The Atrix has 1GB of RAM, so I'd expect a good portion of that to be free at all times. But that's not the case. With normal usage I usually only have about 180 MB free. Even after killing everything with Advanced Task Killer, I only have about 230 MB free. This doesn't seem much better than most other Android phones. What's eating up my RAM? I am running a live wallpaper, but I'd still expect 1GB to go a very long way.
MdX MaxX said:
The Atrix has 1GB of RAM, so I'd expect a good portion of that to be free at all times. But that's not the case. With normal usage I usually only have about 180 MB free. Even after killing everything with Advanced Task Killer, I only have about 230 MB free. This doesn't seem much better than most other Android phones. What's eating up my RAM? I am running a live wallpaper, but I'd still expect 1GB to go a very long way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Many threads explained this already.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/search.php?searchid=75092117
Also, ditch ATK.
Search is your best friend. I should know this by now. Thanks.
And why ditch ATK? I feel like my phone runs cooler with it. Plus, GingerBlur doesn't have the Task Manager that comes stock with the Atrix. Or is a Task Manager really not necessary?
WiredPirate said:
Also, ditch ATK.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
Atrix already handles task killing as needed very well. With task killer, they will just start up again anyway. Let the Atrix handle this function.
Auto mem killer... people who quote the age old "android handles memory fine" argument are simply rehashing an age old argument without an explanation.
#1 "kill all" is silly.. (it kills functions that start back up regardless thus chewing up battery)
#2 you can tweak the android memory management system with root and automemkiller
#3 it is good to have a task killer for rogue apps.
Sent from my Googletron
ChongoDroid said:
Auto mem killer... people who quote the age old "android handles memory fine" argument are simply rehashing an age old argument without an explanation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
-1
I was quoting the Atrix as handling memory, not Android as a whole in your age old argument!
The ATRIX does handle tasks fine on its own, no need to kill them. OP, I should have said ditch ATK for Watchdog.
lol your RAM is in your phone dude! xD
kidding
you must be using to many apps, try a task manager, i use advanced task manager(paid version), and got always 500mb+ of free memory, it just goes to 200mb free when im playing some game(mc2, gangstar or riptide gp) with the music player opened plus firefox 4
look well which apps are eating your memory, and put in auto end list from the original task manager =)
but 230 free still a lot of memory in a phone =p
Most current devices have 20-30mb free at any given time, be happy for your 200+
this is normal behaviour for alot of linux based os'es - linux tends to steal alot of the free ram for file caches etc and releases it s requested by apps.
Usually ATK results in 400-500MB free on my Atrix so that 230MB does sound strange.
Also, I don't notice any difference in performance or battery life between using ATK and letting the OS handle everything. Under the four occasions that I've seen a process eat up CPU (pegging it at 1GHz and making the phone warm), ATK was powerless to stop it... So ATK is pretty useless IMO.
Related
In the SGS task manager the RAM (after everything has been cleared states 291MB/833MB why is this please?
Thanks
jameslfc5 said:
In the SGS task manager the RAM (after everything has been cleared states 291MB/833MB why is this please?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Answer is simple, total ram is 1024 Mb but the gpu required 129 mb. So the rest remains for programs. 291 is used by android system.
thats 542 mb free. my galaxy s when cleared shows 154/304 so only 150 free. Well over 3 times the amount is very impressive.
I hope that dosent mean theres just 290 free ram, but it might be the case. my DHD has 768mb ram and im usually around 200mb free all the time, sometimes even like 115mb when i use a few apps. android has some serious ram eating issues.
sharkonland said:
I hope that dosent mean theres just 290 free ram, but it might be the case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems to indicate theamount of *used* RAM.
On my GII...
Samsung's Task Manager: 233MB/833MB
TasKiller: 596 M Available memory
The operating system is supposed to fill up the RAM as much as possible, Android is trying to utilize the resources at their best. "Free" RAM doesn't mean a thing, it is better used as a cache. Parts of that cache will be dropped as soon as an application needs more RAM. Windows uses RAM in a similar fashion.
You shouldn't run any "RAM freeing"-programs as they are counterproductive - typical snake-oil software.
