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

[chezm]

I don't recall ever doing that prior to testing for the bug however it could happen. I do enjoy the sound more on the Pixel 3 series than the 2 so I play music from the phone when sitting around the house alone but rare that I need to take pictures and it only crashes the music in certain modes. I'm sure we will see a fix soon.

I can’t recal a single time doing this. To me this issue all sound software releated but we will see if they fix it quickly

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

Yes, it seems that the battery saving processes are a little more aggressive than they should be when trying to limit the activity of background apps.

 

[vzwuser76]

Not really what I said. Here's what I actually said:



I didn't make the assertion that it only happens to the Pixel 3 and not the Pixel 2. I was saying that frequent app reloads is something that occurs on my Pixel 2 XL. But according to that video, it seems that there are (worryingly) even more app reloads on the Pixel 3.

For an $800 phone, people should be expecting much better. Hope Google come out and fix this.

You're getting another conversation confused. Caezar07 said from watching the video he linked that the issue only happened on the Pixel 3, not the 2. I replied that you said the issue was present on your 2XL, refuting his claim.

I wasn't saying speaking to how many times or how bad they were on the Pixel 3 vs the 2, only saying that it does happen on the 2, which Caezar07 said didn't have the issue. He didn't say they happen less or with less severity, he said it didn't happen at all on the 2.

 

[stjeffy86]

I am glad to hear that hopefully this issue can be fixed via a software fix. The 3XL is getting delivered today and I was a little worried about the issues being reported.

 

[djisia87]

on board with Mike here... It needs some SW updates. I think every phone has "a new" hiccups after hitting the publick. The Test group multiplies my several hundreds . i will assume we wukk see something before or the with the monthly security patch update

 

[SupraLB]

4GB ram is the problem. Just like in computers. You're not going to do much in a 4k world with just 4GB ram.

Its probably why the video camera is limited to 4k at 30fps, and not 60fps. The 4GB probably could not handle recording at 60fps at that data level, especially with all the other computational things the phone is doing at same time.

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

4GB ram is the problem. Just like in computers

Luckily for us, you presented your statement in a way that allows for it to be easily restated as an hypothesis in an easily falsifiable manner: the symptoms that we are seeing are due to the device having not enough RAM. Choices are H or Not H.

If this were true, we'd be seeing this in every device that has 4GB or less RAM. If your hypothesis is not true, then we would expect there to be devices where this isn't an issue. The latter is correct, the hypothesis is not true, Not H is correct, and therefore H is ruled out.

This is definitely not happening due to the "limitation" of having "only" 4 GB RAM.

Excellent point, I agree. It is definitely not a hardware issue. That leaves only software, given that our only two choices were hardware and software. Not H is represented by the entirety of software possibilities.

However, Not H can be further limited given that we already know what the problem is. So here's my question... why are we still inventing hypotheses when we already know the answer? That's weird.

 

[klau25]

4GB ram is the problem. Just like in computers. You're not going to do much in a 4k world with just 4GB ram.

Its probably why the video camera is limited to 4k at 30fps, and not 60fps. The 4GB probably could not handle recording at 60fps at that data level, especially with all the other computational things the phone is doing at same time.

I am no computer expert, and i am not saying you are wrong. but doesn't apple only has 4 GB of memory and they are doing 4k at 60fps with the iphone? does the fact that they use their own A12 chip is the reason why they are able to do it?

 

[Almeuit]

I am no computer expert, and i am not saying you are wrong. but doesn't apple only has 4 GB of memory and they are doing 4k at 60fps with the iphone? does the fact that they use their own A12 chip is the reason why they are able to do it?

Correct. Apple can do 4k @ 60 FPS recording.

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

I am no computer expert, and i am not saying you are wrong. but doesn't apple only has 4 GB of memory and they are doing 4k at 60fps with the iphone? does the fact that they use their own A12 chip is the reason why they are able to do it?

