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ZBoater

macrumors G3
Jul 2, 2007
8,497
1,322
Sunny Florida
Why can't I use Apple's browser on an Apple phone? I have used Chrome but I don't like it as much. Can't remember if the tab reloading is as bad, but if it's due to RAM shortage as I and many others suspect, I don't see why it would be any better.

Because if another browser developer figured out a way to browse the web without constant reloading, the maybe, just maybe, its a software thing and not a lack of RAM thing.
 

Elisha

macrumors 6502a
Nov 21, 2006
781
504
I guess we have our answer then. Apple has optimised iOS to still run smoothly on 1gb of ram so they can save money by not having to include 2gb of ram in their iPhones.

Sure if you don't multitask or use apps that require more resources!

----------

Because if another browser developer figured out a way to browse the web without constant reloading, the maybe, just maybe, its a software thing and not a lack of RAM thing.

Safari is just an easy relatable example. Apps refresh too when you go back to it!
 

iphone5att64

macrumors 6502
Sep 19, 2012
405
37
What NONE of you obviously has is a working knowledge of how dynamic RAM allocation factors into this equation. The iPhone even at IOS 9 will never need any more than 1 GB of RAM because of the way dynamic ram allocation is built by Apple. This even comes into play with how many Safari pages are open.

All the models you're all talking about are RAM constructs and implementation within desktop computers not within iOS. Get yourselves educated… please..

We know iOS 9 will run fine. Think ahead to iOS 12. We don't want another iPad 1 that crashes with one tab after updating to iOS 5. iPad 1 has half the RAM of iPad 2 which runs iOS 8.
 

Abazigal

Contributor
Jul 18, 2011
19,560
22,020
Singapore
Sure if you don't multitask or use apps that require more resources!

Such as?

iphone specs are known to every developer, so no one in their right mind would create an app that requires more than 1gb of ram to run properly. Nor can you run multiple apps side by side on iOS anyways, so the extra memory required here is moot. Not to mention that extensions and widgets promise to help reduce the friction of interacting with multiple apps to get a particular task done.
 

Elisha

macrumors 6502a
Nov 21, 2006
781
504
Really. So what happens when you use up the 2GB and you want to use another app? Boom. Reload. And now the whining starts for 3GB of RAM.

Stop being an Apple apologist!
1gb has met it's limit over a year ago. 2gb will meet its limit at some point. At least the Windows Phone and Android hardware makers are thinking ahead with all these graphic intensive and heavy footprint apps and circumventing the hardware issue by giving them more ram.
IOS may be efficient on its own, but not the way it is being used nowadays!
 

PTLove

macrumors 6502
Sep 12, 2014
427
685
Such as?

iphone specs are known to every developer, so no one in their right mind would create an app that requires more than 1gb of ram to run properly. Nor can you run multiple apps side by side on iOS anyways, so the extra memory required here is moot. Not to mention that extensions and widgets promise to help reduce the friction of interacting with multiple apps to get a particular task done.

Well here's one example of how the platform as a whole would improve. I'm currently playing XCom on my iPhone 6 (fantastic game if you have never played it. I cannot recommend it enough). Whenever I leave the app, it must reload. The reload process takes 10 sec or so. So if I get a message, if I want to reply, it can take 20sec or so to get back to where I am. That's annoying. More ram would significantly help prevent that, as the app would just stay open in ram, even if its not true multitasking.
 

NewdestinyX

macrumors 65816
Jul 19, 2007
1,069
534
Im assuming what your trying to say is that iOS is ram efficient, Apple manages their memory well, and there isnt a need for more RAM due to these optimizations they have in place. However I would argue (and many others would) that this is incorrect. To us, the ability to multi-task with third party applications is a very worthwhile want.
AND can be accomplished within the provisions of DRA. I don't want to insult you - as you clearly have some background. Please explain why you believe that third party apps are incompatible with the efficiencies accomplished by DRA? How does DRA know the difference between 3rd party apps and Apple "approved" apps? DRA doesn't "discriminate' one app from another. Surely that's not what you're implying.. Is it? If you want to prove to me you're a pro/semi-pro in this topic matter... explain this 'discrimination' DRA has against 3rd party apps....please..
 

