1 GB ram is unusable 2 is OK 4 is good 8 is maybe reasonable ? are you sure Android don't have mechanisms that will use this RAM ? So maybe you can keep all apps you have OPEN :)
My phone has 1GB of RAM and it works very well. I've never had a problem with apps that I'm using not staying open when I need them. Though I'm not a power user, I do depend on it to act as a substitute for my laptop so I expect it to edit documents and perform other office-related duties. It also is used to stream movies and play the occasional game. Although I wouldn't mind having more memory available, I haven't noticed any problems. I didn't notice any issues with my last phone either which had 512MB and it was replaced less than a year ago because I switched to a different TELCO.
Unless something has gone horribly wrong or you are video editing 2GB should be fine. I am writing this on a 4GB PC running VMs. My Android tablet has 1.5GB and has no issues. I get the impression that some apps leak vast amounts of memory which gives the illusion that the phone is the problem.
I struggle with three GB, but I'm quite a heavy user, running Ingress and Pokémon GO at the same time, while wanting a browser with 10ish tabs, LINE, Facebook, Instagram, a dictionary, and usually one other quite heavy app all to not be put to sleep.
From a flagship, top end phone these days though, I expect to be able to do that. I don't expect my now four year old flagship to be able to.
it happens???? >> It never happened about RAM... It happened about CPU in the days when 0.1 Ghz was what provoke people to buy new CPUs.. RAM was not a brand thing, which thankfully is now... I have 1GB RAM, too. And have no problem.. It works well, why should you pay for something that you don't need now???????? It is crazy......
If you don't need it then don't buy it. If there is anyone who legitimately needs more than 4GB of RAM in their phone today then it is great for them to have an option with 8GB. There is really no harm in adding more memory to an Android phone other than slightly higher power draw. You seem to be very worked up about the idea of a company building and selling a phone that doesn't fit your idea of what a smartphone should be.
The LPDDR4X in this phone is not the same kind of memory you're going to find in a desktop or laptop. Nobody sells LPDDR4 DIMMs. This little company putting 8GB of RAM in their phone that will sell a few thousand units is not causing the global RAM shortages and price hikes.
Yeah, but every single mobile company stuffing their phones full of as much RAM as they can get their hands on is. Samsung, fortunately, puts only 4GB of RAM in the Galaxy S9 - except they plan to sell 43 million of them this year. That's a single manufacturer using more RAM than possibly the entire PC Graphics market, given the volume those cards are at. Then, throw in LG, who has non-trivial marketshare, and the surely at least 4GB of RAM in the future G7, and the hundreds of millions of iPhones that have 2GB of RAM, and, yeah, mobile phones are causing the global RAM shortage.
Even if the RAM isn't exactly identical, you can still cause a shortage by sucking up the production line for one type of RAM. That's going to prevent the production of GDDR5 or GDDR6 or DDR4 just as readily as if it was those kinds instead.
Yes it did. RAM became cheaper, people started adding more, vendors did the same, then software took advantage. It has always been like this. HW gets better, software gets better. It's not going to cause a shortage of RAM for your desktop/laptop. That's just absurd.
People were crying, bitching and moaning about 95 -->XP --> Vista, etc when they came out and the RAM req.
It's simple if you want more powerful software, you'll buy more powerful HW to run it. If you don't need/want a phone with 8GB, don't buy it. If you do, buy it. Don't cry about it. It doesn't affect you in any way.
No one in the comments here denies the usefulness of additional RAM in the coming future. I think the point is that the memory isn't really necessary right now. Since phones have such a short operational lifespan and are sealed, disposable devices, being future-proof isn't as valuable as it might be with something like a desktop PC.
I don't think it the extra memory has serious implications with respect to the RAM shortage though as each phone since less capacity doesn't exactly translate into fewer ICs on a phone's PCB or fewer wafers in a factory. I think the substantial impact is to drive up handset costs for the person making the purchase. Based on some responses, more RAM, necessary or not, is going to drive sales and make a phone more competitive among other phones. If one competitor offers "better" specs, then all of them must follow suit or they won't remain competitors in the flagship market for very long.
