My PB's performance randomly skyrocketed

**Yoox_II** · 05-06-2012, 06:11 PM

I used to close every app and check how much memory I had. It usually was 300-400 mb of memory, which I thought was pretty bad considering there is 1gb of total memory.
Then 2 days ago, it says I have almost 600 when I have an app or two open. I close all of them and I have almost 750 (impressive), and every page on my browser scrolls smoothly. There was no update that caused this because the last update was a few weeks ago...Any ideas as to why it's so good now? I'm asking cause I'd like to keep it this way. I love my playbook alot more now that it works 10 times better

**ClassyBOLD** · 05-06-2012, 07:20 PM

Originally Posted by Yoox_II

I used to close every app and check how much memory I had. It usually was 300-400 mb of memory, which I thought was pretty bad considering there is 1gb of total memory.
Then 2 days ago, it says I have almost 600 when I have an app or two open. I close all of them and I have almost 750 (impressive), and every page on my browser scrolls smoothly. There was no update that caused this because the last update was a few weeks ago...Any ideas as to why it's so good now? I'm asking cause I'd like to keep it this way. I love my playbook alot more now that it works 10 times better

Unusual since the OS takes about 400-500 mb of ram to run. Pics of the about screen showing memory usage?

**tim_w_ak** · 05-06-2012, 07:22 PM

I have noticed some increase in the pb's memory performance as well.

I have noticed it more this last week, and had alot of usage on it via bridge and the wi fi. Another bonus is the new pb wordpress 2.1 update is no longer the memory hog it once was either.

**Jean-luc_Picard** · 05-06-2012, 07:30 PM

Have you stopped using Android Apps? Have you deleted apps/files? Did you change how long you left it on between rebooting and use? Did you clear the browser cache or cookies? Did you look at an excessive number of BB10 videos, thus making your PlayBook jealous? Did you expose your PlayBook to any sort of radiation? Did you change the way you reboot (power button off/power button on, Shut Down button/power button on, Reboot button, battery dies/power button on, Reboot button, Hard reset, etc)? Just spitballing here, I'm not sure how many of these would actually help, but they all could.

**Yoox_II** · 05-06-2012, 07:52 PM

I meant to type *650, not 750, but yes here's a picture of the memory while having CrackBerry open in the browser. And yes I deleted a couple of Android apps so maybe that is part of the solution. Does having different apps installed but not running actually make a difference?

**BB_Bmore** · 05-06-2012, 07:53 PM

750!? Hmmm idk I'm sorry but can you please post a screenshot of that.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9670 using Tapatalk

**Jean-luc_Picard** · 05-06-2012, 07:57 PM

Maybe the Android apps are what did it. While I'm not sure what the source is I've heard that they run in the background.

**Yoox_II** · 05-06-2012, 08:03 PM

Originally Posted by BB-Bmore

750!? Hmmm idk I'm sorry but can you please post a screenshot of that. Click to view quoted image

Sent from my BlackBerry 9670 using Tapatalk

Already stated that I meant to type 650 not 750.

**goku_vegeta** · 05-06-2012, 08:03 PM

When you force close the Android runtime (yes this can be done) You should have around 650-670 MB of RAM available. The Android runtime takes about 150-175 MB of RAM and once that's closed you gain that RAM. The disadvantage to doing this is that once you open an Android app, you have to wait quite some time because it has to reinitialize the runtime.

**Jean-luc_Picard** · 05-06-2012, 08:12 PM

To test, I just uninstalled all of my Android apps. The memory was around 335mb, then after uninstalling it was around 350mb. Then I rebooted, and with nothing open it was around 600mb. With two browser tabs and App World open, it went to 500mb. I guess Android doesn't have good memory management.

**Yoox_II** · 05-06-2012, 08:21 PM

Originally Posted by Jean-luc_Picard

To test, I just uninstalled all of my Android apps. The memory was around 335mb, then after uninstalling it was around 350mb. Then I rebooted, and with nothing open it was around 600mb. With two browser tabs and App World open, it went to 500mb. I guess Android doesn't have good memory management.

Wow no kidding. Thanks for trying that.
What exactly is "android runtime"? Is it something more than having an android app open?

**lindstrom** · 05-06-2012, 08:28 PM

Originally Posted by goku_vegeta

When you force close the Android runtime (yes this can be done)

Wanna share?

**goku_vegeta** · 05-06-2012, 08:40 PM

Originally Posted by Yoox_II

Wow no kidding. Thanks for trying that.
What exactly is "android runtime"? Is it something more than having an android app open?

