Low RAM issue

[shakenmartini]

The RAM is actually on the same chip as the CPU so there's definitely no way of upgrading it. This is also, probably the reason that the iPad is limited to 256 Mbs. I'd bet that they simply couldn't fit more memory on the chip die.

RAM on ARM SOCs is not going to go up to a Gig or over for a long time because it is all on die. Also these SOCs tend to be power efficient and running a Gig or more of memory requires battery power.

For now the system works just fine, so adding ram isn't really going to do a whole lot, especially if it causes a 20-30% increase in cost and a loss of battery life.

 

[frankjl]

Had 5 tabs open with iPod running not a problem over here.

 

[webfocus]

There are websites that has many flash images on it thus, making the page load longer.

 

[rhett7660]

I would also wonder if there is a script in the page that has it reload if new information has been added.

 

[colmaclean]

Does iPhone OS currently have virtual memory? No. The entire OS currently only has 256Mb to share.

If iPhone OS 4 actually does include multitasking, it's definitely going to need more "memory" - i.e. the ability to swap apps and data in and out of CPU-accessible RAM and secondary storage (flash memory).

This should sort the problem with Safari tabs refreshing due to lack of memory, but will also lead to some slowdown in responsiveness. It should still be faster than reloading the whole page over the web, though!

One issue may be the effect on the lifespan of flash memory if it's getting updated repeatedly...

 

[tdream]

RAM on ARM SOCs is not going to go up to a Gig or over for a long time because it is all on die. Also these SOCs tend to be power efficient and running a Gig or more of memory requires battery power.

For now the system works just fine, so adding ram isn't really going to do a whole lot, especially if it causes a 20-30% increase in cost and a loss of battery life.

We're talking a cost increase of $5.95 for higher density memory chips to bring it up to 512MB. Power consumption increase? You're talking miliwatts extra. You might lose 20 mins max of your 10+ hours.

 

[shakenmartini]

We're talking a cost increase of $5.95 for higher density memory chips to bring it up to 512MB. Power consumption increase? You're talking miliwatts extra. You might lose 20 mins max of your 10+ hours.

Not on ARM SOCs. RAM and power management are extremely costly when on die.

The issue with ram is that the ARM SOCs such as the A4 aggressively shut down parts of the chip that are not use, but RAM cannot be selectively shut down as far as I know (or you lose the data in the RAM).

This isn't a PC where power and heat are a non issue. Adding these things is very costly both monetarily, in power consumption and in chip design.

Plus as far as I can tell the iPad is VERY fast, so what diff is some extra RAM going to make if it works exceedingly well now?

 

[pacmania1982]

Powerful engine and low payload capability? They're called sports cars.

As an Audi fan, it's amusing they call the chip "A4".


What kind of bandwidth or usage constraints are you facing? All you'd need to do is close a tab or two and it would resolve the reloading. Surely you don't need all 4 tabs open at the same time. If you need that much web, your bandwidth issues are a bigger problem than the lack of RAM I would think.

I thought it was funny that they called the chip "A4" because thats the standard size of paper in Europe I thought it might have been something to do with its form factor

pac

 

[budselectjr]

Software issue if anything. Nothing a firmware update couldn't help improve.

 

[BruiserBear]

Software issue if anything. Nothing a firmware update couldn't help improve.

How could a software update create more memory?

 

[dlewis23]

According to pad info I only have a total of 128mb of ram so either the developer sucks at math or apple is fooling us.

And comparing this mobile safari to the desktop versions memory footprint is just stupid-- desktop safari has a LOT more features that require more memory. Mobile safari is designed for low memory usage.

That beings said-- I'm also having problems with tabs reloading too much.

I'd like to see a screen shot of that.

 

[DHart]

As mentioned earlier, for me, the benefit of tabs is defeated if most of the time each page has to reload when you go back and forth. Dang it! Hopefully Apple will come up with some way to improve this going forward.

 

[foxnews1]

This is definitely not an isolated issue with my ipad. I went to Bestbuy today and played with a 64GB ipad. I opened 4 pages, and the reloading issue happened.

As I said earlier, what is the point of having multiple tabs if a page is reloaded when swapping? Imagine that you have multiple tabs in IE or Firefox. then when you click on one tab, it reloads. click another tab, it reloads. imagine how annoying it is.

 

[Skandocious]

I'd like to see a screen shot of that.

