1 GB vs 2GB RAM

[Riley2521]

Does the extra GB of RAM on the 1020 really make any difference in performance over the 1GB on the 925? Or is that extra GB really reserved for just the camera>?

 

[Im_Q]

Does the extra GB of RAM on the 1020 really make any difference in performance over the 1GB on the 925? Or is that extra GB really reserved for just the camera>?

WP8 is super efficient so you won't notice too much of a difference in performance of any particular task. What might be noticeable is a decreased in how often you see the "resuming" screen. Because there's more memory, more apps can be suspended and sit in memory when they're not in use. When you go multitask to a suspended app, the memory and data is still there in memory so it doesn't have to do any real work to get it back up and running. The resuming screen happens when an app has to do work after it has been tombstoned (that is, data was saved to the device and unloaded from memory to make room for newly launched apps.) This is why the lower end L520 frequently encounters the resuming screen.

 

[ChumsFuture]

You won't notice any difference unless you play graphic intensive games like GTA San Andreas. A 2gb device will heat up less.

 

[mathewhayward]

A 2gb device will heat up less.

Heh, wrong. My 1020 gets just as hot as my 920 did.

 

[WanderingTraveler]

Right now, aside from the processing of photos taken with the 1020, there is practically no difference between 1GB and 2GB devices.

Of course, there is one game separating the two, and that's on 720p or above!

 

[WanderingTraveler]

You won't notice any difference unless you play graphic intensive games like GTA San Andreas. A 2gb device will heat up less.

Not necessarily. The 1020 and 920 utilize practically the same chipset. That is, same CPU/GPU combo. This means that apart from optimization, you have near zero difference between the two phones, since they share nearly the same design and screen resolution.

 

[MARKjotep]

I hate it when my phone is using either 3G or 4G it gets hot. and That annoys me. It might damage my phone internal or melt something inside. LOL.


Im solemnly praying that it wont be the same when my phone rocks 8.1 and I play gamesssssss..

 

[Squachy]

Not necessarily. The 1020 and 920 utilize practically the same chipset. That is, same CPU/GPU combo. This means that apart from optimization, you have near zero difference between the two phones, since they share nearly the same design and screen resolution.

More ram is really only going help load times and smooth out any kind of background loading of game data that could possibly drop frames here and there mid gaming. But you're right, with the same chipset, its going to perform damn near identical. And its the weak GPU that makes the phone hot, cuz its working hard to keep the frames at an acceptable level. Newer more powerful chips will also heat up but not nearly as bad as they'd be able to handle anything quite easily (plus power saving optimizations in the chips allow for less heat).

 

[Taigatrommel]

Discussion regarding usefulness of two gigs aside, the core question still hasn't been answered.
Before I recently got my 1020, I've done quite a bit of research and most people indeed stated, the additional gig of RAM is indeed "hardwired" to the camera module. Thus the OS itself can't access it and it also doesn't actually benefit from the additional data. However the camera apps seem to make use of it,but I don't have any actual sources at hand which either verify or deny such a statement.

 

[vlad0]

Here is the whole talk on WP multitasking from build

Multitasking and Triggered Background Tasks for Windows Phone Apps | Build 2014 | Channel 9

Very informative.. recommended for anyone who wants to understand WP a bit better.

What blows my mind is how much ahead Nokia were in the multitasking department before WP. Both Maemo/MeeGo and Symbian were, and still are, much better at multitasking that WP.

 

[a5cent]

There is a lot of misinformation here.

RAM capacity has no discernable affect on how hot your device gets. Zero. This myth is plain wrong.

RAM capacity also has no direct impact on app load times. In theory, having more RAM might actually have the opposite affect, as an app that detects more RAM might decide to load more into memory, effectively increasing app load times. I'm not aware of any WP app that exhibits such behaviour in practice however.

Having more RAM will cause us to encounter the "resuming..." message less frequently. That is the most common performance benefit WP users will experience due to having more RAM. This works not by making the device any faster, but by allowing the device with more RAM to do less (less unloading and reloading of apps into memory).

More generally, any computing device that can get away with doing less, will seem faster than the device that must do more, even if neither is actually doing anything faster or slower! Performance benefits attributable to higher RAM capacity are ALWAYS achieved by doing less! They NEVER come about by actually doing anything faster. This knowledge alone is often enough to debunk a lot of the BS floating around the web.

Anyway, as far as the L1020 is concerned, you can easily test this yourself. How many apps can your 2GB L1020 simultaneously keep open? Answer: It can't retain any more apps in memory than a L920. The Lumia L1020 affectively behaves no differently from any other 720p device with 1GB of RAM. As a result, there is no performance benefit either.

I don't know if that extra GB of RAM is "hardwired" to the camera. If it isn't, WP8.1 might have the ability to change something about the L1020's memory behaviour, but then again, it might not. I don't know. As far as WP8.0 is concerned however, the L1020 is a 1GB device. The extra 1GB has no affect on anything beyond the camera.

 

[Riley2521]

Well thanks for the input! I just can't get past the terrible battery life by 1020 had been getting. I love the 1520 but I'm afraid I'll get it and hate it because...well its enormous.

 

[Taigatrommel]

Well thanks for the input! I just can't get past the terrible battery life by 1020 had been getting. I love the 1520 but I'm afraid I'll get it and hate it because...well its enormous.