PartyMango said:
You shouldn't run any "RAM freeing"-programs as they are counterproductive - typical snake-oil software.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm all for putting my RAM to good use, the reason why I use a TaskKiller is to exit apps which after a day of use continue to run even though I'm not using them / apps I forgot to exit.
PartyMango said:
The operating system is supposed to fill up the RAM as much as possible, Android is trying to utilize the resources at their best. "Free" RAM doesn't mean a thing, it is better used as a cache. Parts of that cache will be dropped as soon as an application needs more RAM. Windows uses RAM in a similar fashion.
You shouldn't run any "RAM freeing"-programs as they are counterproductive - typical snake-oil software.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course, but it just amazes me how much ram is needed by android. I say this because, on every android phone ive had to date, once the ram goes below 150mb, things start to really get choppy, i dont know why. I assumed by that point, every app i would use is already in the ram so it should actually make things faster, but normal things like opening apps and scrolling through menus start getting very choppy, even in apps things are choppy which lets mek now ram is low. Thats when i realize i need to do a quick reboot.
In that sense, i really have a lot of respect for apple, they do some crazy ram optimizations. I know they dont have things like widgets or whatever, but everything runs like butter, also you have to admit the iphone4 has a very high res screen and the apps are much more visually taxing but they are damn fast. But with 1gb of ram, I doubt we will be running into these issues.. I wonder if the SGS3 will have 2gb ram..hehe
sharkonland said:
Of course, but it just amazes me how much ram is needed by android. I say this because, on every android phone ive had to date, once the ram goes below 150mb, things start to really get choppy, i dont know why. I assumed by that point, every app i would use is already in the ram so it should actually make things faster, but normal things like opening apps and scrolling through menus start getting very choppy, even in apps things are choppy which lets mek now ram is low. Thats when i realize i need to do a quick reboot.
In that sense, i really have a lot of respect for apple, they do some crazy ram optimizations. I know they dont have things like widgets or whatever, but everything runs like butter, also you have to admit the iphone4 has a very high res screen and the apps are much more visually taxing but they are damn fast. But with 1gb of ram, I doubt we will be running into these issues.. I wonder if the SGS3 will have 2gb ram..hehe
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The ram issues on Android are because of how it's designed.
iOS each app has it's slice of RAM that is managed completely by the app itself. When the app exits, the OS doesn't check anything, it just flushes the whole piece of RAM, which is very quick. When 'multitasking' and the phone runs low on RAM, it can quickly flush the ram on any 'background' app without having to do any checks.. very fast operation.
Android has a far more complicated structure, with the Android system managing the RAM within each app. Each app is broken into separate blocks (activity, service, etc) and while the whole app can be flushed (with a force close), Android doesn't do this. When Android is low on RAM, it follows a set order on what to close first, such as unused activities. This takes quite a lot of calculating and slows stuff down.
All those complications are 'fixed' with the SGS2 though. Dual core means the calculations don't bother your running task. High ram means the calculations don't happen often. Works very nicely.
i use tittainium backup and freeze unwanted apps, i get around 650-700mb free
The SGS2 has 1024MB of RAM. 833MB is available to the Android system and the rest is used by the radio.
I would like to ask some users...
Somebody reported that they have 910MB of TOTAL Ram.. Some have 830+
How can i know this?
BlackRainX said:
I would like to ask some users...
Somebody reported that they have 910MB of TOTAL Ram.. Some have 830+
How can i know this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Task Manager
Hold down the Home Button
Task Manager
RAM
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Yep but i want to buy it from e-shop where i cant see the amount of ram..
hello all,
sorry if this has been asked before (it prolly has been, i didnt find it though):
the atrix got 1gb ram right? after a reboot there is only around 570mb free ram...
after a few days without rebooting iam stuck around 440-480mb ram...
1st: where is my 1gb?
2nd: why do i even loose more ram?
sorry iam really new to android.
thanks for the help.
There is a reserve amount for android and motoblur then whatever apps u got running in background
Sent from my greyblur 1.57 atrix
grncivic2001 said:
There is a reserve amount for android and motoblur then whatever apps u got running in background
Sent from my greyblur 1.57 atrix
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yea i know android needs some itself but is it 50% ??? i mean the LG optimus only got 512mb... in my case id have 0 left... something strange here?
i got the launcherPro running. should be motoblur disabled now?.
thanks for the fast answer !