Of the iPad info app? Here:

Edit: screen cap removed. Just relized it had my UDID on it.

 

[foxnews1]

Of the iPad info app? Here:

more detail info please. how many pages did you open? what are they. any music in the background?

 

[Skandocious]

This is definitely not an isolated issue with my ipad. I went to Bestbuy today and played with a 64GB ipad. I opened 4 pages, and the reloading issue happened.

As I said earlier, what is the point of having multiple tabs if a page is reloaded when swapping? Imagine that you have multiple tabs in IE or Firefox. then when you click on one tab, it reloads. click another tab, it reloads. imagine how annoying it is.

Yeah and i for see it being a problem on the 3G iPad. I was using my moms AT&T 3G wireless card (via a wireless router), which has a 5gb monthly cap, and i was afraid of how much extra data I was using just to reload pages that I had already loaded. It's pointless.

Also sucks if you've populated a text field and change to something else then come back to an empty field.

 

[krnboy503]

I'm using it right now on my ipad while im typing this reply and I have 7 pages opened. No performance issues at all. I love this thing.

 

[foxnews1]

I'm using it right now on my ipad while im typing this reply and I have 7 pages opened. No performance issues at all. I love this thing.

try this and report back:

open 4 pages: engadget, gizmodo, yahoo, and cnn
then swap between them. click on a link in one of the pages, then swap again.

or hit home button and open safari back. then swap pages.

 

[DHart]

Yeah and i for see it being a problem on the 3G iPad. I was using my moms AT&T 3G wireless card (via a wireless router), which has a 5gb monthly cap, and i was afraid of how much extra data I was using just to reload pages that I had already loaded. It's pointless.

Also sucks if you've populated a text field and change to something else then come back to an empty field.

Excellent points to consider.

 

[foxnews1]

Yeah and i for see it being a problem on the 3G iPad. I was using my moms AT&T 3G wireless card (via a wireless router), which has a 5gb monthly cap, and i was afraid of how much extra data I was using just to reload pages that I had already loaded. It's pointless.

Also sucks if you've populated a text field and change to something else then come back to an empty field.

as I mentioned before. reloading pages is not only annoying and defeats the purpose of tabs/pages, it also eats up usage data, especially for those who use their 3G plan with 5GB cap.

 

[aaquib]

I'm noticing this, too. Even with two light sites open, I still get safari having to reload. This is really annoying!

 

[Skandocious]

Ive noticed that after a fresh reboot it will swap between pages without reloading UNTIL I go and open another application such as a game. Then come back to safari and the problem has returned. It's almost as if inactive memory is not being reallocated after programs are done using it.

I think this needs to be submitted to apple as a bug...

 

[Don Kosak]

I'm trying to make this happen on my iPad, and even with 5 sites open, I'm not seeing any reloading going on. Returning to an "open" site brings up the page instantly, exactly how I left it. (including any text entered in fields, etc.)

Are you viewing news sites with auto-reloading javascript, or no-cache tags or something?

Or maybe you played "We Rule" and have leaked all your ram away earlier in the day.

 

[aaquib]

Ive noticed that after a fresh reboot it will swap between pages without reloading UNTIL I go and open another application such as a game. Then come back to safari and the problem has returned. It's almost as if inactive memory is not being reallocated after programs are done using it.

I think this needs to be submitted to apple as a bug...

I just reboot the iPad so I'll test out some sites and follow up. I really hope that the reboot solved the issue.

 

[Slip Jigs]

WOW! Thank you everyone, my mind is now numb. LOL.

Kudos to the community for making the issues known, but I take away a few points for some not implementing something even close to the scientific method in drawing conclusions or theories.

I can certainly understand the mind-set however - welcome to the world of Windows! Over the years the main solution to compensate for bloated and inefficient code, larger programs that need more resources, etc etc was to throw more hardware at it causing the vicious circle.

This is certainly justified to a degree, but it's not always the best solution. I'm glad to see this hasn't gone unnoticed in the messages here. There are so many variable involved, narrowing them down and creating benchmarks can be a painstaking process - after all, we do want to compare apples to apples as much as possible.

It's only the 1st gen iPad with many software updates to come, and eventually 2nd gen which may or may not include more RAM - after all, it took the iPhone to the 3GS before this - at which time I believe tweaks and enhancements reached their limits to provide the performance required to run the OS as well as more sophisticated apps.

Where does Force Quit fit into this - can you do it on the iPad?