It's always sad to read about those battery problems everywhere. I can't say my 1020 has stellar or even good battery performance, but it isn't even nearly as bad as some people claim. In comparison to other late 2012 or early 2013 devices with a similar size the 1020 doesn't seem to do worse. A buddy of mine for example got a BlackBerry Z10 and he also keeps complaining about battery performance, just like almost the rest of the BB community.

If your battery really is that terrible, I'd try to do a complete hardreset and be more careful with what kind of apps I install next time. If the battery performance is still terrible, and with terrible I mean just a few hours of light use, try sending it back. Faulty batteries can ship with any phone model from any company.
The only way you are out of luck is in fact when you are a heavy user, I just noticed my 1020 can be drained within just a couple of hours where it is constantly used for web browsing, mails and chatting. Combine that with a difficult cellular reception in your area and no WiFi available, you'd get a worst case scenario. A scenario where even my battery champion, the BlackBerry Q10, doesn't really shine.

Last but not least, this is what I am doing, you can try to actively counter the battery drain. Get an external battery pack. There are multiple variants out there, ranging from unknown el-cheapo models to slightly more expensive Nokia made items.
This ain't a great "solution" for sure, but at least it is kind of a workaround to get your through busy days when you know you don't have access to a stationary power source....

 

[taymur]

I read something related to ram, saying that WP8, has a limitation for apps not being able to use more than 130mb of ram/ per app. Which lead to getting the resume more frequently, as apps had to be frozen outside of ram. Now this limitation changed, creating something called dynamic ram or something like that, giving 1 gb devices an upper limit of 260mb, and 2gb devices, 520mb which will make apps faster.

Now I didn't grasp the concept correctly, I'm not a programmer and have very little understanding of such things, I just wrote the above to remind you guys about the subject, would like to get the right idea from someone who actually knows what he is saying unlike me.

 

[a5cent]

I read something related to ram, saying that WP8, has a limitation for apps not being able to use more than 130mb of ram/ per app. Which lead to getting the resume more frequently, as apps had to be frozen outside of ram. Now this limitation changed, creating something called dynamic ram or something like that, giving 1 gb devices an upper limit of 260mb, and 2gb devices, 520mb which will make apps faster.

Now I didn't grasp the concept correctly, I'm not a programmer and have very little understanding of such things, I just wrote the above to remind you guys about the subject, would like to get the right idea from someone who actually knows what he is saying unlike me.

You are correct that WP8 apps are limited to specific RAM quotas. This is also true of WP8 apps running under WP8.1. This is what MS has to say on the issue:

App memory limits for Windows Phone 8

The rest is incorrect however. The quotas were MS' way of "determining" how much RAM an app can use, without actually knowing. That is completely unrelated to the necessity to unload apps from RAM (you called this freezing, which is better suited as an analogy for CPU rather than RAM related behaviour). Ultimately, every OS must unload apps from RAM when there simply isn't enough to load the next app. That is independent of whether a quota system is used or not.

WP8.1 no longer uses a quota based system. WP8.1 employs a far more sophisticated memory management system than what WP8.0 had, making it even harder to explain. It definitely would require a lot more text than what I'm willing to write here. If enough people are interested however, we could maybe open a separate thread on the issue.

 

[Daniel Ratcliffe]

You are correct that WP8 apps are limited to a specific RAM quotas. This is also true of WP8 apps running under WP8.1. This is what MS has to say on the issue:

App memory limits for Windows Phone 8

The rest is incorrect however. The quota's were MS' way of "determining" how much RAM an app can use, without actually knowing. That is completely unrelated to the necessity to unload apps from RAM (you called this freezing, which is better suited as an analogy for CPU rather than RAM related behaviour). Ultimately, every OS must unload apps from RAM when there simply isn't enough to load the next app. That is true whether a quota system is used or not.

WP8.1 no longer uses a quota based system. WP8.1 employs a far more sophisticated memory management system than what WP8.0 had, but is even harder to explain. It definitely would require a lot more text than what I'm willing to write here. If enough people are interested however, we could maybe open a separate thread on the issue.

Oh joy. Could certainly do with that opinion thread. As a developer I need to get my head round it.

 

[taymur]

Thanks for the elaboration, I guess there is a 1 hour video on how apps work that Channel 9 released, I think its this one, I hope I'm right because I can't watch it to check it right now.

The New Windows Phone Application Model | Build 2014 | Channel 9

 

[mouseglider]

Im_Q,

When you say "resuming" screen is that the same as a "refreshing" the screen?

 

[Chris_Germany]

I hate it when my phone is using either 3G or 4G it gets hot. and That annoys me. It might damage my phone internal or melt something inside. LOL. .

Nothing melts. Just the battery doenst like heat very much.

 

[a5cent]

Thanks for the elaboration, I guess there is a 1 hour video on how apps work that Channel 9 released, I think its this one, I hope I'm right because I can't watch it to check it right now.
The New Windows Phone Application Model | Build 2014 | Channel 9

I remember watching that video, but I don't remember exactly what he said about WP8.1's memory management facilities. Anyway, so far I haven't seen any presentations or documents that offer a comprehensive discussion of the topic. The presentations at build are predominantly high-level overviews, so while helpful, they don't go deep enough to facilitate a thorough understanding (the good stuff is usually discussed after the presentations). The best we can do right now is pull stuff together from a million different sources.