Video Shows Benefits of 2GB RAM in iPhone 6s

[crazysword]

I'm not sure what you mean by "best in class", but my father-in-law's ancient Z1 lasts two days on one charge. I saw this first-hand.



Personally I don't have any battery problems with mine. Lasts a full day with my use pattern.

Unless the 6s lasts two days on a charge, it's far from being "best in class".

First of all anecdote matters very little when you compare things like battery life which can be objectively measured. If you don't understand the term "best in class", try Googling it instead of putting it in quotations and make a snide remark.

I don't care about how long it lasts for you, your father, or me.
Look at the link I provided. The battery life test was conducted under at 200 nit in a controlled environment. This shows how long it will last compared to other phones doing the same activity.

The 6s plus and 6 plus offer some of the best battery life in its class. I don't understand why it has to last 2 days on a charge to be "best in class" and I would appreciate it to hear your rationale.

How long a phone lasts is largely dependent on how it's used. I am sure most smartphones can last 2 days if they are in standby.

"(2) she was amazed at how much better photos my Alpha took, as in, there was really no comparison (mind you, it needs reasonably good light and we certainly had it)"

The Alpha's sensor is similar to the Note 4's, which should be pretty good. But to suggest that it's a "lot better"? Haha Really?

She also looked at the photos on the screen which she perceived to be better, so not exactly an objective analysis.

 

[crazysword]

AMOLED colors are not accurate. You might like excessive color saturation better, but you cannot say with any truth that the pictures are better based on your phone screen. Upload and look at both camera's pictures on a high resolution computer screen (or even a highly saturated TV) to compare properly on the same page.

The inaccurate colors arguments were true a few years ago, but not anymore.

Look at displaymate's review of the Note 4 and Note 5 screen. They are VERY accurate.

 

[Max(IT)]

You know, Android actually has excellent memory management. As the owner of both iOS and Android devices, I can tell you that only with iOS I have to (frequently) swipe away stuff that's open, to try and get better behaviour from the device. Certainly, the fact that Android phones have more memory helps too. Even my old (now retired) Nexus 4 had 2Gb of RAM and I never worried about memory usage or had to close background apps so that not everything had to reload, all the time, as it does on iOS.



Personally I think it's great that you're happy with the 6S. But it's certainly not always the case that you get what you payed for in the end. This idea is silly. I can give you tons of examples of cheaper products outperforming more expensive ones, and I'm sure that if you thought about it, you'd realize it too. Value for money is what's important here, and some Android phones have far greater value for money than the latest iPhone.

Nothing wrong with having the latest iPhone and loving it, but not everyone who doesn't have one is doing so because they cannot afford it...

Android excellent memory management? After two years with a nexus 7 I would say my 1 Gb iPad Air is much better....

Samsung TW and maybe other skins have poor memory management but stock Android is just as good or better than iOS. I wouldn't say iOS has good memory management. All iOS does is kill applications when memory is full. Nothing genius about that.

If you're talking about how lean iOS is, that may have been true a few years ago. But iOS uses much more RAM than it used to because of the additional features that have been added.

Nexus 7 is stock android, kitkat and now lollipop, but it's not better than iOS, even with twice the ram...

To directly quote you, "that may have been true a few years ago". I bought this spring a new (and cheap) Galaxy Alpha to bridge me to the next Nexus, and, having no experience with TouchWiz, I expected to dislike it, possibly hate it (never having read good things about it).

I was left perplexed as to what's the fuss about. TouchWiz is not extraordinary in any way. It fully resembles stock Android or, for that purpose, the iOS interface, practically the difference is in insignificant details. There's no memory "management" problem, for sure, it wouldn't be anyway since this is done by the kernel and not the launcher. But in any case it's fast and lean. Perhaps it was bad prior to 2014, certainly not now.

I stop listening when you started defending TouchWiz..... Lol

 

[crazysword]

“You know, Android actually has excellent memory management.”


Not sure if you are trolling or not.

The first time I turned on my Note 3, had 1.3g of free memory out of 3g.

 

[CFreymarc]

“You know, Android actually has excellent memory management.”

Not sure if you are trolling or not.

The first time I turned on my Note 3, had 1.3g of free memory out of 3g.

The biggest problem with Android is not the OS itself but the "doesn't play well with others" mindset that many Android app developers have toward the platform. That is, many app developers do as much as they can for their app to get the most use. Thus, a lot of memory is used and, if locked in background, not available to other apps. I've even seen some Android apps delete competing apps on the same phone.

