ram memory question

[louis14]

I have a Motorola moto 3rd gen with android 6.0.1 with 1 Gbyte ram
when i look to the memory specifications it says:
total memory:898 MB
free:177MB
will the free space be used when I install more apps?
or will the free space only be used when I run apps?

 

[kramer5150]

Android always tries to keep using RAM, whether the app is actively open and being used or not.

The OS will monitor your most frequently used apps and will always try and use RAM to continually run core process functions for frequently used apps. Whether you are actively using the app or not. Keeping processes actively running in RAM (in the background) uses less battery and CPU processing. You could say Android is "healthier" when it manages and uses RAM in the background.

"will the free space be used when I install more apps?" - YES, (but theres also a good possibility its being used now)
or will the free space only be used when I run apps? - NO (see my explanation above)

IMHO there is good RAM usage and bad RAM usage too. Some apps I have found also consume too much battery for my liking when they are allowed to run in background RAM. Facebook and the Amazon suite of apps were using ~15-20% of my battery at any given time. That IMHO is not good RAM usage. I am not exactly sure what they were doing, but I felt it necessary to un-install them from my phone. Not to conserve RAM, but to conserve battery.

 

[hallux]

To counter kramer5150..

will the free space be used when I install more apps? RAM is for files/apps in use, so no the 1 GB RAM won't be more used just by installing more apps.
or will the free space only be used when I run apps? yes, when you open apps they will be added to the in-use apps and will take RAM space.

ROM space, or the 8 GB or 16 GB storage capacity that was advertised, WILL get more used when you install more apps.

 

[anon(9072051)]

will the free space be used when I install more apps? RAM is for files/apps in use, so no the 1 GB RAM won't be more used just by installing more apps.

Question (from a childlike state of ignorance):

So does this mean that the amount of available storage has no impact on available memory? If I use up, say, 25 GB of my available 25.98 GB of storage with apps, then I should not expect to see an increase in the amount of memory used simply because all of those apps are installed?

 

[kramer5150]

It should also be pointed out that it varies greatly on the apps... how much background RAM each one uses. Its better to take it case by case and individually monitor usage.

 

[hallux]

Question (from a childlike state of ignorance):

So does this mean that the amount of available storage has no impact on available memory? If I use up, say, 25 GB of my available 25.98 GB of storage with apps, then I should not expect to see an increase in the amount of memory used simply because all of those apps are installed?

Just because an app is installed does not mean it's going to use RAM. Now, it may launch at start up (most shouldn't), and Android should manage the memory such that inactive apps will purge from RAM when some needs to be freed up for one you want to launch.

 

[ManiacJoe]

I have a Motorola moto 3rd gen with android 6.0.1 with 1 Gbyte ram
when i look to the memory specifications it says:
total memory:898 MB
free:177MB
will the free space be used when I install more apps?
or will the free space only be used when I run apps?

There is two types of memory in your phone:
- RAM : random access memory, used to run your apps and run the OS
- storage : this is like the hard drive of your computer. This holds your installed apps, music, photos, videos, documents, etc.

Your phone's 1 gig of RAM is where your running apps are working. As a running app needs more memory, other apps may be swapped out or suspended so that the active app gets what it needs. This slows down the apps running in the background because they will need to be swapped back into RAM to run, probably causing something else to be swapped out of RAM. This is the nature of a multi-tasking OS. The more RAM your phone has, the more apps can run or more apps can run faster at the same time.

Your storage space is where users normally run out of space. When this happens you cannot install more apps or save more photos, etc. The only option here is to delete some files or uninstall some old apps. Some phones let you install micro SD cards to increase the storage space.