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

[terellw]

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?

 

[anon(10092459)]

a) no.

b) hence, why I think the issue some highlight is a specific bug and not an issue of RAM.

 

[Mike Dee]

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?

Daniel Bader made a statement regarding this very question with conflicts. He does not assume it's lack of memory. He believes it's a management issue that can be resolved. I agree with his theory. There are a population of people that will say 4GB is not enough. I believe it would still happen with more memory if it's a management issue but have no way of proving it.

 

[djisia87]

I think I jinxed it... I took a photo: the app closed and the photo didn't save

 

[anon(10092459)]

Daniel Bader made a statement regarding this very question with conflicts. He does not assume it's lack of memory. He believes it's a management issue that can be resolved. I agree with his theory. There are a population of people that will say 4GB is not enough. I believe it would still happen with more memory if it's a management issue but have no way of proving it.

You know, I wish people who are saying that they've run into this, like Daniel or anyone for that matter, would actually be descriptive of their conditions. I streamed music through Google play and took a quick handful of "point and shoot" pictures trying to replicate this "shutdown" they claim and I didn't have any issues with the music or the pictures. Maybe I need to open a bucket of RAM heavy apps or something? Idk...

https://photos.app.goo.gl/U2c1ogttkSsLrU1y6

 

[Mike Dee]

You know, I wish people who are saying that they've run into this, like Daniel or anyone for that matter, would actually be descriptive of their conditions. I streamed music through Google play and took a quick handful of "point and shoot" pictures trying to replicate this "shutdown" they claim and I didn't have any issues with the music or the pictures. Maybe I need to open a bucket of RAM heavy apps or something? Idk...

https://photos.app.goo.gl/U2c1ogttkSsLrU1y6

It happens to me using some of the memory intensive settings in the camera but not all of the time. It only happened because I deliberately tried it. I don't typically play music while I'm taking photos so for myself it's a non-event but of course I'd like to see it fixed. If you live on your phone it could be annoying.

 

[anon(10092459)]

It happens to me using some of the memory intensive settings in the camera but not all of the time. It only happened because I deliberately tried it. I don't typically play music while I'm taking photos so for myself it's a non-event but of course I'd like to see it fixed. If you live on your phone it could be annoying.

Maybe that's it then. I need to try a bit harder to trigger it. But like you, I can't think of a time that I would be playing music and taking pictures as well. Just outside of my use case, I guess.

Regardless, you're right. Whatever bug it is, I'm sure will be fixed.

 

[bhatech]

There are definitely bugs in the current firmware where apps are getting closed for example podcast apps, YouTube app running in background suddenly gets closed when opening another app. Probably something to do with memory management because I didn't have these issues on Pixel 2 XL or many other 4 gb RAM phones. I'm guessing there are going to fix it in the next update or so. So there are memory management issues but that's not necessarily due to 4 gb RAM limitation.

I have also hit the photo not saving issue, happened to me on the selfie camera yesterday.

Let's see what all gets fixed in the November update which is just couple of weeks away.

 

[Mike Dee]

There are definitely bugs in the current firmware where apps are getting closed for example podcast apps, YouTube app running in background suddenly gets closed when opening another app. Probably something to do with memory management because I didn't have these issues on Pixel 2 XL or many other 4 gb RAM phones. I'm guessing there are going to fix it in the next update or so. So there are memory management issues but that's not necessarily due to 4 gb RAM limitation.

I have also hit the photo not saving issue, happened to me on the selfie camera yesterday.

Let's see what all gets fixed in the November update which is just couple of weeks away.

I didn't notice a photo saving issue yet but I'll try to keep an eye on it.

It boggles my mind as to how they don't see this issues during testing and fix it before it's on the market.

 

[Caezar07]

I can confirm that the Pixel 3 does have memory issues.

I'm guessing that since other phones operate with 4gb of ram fine, it's a software issue and can be fixed. I was using the phone to navigate while playing music, and the phone would constantly quit navigating if I switched to a different app. I missed a couple of turns because of this. A friend of mine also experienced extreme lag while watching high def Netflix. And from the getgo, there have been reports from the major reviewers of the music app randomly quitting if you switched over to the camera app. These all seem to be memory related issues. I've never seen memory issues so blatantly show themselves on an Android phone. How the hell did google miss this?

I'm not here to be apologetic for Google and the Pixel 3, and I haven't been too critical of any "flaws" or "issues" people have reported thus far. I can get over:
-The vibrating in the phone from the speakers
-The dim screen (relative to the galaxy S9 and iPhone)
-The refreshing of apps
-Wonky gestures
-They notch (fixed this by just not getting the XL)
-The easily scratched back glass (I understand that some "scratches" can be cleaned with water, but even with that, the back glass is still more scratch prone than the gorilla glass 5 front glass.