 

[cwt1nospam]

I'm still not sure that there's anything that practically shows that going from 1 GB to 2 GB of RAM will result in any noticeable increase (or decrease) in battery consumption in general, just from simply having more RAM present.

You mean except for Physics? RAM requires power to maintain its contents, whether you're accessing it or not.

 

[riverfreak]

That's the only thing I hate on my 6 plus, and also the reason I upgrade to the 6s Plus

Me too. It is epically annoying when toggling back and forth referring to content on multiple tabs.

 

[C DM]

You mean except for Physics? RAM requires power to maintain its contents, whether you're accessing it or not.

It sure does, but how much of a noticeable/meaningful difference would it be between 1 GB of RAM and 2 GB of RAM, that's the actual question.

 

[C DM]

First of all anecdote matters very little when you compare things like battery life which can be objectively measured. If you don't understand the term "best in class", try Googling it instead of putting it in quotations and make a snide remark.

I don't care about how long it lasts for you, your father, or me.
Look at the link I provided. The battery life test was conducted under at 200 nit in a controlled environment. This shows how long it will last compared to other phones doing the same activity.

The 6s plus and 6 plus offer some of the best battery life in its class. I don't understand why it has to last 2 days on a charge to be "best in class" and I would appreciate it to hear your rationale.

How long a phone lasts is largely dependent on how it's used. I am sure most smartphones can last 2 days if they are in standby.

"(2) she was amazed at how much better photos my Alpha took, as in, there was really no comparison (mind you, it needs reasonably good light and we certainly had it)"

The Alpha's sensor is similar to the Note 4's, which should be pretty good. But to suggest that it's a "lot better"? Haha Really?

She also looked at the photos on the screen which she perceived to be better, so not exactly an objective analysis.

It's kind of hard to measure something objectively if it largely or at least significantly depends on how it's used, where it's used, what sort of things it's used for, etc., etc., etc. Factoring in that it can change and be different even from day to day for the same person, let alone different people in different places.

 

[garylapointe]

IOS doesn't use backing store (caching) like other modern operating systems use.

Not talking about the way the OS caches. Just talking about when it doesn't have the memory to retain a web page, just save it in a "file" and pull it back (I don't really care what it's called, but save it).

I've use Reeder for news reading, it pulls my hundreds of news feeds down (and graphics) and "saves" them (1000+ articles) to the phone, they don't have to reload the when I open the app back up, it's got them saved. It's significantly faster than releasing them.

Gary

 

[LordVic]

“You know, Android actually has excellent memory management.”


Not sure if you are trolling or not.

The first time I turned on my Note 3, had 1.3g of free memory out of 3g.

Never conflate Android with Samsung's "touchwiz". They call it Android, it's based on android, But it's not android.

Touchwiz has terrible memory management. Android 5.1.1 is MUCH better.

 

[Dmunjal]

Not talking about the way the OS caches. Just talking about when it doesn't have the memory to retain a web page, just save it in a "file" and pull it back (I don't really care what it's called, but save it).

I've use Reeder for news reading, it pulls my hundreds of news feeds down (and graphics) and "saves" them (1000+ articles) to the phone, they don't have to reload the when I open the app back up, it's got them saved. It's significantly faster than releasing them.

Gary

There are plenty of apps that do that like you mentioned. But these apps can't keep what you typed in a form, remember your scroll position on the page, or even keep the original non-updated version of the page. That's what extra RAM can do.

 

[AleXXXa]

Perhaps on the regular 6 it was fine. But on the 6 plus it was needed.

It's the same on the 6, too. 2 or 3 heavy websites (like the verge) and it's reload-fest.

 

[ThatsMeRight]

If you believe I said that then you totally misunderstood what I said.

I know what you said. Your argument basically was: if your 2012 iPhone can hold 3 tabs in memory, than the 2014 iPhone can definitely do that.

I just wanted to chime in: last year I upgraded from an iPhone 5 to an iPhone 6 Plus. And, yes, the iPhone 5 was in every way better in multitasking than the 6 Plus. Even today, if you use an iPhone 5 you'll find that apps and safari tabs remain in memory longer than on the 6 Plus (can't speak for the 4.7" 6, though)

There are a few reasons why this is happening.

