WM6 vs WM5 Memory Management

[rebecker]

I'm about to buy my first WM phone. I have had several WM PDAs, my current one being the HP 4705 running WM5. Can anyone tell me if the memory management in WM6 has been improved over WM5? I find my PDA grinding to a near halt almost every day and am forced to do a soft reset. I also notice my memory meter slowly dropping throughout the day (memory leaks), even if I don't get one of those irritating slowdowns. I'm guessing in a typical day I do a soft reset 3-4 times. Has this issue been fixed/improved with WM6?

Thanks.

-Bob-

[calouro]

I think it depends on what ROM you burn into your phone. Some have more memory leaks then others.

[igalan]

Memory management under WM5 and 6 seems the same to me. I see little differences, if any, on my Wizard running WM 5 or WM6 (memory wise), except that I'm running a build of WM6 (Business Edition) that leaves about 29 MB free with the MiniSD in place (vs only 24 MB on official ROM). This makes a big difference for me, as during normal use memory will go down, but there's more free, so usually I only need to reset once a week (sometimes twice).

That being said, the HX4700 wasn't designed for WM 5 and it doesn't run under WM 5 as well as new devices designed with permanent storage in mind. The compaction process that slowed down the HX4700 shows no performance impact on native WM 5 devices (not at least on my Wizard or F-S Loox N560). So no slowdowns.

But if you're a power user, my recomendation is to look for a device with 128 MB RAM, to avoid soft-resetting your PocketPC when too much memory is in use and cannot be recovered simply terminating running programs.

[jocool]

posted in wrong place sorry

[rebecker]

Memory management under WM5 and 6 seems the same to me. I see little differences, if any, on my Wizard running WM 5 or WM6 (memory wise), except that I'm running a build of WM6 (Business Edition) that leaves about 29 MB free with the MiniSD in place (vs only 24 MB on official ROM). This makes a big difference for me, as during normal use memory will go down, but there's more free, so usually I only need to reset once a week (sometimes twice).

That being said, the HX4700 wasn't designed for WM 5 and it doesn't run under WM 5 as well as new devices designed with permanent storage in mind. The compaction process that slowed down the HX4700 shows no performance impact on native WM 5 devices (not at least on my Wizard or F-S Loox N560). So no slowdowns.

But if you're a power user, my recomendation is to look for a device with 128 MB RAM, to avoid soft-resetting your PocketPC when too much memory is in use and cannot be recovered simply terminating running programs.

Thanks for your reply. It was very helpful.

I used a T-Mobile MDA for 3 weeks, testing it for my kind of usage. It had WM5 and TWO major flaws that made me decide that I'd wait for WM6:

1. With 64MB RAM it could not run several programs at the same time. Before any additional apps were installed to a memory card it only had 28MB of available space. After installation of my software (all to a memory card), I was down to just over 18MB, as compared to 29MB on my 4705. It required many more soft resets than my 4705!

2. It's Wi-Fi antenna was very weak. It would drop the signal at just 20 feet of clear path to the box (half the distance of the 4705).

Your suggestion about 128MB of RAM confirms my experience with the MDA.

Thanks again.

-Bob-

[Matt Graham]

Sadly, though, the selection of current devices with 128MB of RAM has become very small and if they do have 128MB of RAM they usually have other features that may deter you. Of course, the 128MB RAM upgrade by PPCTechs for the hx4700 looks nice (although expensive).

[trixter]

2. It's Wi-Fi antenna was very weak. It would drop the signal at just 20 feet of clear path to the box (half the distance of the 4705).



What I found with my MDA was that it wasnt the antenna as much as it was the radio rom. When I upgraded I noticed a huge performance gain especially in distance.

It does have a weaker antenna than some things though, and there are people that have made external add ons, although they dont talk about tuning it, so those addons may give a bad SWR, but meh.

The moral of this post is dont always blame hardware when its a software problem :)

[rebecker]

Sadly, though, the selection of current devices with 128MB of RAM has become very small and if they do have 128MB of RAM they usually have other features that may deter you. Of course, the 128MB RAM upgrade by PPCTechs for the hx4700 looks nice (although expensive).

Actually, I'm in the process of evaluating cell phone replacements for my hx4700. I've narrowed the field to three right now, I-Mate Ultimate 5150, Softbank X01T, and Toshiba Portege G900. I like the Toshiba the best, but am concerned (as with the X01T) about the 480x800 screen size not being compatible with much of my software.

The criteria I'm using is GSM, WM6, WiFi, at least 128MB RAM, and at least 480x640 screen. Since my hx4700 is still working great, I'm not in a rush to buy the new phone, so I can wait for their release.

Thanks for your response.

-Bob-

[badbert]

Actually, I'm in the process of evaluating cell phone replacements for my hx4700. I've narrowed the field to three right now, I-Mate Ultimate 5150, Softbank X01T, and Toshiba Portege G900. I like the Toshiba the best, but am concerned (as with the X01T) about the 480x800 screen size not being compatible with much of my software.

The criteria I'm using is GSM, WM6, WiFi, at least 128MB RAM, and at least 480x640 screen. Since my hx4700 is still working great, I'm not in a rush to buy the new phone, so I can wait for their release.

Thanks for your response.

-Bob-


Buy a wizard, splash-flash my bootscreens (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=308504), and you will want to restart it a few times a day....

[Emran]

I was using wm3 previously and this version had a memory management tool. when i upgraded to wm5 this tool was finished. and now with wm5 in my pocket pc. i face an issue that when i install a heavy software i get an error that thier is no space in memory and the allocated memory for the device is too low. so i need a software that can support memory management. i downloaded one from the dreamesoft.com but it was for wm3 not for wm5. so guys i need this urgently.if some one has any idea u can tell me at emran_creativemind@yahoo.com.

thanks.

[theregoesdave]

While I didn't see an improvement in the memory management or charging from WM5 to WM6, I've found WM 6.1 to be faster, hold a charge, and generally be more stable than anything prior. And they added zoom (http://theregoesdave.com/2008/03/05/leaked-windows-mobile-61-gets-reviewed/) to PIE.

Might be worth it!

Cheers,
theregoesdave.com (http://theregoesdave.com)