Do the Pixels have a memory management issue? And if so, can't it just be fixed via update?

[I Can Be Your Hero]

Also, do we think Google made these changes, although too extreme, in an effort to need less RAM?

Not to need less ram, it would be more to conserve battery life....which Google could have addressed by putting in a larger battery. We're seeing phones with 4k+ mAh batteries and they're not needing such aggressive ram management.

Having a large battery would have benefitted the phone so much - wouldn't have to be so aggressive with ram management, much better battery life for the user and possibly would have allowed a higher max brightness for the screen as there's more battery to chew through.

 

[Mike Dee]

Not to need less ram, it would be more to conserve battery life....which Google could have addressed by putting in a larger battery. We're seeing phones with 4k+ mAh batteries and they're not needing such aggressive ram management.

Having a large battery would have benefitted the phone so much - wouldn't have to be so aggressive with ram management, much better battery life for the user and possibly would have allowed a higher max brightness for the screen as there's more battery to chew through.

I'm all for a bigger battery, although far so good with the XL. Maybe next year Google will up their game with HTC team on board.

 

[ChuckG73]

I took 20 pictures of a family friends birthday and none zilch zero saved. Furious almost asked for a refund for the Pixel 3. Instead I did a complete format and reinstalled all my apps, have not had an issue since.

 

[Bon Hernandez]

Not sure if this will help,. But giving feedback to Google through your pixel phones may help them see to address the management issue. I did this last night, but I'm only one person .... And I am not sure if that's the right way of getting them to notice the problem...

 

[ChuckG73]

Not sure if this will help,. But giving feedback to Google through your pixel phones may help them see to address the management issue. I did this last night, but I'm only one person .... And I am not sure if that's the right way of getting them to notice the problem...

I did this as well on Sunday. She said it was the first time she has heard this and documented the case so it could be fixed in the next security release.

 

[Mike Dee]

I did this as well on Sunday. She said it was the first time she has heard this and documented the case so it could be fixed in the next security release.

It was the first time she heard it, but I doubt Google is not aware of it

 

[ChuckG73]

I agree

 

[Almeuit]

I took 20 pictures of a family friends birthday and none zilch zero saved. Furious almost asked for a refund for the Pixel 3. Instead I did a complete format and reinstalled all my apps, have not had an issue since.

See here.

https://forums.androidcentral.com/g...le-will-issue-update-disappearing-photos.html

 

[Almeuit]

It was the first time she heard it, but I doubt Google is not aware of it

They are completely aware of it.

https://forums.androidcentral.com/g...le-will-issue-update-disappearing-photos.html

 

[captainkirkw]

Doubtful since the keynote was a good 2ish weeks after the release of iPhones ?

I'm not an Apple guy by any means, my last was the iPhone 4 and its been all Android since then. I am just disappointed to be reading about this memory management issue when I, and others, expect a bit more from this phone right out of the box. I'll try the adaptive battery and white list work around because I know I won't be able to stand not trying out this phone since the box is right here next to me. Just a bit of let down when I was so excited for my first Pixel phone but hopefully Google can make things right with an update.

 

[Almeuit]

I'm not an Apple guy by any means, my last was the iPhone 4 and its been all Android since then. I am just disappointed to be reading about this memory management issue when I, and others, expect a bit more from this phone right out of the box. I'll try the adaptive battery and white list work around because I know I won't be able to stand not trying out this phone since the box is right here next to me. Just a bit of let down when I was so excited for my first Pixel phone but hopefully Google can make things right with an update.

And iPhone had issues out the box with its starting price phone of $1,100 .. It happens. It is inevitable for software to have bugs. In a perfect world there would be no bugs but that isn't going to happen.

To me the key isn't that a company releases with no bugs -- it is how fast they fix it. I am confident Google will fix it. Samsung or something -- well -- go look at the Note 9 area and look how many have been waiting for a camera fix for awhile now and have no idea if it is coming. That is where I say it isn't okay.

 

[Mike Dee]

And iPhone had issues out the box with its starting price phone of $1,100 .. It happens. It is inevitable for software to have bugs. In a perfect world there would be no bugs but that isn't going to happen.

To me the key isn't that a company releases with no bugs -- it is how fast they fix it. I am confident Google will fix it. Samsung or something -- well -- go look at the Note 9 area and look how many have been waiting for a camera fix for awhile now and have no idea if it is coming. That is where I say it isn't okay.

