Is app memory space an actual limitation?

[MarkDF]

I'm curious to hear from actual Moto Droid users their take on the actual limitations (if any) imposed by the (restrictive sounding to me) application memory space limitation.

I'm a software guy, so I understand the difference between an app and it's data, and I know that data can go over on the SD card, and that furthermore, tricks could be played to put only a boot loader in the app space, and pull more app code from the SD card. However, these tricks seem like they might be burdensome on a developer.

The last thing that I as a user want to do is to have to nit pick memory usage, but then again, the only place I've seen this issue raised is in reviews, not by users. So what is the real day to day affect of this limitation?

Thanks.

 

[jjenson]

I have had no effect on any application I have loaded. I have not loaded any 800mb games though as I just don't see a need for that. But I have had no issues and I have installed probably 30 applications ranging from some super nintendo emulators to RDP programs since I own a software/web development company.

Personally I see no issue as you only need to install the exe file which is small in the app memory and everything else can be installed on a sd card.

 

[thekC]

Interesting read:

Motorola Droid Limited Memory; Over Promise Ability, Under Deliver Power | BNET Technology Blog | BNET

 

[VoltaicShock]

They don't mention how the app installed can reference information on the SD card and how apps can store info on the SD card and utilize this.

Sure it's limited in the space for apps installed, but a game can install as much as it wants on the SD card.

 

[raremage]

So far this is much to do about nothing - can anyone honestly say this has impacted them?

 

[Roy Aguilera]

Has anyone experienced any issues with memory so far, or has all the talk about the Droid OS handling memory been true?
I would not think too much about memory. It has not been an issue thus far. If all the talk about Google working on a way to store apps on the SD is true, all your worries will be gone overnight.

 

[white_star_32]

I've not run into any problems with memory, but only because i'm not heavy on apps. i have the 'core' apps i 'need' to exist. right now i don't have a 100,000 apps to choose from so maybe that's part of it. but i have everything i need plus a few extras. if google can open the sd card up as an option that would be great! but i'd rather the volume rocker be able to set ALL alerts to vibrate and not just the ringer...that's the thing i'm more concerned with! ^_^

Also - that article about about the RAM, technically the iphone does multiple apps. switching is not graceful by any means, but when you go from browser, to pandora, and back to browser it loads right away as if it had only been minimized. if you jail break the iphone you can download apps that show what other apps are running in the background (ie: safair is still running while you are in pandora - i don't know the details and i know most apps really close when you switch, but the iphone is multitasking). so at 256mb...really, the droid has enough memory imho...

 

[ccoady750#AC]

I've not run into any problems with memory, but only because i'm not heavy on apps. i have the 'core' apps i 'need' to exist. right now i don't have a 100,000 apps to choose from so maybe that's part of it....

I honestly haven't found any apps for the iPhone that aren't available already in some shape or form for the droid. There are a lot more duplicate apps on the apple store, and it's been around longer.

 

[white_star_32]

agreed - both of my co-workers are 3GS users...yes the phone is great. i almost switched. but since being on the droid...all iphone envy is gone. it'd be great tie in with lutron and sonos equipment...but seeing as i don't actually own any of that. i have the lightsaber and i'm happy. ^_^

 

[zyxwvu44]

i have no issues at all, i feel like a have a ton of apps compared to my bb, and im using 1/5th of my memoery. my roms, caches, rss feeds and more are stored on my sdcard.

edit: also that "article" is obviously hugely biased towards apple

 

[danachee]

Nope, its not for me. I've got 42 apps installed, with 16 of them being over 1MB: DocsToGo - 7.7MB, K-9 Mail - 7.0MB, AP Mobile - 3.8MB are the top 3 in size. And I've still got 188MB left. I can't even think of anything that will use up the rest of this memory. I've got games, mailers, notifiers, dialers, clocks, calculators, etc. So from my point of view, 256MB is more than enough.

 

[TKNOVA]

I have had no issues so far. I have more than 125 apps loaded on the Droid and still have more than 50% of the phone memory available to me.

 

[YoungChrisG]

I have had no issues so far. I have more than 125 apps loaded on the Droid and still have more than 50% of the phone memory available to me.

Holy Crap! LOL! I din't see twenty in the store that I really want lol. 125? You're a capital letter G!

 

[Jim Mooneyhan]

I can. I have a Nextbook 7P12-8G with Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich. My memory allocation for apps is LOCKED at 397K even though I have 8G of internal memory and an additional 32G external memory on a micro-SD card inserted into the tablet. On SEVERAL occasions, I have attempted to download apps only to be notified that there is INSUFFICIENT MEMORY for the app. I have had to delete apps in order to download new apps. I saw a RCA tablet online and contacted RCA about the app memory allocation and I was notified that their device will not allow more memory to be allocated for apps; their unit uses Android 4.4 KitKat. Makes me want to stick with my Windows laptop and desktop; at least I can allocate memory the way I want.