Whose in....no 2 GB RAM, no 6s?

[Newtons Apple]

I'm seriously leaning towards selling IP6+ and getting a 6s (not any sort of 6s+) or a 6c if apple offers that as well.

I try not to buy a phone every year but this may be an exception. Its just a bit too big for me. I'll probably throw this bad larry up on swappa next month (or July) and use my Lumia phone I picked up as a family phone for my kids to use when the need arises.

There are lots of times that I wish my 6+ was smaller. No doubt the 6 is much more easy to handle. I just got my long awaited Apple Watch and it has really decreased the time I actually spend on the actual phone. So much of my business is done with test messages and the watch does that great and Siri handles my shorter replies.

The 6 rather than the 6+ might be a better choice for me but going to wait a week or two longer before I make any change. I am hoping the 6S is going to be a nice bump!

Have a great end of the week and good weekend, Sir.

 

[ThatsMeRight]

Exactly. How much longer do we have to wait for this 'software optimisation'? This reloading thing has been as issue since 64Bit devices came along with the 5S and it has only got worse with the iPhone 6 & especially the 6+. So we're at the 20 month mark and this fabled software optimisation has not only failed to appear, but things have got much worse. All those in favour of keeping 1GB of RAM should put in a special order to Tim Cook, let's see how happy they will be in 2016 with a 'premium' 1GB device. Laughable.

In my opinion, Apple should start using 2 GB of RAM in the next iPhone and immediately implement a set of new rules for apps and developers, ensuring consistent multitasking quality.

First things first: set up a limit of how much RAM a single app can use, both for first party and third party apps. For example, this is what Apple could (and in my opinion maybe should do):

Allocation
iOS: 1 GB RAM fixed
APPS: maximum usage of 256 MB of RAM.

If Apple implements this policy, than that means the last 4 apps in your multitasking window will always be ready to continue where you left off. 256 MB RAM is a very decent amount of RAM, considering that most apps use less.

At the same time, iOS will have a fixed amount of RAM available. Right now, iOS (on an iPhone 6 Plus) uses roughly 650 MB of RAM. That means that, in the future, there is still 350 MB of RAM left for new iOS features.

Here's a visual explanation of what I mean:

Again, in my opinion, this would be perfect. Apps get a fixed amount of RAM, there is space for iOS to grow in the future and users will enjoy a consistent multitasking experience (namely: the last 4 apps are always, without a doubt instantly available).

 

[Traverse]

I already have an iPhone 6, or I wouldn't get the 6S either way.

Still, 2GB is not a deal breaker for a phone for me. I won't buy another iPad that doesn't have it, but since I only use my phone for quick and light tasks, the current RAM is fine.

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In my opinion, Apple should start using 2 GB of RAM in the next iPhone and immediately implement a set of new rules for apps, ensuring consistent multitasking quality.

That's not how RAM works. Why not just put in 2GB of RAM and let iOS dynamically allocate it to needed processes like OS X?

iOS doesn't need 1GB of RAM in itself to function.

 

[sunking101]

In my opinion, Apple should start using 2 GB of RAM in the next iPhone and immediately implement a set of new rules for apps and developers, ensuring consistent multitasking quality.

First things first: set up a limit of how much RAM a single app can use, both for first party and third party apps. For example, this is what Apple could (and in my opinion maybe should do):

Allocation
iOS: 1 GB RAM fixed
APPS: maximum usage of 256 MB of RAM.

If Apple implements this policy, than that means the last 4 apps in your multitasking window will always be ready to continue where you left off. 256 MB RAM is a very decent amount of RAM, considering that most apps use less.

At the same time, iOS will have a fixed amount of RAM available. Right now, iOS (on an iPhone 6 Plus) uses roughly 650 MB of RAM. That means that, in the future, there is still 350 MB of RAM left for new iOS features.

Here's a visual explanation of what I mean:

Image

Again, in my opinion, this would be perfect. Apps get a fixed amount of RAM, there is space for iOS to grow in the future and users will enjoy a consistent multitasking experience (namely: the last 4 apps are always, without a doubt instantly available).

Sounds good to me. I only really need the last two apps and last two browser tabs to stay in memory. I'm not asking for much and anything over that would be a bonus. My old iPhone 5 easily managed that.

 

[ThatsMeRight]

That's not how RAM works.

That's indeed not how RAM works, but it's how it can work.

