Where is my memory???

[wryun]

I am an Android noob. I have the Dinc. I know the phone has 512mb of RAM & 512mb of ROM. My Incredible seems to be running very slow! I have had it since 6/4. Is there a memory leak somewhere or anything I can do to free up more memory? Task Killer shows only 185mb free after killing tasks. Where is the rest of my 512mb?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[mclarryjr]

Your problem is task killer, try deleting it from your phone and you will see it speed up. Do a search if you want there are a few thread explaining task killer does much more harm then good.

 

[mclarryjr]

Read this thread

http://forum.androidcentral.com/dro...k-killer-pros-cons.html?highlight=task+killer

 

[Adiliyo]

yea, read up on them, to use one effectively, you have to understand how everything works in general first.

also, you're never going to see all 512MB free, things like the OS are going to always be running. the most i've seen free is about 240MB.

in general, the OS can take care of memory on its own.

 

[CharlesA03]

512 MB?

How come when I go to settings>>SD card & Phone storage...it says 748 MB of total space (and currently 662MB available) ?

 

[grooks]

512 MB?

How come when I go to settings>>SD card & Phone storage...it says 748 MB of total space (and currently 662MB available) ?

What you are seeing is the ROM and there was some early confusion as to whether the phone had 512mb or 768mb ROM. The ROM is storage for apps or pictures that are downloaded to the phones memory.

 

[CharlesA03]

What you are seeing is the ROM and there was some early confusion as to whether the phone had 512mb or 768mb ROM. The ROM is storage for apps or pictures that are downloaded to the phones memory.

Ok, so where do I see the memory?

I have been running ATK ever since I got the phone on the release date, and I want to monitor the memory to see if I should uninstall the task killer or not.

And yes, I've read the threads on its pros and cons.

 

[Adiliyo]

if you're running a task killer, it should show you how much memory is free.

you can also go to settings, applications, and running something...it shows at the bottom

 

[wryun]

UPDATE:

Okay, well I think I found out I am a little more TECH-OCD than I thought. LOL
I remember going through this when I had a PPC, always checking running apps and killing the ones in the background etc. It drove me nuts!

Anyway, I did a little more reading about how Android runs, and found some good info in the link "mclarryjr" provided in post #3. I removed ATK, did a hard reset to make sure it's clear ... because of my tech-ocd ... LOL ... and installed SystemPanel for monitoring purposes.

I found out through the internet, and a help file from SystemPanel, Android will keep recently accessed apps stored in cache for quick access if needed later, BUT, the if the phone needs the resources it will "kill" the app in cache to free up memory to run the newly opened app ... does that make sense???? LOL

Knowing this, it eases my mind so while I do have SystemPanel installed, I haven't used it to "kill" apps. My phone has been running smooth and quick! I love it.

Thanks for the tips every one! I hope future readers will get something out of this thread.

Now that I have the memory thing down, it's time to order the 1750 battery to improve battery life. That's another story!

KILL your OCD, not your apps. LOL

 

[springrusty]

i deleted task killer and after maybe an hour of use i'm at 159mb already... Seems like its needed. After a fresh restart I'm at 260mb

 

[Qazme]

Keep in mind Android is designed not to free up memory till it gets below 40MB to keep your phone running fast. If you have over 80MB you will be totally fine. My phone varies by what I'm doing with it but it fluctuates between 50-128MB of free memory and my phone never misses a beat. So be careful with what you kill, sometime things will slow the phone down when they are killed, IE the task killer no no suggestion! Glad you got it fixed though!

 

[JTEastwood]

If your rooted try minfreemanager... it plays with memory control without the side effects of atk. Made my inc run smoother than ever.

 

[CharlesA03]

I finally downloaded System Panel and dumped ATK. Seems like a good decision, but I have a few questions...

- I seem to constantly have about 80-100ish MB free. Based on what someone else said in this thread, that shouldn't present any sort of performance problems...correct?