Yes it has 1gb 200mb is reserved for the webtop and 800mb is for android
you might want to read up on how linux and android USE ram also. free ram is wasted ram
is it bloatware
So its normal i only have roughly 600 mb left. Ok thx a lot.
Can you help me with another problem.?
I read somewhere that you don't need a task killer. I have always used one to get back to like 500mb. Now you tell me unused ram is wasted ram. I installed autokiller after some advice and opened some games and stuff. Later i was at 154 unused ram. After 2 hours standby i was at 237mb unused ram. Would i ever get back to 400+ ? And is it really better or at least soesnt matter for battery life?
Thx for help
Smintz said:
So its normal i only have roughly 600 mb left. Ok thx a lot.
Can you help me with another problem.?
I read somewhere that you don't need a task killer. I have always used one to get back to like 500mb. Now you tell me unused ram is wasted ram. I installed autokiller after some advice and opened some games and stuff. Later i was at 154 unused ram. After 2 hours standby i was at 237mb unused ram. Would i ever get back to 400+ ? And is it really better or at least soesnt matter for battery life?
Thx for help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found that to be true (not needing a task killer) but only under Gingerbread (I've noticed that since I upgraded my Nexus One to Gingerbread), but on FroYo that's not really the case, or so I've noitced.
However I found that the task killer included on the Atrix works really well (much better than any other on the Market). It's just a matter of selecting the apps that you don't want to auto close and that's it. The battery last a bit longer and the device does not heat up at all.
Cheers!
RayanMX
Heres how I see it.
On your computer, you're always scrambling for more ram right? Because you are running multiple applications at once. You have a music player, a game, chat, windows itself, antivirus etc.
On your phone, it depends more on your processor speed. You arent multitasking like crazy (and if you are your phone would start to heat up really rapidly) Android allocates ram accordingly to what you are running in the foreground and apps that arent open but were opened recently. That way, if you reopen a recently closed app, it is still in memory and will open quicker. If you don't access the closed app after a while, it will clear itself from memory. You definitely don't need a task killer for android, only more processing speed.
I only have 325 of ram
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Pirateghost said:
you might want to read up on how linux and android USE ram also. free ram is wasted ram
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bingo. So many people freak out that they don't have enough RAM... it's getting annoying seeing as how the Android OS has been out for a long enough time to understand this now.
Even of you cant find it it doesnt matter. Your phone will tell you.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
I have like 600 when running chongoblur it quickly goes down to 400 something but still this thing is a devastator of worlds
Sent from my Googletron
I find that every time I check I am using 470+ ram even after I clear it in task. wtf?
stop clearing task then. its not needed as soon as you do this the required parts will just start back up. you havnt needed to use anything like advanced task killer since android 2.0 we are now on 2.3 time to stop making ur phone use more battery life.
So your telling me that next to stock I should be using up 3/4ths of my ram with no windows or programs opened. Sounds strange to me
yup.. Its how android works.. its not like say the way windows mobile used to be.. having to kill off programs left an right. android keeps those apps in the ram for a reason.
I comprehend the keep running in background, my point is some, I haven't had to bad, people complain of lag or lack of smoothness. Well if I am using all my ram for things running in background am I not restricting the amount I can now pull up. Like I said I am close to stock, couple apps installed, and stock is loading 4-500 megs out of my 750. Hmmm just saying ya know. If you sell me on gig of ram and cut it down to 750 and load it up with 500 in all honesty you are giving me 250. might as well call it an iPhone....hides head and runs.
ghettopops said:
I comprehend the keep running in background, my point is some, I haven't had to bad, people complain of lag or lack of smoothness. Well if I am using all my ram for things running in background am I not restricting the amount I can now pull up. Like I said I am close to stock, couple apps installed, and stock is loading 4-500 megs out of my 750. Hmmm just saying ya know. If you sell me on gig of ram and cut it down to 750 and load it up with 500 in all honesty you are giving me 250. might as well call it an iPhone....hides head and runs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
U are WAY off. The phone is allocated a certain amount of ram for its internal workings. Leaving you the 700+ ram for apps and other things. Ur phone works better if u let it manage Ur ram for u. It will naturally kill off apps as u need more ram for other processes that are being called on. Free ram is wasted ram using the ram will actually make Ur phone smoother. And if Ur not using the super charger script i would take a look at it. It helps as well. Or get Rom tool box and do it manually.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
I've had my suspicions about this since I first got the Droid X2. I think it may be possible for much of the lag many (most/all?) people experience at some time or another.
