Feeling the RAM crunch on iPhone 6/6 Plus devices

[BlazingGold]

I know most will say "no they wouldn't do that !", however, I do think it very possible that Apple did not include more RAM due to the simple fact that it will be one more thing to be considered an upgrade when the 6s and 6+s phones are released. Considering that people do everything on their phones, having the ability to keep tabs open is without a doubt NECESSARY. One HUGE example of where RAMA constraint completely destroys the overall user experience is something that happened a few days ago to me :

I was using trying to change my gmail password. They texted me the code to enter to change my password on the website. I opened up "messages" to copy and paste this code. I quickly went right back into safari on the "change password verifications" site . That page had closed and refreshed ALREADY. When it reloads, I am not back to square one and cannot use the code texted to me. It is an endless cycle in which I am unable to accomplish the task! The solution is to write down on a piece of paper the code that they texted me so that I don't have to OPEN UP messages, which will reload the safari page and cause me to lose it again. Ridiculous !

 

[vgamedude]

it isnt arrogance, your just questioning my intelligence and also a very simple stapled fact in the industry, like how can you possibly tell someone they dont know what they are talking about when in reality what I said is really computers and software basic 101 stuff? You cant tell someone they dont know what they are talking about and then just leave it at that with no facts to bring to the table or any dispute, it just makes you look dumb

and actually majority of my posts are in the iPhone/iOS sections, i barely rarely post in the alternatives section

It seems to me you keep telling everyone they have no knowledge in this area yet you yourself seems to not have much either. Really nice going there, let me guess you think the safari reloads are just a software issue that needs more optimization? Even though this has been present in varying degrees (all bad from my experience) on every iphone iteration?

Please. You know less than you think you do.

 

[Bahroo]

I can't think that you do much researching or have many browsers open. You see, I never ever play games and don't care about that side of it at all. I browse the web, massively, and experience problems all the time.

I do alot of research actually all the time, I am using Safari all the time and coming from a Galaxy S4 with double the RAM, it reloads just as much, I dont experience page reloading unless i have more then 4 tabs open...you have nothing but bad things to say about the iPhone, in every thread you post in you bash the iPhone, i doubt you have a iPhone...and this thread is pretty moot when the Galaxy note 4 and Nexus 6 with triple the RAM of the plus and 6 reload applications just as often as the 6 Plus and 6, so you would feel the "RAM crunch" on the Note 4 and Nexus 6 aswell. multiple speed test videos of comparing devices and also tech websites line up and say and show this and coincede in what i am saying.

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It seems to me you keep telling everyone they have no knowledge in this area yet you yourself seems to not have much either. Really nice going there, let me guess you think the safari reloads are just a software issue that needs more optimization? Even though this has been present in varying degrees (all bad from my experience) on every iphone iteration?

Please. You know less than you think you do.

how can you possibly say a unoptimized app is no different then a optimized app according to your logic??

your right, i dont know it all, no one does, but i sure do know alot more about this on this topic and sub fields then you do I gurantee you that..

so yeah can you please tell me though how a unoptimized app that isnt optimized for new hardware and new iOS 8 compability yet is no different then a app that is optimized for all of that then according to your logic?

browsers are widely known to use dramatically more resources and memory then pretty much most applications,(other browsers from the App Store seem to actually perform better in reloading in that regard) and I am talking about applications, that you download from the iOS app store

can you also tell me why a Nexus 6 and Note 4 reloads applications just as often as the 6 and 6 Plus with 1 GB of RAM, despite having 3x the RAM?

 

[vgamedude]

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I am talking about browser tabs. And even still the nexus 6 did NOT reload as much as the iphone. At all. I don't much care about apps nearly as much, nor did I say there was no difference between optimized and unoptimized for 64 bit apps, but the difference as far as reloading and the like is, I'm sure, either worse or negligible.

Look at safari. A "64 bit optimized" app. You think that's any better? You honestly think that it reloads less on these 64 bit devices? No. It reloads more. RAM usage has gone up on the 64 bit CPU apple devices, and in the case of the 6 plus a huge increase in resolution, and the 6 as well just a lesser increase.

