Help Trying to understand the internal storage/RAM issue

[jggonzalez]

Hi,

I'm still struggling to understand the storage space issue. I read the following comment in a mini-review at HTC Sensation: First impressions - Recombu.

"We've rented and bought several TV shows and films, and the system works. The only problem we've had so far is the limited storage. Although the phone arrives with a generous 8GB microSD card, the phone itself only has 1GB- barely enough for a single TV episode."

I've got the (drum roll and spotlights please!) PCS Metro LG Optimus M which has only 150MB of storage space built in. I don't remember how much RAM it has and a quick look for specs didn't turn it up. I download and watch movies on the SD card and don't seem to be limited by size.

My question is when does the 1GB of user-accessible internal storage and 768MB RAM on the Sensation because a limitation? Is it just a question of performance - moving stuff on and off a MicroSD card is slower than internal storage - or will it prevent me from running certain apps?

Thanks to everyone for all of your help. This forum is really helping me narrow down my pick for my next smartphone.

Regards,

Joe Gonzalez

"If you build a man a fire, you keep him warm for a day. Set him on fire and you keep him warm for the rest of his life."

 

[daivik]

Well, I really assume that the downloaded movies will be able to be put on the SD card OTHERWISE 1GB or storage is plain stupid...

And I can tell you that the 768mb of RAM get's cut down to 197mb, without any apps running and very few installed. the majority is taken up with Android/Sense/something to do with the GPU.
On a review I saw the browser running one website immediately took up 65mb of RAM.

Any other questions?

 

[unklegomez]

I have not had any issues so far with the amount of RAM or storage space I have just put all my media files on the sd card and I haven

 

[jggonzalez]

Thanks for the info.

Daivik, I read your post. I store my movies and video clips on my SD card also and have never had a problem. That's why I'm mystified at the comment in the Recombu review. On the other hand, the rest of your post makes it sound like having several apps open, or one big app, might overload the memory. Would that be an issue? Say I have one browser window open to read my Yahoo e-mail, another open to check eBay, a third to see if I have enough money to buy what I'm looking at on eBay, and then decide to make a note in my calendar. Would the Sensation blow me a raspberry at that point and lock up, or would I just see slow performance as it moves stuff temporarily on and off the microSD card? My Optimus can barely run a browser, but with the dual-core processor I hope the Sensation can let me do several things at once.

UnkleGomez, thanks for the feedback. I'm jealous that you got your hands on one! I was talking to a sales rep at the local T-Mobile store and he already has a notepad under the counter with names and numbers of people interested in getting a Sensation when they first come out. I'll probably have to wait until my birthday in August, but I'll be making weekly trips to the mall to look at it until then!

Thanks everyone, please keep the posts coming. This is a great place for noobs like me to learn the ropes.

 

[daivik]

Well, of course Sensation owners will disagree, but personally I believe that in 6 months/a years time your going to be getting more and more apps - you've got 1Gb for storage at the end of the day!! And so i believe as you get more apps and as your running them, the Sensation will eventually begin to lag. It is an amazing phone but when compared to other handsets, it lacks RAM and ontop of that, Sense is very RAM, graphically intense.

The 1.2Ghz will do you fine, but the RAM is what will limit your multi-tasking abilities as the phone gets older and you have more things running in the background. I also believe that this will be the main negative of the Sensation, for many tech sites.

Secondly in today's day and age, phones don't "blow up" , you'll just get some laggy/slow performance. I mean it's hard for you because you have to take my word, but I'm telling you this after literally a month+ for at least 1hour a day (scattered from 5-11pm) on forums trying to compare the latest handsets for my next upgrade. I also speak from experience in having a Desire for the last year - I have a 100MB of RAM free and I am running Sense 2.0 and am limited to few apps because I have VERY little (200MB) or ROM to install apps. So if you've got 1GB on the Sensation, the RAM will be used very quickly.

