what for and why do OMNIA 2 reserved 50% of it RAM?

[Guest johnchan]

Okay, so guys... as a temporary workaround for the problem with the auto-closing programs <50MB free RAM, does anyone know of a registry adjustment that would allow us to lower that to say 20Mb or maybe even 15Mb before it auto-close?

I know in WinMo 6.1 there was a setting in "Advanced Configuration Tool" that would allow you to set the minimum free RAM before it closes programs. But I ran the same tool on our Omnia II and it isn't visible so the registry entries must not be there.

If we could at least lower the auto-close RAM threshold we can temporarily use our devices until we figure out how to get more REAL ram available.

Anyone?!?!?

[Guest Shemmy]

I just want to point out that my HTC Imagio comes with 256MB of RAM. When I look at the memory, the system sees a total of 179.5MB RAM. Pretty much all smartphones experience this.

ETA: Has anyone tried using Memory Maid to disable startup services that may be eating up RAM?

Edited December 2, 2009 by Shemmy

[Guest scenery]

Below is the reply I received from Samsung. Any comments?

Dear Customer,

This is the design concept of the phone. The phone need to close some program which is not using at the moment so that the phone memory has enough memory to run the active program.

With regards to the RAM function on the phone, it is used for a reserved memory allocation for all running program(s) on the phone e.g activesync, phonebook, settings, Main Menu etc. This is needed for your most frequently used program on phone.

[Guest La Traviata]

Dear Customer,

This is the design concept of the phone. The phone need to close some program which is not using at the moment so that the phone memory has enough memory to run the active program.

With regards to the RAM function on the phone, it is used for a reserved memory allocation for all running program(s) on the phone e.g activesync, phonebook, settings, Main Menu etc. This is needed for your most frequently used program on phone.

Then why does the closing programmes not occur (or not as much) on the same phone when running WM 6.1? Of course it is normal that you can only run a certain number of programmes at the same time, but only 2 programmes (like some users have reported) is a bit extreme.

[Guest nap_rz]

Below is the reply I received from Samsung. Any comments?

Dear Customer,

This is the design concept of the phone. The phone need to close some program which is not using at the moment so that the phone memory has enough memory to run the active program.

With regards to the RAM function on the phone, it is used for a reserved memory allocation for all running program(s) on the phone e.g activesync, phonebook, settings, Main Menu etc. This is needed for your most frequently used program on phone.

which samsung is that? I mean which country?

pathetic answer I say..... :D they're really thinking us who bought O2 as someone who only use the phone to call and sending sms lol...

can you pointed out again that we think the phone doesn't get any benefit from the reserved RAM?

[Guest Joy Yeo]

I try changing the value to 96. So far so good. But when reach around 20MB free of RAM, program start closing.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Shell\LowMem ]

"ProgramMem"=dword:96"

[Guest Breit]

Then why does the closing programmes not occur (or not as much) on the same phone when running WM 6.1? Of course it is normal that you can only run a certain number of programmes at the same time, but only 2 programmes (like some users have reported) is a bit extreme.

it also happens on wm6.1, believe me... :D

the point is that wm6.1 is a bit smaller on the memory and thus you have more ram left to use, but if that is used by some programs then windows is also starting to shut down the programs in the background.

[Guest TheGoDxxxx]

Below is the reply I received from Samsung. Any comments?

Dear Customer,

This is the design concept of the phone. The phone need to close some program which is not using at the moment so that the phone memory has enough memory to run the active program.

With regards to the RAM function on the phone, it is used for a reserved memory allocation for all running program(s) on the phone e.g activesync, phonebook, settings, Main Menu etc. This is needed for your most frequently used program on phone.

Totally bullshit, those services use the aviable ram, not the reserved ram! Like all apps and windows services as it seems!

@Joy Yeo

Does that mean the closing only happens at >20 MB now on your device?

Edited December 2, 2009 by TheGoDxxxx

[Guest Joy Yeo]

Now still testing. When memory less than 20MB, program will auto close. If above 20MB, so far no program close.