And my posts usually attack the iphone and apple when it comes to ram because this amount of greedy pathetic gimping of a device is disgusting and I make no attempt to disguise how much I hate this decision. 1gb of RAM in this year on a device that is this high priced is horrible, especially when the Air 2 got 2gb of RAM and the amount of apps and tabs held in the background are far more than this paltry 1gb horribleness.

I have been with iOS for years and this is the only thing making me consider a change really, and it's still a hard decision. But it is very hard to justify buying a device like this that is so critically inadequate in a way that my 4s is, I know what the lack of RAM results in on these devices and it isn't pretty. I'm not going through that again.

Yes I know many of you apple fans love to talk about optimization and yes it is important, but to act like optimization can replace the need for adequate hardware is absurd. The hardware is clearly inadequate for people like me who actually care about having browser tabs cached. I can handle most app reloading sure, but the browser tab reloading is pathetic and inexcusable.

 

[Bahroo]

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I am talking about browser tabs. And even still the nexus 6 did NOT reload as much as the iphone. At all. I don't much care about apps nearly as much, nor did I say there was no difference between optimized and unoptimized for 64 bit apps, but the difference as far as reloading and the like is, I'm sure, either worse or negligible.

Look at safari. A "64 bit optimized" app. You think that's any better? You honestly think that it reloads less on these 64 bit devices? No. It reloads more. RAM usage has gone up on the 64 bit CPU apple devices, and in the case of the 6 plus a huge increase in resolution, and the 6 as well just a lesser increase.

And my posts usually attack the iphone and apple when it comes to ram because this amount of greedy pathetic gimping of a device is disgusting and I make no attempt to disguise how much I hate this decision. 1gb of RAM in this year on a device that is this high priced is horrible, especially when the Air 2 got 2gb of RAM and the amount of apps and tabs held in the background are far more than this paltry 1gb horribleness.

I have been with iOS for years and this is the only thing making me consider a change really, and it's still a hard decision. But it is very hard to justify buying a device like this that is so critically inadequate in a way that my 4s is, I know what the lack of RAM results in on these devices and it isn't pretty. I'm not going through that again.

Yes I know many of you apple fans love to talk about optimization and yes it is important, but to act like optimization can replace the need for adequate hardware is absurd. The hardware is clearly inadequate for people like me who actually care about having browser tabs cached. I can handle most app reloading sure, but the browser tab reloading is pathetic and inexcusable.

i agree with you on is that Safari reloads a little more then other devices (although i dont really experience this issue much) otherwise apps in the background barely reload and are really pretty much instantly responsive when i go to them

Its funny because i came from a 6 actually and it reloaded a little less then the Plus, 1GB isnt entirely enough for the browser if you want to have multiple tabs open and so but it still works great as just as well as other competitors sporting 3x the amount of ram with applications really in general(browser uses tons more RAM then any other applications really)

And it seems like iOS With 2GB of RAM/ Air 2 with 2GB of RAM does a ton more of a better job at holding tabs and applications in the background without reloading because my Nexus 7 2013 with 2GB of RAM on Lollipop 5.0.1 reloads tabs quite often and reloads applications more then my 6 Plus does

Apps barely reload for me on my 6 Plus, the only reloading ill experience is really just browser tabs

 

[vgamedude]

i agree with you on is that Safari reloads a little more then other devices (although i dont really experience this issue much) otherwise apps in the background barely reload and are really pretty much instantly responsive when i go to them

Its funny because i came from a 6 actually and it reloaded a little less then the Plus, 1GB isnt entirely enough for the browser if you want to have multiple tabs open and so but it still works great as just as well as other competitors sporting 3x the amount of ram with applications really in general(browser uses tons more RAM then any other applications really)

And it seems like iOS With 2GB of RAM/ Air 2 with 2GB of RAM does a ton more of a better job at holding tabs and applications in the background without reloading because my Nexus 7 2013 with 2GB of RAM on Lollipop 5.0.1 reloads tabs quite often and reloads applications more then my 6 Plus does