Abazigal

Contributor
Jul 18, 2011
19,560
22,020
Singapore
Well here's one example of how the platform as a whole would improve. I'm currently playing XCom on my iPhone 6 (fantastic game if you have never played it. I cannot recommend it enough). Whenever I leave the app, it must reload. The reload process takes 10 sec or so. So if I get a message, if I want to reply, it can take 20sec or so to get back to where I am. That's annoying. More ram would significantly help prevent that, as the app would just stay open in ram, even if its not true multitasking.

Fair enough point. I have experienced that issue when playing games like Battleheart Legacy, with the exact same scenario (exit to respond to an iMessage, return only to find the app has rebooted, with all progress lost).

But at least there's quick reply now. :p
 

iphone5att64

macrumors 6502
Sep 19, 2012
405
37
Stop being an Apple apologist!
1gb has met it's limit over a year ago. 2gb will meet its limit at some point. At least the Windows Phone and Android hardware makers are thinking ahead with all these graphic intensive and heavy footprint apps and circumventing the hardware issue by giving them more ram.
IOS may be efficient on its own, but not the way it is being used nowadays!

This is the first time Apple went three generations without a upgrading the RAM.
 

PTLove

macrumors 6502
Sep 12, 2014
427
685
AND can be accomplished within the provisions of DRA. I don't want to insult you - as you clearly have some background. Please explain why you believe that third party apps are incompatible with the efficiencies accomplished by DRA? How does DRA know the difference between 3rd party apps and Apple "approved" apps? DRA doesn't "discriminate' one app from another. Surely that's not what you're implying.. Is it? If you want to prove to me you're a pro/semi-pro in this topic matter... explain this 'discrimination' DRA has against 3rd party apps....please..

iOS must purge ram from its address space when necessary. The example above with switching to and from XCom obviously shows iOS must recover the address space when leaving the application. This can all be solved with a larger page table through more ram.
 

Elisha

macrumors 6502a
Nov 21, 2006
781
504
And each time they improve the gpu, it's gonna leach more off the system ram. Just for the sake of graphics performance alone Apple should have considered increasing ram.
 

ZBoater

macrumors G3
Jul 2, 2007
8,497
1,322
Sunny Florida
Stop being an Apple apologist!
1gb has met it's limit over a year ago. 2gb will meet its limit at some point. At least the Windows Phone and Android hardware makers are thinking ahead with all these graphic intensive and heavy footprint apps and circumventing the hardware issue by giving them more ram.
IOS may be efficient on its own, but not the way it is being used nowadays!

You obviously don't know me, as I'm as far from an Apple Zombie as you can get without crossing into Android fanboy territory.

I don't, however, jump on the first bandwagon created by an Internet article. I prefer to make my own judgement.

And in this particular case, I've concluded this iOS RAM issue is crap. It's another whine in the long list of whines I read about Apple products.

My iPhone works fine. My iPad Air works fine. Would it work better with 2GB of RAM? Maybe. I'd prefer 1TB of storage. But I'm not whining about evil Apple insulting its customers with only 1GB of RAM. This is something .0000001% of iPhone users care or even know about. You know why? Because their phones work fine.

So even amongst us .0000001% we can't discuss the issue without insults and whining and calling Apple evil. It's like a schoolyard brawl in grade school.

So no, I'm not an Apple apologist. Don't you be an Apple Zombie Hater.
 

vgamedude

macrumors 6502a
Dec 10, 2013
798
6
Ram can tend to be an very ignorant discussion here on Macrumors. Lets clear it up a bit.

Compared to iPhone's competitors (android, google), Apple differentiates themselves by having full control over our own Chip -- The A8. Apple meticulously creates this chip to provide fine tuned synergy with iOS. THAT's why we don't need the massive specs, or the extra ram. All functionality of your iPhone is satisfied with the current hardware due to Apple being able to tailor the chip to OS's needs.

Take for instance android phones. Most of them use Qualcomm chips. Qualcomm is a chip manufacturer. Android Phone companies basically have to buy this chip, and then create their mobile OS around it (Which is the opposite way of how Apple does it). This can create bottlenecks in their Android OS, and doesn't let them get the most out of their hardware. They have to put MORE hardware specs in just to match the polished experience that iOS provides.