Totally bullshit, those services use the aviable ram, not the reserved ram! Like all apps and windows services as it seems!

@Joy Yeo

Does that mean the closing only happens at >20 MB now on your device?

[Guest lifemaximum]

I try changing the value to 96. So far so good. But when reach around 20MB free of RAM, program start closing.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Shell\LowMem ]

"ProgramMem"=dword:96"

How much can it be pushed? , i mean is it possible to set for under 10 MB , what value should we set for program mem to achieve that based on your solution??

if we can get under 10 MB i think that would be good enough for me.

[Guest Joy Yeo]

I also not sure. Maybe u can try out and see how...

Please post result here...

How much can it be pushed? , i mean is it possible to set for under 10 MB , what value should we set for program mem to achieve that based on your solution??

if we can get under 10 MB i think that would be good enough for me.

[Guest tacchan23]

Sadly it doesn't seem to work for me :D

I have about 45mb free ram after a soft reset (I know that's soooo little^^) and applications close themself as soon as I open a second or third one (even small ones as file explorer)

Setting the value of [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Shell\LowMem ]"ProgramMem" to 96 didn't change anything.

[Guest pine]

it seems that by disabling samsung dialer, the wm 6.5 screen locker. I could keep more program runing in background. and I also tested to find out each of them has its own fault. but as time passes by after a soft-reset, the ability to maintain open apps diminishes, and it does not seem to only related to memory. with fresh soft-reset, I can have 5 apps open with only 20mb free memory (after disabling dialer and locker), and maintain over quite a while. but after a day of use, with even 45MB of free memory, I can't get two apps to remain running.

I am now trying the "programmem=96" hack to see if it works better. I don't really care about samsung dialer, but without a locker is not really what I can live with

[Guest tacchan23]

Sorry for the really noob question... why some applications aren't closed? I mean, only applications running as Tasks are being closed while I never experienced a closing of Processes (SPB mobile shell, Spam alert, S2U2, etc)

[Guest nap_rz]

it seems that by disabling samsung dialer, the wm 6.5 screen locker. I could keep more program runing in background. and I also tested to find out each of them has its own fault. but as time passes by after a soft-reset, the ability to maintain open apps diminishes, and it does not seem to only related to memory. with fresh soft-reset, I can have 5 apps open with only 20mb free memory (after disabling dialer and locker), and maintain over quite a while. but after a day of use, with even 45MB of free memory, I can't get two apps to remain running.

I am now trying the "programmem=96" hack to see if it works better. I don't really care about samsung dialer, but without a locker is not really what I can live with

how did you disable the samsung dialer?

[Guest DunKnow]

which samsung is that? I mean which country?

pathetic answer I say..... :D they're really thinking us who bought O2 as someone who only use the phone to call and sending sms lol...

can you pointed out again that we think the phone doesn't get any benefit from the reserved RAM?

I think the Samsung replier to this email is just a customer service personnel, this is what they are told to reply to the customer. We need to get the email to the software engineer or the technician to get a better answer about the reserved ram.

Edited December 3, 2009 by DunKnow

[Guest La Traviata]

I think the Samsung replier to this email is just a customer service personnel, this is what they are told to reply to the customer. We need to get the email to the software engineer or the technician to get a better answer about the reserved ram.

I think they just replied with the kind of basic, standard answer that you would give to a casual user who doesn't really know how to use a high end phone, i.e. that when you have too many apps open, some have to close. That is true, but this isn't what this auto closing/RAM reserving query is about. I suppose they get super basic questions most of the time, so they automatically give you super basic answers.

I contacted them once about Samsung app store, asking if there was a way to install the cab in My Storage because I could see no earthly reason why it would need to be in the small device memory (that's on Omnia 1). They replied by asking me to scan my phone for big files, such as pictures, as they will of course take up space also. I didn't get a satisfactory answer until I explained that I don't WANT it in the main device memory because I need that for more important apps.

Edited December 3, 2009 by La Traviata

[Guest nap_rz]

^ that's why we actually need to spread this to the internet, especially phones communities, and reviewers...

