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What's the point of 3GB of RAM?

mobilehavoc

mobilehavoc

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 30, 2007
377
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Coming from an iPhone 6S to a iPhone 7 Plus. One of the things I was looking forward to was the extra gig of RAM (6S has 2GB) as on the 6S stuff would close/be killed really frequently in the background. Most likely this is the apps I'm using and my use case but it was driving me insane. So been using the iPhone 7 Plus with the 3GB of RAM and honest to god I barely notice any difference. There is some difference to be sure but it's really minor.

Given this is a 50% bump in capacity and the most on any iPhone I was hoping for crazy fast app switching and not having to wait for stuff to reload - that isn't the case. If this is the experience on a iPhone 7 Plus I really feel sorry for people on iPhones with 1GB of RAM like the iPhone 6
 
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App switching speed doesn't really correlate to RAM. More RAM means more apps can stay open longer in the background, so they aren't having to completely reload all the time. Switching from open app to open app has nothing to do with RAM, that is processor/animations/GPU related.
 
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mobilehavoc said:
Coming from an iPhone 6S to a iPhone 7 Plus. One of the things I was looking forward to was the extra gig of RAM (6S has 2GB) as on the 6S stuff would close/be killed really frequently in the background. Most likely this is the apps I'm using and my use case but it was driving me insane. So been using the iPhone 7 Plus with the 3GB of RAM and honest to god I barely notice any difference. There is some difference to be sure but it's really minor.

Given this is a 50% bump in capacity and the most on any iPhone I was hoping for crazy fast app switching and not having to wait for stuff to reload - that isn't the case. If this is the experience on a iPhone 7 Plus I really feel sorry for people on iPhones with 1GB of RAM like the iPhone 6
Click to expand...

So how often do your apps reload on the 7 plus? Just as frequent as the 6?
 
mobilehavoc said:
Coming from an iPhone 6S to a iPhone 7 Plus. One of the things I was looking forward to was the extra gig of RAM (6S has 2GB) as on the 6S stuff would close/be killed really frequently in the background. Most likely this is the apps I'm using and my use case but it was driving me insane. So been using the iPhone 7 Plus with the 3GB of RAM and honest to god I barely notice any difference. There is some difference to be sure but it's really minor.

Given this is a 50% bump in capacity and the most on any iPhone I was hoping for crazy fast app switching and not having to wait for stuff to reload - that isn't the case. If this is the experience on a iPhone 7 Plus I really feel sorry for people on iPhones with 1GB of RAM like the iPhone 6
Click to expand...

I imagine you will see some difference in terms of multitasking. But these phones are so, so fast.. I don't think it will be noticeable, really.

The extra gig of ram is helps with the higher resolution screen of the plus, as well as the dual cameras.
 
Mlrollin91 said:
App switching speed doesn't really correlate to RAM. More RAM means more apps can stay open longer in the background, so they aren't having to completely reload all the time. Switching from open app to open app has nothing to do with RAM, that is processor/animations/GPU related.
Click to expand...
Yeah I meant the number of apps that stay open which if they're open means you switch faster.
[doublepost=1474158499][/doublepost]
BlueGoldAce said:
I imagine you will see some difference in terms of multitasking. But these phones are so, so fast.. I don't think it will be noticeable, really.

The extra gig of ram is helps with the higher resolution screen of the plus, as well as the dual cameras.
Click to expand...
You're joking right?

The difference between Twitter or Facebook having to reload from being suspended vs if they remain open is several seconds even on the 7 plus. Doesn't sound like a lot but it's irritating because it happens so often.
 
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Try loading several Safari pages and then go to another app, then back to Safari. The extra gig of RAM will make a noticeable difference in how fast the Safari tabs reload, should be instantaneous. Also helps with the cameras. You aren' actually complaining about an extra gig of RAM, are you?
 
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gardiboy said:
So how often do your apps reload on the 7 plus? Just as frequent as the 6?
Click to expand...
6S - it's a little less frequent but not by as much as I would expect. Remember this has 1GB of extra RAM the 6S doesn't have so unless the apps I'm opening are using all of that single handedly I was hoping it would keep maybe 3-4 additional apps open
 
Mlrollin91 said:
App switching speed doesn't really correlate to RAM. More RAM means more apps can stay open longer in the background, so they aren't having to completely reload all the time. Switching from open app to open app has nothing to do with RAM, that is processor/animations/GPU related.
Click to expand...
If the ram holds the app in memory, then it opens faster. This has everything to do with ram. Look at the 6 to the 6s, big difference. Look at what poor ram management does, aka Samsung devices.

Again, I don't thin the difference between the 7 and plus will be that noticeable.
 
