs then it will only become active briefly at that interval and then use the battery. If it happens overnight and the screen remains off the drain will be miniscule.
Click to expand...

Ok, so the clear memory is really only useful if you're nearing full capacity and need to free up some more...which on the SGS2 is almost never.

I can't imagine what I'd need to have to top 500mb after all my running apps have been closed (without clearing memory of course). I use my SGS2 for everything and it's still only around 350!
 
Mine tend to start off at around 200/300 mb and then over a couple of days will go up to about 500/600 mb. No idea why, but a reboot every couple of days seems to be the way forward for me.
 
Kie said:
Ok, so the clear memory is really only useful if you're nearing full capacity and need to free up some more...
Click to expand...

The only point at which "Clear memory" would be helpful would be if you had a misbehaving app leaking memory (used RAM figure keeps increasing) or in a runaway state (consuming all CPU cycles). Under normal circumstances the device RAM will never approach 'full capacity' as the OS periodically performs clean-up operations.

I use my SGS2 for everything and it's still only around 350!
Click to expand...

My old HTC Hero is seriously RAM-limited and normally operates with around 30MB free. Even so I've yet to see a "low memory" warning from it, let alone an app fail to run. Android's resource management really is very good.
 
I would worry only about the consumed memory if I have problems starting applications with insufficient memory error. otherwise just leave it as it is , this is working as designed, just FYI, my GS2 is not restarted for the last 8 days and running at around 600 MB RAM, no problems at all . so no problems need no actions.
 
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