Nexus 7 and memory usage

[Sassi666]

Hi,

I got a Nexus 7 for Christmas and am really happy with it. So far I've had no problems at all, no obvious light bleed, no touch problems, no dead pixels etc. (seems I'm one of the lucky ones) Anyway, I have been reading this forum for a few weeks now as I'm relatively new to Android, I have a galaxy Note 2 that I've had a few months but before that had everything Apple. I really like Android, and it feels a lot less restrictive than the Apple ecosystem. Anyway, from reading posts here I've noticed quite a few posts mention that it's not necessary to use cleaning apps on Android to free up memory and in fact Android prefers using more memory. I have been freeing up memory on my phone quite often as it fills up pretty quick and gets a bit laggy, I also have Cleanmaster installed on my Nexus and use it from time to time. After reading some of these posts here I was wondering would it be better to just not use this app on my Nexus at all? What is it about Android that makes it better to leave memory fuller?

many thanks for any replies.

 

[Aquila]

Re: Nexus and memory usage

Essentially, the OS is programmed to use memory dynamically and close unneeded programs automatically as needed. It does this so that as you switch between apps, they open more quickly and it also completes background tasks while RAM is not needed for user facing functionality. The entire purpose is so that things happen more quickly when you open an app, switch screens, switch between apps and/or use shortcuts via the navigation and notification menus. In previous versions, before the end of 2011, Android was not as good at this dynamic multitasking optimization, but since then it has come a long ways to where it is much better at these processes than users can hope to be doing things completely manually. Our intervention is usually actually slowing the system down, unless we're fixing something that is misbehaving.

Manually or using third party software to systematically override this optimization means that the system has to "rev up" more often, basically every time you switch directions in the OS. Just like in a car, you get better gas mileage and less wear and tear, plus overall better performance from keeping your RPMs in an optimized window on the tach, this is the same concept, but has much more attached to it. If you are manually closing an app or two in order to troubleshoot an app that is misbehaving, then it makes sense, but otherwise it is better to let Android do it's thing.

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: Nexus and memory usage

On devices with not much RAM (i.e., 512 MB or less), there might be some improvement in performance. But the devices with 2 GB of RAM like the 2013 N7 just don't need task killers. This is a good article to read to understand how RAM works.

http://m.androidcentral.com/ram-what-it-how-its-used-and-why-you-shouldnt-care

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Sassi666]

Re: Nexus and memory usage

Thank you guys for the replies I read the article, does this mean I don't even need to swipe away apps in the recent app tab either? Though I noticed Nexus Media Importer seems to use a lot of battery if left open.

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: Nexus and memory usage

Swiping away apps in the Recent Apps list doesn't necessarily equate to closing apps. Here's an interesting article which quotes a Google engineer regarding what happens when apps are swiped away. This was in reference to ICS, but I imagine it's still generally true for JB and KitKat.

What Exactly Happens When You Swipe An Android App From the Recent Apps List?

 

[Sassi666]

Re: Nexus and memory usage

Thank you