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Mlrollin91 said:
App switching speed doesn't really correlate to RAM. More RAM means more apps can stay open longer in the background, so they aren't having to completely reload all the time. Switching from open app to open app has nothing to do with RAM, that is processor/animations/GPU related.
Click to expand...

The more RAM the less likely they will switch back to an app that had to reduce its memory footprint or was force unloaded from RAM due to memory warnings received from OS after having loaded other apps. If someone switches back to an app that has received a memory warning the transition is very likely to be slower.
 
BlueGoldAce said:
I imagine you will see some difference in terms of multitasking. But these phones are so, so fast.. I don't think it will be noticeable, really.

The extra gig of ram is helps with the higher resolution screen of the plus, as well as the dual cameras.
Click to expand...


You're exactly right about the camera. Apple wouldn't add the ram just to keep safari pages open. It's going to be needed when the camera software gets updated.
 
More ram is for longer app sustenance. I prefer it for the work that I do, its nice to have email, chats, and other apps open and ready to go when you need it most.
 
mobilehavoc said:
Yeah I meant the number of apps that stay open which if they're open means you switch faster.
[doublepost=1474158499][/doublepost]
You're joking right?

The difference between Twitter or Facebook having to reload from being suspended vs if they remain open is several seconds even on the 7 plus. Doesn't sound like a lot but it's irritating because it happens so often.
Click to expand...
I said it wouldn't be that noticeable. This likely applies to the average user. I didn't say there would be a difference. That's like saying there isn't a difference between 8 and 16 gigs on a desktop. You won't always notice, but it's there.
 
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BlueGoldAce said:
If the ram holds the app in memory, then it opens faster. This has everything to do with ram. Look at the 6 to the 6s, big difference. Look at what poor ram management does, aka Samsung devices.

Again, I don't thin the difference between the 7 and plus will be that noticeable.
Click to expand...

Animalk said:
The more RAM the less likely they will switch back to an app that had to reduce its memory footprint or was force unloaded from RAM due to memory warnings received from OS after having loaded other apps. If someone switches back to an app that has received a memory warning the transition is very likely to be slower.
Click to expand...


If you re-read the OP. It sounds like the OP is talking about the switching speed between apps, which would be the animation. I clearly stated in my post that this is not effected by amount of RAM, but the amount of apps thats can stay open in the background will increase with increased RAM. Not sure how both of you missed that.

"More RAM means more apps can stay open longer in the background, so they aren't having to completely reload all the time."

----
Edit: I misread the post. I went back and re-read it and I missed a couple of words. But my point still stands that I already stated that it holds more apps.
 
Mlrollin91 said:
If you re-read the OP. It sounds like the OP is talking about the switching speed between apps, which would be the animation. I clearly stated in my post that this is not effected by amount of RAM, but the amount of apps thats can stay open in the background will increase with increased RAM. Not sure how both of you missed that.

"More RAM means more apps can stay open longer in the background, so they aren't having to completely reload all the time."

----
Edit: I misread the post. I went back and re-read it and I missed a couple of words. But my point still stands that I already stated that it holds more apps.
Click to expand...

Animations happen on the app's main thread which is also the thread the app bundle is loaded on. The animations are affected.
 
mobilehavoc said:
6S - it's a little less frequent but not by as much as I would expect. Remember this has 1GB of extra RAM the 6S doesn't have so unless the apps I'm opening are using all of that single handedly I was hoping it would keep maybe 3-4 additional apps open
Click to expand...

So bottom line, you feel the app reloading is just as frequent as the 6S?

Reason I am asking is that I am deciding between the 7 or 7 plus
 
mobilehavoc said:
Coming from an iPhone 6S to a iPhone 7 Plus. One of the things I was looking forward to was the extra gig of RAM (6S has 2GB) as on the 6S stuff would close/be killed really frequently in the background. Most likely this is the apps I'm using and my use case but it was driving me insane. So been using the iPhone 7 Plus with the 3GB of RAM and honest to god I barely notice any difference. There is some difference to be sure but it's really minor.

Given this is a 50% bump in capacity and the most on any iPhone I was hoping for crazy fast app switching and not having to wait for stuff to reload - that isn't the case. If this is the experience on a iPhone 7 Plus I really feel sorry for people on iPhones with 1GB of RAM like the iPhone 6
Click to expand...

The iPhone 7+ has more ram because of the photo processing that is done by both cameras.
 
What's the point of 3GB of RAM?

A good question. Not for a long time ago i remember people mocking samsung alot adding 2-3gb ram to their phones. "Apple does it better, ios is optimized..." and other ********.

So why 3gb ram when everything is so perfect with max 1gb? Like air was so perfect before air2 was released with 2gb.

Now it seems to be that ram is needed, because apple is adding it more... finally. And i thought everything is optimized already and safari is snappier than ever.

It has been quite amusing to follow these ram topics and how all works better now.
 
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