How much RAM does a smartphone need?

Psycho Sonny · 2 Nov 2016 at 16:25

I'm amazed there is so much RAM in a smartphone tbh. 2-4GB seems to be the norm nowadays but is it even used to it's full potential?

Does a phone really need more than say 2GB of RAM it's a phone not a pc.

Janesy B · 2 Nov 2016 at 16:47

My phone seems to think so.

tom_e · 2 Nov 2016 at 16:49

They said the same about PCs back in the day.

SomeBlokeCalledBillGates said:
no computer will ever need more than 640k memory

asim18 · 2 Nov 2016 at 18:03

Psycho Sonny said:
I'm amazed there is so much RAM in a smartphone tbh. 2-4GB seems to be the norm nowadays but is it even used to it's full potential?

Does a phone really need more than say 2GB of RAM it's a phone not a pc.

Depends what you mean by "full potential". The answer is probably no for most foreground tasks. One of the main uses of RAM is for caching, and any multi-tasking based OS will benefit from loads of surplus RAM which is never actually needed for foreground tasks, but is instead simply holding onto data, and android does this heavily.

kona786 · 2 Nov 2016 at 18:13

Min 4GB for me, don't like apps reloading.

And no it's not just a phone is it? It's more like a PC depending on the user.

Dumbnub · 2 Nov 2016 at 19:18

Yes ideally phones have more than 2gb's of ram for better multi tasking. It depends on the manufacturer though, samsung's touchwiz is a noturious ram hog. Stock android is pretty light weight so the phones running that often perform better than heavily skinned versions like touchwiz. Also, the iphone 7 and 7 plus have 2gb's and 3gb's of ram respectively because I think they're a little more efficient with ram than android. At least that's what I read.

mattyfez · 2 Nov 2016 at 19:55

No point having lots of ram if it's sat half empty most of the time.
I suppose it helps for games, but for general use 3gb seems the sweet spot for non gamers as you can have a bunch of open apps waiting in ram , so they don't have to initialize next time you use them, andbthe phone still stays really quick.

Rroff · 2 Nov 2016 at 19:57

asim18 said:
Depends what you mean by "full potential". The answer is probably no for most foreground tasks. One of the main uses of RAM is for caching, and any multi-tasking based OS will benefit from loads of surplus RAM which is never actually needed for foreground tasks, but is instead simply holding onto data, and android does this heavily.

This - Android on phones will cache a lot of stuff in RAM to alleviate other potential hardware slowdowns.

Columbo · 2 Nov 2016 at 21:42

Psycho Sonny said:
Does a phone really need more than say 2GB of RAM it's a phone not a pc.

This is incorrect. These days they are mini pc's with phone functionality running full blown OS's not some gimped software that barely gets tetris off the ground.

So yes they need plenty of ram if you usage deems so.

Psycho Sonny · 3 Nov 2016 at 09:18

wife currently has a galaxy s5 was going to get moto g4 plus but it has 3 different versions and all 3 have different size of RAM.

16GB has 2GB, 32GB has 3GB and 64GB has 4GB.

Main usage is crap like facebook, snapchat, instagram, pinterest, etc. No gaming. However she does use tons of social media apps.

Was wondering if she manages on 2GB fine the now what I should opt for. It has a sd slot so no need for HUGE onboard memory.

lltfdaniel · 3 Nov 2016 at 09:23

I have the moto g4 plus 2gb is enough for me because i close all the programs etc.

About 600mb free ram that is with all the programs running in background.

tiffanys · 3 Nov 2016 at 10:15

as a rule of thumb the more ram you have the merrier

loltim · 3 Nov 2016 at 10:21

My 6GB does me nicely

(OnePlus 3)

wedrum · 3 Nov 2016 at 10:45

6GB geez that must be great.

edscdk · 3 Nov 2016 at 10:47

Id say a nice start would be 999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999 TB

"andy" · 3 Nov 2016 at 13:06

My average use is 1.8gb so nowhere near the 6 the phone has

I do tend to shut any apps down when I'm not using them though. Habit from my previous phone that had 2gb

Holst1981 · 3 Nov 2016 at 13:21

loltim said:
My 6GB does me nicely

(OnePlus 3)

I also have op3.

Currently using 2.9gb, so I don't think I'm making use of all the extra, but it's nice to have the extra as apps will only use more over time.

But I wouldn't avoid a phone with less at the moment (4gb is probably plenty for me)

413x · 6 Nov 2016 at 14:22

3 for me
I usually am lazy and have a lot of apps running. My phone has 4 but 3 is fine
I don't play games
Ram > cpu for me

Anything up from s5 has enough cpu grunt

TheVoice · 6 Nov 2016 at 16:30

Psycho Sonny said:
Does a phone really need more than say 2GB of RAM it's a phone not a pc.

A Nokia 3310 was a phone, today's modern smartphones are a bit more advanced than that.

Tunney · 6 Nov 2016 at 17:22

There's a trade-off between amount of RAM and battery life. More RAM doesn't necessarily mean a better overal experience.