why does my phone use so much ram?

gollum18

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Android runs services in the background, some of which can be disabled. However, its mostly touchwiz (the skin that runs on your phone). It takes up most of that 1.3 itself. To give you a better picture, stock android (what's comes on the nexus devices, takes up 500-700mb by itself.

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Jerry Hildenbrand

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Here's a question, and Im not being a jerk.

What would you rather do with that RAM instead of using it to cache and run services and system processes? "Free" RAM is 100% wasted RAM.
 

nickgalaxys4

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Most RAM is used by operating system. So that's why you can't free it up 100%, as soon as you restart your phone everything in RAM is cleared.
 

paintdrinkingpete

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Guys just for info I'd like to know your opinions about these statements here and here

I think those bring up some valid points, but a lot of times arguments like this boil down to semantics and a lack of understanding how RAM works (generally speaking, not specific to anyone here). Ultimately, it's the OS's ability to utilize RAM efficiently that really determines performance.

Frankly, unless my phone (or computer or tablet or whatever) isn't running efficiently and/or is displaying performance issues, then I'm not going to worry too much about RAM usage and let Android do it's thing.

EDIT: changed for clarity.
 

ztmike

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Here's a question, and Im not being a jerk.

What would you rather do with that RAM instead of using it to cache and run services and system processes? "Free" RAM is 100% wasted RAM.

The point is that Touchwiz and all its bloat bogs down the phone ..pure Android runs lean with resources leaving the phone run far better on a performance level.

Its why most want root to get rid of all the bloat Samsung has come to put on Touchwiz.

I've probably disabled over 25 apps and at anytime my ram usage is still hitting over a gig. Its ridiculous and half the **** Samsung has cooked up doesn't even work right.

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Almeuit

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The point is that Touchwiz and all its bloat bogs down the phone ..pure Android runs lean with resources leaving the phone run far better on a performance level.

Its why most want root to get rid of all the bloat Samsung has come to put on Touchwiz.

I've probably disabled over 25 apps and at anytime my ram usage is still hitting over a gig. Its ridiculous and half the **** Samsung has cooked up doesn't even work right.

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Use a different launcher then.. Problem solved on TW taking up a bunch. Honestly though the phones now a day use a easy 500MB before anything is really opened... The more stuff you want the more RAM the system will use. Used RAM is good though.. Does nothing sitting empty. I leave my device to handle it.. I just help some by closing out apps I may not use for a long time such as Google music if I know I won't be streaming for awhile.

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ztmike

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Use a different launcher then.. Problem solved on TW taking up a bunch. Honestly though the phones now a day use a easy 500MB before anything is really opened... The more stuff you want the more RAM the system will use. Used RAM is good though.. Does nothing sitting empty. I leave my device to handle it.. I just help some by closing out apps I may not use for a long time such as Google music if I know I won't be streaming for awhile.

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The launcher is not going to help free up ram..I'm using Nova now.



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Osnopek

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I think those bring up some valid points, but a lot of times arguments like this boil down to semantics and a lack of understanding how RAM works (generally speaking, not specific to anyone here). Ultimately, it's the OS's ability to utilize RAM efficiently that really determines performance.

Frankly, unless my phone (or computer or tablet or whatever) isn't running efficiently and/or is displaying performance issues, then I'm not going to worry too much about RAM usage and let Android do it's thing.

EDIT: changed for clarity.

