What's with the 3gb of ram?

[anon8380037]

We all have more important things to worry about, but are we being short changed with the advertised 3 gb of ram?

My 3 week old Note 3 is always using about 1.6 to 2 gb of the shown available 2.36 to 2.44 of ram. I try to have little apps working, and disable some.
I can figure that it will be using the headroom while it is available, and as the ram kill button explains, it will shut less used apps when ram is needed.

But is this a case of the s-pen and added bloatware hogging the free ram, meaning its a 1 to to 1.5 gb phone without the gimmicks?

This has probably been raised before.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[sauce_a_poutine]

Probably bloatware and and background utilities like had-writing recognition software.

On my phone, a Xperia ZL, (no stylus, voice to text and no whiz-bang widgets), I killed the "Google Now" crap, have no custom launchers or widgets running, and my typical "at rest" system memory footprint is aprox.1.1Gb used, and 900Mb free.

I can easily reach 1Gb free if I kill all old and unused processes and app caches.

 

[anon8380037]

Thanks.

I too will not sell myself to Google Now!

I still use my old Galaxy S2 with the same amount of downloaded apps on both phones, and it is quite happy with 1gb. Though it (S2) is currently showing 498 of 826 mb available after my "clearing memory".

So I'm sure the 3gb on the Note 3 does help speed things along, and mine was a bit of a non-question; but I was expecting to have loads of spare ram in the early days.

I was curious what the serious techies might have to say.

The new Note 10.1 (2014) also has 3gb, plus an even higher resolution screen m

It's surely like a car maker advertising an extra large fuel tank to compliment its super duper V24 12.0 litre engine, and 4 tonnes weight.



Basically 3gb does not make it a high performing phone if it needs most of that to just roll down the road.

In fairness the amount of ram is not something Samsung shouts about in their marketing.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[rusty502]

Unused RAM is useless on android, your phone would actually be more sluggish if it didn't preload certain apps into RAM, by clearing it, it can actually slow things down because it has to load it into RAM before it executes the app, later versions of Android do a remarkable Job of RAM management, the more you leave it alone and let it do it's thing, the smoother your note will work.

 

[rivencap]

I have gone with a fine tooth comb to disable/turn off as much bloat or not used apps as possible. I'm running at 1.3 to 1.4gb w/o clearing the ram memory. As stated above I try to avoid that. If I do kill/clear the memory, I'm at 900mb to 1gb ram. But to each their own on what programs we use bloat or not. I do run Nova Prime, 3 widgets on one screen, with a live paper; with these settings.

Palm Treo line > BlackBerry line > Samsung Galaxy S line > NOW the awesome & powerful Samsung Galaxy Note 3!

 

[anon8380037]

Ah! Rusty502.

OK. That puts it in to better prospective.
The warning text when you press RAM manager does advise it's best left alone, but you explain it better.
Still can't help thinking the stylus / handwriting software needs some of that RAM, but then without this aspect of the phone I guess slightly less RAM may keep it running at the same speed.
So having 3gb does help it perform as a premium phone.

Curious lastly why it displays as less RAM available than the specs say. I know the storage available will be a lot less than the spec because of the space needed for the OS and Touchwiz or other, but my old GS2 is similarly showing less than 1gb available so some RAM must be permanently allocated, or some such.

I won't lose any more sleep now, thank you. Tony.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[rusty502]

This is just a guess, but I think it allocates some RAM to the GPU for graphics performance, every thing you do uses RAM, say your sending SMS messages and browsing the Web, Android will keep both the messaging system and chrome loaded in RAM, making the switch from one to the other very fast, then you start playing a game that needs the RAM, Android will automatically clear as much RAM as the game needs by closing other apps, most apps, other than games actually don't use much RAM, so the more you have, the more processes android can preload speeding things up. Also your launcher, phone radios, notifications, and so will always be loaded into RAM.

 

[JellyBeanGurl]

Unused RAM is useless on android, your phone would actually be more sluggish if it didn't preload certain apps into RAM, by clearing it, it can actually slow things down because it has to load it into RAM before it executes the app, later versions of Android do a remarkable Job of RAM management, the more you leave it alone and let it do it's thing, the smoother your note will work.

I'm new to android. I constantly clear my RAM. I think I should stop now! Thank you!

Sent From My Samsung Note 3 using Tapatalk

 

[rusty502]

I'm new to android. I constantly clear my RAM. I think I should stop now! Thank you!

