Free memory: The Achilles heel of BlackBerry App World
Hip hip huzzah! BlackBerry App World has been with us for over three weeks and no doubt a lot of the World’s 25 million BlackBerry users have jumped on the wagon and taken it for a spin or two around the block. But after playing with it for a while, we’re quite sure that there are plenty of people whose puppy-love infatuation quickly turned to irritation. Why? Errors, bugs and high costs aside, it’s likely that App World users discovered the reality that BlackBerrys have a bit of an issue when it comes to dedicated application memory. This, coupled with the infamous memory leaks that sadly seem to be oh so prevalent on every BlackBerry model since the Pearl 8100, make for a device that isn’t anywhere near capable of handing as many apps as competing smartphones. Put simply, the more contacts, phone logs, saved messages and of course installed applications a user has on his or her BlackBerry, the less free memory the device has to dedicate to new apps.
It really doesn’t take much of effort at all to eat away at the 128MB of app memory on both the Bold or the Storm. In fact, we took a peek at one of the Bold’s at BGR HQ that was running OS 4.6.0.247 and found that it had a paltry 4MB of application memory left. After a battery pull it jumped up to 20MB but then quickly started its descent. The saddest thing is that this Bold only had a Twitter app (more on this some other day), Google Maps, Viigo and a few IM clients installed.
So what can be done about this? Well, for starters, RIM could not only bring its devices into the modern age by giving them 512+ MB of application memory, but it could also do something that we’ve been clamoring for for the longest time and allow users to install applications to their memory cards. And no, we don’t buy it for a second when RIM says it can’t do this securely (surely they can encrypt a microSD card). Other than that, RIM could put some serious work into its aging OS because for the life of us we cannot think of any other platform that has so many updates to fix major bugs and niggles (it seems like for each new device there is a new update, be it a leaked private beta or an official update from a partner carrier, each and every week like clockwork).
Truth be told, we think RIM can be pretty ass-backwards at times, especially considering that it spends a meagre 7-8% on R&D while its competitors spend the 11% industry standard, but it does make a damn fine product nonetheless, one that we couldn’t live without. All in all, it’s just such a shame to think that it can’t do apps right.
LOL@having 104 apps loaded on your iPhone, but can only use 1 at a time. HAW! Blackberry>WM>iPhone>
Right you are, AntonWahlman. MBettiol is a bit slow and a bit pompous while at it.
What’s the timeline to authoring a comprehensive comparative analysis of Memory-allocation/management of differing operating systems? Singling any OS out, especially with the uniquely barbed tone of this ’story’ is, indeed, a bit shallow.
@Revolver: The ‘issue’ of multitasking is purely a non-existent red herring which is used to distract a reader from the deficiencies of the OS preferred by the assclown making the false-claim.
Instead of a battery pull
You can
Hold down
Left alt
Right upper case
And del at the same time to reboot
I loved my Pearl (8100 first then 8120) but I had to switch to the Curve 8900 – mostly for the memory issue. Now with 200+MB of memory I haven’t looked back.
I fimd that its no problem on my bold as long as I close apps I’m not using. I have pandora, google mobile,
Blooberg, amazon, etrade mobile pro, weather and slacker and haven’t had any issues
it’s probably that buggy twitter app sucking up all the space in that bold…
@ 1jaxstate1
FYI, the iPhone DOES have multitasking but it’s just LIMITED to certain apps.
I’d rather have all those 104 apps and be able to use the ones I want at any given times instead of worrying about leaked memory and other stuff.
^ agree also…
This bullshit misnomer about “multi-tasking” is repugnent at this point. Name the last time any one of you actually gave command instructions to 2 unrelated programs at the very same moment on a mobile, -any- mobile.
Ready … Set … Go! (MBettiol, you can go first.)
Let’s see, I am listening to Pandora while posting this response on my BB Curve. Try that with an iPhone.
^Try *giving operational instructions* (via direct input) to 2 programs at the same moment. -That- is multi-tasking.
^^ Beatoff-Jackass
Multitasking….
Backbeat, you are an idiot!
mul·ti·task·ing [muhl-tee-tas-king, -tah-sking, muhl-tahy-] –noun Computers. the concurrent or interleaved execution of two or more jobs by a single CPU.
The BlackBerry multi-tasks. The iPhone does not multi-task.
From where I stand, this is not about one platform VS another. **Where practical use is concerned**, “multi-tasking” is a non-issue across the board.
Those married to a platform will try to use this as a wedge issue against their ‘enemy’, but it simply doesn’t float.
I guess if you don’t want to run several applications at once it is a non-issue.
The iPhone is a cool device. I don’t use it because the battery life was terrible and I didn’t care for it as a corporate e-mail/calendaring device. It was cool to listen to music, watch videos and play some games but in the end the most important use for me was mail and calendaring.
You should choose a device based upon how you will use it.
Although, I cannot see how anyone could use a Winmo device. They are just too under powered.
“Running several applications at once” is the misnomer. Until available memory is depleted, all platforms, to varying degrees, can carry out that simple task.
What you *cannot* do on any platform is multi-task, which is the carry-over term from the desktop world where, in fact, one can truly multi-task [input multiple commands at the same moment and have them carried out according to the processor’s ability.
mul·ti·task·ing [muhl-tee-tas-king, -tah-sking, muhl-tahy-] –noun Computers. the concurrent or interleaved execution of two or more jobs by a single CPU.
I think I will take the dictionary’s definition of multi-tasking over your’s backbeat!
Beatoff doesn’t give up…the restraining orders are a testament to that…he lives in his own little world where he is the head troll..of trolley town…he’s likely to fight the current proven topic…he thinks being the opposition to anything makes him look more intelligent……again looks…
^Do you understand what ‘concurrent’ means?
con·cur·rent: operating or occurring at the same time.
I’ve aluded to no other definition.
My most recent response on this subject maintains its integrity.
The definition in cludes the execution of two or more jobs by a single CPU not inputing of multiple commands at the same moment.
And to your displeasure, that definition applies to every major platform, in varying degrees.
Just in case you haven’t caught on yet, this is not an excuse for the iPhone due to the fact that ultimately I don’t give a shit enough about any single platform to die on its hill. You can continue deluding yourself into believing a skewed perspetive if you so choose, call me whatever names thrill you, but that does not give your perspective any more credence than the Easter Bunny.
Ok… First of, I agree with DVT, and backseat is an uninformed user who has no need to discuss this topic further. What DVT has stated is a TRUE definition, available in ANY comp sci text. What backseat is mislabeling and mis-defining is “multi-user” computing.
“Multi-user is a term that defines an operating system or application software that allows concurrent access by multiple users of a computer.”
aw crap… I meant DJV… oops.
*begin flame war*
Most people here seem to be posting about the Bold or Curve, I have the Storm and it is just as terrible if not worse than RIM’s other phones, with twice the glitches. RIM needs to realize its old OS was NOT build for a touch screen phone and they shouldn’t force it on one, it’s just foolish!
They gave me a 8GB micro card with the phone but all I can put on it are pictures and mp3s and my app memory (with only about 6 apps) after a battery pull is 29mb and goes to 0 within a day. Doing a battery pull every day sometimes 2-3 times a day when I actually use the apps is obnoxious. A phone shouldn’t need an app that simulates a battery pull that is just a sign of a faulty phone. I really wish I never got my Storm
No, Jake, you ignorant slut …
You obviously haven’t the simple ability to comprehend that a single user can run multiple apps, simultaneously, on a desktop. To varying degrees mobile smartphone OSs are capable of the same process, limited by available memory and processing power.
No second user required.