The lack of RAM is a very real problem

[cynics]

See the real problem here is the fact that most of us are not having an issue and are considered "fools" because of it. The folks that are having the issue have no clue what's going on so they regurgitate crap that has little substance in every thread or forum possible to sound "technical". These same people spend more time whining than researching actual phones with 2GB+ of RAM to see if the issues occurs there as well or if that phone will meet their needs. Hint: Android phones have similar and worse issue that were described on phones with 2GB+ of RAM.

It's sad because these same people feel like they are entitled and have the expectation that Apple will launch a new phone in a couple of months with 2GB of RAM to accommodate them. What I wager would happen is that the problem would continue to exist then they would be whining about needing 3GB of RAM. Circle of life....

Speaking of regurgitating crap that has little substance here is a video I made this morning with the oldest crappiest Android device I can get my hands on Motorola Xoom with 1gb of RAM not tab reloading. I could increase that to 30 tabs if I wanted.

http://youtu.be/mR_9azDA95o

Not sure where the rumor got started that since Apple has this problem its normal for all mobile devices to have it. Now I can't speak for an Android device with a skin but its not an issue in vanilla android or android with a motorola blur skin.

But that does show your point some what. Why can I do that on a Motorola Xoom but not an iPad 3 (unless I freshly reset it and even then its still hit or miss and usually miss) that both have the same amount of RAM? And Android engineers can do it then surely Apple engineers can too. That said though....why haven't they?

So thats software, as far as hardware. My 4S can't keep as many tabs loaded as my iPad 3 or an iPhone 5. There are other variables there as far as screen size but RAM is also a major variable there.

As far as tab reloading goes I don't think RAM is a solution. Because added RAM utilized the same way will result in a few more open tabs then start reloading anyway.

 

[magbarn]

You guys and your RAM..

to be honest: It sure is annoying, but I doubt it's just the RAM. With flash storage at decent speeds, all Apple needs to do is implement some kind of local caching .. Rather surprising this hasnt happened yet.
(Anyone knows if there are browsers out there on iOS who actually do this already? Chrome for e.g.?)

You do realize that the flash memory in your iOS devices are a magnitude or so slower (especially when writing) than the flash drive in your MBA/MBP's? In fact it's slower than most modern HDDs. That's why it takes so long to copy apps into your idevice and also why Samsung's with USB 3.0 don't sync much faster than the 2.0 versions...(they use the same slow flash memory)

PS the reason why flash SSD's like the one in MBP are so much faster is they use a bunch of lower density flash chips running in parallel that can be written at the same time, the iPhone doesn't have the luxury of space so all that 128gb is just in 1 or 2 chips.

 

[mafaky]

Expect to see...

In a year's time from now on, there will most likely be "successors" to today's iP6/6+ most possibly given iP6S/iP6S+ designations.

Expect to see at least 1.5GB RAM in the iP6S and 2GB RAM in the iP6S+!

See you next year Apple: I'll stick to my iP5 for another 18 months or so, until you get these "S" stuff on the market and have them tested in the market for a minimum of 6 months (and provided they have 1.5/2 GB RAMs alongside with some additional developments...) Sorry, I've got no funds to give away for the current iP6/iP6+; I know their 1 GB RAM will suffice for today but what about 1 year later???

 

[michikade]

I'm pretty sure 1gb RAM will get us through the next couple years. I've only got 512mb RAM on my several year old iPad and it's still holding up okay.

Honest question: isn't comparing android OS to iOS a little apples to oranges because of the way the two operating systems handle memory management? Same with comparing RAM needs in a Mac vs Windows based vs Linux based computer. Maybe I'm wrong.

 

[mafaky]

I'm pretty sure 1gb RAM will get us through the next couple years. I've only got 512mb RAM on my several year old iPad and it's still holding up okay.

Honest question: isn't comparing android OS to iOS a little apples to oranges because of the way the two operating systems handle memory management? Same with comparing RAM needs in a Mac vs Windows based vs Linux based computer. Maybe I'm wrong.

You're probably not very wrong "technically" (it's wrong to compare iOS vs. Android on one to one scale, including RAM usage), but if one pays so many bucks they should have the allocation to buy something more filled up!...