- iPhone 5 is 32 but (versus 64 bit) [requires more memory]
- iPhone 5 runs 2X Retina (versus 3X Retina on 6 Plus) [larger images, requires more memory]
- iPhone 5's international resolution is 0.7 megapixel, iPhone 6 Plus 2.7 megapixel [more pixels to push = more text and images to show = requires more memory]
- iPhone 5 does no downsampling, iPhone 6 Plus downsamples 2.7 MP resolution to 2.1 MP resolution [requires more memory]

All these things I summed up require more memory. That means Safari tabs do in fact need to reload sooner and that apps in the background are cleared out of memory more often on a 6 Plus than on an iPhone 5.

It might not be bothersome to you, but to many it was in fact bothersome. It definitely was bothersome to me: if I was writing something in Safari and I needed to look something up in another app, more often than not the Safari tab had to reload (and vica versa).

I understand that you think there's nothing wrong with the 6 Plus. That's fine and great for you, and I respect that opinion. But you also need to understand that, for some people, the shortage of RAM can be bothersome as it interrupts their workflow.

 

[Max(IT)]

3 is 2 too many in my experience. I can load one and it's manageable. Any more than that and it's reloading apps and tabs constantly.

I have three also on my iPad, including Yahoo! Meteo

 

[woodekm]

These arguments are the same as when SO many people said that nobody wants a larger iPhone.

 

[symphara]

First of all anecdote matters very little when you compare things like battery life which can be objectively measured. If you don't understand the term "best in class", try Googling it instead of putting it in quotations and make a snide remark.

It wasn't a snide remark. I put in quotes because it's not really a well-defined term. What do you mean exactly by "class"? All smartphones? All smartphones with a particular screen size? I have no idea, and neither of those is particularly meaningful.

In any case, it's silly to claim that the iPhones or some particular iPhone has "best in class" battery life, unless you're only talking about iPhones.

If you talk about smartphones in general, any full-size Xperia is better. Moto Droid Turbos have nearly 4Ah batteries etc.

The Alpha's sensor is similar to the Note 4's, which should be pretty good. But to suggest that it's a "lot better"? Haha Really?

She also looked at the photos on the screen which she perceived to be better, so not exactly an objective analysis.

As I explained, we looked at the photos on a normal screen, afterwards. To both our surprises (I don't have a lot of experience with the iPhone camera but I held it to be better), the photos taken with the 6 were far more washed out (I had used HDR) and not having as good detail. Yes, really, I would say there were a lot better.

I'm a heavy DSLR user and not that keen on phone photography in general, but to me the iPhone 6 camera offered a mediocre photo experience, much like the rest of the device.

The major quality of an iPhone today is that it is fashion-technology, i.e. a lot of thought, design and marketing has been put into positioning it as a fashion product defined by its smoothness and beauty. There's nothing wrong with that, and there are plenty of reasons to like it as such, but I personally find it amusing when people who like it because of its fashion aspect twist themselves into logical knots trying to backtrack their fondness as having something to do with its alleged technological superiority.

The iPhone is the Bang & Olufsen of the smartphone world. Beautiful, fashionable, expensive, exclusive, but otherwise a rather mediocre product.

 

[AppleScruff1]

1GB was plenty, 2 is a waste of Apple's resources.

 

[garylapointe]

There are plenty of apps that do that like you mentioned. But these apps can't keep what you typed in a form, remember your scroll position on the page, or even keep the original non-updated version of the page. That's what extra RAM can do.

They could if they wanted to. I'd like scroll location, but I don't "need" the contents of a form, beside security might cause it to expire with time (or IP change) so you couldn't use it anyways.
(Whatever page it "saves" is the only one it has; I'm not sure exactly what you mean by original.).

Gary

 

[NewdestinyX]

Amount of RAM has always been about how much code can run uninterrupted in memory.. How many apps can stay open. The challenge that faced Apple with an iOS was how to get the biggest bang for their buck in a tiny space. When they finally invented Dynamic RAM allocation they knew that 1GB of RAM would be sufficient for a very long time to come - and as we know - they've been riding that wave for 3 generations now.. And DRA does indeed always make for any ONE APP running smooth as butter. In Apple's mind they don't think "process flow" as well as they think about design engineering. I'll bet in the minds of Apple's engineers they think "so why the he11 would someone want 20 safari tabs open"...

