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Putting to rest the myths about Task Killers/RAM Optimizers and the like

Code: 
RAM Truth: 2 GB

Reserved:          220.42 MB

User:             1827.58 MB

  Active:         1550.12 MB

  Available:       277.46 MB

    Hibernating:   148.28 MB

    Idle:          129.18 MB


Device Info:

  Android: 4.4.2
  Device:  htc_m8whl
  Model:   831C
  Maker:   HTC

If I ran a RAM cleaner right there it would have told me that it just "cleaned up" 148.28 GB of RAM + any cached to storage if it were really brain dead.

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Beta peek. :)
 
Here's my phone immediately after booting up, views from my phone and RAM Truth -

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Notice that my phone loads stored cache as quickly as possible.

A snake oil ram cleaner would at this point tell me that it just saved me over 800 MB after booting.

Here it is after settling in, again, both views -

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Notice that my phone makes no attempt to keep idle memory beyond its OOM minfree settings and is perfectly happy to keep cache loaded up.

Not surprisingly, my favorite apps "launch" with very high speed because they're simply being converted from Hibernating to Active.

During this phase or one like it, the snake oil ram cleaners would claim to have saved me over 600 MB of RAM and evil apps "running."

Testing revealed large variations in the mix of Hibernating and Idle under Available for different devices and use scenarios - no big deal, Android is a rich playing field.

We've done our best to explain how it works, each line is live and of course Hibernating has this to say -

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How valid is it?

You tell me - our Available agrees with System Panel, we just give that final breakdown on that. :)

Due to the difficult nature of sorting out the Reserved memory portion and diverse nature of Android - most especially with some of the really quirky older or small memory devices, we can only claim better than 99% phone model accuracy for Reserved and the hardware total at the top. And yes, the app does say that, so - we don't try to deny it.

Even though it's only almost 100% perfect, we're still calling it RAM Truth.

Sue me. :D

As before, @scary alien did all of the work while I sat around eating Cheesy Poofs and interrupting his train of thought with oblique comments. :)

If this won't prove that snake oil does nothing useful, I don't know what will. This thread is the major reason we laid it like we did. Plus - I think that scary made it look pretty sporty! :)

Play Store link coming very soon, final cosmetic touches to reach scary's standards are in progress.

A valuable tool for anyone serious about understanding their phone.

Hope you like it!

PS - will update here with link and announce when ready.

Update -

 
Last edited:
Code: 
RAM Truth    [ RAM Size: 2 GB ]

Reserved:          220.42 MB

User:             1827.58 MB

  Active:         1380.29 MB

  Available:       447.30 MB

    Hibernating:   384.95 MB

    Idle:           62.35 MB


Device Info:

  Android: 4.4.2
  Device:  htc_m8whl
  Model:   831C
  Maker:   HTC


Press any row for component definition or Device Info row to refresh display.


Legend:

  Reserved:    A reserved/hidden area that includes the below-kernel fixed allocations like DMA buffers, RAM for the baseband radios, CPU(s), GPU, etc. Due to the diverse nature of small-RAM devices, we can only claim better than 99% accuracy here and in the total.

  User:        The visible (non-hidden) portion of physical RAM available for use by the system.

  Active:      The amount of physical RAM currently in use by the system.

  Available:   The amount of physical RAM left unused or used as cache memory.

  Hibernating: The amount of physical RAM used as cache memory and using no CPU or power resources. Other apps may be hibernating and written to storage rather than remaining in RAM.

  Idle:        The amount of physical RAM left unused by the system.

Did I forget to mention that scary made the clipboard capture not only the values but also the definitions so you can review them all at once at your leisure?

Our target - give you the power of a Linux pro in understanding your memory without having to actually be a Linux pro.

Tip: each two indented or color matching values add up to the value above it - iow, it's written as a breakdown from total in silicon right down to Idle (empty) memory.
 
images


Hey all, the app's been published the Play Store, but will likely take an hour or two before it shows up for everyone. Here's the linky:


By the way, don't let @EarlyMon downplay his role in this endeavor...like I told him before, I just pushed a few buttons--he provided the knowledge, magic, and clarity to make it all happen.

:)

P.S., man, I really wish we could use the Cheesy Poofs image as a logo/icon for this app ;) :D.
 
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