Android dilemas... RAM

[davoid]

Maybe when the n6 drops I'll be able to save for an n5.

Don't think it'll be called a Nexus 6 though. Philip K. Dick's estate has seen to that.

 

[funkylogik]

Who's that mate?

 

[m-cman]

Who's that mate?

Si-Fi author. Pretty famous one. One of his books (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) was made into the movie Blade Runner if I remember correctly.

 

[funkylogik]

Ah right. Cheers man. So has he used the term Nexus 6 in a book?

 

[m-cman]

The androids in the book/movie were called "replicants" and the latest versions were called the "Nexus series". Don't remember if Nexus 6 was part of that but probably was. This is from very old memories. The movie was released in 1982.

 

[mikedt]

The word "nexus" is a common noun and I don't think you can trademark and claim copyright on numerals. The Ford Motor Company didn't go after Douglas Adams for naming one of his protagonists after one of their cars. However George Lucas got annoyed at Motorola and Verizon over their use of the word "droid".

 

[nickdalzell]

the Nexus was even a spatial anomaly they used in Star Trek: Generations too

 

[davoid]

Basically Google called their android devices Nexus as homage to the book and the movie - yes, Rutger Hauer was a Nexus 6.

I kind of thought that's why they jumped straight to the Nexus 7 - to postpone the upcoming problem with the 6. Yeah I know it also has a 7" display

funky, Philip K. Dick wrote science fiction novels that have had phenomenal influence, many of them being made into films: Blade Runner, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, Paycheck, The Adjustment Bureau, Total Recall.

So yeah the Nexus 6 is an iconic android. Mike, I think that even though you can't copyright a word, I think in that particular combination, considering we are talking about androids, there is a case for intellectual property.

Obviously, every geek would LOVE to own a Nexus 6. It's what the series has been building towards.

 

[Rxpert83]

If were taking bets, my cookies are on nexus 5 again

IE the new nexus 5 or nexus 5 2014

Its screen size, not sequential order. I don't see them making a 6" nexus.

 

[davoid]

If were taking bets, my cookies are on nexus 5 again

IE the new nexus 5 or nexus 5 2014

Its screen size, not sequential order. I don't see them making a 6" nexus.

I think you're probably right. Their screen sizes will settle where they are. But the Nexus 4 didn't have a 4" screen, and the Nexus 1 display certainly wasn't 1" - my guess is the goal was to keep increasing the model numbers (making a big deal when they reached the magical 6), but now they have conveniently reached the point where the model number matches the screen size, they will stop where they are.

Sorry guys, I think I've derailed this thread. Wasn't it about RAM or something?

 

[nickdalzell]

back on the topic of the OP, the problem isn't RAM per-se. Android since FroYo has been designed to kill off tasks on its own to free up resources for another task (most programs are always running on Android, don't need to be closed down like in Windows, and continue their stuff in the background in a sort of minimized state, and are only closed by the system when the user opens another program that requires more than what is available. for example, let's say you have a phone with 512MB RAM. 480MB is used up once the system is up and running. user decides to launch Angry Birds. whoops! not enough memory. so the lower priority tasks are closed down, thus freeing up enough to launch the game. this can induce a bit of lag or slow launch, but avoids the need to have the user monitor RAM usage or close programs down manually)

The problem is when you have a device with little RAM to begin with and too many apps trying to access it, which causes Android to respond with multiple calls to close down some apps to make room, but these apps are often high priority (such as Play Store) and just start back up again, then it runs out, so it goes back to closing things down, but they start up again, eventually Android is inundated with too many apps trying to fit within too little RAM, and it cannot stop them all to make room. so 12 apps are trying to simultaneously run their background processes in memory that can only hold 6, and this is your infamous 'Android lag'. this mostly only happens on lower-spec devices, but can happen on flagships if enough apps are installed or running. if one does a logcat, a log of maintenance messages in Android, you'll see 'low memory--no more background processes' showing up on such a device where too many apps are trying to run in too little RAM, causing Android to call up the built-in killer to close down some to make room. most random reboots are out of memory (OOM) panics. if one did a logcat and the device auto-rebooted itself, upon restart the log entry 'E: OOM panic occurred, restarting' would be shown. so in essence, Android CAN run out of memory. but there is no need to have the user killing tasks via a task killer which only makes the problem worse. in the end it's more a matter of knowing your device and installing apps that don't need to do so much.

 

[funkylogik]

Im tryin to get back into reading and i like sci-fi so ill defo check that dude out. Cheers guys and sorry for goin off topic OP
Some excellent info from Nick there :thumbup:

 

[nickdalzell]

On the Nexus...

"It was like being inside joy; as if joy was something tangible and you could wrap yourself in it like a blanket"

~ Guinan, from Star Trek Generations