Re: What is your experience with Samsung "RAM Plus" virtual memory expansion?

On 2024-12-06 12:51, Frank Slootweg wrote:

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

Edward.C wrote:
>

I think it depends on your usage. If you always have many apps running
at the same time, maybe it can give slight improvement in performance.
>
I have disabled it and never noticed any difference, probably because I
have 12GB of RAM on my A55.

>
Given the way Android apps save their state and are then ready to be
killed when there is pressure on memory, ready to be reloaded "as they
were", then using swap seems a bit pointless?

    Yes, but not all apps can be killed and reloaded/restarted "as they
were". For example those which depend on external data or/and state. For
those apps, you want them to be swapped instead of killed.
    After all, we still use paging (and possibly even swapping) on real
computers, don't we? If all programs/processes would be killable/
restartable without data/state loss, we wouldn't have to do that.

Yes, I am using swap. In Linux, it is used for hibernation, and when there is memory pressure; my mini server uses it.

    That said, on my Samsung Galaxy A51 Android 13 with 4GB RAM, 'RAM
Plus' is enabled and set to 4GB (other choice is 2GB). I don't think
I've set that, so I assume it's set when the device is 'Checking...'
when you tap the 'Memory' entry. (Currently, it says 2.7GB of 4GB used,
762 MB available, 525 MB reserved.)

I looked up "memory" on mine, which is not Samsung but Motorola, and there is no memory entry in the config. I found "performance" (under system), and on this I saw "intelligent application start (enabled)" and "RAM improvement" (disabled). The later says "if there is enough storage, use some to enlarge the RAM".
   Device memory: 6GB
   memory expansion 1.5GB (greyed out)
This must be swap. There is a switch to enable it.
It doesn't say how much ram is in use, except with graphic bar; I estimate 5 GB are in use.
So I search instead for the word "RAM". Size of ram is found under "about the phone", "hardware info". Again, it doesn't say how much is in use. It also mentions there is 128 GB of ROM.
Funny the different names used across different brands. Of course, my phone is in Spanish, but even so it is not the same menus.
On the storage chapter, my phone has 128 GB, of which the beast is applications (61 GB). Photos are just 11 GB, videos 6.2 GB. I have two large applications: OsmAnd+ (17.97 GB) and Pocket Casts (15.41GB). The later is a surprise. To my knowledge I am subscribed to only one podcast, which I have configured so save automatically, so that I can listen with no network. But I had no idea they were taking so much space.
Wasap is just 2.91 GB.
Ah... pocketcasts is also storing a second podcast, one of "books in one hour" since May 2022 (one per week); older ones are listed, not stored. I have now disabled auto download of this one.
--
Cheers, Carlos.