Is 3GB RAM needed for heavy browsing?

[r4sh1d]

I'm in the market for a new tablet to replace my aging Nexus 7 1st Gen. What I HATE about this tablet, terrible speaker, no mSD slot (seriously WTF),


My usage: 40% movie watching (have to have mSD slot, no cloud BS for me), 40% browsing with at least 6 tabs open in Chrome beta, and 20% gaming.

I'm torn between the Galaxy tab S 8.4 (more RAM), and the Xiaomi Mipad (more internal storage 64GB + mSD slot, YAY) but 2GB RAM.

I have a HTC one m7 running stock 4.4.2, and I find it reloading pages when I have more than 6 tabs open with heavy flash contents and I want to eliminate that.

People who're using debloated note 3 & tab S, what do you think about the extra RAM? Is it worth it to go for the tab S for the extra 1GB RAM only? I like that the Mipad has a 4:3 screen, which I find better for web browsing, in the other hand the tab S's AMOLED screen is gorgeous for movie watching!

Is the forced reloading of pages that's happening in my M7 caused by the Snapdragon 600 chip? Is it a limitation in the ANDROID OS (trying to free RAM and stuff? 1 app cant use more than 1GB RAM or something? Is it the 2GB RAM that's holding it back?

I live in Saudi Arabia, so I can't buy/try/return if I don't like a product over here :/

Thanks!

 

[Ravynmagi]

2GB is standard for a good Android device and that seems fine right now. I have no problem browsing with half a dozen or more tabs open.

Samsung ships 3GB with some of their tablets, but I think that's mainly because Samsung adds a lot more features to their tablets that require more services to always be running, and that feature bloat probably uses up more than the extra GB.

So to me a Samsung Touchwiz tablet with 3GB = a regular Android tablet with 2GB.
And I'm recent Samsung tablets that only have 2GB of RAM worry me a little.

 

[Geekbabe]

I would think Extra ram is important to support the split screen, multitasking abilities of the premium Samsung tablets.

 

[r4sh1d]

This's why I'm asking people who have a debloated note 3 or tab S devices, how does the browser behave (specifically the latest Chrome beta)?


Lets say, I root & stop all Samsung bloatware, would the browser be able to use as much ram as it needs when the device has 3GB RAM (2.xGB avaliable)? Would Android OS limit how much RAM an app uses to not more than 1GB or something? in which case, the extra RAM won't benefit me since I'm not a heavy multitasking user.

If the OS doesn't dictate how much RAM an app uses as long as the user is asking for it and it's avaliable, why don't they let us customize the device like they do for laptops and stuff. I'd happily pay for 4, 6, 8 GB and be happy.

I was ready to pay whatever Apple asked for the iPad mini Retina (128GB) when they announced it, till I found out that it has a lousy 1GB of RAM! WTF!

 

[Ravynmagi]

I'll need to do some testing. But so far I haven't noticed any problems with page reloading on my 2GB Android tablets, I've never felt RAM limited.
I know the iPad with 1GB sounds weak, but Safari does a great job handling multiple open tabs without needing to reload, Chrome unfortunately doesn't have access to the same magic sauce and does need to reload more on the iPad.

 

[mnewsham]

I can regularly use up my RAM on my LG G2, snapchat + facebook messenger + pandora + amazon kindle app.


leaves a few hundred MB if that. Starts to slow down if I open up the web browser, then forces me to reload the kindle app when I go back to reopen it only a minute later.

So I could personally use 3-4GB I feel, but I know plenty of people who have no issue with the current 2GB standard.

 

[Raduque]

Lets say, I root & stop all Samsung bloatware, !

This is irrelevent.

Android doesn't limit memory access to apps at all (except the slight amount of ram reserved for addressing space for the GPU, camera and etc).

 

[mikegg]

Crazy to think that not too long ago, I could get away with 2GB on my desktop and be able to play games, browse, listen to music, all at the same time. Was Windows more efficient?

 

[Ravynmagi]

Crazy to think that not too long ago, I could get away with 2GB on my desktop and be able to play games, browse, listen to music, all at the same time. Was Windows more efficient?

Windows 8.1 still runs quite nicely with 2GB of RAM (some of those Baytrail tablets are quite nice).

And I really don't think there is anything to worry about with 2GB Android tablets.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Crazy to think that not too long ago, I could get away with 2GB on my desktop and be able to play games, browse, listen to music, all at the same time. Was Windows more efficient?

The requirements of modern applications increases with the available reasources.