Sent From My Samsung Note 3 using Tapatalk

Early versions of Android had memory management issues, and task killers or manually clearing RAM was necessary, not so anymore and doing so now can have a negative impact on performance.

 

[sauce_a_poutine]

Nothing is fail-proof, specially not memory management software. "Self learning" behavior which cleans the "odd stuff" and keeps the frequently used stuff buffered is a nice concept, but even if it works pretty well most of the time, it probably fouls up once in a while. It will help a lot with load times, but it's no panacea.

I'm pretty sure that good housekeeping is, and will always be a good thing. You don't have to be manic about clearing caches and history on everything, but it is sensible to uninstall unused software, and once in a while, clearing out certain history and caches, like your Browser, Youtube, Maps and other apps of the type. My last Flush of Maps' cache freed 518 Mbytes...

As for unused ram being "wasted", well, having free RAM is not the point of owning a Smartphone, you just want to strike a balance where at least some memory is available for when you need it.

 

[Algus]

Keep in mind to that smartphone apps and software are not as memory intensive as comparable PC hardware. 2 GB would sound like rubbish on a desktop or laptop (that isn't a chromebook) but is probably beyond adequate for running smartphone apps. A low budget phone, the Moto G will only be shipping with 1 GB of RAM! The original Nexus 7, which was considered a hot rod just a year ago also only has 1 GB of RAM. Having 2 GB of RAM available after all the system crap you need up and running and all the extra stuff the Note 3 does in the background over a regular Android device is quite substantial.

 

[anon8380037]

Thanks to Rivencap, Rusty and all. Of course the graphics would need ram, so solves that partly.

While I also agree that housecleaning should be a good thing, the consensus is maybe to leave well enough alone and it will sort it's own ram space when it needs it.

Still arguments for both camps make sense, so it's still a little grey area.

Not having much free ram is no bad thing at the moment anyway. It just means more apps will start more quicker.


Posted via Android Central App

 

[rusty502]

Nothing is fail-proof, specially not memory management software. "Self learning" behavior which cleans the "odd stuff" and keeps the frequently used stuff buffered is a nice concept, but even if it works pretty well most of the time, it probably fouls up once in a while. It will help a lot with load times, but it's no panacea.

I'm pretty sure that good housekeeping is, and will always be a good thing. You don't have to be manic about clearing caches and history on everything, but it is sensible to uninstall unused software, and once in a while, clearing out certain history and caches, like your Browser, Youtube, Maps and other apps of the type. My last Flush of Maps' cache freed 518 Mbytes...

As for unused ram being "wasted", well, having free RAM is not the point of owning a Smartphone, you just want to strike a balance where at least some memory is available for when you need it.

You are right about cache needing cleared at times, that can both free up space and fix some app issues, but cache and RAM are two totally different things, and while you are correct that no software is perfect, modern versions of Android do a remarkable Job of RAM management, even if you clear RAM manually, if you notice it will reuse it again in a matter of minutes thus actually using battery and CPU cycles to do so.

 

[rusty502]

Think of it like this, you are in the kitchen preparing a big meal, to be efficient you gather all of your ingredients (apps) and sit them on the counter (RAM), if you need more room or move to the next course, you put what your not using away and replace it with your current ingredient needs, or use the freed counter space to work. The more counter space (RAM) you have to work with, the less time you spend replacing or moving things around. On the other hand, if you kept putting everything away every few minutes (clearing your RAM) and then getting them back out, it would be much less efficient.

 

[mrsmumbles]

Do any of you know if I have changed anything by tapping 9+ times on the build number just now.
I was reading the 7 post "seriously need help" thread and this came up.
I barely noticed a small window coming up saying I was so many taps away from being a developer. I think my build number changed, but I am not sure.
I will delete this later as it's not relevant. Hope you can help, and maybe DON'T TRY IT unless you are sure. It's probably nothing.

Posted via Android Central App

It's completely safe. It's just more settings options. I think it's Google's little joke, hiding it under build number.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 2

 

[anon8380037]

@MrsMumbles Thanks again. I remember developer options seemed freely accessible on my old GS2, so you are probably right about a Google joke. They are toying with us now they have all our info.

@JBG - Yes you were tempted like me to treat it as Windows RAM and leave as much as possible free, but it seems not the case here.

@ Sauce_a_poutine - (Ya gotta change that name) I like your thinking and experience and Rusty's points don't detract from yours. I wonder if the Sony Z Ultra 6.4 here is the same as your ZL. You only saved 10% by cleaning cache and closing unused apps, so probably for me not worth it in the long term. I'll clear cache for sure.