Apps barely reload for me on my 6 Plus, the only reloading ill experience is really just browser tabs

I never really paid all that much attention to apps reloading or not when I have used iPhones because the tiny amount of time usually hasn't bothered me, and many a times the apps take you right back to where you were. For browser tabs this isn't the case, and I would say 90 percent of my time on my phone is used interacting with the browser in some way, so for me this is the biggest issue the iphone has. I haven't had many experiences with android, save for the note 3, and that thing was a beast RAM wise. I didn't have many apps I used but the ones I did wouldn't reload and I had a dozen or more browsers up that I would regularly keep overnight that didnt reload as I remember. This was a while ago though and I did use a third party browser, if I try android again I wonder if it will be the same thing.

 

[Bahroo]

I never really paid all that much attention to apps reloading or not when I have used iPhones because the tiny amount of time usually hasn't bothered me, and many a times the apps take you right back to where you were. For browser tabs this isn't the case, and I would say 90 percent of my time on my phone is used interacting with the browser in some way, so for me this is the biggest issue the iphone has. I haven't had many experiences with android, save for the note 3, and that thing was a beast RAM wise. I didn't have many apps I used but the ones I did wouldn't reload and I had a dozen or more browsers up that I would regularly keep overnight that didnt reload as I remember. This was a while ago though and I did use a third party browser, if I try android again I wonder if it will be the same thing.

I use Chrome Beta on my Nexus 7 2013 which funny enough runs better then the stock default Chrome app,and it doesnt hold more then a few tabs open without reloading. Chrome Beta is regarded as one of the best if not best browsers for Android currently as it uses Googles own special sauce in it

 

[vgamedude]

I use Chrome Beta on my Nexus 7 2013 which funny enough runs better then the stock default Chrome app,and it doesnt hold more then a few tabs open without reloading. Chrome Beta is regarded as one of the best if not best browsers for Android currently as it uses Googles own special sauce in it

Man there has got to be something wrong there. I've seen people have way more than that, maybe it's because beta or something. I don't see why the nexus would be that different than the note 3, sure 1gb less ram but you got newer software and no touchwiz additions that hog RAM.

 

[Cod3rror]

It's an 800 euro device. 2GB RAM is a must!

A fast CPU won't make such a huge difference as RAM. 6S, A9? You won't feel much of a difference, but give it 2GB RAM and you'll notice it immediately.

Android devices will have 4GB RAM in 2015. 2GB, at least, is a must.

I don't understand why Apple always neglects RAM on iPhones.

 

[jpeg42]

It's an 800 euro device. 2GB RAM is a must!

A fast CPU won't make such a huge difference as RAM. 6S, A9? You won't feel much of a difference, but give it 2GB RAM and you'll notice it immediately.

Android devices will have 4GB RAM in 2015. 2GB, at least, is a must.

I don't understand why Apple always neglects RAM on iPhones.

This thread is absolutely mind blowing that someone would defend Apple this hard.

 

[imagineadam]

The problem for me with ram is that if you are away from wifi and safari is reloading your tabs over and over you are using way more data than you used to! The tab reloading is ridiculous. Back in 7 and 6 I believe iOS made it a priority to keep safari in memory and closing out other apps if low on memory. Now I think it separates each tab as a process instead of the safari as a whole and it has no priority anymore. I don't even think messages has priority anymore. I've seen messages reload after awhile and back in 7 and 6 iOS always just kept it open. Maybe iOS 8 just has that much bigger of a footprint and the system doesn't have much breathing room anymore and it needs to close more and more at will. To me 7.1.2 was awesome! I miss my 5.

Otherwise I'm not really caring too much because the a8 is so fast that reloading apps/tabs is super fast and when everything goes to 64 bit it will be even faster. I believe tweetbot 3 is 64 bit and opening that app when it's not it memory is pretty much instant! More ram would be nice though or if they could just give users the option on which apps have priority over not getting closed when running low on memory!