I've been checking my iPad Air & iP5 regularly for RAM usage and I usually have not more than 100-150 MB free RAM, after opening say like 10 pages or so, and there are minimum software running on the background...

 

[Black Magic]

You're probably not very wrong "technically" (it's wrong to compare iOS vs. Android on one to one scale, including RAM usage), but if one pays so many bucks they should have the allocation to buy something more filled up!...

I've been checking my iPad Air & iP5 regularly for RAM usage and I usually have not more than 100-150 MB free RAM, after opening say like 10 pages or so, and there are minimum software running on the background...

I'm just trying to figure out why someone having 10 pages/tabs open routinely on their iPad or iPhone is seen as a measuring stick of normal usage amongst all? 2-3 pages maybe. 10? Come on now.

 

[Vertigo50]

This could be anything from a streaming issue to network congestion to a bug causing your connection to the towers to drop every so often. I'm not sure why you suddenly blame the RAM?

I'm a little disappointed they didn't bump up the RAM too, but that sounds like the LEAST likely option to me.

Restart the phone, and for good measure do a hard reset by holding the sleep and home buttons together until the phone shuts down completely.

Then double tap the home buttons and slide up on Safari to close it out completely. A least this will eliminate some variables.

Otherwise, give it a little time and wait for the next update or two. This might be a big they have already fixed.

 

[Tubamajuba]

But that does show your point some what. Why can I do that on a Motorola Xoom but not an iPad 3 (unless I freshly reset it and even then its still hit or miss and usually miss) that both have the same amount of RAM? And Android engineers can do it then surely Apple engineers can too. That said though....why haven't they?

Nailed it. This is the heart of the matter- there is no excuse for a device with 1 GB of RAM to have this problem. Safari on my Mac with 4 tabs open is using 470 MB of RAM- including the main process and all tabs. Meaning that is still within the memory limit that iOS imposes for apps on 1 GB devices. And that's the desktop version of Safari.

To be honest, it doesn't bother me much because any form filling I do in Safari rarely requires me to change between tabs or apps- and when I do, I've never had an issue. The reloading is actually somewhat convenient for me, because I was probably going to refresh whatever tab it was anyways so I can see new content.

Doesn't change the fact that many people do need the tabs to remain intact, and that a software solution is certainly possible.

 

[matthewadams]

You do realize that the flash memory in your iOS devices are a magnitude or so slower (especially when writing) than the flash drive in your MBA/MBP's?

I'm very well aware of that, but I still think it's more than sufficient to cache small stuff like websites...Even when the throughput is around 3-4mb/s that'd be more than enough to load a website from cache.

Given even the 4S has a NAND-Performance of roughly 20mb/s (or well, had, I suppose the CPU is the main culprit nowadays) this should work pefectly fine.

[ http://www.anandtech.com/show/4971/apple-iphone-4s-review-att-verizon/4 ]

 

[kalex]

Proof?

huh?

 

[radiologyman]

I see memory issues on my 6 I had it on ios 7.0 5s but it disappeared after updates

 

[Q-Dog]

Everyone knows the iPhone 6 is lacking in RAM... Its just a well known fact now, no way anyone can justify it because it "works" perfectly on their device (which i sincerely doubt - people just dont have any idea whats actually going on when it does happen). Mark my words, iPhone 6s will come out with 2GB RAM, by which point in 2-3 years from now the iPhone 6 will be obsolete along with all the previous iPhones due to devs/iOS utilizing the increased RAM. Why couldn't Apple have just added an extra GB of RAM to the 6 I have no idea, would cost peanuts in the long run but would have given the end user a vastly improved experience/longevity.

But all you whiners upgrade each year ... so only 1-year-old devices. It won't really matter what the phone can or can't do in 2 or 3 years.

For the other 95% the RAM "problem" it isn't an issue at all.

 

[C. Robert]

huh?

You made a statement with any proof.

 

[Deliro]

While yes, I would not say no to more RAM, however iOS is much more efficient with it's memory usage and allocation than Android. So comparing phones with 2GB to the 6 isn't a apples to apples (hah) comparison in terms of real world performance.

However more RAM would allow more APIs in the iOS SDK and would open up a lot more to devs.. iPhone 7 & iOS 9 gents.