In this tutorial on how to best use your device's RAM Steve looks at how much RAM various programs utilise on S60 3rd Edition phones and considers how to get the optimum performance out of the multi-tasking functionality. Although focused on the tutotial focuses on S60 3rd Edition the principals are applicable for all Symbian OS phones.
Read on in the full article.
When I open Opera 8.6 on my N90 it closes most or all of the previously started built in applications like calendar, messaging, contacts, gallery. But if I first start Opera and then open the other applications the device is capable of keeping them all running at the same time. Strange.
Isnt there a third party utility that lets you decide which apps to close first and which ones to never close? I know there is one for WM5.
Now I realize that Symbian is an event based OS so it does very little just sitting there. I also know that these applications are taking up fractions of a similar application on a desktop computer. I would like to know how much power or what kind of power hit keeping these apps running will have. If I keep my Inbox or Gallery open, it seems to really kill the battery life even when they aren't doing anything but sitting in the background. Any thoughts?
-A
Is disappointing to little RAM of these devices. It could be to save battery, being compelled to have few opened applications, or will be for saving money in the development, I do not know well. But the RAM in windows mobile is to duplicate and the same trend is not seen in the Nokia. It can be that the competition makes these devices to evolve. Who knows.
ajg - Yes running applications will use a little more power, but it isn't really significant. I've done some test and was hard put to see a difference outside experimental error.
No, Gallery and other static applications don't draw extra battery power when in the background. In the search for power culprits, look at games, Camera, Web, utilities and so on, anything which might either interface with the hardware or be running around in a tight timing 'loop'.
Steve Litchfield
Basic beginner question here; how exactly do you evaluate the RAM usage?
Do you mean 'How do I work out how much RAM each application takes?' I used a freeware tool like SysExplorer, looking at the free REM before and after starting/using each app.
Steve
Steve,
Thanks for the SysExplorer info; that's what I wanted to know. I was also wondering how can we make sure that all the apps have been exited properly so as to free the RAM. On my Nokia E70, using SysExplorer, I am reading RAM: 45MB (11.9 free) ROM: 19MB. Does that point that some of the applications are still running? How can I indentify which one I must "exit"? Is there an interface somewhere listing the processes that are running?
Thanks again for the article.
JCR
Here's how I think it works. Many apps, once started, leave helper processes running in memory, even after exiting the app itself. And the OS itself leaves extra servers running, depending on what you do. All these extra processes speed things up the next time you do any of the same things, of course.
But there's a hit on RAM, as we've seen. The switch to landscape is the biggest, on the E70 at least. Yes, you do get some of the 6MB of RAM back (restart Best TaskMan or SysExplorer to see) when closing the keyboard again, but the amount regained seems to get less and less after a few keyboadr cycles, until after a while there's neither a RAM hit nor any restoration, with landscape switching being more or less instant.
In short, there are some clever algorithms at work, though I still believe that if Nokia had stuffed an extra 10 or 20MB of RAM in these things then the E70 and its brothers would really fly....
Best TaskMan shows the running processes in more detail, but refer to my article above for a summary of which user apps to leave running and which to exit.
Phew!
Steve Litchfield