- How come some apps keep coming back to my active list after I exit them? For instance...ESPN Scorecenter will be active even though I never touched the app. Then I will close it with system panel, and two minutes later it will be back in my active list.

 

[Qazme]

I finally downloaded System Panel and dumped ATK. Seems like a good decision, but I have a few questions...

- I seem to constantly have about 80-100ish MB free. Based on what someone else said in this thread, that shouldn't present any sort of performance problems...correct?

- How come some apps keep coming back to my active list after I exit them? For instance...ESPN Scorecenter will be active even though I never touched the app. Then I will close it with system panel, and two minutes later it will be back in my active list.

Things go back active for awhile because of background updating. 80-100ish on your free memory is more than enough your phone will run fine. Don't worry about closing the app if it's coming back, that means it's doing something or the phone wouldn't let it run. If you are seeing no performance decline what's the point? You don't have a BB anymore, saying this because how worried you are about free memory, so quit the habit. Use your new Android device and enjoy it don't worry yourself with tasks that your phone is really capable of handling on its own!

 

[Adrynalyne]

Another reason why you don't see more ram is a kernel limitation. Until Froyo comes out, we will not have highmem support for devices that have 512mb of ram (and later, more).

The current 2.6.29 kernel is unable to address all of the ram we have. Thats another reason why Froyo is going to rock hard on these phones.

 

[rpfarrah]

Another reason why you don't see more ram is a kernel limitation. Until Froyo comes out, we will not have highmem support for devices that have 512mb of ram (and later, more).

The current 2.6.29 kernel is unable to address all of the ram we have. Thats another reason why Froyo is going to rock hard on these phones.

August if fast approaching. Let's hope it's a late July update.

And Adrynalyne, good to see you here. You were a giant resource for my Omnia! (Thanks!)

 

[Terry4505]

When I open Settings-Applications-Running Services, at the bottom of the screen is shows: Avail:32MB+0.00B in 29 Other: 0.00B in 4

Is this normal? I run Launcher Pro instead of Sense. currently running services are Gtalk, sync service, transaction service, upload messages service, weather service, google voice, twitter, swype, and fantasy baseball.

anything I should be doing differently?

 

[mclarryjr]

Terry I just checked my numbers to compare and there pretty close. As long as the phone is running fine I wouldn't worry about it at all or even check. To be honest this was the first time I looked at those number since having the phone because I have had no problems.

 

[CharlesA03]

Please explain to me why I can't get rid of a few programs in System Panel. I have been hovering around 40-50ish MB free, and I'd like to improve that.

I end the tasks, and two minutes later they are back on my active list. Someone said the programs may reappear because of updating, but I don't know why they would be updating considering I don't have them set to update or anything like that.

ESPN ScoreCenter and Sound Manager are the main culprits.

 

[metalrocker]

i deleted task killer and after maybe an hour of use i'm at 159mb already... Seems like its needed. After a fresh restart I'm at 260mb

Needed for what? 159 is more than enough for the phone to run efficiently.


http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/

"One thing that I forgot to even address here is that memory works a bit differently in linux than it does in Windows. In general the way memory works is you really only need as much as you plan on using. So if your combined running programs use 100mb of memory, 150mb is more than enough. There is no need to clear what’s running in memory before you hit that 150mb cap. Now in Windows it seems that the system performs a bit better when you have less stuff in memory, even if it’s not full. No doubt those who have been on computers for a while will remember there used to be programs that could clear your memory in Windows also.

Linux however isn’t generally affected by this. While I admit that I don’t know the architecture and reason for this… linux will run the same regardless of if you have 20mb free memory or 200mb. And as I outlined above, Android will automatically start to kill applications if you do get low on memory! Stealing a quote from Chris Johnston, “Buffers and cache in RAM being cleared is silly. Imagine a professor, who rather than writing all the way across the chalkboard, finishes a sentence and immediately erases and starts writing in the upper left corner AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN OR imagine you like a song. You record it to the beginning of a cassette tape. When you want a new song, do you re-record over the first song or record after it?”"