Do on-board Apps and "thinking" RAM compete with each other? Like on a computer.. if you run too many programs and use up your RAM, the computer runs slow.. do non-running Apps occupy space that could be used as "thinking" RAM?
Yes, non-running apps occupy space. However, they "should" release their working memory to the OS when they end, and only occupy the space necessary to hold them. Programs that don't release their memory are ill-behaved. However, programs that are inactive don't cause active programs to run more slowly. If you don't have enough memory for the program that's trying to run, it either won't run, it will trigger the OS to recover memory, or it will crash your device. It won't run slower. The last two options are not desirable. If the OS is forced to recover memory, it will delete your SMS messages, phone logs, and past calendar entries according to its internal triage protocol. That's typically not what you want to have happen.