[Guest pine]

how did you disable the samsung dialer?

edit some registry setting. easy to find in previous posts.

[Guest pine]

it seems that by disabling samsung dialer, the wm 6.5 screen locker. I could keep more program runing in background. and I also tested to find out each of them has its own fault. but as time passes by after a soft-reset, the ability to maintain open apps diminishes, and it does not seem to only related to memory. with fresh soft-reset, I can have 5 apps open with only 20mb free memory (after disabling dialer and locker), and maintain over quite a while. but after a day of use, with even 45MB of free memory, I can't get two apps to remain running.

I am now trying the "programmem=96" hack to see if it works better. I don't really care about samsung dialer, but without a locker is not really what I can live with

it seems that the "96" is doing the magic so far. The program I opened this morning are still running in background now after 12 hours. I have made numerous phone calls, emails, and other apps. in previous days, O2 should be shutting down every single one of my program in background already.

this is with samsung dialer disabled, locker screen disable, alarmwatch autorotate sendMTMSG removed from startup. I am not sure if the "96" did the trick or removing program from startup did the trick. but I guess it is good start.

[Guest skoda60]

I was using wm6.1 IH5. Free RAM 84mb after soft reset.

I done the test by setting the programmem to 64, 96 and backed to 17 with the same set of program running. Just for testing purposes if not I was crazy to run all these program concurrently.

All the Free RAM before(84mb) and after loaded so many program were(53mb) the same. If the free RAM under 50MB it will not stable and tend to closing down the application.

I already downgraded to WM6.1 and I don't know how the programmem value will affect the closing down the program on WM6.5.

Upon my testing it was not affect at all.

Only the Omnia2 OS was so hungry and ate away the RAM. After runnig few program and closed it, the memory was lesser and can't be recovered by free RAM application to the initial value.

The test results you can refer to the picture attached.

a bit out topic, when I used sktool to check the invalid registry entries, when I try to delete any one or all. it will delay the onscreen keyboard selection. LL have to put it back.

Edited December 3, 2009 by skoda60

[Guest Tylwith]

Sorry for the really noob question... why some applications aren't closed? I mean, only applications running as Tasks are being closed while I never experienced a closing of Processes (SPB mobile shell, Spam alert, S2U2, etc)

it's not a noob question it's a technical question

definition by microsoft

What is a 'valid' Application?

For an application to be considered by the low memory check routine as a candidate to receive a WM_HIBERNATE message or to be closed (if it’s the LRU application) it must meet the following criteria:

1. Have a top level window

2. Not have the WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW or WS_EX_NOACTIVATE style

3. Have been activated at some point

4. Not the foreground application (since this is the app the user is interacting with and they'd probably be pretty mad if it started to free resources as a result of receiving WM_HIBERNATE or was closed while they were using it)

[Guest tacchan23]

it's not a noob question it's a technical question

definition by microsoft

What is a 'valid' Application?

For an application to be considered by the low memory check routine as a candidate to receive a WM_HIBERNATE message or to be closed (if it’s the LRU application) it must meet the following criteria:

1. Have a top level window

2. Not have the WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW or WS_EX_NOACTIVATE style

3. Have been activated at some point

4. Not the foreground application (since this is the app the user is interacting with and they'd probably be pretty mad if it started to free resources as a result of receiving WM_HIBERNATE or was closed while they were using it)

We need a way to "cheat" the memory check :D

[Guest Tylwith]

We need a way to "cheat" the memory check :D

i am looking a bit into it. manage to go down to 26mo before all my tasks were killed...

trying different threshold for the reserved minimum memory and the out of memory threshold.

but i don't know the omnia 2 memory page size so it's a bit hard.

[Guest tacchan23]

i am looking a bit into it. manage to go down to 26mo before all my tasks were killed...

trying different threshold for the reserved minimum memory and the out of memory threshold.

but i don't know the omnia 2 memory page size so it's a bit hard.

You just editing this? [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Shell\LowMem ]"ProgramMem"

I tried some random numbers but still applications are closing on about 45-50 mb free ram

Or some other registry?