Increasing free RAM. Tips and tricks.

[Arnab]

Hey guys I just finished tinkering with my phone and got some very good results. Before this my free RAM was around 50-60 MB and now it is around 200 MB. Wanted to share it with you guys if it helps you in usage of the mobile. I am listing the things I did here in points:

1. Uninstalled all the uninstallable apps given by default with the model viz: McAfee. powersaver etc.

2. Stopped sync for all the apps except google with updates only in two subparts of google, gmail and instant uploads. This ensures that I get notifications when I get mails. I did this by going to the Sync option in settings and then switching sync off for all apps except google. I click on the google option and then inside I switch of all the options except the above two.

3. I do not have any task-killers or antivirus, only use apps downloaded from google play and so I do not need virus killers, they are ineffective anyways. Also I do not need task-killers as they use up more RAM than they save.

4. Do not use any apps that prevent the phone from going to sleep, as these apps have processes running in the background and use up RAM. They use not only RAM but also battery. Eg of such: task-killers, network boosters, some games.

5. Switched off automatic updating of all my apps including default ones and downloaded ones, keeping the automatic update enabled caused many apps to keep checking the availability of updates via background processes. Whenever there is an update available, I get a notification and if I want to update I do it.

6. In the facebook for android app, switched off all notifications and notification rings and noises except maybe the ones for new friend requests and wall posts. As I am not syncing FB in the mobile, so I do not really need notifications. When I log on to FB, I can myself see all the notifications. This closes a lot of useless FB processes and brings down its RAM usage from 40 MB to around 10 MB.

7. For people using Ebuddy for FB and Gtalk chat I would suggest using GoChat for FB chat and either the gtalk application for gtalk chat or the fring application. Gotalk+fring RAM usage is around 30 MB whereas Ebuddy uses 45-50 MB RAM.

8. Stopped using the MS office app given by xperia as it uses RAM constantly and started using Kingsoft office app. This app can open+edit MS office docs and also open pdf files, so this solves the need of having an xtra adobe pdf reader ap, thus saving space.

9. Stopped all the FB inside Xperia things as I do not use timescape and stuff like that.

10. Stopped all app activation in Liveware Manager. Really do not need all those stuff.

11. Stopped the mobile bravia engine, didnt see much detioration in pic quality. I dont know if I will activate it again, but with 200 MB free RAM, I may think of activating this again...:smileywink:

I hope you guys can benefit from at least some of these things. Good Luck. Arnab.

[Anilikos]

thank you so much for this. As it seems, facebook app was a big RAM eater

[Arnab]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cn.wps.moffice_eng&hl=en

Get this.

[Arnab]

Its a bit better with the latest update..:)

[dragpyre]

Hey Arnab,

You're doing great around the forums

I have some tips also!

For GB/ICS

• DON'T USE LIVE WALLPAPERS! Yes, they may look nice and cool, but they are battery and RAM eaters, and have a nasty habit of killing your launcher, so it takes a while to come back and respond.
• Disable location services (GPS etc.) until you need them! Android likes to open apps like Maps and Navigation in the background because GPS is on, because it is trying to predict what app you will open next based on the current system state.
• An alternative launcher like Holo Launcher or Apex Launcher (ICS only) can have performance benefits over the stock Xperia launcher. These also provide more customisability. I wouldn't recommend Go Launcher.
• Install Night Mode! Night mode gives you more control over brightness when the service is running. It also disables the soft key buttons light, which introduces further battery saving!

For ICS

• Freeze apps which you can't uninstall, e.g. network specific apps.
• Hold the home button and swipe tasks away when you're finished with them. This will close any open services related to that application

For Root Users (Advanced)

• Install ES Task Manager. I'm serious. Before you go "HURR DURR TASK MANAGER U DNT NEED DEM", I'm not asking you to use it as a task manager. There is a handy feature in it called Startup Manager, which allows you to enable and disable app startups on boot and in the background, including system apps!
  
  WARNING! Disabling an essential service could have undesired effects and may BRICK your device. Exercise caution and research a service BEFORE disabling it if you are in any way unsure.
• Root Uninstaller (available from the Play Store) can uninstall system applications. As above, BE CAREFUL about what you uninstall. You can BRICK your device (I once tried to uninstall Android System for the lulz, whilst being funny, it bricked my device).

I hope this is useful to some people!

[ipoet]

Good post, all standard operating proceedure when using Android - switch off anything you don't have direct control of - anything auto-updating etc.

It's cool to have Facebook running but until they start working on battery technology it's much better to use the app and specify for yourself what you're doing with the internet

I was never one to believe it, but AppKillers drain your battery. Especially with ICS in Xperia because the two systems fight each other and thus are always on in the background, wanting control of the system.

I was surprised just how well the extended standyby app is. Amazed actually. I'm a heavy user - very heavy, and it's giving me a day of use...one charge overnight.

[dragpyre]

What the situation with task managers and Android, and how it has been since 2.2 Froyo, is that Google changed the API's in Android so that task managers, unless they run as root, cannot kill tasks, they can only restart them. The processes of killing these tasks and them starting back up again uses CPU cycles, which in turn drains battery.

You should only kill a task if it is misbehaving, you have stopped using the app (by holding down home and swiping to clear) or if it is causing a lot of wakelocks or using too much CPU. A good app to monitor CPU and wakelocks is System Tuner. If its causing a bunch of wakelocks, its not an app worth keeping.

[Letis]

What do you mean by the name "task killer".. I use only Android assistant to kill aps, but now I am not sure if it is useful or not... And how do you know how much RAM you use when you don't have something like Android assistant?

[Arnab]

check settings>running apps.

no need of any assistant, just use apps you need and disable unrequired apps.

Please mark Correct and Helpful answers and you can also visit my blog at:arnabghosal1989's Blog

[Letis]

oh I found it settings-applications-run

thanks 🙂

[Arnab]

anytime.

Please mark Correct and Helpful answers and you can also visit my blog at:arnabghosal1989's Blog