Why not just put in 2GB of RAM and let iOS dynamically allocate it to needed processes like OS X?

iOS already does that, and it is clear, by the sheer number of complaints, that that's not an ideal situation.

iOS doesn't need 1GB of RAM in itself to function.

Yup, that's exactly what I said... but, it sets limits for both Apple and developers that will ensure consistent multitasking behaviour and an improved user experience.

Of the 2 GB, limit 1 GB of RAM just for apps. 1 GB that the iOS is forbidden to use. Set up an app RAM limit for developes of 256 MB. That ensures that consumers always and reliably will be able to multitask (without apps reloading).

And why limit 1 GB (of the 2) to iOS? Because it gives developers at Apple space to develop iOS without worrying about interfering with the user experience. As I said, right now iOS uses 650 MB of RAM. That means that, over the years, Apple's developers will have an additional 350 MB of RAM to use for new iOS features and functionality without worrying that the multitasking experience will decrease.

Edit: and of course, we could argue about the 1 GB of RAM being flexible - but I'm strongly in favor of at least 1 GB of RAM being forbidden ground for iOS.

 

[MagicBoy]

You have it all wrong. I experience tab and app reloading every single day, on numerous occasions, and I only ever have one tab and one app on the go. I cannot spend five minutes in one app and then go back to the browser tab without it reloading, and vice versa. This '20 tabs' thing is baloney. The 6+ cannot handle the absolute basics of multitasking and please don't say that this is how iPhones are, because the iPhone 5 could multitask. Apple skimped on RAM *bigtime* with the 6 Series.

I regularly have 3 tabs open and at least 5 apps. I've seen two tabs reload since launch day. That's it. One of those was the Verge which is a badly coded RAM hog on any platform.

Doesn't seem wrong to me.

 

[sunking101]

I regularly have 3 tabs open and at least 5 apps. I've seen two tabs reload since launch day. That's it. One of those was the Verge which is a badly coded RAM hog on any platform.

Doesn't seem wrong to me.

It depends on how you use it.
If you guys were having problems with the Music Player App and certain limitations were driving you crazy, but I came along and said that I don't care about these problems because I never play music on my phone, would you like it? It's the same thing with RAM. You don't use your phone in a manner whereby the lack of RAM becomes an issue for you, so therefore you don't care about it or say that the problem doesn't exist.

This RAM issue rears its stinking head for me several times per day. Often it is just a frustration but at other times it actually causes me to lose inputted searches, where I am in a newspaper article, or text I have typed in a webform. One tab and one app cannot be switched between. These are basic smartphone functions which for some reason Apple deemed that the two generations older iPhone 5 would be able to do but not the latest 6+. Whether you use a particular feature or not, are you happy that the latest and greatest iPhone cannot complete tasks that the older iPhone 5 could? Is that acceptable? It might have a nice big screen and play the latest games but you can't use it for actual work. It is a dumbed-down iPhone and that is purely because it has insufficient RAM.

 

[MagicBoy]

In your opinion. We have previously and still apparently disagree on this.

To bastardise a Steve quote : "You're using it wrong".

Don't get me wrong - I've seen it on other platforms. The iPhone 4 running early iOS7 did it religiously, as did the original iPad I passed on to my mother. I'm stilll not seeing it, or finding it reported outside certain very noisy individuals on this forum.

 

[soco]

Is this even MacRumors anymore? Can't believe someone hasn't made an overtly aggressive comment about who's vs. whose.

 

[TechZeke]

Considering that there are people complaining about RAM problems on those all-powerful Galaxy phones with 3GBs of RAM, I'm more inclined to think that software has a bigger impact than the amount of RAM. If the software is poorly optimized, it doesn't matter if you have 16GB of RAM in your smartphone.

No doubt 2GB of RAM would great, but my iPhone 6 Plus has zero issues.

 

[Skika]

The 6 should have had the ram bump.

I actually believe the 5S should have had ram bumped to 2GB even, because of the introduction of the 64bit it became a downgrade in that sense, also the original iPad Air.

 

[Infinitewisdom]

It's already been determined that it doesn't. The same people complaining about tab reloading on iPads with 1GB are getting tab reloads with the iPad Air 2.

Not true - it's just a matter of degree. I have both and it's clear that the iPad Air 2 can handle more thrown at it without reloading tabs. Is this a big deal? Sure. If you're filling out a form in Safari and you have to refer back to some other data in another app, you don't want Safari reloading when you go back to it. So 2GB does matter. Does it matter most of the time to most people? Probably not.