Let's do a little test. Lets look at the A7 -- the last iteration chip(iPhone 5/5s). Lets compare it to the Nexus 4 which had the snapdragon s4 pro.

So the iPhone 5's A7 chip ( Dual core, 1300 MHz, with 1gb ram) vs Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro ( Quad core, 1500 MHz, with 2gb ram) -BIGGER SPECS AND MORE RAM

Here are the benchmark comparisons. The A7 was better in benchmarks.
Image

Also, you can google this yourself. But compare the A7 to the chip in the Galaxy S5 and the benchmarks are pretty much on par with each other. Which is pretty awesome for the iPhone. Anyway, I hope this clears up why we don't need the extra ram.

So the next time an androider says "WE HAVE 2GB RAM!! HER DER" you just say, "yea you guys need it more than we do. " --then moonwalk away from them while maintaining strict eye contact.

TL;DR We tailor our own chip - we don't need the extra ram.

Using benchmarks to say why you don't need RAM for caching and safari tab caching. And you call others ignorant.

Good job op.

That's sarcasm in case you couldn't tell.
 

NewdestinyX

macrumors 65816
Jul 19, 2007
1,069
534
HERE is why the iPhone 6/6+ didn't get more RAM.

iOS must purge ram from its address space when necessary. The example above with switching to and from XCom obviously shows iOS must recover the address space when leaving the application. This can all be solved with a larger page table through more ram.
Okay. Then you misstated your original case… Or more accurately put - you made your point too broad in its application. You simply broadly stated "there isn't enough RAM". That's an incorrect statement when made in the broad sweeping way you made it originally.

We would agree that if a particular game is designed with a ram need nearing the mobile os device's Max ram then DRA will indeed need to purge to make room for other activities as you leave that game. But that's the fault of the game designer knowing that there Is only 1 GB within iOS.

Could iOS make use of more RAM…? Absolutely. But then the game makers would make their games even more glutted in their code. The game designers need to write more efficient code. Ask most Samsung users if 2 GB is even enough for their gaming environment. You'll hear the same complaints on those forums.
 

deeddawg

macrumors G5
Jun 14, 2010
12,245
6,393
US
lack of ram is a real issue for heavy users.

Not saying it isn't an issue, but remember that heavy users really aren't Apple's main target market. When producing millions upon millions of devices, pennies count. It probably costs less to lose sales to the most demanding than to over spec for everyone else. All the zillions of teens, soccer moms, etc so outnumber the handful of people (relatively speaking) for whom it's a problem.

When the market votes with the wallet in sufficient numbers to turn the tables, then Apple's tune will change. Until then don't hold your breath.
 

macduke

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,136
19,666
LISTEN: Nobody is saying the iPhone 6 is slow. Nobody is saying that it can't process things quickly, or that it's not good at gaming, etc. What we're saying is that it lacks the capacity to multitask effectively. It can shove things around quickly, but it lacks the capacity to hold onto the things it's shoving around so quickly. Unfortunately some of those things that disappear rely on an Internet connection to load again, which means that yes they slowly reload. Like tabs. Nothing to do with the speed of the phone itself, but it makes the phone feel slower because we have to wait. Again. And again.

It's cute that the OP says that everyone is ignorant, and yet he is the guy saying that these benchmarks prove that RAM doesn't matter. Yes they don't matter because the benchmarks don't account for it! I've Geekbenched all my Macs over the years and doubling and quadrupling RAM usually has little effect on the score, but you can bet your ass that I've got 120 tabs open and the performance of my RAM previews in Premiere are much smoother. Then I can switch over to Photoshop and then Illustrator, and then FTP some files and check my mail.

Can't we all just agree that the iPhone 6 is perfect except it needs more RAM? The reloading of apps and tabs is maddening. Everyone can say that it would still happen with dynamic RAM allocation, but wouldn't the system be less strict with kicking things out when there is much more capacity? And I'd still like someone to explain to me why iOS csnt just cache things like tabs to the flash storage. Surely those chips are robust enough now that they can deal with the extra write cycles!
 

