Windows Phone 10 - Memory utilization on higher end phones?

[WPWeasel]

So I'm running Win 10 Mobile on my Lumia 640 and its limitations are become ever more apparent. In particular, memory utilization is somewhat of a sticking point on the 640, given that it only has 1GB of RAM. I find myself having to reboot the phone on a frequent basis as apps continuously crash after a while and background apps now terminate quicker than I'd like. With WP8, I'd be able to hop in my car a few hours after my last drive and XBox Music would happily resume the last track I was playing over Bluetooth. Fast forward to W10 Mobile and my background music apps are terminated much quicker, necessitating a manual restart of the app. It's officially become a PITA.

So, getting to the point of this thread, how is the experience with higher end WP models that are packing 3+GB of RAM? Do apps stay resident in memory longer? Or is the memory just used to make running apps perform better? I'm on the fence regarding whether to pick up a Lumia 950 or other higher end phone or just go with an Android phone at this stage. A better running version of WP10 might be enough to keep me on the platform, as I genuinely like the features and interface.

Thoughts and opinions are welcome!

 

[Palm_forlackofchoice]

I would like to know this as well. I have a Lumia 650 on fast ring that works well for me with 1gig ram. But I don't use alot of high memory apps and usually close apps like this one due the poor quality and unpredictable restart.

 

[anon(50597)]

I have an Alcatel Idol 4s. No memory issues.

Sent from my Alcatel Idol 4S

 

[WPWeasel]

I have an Alcatel Idol 4s. No memory issues.

Sent from my Alcatel Idol 4S

But do you find that apps stay open longer? As in you can freely switch between apps over the course of several hours without the app having to "re-launch" so to speak? That's really what I'm trying to understand.

 

[xandros9]

I fear your running aground of Windows 10 Mobile's bugginess rather than memory constraints. I would recommend not spending more money on the platform. On, say, a 950 it will work better, but the question is how much better. There are quirks that no amount of specs will fix while it seems like memory IS your biggest issue. I would hard reset the 640 first to try to clear out other issues just in case before doing anything.

 

[WPWeasel]

Thanks for the response. Bugginess with the platform may be the source of my instability woes, so I'll look into the hard reset. I'd still like some more info on the memory utilization behavior of W10 Mobile on higher end phones however. Not so much getting into how much memory each app is using, but if this extra memory determines how long the app will remain memory resident as opposed to being "tombstoned". If that behavior really doesn't change on higher end phones, I'll likely be moving on.

 

[greedo_greedy]

I have a Lumia 1520 (2gb) and Lumia 735 (1gb)

And I can tell you that the 2gb on the Lumia 1520 feels tremendously better in terms of app stability, especially for Facebook and Messenger.

I do not have any tool to measure it's efficiency but just the feel of it, I can tell it handles memory allocation much better.

 

[Axeelant]

In 8.1 all the apps stayed opened (well to a certain number ofc.), and would quickly resume when needed on my L930 with 2GB RAM. Now in Win 10, the same phone still keeps the apps opened, except Instagram, which always closes when you minimise it. So not sure if that is a bug or something, but I have also noticed the resuming time is much longer in W10M. I think it has something to do with the way apps run in the background, something was changed here, or it's just the OS that needs some optimization...

 

[SL2]

My 950 has 3 GB RAM, I've never even noticed any apps getting closed in the background, I've had some running in the background for about a week.

 

[ananve]

There are many factors at play here. For poor memory use app like Facebook, my Lumia 640 couldn't handle it too well. Also, 8 GB is never enough for my need so some app had to be put in the SD card. So, these apps had stability problems too.
Well, all my problems were solved with my new Lumia 950xl though.

 

[M7H]

With WP8, I'd be able to hop in my car a few hours after my last drive and XBox Music would happily resume the last track I was playing over Bluetooth. Fast forward to W10 Mobile and my background music apps are terminated much quicker, necessitating a manual restart of the app. It's officially become a PITA.

This morning I also was listening to music with Groove on my 950XL.
I just killed all the apps in the background, even rebooted the phone, just to be sure, started Groove, and you know what?
It resumed the song perfectly....

So, I don't think your problem is memory related.

The remark of Xandros9, about not spending more money on W10 I really don't understand......

 

[white_Shadoww]

This morning I also was listening to music with Groove on my 950XL.
I just killed all the apps in the background, even rebooted the phone, just to be sure, started Groove, and you know what?
It resumed the song perfectly....

So, I don't think your problem is memory related.

The remark of Xandros9, about not spending more money on W10 I really don't understand......

That does mean, Groove stores the song position in the app's local data folder, and when it is closed completely and reopened, it can retrieve the song and it's position. Fairly simple thing and is not a measure of RAM management.

 

[anon(50597)]

But do you find that apps stay open longer? As in you can freely switch between apps over the course of several hours without the app having to "re-launch" so to speak? That's really what I'm trying to understand.

I've not had an app need to relaunch. I generally have mtalk open, twitter, email, etc. and no problems. The Idol is super smooth.

Sent from my Alcatel Idol 4S

 

[WPWeasel]

This morning I also was listening to music with Groove on my 950XL.
I just killed all the apps in the background, even rebooted the phone, just to be sure, started Groove, and you know what?
It resumed the song perfectly....

So, I don't think your problem is memory related.

To be clear, the issue wasn't about Groove, Spotify, etc, remembering where the app left off. The issue is that the app is closing, requiring it to be restarted manually. Again, in the past I could just hop into my car, Bluetooth would reconnect and the current track would resuming playing. Now, I find myself having to manually restart the app, wait 30-45 seconds or so for it to load and figure out where it left off and then start playing.

Doesn't sound like a huge deal, but it means the difference between having to fumble around with my phone vs just taking off. It's a convenience thing.

 

[WPWeasel]

There are many factors at play here. For poor memory use app like Facebook, my Lumia 640 couldn't handle it too well. Also, 8 GB is never enough for my need so some app had to be put in the SD card. So, these apps had stability problems too.
Well, all my problems were solved with my new Lumia 950xl though.

Yeah, I noticed the new Facebook app (which now has a 2GB RAM requirement per the app store), would crash 50% of the time upon launch on my Lumia 640. Turns out it didn't like being on the SD card, so I moved it back to the phone and it's pretty stable now. Horribly slow to load however, which gets back to the whole memory discussion...

 

[WPWeasel]

My 950 has 3 GB RAM, I've never even noticed any apps getting closed in the background, I've had some running in the background for about a week.

Good to know - that was what I was trying to figure out.

 

[Sedp23]

My apps stay open longer. The only app I notice that closes on my idol 4s sometimes in the background is instagram

 

[Axeelant]

My apps stay open longer. The only app I notice that closes on my idol 4s sometimes in the background is instagram

Same. Possibly a bug...

 

[Palm_forlackofchoice]

I had a Lumia 635 with 512 ram on Sprint before switching to cricket three months ago. I was running 10 mobile (currently is up to date on production) and was always closing apps to keep memory free. This windows central app was a hard one to get open and would crash often. I decided to try not closing apps. Just use the phone and it actually got smoother running. News and windows central would often shut down anyway when switching to another, but the phone worked better.

I have three Lumia 650's now on cricket with one running fast ring, my main phone and daughters on production. I don't find any issues with either rings. I am not a social media user though. I also don't find my 650 any faster or slower resuming an app or opening fresh. 650 is a slower phone but has been very stable.

 

[greedo_greedy]

In addition to what you stated, I made a thread about a year ago about leaving certain apps especially built in apps running in the background for smoother performance.

http://forums.windowscentral.com/windows-10-mobile-insider-preview/384392-refrain-closing-apps-better-performance.html