 

[Zxxv]

I know most will say "no they wouldn't do that !", however, I do think it very possible that Apple did not include more RAM due to the simple fact that it will be one more thing to be considered an upgrade when the 6s and 6+s phones are released. Considering that people do everything on their phones, having the ability to keep tabs open is without a doubt NECESSARY. One HUGE example of where RAMA constraint completely destroys the overall user experience is something that happened a few days ago to me :

I was using trying to change my gmail password. They texted me the code to enter to change my password on the website. I opened up "messages" to copy and paste this code. I quickly went right back into safari on the "change password verifications" site . That page had closed and refreshed ALREADY. When it reloads, I am not back to square one and cannot use the code texted to me. It is an endless cycle in which I am unable to accomplish the task! The solution is to write down on a piece of paper the code that they texted me so that I don't have to OPEN UP messages, which will reload the safari page and cause me to lose it again. Ridiculous !

or just pull down notification centre (which shouldn't refresh safari) so you can read the number, remember it and type it in

 

[iososx]

I am heavily invested in Apple and their products.

My point? It's simple actually, Apple is a cheapskate when it comes to the amount of ram that they equip their computers and phones with, its just disgusting.

I've got well over forty thousand dollars invested, I'm not complaining, just reporting.

I can hear it now, all the Apple excuse makers saying how Apple uses what's needed. Fine. But they brag and hype the companies products as the best.

We pay huge prices so Apple may enjoy margins twice as much as others, if not more. Not good enough? Then let Apple hit us harder with higher prices but give us premium products. See how easy that is...

 

[Bahroo]

it shows multitasking capabilities and processor performance, much better than benchmarks like geekbench, for real life comparisons. iphone have already won this test several times, this particular, show the need for more ram, even having done pretty well for only 1 GB, with 2 GB it would crush the other devices, being able to have all the apps opened and ready in the background. you can see that in the first part of the test the iphone won, but in the second it had to reopen some app, you can clearly see it struggling to reopen smash hit and photoshop touch, because it had to clean memory to reopen them (it took to the iphone more than 1 second between the photoshop touch icon was touched and it start to show the opening animation).
the only difference you would get if you ran the test again is because of stuff on cache and on memory that haven't already being cleaned after closing the apps, like "inactive" memory on iOS.

Okay and those same apps (Photoshop Touch ) are not even updated to iOS 8/Apple A8/ new iPhones yet and are not optimized yet to take full advantage of Apple Metal and also the new Apple A8

Optimized apps for the new 6 Plus and 6 run much better and stay in memory alot longer without refreshing and perform faster and are basically instantly responsive

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It's an 800 euro device. 2GB RAM is a must!

A fast CPU won't make such a huge difference as RAM. 6S, A9? You won't feel much of a difference, but give it 2GB RAM and you'll notice it immediately.

Android devices will have 4GB RAM in 2015. 2GB, at least, is a must.

I don't understand why Apple always neglects RAM on iPhones.

Note 4 stock uses 2.1gb of RAM with no apps open just chilling at the home screen.

But I agree, they could of added another GB of RAM,

 

[mtneer]

This thread is absolutely mind blowing that someone would defend Apple this hard.

Lots of people are heavily invested in Apple hardware - to the tune of thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars over the years. Any acknowledgment that those dollars may not have resulted in the perfect package may cause a serious doubt of faith and shake the core of the belief that they are getting top product for top dollar. So, no matter what evidence you may present to the contrary, it is easier to ignore it all and attack those who raise any questions.

 

[terraphantm]

I am heavily invested in Apple and their products.

My point? It's simple actually, Apple is a cheapskate when it comes to the amount of ram that they equip their computers and phones with, its just disgusting.

I've got well over forty thousand dollars invested, I'm not complaining, just reporting.

I can hear it now, all the Apple excuse makers saying how Apple uses what's needed. Fine. But they brag and hype the companies products as the best.

We pay huge prices so Apple may enjoy margins twice as much as others, if not more. Not good enough? Then let Apple hit us harder with higher prices but give us premium products. See how easy that is...

