First, let’s understand what the RAM does inside your smartphone. RAM (Random Access Memory) stores data which can be accessed directly thus giving users’ instant access to their info. For example, if you open WhatsApp and then open Instagram from the home screen, while the WhatsApp app wouldn’t be currently active, it would be present alive in the background ready to continue the activity without requiring the user to restart the app.
Considering the processor is required to analyse the data, a faster processor would mean faster app opening, faster load times for pages, unhindered game play etc. The RAM, on the other hand, would allow the phone to handle multiple tasks at once by caching the data and readily offering it to the processor without requiring it restart the app every time it is opened.
Is plenty of RAM the solution to lags?
Given this basic understanding it would seem that more the amount of RAM, better it is for your phone and you. But that may not be the case in reality. For starters, having plenty of RAM and very low processing power for the smartphone will still not offer any advantage, simply because despite the large freely available memory, the processor would churn out the output at a slower rate, thereby wasting the available RAM. At the same time, using low RAM with a fast processor, the speed of processing will be drastically reduced, which is when you start noticing the lags on your phone.
Factors effecting RAM
Having said that, a major requirement of the RAM is based on the phone’s Operating System and the level at which it has been optimized. Google has specified the minimum RAM requirement for a 64-bit (the most common in the market currently) phone to be 823 MB. Note that this is exclusively for the operating system and any additional process would consume additional RAM. This just shows how insufficient even a 1 GB RAM would be.
With the increase in the design and features of the mobile operating systems like Android and iOS, the RAM consumption has increased remarkably. Phones running the Android 5.0 Lollipop version and above are recommended to have a minimum of 2 GB of RAM.
More importantly, apps like Facebook drain out not just the battery but even the RAM. An average Facebook app instance could easily use over 300 MB of your RAM depending on your usage. Despite that, OS optimisation plays a very important role in memory management. This is the only reason why Apple’s iPhones do not hang or suffer any lags despite the comparatively low RAM included.
You also need to consider the fact that ample RAM would increase power efficiency of the processor, thereby improving the battery life. Quite a few power management apps, automatically kill the apps in order to free some RAM. Another common mistake is people going for phones with higher RAM for a better gaming experience. Instead of looking out for more RAM, you should instead be in search of a better GPU in the phone.
So, how much RAM do you really need?
Coming to the question of how much RAM you should be looking for, on an average anything upwards of 2 GB is sufficient for the common user who likes to do a medium-level of multitasking. Look out for something in the range of 3-4 GB, if your budget permits. Anything higher than 4 GB in the current setting would go completely unutilised considering the processing power requirements. Furthermore, while having extra RAM always seems good, it is pointless when it is just lying unused.
So the next time you see a phone promising 6 GB of RAM and higher, pause and think whether you really are capable of exploiting your smartphone to such an extent where it is forced to consume so much of RAM. This might also save you quite a few thousand bucks yet give you the perfect smartphone experience.
Jonathan Pereira is a technology enthusiast with a keen eye for mobile and mobile technology. He’s a foodie by heart, and loves both the edible chips and the non-edible silicon chips. Find him on twitter @GoanIdle
