Available memory question...

[darrel_h]

Hello everyone, this is my first post but I have been coming to the site for some time, thank you for all your info. I have an HTC Eris, not rooted with the OTA 2.1. I used to use ATC to try to manage battery and speed but recently started reading about how worthless they are with the 2.1. So, I downloaded System Panel Lite, just to monitor things and have the ability to kill something if I needed to. Now, since I haven't been using ATC I've been noticing that my available memory stays very low. Right now it's sitting at about 29/30M. And of course, if I kill all the background stuff it'll jump to about 75 or 80M, but then it'll kill my auto updates and synchs. Kind of a no win situation if you ask me.

Also, since I've stopped using ATC I've noticed the battery isn't as good as it was. It's still not too bad, but could be better. I unplugged it from the charger yesterday morning and am at 45% remaining. Is this about what everyone else gets?

So, basically, if anyone has any suggestions or words of wisdom, I would appreciate it. I was going to do the factory reset but now I understand it could kill 3G so.... I won't be doing that anytime soon. Also, before you suggest it, I already know about the basic battery saver techniques such as display and background data settings. Again, thanks for your help.

 

[sts7049]

where did you read that a factory reset would kill 3G?

 

[darrel_h]

There was a sticky for it (which disappeared) and it's also on the last page of the factory data reset option sticky. I would link to it but don't know how right this minute.

 

[derwyn]

Go to settings> applications>manage applications. It might take a while for everything to load. Then click on the individual apps and clear the cache and data. That will free up a lot of space. It's a good idea to this every couple days.

 

[darrel_h]

Cleared most of the caches and data and it's still not really any better. Better than 30, it's at about 60 now, but i've read some people get it up to over 100. Am I mistaken? Is what I'm seeing normal for everyone else?

 

[Demache]

30 MB free is pretty normal for the Eris to hover around during normal use. Android is designed to use as much memory as possible while running since its a lot quicker to load frequently used apps from the RAM than from the internal memory (or SD card with Apps2SD installed if your rooted).

You may be noticing worse battery life, not necessarily because more memory being used (this really does not make a huge impact on battery life in itself). But more that you are now not killing apps that are using the internet to update things. And when your on 3G, your battery drains a lot more quickly. So you really just need to tell apps to update less frequently, or update them manually.

 

[soulcurrent]

Mine does the same thing. It gets down to 27m available then goes back up to 60 or so for a short period of time. It's always the stock apps that pop up in ATC, stuff I never use like the MP3 store or the voice recorder.

 

[darrel_h]

Thanks for the info, I feel a little better now knowing it's fairly normal. I did turn off background data again and determined that was the real battery killer. I unplugged the phone from the charger yesterday (Saturday) morning and here we are, about 24 hours later i'm still at between 80 and 90%. But thanks again everyone, I appreciate it.

 

[jpzsports]

There was a sticky for it (which disappeared) and it's also on the last page of the factory data reset option sticky. I would link to it but don't know how right this minute.

What happened to that sticky? Is it now safe to do a factory reset and not have to worry about losing 3G?

 

[mistaj33]

What happened to that sticky? Is it now safe to do a factory reset and not have to worry about losing 3G?

Yea, the sticky is gone because it was confirmed as a rumor. You can factory reset with no loss of 3G.