At least on the computers you can pay to have more RAM. I would have gladly paid an extra $50 to have 2GB ram on my 6+, even though I'd know full well that the extra ram probably costs them about $.50

 

[cababah]

At least on the computers you can pay to have more RAM. I would have gladly paid an extra $50 to have 2GB ram on my 6+, even though I'd know full well that the extra ram probably costs them about $.50

I was really hoping they would have added more RAM to then 6+ since it commands a $100 premium over the regular 6.

 

[Deliro]

That's the terrible coding of iOS 8, and not really related to RAM.

Lol.. Typical ignorant message board response.

 

[magicMac]

given how cheap RAM is these days it's less likely to do with apple maximising profit and more to do with preserving battery life. one RAM chip at 1.2v is going use less electricity than two chips at the same voltage. Especially if all chips need to be powered up even if the RAM isn't full. the iPad desperately needed more than 1GB of RAM to simply have more apps (higher resolution graphics) and webpages (full websites) open in the background without them having to refresh, and the iPad has a big enough battery to gain from this. The phone on the other hand is perfectly adequate at 1GB, best not to get hung up in numbers.

 

[terraphantm]

given how cheap RAM is these days it's less likely to do with apple maximising profit and more to do with preserving battery life. one RAM chip at 1.2v is going use less electricity than two chips at the same voltage. Especially if all chips need to be powered up even if the RAM isn't full. the iPad desperately needed more than 1GB of RAM to simply have more apps (higher resolution graphics) and webpages (full websites) open in the background without them having to refresh, and the iPad has a big enough battery to gain from this. The phone on the other hand is perfectly adequate at 1GB, best not to get hung up in numbers.

I'm pretty confident that the extra radio use when reloading tabs and extra NAND used when reloading apps is going to use more power than an extra RAM chip.

If battery were the issue, they could have at least given the 6+ 2GB. It already has excess battery capacity compared to Apple's typical numbers.

 

[magicMac]

I'm pretty confident that the extra radio use when reloading tabs and extra NAND used when reloading apps is going to use more power than an extra RAM chip.

If battery were the issue, they could have at least given the 6+ 2GB. It already has excess battery capacity compared to Apple's typical numbers.

yeah I suppose with the 6+ being more of a phablet some sort of middle ground like 1.5GB could be useful for power users, especially since at present the regular iPhone 6 outperforms the 6+ in some graphics benchmarks due to the lower resolution screen. But if it's mostly used as an enhanced phone, basic games and watching films on the plane etc... the extra battery life is probably favourable and for something more powerful you'd get your iPad out.

Don't forget, RAM is volatile, as the power goes off the memory is erased - unless copied to NAND or something first. Whereas the radio chip can go into a "standby connection state" where it's only sending short low energy pings and the NAND storage has methods to shuffle data around chips and power up just the chips required to read/write data.

 

[Imory]

Lol.. Typical ignorant message board response.

Excuse me? Mind elaborating on what exactly is ignorant by that? How ironic that your post epitomise the point you're trying to make.

 

[TechGod]

I mean even if I do have this problem, the phone reloads so quick that I honestly don't notice.

 

[sunking101]

I mean even if I do have this problem, the phone reloads so quick that I honestly don't notice.

Reloading will cause you to lose data input into webpages, or your position on a webpage. That in itself is enough to be a huge problem, plus it needlessly uses up your cellular data plan.

Some of us were experiencing the limitations of insufficient RAM way back with the iPhone 5, and we predicted that it would become more of a mainstream problem with the iPhone 6.
The tab and app reloading issue is indeed more of a problem with the iPhone 6 and 6+ than it was with the iPhone 5. This was inevitable and obvious to all and sundry, but the Apple beancounters didn't care a jot.

 

[Imory]

Reloading will cause you to lose data input into webpages, or your position on a webpage. That in itself is enough to be a huge problem, plus it needlessly uses up your cellular data plan.

Some of us were experiencing the limitations of insufficient RAM way back with the iPhone 5, and we predicted that it would become more of a mainstream problem with the iPhone 6.
The tab and app reloading issue is indeed more of a problem with the iPhone 6 and 6+ than it was with the iPhone 5. This was inevitable and obvious to all and sundry, but the Apple beancounters didn't care a jot.

Very well said.