As a test, I can check free RAM in Advanced Task Killer when I first boot up the phone, and it will hover somewhere 150 megs with all user processes killed.
Then, when I check after 24 hours of constant use (with intermittent charging periods) I will struggle to get 100 megs with all user processes killed.
Finally, if I reboot the phone, I will be able to obtain a decent amount of freed-up RAM again.
Anyone experiencing anything similar?
Now, I must mention, I'm operating under the assumption that the X2 does not cache apps or files in the RAM. I suspect there is too little RAM at such a minimal speed to be able to clear RAM fast enough in the event that something non-cached is called on. I mean, even Microsoft was slow to use this cache method, as they first introduced it in Windows 7. A good example of this in Windows 7 is if you check the Task Manager, you will see that roughly only a quarter of your RAM is ever actually labeled as "free", even if you currently have no programs open or are using minimal amounts of RAM.
And it certainly doesn't feel as if the cache is working as intended if Motorola did infact implement it on our phones.
I have contimplated over this for quite some time and have also came to the same conclusion. But the real question is: What can we do about it?
Most likely nothing.
Not sure of this is actually the case but when V6 is ran for instance it does talk about cached apps and gives an "actual" free ram reading. I would guess that zepplinrox would not have worded it that way if it was not the case but I have no real evidence either way.
Sent from my DROID X2 using xda premium
This did happen to me when I ran Advanced Task Killer on cm7. I'd start with a very good 190 free ram (insane I know) and after a few hours I'd struggle to brake 110
Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2
This is the nature of Android and Linux in general. When you start an app (or a process), it will remain in memory until it is cleared by the OS. The problem with task killers and Android 2.3.x and above is this: Android 2.3.x and above RESPAWN the killed task since the OS did not kill it. Plus, there is no way to FORCE to OS to kill an app that is in the background. What Android does is renice the process until it is a positive number, greater than 1, then it kills the process. Android 2.3.x was designed to "auto manage" those tasks. If you run htop from an ADB session and launch apps and use the back button to back out of them, you will notice that the amount of free memory diminishes. Then, after sitting for a time, the amount of free memory slowly begins to increase. When an app that requires a bunch of memory is launched, the Android will kill those background apps to free up more memory. In theory, it is a great way to manage the memory. In this respect, apps that have been launched in that past will start up faster. Personally, I like having control over things. You could possibly write a script that will renice a process to something like +20 and then Android will kill it automatically, but that would be a very risky prospect as it might kill RUNNING foreground apps as well.
Hope this little explanation helps!
Ciao!
DX2 Version History lesion / Android Process Cache
theredvendetta said:
I've had my suspicions about this since I first got the Droid X2. I think it may be possible for much of the lag many (most/all?) people experience at some time or another.
As a test, I can check free RAM in Advanced Task Killer when I first boot up the phone, and it will hover somewhere 150 megs with all user processes killed.
Then, when I check after 24 hours of constant use (with intermittent charging periods) I will struggle to get 100 megs with all user processes killed.
Finally, if I reboot the phone, I will be able to obtain a decent amount of freed-up RAM again.
Anyone experiencing anything similar?
Now, I must mention, I'm operating under the assumption that the X2 does not cache apps or files in the RAM. I suspect there is too little RAM at such a minimal speed to be able to clear RAM fast enough in the event that something non-cached is called on. I mean, even Microsoft was slow to use this cache method, as they first introduced it in Windows 7. A good example of this in Windows 7 is if you check the Task Manager, you will see that roughly only a quarter of your RAM is ever actually labeled as "free", even if you currently have no programs open or are using minimal amounts of RAM.
And it certainly doesn't feel as if the cache is working as intended if Motorola did infact implement it on our phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your question is a bit complex. See back when Droid X2 first was released it had 2.2.3 for most users, and didn't have very good application memory management. This was the start of many applications such as "Advanced Task Killer" that you mentioned. These apps were supposed to help in closing apps that were running all the time.