That's always been the case though. I had my 386SX w math coproc(OHYEAH!!) crammed with RAM. I did the same with my last build in 2015, crammed it with RAM. It may not be needed now but it will help future proof your purchase. Did I need to max it out? nope. Did it become useful later? yes. TBF I can upgrade my DTs and some LTs at anytime. My UBs and phones, nope People like having more in their HW especially when its something you cant upgrade.
Ultimately though, so what if its not needed yet. It may very well be needed in the not too distant future. Again no cried about this when GPU's w 8GB came out. Not too long ago 4GB was just fine, even on "4k" titles and it wasn't needed. That changed relatively quickly.
Why is AT posting all these rubbish phones which won't care to comply with GPL, barely make it US. Would have been much better if we got a Sony's Xperia XZ2 hands-on which also sports an SD845 with some improvements and regressions alike.
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nobodyblog - Monday, March 12, 2018 - link
stupidity has no limit. Phones are equipped with 8 GB RAM without real use, and it increases costs of RAMs for PCs/Laptops that consequently starve...Thanks!
deil - Monday, March 12, 2018 - link
1 GB ram is unusable2 is OK
4 is good
8 is maybe reasonable ? are you sure Android don't have mechanisms that will use this RAM ? So maybe you can keep all apps you have OPEN :)
PeachNCream - Monday, March 12, 2018 - link
My phone has 1GB of RAM and it works very well. I've never had a problem with apps that I'm using not staying open when I need them. Though I'm not a power user, I do depend on it to act as a substitute for my laptop so I expect it to edit documents and perform other office-related duties. It also is used to stream movies and play the occasional game. Although I wouldn't mind having more memory available, I haven't noticed any problems. I didn't notice any issues with my last phone either which had 512MB and it was replaced less than a year ago because I switched to a different TELCO.ahtoh - Monday, March 12, 2018 - link
640k should be enough for anybodyPeachNCream - Monday, March 12, 2018 - link
https://www.computerworld.com/article/2534312/oper...Beaver M. - Tuesday, March 13, 2018 - link
What Android version? Even with 4.0 I had huge problems with just 1 GB, and I wasnt a poweruser either. So no idea what youre talking about.BedfordTim - Monday, March 12, 2018 - link
Unless something has gone horribly wrong or you are video editing 2GB should be fine. I am writing this on a 4GB PC running VMs. My Android tablet has 1.5GB and has no issues.I get the impression that some apps leak vast amounts of memory which gives the illusion that the phone is the problem.
Tams80 - Saturday, March 17, 2018 - link
I struggle with three GB, but I'm quite a heavy user, running Ingress and Pokémon GO at the same time, while wanting a browser with 10ish tabs, LINE, Facebook, Instagram, a dictionary, and usually one other quite heavy app all to not be put to sleep.From a flagship, top end phone these days though, I expect to be able to do that. I don't expect my now four year old flagship to be able to.
ZolaIII - Monday, March 12, 2018 - link
Sure it has, after all its Linux.HStewart - Monday, March 12, 2018 - link
I think the problem is simple, today kids expect that Phone be mobile versions of game computers and desired more ram for such gaming.Also today everything is about more and more, more cores, more ram, more storage, faster CPU
Manch - Monday, March 12, 2018 - link
Oh dear god, I've heard this argument before.You don't need more than 64K....1MB....256MB.....2GB!!!!
64K....1MB....256MB.....2GB is more than enough!!!!!
WTF?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!! This POS OS/APPLICATION NEEDS 64K....1MB....256MB.....2GB........8GB of RAM?!?!?!?! This is absurd!!!!
Progress happens. More processing power, more memory are added, applications eventually take advantage.
I bet it would be a different tune if we were talking about GPU's & Crysis or whatever
It's a tired complaint.
nobodyblog - Monday, March 12, 2018 - link
it happens???? >> It never happened about RAM... It happened about CPU in the days when 0.1 Ghz was what provoke people to buy new CPUs.. RAM was not a brand thing, which thankfully is now... I have 1GB RAM, too. And have no problem.. It works well, why should you pay for something that you don't need now???????? It is crazy......Thanks!
