[Sozoc2k]

I searched, but only "Blackberry 5.0 App Memory" came up. Will the droid allow for Applications to be installed on the Memory card? Or is it stuck to the 256 built into it, similar to the Blackberries?

Page 14 Comment by Tom on:

Motorola Droid hands on! : Boy Genius Report

Is why I am asking.

"Yes, you can get microSD cards for it. But you can�t store any applications on them! That restriction is built into Android. Once your apps fill up that 256 MB, including what is built into the phone O.S., etc (~50 MB?), you can�t load any more apps without erasing some.
On my non-android phone I have 10 times more apps than would fit on the Droid. The Droid isn�t going to have enough RAM for guys like me who don�t want to be limited to a few apps unless that Android app memory restriction is removed somehow. They purposely included it and have their reasons, so I doubt they will remove it. I wish I was wrong about that, but it�s true!"

[daryllh]

Can't you can root your android phone? that will allow for programs to be installed on SD card.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[n0t0ryus1]

Can't you can root your android phone? that will allow for programs to be installed on SD card.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Yes but that also allows for people to easily pirate apps so I doubt they will allow it. Im excited over the Droid beyond belief, but taking a look at this just disappoints me. The lack of app memory on my storm was my number one concern, and letting that happen to me again will be the last thing I do.

[n0t0ryus1]

Also take a look at this article and its comments. Very interesting read.

Google fails to address app storage issue with Droid and Android 2.0 – Android and Me

[moosc]

I have been asking what memory leak? Or battery pulls? What is the real memory of the Moto Droid? I have seen specs stating 16gb internal and 16gb memory card included. Some say that is a typo but I have read various stats saying other wise.

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[TrendyProfessional1]

Or maybe developers will have to make the code work for the phones

[TrendyProfessional1]

Iphone Storm2 both have 256 Ram?
Explain please

[n0t0ryus1]

I have been asking what memory leak? Or battery pulls? What is the real memory of the Moto Droid? I have seen specs stating 16gb internal and 16gb memory card included. Some say that is a typo but I have read various stats saying other wise.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Its false. It comes with a 16gb Sd card that inside the phone. Apparently VZW is advertising it as having 16gb internal memory which 100% false.

[moosc]

Iphone Storm2 both have 256 Ram?
Explain please

Yes the storm2 and iphone have 256app memory. S2 and android use it and store it the same way. Iphone app is stored on 32gb memory. Also iphone can run only one app at a time.

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[n0t0ryus1]

^It can when jailbroken. So saying it "cant" technically is wrong.

[TrendyProfessional1]

Yes the storm2 and iphone have 256app memory. S2 and android use it and store it the same way. Iphone app is stored on 32gb memory. Also iphone can run only one app at a time.

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I got it; so if u can't store memory on the card it's gonna suck up that 256 really quick.
But I noticed it is the same amount for pretty much all phones. Even the HTC
Passion/Dragon

[moosc]

I got it; so if u can't store memory on the card it's gonna suck up that 256 really quick.
But I noticed it is the same amount for pretty much all phones. Even the HTC
Passion/Dragon

what i have seen from the new BBs is 50 will go to OS and the rest is Apps.. what is being posted is most new BBs are staying around 90-100 in app memory.. im little shocked at how little memory is in the phone 512 for pics vid ringtones etc and 256 for apps. that doesnt seem like a healty number. the S2 is 2gb and 256 app and a 16gb memory card. iphone is 32gb buit in and 256 apps. so im wondering why there is so little in a high powered set up like the moto droid

[JRSCCivic98]

what i have seen from the new BBs is 50 will go to OS and the rest is Apps.. what is being posted is most new BBs are staying around 90-100 in app memory.. im little shocked at how little memory is in the phone 512 for pics vid ringtones etc and 256 for apps. that doesnt seem like a healty number. the S2 is 2gb and 256 app and a 16gb memory card. iphone is 32gb buit in and 256 apps. so im wondering why there is so little in a high powered set up like the moto droid

huh?

I think you're confusing RAM and NANDFlash used for storage. The iPhone has 256MB RAM (used for active processing) just like the S2 does, but the iPhone has 16GB+ (depending on model) of NANDFlash for App storage whereas the S2 and the MotoDroid both only have 256MB.

[moosc]

That's what I am saying. But I'm wondering why so little memory in the droid? It doesn't even crack a GB!

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[moosc]

I just read that the 512mb is shared with or split so only 256mb for apps and 256mb for every day use. Is this correct? Wouldn't a hi powered phone like this need atleast a GB to operate smoothly?

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[TrendyProfessional1]

Please forgive for not thinking to link the vid.
But the app memory has more to do with the OS than
the phone.
It woud have to be rooted to run apps off the mem card.
If I find the vid I will link it...........

[roeod4]

From what I have been reading, a group of people have worked on rooting every android phone that has come out so far. After rooting they partition some of the sd card which gives you about 1 to 1.5 G of app storage off the card. This is of course in addition to the on board memory of about 256 usable app memory. It has also been listed on multiple site as having 256 ram and 512 rom. Most are saying that the "rom" is for the OS and app storage. From what I have seen even those in the android forums are confused.

I can't speak for the droid, but a friend has the G1 and his only has about 20 mb free and it runs very smooth. Actually smoother than my Curve with 30 mb free. All the vids of the droid running 2.0 show it running incredibly fast, but none of them show the available memory. Not sure why that is.

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[TrendyProfessional1]

From what I have been reading, a group of people have worked on rooting every android phone that has come out so far. After rooting they partition some of the sd card which gives you about 1 to 1.5 G of app storage off the card. This is of course in addition to the on board memory of about 256 usable app memory. It has also been listed on multiple site as having 256 ram and 512 rom. Most are saying that the "rom" is for the OS and app storage. From what I have seen even those in the android forums are confused.