 

[sunking101]

I regularly have 3 tabs open and at least 5 apps. I've seen two tabs reload since launch day. That's it. One of those was the Verge which is a badly coded RAM hog on any platform.

Doesn't seem wrong to me.

So two reloads in months, and one you apologise for as being the website's fault? So how come I suffer 15-20 reloads per day, every single day?

----------

Considering that there are people complaining about RAM problems on those all-powerful Galaxy phones with 3GBs of RAM, I'm more inclined to think that software has a bigger impact than the amount of RAM. If the software is poorly optimized, it doesn't matter if you have 16GB of RAM in your smartphone.

No doubt 2GB of RAM would great, but my iPhone 6 Plus has zero issues.

All phones reload, it's just that the phones with more RAM reload less.
As for your 6+ having zero issues, you're either trolling or you don't use the thing. The 6+ has a stack of issues, one of which is severe reloading. You obviously don't attempt to multitask on yours.

 

[C DM]

Considering that there are people complaining about RAM problems on those all-powerful Galaxy phones with 3GBs of RAM, I'm more inclined to think that software has a bigger impact than the amount of RAM. If the software is poorly optimized, it doesn't matter if you have 16GB of RAM in your smartphone.

No doubt 2GB of RAM would great, but my iPhone 6 Plus has zero issues.

It's a combination of both.

 

[MagicBoy]

So two reloads in months, and one you apologise for as being the website's fault? So how come I suffer 15-20 reloads per day, every single day?

You tell me. There must be something unique to the software you have installed/loaded or your usage pattern that causes it.

 

[Zxxv]

Is this even MacRumors anymore? Can't believe someone hasn't made an overtly aggressive comment about who's vs. whose.

I think they do that via private message now. Its how I was chastised over your when I meant you're

 

[scaredpoet]

Not true - it's just a matter of degree.

A matter of degree kinda makes it true.

I have both and it's clear that the iPad Air 2 can handle more thrown at it without reloading tabs.

Which only reiterates my point: Brute forcing a fix with more RAM is a kludge.

For the second time: I'm not against more RAM. But the fact that people will shrilly demand more RAM and ignore the actual problem here is astounding.

 

[sunking101]

A matter of degree kinda makes it true.



Which only reiterates my point: Brute forcing a fix with more RAM is a kludge.

For the second time: I'm not against more RAM. But the fact that people will shrilly demand more RAM and ignore the actual problem here is astounding.

The actual problem is a lack of RAM and poor software coding. A kludge or not, more RAM addresses the problem whereas doing nothing doesn't. You are advising that we sit and wait for some miraculous software fix which, after 20 months, we can safely assume isn't coming.

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You tell me. There must be something unique to the software you have installed/loaded or your usage pattern that causes it.

Nope. The same thing happens on a clean install with zero non-stock apps loaded and no backup. As for my usage pattern, swapping between one app and one browser tab every 5-10 minutes should hardly be taxing for a £700 premium smartphone. Sadly the 6+ can't handle such a 'heavy workload'.

 

[Bobby Corwen]

In your opinion. We have previously and still apparently disagree on this.

To bastardise a Steve quote : "You're using it wrong".

Don't get me wrong - I've seen it on other platforms. The iPhone 4 running early iOS7 did it religiously, as did the original iPad I passed on to my mother. I'm stilll not seeing it, or finding it reported outside certain very noisy individuals on this forum.

This.

That's what they like to spend their time doing.

Hint: if you are such a power user and u know you're gonna be doing that then just close excess apps and tabs. You have to have tons of memory intensive apps open to make the reloads happen.

Problem solved with a simple and fair trade off, and no more reloads.

1GB is perfectly fine.

 

[C DM]

This.

That's what they like to spend their time doing.

Hint: if you are such a power user and u know you're gonna be doing that then just close excess apps and tabs. You have to have tons of memory intensive apps open to make the reloads happen.

Problem solved with a simple and fair trade off, and no more reloads.

1GB is perfectly fine.

Just because it's fine for most typical users doesn't mean that things don't progress forward and more RAM gets involved. At one point they made statements that 640K of RAM should be enough for anyone (and at that point it likely was), but it doesn't mean that things didn't progress and more and more RAM has gotten involved, along with optimizations and everything else.

 

[TechnicallyTee]

Im not a person thats a power user but one thing the iPhone needs is more RAM and everyone knows thats 1GB of RAM is not enough.

 

[sunking101]

This.

That's what they like to spend their time doing.

Hint: if you are such a power user and u know you're gonna be doing that then just close excess apps and tabs. You have to have tons of memory intensive apps open to make the reloads happen.