The limit on 4k video has several driving factors, but the primary one is the type of storage file system used. Other reasons include heat management, storage space (related to file system) and whether or not devices natively support recording in HEVC, which reduces file sizes. Some Android OEM's do allow for 4k60, but they mitigate the above issues by limiting the file length to 5 minutes, while most video filmed at 4k30 is limited to 10 minutes. As far as I am aware, Apple's custom chip (more efficient, less heat), custom file structure and the availability of the 256 and 512GB devices are what allow them to provide unlimited 4k60. Either way, RAM is not the limiting factor.

 

[SupraLB]

I am no computer expert, and i am not saying you are wrong. but doesn't apple only has 4 GB of memory and they are doing 4k at 60fps with the iphone? does the fact that they use their own A12 chip is the reason why they are able to do it?

Yes, but the Pixel relies more heavily on its software for the camera and one lens. Anything heavy on software use is going to run smoother with more ram. The Apple chips are world beaters no doubt, but chips are only one part of the equation.

 

[Tsepz_GP]

RAM is definitely a problem even the new iPhone X S Max multitasks better
https://youtu.be/Usvx_rJogxg

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

RAM is definitely a problem even the new iPhone X S Max multitasks better

What you're citing is unrelated to the issue here though. The issue is a specific set of tasks being killed as background processes due to overaggressive resource management by battery saving features.

 

[Tsepz_GP]

What you're citing is unrelated to the issue here though. The issue is a specific set of tasks being killed as background processes due to overaggressive resource management by battery saving features.

How is it different? The phone closed every single app in the multitasking round, something that should not at all happen in a modern smartphone of this caliber.

 

[Almeuit]

How is it different? The phone closed every single app in the multitasking round, something that should not at all happen in a modern smartphone of this caliber.

Yeah they need to tweak its management for sure. The amount (4 GB) should be fine though since the XS seemed to handle it fine.

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

How is it different? The phone closed every single app in the multitasking round, something that should not at all happen in a modern smartphone of this caliber.

Because it's unrelated, the way that you're stating it, to the issue we're discussing, which is a specific set of tasks being killed when they are background processes, which is happening due to overaggressive resource management by battery saving features of the software.

If you are trying to say that perhaps the overaggressive resource management is also causing the issue you're describing, then that might be related, but you are stating that it's because of a hardware issue: insufficient RAM. Insufficient RAM is NOT the issue being discussed in this thread though, so if you have proof that insufficient RAM is causing the issue you're describing, then the issue you're describing is unrelated to this thread's topic. We're discussing a software issue.

 

[Tsepz_GP]

Because it's unrelated, the way that you're stating it, to the issue we're discussing, which is a specific set of tasks being killed when they are background processes, which is happening due to overaggressive resource management by battery saving features of the software.

If you are trying to say that perhaps the overaggressive resource management is also causing the issue you're describing, then that might be related, but you are stating that it's because of a hardware issue: insufficient RAM. Insufficient RAM is NOT the issue being discussed in this thread though, so if you have proof that insufficient RAM is causing the issue you're describing, then the issue you're describing is unrelated to this thread's topic. We're discussing a software issue.

Okay. I get you.

 

[mustang7757]

I wonder once they fix this will I still get great battery life ? hope so

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

I wonder once they fix this will I still get great battery life ? hope so

Oddly enough, the way that Android handles background apps, it shouldn't matter much. These apps (music) were already using resources and that would remain unchanged. Most apps that are in the background are "frozen" and basically are allowed to make subtle calls to check for notifications, etc. on a very limited basis. One of the issues here is that music apps should already have an exception to these rules, because they're actually continuing to be actively used and are not just sitting idle waiting for input.

 

[Almeuit]

https://9to5google.com/2018/10/22/pixel-3-memory-management-issue-background-apps/

Clearly, something is wrong. It’s easy to point fingers toward Google’s decision to only include 4GB of RAM as the culprit, but that feels unlikely. After all, Google’s Pixel 2 devices have the same amount of RAM and less powerful processors, yet don’t have any of these memory management problems.

Spot on.