I can't speak for the droid, but a friend has the G1 and his only has about 20 mb free and it runs very smooth. Actually smoother than my Curve with 30 mb free. All the vids of the droid running 2.0 show it running incredibly fast, but none of them show the available memory. Not sure why that is.

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Thanks...............

[French]

Can anyone give an idea of the size of an "average" Android app? This would help me with these discussions. If file sizes are similar to BB then I have no concerns. However if they are larger it raises significant issues for me. I'm just not a 5-app woman!!

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[moosc]

Wow if that is correct only 20mb left that is insane. I am getting so confused. I want memory. Memory makes a OS run smoothly. Maybe ill stay on the storm. Need a solid review of a day or two of solid use. Do we need battery pulls. Do apps or OS leak memory? I'm so lost..

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[JRSCCivic98]

Wow if that is correct only 20mb left that is insane. I am getting so confused. I want memory. Memory makes a OS run smoothly. Maybe ill stay on the storm. Need a solid review of a day or two of solid use. Do we need battery pulls. Do apps or OS leak memory? I'm so lost..

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I wouldn't jump to conclusions too quickly. She also didn't tell you how many apps are installed on that phone. Could be several. Also, I don't think the G1 had 512MB FlashROM.

Edit:
Yep, the G1 only has 256MB FlashROM and 192MB of RAM. Now all that's missing is for her to tell us how many apps her friend had loaded to only be left with 20MB. Android OS can't be that big...

[moosc]

I just find it odd no one talks about memory. Guess they have never have dealt with a BB.

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[moni19]

I just find it odd no one talks about memory. Guess they have never have dealt with a BB.

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yeah, I think the only people that are truly worried about the memory are BB users

my guess is that the Droid won't have the constant memory leaks that BB users are accustomed to (well, I hope it doesn't)...I'm not too concerned though, this phone is 100 times better than my storm

[roeod4]

Actually just talked to him and he only has 15.4 mb of memory remaining. He has 46 apps installed plus an additional 24 apps that came preinstalled on the phone. He was also telling me that a bunch of the apps that came with the phone cannot be uninstalled, so no option to free up memory with stuff you don't use. His phone is still running far smoother and faster than mine with only 36 apps installed and 28 mb free. Obviously he has more memory on his, but the ram/rom combo being used really does make them run well.

The app sizes are pretty similar to the way they are for BlackBerry these days. Many of the simple apps are around the 20kb to 30kb mark and some of the more elaborate ones are 200kb to 500kb in size. I didn't see too many that are much higher than that. I did notice that documents to go on his G1 was about 3.3mb. This falls in line with the docstogo that I have on my curve right now. I am making the assumption that the OS is about the same size as BB, just as everything else appears to be.

My friend was also telling me that Androids apps run differently than others do. He was saying that most of the apps (not including widgets) run within themselves and stay open even after you close it. They only truly shut down or drop their memory usage if another app needs that memory to run. Then the new app will take over. This is the way it was explained to him so take this third or fourth hand info for what it is worth as I have not even made an attempt to look it up.

[roeod4]

This is the best explanation of Androids memory and how it works that I have seen. I picked it up at the Android Forum.

People throw technical terms around during discussions here, which is not unexpected and is encouraged! But new users may be confused and occasionally little arguments start over semantics. Here's some clarification to hopefully help people better understand how their phone works and communicate better the issues they're having. If people wish to help me clarify better, I'd appreciate it.

ROM - Read Only Memory
While the term has changed a bit from it's original meaning, it's essentially computer memory that does not require power to store it's data (non-volitile). In the sense of a smartphone like the Hero, it's the Internal Memory where the OS is stored. From what I've gathered, the Internal Memory is just Flash Memory (a special type of ROM) partitioned into two parts, one for the OS and the rest for apps to use. So, the OS partition essentially is true ROM, unless you root the phone. The software that groups like xda-developers make available are called ROMs because they're a ROM Image. It's why you see games for emulators called ROMs because the games were originally taken from true ROM cartridges.

For the Hero this size is 512MB.

The sdcard is a larger capacity external Flash Memory card.

In a normal computer, ROM in the form of an EEPROM chip is where the BIOS is stored.

RAM - Random Access Memory
This is where current processes that are running are stored and keep the data they need immediately available to them. This is the memory you see when you run any of the Task Managers showing you currently running apps and the available memory. It's a completely different part of the phone from the Internal Memory discussed above. Data stored in RAM requires constant power and does not survive a power cycle of the phone (volitile).
For the Hero this is 288MB.

Root
This is the term being thrown around for modifying a smartphone to put custom software on it that normally wouldn't be allowed through means included with the phone (Android Market or an .apk file for a non-Market app). "Root" is the common term chosen because, in a Unix environment, the "root" user has complete and total control of the entire operating system of the computer. So, "rooting" the phone means taking complete control over its operating system. This is usually done by means of finding a flaw somewhere in the phone's firmware to allow access to the restricted Internal Memory where the OS resides. You then install a custom ROM (see above) to let you use your phone from then on.

Android is a bit more unique than any of the previous smartphones in that you don't really need "approval" from a higher power (ex, the Apple store) to install an app that hasn't made it onto the Market. Just uncheck the box Settings -> Application settings -> Unknown sources and you're free to install any .apk file you wish. So Android phones are more like a regular computer in that you're free to install whatever software you want from whichever source you want. Just be careful of where you get apps from outside of official Market sources. Also like a regular computer, you could open yourself up to having your personal data stolen.

Rooting still gives some advantages for power users, but for normal or even intermediate users, you probably don't need to root the phone to enjoy it as much as you'd have needed to for previous smartphones.
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