I have this on a 3G with 3.1. Lag is a bit better. No safe mode. No crashes or anything. 'Free Up Memory' doesn't seem to do anything anymore, but I guess it hasn't got anything to free up
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iPhoneVM - Virtual RAM for iphone is now a reality
- Thread starter rez07
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My impressions on this are mixed.
It does what it says it does. Creates a Swap file for storing data from the RAM. This allows you to background more things because unused items can be cached to the Swap file.
The problem for me is that I've noticed MORE lag on my phone. I assume this is because it's trying to read the Swap file and load it into ram when I close and open apps. It's a little annoying and I haven't seen too much benefit from this yet. I'll try to push the limits a bit more (background more apps) and see if I notice anything good.
What does everyone else thing so far?
It does what it says it does. Creates a Swap file for storing data from the RAM. This allows you to background more things because unused items can be cached to the Swap file.
The problem for me is that I've noticed MORE lag on my phone. I assume this is because it's trying to read the Swap file and load it into ram when I close and open apps. It's a little annoying and I haven't seen too much benefit from this yet. I'll try to push the limits a bit more (background more apps) and see if I notice anything good.
What does everyone else thing so far?
I have been using this today and have noticed lag, sometimes more than before the application was installed.
I have also experienced a little bit of instability. I'm going to continue to see how it goes over the weekend and then make a decision on Sunday
I have also experienced a little bit of instability. I'm going to continue to see how it goes over the weekend and then make a decision on Sunday
I downloaded it but I'm really not noticing any difference at all, in terms of function. It says I have more ram avail but it's not acting any diff. Anyway I'll test it for a few more days because it's not hurting anything. I'm glad you posted this tho, I never wouldve known abt it otherwise
Just installed this, went from 30mb to 70mb after a reboot
Seemed kinda laggy and unstable the first few seconds after reboot but it's running fine now..
Edit: I just backgrounded 8 apps at one time on an Iphone 3G and I still have 26 mb ram left, they've been backgrounded for a while and none of em has crashed yet, the phone seems to run pretty stable considering I'm having this many apps open at once..
Overall I think this tweak is a winner, I'm def keeping it installed, it's better to have the Iphone slow down for a second or two instead of completely crashing an app and then kick you back to the springboard.. Atleast this app keeps everything running and with this many apps open it's doing a pretty good job
Seemed kinda laggy and unstable the first few seconds after reboot but it's running fine now..
Edit: I just backgrounded 8 apps at one time on an Iphone 3G and I still have 26 mb ram left, they've been backgrounded for a while and none of em has crashed yet, the phone seems to run pretty stable considering I'm having this many apps open at once..
Overall I think this tweak is a winner, I'm def keeping it installed, it's better to have the Iphone slow down for a second or two instead of completely crashing an app and then kick you back to the springboard.. Atleast this app keeps everything running and with this many apps open it's doing a pretty good job
I wouldn't... It's not actually RAM. It's Swap space. You'll notice lag while it reads and rights from the Swap to RAM. If you're not noticing any memory issues now, don't install it.
If you often have apps crash because of lack of memory then give this a shot. It may be worth the small lags to actually run apps.
Trying it now. At first, I didn't notice a change after rebooting. RAM was in the upper 40s as usual. I opened Safari and RAM didn't seem to go down quite as much as usual. Then I freed memory with SBSettings and it says I have 72 megs free. Normally, I could only get around 60 by doing that. I opened Safari again and it says I have 51MB which is a lot more than usual with Safari running.
Ok, did a respring and it said 46mb free, which is normal. Freed memory with SBSettings again and it says 71. I let it sit for a minute and looked and now it says 78.
I've never had any real lag problems so haven't noticed any change there.
Ok, did a respring and it said 46mb free, which is normal. Freed memory with SBSettings again and it says 71. I let it sit for a minute and looked and now it says 78.
I've never had any real lag problems so haven't noticed any change there.
As others have said, I noticed a few lag issues immediately after installing and rebooting. After freeing up memory with SBsettings, I am seeing high 60's and low 70's of available mem with no apps backgrounded.
This is a noticeable improvement, I am backgrounding 2-3 more apps than I was previously able to. I have also noticed some random lag, but it's not been consistently slow. Some things seem to actually work more quickly, switching between screens of icons and opening/closing apps, for example, seem faster than before. I will keep using this for a few days to see how it works over a longer period of time though. Nice find OP.
This is a noticeable improvement, I am backgrounding 2-3 more apps than I was previously able to. I have also noticed some random lag, but it's not been consistently slow. Some things seem to actually work more quickly, switching between screens of icons and opening/closing apps, for example, seem faster than before. I will keep using this for a few days to see how it works over a longer period of time though. Nice find OP.
If it pulls the swap space from the boot partition then I'm glad I bumped it up to 1gig with PwnageTool.
Hmmm... Yea I haven't checked what partition the Swap is on, but my guess would be the boot partition. I don't think it's that big though, no more than 30 megs.
I've been using this all day on a 32Gb 3GS just for kicks (never really have low memory issues on a 3GS). I'm quite impressed with it. Opening Pandora, iPod, Safari, Facebook, IM+, plus all the tweaks I've installed (themes, Winterboard, etc.) with iPhoneVM installed never lets me drop below 135Mb free RAM, whereas before installing it, just Safari (with a few tabs open), Mail, and the Phone app could sometimes take free memory down to around 60Mb. The first boot up after install was a bit hairy however. It took a little under 2 minutes to boot up to the home screen, whereas startup time is usually around 30 seconds, even with all the Cydia stuff I have installed. I have not restarted it since install to see if the slow startup was a one time occurrence.
I don't think it does. I only had 20 megs free on / before installing the app and still have 20 free. The app description says it creates a 250meg swap. I can't find it in /etc/fstab or by running the df -h or mount commands so I suspect it creates a swap file rather than a swap partition and judging by my phone, it has to be in /var.
What repo did you find it on?
The repo I found was definitely NOT in English... So I couldn't read the description.
Same repo, I'm assuming "creando*un*file*di*swap*di*256Mb" means it creates a swap file of 256mb. Maybe someone can translate or check the free space before and after installing it.
not to drag this off topic but how did those asterisks get added to my post? They weren't there when I typed it.
I have to say that I am really pleased with this app. I have been useing it for a few hours now, and although I notice some lag, I have had none of my applications prematurly quit on me because the phone doesn't have enough memory. Being able to multitask with pandora playing music in the background and not having to worry about the phone crashing makes me a really happy iphone user. This might save me from selling my iphone now....
Bear in mind this will reduce your battery some because it is in effect reading from writing to your drive. How much depends on how many things you have backgrounded.
It doesn't really reduce your battery life as much as it allows you to use do more. It really allows you to use up your juice faster. The read write hasn't lowered my battery at all with normal, no backgrouding, use.
So effects would be minimal and nothing unexpected if you plan to throw a lot in the background.
ALSO... I've been using it for a while now and haven't seen any lag in the past day. (I did reboot my phone a second time, not respring, but reboot). I noticed an improvement when browsing through long lists, like in Cydia as well.
I have to admit I haven't had a single app close down or crash after installing this. Cydia used to just close down randomly because of the lack of ram but Now it keeps open. Things are a bit slower once in a while with this installed but atleast multitasking actually works now.
I think they added the plist method to the update for iPhoneVM... but what's this iPhoneVM v2 package? As far as I can tell it looks like the exact same thing...
Well... It's working for me so I'll stick with it.