Things changed a bit with the Gingerbread (2.3.3) release. This initial release made the Droid X2 useable. In my opinion the DX2 prior to Gingerbread was nearly a brick! I had many reboot issues, FC, connection issues, GPS issues, etc. With 2.3.3 many issues were eliminated, while others were reduced enough that they didn't bother me TO bad.
2.3.4 came out to fix battery issues largely...
Now I realize you weren't asking for a history lesion, but it is useful to know these things to know where things were and where things are today. I am currently running 2.3.5/412 and have been for months. I can say from experience, Android DOES cache background processes. I thought it did back in 2.3.4, but i can't remember... I don't think it did back in 2.2.x or at least the OS didnt' inform the users via GUI.
Your question about performance though? Yeah the DX2 is crap! I love the physical layout, but it has MANY issues with performance... some have been reduced by doing build.prop edits, yet I have realized that many who post these edits have posted wrong.... for example, they are increasing the buffer sizes thinking this will help internet speeds. This is super complex, but Google "Buffer Bloat" and you'll see how larger buffers often mean greater throughput, but MUCH greater latency....
simply put... big buffer == faster download of individual files.... smaller buffer == slightly slower download but MUCH more responsive
I'm not sure if that answered your question or not... let me know how I did or if I just rambled perhaps =P
I don't seem to understand that why do the sIII has too less free ram, it doesn't have HTC sense either, but so what's the problem
Comparison on normal basis:
Free Ram on:
-HTC explorer = 240
-SIII = 340
-Optimus one = 330
Q1
Can someone tell me what app or the list of useless apps that are ram hungry?
Q2
Why do all devices have less ram example, Optimus one has 512 mb ram and available 421 with cm9
S3 has 1Gb and available around 760
Why, and if it is system reserved then why do we see system apps in taskillers
Press the "Thanks" button below if I've helped.
Free RAM is wasted RAM in Android.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
S3 has 1Gb and available around 760
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
'free' shows 778MB after conversion from KB to MB (1MB = 1024KB)
That 1GB includes hardware-reserved locations suche as for the GPU which, unlike mid- to high-end desktop computers has no real dedicated memory. Additionally there are the camera app (especially video encoding is notoriously high on RAM due to the codec specifications), the modem, ...
I'm also not sure if that 1GB is, as hardware manufacturers often tend to do, 1'000'000'000 Byte (1 GB according to hardware manufacturer'sIEC definition) or 1073741824 Byte (as defined by SI and adopted by software manufacturers)
That would reduce the capacity by a further 7.37% on RAW storage.
why do we see system apps in taskillers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You shouldn't be using Task Killers. I still remember them being a de-facto requirement in Eclair, but since Froyo they are obsolete and cause more harm than they can do good.
(At least in theory, memory management only recently with ICS got reliable and performant enough to completely get rid of them)
ijeff said:
Free RAM is wasted RAM in Android.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have very less free ram your phone will start lagging and your phone will become a waste phone. Is that alright for you?
Press the "Thanks" button below if I've helped.
d4fseeker said:
'free' shows 778MB after conversion from KB to MB (1MB = 1024KB)
That 1GB includes hardware-reserved locations suche as for the GPU which, unlike mid- to high-end desktop computers has no real dedicated memory. Additionally there are the camera app (especially video encoding is notoriously high on RAM due to the codec specifications), the modem, ...
I'm also not sure if that 1GB is, as hardware manufacturers often tend to do, 1'000'000'000 Byte (1 GB according to hardware manufacturer'sIEC definition) or 1073741824 Byte (as defined by SI and adopted by software manufacturers)
That would reduce the capacity by a further 7.37% on RAW storage.
You shouldn't be using Task Killers. I still remember them being a de-facto requirement in Eclair, but since Froyo they are obsolete and cause more harm than they can do good.
(At least in theory, memory management only recently with ICS got reliable and performant enough to completely get rid of them)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By the way what thing takes up so much ram
HTC phones has memory hungry sense so it's understood but what's the problem here?