@ Rusty502 - I have considered your explanations make most sense.
The cpu / OS will probably use the free ram if its there, probably starting with the apps used most as mentioned. So your analogy is a good one.

I am glad I brought it up though.

I think others are benefiting from the knowledge base of you guys in this area as well. (... and it makes me feel smarter than I really am)

Posted via Android Central App

 

[anon8380037]

Sorry for all the edits on the previous post.

One other thing comes to mind.
I still think there must be a payback for having so much apps loaded and RAM running.

What occurred to me, and this is just a mental doodle, (mental, anyway), is the Note 3 was possibly only intended for the 8 core cpu on the N9000. I have a quad core (though 2.3) N9005. I don't know what is most prevalent in the US, or what the N900 ships with.

I gather the octa cores are more efficient, 2 quad cores at different speeds depending on the demand, so they could cope more effectively with a lot of background stuff in the RAM.

Just a thought, and again I really know nothing.

@Sauce - again, your last paragraph summed it best.


Posted via Android Central App

 

[SebasCvdB]

Why is this a big deal? Every phone advertises with a certain amount of RAM only part of it is accessible (for unknown reasons) which is on ALL phones.. How many phones with 1 GB Ram would give you something remotely close useable to it? Even with the Galaxy S3 for example which had 2 only 1.56 (or similar) was said to be in there and from that only 600/700 maaaybe 800 at max would free up... Launchers take up some/ widgets take up some.. etc. etc. It's like a regular computer. You might have for example 4 GB ram in there but you will never be able to use it all...

Welcome to the world of technology where nothing is what it seems.

 

[sauce_a_poutine]

...You only saved 10% by cleaning cache and closing unused apps, so probably for me not worth it in the long term. I'll clear cache for sure.

"Only 10%" Yes it is a relatively small gain, and I didn't ever expect that much... Cleaning house is about compound efficiency, though. Not just RAM use. Storage and processing can also benefit from loosing the bloat.

Many apps showed improved loading times, specially Google Maps, which showed a much, much improved load time. The main Exception being my music app, which is faster with a fully cached library listing.

Why is this a big deal?

It isn't until your system hits a snag, start bloating and using a slower and inefficient swap file instead of memory. Now, I don't know if Android uses a swap file at all, but if your memory is filled to the brim, your system will have to start allocating CPU clock cycles to managing what is relevant and should be kept there, and what should be cleared to make room.

You might have for example 4 GB ram in there but you will never be able to use it all

One would hope not... It is not a desirable situation. When software's memory management goes awry, and memory bloats to capacity, the performance hit is huge.

I guess the original poster as not run into such a situation, and doesn't quite see the advantage or reason of having an extra gig of RAM over other devices, most likely because he's never "hit the wall", so to speak...

I'm really curious about how much memory the Note would use if someone manually wrote something like a 10~20 page report with the stylus... I'm pretty sure the conversion software would start being memory hungry at some point during the conversion to typed text format... Also, I wouldn't be too surprised to learn that the note is amongst the fastest mobile devices for audio/video transcoding, precisely because it has more resources to support the workload... CPU cycles are important, but not the sole component of performance.

 

[sameer kapoor]

Thanks.
I too will not sell myself to Google Now!

I still use my old Galaxy S2 with the same amount of downloaded apps on both phones, and it is quite happy with 1gb. Though it (S2) is currently showing 498 of 826 mb available after my "clearing memory".

So I'm sure the 3gb on the Note 3 does help speed things along, and mine was a bit of a non-question; but I was expecting to have loads of spare ram in the early days.

I was curious what the serious techies might have to say.

The new Note 10.1 (2014) also has 3gb, but a very high resolution screen, so it must be sending microbots (!) out at night to beg, steal or borrow extra ram (no, that wasn't good).

It's surely like a car maker advertising an extra large fuel tank to compliment its super duper V24 12.0 litre engine, and 4 tonnes weight.

I'm losing the plot now.

Basically 3gb does not make it a high performing phone if it needs most of that to just roll down the road.

In fairness the amount of ram is not something Samsung shouts about in their marketing.

Thanks for the input. I am eager to sell this and get either a Mega 6.3, or Sony Z1/S4 + a tablet.

The note taking on this is a huge disappointment, as is text input, and cutting and pasting. Very impressive in other areas which are not essential to me.

Regards.

Posted via Android Central App

Just try nexus 4 or nexus 5 !