 

[Red Storm]

Crazy to think that not too long ago, I could get away with 2GB on my desktop and be able to play games, browse, listen to music, all at the same time. Was Windows more efficient?

Desktop class CPU, but 2GB of RAM in desktops was more than "not too long ago".

 

[desura]

Windows 8.1 still runs quite nicely with 2GB of RAM (some of those Baytrail tablets are quite nice).

And I really don't think there is anything to worry about with 2GB Android tablets.

Somehow Samsung manages to kill like 50% of the performance with their overbuilt software.

 

[paperwastage]

Desktop class CPU, but 2GB of RAM in desktops was more than "not too long ago".

i blame java/dalvik and badly managed GC process...

see if ART is better than dalvik?



I know for my Nexus 5, things are really snappy and doesn't reload often (benefits of having as close to AOSP as possible)

My LG G Pad (same 2GB ram as N5, but 1.5ghz snapdragon 600 instead of N5's 2.2ghz snapdragon 800) is less snappy

 

[jacktesterson]

I've yet to run into any issues with 2GB of ram with Android.

That's me though.

 

[jacktesterson]

I have an old Dell D630 Notebook running Win 8.1 using 2GB Ram and a SSD, works great.

(Not related I know, but 2GB on Windows 8.1 is certainly usable)

 

[dawheat]

This's why I'm asking people who have a debloated note 3 or tab S devices, how does the browser behave (specifically the latest Chrome beta)?


Lets say, I root & stop all Samsung bloatware, would the browser be able to use as much ram as it needs when the device has 3GB RAM (2.xGB avaliable)? Would Android OS limit how much RAM an app uses to not more than 1GB or something? in which case, the extra RAM won't benefit me since I'm not a heavy multitasking user.

If the OS doesn't dictate how much RAM an app uses as long as the user is asking for it and it's avaliable, why don't they let us customize the device like they do for laptops and stuff. I'd happily pay for 4, 6, 8 GB and be happy.

I was ready to pay whatever Apple asked for the iPad mini Retina (128GB) when they announced it, till I found out that it has a lousy 1GB of RAM! WTF!

Not 100% sure what you're asking, but I'm running an AT&T Note 3 with a custom 4.4.2 ROM via SS (Dynamic Kat 4.1) that is moderately debloated.

I use Boat Browser and opened 6 tabs to different bookmarked websites, waited for them to load, and then clicked through each tab. All were viewable and clickable and did not 'reload' when I got to the tab.

In general on my phone, it shows 2.71GB memory available and goes anywhere from 1GB used (fresh reboot) to nearly 2GB (the most I've ever seen) used. Normally it's around 1.3-1.7GB used.

I vaguely recall what I think you're referring to - on some of my older phones, loading multiple windows would result in the page being 'refreshed' when you go to that tab, even though it seemed mostly/all loaded. Doesn't happen on my Note 3, but I'm not sure if that's due to 4.4.2 or the extra memory.

I will say that browser scrolling is NOT perfectly smooth - it's pretty good on the Note 3, but I'm hoping that Android L will finally solve this one annoyance compared to iOS.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Not 100% sure what you're asking, but I'm running an AT&T Note 3 with a custom 4.4.2 ROM via SS (Dynamic Kat 4.1) that is moderately debloated.

I use Boat Browser and opened 6 tabs to different bookmarked websites, waited for them to load, and then clicked through each tab. All were viewable and clickable and did not 'reload' when I got to the tab.

In general on my phone, it shows 2.71GB memory available and goes anywhere from 1GB used (fresh reboot) to nearly 2GB (the most I've ever seen) used. Normally it's around 1.3-1.7GB used.

I vaguely recall what I think you're referring to - on some of my older phones, loading multiple windows would result in the page being 'refreshed' when you go to that tab, even though it seemed mostly/all loaded. Doesn't happen on my Note 3, but I'm not sure if that's due to 4.4.2 or the extra memory.

I will say that browser scrolling is NOT perfectly smooth - it's pretty good on the Note 3, but I'm hoping that Android L will finally solve this one annoyance compared to iOS.

I think that has to do with the kernel's minfree settings, etc. On my OnePlus One, I'm at 393mb free now (3gb device!) but it flies. I've seen my Nexus 5 lag at 600mb free back when CM11 had a "mem leak." Its quite interesting how certain devices perform.

Also Android's garbage collection and killing of tasks could probably use some optimizing. Its why sometimes you get launcher redraws even if your phone has plenty of memory. For example, if Android knew to kill that 80mb Facebook process before my launcher, or that Google Voice process or that Youtube process or Slacker Radio process (assuming nothing's playing), then it could preserve the browser window much better.

