Low memory on Pulse?

[Guest Ashbeard]

I downloaded an app called meminfo and it reports my Pulse as having 96MB of RAM. All the spec sheets I have seen say I should have 256MB. The phone often slows down and I can't have more than a couple of apps open before it shuts down some. For instance, if I run Spotify and the web browser at the same time, Spotify will shut down if I open too many webpages (as few as 2) or even 1 webpage if it has lots of images. This seems far from ideal for an OS that is meant to have strength in multitasking.

Another problem I have that I think may be related is that the custom ROMs here reset on random occasions. Mostly it seems to be while it is asleep in my pocket, perhaps when I touch a button accidentally it tries to open the lock and thats when the reset happens.

[Guest phucte]

The pulse has 196mb of ram , same as the G1 ;)

Edited February 10, 2010 by phucte

[Guest xarxiusxiii]

I've not been getting the random resets, but the memory on my Pulse is being reported as 96MB also, although I can have many apps open (Music, Maps, Browser, Messaging and MSN) without a slowdown. Maybe the memory is being reported wrong?

[Guest Spooke]

I downloaded an app called meminfo and it reports my Pulse as having 96MB of RAM. All the spec sheets I have seen say I should have 256MB. The phone often slows down and I can't have more than a couple of apps open before it shuts down some. For instance, if I run Spotify and the web browser at the same time, Spotify will shut down if I open too many webpages (as few as 2) or even 1 webpage if it has lots of images. This seems far from ideal for an OS that is meant to have strength in multitasking.

Another problem I have that I think may be related is that the custom ROMs here reset on random occasions. Mostly it seems to be while it is asleep in my pocket, perhaps when I touch a button accidentally it tries to open the lock and thats when the reset happens.

I think the applications reading it wrong, because mine shows 96mb total, 1/2mb free, which is completely wrong ;)

Try some other memory applications

[Guest HunteronX]

I think the applications reading it wrong, because mine shows 96mb total, 1/2mb free, which is completely wrong ;)

Try some other memory applications

It's true, there's only about 96mb available to use at boot, the rest is used for the system, i think. I'm also not sure if there's a way of increasing the available ram.

Also, I think there's 256mb of ROM, and only 192mb of RAM.

Edited February 10, 2010 by HunteronX

[Guest Ashbeard]

Another program called Free Memory also reports 96MB. Smart Monitor Lite reports 96.7MB Various other programs don't report the amount of RAM but they report around 27MB free with only the Home Screen running after boot. Of the 96MB that are there Smart Monitor says 71% are used by the system so I don't know if that theory about the system taking up part of the 192MB is correct.

[Guest jmmL]

This is interesting; this is the output of free from my pulse:

total used free shared buffers

Mem: 98124 96164 1960 0 96

Swap: 32760 20596 12164

Total: 130884 116760 14124

Why is this not showing as ~196? Is the rest of the memory reserved for something or is it just not being allocated? I'm running 1.7 vanilla.

[Guest Bakes]

I quote Paul:

We've all got used to seeing Qualcomm MSM7200 in just about everything "smart," and the Pulse is no exception. It packs the usual 528MHz processor previously seen on every other Android device. Limited ROM and RAM means that after a fresh boot 96MB of RAM is available for use and only 60MB on the data partition -- potentially an issue given Android's continuing lack of ability to store downloaded applications on the SD card.

[Guest jmmL]

I quote Paul:

My understanding of this is that here Paul is talking about ROM here, i.e., memory that keeps information during power-off, the equivalent of a hard disk drive in a desktop computer. The output of free will show how the RAM is being used in the system, i.e., the memory that programs are read into off the ROM, like ordinary RAM in a desktop.

The fact that he talks about storing applications in /data suggests he is talking about ROM, not RAM. You do not install applications to RAM; they are installed to ROM.

[Guest Bakes]

Limited ROM and RAM means that after a fresh boot 96MB of RAM is available for use

[Guest jmmL]

My argument was essentially built on the premise that man is not infallible - even Paul!

I gave a few reasons as to why I think Paul meant "ROM", but typed "RAM".

[Guest Bakes]

My argument was essentially built on the premise that man is not infallible - even Paul!

I gave a few reasons as to why I think Paul meant "ROM", but typed "RAM".

Well, I would say that his '96MB' idea seems to hold up well with the rest of the people who have tested here. That's why I quoted it.

[Guest jmmL]

I think I've found a plausible explanation. It looks like the other 96MB of RAM already used is allocated the various other parts of the system (e.g., the processor and the radio). There appears to be a good explanation here, although it is for the galaxy: http://androidforums.com/samsung-i7500/108....html#post77540

[Guest Ashbeard]

Thanks for all helpful comments.