WithoutWeakness - Monday, March 12, 2018 - link
If you don't need it then don't buy it. If there is anyone who legitimately needs more than 4GB of RAM in their phone today then it is great for them to have an option with 8GB. There is really no harm in adding more memory to an Android phone other than slightly higher power draw. You seem to be very worked up about the idea of a company building and selling a phone that doesn't fit your idea of what a smartphone should be.The LPDDR4X in this phone is not the same kind of memory you're going to find in a desktop or laptop. Nobody sells LPDDR4 DIMMs. This little company putting 8GB of RAM in their phone that will sell a few thousand units is not causing the global RAM shortages and price hikes.
Drumsticks - Monday, March 12, 2018 - link
Yeah, but every single mobile company stuffing their phones full of as much RAM as they can get their hands on is. Samsung, fortunately, puts only 4GB of RAM in the Galaxy S9 - except they plan to sell 43 million of them this year. That's a single manufacturer using more RAM than possibly the entire PC Graphics market, given the volume those cards are at. Then, throw in LG, who has non-trivial marketshare, and the surely at least 4GB of RAM in the future G7, and the hundreds of millions of iPhones that have 2GB of RAM, and, yeah, mobile phones are causing the global RAM shortage.Even if the RAM isn't exactly identical, you can still cause a shortage by sucking up the production line for one type of RAM. That's going to prevent the production of GDDR5 or GDDR6 or DDR4 just as readily as if it was those kinds instead.
Tams80 - Saturday, March 17, 2018 - link
You're just going to have to suck up the higher RAM prices. Tough.Manch - Tuesday, March 13, 2018 - link
Yes it did. RAM became cheaper, people started adding more, vendors did the same, then software took advantage. It has always been like this. HW gets better, software gets better. It's not going to cause a shortage of RAM for your desktop/laptop. That's just absurd.People were crying, bitching and moaning about 95 -->XP --> Vista, etc when they came out and the RAM req.
It's simple if you want more powerful software, you'll buy more powerful HW to run it. If you don't need/want a phone with 8GB, don't buy it. If you do, buy it. Don't cry about it. It doesn't affect you in any way.
PeachNCream - Monday, March 12, 2018 - link
No one in the comments here denies the usefulness of additional RAM in the coming future. I think the point is that the memory isn't really necessary right now. Since phones have such a short operational lifespan and are sealed, disposable devices, being future-proof isn't as valuable as it might be with something like a desktop PC.I don't think it the extra memory has serious implications with respect to the RAM shortage though as each phone since less capacity doesn't exactly translate into fewer ICs on a phone's PCB or fewer wafers in a factory. I think the substantial impact is to drive up handset costs for the person making the purchase. Based on some responses, more RAM, necessary or not, is going to drive sales and make a phone more competitive among other phones. If one competitor offers "better" specs, then all of them must follow suit or they won't remain competitors in the flagship market for very long.
Manch - Tuesday, March 13, 2018 - link
That's always been the case though. I had my 386SX w math coproc(OHYEAH!!) crammed with RAM. I did the same with my last build in 2015, crammed it with RAM. It may not be needed now but it will help future proof your purchase. Did I need to max it out? nope. Did it become useful later? yes. TBF I can upgrade my DTs and some LTs at anytime. My UBs and phones, nope People like having more in their HW especially when its something you cant upgrade.Ultimately though, so what if its not needed yet. It may very well be needed in the not too distant future. Again no cried about this when GPU's w 8GB came out. Not too long ago 4GB was just fine, even on "4k" titles and it wasn't needed. That changed relatively quickly.
Adipoli - Monday, March 12, 2018 - link
How about adding micro HDMI out port to phones. If possible a USB port to the phones.Quantumz0d - Monday, March 12, 2018 - link
Why is AT posting all these rubbish phones which won't care to comply with GPL, barely make it US. Would have been much better if we got a Sony's Xperia XZ2 hands-on which also sports an SD845 with some improvements and regressions alike.Tams80 - Saturday, March 17, 2018 - link
Because Anandtech cater to a global audience? Sure, many visitors are from the US, but not all of them.Klug4Pres - Tuesday, March 13, 2018 - link
No removable batteries in these phones from AGM. Sigh.ajp_anton - Tuesday, March 13, 2018 - link
I wonder what you're going to do with 64/128 GB of ROM...4everalone - Monday, March 19, 2018 - link
To state the obvious: PORN!