Press the "Thanks" button below if I've helped.
rishabho1 said:
By the way what thing takes up so much ram
HTC phones has memory hungry sense so it's understood but what's the problem here?
Press the "Thanks" button below if I've helped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Touchwiz is by far more memory hungry than sense.
joshnichols189 said:
Touchwiz is by far more memory hungry than sense.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see
But touchwiz has nothing special, and no flipping clock no cool widgets and no sense like cool launcher
Press the "Thanks" button below if I've helped.
haha there is far more to Sense and Touchwiz than just a few widgets dude!
By the way what thing takes up so much ra
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get houmiak Task Manager from Market and look for yourself. Many useful features are completely unnecessary for most of us, so you can freeze them to gain memory. (Don't uninstall since you can defrost frozen apps instantly if you ever needed it)
Those included for me the Exchange service, Allshare, ... . There's a whole list of apps which are safe to remove.
(Note that 'safe to remove' does not mean you won't need it: that depends on what you actually use)
But touchwiz has nothing special, and no flipping clock no cool widgets and no sense like cool launcher
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both Touchwiz and Sense are horrors in terms of coding standards and resource consumption. If all you care about in Touchwiz is the launcher and widgets then by all means get rid of Touchwiz (I recommend CM9) and install a customizable Launcher such as Go Launcher, Apex, ...
If you have very less free ram your phone will start lagging and your phone will become a waste phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Free" memory is a very interesting defition. What do you call 'free' memory?
If an app is closed, should Android immediatly remove it from Cache? You'll probably say yes to increase free memory.
However there are multiple reasons why it's not done
- free memory is wasted memory. If the phone doesn't use it, what's the point of having it?
- it doesn't cost anything in terms of CPU-cycles to "remove" cached apps from RAM whenever the space is needed [*]
- Should you multitask back in the app, it's immediatly available. Depending on the app, even with everything exactly as you left it
[*] Well it does, but not more than immediatly removing it when the app is closed.
If you work a lot within the same app, chances are that your free memory is far below 1MB since it keeps everything in Cache if it should ever be needed. By exiting or killing an app that value increases since some data is always freed. But that does not mean the phone will magically get faster. If you still don't believe me; what if I told you that there is NO major operating system (Mac OsX, Windows NT, iOS, Linux, BSD, ...) that does not cache. You just don't see the raw values Linux shows on most of them, but faked values where the cache is substracted.
If you want details, I recommend reading about Paging ("Swap") and In-Memory Caching on Wikipedia. They have some excellent articles.
Here's a shortened easy versioN: http://www.linuxatemyram.com/
rishabho1 said:
If you have very less free ram your phone will start lagging and your phone will become a waste phone. Is that alright for you?
Press the "Thanks" button below if I've helped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My phone never lags. Sometimes there is a brief delay when a screen redraws upon app change. I hardly think the phone becomes a "waste" at this point. If you want to see what lag really feels like go get a second hand HTC desire.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
It is sad that the available ram is less than on the S2 to be honest.
I'm running with 80-200mb free all the time, even been down to around 50mb when using the phone, the S2 I was never under 150mb.
But then again, the S3 is faster than the S2
extreme unstable ram usage
hawkn said:
It is sad that the available ram is less than on the S2 to be honest.
I'm running with 80-200mb free all the time, even been down to around 50mb when using the phone, the S2 I was never under 150mb.
But then again, the S3 is faster than the S2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wow, you lucky s3 fellow, i have been experiencing ram issues, when I say that, know that I have considered the fact that more RAM used the better - more apps in memory, improves app switching/launching speed(all that philosophical BS which people give with pride, when someone posts a query on RAM. My RAM exceeds 700 MB and goes up to 796 MB with less than 50 MB at times; and this is with 10-15 trusted lightweight apps installed, This was prevalent since the stock firmware ICS and even is present after the JB update. More RAM used is good only when it doesn't affect performance, and doesn't force apps to struggling to stay in memory, causing them to frequently restart.
though i found a partial fix, which gave a lil speed boost -> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1787263&highlight=ram+problem
This helped me a lil(Disabling ripple effect in lockscreen), though to totally resolve the issue, i might have to go for a custom rom/kernel or hope for sammy boys to release an update soon -> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1926380&page=3