Memory management on tablets

[IanHHH]

I have a Pipo M6pro but my question is actually generic.
The tablet has 2Gb memory and 32 Gb internal memory( internal sd card) + a 16Gb external micro sd card.
I have installed about 40 apps and some of these apps use a lot (eg 200mb) of the 2 Gb memory and others only use Kilobytes. The total ram left is around 500Mb.
The total "internal" sd memory used is about 7Gb. it seems to me that I am going to run out of ram (2Gb) long before I have anywhere near used the 32 Gb of internal memory.

This seems very strange. Is this how all Android tablets work? How do people with a 1Gb tablet get on?

Is there any way of changing this? Are there any caches which are uneccesarily installed (like "temp" folder on PC)?

I first thought that the 32Gb of the tablet was good but if I cannot even approach it because of the 2Gb ram limit, what value is a 32 Gb device over a 16 Gb device?

Thanks to anyone.

 

[Spider]

Hi IanHHH, congratulations on your new Pipo M6pro and welcome to the forum. Nice of you to become a member of Android Tablets.

RAM (2GB in your case) is where programs execute. After the executable system code, graphics, radios etc. have been loaded when you boot the system, the remaining RAM is mostly available for your running and recently run apps to reside. (Recently run are left there unless the space is needed for other other apps you want to run. They are ready to run instantly if required again, and Android does a very good job of managing that space.) The more RAM you have, the more programs you can have running and able to run quickly. Having way more than your processor can handle though is not necessary, and wasteful.

Internal Memory AKA Internal SD Card (32GB in your case) is where apps are downloaded and installed to. The apps have to be moved from there to RAM in order to run and the time it takes to do that is what's saved if the app is already in RAM. The more you have, the more apps you can install on your system.

External Micro SD Card (16GB in your case) is and always was intended as space to store your media files. Books, pictures, videos, movies music files etc. are what you should be putting here. These cards are available in many sizes and most tablets will accept up to 32GB cards without a problem. (Some will accept even larger ones, see your manual) These are also typically available as Class 2, 4, 6, & 10 where the Class indicates the transfer speed of the MSD in MB/s. If you plan to watch movies and videos stored on your MSD, you should use a MSD that's Class 4 or higher to get smooth playback. (I buy the least expensive Class 4 cards available, but from a reliable store, and have never had a problem.)

Hope that helps, enjoy your tablet and the forum!

 

[IanHHH]

Thank you Spider. Now I understand. I can see that the problems I foresaw would not happen.
I am very happy with this tablet. I also have an ipad2 (16Gb) and I do prefer the flexibility that the Android (in this case the Pipo) gives me.
I have a large library of tech books and journals as well as videos which I read/view and consult and having them on separate SD cards. Reading with EZPdf is great. The books do not get transferred to the device to be read as in the case of the ipad.
However the ipad does have better apps in some areas but I still searching around the Google store for what is there.

Thanks for having me on this forum, which I can see I will be using quite regularly.

The next thing for me to do is root the device because I can see how that will increase flexibility further, however I am a little afraid of doing this with this Pipo as I cannot find much info on rooting the M6 device.

 

[Spider]

The next thing for me to do is root the device

Before rooting, read this: http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/android-tablet-q/53718-thinking-about-rooting-your-tablet.html