Sony SPG541, SPG551, SGP521 manual Memory in Android devices, Types of memory

White paper Xperia™ Z2 Tablet

Memory in Android™ devices

To use Android devices efficiently, users should be aware of the different types of device memory. This knowledge is important in order to understand, for example, where music, photos and videos are saved; how many apps can be downloaded from Google Play™; and how photos can be copied to a PC.

The below information is also of interest to developers who want to optimise their programs to make the best possible use of the resources in the device.

Generally, all Android devices share the same basic memory setup. What differs is how much memory is available to you via the different types of memory, and whether your device uses an external SD card or an internal memory chip. Any information specific to the particular device model described in this White Paper is noted as such.

Types of memory

The types of memory described and numbered below are consistent with the terminology used in Sony mobile device menus and in other content relating to 2014 Xperia™ devices:

1.Dynamic Memory (also known as RAM) is used by applications that run when the device is turned on. The amount of Dynamic Memory influences how many applications and operating system services can run at the same time. The Android operating system automatically closes applications and services that are not being used.

However, such automatic functionality has limits. For example, if a lower amount of free RAM is available to applications after a new release of the operating system (due to increased capabilities in the system), device speed will eventually be impacted. This is the main reason that a device cannot be indefinitely upgraded to newer releases of Android™.

If you experience problems with RAM, for example, if the device runs slower than usual or if the Home application restarts frequently when you leave an application, you should minimise the use of apps that run all the time. Such apps could include, for example, applications that frequently download social networking service updates. You could also consider using a static wallpaper instead of a live wallpaper.

To see which apps and services are currently active, go to Settings > Apps > Running. You should have at least 50 MB, and ideally 100 MB or more, of free RAM to avoid slowdowns and application restarts.

You should also be aware that if you update the device to a later Android release, the load on the built- in Dynamic Memory will increase due to the addition of more features, as mentioned above. As a result, the device may run slower after an update.

The Xperia™ Z2 Tablet has about 3 GB of RAM available to the Android OS and applications, of which about 200 MB is already used out of the box.

2.System Memory (also known as “System partition” or “/system”) is used for the Android OS and for most applications that are pre-loaded from the factory. This type of memory is normally locked, and can only be changed through a firmware upgrade. There is usually some free space available in this section of memory. However, since it is locked, you cannot save apps, photos or any other content to this memory. System Memory is reserved for future firmware upgrades, which almost always need more memory than the original firmware. You cannot see or influence the use of this memory.

3.Internal Storage is memory used as” working” memory. It can be compared to the C: drive on a PC or to the startup disk on a Mac.

19 February 2014