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cuzo

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 23, 2012
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does iOS handle memory management better? When using maps and a few more apps at the same time how bad does it lag?
 
I nevered used an Android phone, so I cannot comment on that.

I have used Apple devices for almost 3 decades, so I think I might be qualified to give an opinion on them.

Apple’s operating systems have always been know for their memory management. Especially when it came to Mac OS X.

I think it is something that is focused on when the OS is designed.

This isn’t iOS, but I remember back during the PPC Macs, the memory requirements for software were often less for Macs than their PC counterparts.

Maybe this was due to other HW related stuff though.
 
iOS does background task little bit different than Android.

With Android, all background app stay in active until yon have no memory left over. This is why you can do background downloading with Android.

With iOS, only certain types of apps are allowed to run on the background. All other apps are basically killed as soon as it not in forgeound.

Anyway, even with better memory management, iOS still kind struggle with 1GB of RAM on devices like iPhone 5S, iPhone 6.

For me, when I compare with my Android phones and iPhone XR (which O had for 2 weeks) I don’t see much difference. Perhaps my Huawei has 6GB RAM, I don’t see slow downs with my P20 Pro and Mate 20 Pro
 
My s8 was unusable yesterday using maps and playing podcast at the same time using Bluetooth and light browsing, a lot had to reboot.

I’m guessing iOS kills unused apps and android with 4 gigs of memory lags when using a heavy app like maps.

I need to load my same apps in a iPhone and test it same way.
 
My s8 was unusable yesterday using maps and playing podcast at the same time using Bluetooth and light browsing, a lot had to reboot.

I’m guessing iOS kills unused apps and android with 4 gigs of memory lags when using a heavy app like maps.

I need to load my same apps in a iPhone and test it same way.

I cannot comment on S8, since I never had one.

With my experience, even iPhone 6 is still capable running Google Maps and Podcast app at sametime via Bluetooth. I have spare iPhone 6 that attached on my car as my nevgation devices.
 
Well, the apps on iPhone aren’t really killed that fast. Describing them as frozen would be a bit more accurate I think. They stay in memory, but can’t run. If you open more apps, they’ll get “pushed out” of RAM and will have to start from scratch. If not, then they’ll be available from RAM next time you open them. This is also why you generally shouldn’t force close apps on iOS, unless one has frozen, is misbehaving or is Facebook (they like to abuse iOS mechanisms). You’ll quite likely to hurt a battery life by force closing apps after every use.
(Disclosure: I’m not a developer. This is based on advice and words of people who are smarter than me and know more about this.)
 
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Apple's memory management across their devices (macOS, iOS) is second-to-none.

Android is fundamentally flawed when it comes to that. Throwing more hardware resources at an OS to keep each iteration running as fast as the last does not address the underlying problem with memory management.

If a phone in 2019 needs 8GB of RAM, whilst a new MacBook Pro with that amount of RAM can run LPX, FCPX, and a virtual machine smoothly at the same time, you're doing something wrong.
 
Well I owned the S8 plus and never experienced lag. But speaking of maps, one thing I miss from Android maps is that the crash time is not recorded on iOS for some reason. A handy feature as you figure that an old crash will clear up more quickly than a fresh one.
 
Apple's memory management across their devices (macOS, iOS) is second-to-none.

Android is fundamentally flawed when it comes to that. Throwing more hardware resources at an OS to keep each iteration running as fast as the last does not address the underlying problem with memory management.

If a phone in 2019 needs 8GB of RAM, whilst a new MacBook Pro with that amount of RAM can run LPX, FCPX, and a virtual machine smoothly at the same time, you're doing something wrong.

No it is not. Andorid does not have limit on background activities. Therefore, if some app was not designed probably, it will continuing eat RAM. Some app will automatically activities other related app in the background.

However, thing as changed little bit. Google has set some restriction on how background application behave. Lots of Android phone have some short of mechanism to combat above problems.


Android does not need 8GB to run well. I have lower end phone with 4GB RAM runs very well. I really never see it slow down with my usage.

Android and iOS have two different way of managing RAM usage. No one can say which is better.
 
I have a Galaxy S9, and it definitely lags more than the iPhone 7 it replaced. It is actually very aggressive at killing background apps, as I discovered in the comments when I was about to leave a poor review for a music app which kept stopping 15 minutes after the screen went to sleep. You have to specifally allow it to run in the background.

Knowing this, and seeing how the music stutters when I wake up the phone, or plug in the charging cable, or open another app, makes me think the lag is less about memory management, and more about process optimisation. Processors are arguably the one thing that sets Apple apart from the competion.
 
Wasn't that mostly because Java and Objective C coding (language with garbage collector / direct RAM management)? Languages with garbage collectors always used more RAM.
 
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