Why aren't some apps compatible for Lumia 520?

maingo

New member
Jul 14, 2014
4
0
0
Visit site
question about why some apps arent compatible for lumia 520

how come most apps arent "compatible" with my lumia 520? i got a windows phone because i wanted a change from android. big mistake. the 520 lacks a lot of things and so does some of the other models. anyway. i wanted apps like subway surfers and polyvore and wattpad but they arent "compatible" with my phone. ive had an android that was a bit smaller than my 520 and was still able to run these apps. do i need an sd card?
 

David P2

New member
Mar 10, 2014
1,600
0
0
Visit site
Re: question about why some apps arent compatible for lumia 520

In some cases it's lack of hardware, others it's lack of memory (requiring 1GB). Since the 520 is the absolute entry level model, you're not going to get very many fancy higher end features.

In the case of Subway Surfer though, the latest Paris update was meant to bring support to 512MB devices such as the 520.

An SD card won't give you extra memory, but you will have more storage space.
 

Nerdy Woman

Member
Jun 19, 2013
542
2
16
Visit site
Re: question about why some apps arent compatible for lumia 520

Screen size isn't the issue. And an SD card won't help. The 520 is an entry-level windows phone with only 512 MB RAM.

The SD card is like a file cabinet. The more file cabinet space you have, the more files you can store, right?

RAM is like a power strip. Some items (like the OS) have to be plugged in all the time, leaving you a limited number of places to plug in Subway Surfers. With 512 MB RAM, you don't have enough available outlets (let's say Subway Surfers needs 5 and you only have 3 available).

If you go to the Windows Phone website (windowsphone.com) and search on Subway Surfer, you'll find that you're not the only 520 owner who wants this game and a few others. The reality is that you probably wouldn't be happy with it if it did run on 512 MB RAM. It would be constantly swapping processing data in and out of mass memory (onboard equivalent of SD) and lag very badly.

Game devs often build the best game they possibly can and the constraints are the RAM and mass memory that "most" users have. Yeah, it means some users get left out.
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
322,915
Messages
2,242,889
Members
428,004
Latest member
hetb