When buying a smartphone, the emphasis is mostly on its camera, screen size, audio quality, storage, etc., but RAM is one thing we tend to overlook. RAM is a memory that lets you work on multiple apps without slowing down your phone. It is responsible for the computing power of our smartphones. Hence, it is good to know about RAM when you look for a new phone. Let’s check out the world of RAM in detail.
What is RAM?
RAM means Random Access Memory. It is your smartphone’s temporary memory, which is erased when we shut down our phones. We use this memory to save data of active applications running in the background. For example, say you’re playing a game on your smartphone. You get an urgent call. You stop the game and attend this call. When the call is over, you can play the game from right where you left it.
How does RAM differ from Storage?
Many confuse RAM with storage. The storage stores your photos, movies, and applications for an indefinite period. Meanwhile, RAM is a volatile memory, which is wiped off when you turn off your phone. The phone’s processor uses RAM to store and quickly retrieve data. It would take a long time if the CPU had to load data from storage. That’s why RAM is important, as it reads and writes data faster than internal storage.
How does RAM work in our phones?
RAM starts working the moment we open our phone. When we open an app, your phone pulls up the OS and a part of that app from storage and stores it on RAM. This ensures faster access to your app’s data. This data remains on the RAM even when we switch to another. So, we can return to the first app right where we left off.
Without RAM, we cannot switch from one app to another. For example, we do some calculations on a calculator app and switch to a different app. In the absence of the RAM, all our progress on the calculator would be lost as the app closed itself completely.
How to find RAM on your phone?
RAM is always mentioned in your smartphone’s product description. But it is always better to know how to check the size of RAM on your phone.
On Android:
1. Tap the settings icon
2. Click on about Phone or about device
3. Tap on RAM to view the RAM size
Apple iPhone doesn’t disclose its RAM. You can view it using various third-party apps though.
Can we increase RAM on a smartphone?
As our phones get older, their performance slows down. The unnecessary software and bloatware cause a drop in the computing speed as well. Also, we keep multiple applications running in the background on our smartphones. To switch quickly between these apps, we need plenty of RAM.
In this case, some folks who aren’t happy with their phone’s RAM size try to increase the RAM using a micro-SD card. You must root your phone for this. Rooting your phone gives you control over the whole system. You get to expand your RAM. This increased RAM helps you run several applications in the background. Your phone’s performance won’t magically improve though. For increasing RAM in this manner, you need a bit of technical expertise and knowledge.
High-end smartphones nowadays have a feature to expand their RAM virtually. They use internal storage to increase your RAM by many Gigabytes. This RAM helps you run more background applications and other less intensive tasks. But we should remember that loading data from an SSD memory chip will still take time. Thus, your computing power remains the same. So, while playing advanced games, other applications will run on storage RAM, and the game can run on high-speed RAM.
To avoid the above hassle, it’s better to go for a smartphone with RAM suitable for you.
How to save RAM on our phones?
Your smartphone knows how to utilise RAM. It clears apps on its own when RAM is exhausted. You can help save RAM by uninstalling applications that are of no use. Avoid using live wallpaper. They consume your RAM greedily and result in battery drainage. You can also disable Animation to save up more RAM.
How much RAM do we need in our phones?
4 GB of RAM is the minimum requirement in smartphones these days. You can play mid-range games with it. For more intensive multitasking and gaming, you can go for 6 GB of RAM. Many professionals who do their work on phones go for more RAM. They can buy a high-end device for working as it’ll certainly come with good enough RAM.
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Sambit Satpathy
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