Just for fun- How much free RAM do you have?

[egg_head]

So, I did some major cleaning today removing everything that was not essential to me from the /system/app directory.
No more touchwiz, no more bloat, no live wallpapers, etc..

After doing so, I restarted my phone and then checked RAM from the stock task manager and I'm pleased with the results.

How is everyone else's RAM looking?

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[ragnarokx]

If I didn't uninstall the stock task manager I would gladly tell you lol. Guess there's no other built in way to check huh?

 

[NOsquid]

Mine hangs out at 250 or so with AutoKiller on "strict." When I have AK on "optimum" or uninstalled it just stays at 260-280. I notice it being a little snappier but I'm totally willing to admit that could be in my head.

 

[emptycube]

I'm not rooted and I'm running LauncherPro so I still have bloatware/TW/etc and when I restart Task Manager shows 145MB free. That's with Skype, City ID, Nuance, Weather Channel and System Info widgets plus the normal stuff 'open'.

EDIT: Ooops, Task Manager actually says 187MB free; it's the System Info widget that says 145MB free. Not sure why they don't agree.

But that number always steadily drops until it gets in the 60MB free neighborhood (per System Info widget) and just hovers there.

 

[namebrandon]

With normal usage, ~80MB free.

 

[emptycube]

My post above is all wrong. Task Manager shows RAM 'in use' and the System Info widget shows 'free RAM'.

I thought I read Phil N. (or somebody on this forum) say a bunch of 'free RAM' is actually not necessarily a good thing.

 

[ecpolo521]

I only have about 57 MB free and that's with removing all the VZW bloat. Is that bad? How do I clear out more RAM?

 

[Chris3D]

Mine is using about 175 megs, but I have a few widgets running (Beautiful Widgets and Extended Controls), and didn't totally clear out the apps directory.

Since I use ADW, I did remove the TouchWiz launcher, and that alone reduced the memory usage by a good 50 megs.

 

[emptycube]

I only have about 57 MB free and that's with removing all the VZW bloat. Is that bad? How do I clear out more RAM?

Is that right after you reboot? As you use the phone RAM gets used and, at least in my case, it always keeps dropping until it gets in the 60MB neighborhood and just stays around there. So the number right after you reboot doesn't seem to be that important anyway.

Judging from the task killer threads/articles, Android keeps stuff you have used 'loaded' and then juggles/kills things if RAM gets low and it needs more. What bothers non-rooted people like me is all the bloatware that I never, ever use taking up RAM as soon as I turn on the phone. So Android gets to the point of needing to juggle/kill things that much quicker. Seems like a big ball and chain but I don't really notice any performance drop (but I don't test it or look for it either).

This was really my main use for ATK, to kill that useless bloatware when I reboot. But I tried the Start-up killer app and it actually kills a thing or two that ATK can't/doesn't and then disappears. No point killing Skype or CityID when any phone call is just going to open that stuff up again.

 

[shaundizzle]

My post above is all wrong. Task Manager shows RAM 'in use' and the System Info widget shows 'free RAM'.

I thought I read Phil N. (or somebody on this forum) say a bunch of 'free RAM' is actually not necessarily a good thing.

From my understanding the reason why free ram is not necessarily a good thing is because android is built to multitask. Android kills apps that are unnecessary on its own. Therefore closing apps and freeing ram means having to restart the app taking up more cpu and supposedly kills your battery faster, many people think killing apps saves battery
I have my task killer set to safe because that's all that's necessary. The propose of a task killer is to kill applications that are unresponsive
I usually have around 80gb of free ram.

And removing bloatware does not free ram. It could if you delete some apps that start up regularly by them selves like the built in email app.
I'm pretty sue your mainly just clearing internal memory not random access memory
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

 

[jackmei2]

yup, floating at about 240ish RAM used, so about 80MB free. this is with me being rooted and removed the vzw bloat

 

[Johnly]

before or after gs task killer? I would often be fine....just closed apps to free ram, via gs task killer. Wish samsung would have NOT split my 540mhz ram.

 

[Johnly]

From my understanding the reason why free ram is not necessarily a good thing is because android is built to multitask. Android kills apps that are unnecessary on its own. Therefore closing apps and freeing ram means having to restart the app taking up more cpu and supposedly kills your battery faster, many people think killing apps saves battery
I have my task killer set to safe because that's all that's necessary. The propose of a task killer is to kill applications that are unresponsive
I usually have around 80gb of free ram.

And removing bloatware does not free ram. It could if you delete some apps that start up regularly by them selves like the built in email app.
I'm pretty sue your mainly just clearing internal memory not random access memory
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

Free ram is ALWAYS good.

 

[emptycube]

And removing bloatware does not free ram. It could if you delete some apps that start up regularly by them selves like the built in email app.
I'm pretty sue your mainly just clearing internal memory not random access memory

Take CityID as a bloatware example. CityID takes up RAM, I can see my RAM go up when I kill it. If I were to remove CityID, then it would never open and take up RAM. So I don't see how removing bloatware doesn't free RAM. CityID opens everytime I get a phone call so there is no point killing it because it's just going to open again and take up CPU time and battery as you said. I consider Email similarly, no point in killing it when it's just going to have to open again soon.

I start-up kill stuff like VZNav and 3G Mobile Hotspot; things that I'll never use and don't auto-open everytime the phone rings or I get an e-mail. And RAM always goes up when I kill them.

 

[JaeKar99]

Currently running all stock, no root, 2.2 market, LP, and four other apps; Recent reboot, removal of a couple of ugly apps; 144 Meg free..

Give me about an hour of phone calls, calendar additions, wifi use and...- 80 free.

 

[Sta11i0n]

I'm rooted with VZ bloatware removed, still using TW. On startup I have ~150MB free. After regular use and using the default task manager to make sure everything closes I average ~80-90MB free. I haven't experienced any performance issues at this level. Using ATK kept it at ~130MB free but didn't seem any faster and certainly used more battery.

 

[namebrandon]

Android is not Windows. It's very efficient in its management of RAM, and the way applications function inside of Android is a big operational shift from many standard operating systems. How many other OS's do you use where you are not expected to close an application when you're done with it? Probably not many, but that's a central tenet of Android, you should never actually have to exit an app.

You're not going to "run out" of memory on your device, Android isn't going to let that happen unless something is massively wrong. Some people like to make it about the numbers, and if you enjoy doing that, go for it.

It's a lot like driving on a crowded highway. You either change lanes all the time (the task killer, bloatware removing, RAM watching people) or you just stay in one lane and ride it out. In most cases everyone ends up getting there at pretty much the same time.

 

[Johnly]

Yup^ and with linux base, the more ram the better.

 

[voghan]

My RAM is 276mb/325mb

program 339mb/1.55gb
personal 17.39mb/105mb
external 5.92gb/14.73gb

So I'm hovering around 50mb of free ram which should be fine. I've removed most of the bloat. Still using the Vibrant's TouchWiz launcher.

 

[egg_head]

I didn't want this to become clogged with task killer discussion, but it is worth mentioning.

I do not use any task killer.
Not even the embedded killer.
Task killers are completely unnecessary in my opinion.

That screenshot was taken immediately after a reboot.

Prior to removing all the bloat and touchwiz from /system/app the RAM usage was much higher from the start.

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