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Help Rogers HTC Magic with only 192MB RAM

hamazawah

Lurker
Dec 6, 2009
3
0
I recently purchased the Rogers version of HTC Magic...

Most websites indicated that the Rogers Magic has a 288MB RAM, but when i downloaded many apps that show me the capacity and usage of the RAM they all indicated that the phone's "Available" memory is only 191.5MB..

I found another site that sells the same phone (Rogers Magic) with a 192MB RAM in the specs...

are there two versions of the phone, or is it something else... the seller is refusing the take the phone back blaming my ignorance of how RAM works...

Does the OS and other apps on the phone cut down the available memory?
 
Download the app Useful Switchers. It will show you Internal Memory MB left/ Total MB.

For example, right now it shows me that I have 180MB/295MB (Rogers HTC Magic) because of the OS and all the apps I have installed. (That's 295MB out of 512MB total, because of the OS I assume)

Here are the official HTC specs for the _rogers_ Magic: HTC Mobile Phone Support - HTC Magic? (Rogers) - Tech Specs

By comparison, here are the specs for the T-Mobile MyTouch: HTC Mobile Phones - T-Mobile myTouch 3G - Overview

Both phones have 512MB ROM
The Magic (Rogers) has 288MB RAM
The MyTouch has 192MB RAM

Here is a great write up that explains the differences between RAM and ROM as far as Android goes: http://androidforums.com/sprint-htc-hero/13022-ram-rom-what.html
 
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Useful switchers doesn't show RAM available, it only shows me ROM. If you get an app like TasKiller or Task Panel it shows you RAM available, but I'm not sure if it shows total RAM.

There must be some way to query the phone to find out.

If you phone is actually a Rogers phone, the back panel should have the Rogers logo on it. If you take off the back panel and remove the battery you can find the Serial Number, Part Number etc. You might be able to contact HTC with this info to find out the actual specs for that specific phone.

Also, when you turn the phone on you should see the Rogers logo on the screen before anything else. The person who sold you the phone would have to go through the trouble of rooting the phone and installing the Rogers ROM if it was not already a Rogers phone, and as far as I know Rogers only sells phones with the 288MB RAM.

One of these apps might help. I have not tried any of them, so you are on your own with these, I can promise nothing:

System Monitor v1.5 Application for Android | Tools

Free Memory v2.5 Application for Android | Tools

Fpt System Manager v1.1 Application for Android | Tools

Phone / Network Info v1.0.2 Application for Android | Tools

SysInfo v1.2 Application for Android | Tools
 
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Okay, I tried this one: Fpt System Manager v1.1 Application for Android | Tools

It shows my RAM currently as 83MB/192.5MB.

I have a Rogers HTC Magic, so I should have 288MB of RAM. I am wondering if, like with the ROM, the phone only reports RAM available to you for apps, and withholds the rest for the OS? I will have to ask around.

EDIT: I just emailed HTC to ask them, we'll see what they say.
 
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UPDATE: I emailed HTC as mentioned above. My email, and their reply are below. Basically they say that, yes, part of the total RAM is hidden from the user, so the 192.5MB of total RAM shown to me by the app mentioned is what's left over after the system (OS) and pre-installed apps that can not be uninstalled/removed/killed.

That suggests that someone who owns a Magic (ie MyTouch) with 192 MB total RAM, should see _less_ total RAM available when using the app I mentioned above.

"I have a Rogers HTC Magic. According to your specs, it should have 288MB of RAM. When I use one of the system manager apps from the marketplace, it currently shows I have 83MB of RAM available out of a total of 192.5MB of RAM. Why does it only show a total of 192.5MB of RAM when the phone is supposed to have 288MB of RAM? Is part of the RAM hidden from me to be used by the system? I noticed that it says I only have a total of 295MB of ROM (or of 512MB of ROM), so I assume the missing ROM is the OS partition. Is it the same with the RAM? Thanks, Michael Schmidt"

Their response:

"Thank you for contacting HTC Support.

The answer is yes. Part of it is not shown to you for access because the phone itself has designated this alotted amount to run preinstalled apps that can not be removed. I apologize for the inconvenience this may cause you. I know how frustrating it can be to expect one thing and only get something else."

I have to give kudos to HTCs customer service/tech support. They get back to you very quickly.
 
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