Yep, I can explain. The android runtime is basically the environment that the OS has got set up in order to run Android apps. Think of running a virtual machine on your computer to load a different OS. You still have Windows/Mac OS X/Linux etc but you have the ability to run a different OS or different OS version in that virtual machine. Granted this isn't exactly how it works but it's the best analogy I can think of right now. In short, the runtime is always running, until you force it to close. Android applications are running within this runtime environment, called the Android runtime.

Originally Posted by Lindstrom

Wanna share?

To close the Android runtime, I basically open a whole bunch of native apps. I start off with the three PIM apps, messages, contacts calendar. Fire up the browser, open some web pages, then since I kept my apps in stock order, I proceed to open up App World, pictures, music, videos, etc. usually I go around 12-15 applications then the android runtime closes itself, or rather the OS kills it. Once you're done this, close all your open apps and check your RAM. You should notice it is in the mid to high 600s range. Try to open an android app now and you'll see exactly how long it takes to reinitialize the runtime, hence why RIM kept the runtime constantly running in the background so android applications load up quickly. As a side note, another Crackberry member mentioned he opened up 15 or so tabs in the browser before the runtime closed, although I haven't tried this myself although that seems pretty viable especially if the web pages all have a lot of javascript or flash elements.

**robsteve** · 05-06-2012, 08:43 PM

Originally Posted by Lindstrom

Wanna share?

Open a bunch of apps plus the video player until apps start closing. When it runs out of memory, it must close the Android runtime to free up some memory. I just tried it and went from about 360mb free to 550mb with one browser running.

**Yoox_II** · 05-06-2012, 08:48 PM

I just tried it. I was running at 662 mb with nothing opened after I closed my 15 apps to make the runtime quit. Thanks goku_vegeta

**Yoox_II** · 05-06-2012, 08:51 PM

Here's the photo I shouldve attached

**diegonei** · 05-06-2012, 08:51 PM

Originally Posted by goku_vegeta

When you force close the Android runtime (yes this can be done) You should have around 650-670 MB of RAM available. The Android runtime takes about 150-175 MB of RAM and once that's closed you gain that RAM. The disadvantage to doing this is that once you open an Android app, you have to wait quite some time because it has to reinitialize the runtime.

How is that done? Killing the Android Player?

EDIT:

Originally Posted by robsteve

Open a bunch of apps plus the video player until apps start closing. When it runs out of memory, it must close the Android runtime to free up some memory. I just tried it and went from about 360mb free to 550mb with one browser running.

Let me try... Dead Space, Spiderman and NFS should be enough...

EDIT: Just having it close the apps didn't work. Getting a error notification due to lack of memory did.

Open as much stuff as you can, not just big apps, get the small ones in too.

**goku_vegeta** · 05-06-2012, 09:27 PM

Originally Posted by diegonei

How is that done? Killing the Android Player?

EDIT:

Let me try... Dead Space, Spiderman and NFS should be enough...

EDIT: Just having it close the apps didn't work. Getting a error notification due to lack of memory did.

Open as much stuff as you can, not just big apps, get the small ones in too.

Click to view quoted image

Yep you got it,

@Yoox, You're welcome

**kennyliu** · 05-06-2012, 10:12 PM

When does Android runtime get reactivated? After a reboot?

Anyway, this is a good idea for developers to create an app that kills Android player (by temporarily taxing the RAM somehow).

**sagec** · 05-06-2012, 10:24 PM

If there's an API to kill processes we could write an app to kill it at will.

**BB_Bmore** · 05-06-2012, 10:50 PM

Originally Posted by Yoox_II

Already stated that I meant to type 650 not 750.

Blame my slow os6 phone.

**goku_vegeta** · 05-06-2012, 11:16 PM

Originally Posted by kennyliu

When does Android runtime get reactivated? After a reboot?

Anyway, this is a good idea for developers to create an app that kills Android player (by temporarily taxing the RAM somehow).

It'll restart whenever you launch an Android app, no need for a reboot

**goku_vegeta** · 05-06-2012, 11:18 PM

Originally Posted by sagec

If there's an API to kill processes we could write an app to kill it at will.

Maybe there is, but I'm not sure though. Kind of doubt it because before you kill a "system" process, chances are the OS will kill the app trying to make changes to the sytem process.

**apengue1** · 05-06-2012, 11:18 PM

Thanks for sharing the Android Runtime trick! There should definitely be an app to do this. I wonder if the tools are available. One thing I think still sucks is that even if you have no android apps, the runtime still runs after a reboot, but once you foreclose I'm assuming it wouldn't come back if you don't have any android apps to run