Another thing is that in the US, HTC are releasing the HTC Holiday, with same processor, 0.2" bigger screen and 1GB of RAM, showing that a phone like this SHOULD have 1GB of RAM, they're just cutting corners (presumably to retain a good profit margin) In my opinion the Sensation will be great, but after 6 months I think that you will begin to feel the strain of decreasing battery life (due to the way the phone is charged by HTC chargers) AND RAM will be lacking. To me it's not very future-proof.

OKAY I know this advice has been VERY negative, but let me say that if you are not a power user, and you love sense, and the "outside" aesthetics are everything, then go for the Sensation - because that's who it's meant for. Don't get me wrong - 197MB of RAM for apps is STILL A LOT!!! But I have a Desire and due to limited storage space, I can, at MAX, install a 1/3 (in terms of number of apps) of what the Sensation can install which is good - BUT - for a 1/3 of the apps, the Desire has 150MB of FREE/USABLE RAM, where as for the Sensation (which can install 3 times my Desire's apps) you only get 197MB that is usable.

If you believe yourself to be more of a customizer and more of a heavy user I would suggest the GSII.

If you didn't understand anything, just post and I'll clarify - I tend to ramble on some times.

 

[jggonzalez]

I'll have to see what else is available, but I'm not getting the GSII. I don't know why, but I just don't see myself buying one. I think its because of the feel - they're too plasticky, slick, and thin. I prefer something thicker, heavier, and with more character. I mentally passed on the LG G2x for the same reason, but that one might get a second look. I'm leery of getting another LG product because my LG Optimus has turned out to be a piece of junk. I really think its become a two-horse race for me between the Sensation and Bionic.

 

[mrqs]

i'm not concerned about running out of app space - who needs to have hundreds of apps on their phone at all times anyway?
what i am concerned about is that i'd never be able to carry any movies with the phone 'cause my 16 gig sd is already full of music - not to mention that could also become a problem when you wanna take large photos/video with the camera

 

[daivik]

i'm not concerned about running out of app space - who needs to have hundreds of apps on their phone at all times anyway?
what i am concerned about is that i'd never be able to carry any movies with the phone 'cause my 16 gig sd is already full of music - not to mention that could also become a problem when you wanna take large photos/video with the camera

I taking it you hate samsung OR hate the feel of the GSII??

If so, then I suppose you could spend

 

[mrqs]

I taking it you hate samsung OR hate the feel of the GSII??

i could live with a plastic phone, but having owned the original galaxy, i've grown a deep hatred for samsung's mobile department

If so, then I suppose you could spend

 

[daivik]

i could live with a plastic phone, but having owned the original galaxy, i've grown a deep hatred for samsung's mobile department


sure, but i'm not sure it's quite worth it
if i was htc, i'd rather put 16 gigs of internal storage in the phone rather than 4 and not include an sd card - this way, the price won't have to be much higher (if any) and people that want more storage can have that without buying a hideously expensive 32 gig sd card
plus, people who like to game a lot on their phones would appreciate the faster speeds of running their games from the integrated memory rather than an sd card

i just find it an immensely stupid decision to put so little storage on a flagship device

I think that as well. And trust the reviews. THE GSII has VASTLY, and I mean VASTLY improved on it's flaws and Samsung's overall flaws. Can't say the same for the Sensation, camera is still not what it should be, sense still takes ages to load (for a 1.2Ghz phone) and it can have low framerates in some areas and will be laggy.

If you spend a week on xda forums (a heavy HTC based forum) you will realise that HTC are simply relying on the common consumer saying "ohh that's a nice looking phone and it's got 2 cores (whatever that means)" AND their loyal fan boys. I cannot quantify, just how many times I've heard,
"GSII is better, specification wise and the TW 4.0 is vastly improved"

And in response you'll get "Well it's made my crappy samsux and therefore it's plain rubbish and the sensation looks better"

There are SO many people that just say that are are like "HTC will release updates" "hackers will hack this phone and allow root" (even though this hasn't been done yet on their previous phones.