 

[Zodiark1593]

Wish I can expand the memory of my smartphone. 512MB is rather miserly with some heavier browsers.

 

[Yuriman]

I never had any problems with my old Galaxy S2 (~1GB), but granted I was running a debloated 4.1.2. Chrome ran very nicely with a few tabs open, with navigation and music or an audiobook in the background. Very occasionally I would get an active process killed if trying to run too much in the background. This was ~8 months ago and I doubt app size has increased significantly since then.

 

[dawheat]

Also Android's garbage collection and killing of tasks could probably use some optimizing. Its why sometimes you get launcher redraws even if your phone has plenty of memory. For example, if Android knew to kill that 80mb Facebook process before my launcher, or that Google Voice process or that Youtube process or Slacker Radio process (assuming nothing's playing), then it could preserve the browser window much better.

Isn't the above one of the areas of focus for Android L? I wasn't initially excited about it, but the performance and battery improvements seem quite exciting.

 

[r4sh1d]

Sorry for the late replay, was in vacation

I travel a lot so before the flight takes off I like to open 6 to 8 tabs mostly tech sites reviews to read in flight. I hate it when it forces reloading tabs mid flight when I have more than 6 tabs open and it cant open them cause there's no signal!!

Usually I do not have a problem with browser reloading if I have tons of tabs open if I have 4G/WiFi on, it takes a few seconds to reload pages. But while in flight I cant just watch a tv show then go back to the browser otherwise it'll reload pages and stuff.. I do have an iPad 3 and with that lousy 1GB ram, cant have a few tabs open in safari or it'll reload pages while in mid flight and I'll lose those pages...I'd have to take my macbook pro with 8 GB of ram just to enjoy browsing & movies in flight; but I don't have a use for it otherwise.


Now that the Nvidia shield 2 is announced with those nice front facing speakers, I can't decide on which tab to go for!!

Tab S 8.4 (3GB RAM, nice screen), Xiaomi miPad 64GB (tons of storage, and a nice 4:3 screen for reading), nvidia shield 8" (front facing speakers).

 

[tential]

Windows 8.1 still runs quite nicely with 2GB of RAM (some of those Baytrail tablets are quite nice).

And I really don't think there is anything to worry about with 2GB Android tablets.

A Baytrail tablet is faster than what I'm currently using to browse the internet and has the same amount of ram.

What I'm using:
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Celeron+450+@+2.20GHz

BayTrail Tablet:
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Atom+Z3740+@+1.33GHz
-------------
I understand OP's fears though with tab reloading. It's the most annoying thing ever on tablets to have to keep having a page refresh.

 

[r4sh1d]

I don't think the tablets in the OP are limited by their SoC choices though, right? It's the amount of RAM that's causing the reloading behavior of tabs in a browser; correct? I'm a heavy user when it comes to the amount of tabs open in a browser, I have 16GB of RAM in my system and Chrome can eat up 7GB sometimes when I have tons of tabs open in Windows 7 X64. There might be a leak somewhere? I don't care; as long as the browser is snappy I'm happy!

 

[FX2000]

Crazy to think that not too long ago, I could get away with 2GB on my desktop and be able to play games, browse, listen to music, all at the same time. Was Windows more efficient?

While Windows can use the HDD as "RAM" (Swapspace), doing so on Android, would wear down the NAND memory really quickly.

 

[magomago]

I can regularly use up my RAM on my LG G2, snapchat + facebook messenger + pandora + amazon kindle app.


leaves a few hundred MB if that. Starts to slow down if I open up the web browser, then forces me to reload the kindle app when I go back to reopen it only a minute later.

So I could personally use 3-4GB I feel, but I know plenty of people who have no issue with the current 2GB standard.

People have to understand and remember how memory management works; it doesn't work in the intuitive sense of 'Have a lot of free RAM for potential use'. 'Free ram is wasted ram' is the preferred approach and lots of preemptive caching should be taking place. This is why today, for example, on Windows OS, people now look down upon trying to override the default memory management system.

The point is you can't look at total RAM usage as a clear indication of how much RAM four apps are using.

Now, that said, there is something wrong when, on a Phone with 2GB of Ram, four very simple apps will cause the Phone to slow down. The problem should lie with the apps in that instance.

Tangentially, I've noticed that Amazon's apps on Android feel bloated, slow, and not polished. I actually uninstalled the Amazon.com Shopping app in favor of the website because it felt slower.