Help Memory???

[Diddy559]

OK, so when I first got my Dinc, and would run Advanced Task Killer, it would tell me that I had about 200M memory available (although it would dip to 120M at times). Now that I've had it a while and have installed more things, etc. that number has dipped to between 59M and 90M.

But when I check through settings, I still have 11+ Gig of SD card memory and 6+ Gig of phone memory left.

What gives with the discrepencies? What do these numbers REALLY measure?

 

[34.50]

You're confusing yourself between memory and storage. Storage is what's on the SD card and phone (8GB), this is where your music, images and other user data live. Memory (RAM) is where applications run.

 

[necosino]

There is an internal phone memory of 756MB, then an "Internal Storage" of 8GB, and your SD card. Apps are installed to the Phone Memory.

The memory that is showing in ATM is the phone's RAM memory; memory that apps are loaded to when they run. This is basically a temporary area that apps use and it will fluctuate a lot. Android manages this area itself, so just ignore it for the most part ;-)

 

[Diddy559]

Thanks for the replies! So compiling those two responses, does that mean I only have roughly 1/7 of RAM left on my device? That seems horrible. I haven't downloaded THAT many apps. But it sounds like that doesn't measure app downloads anyway, correct? So the phone memory (8G) is how much space I have to download and store apps. SD card storage (16G) is where I can store files (music, movies, pics etc)...and RAM is just like RAM on a computer right (Random Access Memory)? Like the temp storage for open files, documents, programs, etc. (correct me if I'm wrong)...

But if that is the case, and I run ATK and even go in and shut down all programs that start up and run by default, then shouldn't this RAM be almost clear? I don't see why it would be so low.

 

[necosino]

Swing and a miss, strike two...

There are actually 4 areas with "Memory"

RAM = ~512MB
This is where apps are loaded when they are RUN, nothing gets installed here. Ignore this area, since Android manages this memory.

Phone memory = 756MB
This is where apps are INSTALLED, plain and simple.

Internal Storage: 8GB, partioned down to like 6.5GB
This is where you can store stuff.. music, movies, pictures, etc.

SD Card (Optional)
Just additional storage space..


Don't even bother with ATM or ATK, they're a waste of time and just cause more harm than good and, in your case, give misleading information. Android can handle RAM allocation just fine on its own

 

[waynester]

Just like on your pc, you cant really shut down all.
Phone needs some to function, if you search I dont believe you will find anyone that has run out of memory.
android os uses /allots /closes /controls memory as the apps need.
Some people have more than 200 apps loaded on phone.

As far as ATK , seems the general consensus is best to use it sparingly ( i.e. just on the rare occasion that a app loops/freezes).

 

[Diddy559]

Ummm, ok guys, I get the point, and I don't get it all at the same time. First off, I don't use ATK primarily to free up RAM, I use it to conserve battery.

I guess the nuts and bolts, bare bone, simple question is WHY I am down to about 15% or so of RAM with nothing running (granted some things will be running regardless). Remember, it's quite alright to plainly say "I don't know!" If there's no real answer, that's fine and as much as I appreciate the responses, I don't need another "don't worry about it, it will be ok" or "the phone can handle it" or "it doesn't really mean anything" etc. I have VERY few apps installed and even less that stay running. So WHY would this be so low?

OR, if anyone can play with their phone for a sec and run ATK and tell me what theirs says and how many apps they have so I can kind of get a comparison, that would be helpful too.

Thanks again.

 

[kibble]

Diddy, it's very difficult to tell you exactly why ATK is reporting your memory being that low. With that said, in my opinion, I don't believe it's accurate as I used ATK for a while when I first got my phone and then uninstalled it as it seemed to cause more issues than it solved. When I would see the RAM usage, sometimes it would show <80M and sometimes it was over 100 even when nothing else had really changed. Android system takes care of managing what is in the RAM and I think that maybe ATK isn't able to get an accurate reading of what is actually available. It's possible that apps that have run and have ended still leave behind some data that later the Android system removes when it needs the space for something else and maybe ATK "thinks" that this unused data is actually still being used.

My $0.02.

 

[necosino]

Try out System Panel, it hasn't let me down yet.

 

[Diddy559]

Try out System Panel, it hasn't let me down yet.

Necosino- You'll have to excuse my ignorance...System Panel? Where or what is that? Thanks.

 

[v8dreaming]

System panel in an app manager that also lets you back up your apps. There is a lite version and a pay version. It will give you the same readings as atk on the memory usage. I have used both.