Why does Android smartphones need so much RAM?

[guzzi850m2]

My IQ Android one sometimes crashes or freeze up, 1gb RAM and not many preinstalled apps in it. Now we see 4gb phones quite often, but my iPad mini2 runs very smooth on 1gb RAM and never crashes.

I wonder why? Is the Android OP much more "horse power" demanding than IOS? A bit like an old American muscle car, enough HP and it will fly and the Apple is the Ferrari, more refined?

I am not willing to spend big $ on a iPhone but I really love my iPad and find many apps very well made.

[theguyfromanotherforum]

C64 vs ZX Spectrum

PC vs Mac

Amiga vs PC

Playstation Vs Xbox........

Your android phone is made by zillion other manufacturers. I very much doubt it's the amount of ram, but rather the hardware that runs it. Just like PC, there is always going to be some compatibility issues simply because of the sheer number of different hardware installed on these phones. Apple controls their own production, so naturally there are going to be fewer problems.

I always buy android because Apple phones become obsolete very fast. At least I can afford to replace Android every year if I want to. So, Apple is far from being a Ferrari.

[Lannig]

Android apps are Java code vs. native code on iPhones. This could account for the extra RAM (and CPU horsepower BTW) needed. The cost of portability across a wide range of hardware platforms.

1Gb should be enough for normal use though, but not all Android firmwares are born equal (far from this!) and rebranders like I-Mobile are not know for the quality of their firmwares: poor kernel tuning, memory leaks in preinstalled apps etc. these are the things that can cause a device to be memory starved all the time.

Also, Android is moving is the right direction. Entry-level devices with 512Mb RAM were a nightmare to use up to Android 4.3.

It's become better with 4.4 and even more with 5.x

That's my experience with my numerous cheap devices anyway. YMMV.

Do not discount the "killer app" either, the one leaking memory like hell that brings your phone to its knees sooner or later whatever the amount of RAM aboard.

Often one with a widget.

Edited March 27, 2016 by Lannig

[guzzi850m2]

Interesting, thanks for the answers.

Well it's not crashing everyday but it happens, it's the version 6.0.1 which not many andriod phones have yet.

I can afford a top phone if I wanted one, but I don't need one so refuse to waste money on one as it would only be a bragging toy.

I also keep my phones for about a year or so and then my kid can use it for games and stuff and I don't worry too much what happens to it.

When you buy an IQ phone it's yours for life, we tried selling my wife's old IQ (in tukcom) but nobody wanted it

[Lannig]

Yep, these no-name phones have virtually nil second-hand value. Better give it to some kid.

Android Marshmallow eh? well, these cheap Chinese brands are also well known for pushing out Android versions that are far from being ready for prime time (read: full of unfixed bugs). Thing is, they seldom if ever provide updates. I'm rather conservative when buying myself, avoiding the bleeding edge Android versions.

I actually have two I-Mobile IQ models myself, an old IQ4 from the Android 4.1 days and a somewhat newer IQ5.7 running 4.3. Both of them are fairly stable, neither of them have ever received a single OTA update from I-Mobile. I only use the older one as a small wifi tablet when in bed.

I prefer having many of these cheap phones to use and hack at will instead of buying a single high-end expensive one as well.