In my opinion it's very Apple-like in that they cut back the hardware*** to increase profit, because they can rely on their fan base, loyal support and the brand image and force which will make you want to go and buy the next HTC phone that comes out.
***Apart from with Apple just update iOS firmware and leave older devices behind, almost as soon as the new ones come in.

Don't get me wrong, they still a good company, I just believe they're getting a bit greedy and hence, the regular android guys that really want the best phone they can get (in that top price bracket) loose out.

 

[mrqs]

THE GSII has VASTLY, and I mean VASTLY improved on it's flaws and Samsung's overall flaws. Can't say the same for the Sensation, camera is still not what it should be, sense still takes ages to load (for a 1.2Ghz phone) and it can have low framerates in some areas and will be laggy.

from what i've read, the sgs 2's gps still has the same problems as the sgs 1 did
and it's not that i think "samsung sucks" - it's that they ****ed us original galaxy owners over so bad back then, i just don't wanna give them any more of my money - there isn't a galaxy owner on this forum that hasn't wished they bought the hero instead (which i think was the main competitor of the original galaxy when they came out)

[...]

you're saying it's greedy of htc to not have the best specs and just rely on the looks and general build quality - but you could say the same (only opposite) of samsung: they're cutting back on the manufacturing costs by using plastic and just rely on their top-of-the-market spec sheet to lure people in and hence, the regular android guys that really want the best phone they can get (in that top price bracket) loose out.

and that's exactly what happend with the original galaxy: i - and many others - bought it over the hero because it seemed to have better specs


what everyone really wants is a phone that has the chips and circuits of the sgs 2 and the software and build of the sensation - but since that doesn't exist, everyone's gotta make their own compromise

 

[RG_Kid]

Hi,

I'm interested in purchasing HTC Sensation. I'm slightly annoyed when i looked at the youtube video of Sensation and noticed the lack of free RAM.

Is there a way to improve the free RAM?

 

[daivik]

Hi,

I'm interested in purchasing HTC Sensation. I'm slightly annoyed when i looked at the youtube video of Sensation and noticed the lack of free RAM.

Is there a way to improve the free RAM?

I believe it can be improved by rooting, but that firstly invalidates warranty (so it depends if you want to root or not) and secondly, HTC Sensation has a locked bootloader so it can't be rooted, until someone finds a new way to root

The Desire S and Incredible S have this locked bootloader and were released in February and no-one has been able to root these yet.

 

[jggonzalez]

I taking it you hate samsung OR hate the feel of the GSII??

If so, then I suppose you could spend

 

[EmperorKabir]

daivik you are saying that as though all the apps you download all run simultaneously. sure the deisre has 150mb ram and the sensation 197, but just because you ahve triple the apps on the sensation does not mean you will be running all the apps at once.. or did you mean something else?

 

[daivik]

daivik you are saying that as though all the apps you download all run simultaneously. sure the deisre has 150mb ram and the sensation 197, but just because you ahve triple the apps on the sensation does not mean you will be running all the apps at once.. or did you mean something else?

I think that's what I may have been trying to say, but forget it. My views are poised by the fact I've got a Desire (and for me personally) I simply would like a change, including feel and interface, so the GSII stands out to me.

I simply don't want to be limited by anything, whether it be storage space OR RAM OR battery in the future. HAVING SAID THAT, 197 free RAM is more than enough, as is the storage of a 1 GB and the battery seems to be matching the GSII. (True honesty there )

But as I said earlier, I mere fancy a change and hence the GSII is my preferable device. (but i do remember what attracted me to the Desire in the first place - there was the power + the looks + the sense UI which was an extremely attractive package!)

 

[EmperorKabir]

davik i too have just switched from desire but personally i could not stand the thought of making the switch for glorious sense to touchwiz... it's basically vanilla android with higher saturated colours... no thanks!

 

[daivik]

davik i too have just switched from desire but personally i could not stand the thought of making the switch for glorious sense to touchwiz... it's basically vanilla android with higher saturated colours... no thanks!

Ahh see that's where we differ. I've always been enticed by vanilla android (never done it thought coz i just haven't looked into rooting) but something intreigs me about it!