Yeah you're right, and I can't deny that until some times ago I had no doubt about how ram works in Android, in particular about the theory FREE RAM=WASTED RAM. But after I read this topic of the V6 supercharger script (which I've tried on low-end phones and it works great IMHO) author... well, I can't deny that I'm a little confused right now :D In particular when he says:
"The cached data is "invisible" to most free ram monitors in that it is included in the reported free ram. This is why you always hear "free ram is wasted ram blah blah blah" I'm thinkin no ram is really wasted. I don't think I'm a linux guru as I've never ran a linux pc. But I've read enough that I can make sense of the numbers and their effect. Seriously, if free ram is wasted ram then the phone would never slow down when low on ram and it wouldn't get snapply after killing a bunch of apps. This proves that the "free ram" is actually "doing something" and if it's doing "something," then it's not really wasted, is it? Sorry gurus, but that "wasted ram" mantra makes zero sense. The trick is to find the free ram level (includng cache) where things start to slow down. Anything above that won't bring any benefit and needlessly detracts from multitasking...
To summarize: Performance degradation occurs when AFM decreases. Which is fancy talk for: "Lag happens when free ram goes below the 'lag level'"
So yeah... next time a guru says "free ram is wasted ram," the reply is: "Define 'free ram'."
Because if they mean free ram as reported by most apps (ie. MemFree + Buffers + Cached), they are 100% wrong."
 

Almeuit

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The launcher is not going to help free up ram..I'm using Nova now.



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Okay but... What does it hurt having the RAM high? Why have so much if you won't even use it at all? I could see if you were close to being full on RAM usage but you're not..

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lucasbgp

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My S4 had almost all RAM used and it made the launcher boot everytime I closed an app. So, if I opened the foursquare to check-in somewhere, when I've closed it, the launcher reloaded all the icons and widgets... when I've tried to open the app tray, also all the icons were reloading.

This happened when I had 1,67GB of 1,76GB RAM. Even if I cleaned the memory, I always had less than 100MB of free RAM. I just restart the phone and now I have 1,13GB of RAM used. I don't know if this was a issue, but now I'll pay attention to the active applications and I'll check if I have some app that is using a big amount of RAM.
 

guyladouche

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My S4 had almost all RAM used and it made the launcher boot everytime I closed an app. So, if I opened the foursquare to check-in somewhere, when I've closed it, the launcher reloaded all the icons and widgets... when I've tried to open the app tray, also all the icons were reloading.

This happened when I had 1,67GB of 1,76GB RAM. Even if I cleaned the memory, I always had less than 100MB of free RAM. I just restart the phone and now I have 1,13GB of RAM used. I don't know if this was a issue, but now I'll pay attention to the active applications and I'll check if I have some app that is using a big amount of RAM.
Unless I'm mis-understanding you, I thought it was the case with Android that all icons and widgets (and other graphical items) are rendered when the OS starts up--one of the things the phone is doing on start-up before it's responsive; so no matter if you're viewing them or not, those picture files of icons/widgets/etc. will be persistently in the RAM as long as the OS has booted; and 'cleaning' the RAM should not cause the icons to 'reload.' Maybe the launcher is lagging a bit before it's showing the icons, which can happen with a lot of launchers (I think I'm seeing something like that on my LG Optimus G after I clear the RAM with the built-in utility). Though I could be wrong about what you're seeing, and exactly how the icons are handled (and what RAM cleaners actually do).
 

Omega_jamie

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Unless I'm mis-understanding you, I thought it was the case with Android that all icons and widgets (and other graphical items) are rendered when the OS starts up--one of the things the phone is doing on start-up before it's responsive; so no matter if you're viewing them or not, those picture files of icons/widgets/etc. will be persistently in the RAM as long as the OS has booted; and 'cleaning' the RAM should not cause the icons to 'reload.' Maybe the launcher is lagging a bit before it's showing the icons, which can happen with a lot of launchers (I think I'm seeing something like that on my LG Optimus G after I clear the RAM with the built-in utility). Though I could be wrong about what you're seeing, and exactly how the icons are handled (and what RAM cleaners actually do).


