What's with the 3gb of ram?

[paintdrinkingpete]

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

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.

A little late to this conversation, but here's how I view it...

Yes, of course the additional TW apps (you may consider them "bloatware", you may find them useful, that's your call) that run in the background will take up additional memory compared to a vanilla Android device without those apps. The fact is that it really shouldn't matter, however, especially on a device like the Note 3 that has sufficient RAM to run all of them -- As Rusty502 pointed out, Android does a pretty decent job of RAM management, and it's really something you shouldn't worry about too much unless you are actually experiencing performance issues with your device.

 

[msndrstood]

It's really not much different than the OS taking up 6G of the 32G, is it? Certain things like the OS and GPU use memory. Windows does the same in my desktop and laptop. It is the way of computers, Obi-wan.

Sent via The Big, Bad, Beautiful Note 3

 

[anon8380037]

@paintdrinkingpete
Thanks and I agree with you. I just wanted to get a clearer picture, and worried slightly given the ram reading that it would slow down for lack of ram when I really started to use it. This has now been put to bed by yourself and the other excellent contributors. Logically, I still have lingering doubts, but I could not express them any better than I have tried to list some already. Maybe someone will add more to the mix.

I am not a big fan of my Note 3 for other reasons. I like the larger better screen at my age, and it is fast but simple things are no better and sometimes worse than my GS2. It's early days and it will hopefully grow on me.

However I do regret falling in to the trap of calling everything Bloatware, and you make another good point there.

I actually think Samsungs Touchwiz from my 2012 GS2 4.0 - 4.1.2 and on, and their Home/Soft button arrangement is the best take on Android.
Some of the S-Pen features don't appeal. Then Samsung and Google software you don't want, Flipboard, Google Now etc. (which I have disabled as much as possible).

@Sebas - It was never a big deal, though the tone of my OP might suggest. Just wanted to understand.

@ Sauce.... Superb input again. I wouldn't, like others, be bothered if it took a little longer to load Maps etc. (OK I might) but great that you measured them.


Anyway I am happy the extra RAM is not going to be negated by all the built in features.

Posted via Android Central App on Note 3

 

[anon8380037]

Are US Note 3's Octa Cores then?

Posted via Android Central App on Note 3

 

[msndrstood]

No, US Notes are Quad core Snapdragon 800's.

Sent via The Big, Bad, Beautiful Note 3

 

[agir]

Unfortunately, unless they will allow you to not start or run certain apps (like Amazon and Youtube) I will need 3 Gbs of RAM. Just got another Android device (because I'm fed up with iOS, but I can defend or bash both OS features): a Samsung Galaxy S5, which reports 75% of my RAM us used always. I have my own business and I'm in tech so I have more apps than your average users, I admit. But the same apps (and more) are fine on iOS. The problem is the bloatware and certain apps running in the background. I set to kill them right at startup and they creep back in. I can't really autokill my apps during the day because they will quit mid-action. And that's stupid. And now all the Amazon apps are preinstalled and running, as well, not just the Samsung and Google ones. This is crazy.

So I might have to resort to a Sony Xperia Z3 or the OnePlusOne, though people complained about call issues on that one, and even though I don;t make a lot of calls, calls are sort of important in a phone.

I wish the Z3 compact had 3 Gbs of RAM. My ex (who's also in tech) and I battled with the RAM issues even last year and the year before. But I do like the Android platform more. I just wish Apps were as pretty as on iOS. But I realize you can't have everything.