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So if it is 3gb, why don't I see that?

codezer0

codezer0

Android Expert
This is something that's been nagging on me for a while with Android, but seeing that the mxpe is my current phone, I figure I ask here.

Saw an earlier thread of someone that was led to believe a phone had 3gb of RAM but the app called ram truth discovered they were sold a 2gb version. Well, in the same vein... Motorola will tell everyone this phone had 3gb of RAM, but using ram truth, I get the following output.

RAM Truth [ 2.5 GB ]

Reserved: 32.05 MB

User: 2527.95 MB

Active: 2090.74 MB

Available: 437.21 MB

Hibernating: 334.56 MB

Idle: 102.65 MB

Swap (total): 0.00 MB

Used (none): 0.00 MB


Device Info:

Android: 6.0
Device: clark
Model: XT1575
Maker: motorola
RAM Truth: v1.4



Press/touch this row to copy screen info to the clipboard.

Press/touch a component 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. All listed values following this, from User through Swap Used, are 100% accurate.

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.

Used (type) - It's impossible to know the actual amount of compression when zram is used without looking at your virtual memory parameters, but it's often about 2 to 1.

Using swap increases your CPU usage, especially with zram where constant compression and decompression is going on (like using zip files on your PC), and is rarely beneficial on modern devices. Despite this, it's made a resurgence in the market.

Swap - A virtual memory scheme to increase your apparent total RAM. Unless you installed a modification to put this in storage, if you have swap you probably have a compressed block of RAM (called zram) acting as a virtual hard disk for this.

Users with rooted devices can very probably find kernel helpers or mods to let you change or turn off swap.
Click to expand...
So, what's up with this? Where's the RAM disappeared to?
 
RAM Truth [ 2 GB ]

Reserved: 225.89 MB

User: 1822.11 MB

Active: 1435.42 MB

Available: 386.70 MB

Hibernating: 283.47 MB

Idle: 103.22 MB

Swap (total): 512.00 MB

Used (zram): 503.79 MB


Device Info:

Android: 6.0
Device: K50-t5
Model: Lenovo K50-t5
Maker: LENOVO
RAM Truth: v1.4



Press/touch this row to copy screen info to the clipboard.

Press/touch a component 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. All listed values following this, from User through Swap Used, are 100% accurate.

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.

Used (type) - It's impossible to know the actual amount of compression when zram is used without looking at your virtual memory parameters, but it's often about 2 to 1.

Using swap increases your CPU usage, especially with zram where constant compression and decompression is going on (like using zip files on your PC), and is rarely beneficial on modern devices. Despite this, it's made a resurgence in the market.

Swap - A virtual memory scheme to increase your apparent total RAM. Unless you installed a modification to put this in storage, if you have swap you probably have a compressed block of RAM (called zram) acting as a virtual hard disk for this.

Users with rooted devices can very probably find kernel helpers or mods to let you change or turn off swap.
 
It's impossible to answer the question where the RAM goes. We can only guess that Android uses the same RAM for multiple purposes, from video to cached data...
 
nyrmetros said:
Is there a way to close programs that are not being used and taking up too much ram.
Click to expand...
You mean, besides CCleaner? or SDMaid? Unlike My Note 3 on Lollipop, there's no task manager on this phone to speak of - at least that works like the task manager I am familiar with.
 
nyrmetros said:
Is there a way to close programs that are not being used and taking up too much ram.
Click to expand...
There is no need for this, Android is based on Linux, there is no such thing as properly behaved tasks taking too much RAM. In Android/Linux, unused RAM is wasted RAM, it will use as much of the available RAM as it can and that is how it is supposed to work. Stale tasks are killed as needed to free up RAM if new applications need them... Task Managers, CC Cleaner, SD Maid, and all those other tools are all junk and will just slow your device down in the long run.

Remember, Android is NOT Windows, it doesn't work the same... If you have been using your device for a while and you check your free RAM and actually have a decent amount, then something is wrong.
 
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