It's just Apple's way. They want a "singular" experience by all users. And they want that experience to be what THEY think it should be. The reason we didn't get 2GB of RAM until now was simply because "it wasn't necessary"... In Apple's eyes. The reason they didn't trumpet the move to 2GB this time was that they STILL believe it's a non-issue - And I believe they resented feeling pushed into doing it by the public.. That's also why they mentioned nothing about..

The good news is - that for most of the real world users out here - the 2GB will be hugely helpful. But don't jump on the bandwagon of people who say it's the ram that's making the 6S/+ faster. That would show you don't have a working knowledge of hardware design. The 6s/+'s are faster due to that crazy A9 processor.

 

[Ethosik]

While I have no interest in wireless charging, I have to call BS on this one. Batteries have longer lives with slow charging. Not a big issue with wireless versus plugged in cell phone charging, but for electric cars it is an issue. Rapid chargers heat batteries, not slow chargers.

Well it was from Battery University or the Onion I believe. They also said to NEVER use your phone AT ALL while it is charging. Oh and charging the batter makes your processor VERY SLOW.

 

[recoil80]

It sure does, but how much of a noticeable/meaningful difference would it be between 1 GB of RAM and 2 GB of RAM, that's the actual question.

The difference is very little.
Macbooks come in different memory configurations but battery life remains roughly the same not matter how much RAM you chose.
With Apple's SoC you can't upgrade the RAM so we'll never know the difference but let us ask the question: do you spend more energy to have more apps in memory with 2GB of RAM or to have more apps reloading due to less RAM available?

The only reason Apple didn't put 2GB on iPhone 6 is called "planned obsolescence"

 

[opfreak]

no this is not possible, 1gb is enough because ios is the best os ever. anyone complain about lack of memory should just give up on the device.


In the real world, I cannot begin to tell you how frustrating iphone was to use overseas with limited data. I'd have a map program open, and generally a guide book, leaving the map would cause it to be kicked out of memory so that when I went back to it after reading the guide for a bit, would make me have to resort the map.

 

[crazysword]

It wasn't a snide remark. I put in quotes because it's not really a well-defined term. What do you mean exactly by "class"? All smartphones? All smartphones with a particular screen size? I have no idea, and neither of those is particularly meaningful.

In any case, it's silly to claim that the iPhones or some particular iPhone has "best in class" battery life, unless you're only talking about iPhones.

If you talk about smartphones in general, any full-size Xperia is better. Moto Droid Turbos have nearly 4Ah batteries etc.

Battery capacity does not equal battery life. This is not a difficult concept to understand.

As I explained, we looked at the photos on a normal screen, afterwards. To both our surprises (I don't have a lot of experience with the iPhone camera but I held it to be better), the photos taken with the 6 were far more washed out (I had used HDR) and not having as good detail. Yes, really, I would say there were a lot better.

I'm a heavy DSLR user and not that keen on phone photography in general, but to me the iPhone 6 camera offered a mediocre photo experience, much like the rest of the device.

If you think it's a lot better, then so be it. You mentioned washed out. Do you prefer more saturated images?

The major quality of an iPhone today is that it is fashion-technology, i.e. a lot of thought, design and marketing has been put into positioning it as a fashion product defined by its smoothness and beauty. There's nothing wrong with that, and there are plenty of reasons to like it as such, but I personally find it amusing when people who like it because of its fashion aspect twist themselves into logical knots trying to backtrack their fondness as having something to do with its alleged technological superiority.

The iPhone is the Bang & Olufsen of the smartphone world. Beautiful, fashionable, expensive, exclusive, but otherwise a rather mediocre product.

Again this is your entirely your opinion.

I can list a number of things that the iPhone is superior in, such as the implementation of the finger print sensor, the icloud backup system which is far superior to anything on Android, the nand controller on the flash memory, the performance of the A9.

To suggest that users of an iPhone are merely mindless sheeps who buy them solely as a fashion statement is pretty ignorant.

And before accusing me of being an Apple fanboy, I am actually using an Android phone..

 

[crazysword]

It sure does, but how much of a noticeable/meaningful difference would it be between 1 GB of RAM and 2 GB of RAM, that's the actual question.

I want citations regarding power consumption of 2 GB of LP-DDR4 ram vs 1 GB of LP-DDR4 ram. I wouldn't be surprised that the 2 GB actually consumes less power.

Further having more ram requires less access to the nand, which also saves battery. Your argument that more ram = less battery life is frankly, bs.