But this memory issue is too much. If this isn't resolved quickly, I will swallow the $35 restocking fee and get the OP6t instead.

 

[terellw]

I can confirm that the Pixel 3 does have memory issues.

I'm guessing that since other phones operate with 4gb of ram fine, it's a software issue and can be fixed. I was using the phone to navigate while playing music, and the phone would constantly quit navigating if I switched to a different app. I missed a couple of turns because of this. A friend of mine also experienced extreme lag while watching high def Netflix. And from the getgo, there have been reports from the major reviewers of the music app randomly quitting if you switched over to the camera app. These all seem to be memory related issues. I've never seen memory issues so blatantly show themselves on an Android phone. How the hell did google miss this?

I'm not here to be apologetic for Google and the Pixel 3, and I haven't been too critical of any "flaws" or "issues" people have reported thus far. I can get over:
-The vibrating in the phone from the speakers
-The dim screen (relative to the galaxy S9 and iPhone)
-The refreshing of apps
-Wonky gestures
-They notch (fixed this by just not getting the XL)
-The easily scratched back glass (I understand that some "scratches" can be cleaned with water, but even with that, the back glass is still more scratch prone than the gorilla glass 5 front glass.

But this memory issue is too much. If this isn't resolved quickly, I will swallow the $35 restocking fee and get the OP6t instead.

Thanks for the details--I'm also considering the 6T!

 

[osubeavs728]

I can confirm that the Pixel 3 does have memory issues.

I'm guessing that since other phones operate with 4gb of ram fine, it's a software issue and can be fixed. I was using the phone to navigate while playing music, and the phone would constantly quit navigating if I switched to a different app. I missed a couple of turns because of this. A friend of mine also experienced extreme lag while watching high def Netflix. And from the getgo, there have been reports from the major reviewers of the music app randomly quitting if you switched over to the camera app. These all seem to be memory related issues. I've never seen memory issues so blatantly show themselves on an Android phone. How the hell did google miss this?

I'm not here to be apologetic for Google and the Pixel 3, and I haven't been too critical of any "flaws" or "issues" people have reported thus far. I can get over:
-The vibrating in the phone from the speakers
-The dim screen (relative to the galaxy S9 and iPhone)
-The refreshing of apps
-Wonky gestures
-They notch (fixed this by just not getting the XL)
-The easily scratched back glass (I understand that some "scratches" can be cleaned with water, but even with that, the back glass is still more scratch prone than the gorilla glass 5 front glass.

But this memory issue is too much. If this isn't resolved quickly, I will swallow the $35 restocking fee and get the OP6t instead.

You can't really "confirm" anything. Merely share your anecdotal experience.

 

[anon(10092459)]

And from the getgo, there have been reports from the major reviewers of the music app randomly quitting if you switched over to the camera app. These all seem to be memory related issues.

I don't know, but in MBKHD's review his actual words were, "It seems like a memory thing. I kinda wonder if this would still happen with 6 or 8 gigs of RAM.. maybe it wouldn't. But maybe it's just an easily fixable bug."

So I don't know that any of this is a confirmed memory issue. I know I haven't been able to replicate the issue, even linked a video a couple of posts up. So for me, I'll wait to see what Google says about things.

 

[Golfdriver97]

I'll admit, I haven't run into any crashes and such, but I am also not really a heavy user, either. I might juggle between a couple apps here and there, but not often. I don't split screen apps either.

I would say that if this was an issue with 4 GB of RAM, would it not already be prevalent with so many other devices that have come before the 3 that had this much RAM? Meaning, wouldn't we have heard about it from the launch of one of the Samsung, LG, or OnePlus devices?

 

[Caezar07]

I'll admit, I haven't run into any crashes and such, but I am also not really a heavy user, either. I might juggle between a couple apps here and there, but not often. I don't split screen apps either.

I would say that if this was an issue with 4 GB of RAM, would it not already be prevalent with so many other devices that have come before the 3 that had this much RAM? Meaning, wouldn't we have heard about it from the launch of one of the Samsung, LG, or OnePlus devices?

This is why I think it's software related and not hardware.

 

[Mike Dee]

I don't know, but in MBKHD's review his actual words were, "It seems like a memory thing. I kinda wonder if this would still happen with 6 or 8 gigs of RAM.. maybe it wouldn't. But maybe it's just an easily fixable bug."

So I don't know that any of this is a confirmed memory issue. I know I haven't been able to replicate the issue, even linked a video a couple of posts up. So for me, I'll wait to see what Google says about things.

If it was strictly the quantity of memory my feeling is that it would also happen on the 2XL

 

[vzwuser76]

Doesn't take a software engineer to attest to this type of thing. I can also "confirm" that the back vibrates when sounds is playing through the speakers, or are you saying that I can't confirm that either?