When I had my LGV20 no attempts were ever made to fix the camera. I had the V30 for 2 weeks while waiting for the pixel 2XL last year....same lousy camera.

 

[timmalone]

I've never really cared about specs before, but I'm starting to as the prices on Android phones increase. I mean, when the Nexus 4 came out, it was startlingly cheap compared to Apple's devices. Yeah, Apple may have had it beat in some specs, but those differences weren't worth the price difference to me. The problem as I see it is that Apple is killing it on the hardware improvements and Android phone makers just keep increasing their prices. Samsung was always expensive, but even Huawei is getting in on the $1,000 phone craze. A Pixel 3 XL is just $100 cheaper than the iPhone XS. The regular Pixel 3 is actually more expensive than the XR. I'm not sure its faults can be excused as easily as when Google's flagships were closer to half the cost of the competition.

As the title says, apparently some reviewers have had issues with apps staying open in the background.

My questions are: a) is this your experience? B) I find it hard to just "blame it on the 4gb ram" as many phones including the xl2 have 4gb and this issue isn't there-hence, can we expect a simple update to fix this issue?

 

[Chuzu]

Memory issues do abound as I normally run 4-6 apps at a time and memory manager is already showing 3.1 gb used. I often have apps refreshing and on my S9+ with 6gb I don't have this issue. Of course that galaxy is still running 8.1 so i'll wait on an update and go from there...but with that big screen and only 4 gb of memory, power usage will get greatly reduced.

 

[Mike Dee]

Memory issues do abound as I normally run 4-6 apps at a time and memory manager is already showing 3.1 gb used. I often have apps refreshing and on my S9+ with 6gb I don't have this issue. Of course that galaxy is still running 8.1 so i'll wait on an update and go from there...but with that big screen and only 4 gb of memory, power usage will get greatly reduced.

I hear what everyone is saying about apps refreshing but for my purposes I never even gave it a thought until the "is 4GB enough RAM conversation" began. I mean it's nice and all to have quick opening apps but is that vital? I'm just not seeing it. Now the "I'm a power user crowd" will say that they need it for productivity and that's OK but I don't think that's where Google is aiming. I also realize that part of it is that many feel for the price why can't Google up their game. Ultimately when we are spending this kind of money we have to be careful with our choices and compromises. I know for my usage there is no perfect phone but for me Google comes close.

 

[cactuspete23]

I remember when 1GB was considered a lot of RAM! Anyway, as Apps keep using more, there will never be enough for everyone!

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

Memory issues do abound as I normally run 4-6 apps at a time and memory manager is already showing 3.1 gb used. I often have apps refreshing and on my S9+ with 6gb I don't have this issue. Of course that galaxy is still running 8.1 so i'll wait on an update and go from there...but with that big screen and only 4 gb of memory, power usage will get greatly reduced.

Ideally you want that 3.1 to be as close to 3.33, or 90%, as possible. That said, all three of my Pixel 3 devices have also only been hovering around a 3.1 average, including one doing so all summer long.

One of the main tenants of Android resource management is that we want as much RAM in use as possible. 3.1 is only about 82%.

One of the main problems with some of the OEMs doing 6 GB + RAM is that they are trying to force a Windows style mentality upon Android resource management, which a) requires more RAM and b) is the main cause of the stuttering and "lag" that are seen on those devices.

Basically, they need more RAM because they cause more RAM overhead by misusing RAM.

 

[Anthimos Moschonas]

Ram question on pixel 3XL

Do you guys get annoyed because of the 4gb available ram and no expandable storage?

 

[osubeavs728]

I hear what everyone is saying about apps refreshing but for my purposes I never even gave it a thought until the "is 4GB enough RAM conversation" began. I mean it's nice and all to have quick opening apps but is that vital? I'm just not seeing it. Now the "I'm a power user crowd" will say that they need it for productivity and that's OK but I don't think that's where Google is aiming. I also realize that part of it is that many feel for the price why can't Google up their game. Ultimately when we are spending this kind of money we have to be careful with our choices and compromises. I know for my usage there is no perfect phone but for me Google comes close.

I've never understood this either. I mean is your life really robbed of you have to wait 1 service for an app to load?

 

[onthecouchagain]

Has Google even acknowledged this issue yet with the RAM being too aggressive? Or is this just how things are going to be with 4GB RAM?