Well what I don't understand is if free ram is wasted ram then why is their a lag/battery performance change. For instance, I notice when I have low ram space my phone is kinda but not really lagging but my battery life is being drained, but even thou I clear out the running apps I still have about 450 mb left of ram out of 1.35 gb. But my phone goes about up to 50mb free of ram at times. But when I get it down to 600mb or 750mb free my phone seems to run faster and my battery lasts me a lot longer. Mind that I have the battery doctor, app task killer and lookout running. And this is my LG g2. My Samsung galaxy tab 2 is horrible. Once it gets to use like 80% of its ram I can't even get it to operate.
 

graysonk95

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I'm glad to read other people are having the same memory and lag issues I've noticed since day one.
So many of you probably came from stock Android or no Android and chock the poor performance up to Touchwiz/bloatware bogging it down. I'm sorry to say, older Samsung phones blow the S4 away as far as responsiveness goes.
Using my Galaxy S2 is like using a whole new handset. The S3 is the same way. Neither the S2 or S3 reach their "lag limit" after a few days of use. Granted, the S2 takes longer to do things because of its less powerful hardware, but its so much more responsive and snappy than the S4. The S4 hesitates so badly it's just an embarrassment. Not to mention my phone lags constantly which results in graphical glitches with the notification area. As soon as the RAM starts to fill past like 1.1GB it just takes longer and longer to respond to touches.
Scrolling a webpage on my S2 using Boat Browser is nearly liquid smooth.
Scrolling the same webpage on my S4 also with Boat is choppy and doesn't keep up with my finger.
Why is this? Nobody seems to have the answer. Why is a phone from 2011 more responsive to input than a phone from 2013?
Only my S2 has the Samsung bloat, I removed a lot of it from my S4.
If this phone reaches the "lag limit" so fast, why didn't they give us more RAM to cope?
If I understand the problem correctly, I can only chock it up to poor hardware and software design on Samsung's part.
Anyone who actually owns this phone can see clearing the RAM fixes the lag (temporarily). Why didn't Samsung give us more RAM or just optimize their software to use less?

Posted via Android Central App
 

h3xkore

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I'm glad to read other people are having the same memory and lag issues I've noticed since day one.
So many of you probably came from stock Android or no Android and chock the poor performance up to Touchwiz/bloatware bogging it down. I'm sorry to say, older Samsung phones blow the S4 away as far as responsiveness goes.
Using my Galaxy S2 is like using a whole new handset. The S3 is the same way. Neither the S2 or S3 reach their "lag limit" after a few days of use. Granted, the S2 takes longer to do things because of its less powerful hardware, but its so much more responsive and snappy than the S4. The S4 hesitates so badly it's just an embarrassment. Not to mention my phone lags constantly which results in graphical glitches with the notification area. As soon as the RAM starts to fill past like 1.1GB it just takes longer and longer to respond to touches.
Scrolling a webpage on my S2 using Boat Browser is nearly liquid smooth.
Scrolling the same webpage on my S4 also with Boat is choppy and doesn't keep up with my finger.
Why is this? Nobody seems to have the answer. Why is a phone from 2011 more responsive to input than a phone from 2013?
Only my S2 has the Samsung bloat, I removed a lot of it from my S4.
If this phone reaches the "lag limit" so fast, why didn't they give us more RAM to cope?
If I understand the problem correctly, I can only chock it up to poor hardware and software design on Samsung's part.
Anyone who actually owns this phone can see clearing the RAM fixes the lag (temporarily). Why didn't Samsung give us more RAM or just optimize their software to use less?

Posted via Android Central App

perfectpoint. no the problem isn't the hardware its the crap they keep adding to the software that btw you CAN'T uninstall!!! like all the Google apps i never use. +they don't make it where the os uses less ram just more and more. idk what you guys that say "unused ram is wasted ram" believe, but that's not true. the cpu processes the applications and tasks telling what to go where, ram is what makes it go. you have a lot of ram being used will cause lag and sometimes (like the reason I'm here) crashes because it can't handle all the power needed to send the information. also side note, the more ram used the LESS battery life... ram is hardware that uses electrical current. the longer and more ram needed to run will use more battery. anyways my question is, is there an app that you can use (maybe a launcher) that use can choose what launches and what doesn't period(including background)... basically not just masking but replacing the standard android?? (besides flashing)