Problem solved with a simple and fair trade off, and no more reloads.

1GB is perfectly fine.

Sadly there wasn't a hint of sarcasm there.
If I want to swap between one app & one browser tab and have all other apps & tabs closed, how do I prevent a reload? If I spend 5-10 mins in the app and then go to the browser tab it will reload. Likewise if I spend 5-10 mins in the browser tab and then go back to the app, it will reload. If you have a 6+ then you will know this.

 

[Bobby Corwen]

Im not a person thats a power user but one thing the iPhone needs is more RAM and everyone knows thats 1GB of RAM is not enough.

Just because you hear a handful of people on here say it?

Im pretty sure the Apple engineers know better than you, the average joe.

Most people confused simple bugs from a new major update for RAM issues.

There was nobody who ran scientific tests that concluded such things, it was just a bunch of people speculating in a few threads that had no real conclusive evidence. It was just random complainers.

but now for some reason people think theres some kind of consensus.

There is no such concensus and 1GB is just fine. Most people don't even understand how RAM on iOS works yet they comment so much about it.

If 1GB isn't enough how come my phone is fine and I can do anything just perfect on it including high quality music production and intensive console graphics gaming?

I had to run an experiment just to recreate the reloads. Its not that big of a deal. Just hearsay by random complainers.

Thats not really a consensus that it needs more ram. Just people want to act like it is.

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Sadly there wasn't a hint of sarcasm there.
If I want to swap between one app & one browser tab and have all other apps & tabs closed, how do I prevent a reload? If I spend 5-10 mins in the app and then go to the browser tab it will reload. Likewise if I spend 5-10 mins in the browser tab and then go back to the app, it will reload. If you have a 6+ then you will know this.

Most people don't do stuff like that. And if you were to do that then close a few apps and it won't do that.

You can switch between apps all you want and it won't reload. Don't forget we tested this.

Its very tough to get it to reload. You're complaining about nothing for weeks. Just return the phone already if you don't like using nice phones with big screens.

 

[C DM]

Just because you hear a handful of people on here say it?

Im pretty sure the Apple engineers know better than you, the average joe.

Most people confused simple bugs from a new major update for RAM issues.

There was nobody who ran scientific tests that concluded such things, it was just a bunch of people speculating in a few threads that had no real conclusive evidence. It was just random complainers.

but now for some reason people think theres some kind of consensus.

There is no such concensus and 1GB is just fine. Most people don't even understand how RAM on iOS works yet they comment so much about it.

If 1GB isn't enough how come my phone is fine and I can do anything just perfect on it including high quality music production and intensive console graphics gaming?

I had to run an experiment just to recreate the reloads. Its not that big of a deal. Just hearsay by random complainers.

Thats not really a consensus that it needs more ram. Just people want to act like it is.

But it also doesn't mean that things should stay at 1 GB either. Why did they increase to 1 GB from 512 MB or to 512 MB from 256 MB in that case?

 

[sunking101]

Just because you hear a handful of people on here say it?

Im pretty sure the Apple engineers know better than you, the average joe.

Most people confused simple bugs from a new major update for RAM issues.

There was nobody who ran scientific tests that concluded such things, it was just a bunch of people speculating in a few threads that had no real conclusive evidence. It was just random complainers.

but now for some reason people think theres some kind of consensus.

There is no such concensus and 1GB is just fine. Most people don't even understand how RAM on iOS works yet they comment so much about it.

If 1GB isn't enough how come my phone is fine and I can do anything just perfect on it including high quality music production and intensive console graphics gaming?

I had to run an experiment just to recreate the reloads. Its not that big of a deal. Just hearsay by random complainers.

Thats not really a consensus that it needs more ram. Just people want to act like it is.

----------



Most people don't do stuff like that. And if you were to do that then close a few apps and it won't do that.

You can switch between apps all you want and it won't reload. Don't forget we tested this.

Its very tough to get it to reload. You're complaining about nothing for weeks. Just return the phone already if you don't like using nice phones with big screens.

Most people don't multitask? What?
I also said that *everything* is closed down except from the ONE app I'm using and the ONE browser tab. Spend a bit of time in either, then go back to the other one and it *will* reload.

You might be fine playing a game, closing it, going to a social media app, doing your business, closing it and then playing with Garageband or whatever. Using apps one by one is not an issue, unless it's Safari where pages reload as you're actually reading them. Multitasking is the issue, even in *the* most basic manner.