Applications taking up too much memory?

**kirson** · 04-23-2010, 10:11 AM

Is there a direct relationship between the size of the applications being loaded on the Blackberry and the amount of free memory? I had around 90 MB of free space on the device, and then proceeded to load a handful of applications. I haven't done the exact math, but I think I loaded around 5 MB of applications. The free memory has gone down by around 15 to 20 MB. Is there some sort of file management issue that "wastes" memory on the Blackberry? I have tried all the usual tricks to free up memory - running Memory Cleaner, running Memory Booster, clearing all cached items in various applications, pulling the battery. Still, free memory remains below 70 MB. Any thoughts or recommendations?

**fatboy97** · 04-23-2010, 10:52 AM

Connect your Device to your PC and start DM... then go into Add/Remove Apps and check out the size of the apps you loaded... you might be surprised by the space they do take up... but that seems excessive... some apps do need more room for data that it downloads and not just app space... you might want to think about that also.

What are the apps that you downloaded... that would help!!!

**FreshThePoet** · 04-23-2010, 11:21 AM

Wow that....You must be downloading some HUGE apps!

Sounds more like a 9000 to me.

**rdyoung** · 04-23-2010, 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by kirson

Is there a direct relationship between the size of the applications being loaded on the Blackberry and the amount of free memory? I had around 90 MB of free space on the device, and then proceeded to load a handful of applications. I haven't done the exact math, but I think I loaded around 5 MB of applications. The free memory has gone down by around 15 to 20 MB. Is there some sort of file management issue that "wastes" memory on the Blackberry? I have tried all the usual tricks to free up memory - running Memory Cleaner, running Memory Booster, clearing all cached items in various applications, pulling the battery. Still, free memory remains below 70 MB. Any thoughts or recommendations?

First question is what version of the os are you running?
How many apps do you usually have running at once?
I can't quote exact figures, but the os on a bb is not unlike the os on your pc. It will use up some ram when its powered up and on.
I would only be concerned over the amount of free ram if/when it causes your phone to be sluggish and non responsive, The 9700 is a workhorse so unless you really put it through its paces thats not gonna happen anytime soon.

**kirson** · 04-23-2010, 11:44 AM

Originally Posted by fatboy97

Connect your Device to your PC and start DM... then go into Add/Remove Apps and check out the size of the apps you loaded... you might be surprised by the space they do take up... but that seems excessive... some apps do need more room for data that it downloads and not just app space... you might want to think about that also.

What are the apps that you downloaded... that would help!!!

So, I went to look at the actual sizes of the applications in DM. They were larger than I thought, but still only around 10 BM. I loaded the following:

WeatherBug 0.9 MB
Aces Mahjong 4.6 MB (yikes!)
Google Maps 1.6 MB
PowerOne 0.2 MB
DriveSafely 0.7 MB
iBlocks Theme 0.6 MB
Pocket 12C SE Calculator 0.1 MB
Boulder Dash Rocks 1.8 MB

I'm still surprised the File Free number is as low as it is at around 66 MB. I guess this highlights the fact that I find memory usage on the Blackberry confusing. I use Fixmo tools and under the memory management application they indicate that I have free RAM of 98 MB (out of 132 MB) and free Memory of 69 MB (out of 196 MB). Is it correct that the number I should be focusing on is Memory, and not RAM? What exactly is the difference in the context of a Blackberry?

**kirson** · 04-23-2010, 11:49 AM

Originally Posted by rdyoung

First question is what version of the os are you running?
How many apps do you usually have running at once?
I can't quote exact figures, but the os on a bb is not unlike the os on your pc. It will use up some ram when its powered up and on.
I would only be concerned over the amount of free ram if/when it causes your phone to be sluggish and non responsive, The 9700 is a workhorse so unless you really put it through its paces thats not gonna happen anytime soon.

I'm on OS 593. I don't usually run many applications at once, and to be honest this is a purely academic issue at this point. The 9700 is running perfectly, has great power management, and is not slow or sluggish at all. In the past (on prior devices), I've had terrible problems with memory where every couple of months the device would wipe itself as a result of running out of memory. I have become accustomed to trying to keep free memory as high as possible. So, at 66 MB of free memory, I have zero angst. I am just confused why adding 10 MB of applications has caused me to lose 20 MB of free memory...it doesn't really make sense to me...

**rdyoung** · 04-23-2010, 12:01 PM

Originally Posted by kirson

I'm on OS 593. I don't usually run many applications at once, and to be honest this is a purely academic issue at this point. The 9700 is running perfectly, has great power management, and is not slow or sluggish at all. In the past (on prior devices), I've had terrible problems with memory where every couple of months the device would wipe itself as a result of running out of memory. I have become accustomed to trying to keep free memory as high as possible. So, at 66 MB of free memory, I have zero angst. I am just confused why adding 10 MB of applications has caused me to lose 20 MB of free memory...it doesn't really make sense to me...

Academic I can roll with.
What you also have to keep in mind is that with computers, 1MB is not always 1MB, how much actual space is used up by a file is dependent on a few factors one of which is cluster size, and I have no clue how the file system works with bb so I can't even begin to speculate on this.

I know that somehow after upgrading from 330>>593 I gained about 15mb of storage space, don't quote me on that # I dont remember exactly how much before/after, but I know I gained.
Somewhere out there on the tubes that are the web, there are apps to let you delete some of the unused/unneeded apps/files from the BB system, IE the demo videos and pictures that arent really needed.

**JasW** · 04-23-2010, 12:02 PM

Originally Posted by FreshThePoet

Wow that....You must be downloading some HUGE apps!

Sounds more like a 9000 to me.

Not much -- even with the 9000 stripped completely naked of both all Third Party and all Add-on apps (BBM included), you're only around 50 MB . . . .

**fatboy97** · 04-23-2010, 12:55 PM

Just to be on the safe side and to get a clean look at just how much memory you actually have now... do a Battery Pull: Leave your device ON, pull the battery out for 20 seconds, put it back in and wait for it to boot up... then check your free file space.

**Pete6** · 04-23-2010, 01:03 PM

It's been suggested that you conect your phone to you PC and use Desktop Manager to check which apps are installed. This is a very good idea.

You should check which languages are installed and remove those you don't need, look down the list you see and remove other unwanted stuff too. Don't remove BlackBerry Attachement Manager, you need it for emails.

If you are not sure what you can and cannot safely remove, just ask us BEFORE you remove it..