I don’t get why Android phones have so much ram.

They often have more ram than my wife’s MacBook and the same or my as my desktop.

How much ram is needed if you’re not gaming or video editing?

In my case, it’s a very occasional picture or video recorded and then just social media apps and web. Do I need to get a phone with 12gb? Or is that just thrown in there for marketing?

  • limerod@reddthat.comMEnglish
    6·
    11 months ago

    Your wife’s macbook and your desktop rely on swap space under pressure while your android will start killing apps.

    As for your question

    How much ram is needed if you’re not gaming or video editing?

    The answer will vary depending on your use case and how long you intend to use your current smartphone and if it will receive future OS upgrades. If you plan to keep the smartphone for longer than 2 years get the higher ram variant with more storage.

    In my case, it’s a very occasional picture or video recorded and then just social media apps and web

    Get at least 8gb of ram smartphone for smooth operation. 6gb is serviceable but it will be a bottleneck down the line in a few years. You don’t necessarily need 12gb of ram. It’s just nice and makes things smooth overall. You have budget smartphones with 12gigs of ram. If the price is not high get it. Otherwise, you should be fine.

    • BlisterexeEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      What? 8gb is the minimum? I have a phone with 3 gigs and it works fast, Albury a little slow

      • limerod@reddthat.comMEnglish
        1·
        11 months ago

        What smartphone are using? Is it on the latest android version? I could not multitask even with light apps without one of my apps reloading on a 2GB ram device. It provided just 500mb of free ram for apps. It was borderline unusable.

        3GB would mean my firefox tabs and my apps would still reload frequently.

        Also, I did not say 8 was minimum, more like recommended. Minimum would be 4gb but that would not be a good experience especially in 2024 with latest android updates and apps needing more memory. 6gb would be the bare minimum recommendation for some semblance of smoothness otherwise too many app reloads will ruin the experience.

        I have noticed app reload issues even on a 6GB samsung device. Heavy roms like oneui also require more ram compared to AOSP like roms. 8GB is the sweet spot for smooth multitasking without noticeable app reloads and some heavy apps like web browsers, social media, games, OTT apps, etc.

        3GB and even 4gb would be borderline unusable in 2024. You will notice slow downs and bugs you wouldn’t with more ram devices.

        Ram and storage are also getting cheap, you have midrange and lower midrange smartphones with 12gb of ram. There is no reason to skimp. It’s better to have more than just barely enough.

        • BlisterexeEnglish
          1·
          11 months ago

          Galaxy a20 on android 13 (custom ROM) I do have issues with app reloading but it doesn’t really impede on my have 98% of the time