Sometimes as a general consumer of a smartphone, we tend to think ” Does it really matter if I am using 2 GB of RAM or 4 GB of RAM?” This question will definitely cross your mind. The mentality of saying an iPhone with 1GB of RAM could outperform an Android smartphone with 1GB of RAM is totally wrong as both uses different OS and each of them rely on huge usage of RAM. A good example will be, even an iPhone will “Force Close” an app without notifying despite high usage of RAM. This happens quite frequently and most of us don’t consider that as ” LAG”. Actually this is how it works on the iOS, it does not show noticeable lag on the transitions and plays huge role on closing apps and having limitations on how many apps could run on the background until it closes your app without you knowing at times.
Well, I am not here to talk about iOS. Let’s get back to Android and compare the real differences of using a smartphone which comes with 2GB of RAM and another with 4GB of RAM. Before I start comparing, I would like to tell that this is not highlighting on which brand is a better brand. I am showcasing the smartphones that I have at the moment with 2GB of RAM and the one 4GB of RAM.
Based on my observation using smartphones with 2GB of RAM, the most obvious and frequent problem that I get will be the noticeable lag. This happens as frequent as the moment you have few apps running on the background. You will realize the smartphone gets slow drastically and you will get so frustrated and end up restarting the smartphone after multiple times clearing the running apps which most of the time will not make any difference.
Let me list down some of the scenarios that I faced in real life:-
- While using WhatsApp and Facebook with some apps running on the background, suddenly when I switch back to WhatsApp and the screen ended up not responsive which will lead me to force close later on.
- Taking photos could be delayed with lack of RAM. You might wonder how can my camera be fast sometimes and slow at times. It is as simple as having insufficient amount of RAM.
- You will have the fear of Multitasking the moment you face the problems above. You will end up using the “clear background apps” feature frequently.
- Chrome in particular is the most used mobile web browser at the moment. It takes huge amount of RAM and it is one of the reason most of the time your RAM will be fully utilized.
Imagine you bought a smartphone with at least 2GB of RAM having the mind set there will be no lag and I could finally use this phone without worrying about anything. This is entirely wrong and knowing the fact that smartphone comes with 4GB of RAM are getting cheaper these days, opt for that and see the magic. There’s no such thing as 2GB of RAM will be sufficient for those who only use smartphone for calls, web browsing and social media apps. As I mentioned, the web browser itself would take huge amount of RAM. Lastly, the method of keep on clearing the running apps would not help for a long term and even as a temporary solution. You will definitely keep noticing lags here and there.
So, lets talk about smartphone that comes with 4GB of RAM. The typical mentality will be “I think 4GB of RAM is only for gamers.” Again, there’s more than just playing games smoothly with the 4GB of RAM. Even having fun playing games, there will be plenty of RAM unused for you to utilize and multitask like a boss. As I have been using the ASUS Zenfone 2 (4GB RAM variant) for quite some time, frankly there’s not even once I noticed any lags nor force close issues. With this smartphone that comes with 4GB of RAM, I had a great time using multiple apps at one time with most of them running on the background.
I don’t play games on mobile device frequently. I am judging this clearly as a heavy user on social network apps which includes email as well as watching videos and listening to songs. Since I love taking quick shots, I do expect my smartphone to have a quick and snappy camera. I did not face any issues with the ASUS Zenfone 2 that I am currently attached to as the simple and main reason to this will be its 4GB of RAM.
Just think for a second, imagine there’s a precious moment and you would like to quickly take a photo with your smartphone. Would you expect your camera app to crash unexpectedly or get the job done quickly? How about not having the fear your smartphone is about to let you down the very moment you are expecting a WhatsApp call from your client and the app crashes. The price gap for smartphone that comes with 2GB of RAM and 4GB of RAM is getting closer to each other, so think wisely before getting a smartphone as RAM plays one of the most vital role in having a great smartphone experience.