S3's 2GB ram

**ulnek** · 11-05-2012, 08:02 PM

is there something on the phone that actually requires that 1 extra gb of ram so essentially we only have one working gb? or do we actually get to use those 2gb? just wondering if they made it 2gb cause something on the phone requires that extra gb. or was it added because the us version is only using a dual core?

**gollum18** · 11-05-2012, 08:09 PM

I can tell you stock touchwiz pulls about 700mb from the ram, and even with pure aosp my setup still pulls about 500mb.

But I'm running on a sprint gs3, sprint only included sprint zone on top of what Sammy adds.

I'm not sure but given verizons affinity for bloatware, other vzw gs3 may very well run low on ram because of verizons interference.

I'm willing to bet that's why us variants all got that extra gig, because of all the extra crap the us carriers put on their phones.

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**dpham00** · 11-05-2012, 10:55 PM

Whatever the reason, I have used over 1gb on my GS3, so I am glad that it has 2GB.

**bjboucher** · 11-06-2012, 05:24 AM

On mine, even after I clear the ram I have about 500-600mb used instantly. I'm normally sitting right around 1gb of it being used at anytime. So, I'm glad we have 2GB as well!

**Andrew Martonik** · 11-06-2012, 11:55 PM

Originally Posted by ulnek

is there something on the phone that actually requires that 1 extra gb of ram so essentially we only have one working gb?

TouchWiz.

**jdub251** · 11-07-2012, 05:29 AM

Mine says 1.56 total ram. Is that correct? I've been wondering.

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**lbkiml** · 11-07-2012, 08:59 AM

Originally Posted by jdub251

Mine says 1.56 total ram. Is that correct? I've been wondering.

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I get the same.
There is never the exact amount as listed. Probably some resources it needs.
Same with external HD's. If its listed as 1TB, you actually get like 980GB.

**paintdrinkingpete** · 11-07-2012, 02:30 PM

Originally Posted by lbkiml

I get the same.
There is never the exact amount as listed. Probably some resources it needs.
Same with external HD's. If its listed as 1TB, you actually get like 980GB.

Off topic, but this is actually for a different reason...

Hardware manufacturers list capacity in GB as defined in powers of 10. I.e. 1GB = 10^9 bytes = 1,000,000,000 bytes
Most software, however, defines a GB the correct way, in binary powers of 2; i.e. 1GB = 2^30 = 1,073,741,824 bytes

To simplify, here is how the units of storage are measured in binary:
1 KB = 1024 bytes (2^10)
1 MB = 1024 KB = 1048576 bytes (2^20)
1 GB = 1024 MB = 1048576 KB = 1073741824 bytes (2^30)

Using decimal:
1 KB = 1000 bytes
1 MB = 1000 KB
1 GB = 1000 MB

This is why a 500 GB Hard drive will only display as having ~465 GB when installed...just a difference of the definition of what a GB actually is. When most agree that using the binary definition is more correct, obviously hardware manufacturers prefer to use the decimal definition because it makes the capacity appear larger.

**zedorda** · 11-07-2012, 05:53 PM

In December 1998, an international standards organization attempted to address these dual definitions of the conventional prefixes by proposing unique binary prefixes and prefix symbols to denote multiples of 1,024, such as "mebibyte (MiB)", which exclusively denotes 2^20 or 1,048,576 bytes. The proposal has seen little adoption by the computer industry, and the conventionally prefixed forms of "byte" continue to denote slightly different values depending on context.

**Teemu2** · 11-07-2012, 06:22 PM

OS processes running on the device will take up some of the ram right off the bat. I've seen mine go well over 1GB with regular usage, so I too am very glad that the phone comes with 2GB.

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**paintdrinkingpete** · 11-07-2012, 08:32 PM

Originally Posted by zedorda

In December 1998, an international standards organization attempted to address these dual definitions of the conventional prefixes by proposing unique binary prefixes and prefix symbols to denote multiples of 1,024, such as "mebibyte (MiB)", which exclusively denotes 2^20 or 1,048,576 bytes. The proposal has seen little adoption by the computer industry, and the conventionally prefixed forms of "byte" continue to denote slightly different values depending on context.

Yup.

Keep in mind this is a bit off-topic from the OP, mainly because RAM is pretty much always quantified using the binary definition in relation to the prefixes (i.e. 1 GB = 1024 MB).

I think the reason that the "mebibyte"/"MiB" convention hasn't caught on is because besides hardware manufacturers, most applications so use the binary definitions of units of bits; although there are certainly exceptions. Key is, just remember that when you buy a "1 TB" hard drive, you're buying a drive that is advertised to hold 1,000,000,000,000 bytes, which your computer will recognize as ~931 GB...because your computer defines "1TB" as 1,099,511,627,776 bytes.

**ulnek** · 11-09-2012, 02:10 AM

now i wonder how much ram the international version uses and why it is using less since they only have 1gb.

**blade22222** · 11-09-2012, 06:11 AM

Ram is usually displayed correctly, descepency is mostly with hard drives.

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**PJnc284** · 11-09-2012, 08:03 AM

Originally Posted by ulnek

now i wonder how much ram the international version uses and why it is using less since they only have 1gb.

It's the way android memory management system is running. The extra 2GB of ram is allowing more stuff to run in the background before it starts getting cleaned up. With Android, unused ram is pretty much wasted ram. If the phones came with 4 or even 8GB of ram, you'd still see the vast majority being used.

**paintdrinkingpete** · 11-09-2012, 08:54 AM

Originally Posted by PJnc284

It's the way android memory management system is running. The extra 2GB of ram is allowing more stuff to run in the background before it starts getting cleaned up. With Android, unused ram is pretty much wasted ram. If the phones came with 4 or even 8GB of ram, you'd still see the vast majority being used.

Not sure, but there may be swapfiles (pagefiles) in play as well? Either way, that is correct.