NewdestinyX

macrumors 65816
Jul 19, 2007
1,069
534
And I'd still like someone to explain to me why iOS csnt just cache things like tabs to the flash storage. Surely those chips are robust enough now that they can deal with the extra write cycles!
Actually this is a very reasonable request. I guess it's just not something Apple has thought of up until this point. An earlier poster hit the nail on the head when they said when the gaming world becomes the central market for Apple then the outcry for more RAM will be higher on the priority list. That's simply not their main clientele for iOS.

And since I'm not a gamer at all… Can one of you please explain to me why you need scores of tabs open in Safari at the same time?
 

Wrathwitch

macrumors 65816
Dec 4, 2009
1,303
55
This would be my concern:

1GB RAM, how will this work out with higher video demands, more use of the larger screen (split screen etc) now allowing 3rd party apps ie: keyboards and the demand of some newer games in the next 2 years plus 64 bit architecture, I wonder if Apple will upgrade next years phone with the same form, mostly same OS but 2GB ram?
 

horsebattery

macrumors 6502
Sep 24, 2013
313
424
If you were actually educated in DRA and mobile os architectures you'd understand why 1GB is plenty of ram for any mobile os. And how Samsung and other companies offering more is just a public pandering gimmick. Not based in any real lack in a 1GB mobile os architecture. Again.. Read up.. Knowledge is power and facts are inconvenient things sometimes.. aren't they..
Okay I'll bite. I am very curious as to what exactly is your understanding of (dynamic) memory allocation and how that ties into your point. Yes, the current amount of memory is likely able to meet the requirements of the now and later couple of iterations of iOS, and true, pseudo-multitasking can be achieved currently. But the point that many have been trying to make is that even at what is achievable now, the amount of reloading can be pared down by increasing the amount of available memory in the system. It certainly helps that iOS can manage system resources "efficiently", but the aggressiveness at which it is doing that is what leads to these constant memory debates - if Apple were to improve on multitasking (or even a full implementation), that single gigabyte's worth isn't going to make the experience very enjoyable.

As PTLove mentioned, I'm not understanding what your points are here, and if you can clarify, that'd be great.
 

MH01

Suspended
Feb 11, 2008
12,107
9,297
You obviously don't know me, as I'm as far from an Apple Zombie as you can get without crossing into Android fanboy territory.

I don't, however, jump on the first bandwagon created by an Internet article. I prefer to make my own judgement.

And in this particular case, I've concluded this iOS RAM issue is crap. It's another whine in the long list of whines I read about Apple products.

My iPhone works fine. My iPad Air works fine. Would it work better with 2GB of RAM? Maybe. I'd prefer 1TB of storage. But I'm not whining about evil Apple insulting its customers with only 1GB of RAM. This is something .0000001% of iPhone users care or even know about. You know why? Because their phones work fine.

So even amongst us .0000001% we can't discuss the issue without insults and whining and calling Apple evil. It's like a schoolyard brawl in grade school.

So no, I'm not an Apple apologist. Don't you be an Apple Zombie Hater.

Well you come across as an Apple apologist.

Even worse you have come to a conclussion cause "YOU" have not experienced the issue. Maybe just maybe have you considered that you usage might different to the people having issues ?

And since you love using images to take the piss out of posters. Here is one just for you ;)

keyboard-warrior.jpg
 

macduke

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,136
19,666
And since I'm not a gamer at all… Can one of you please explain to me why you need scores of tabs open in Safari at the same time?

It's not always about having multiple tabs open. Sometimes it's just about switching to another app, such as messages, and then back and the tab will reload, losing any data that had been filled in (such as a forum post, or a web order form, etc). Often I find myself writing about something, and I need to research one point. So I open a new tab and find the relevant information. Go back to the last tab and the tab reloads. However I'm not sure what any of that has to do with gaming. I do most of my serious gaming on my Xbox One or I play a few games on my Mac from the Steam Store or modded Minecraft. iOS gaming is interesting but I don't do it very often any more. Nowadays there is a lot of freemium garbage clogging up the App Store.

What I really don't understand is that most websites are < 5MB. Many mobile optimized pages are only 250-500KB. So why do they get purged from memory so quickly? Reading that back from cache should only take half a second.
 
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