Everyone is so apologetic for Google on any issue that comes up, it's laughable and no better than the Apple sheep.

Being a former electronics tech, and someone who diagnosed elcetronic issues for a living, it's not being apologetic.

What I think he was trying to say is the only thing you're confirming is that you're having an issue. Now what's causing the issue, that's what's unconfirmed. It COULD be a memory management issue, it COULD be not enough RAM, or it COULD be a bug between a couple apps. But with the little amount of hard evidence of the cause, nothing is confirmed except that people are having an issue. It's up to the engineers to find and confirm what the cause is.

I had to train new techs who came to work for us how to diagnose issues. Many of them would try and make an analysis of the problem without doing any legwork, taking any measurements, trying to replicate the issue, etc. Most times I let them keep running themselves in circles until they finally had no option but to do the legwork.

So we can theorize what is causing the issue, but until someone sits down, and does the legwork, we're all just peeing in the wind.

 

[HighTechToid]

While I don’t have the Pixel 3, my experience with my Pixel 2 XL leads me to believe that the 3 does have the issue because my 2 XL has it. It’s a very real issue. I don’t use any heavy ram apps or even social networking apps at all. But, I can flick back and forth between about 5 standard apps and by the time I typically get to the second cycle it’s reloaded most of them. And yes, if I take a picture it almost always shuts down certain apps.

The issue isn’t related to 4gb ram. It’s a software problem in how google is choosing to handle ram management. I’ve done enough of my not-so-scientific tests to say it’s a real issue. I’ve also noticed that the google apps almost never shut down when I do my tests. This makes me think that google is dedicated all ram to official apps and the system and everything else gets the back burner. I notice that when a google app does reload it still manages to return to the screen it was last on even though you can clearly see that the app was redrawn. It’s as if it’s redrawing it and then moving it back to where you had it instead of just opening the app instantly where it was last.

This issue led me to hold off on getting the Pixel 3 because I knew the issue would still be present since I already have Android Pie and the issue is definitely their software so there wasn’t going to be any difference with the 3.

Turning off adaptive battery doesn’t do anything.

There’s plenty of more scientific tests all over YouTube to show how poorly it handles ram. The Galaxy devices and OnePlus all manage it better.

It’s all in how google is choosing to be over aggressive in ram management. Maybe I’ll put together a simple video to show you how poor it is. I don’t even use games or media apps to need to show you it reloads even under basic usage patterns.

The reason some notice it and others don’t is all personal preference. Some may have apps where they want them to reload each time they open because they want the latest info. Others, like me, want to return to where I last was. So some just don’t notice it. But once you do notice it it’s a serious problem

 

[vzwuser76]

I didn't say it wasn't a real issue, I said without evidence it's hard to say with any certainty what's causing the issue.

 

[I Can Be Your Hero]

It absolutely is a real issue - it happens with my Pixel 2 XL all the time. I believe it would be one or a combination of these 3 causes:

1. The small 4gb ram which limits the number of active applications
2. Google have designed the OS to be very aggressive with ram management
3. It's an unintended bug

If the issue is # 1 , then there is no solution unless Google do some extensive OS reworking to free up ram from the OS level. Google can't retrofit another 2gb to the phones as they're already shipped, so I'd say # 1 would be the worst case scenario - 4gb ram really not being enough for the phone.

For # 2 I'm leaning to this being the actual cause. The Pixel 3 phones have quite small batteries and having the ram loaded with apps would drain the battery. Having 6gb ram would give more overhead for more applications to stay in the ram, but the small batteries on the phones mean worse battery life. I think because Google put in relative small batteries in the phones, they knew they couldn't have them running in the background continuously, so they have an aggressive ram management setup designed to kill of apps very quickly in an effort to conserve battery life. Google could have alleviated this by adding larger batteries to the phones, but instead, they decide to reduce the battery life on the Pixel 3 XL from the Pixel 2 XL.

So instead of Google putting in 6gb ram, instead of Google putting in larger batteries, they decided to have small batteries in the 3 and 3 XL and tweak the OS to have aggressive ram management to ensure battery life isn't terrible - but it's at the cost of user experience.

# 3 is the scenario that I actually hope is the case - it's just a bug, an oversight that Google could identify and fix.

Now, I don't know definitively what the issue is, I'm just speculating that it's issue # 2. Either way, something needs to be done, because as it stands, it's quite terrible. Many reports of music apps being killed off when taking photos, videos showing app reloads when just cycling through 3 common applications etc. I constantly experience many app reloads during the day on the Pixel 2 XL and this really does concern me with the Pixel 3. For a minimum $800 phone, I don't believe it's acceptable.