Why Many New Devices Are Coming with 128 MB Flash ROM and 64 MB of RAM
Ever wondered why many of the new high-end Pocket PCs come with twice as much Flash ROM as RAM? Here's why: Flash ROM, while slower than RAM, is permanent storage – meaning that if your device loses power, the apps/data in Flash ROM are still safe. Current Pocket PCs still use RAM for database and registry storage, so losing power will still put you in a world of hurt. If you look at the way Windows Mobile Smartphones work you can see where this might all be headed: everything will be in Flash ROM, and devices can come out of a battery-dead state without a hiccup.
When I got my X50 for testing, I installed several applications into Flash ROM, and they all worked without a hitch. From a freshly hard reset device, I had 62.76 MB of RAM available and 89.65 MB of ROM. 29.24 MB of RAM storage was free, and 24.88 MB of program RAM was free after connecting via ActiveSync. Did you know that ActiveSync uses 0.03 MB of storage RAM when it syncs? I know I didn't! :-)
Here's what I installed, and the amount of system RAM free after each install:
I was particularly surprised to see that an input program such as TenGo worked - they normally have to be installed in RAM because of problems loading software from Flash ROM after a soft reset. I was able to install all those apps and barely touch the system RAM.
Mind you, this doesn't mean I wouldn't welcome a device with 128 MB of RAM. I don't use GPS, which I've heard takes up gobs of RAM, but I have seen 30 MB of RAM used up when playing a VGA-sized video - so it seems that 64 MB isn't quite enough for all scenarios, yet that's what several major OEMs are giving us in their high-end devices. :?
The moral of the story? If you install everything possible into Flash ROM, you'll have quite a bit of RAM left over. Never install to main RAM unless you have no choice, and be sure to email any developer that has an app that doesn't work properly from Flash ROM.
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I don't know why so many people are opposed to it, but I liked the Flash ROM idea, ever since the iPAQ H5450 came out with the whopping 20MB of FlashROM.
I think this model of memory management makes a lot of sense, and it's always been this way too. Take the RAM vs HDD example for instance. Imagine how expensive computers would be if we had to pay for systems with 80GB of RAM.
Right now, I take full advantage of Flash ROM by installing all my apps to it, and then I make a final Registry and system file backups. With this method, I can recover from a hard-reset or battery drain within seconds. All I need to do is to restore the Registry and Windows directory backups and I'm done.
along the same lines - does anyone understand why the new machines have all the different clock speeds on the cpu? is it just marketing or is there some engineering reason for a 520 mhz machine when 600+ is possible.
I like the Flash RAM concept, but MS needs to refine the OS a little more before I consider it a good alternative to system RAM. Too many system files (not to mention important DB's like contacts, etc.) have to to reside in RAM, and I do notice slow downs from time-to-time with my 4705 when almost all my RAM is gone...despite the fact that I've installed most everything I can on Storage RAM.
I think the best solution today, for me, is 96 or 128 MB system memory and 128+ Flash RAM. - Makes me think - as cheap as flash is getting, why don't we have 512 or even 1 GB of internal Flash.
Reminds me of the old Bare Naked Ladies Song - "If I had a million dollars" - I would build the Perfect PPC - iPAQ 4150 size with sliding keyboard, VGA, 128 MB RAM, 1 GB FLASH, built in WiFi, Bluetooth + plus GSM/GPRS/EDGE.
If OQO can cram a whole PC into that little thing my device certainly sould be do-able with todays technology. :twisted:
64MB of RAM doesn't work for me... I need absolute performance and running some of my applications in ROM would definitely slow things down.
Now that Pocket PC Techs offers a 64MB upgrade to make the Dell X50v have a total of 128MB of RAM, it's the perfect machine for now... And it's still cheaper than the runner up HP hx4705.
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Rick Gomez - Owner/Consultant
fiona Systems Integration www.fionasystems.com
Does no-one use the My Documents synchronised folder? Mine is 19.6 Mb big. If I only had 64Mb ram I would be pushing things as soon as I run tom-tom.
Also as you said, losing power will "still put you in a world of hurt". Imagine a less experienced used, forced to install all his apps into ROM due to the small ram, now under the impression that he is safe from power loss, suddenly discovering his my documents folder has been wiped, all his customisations and short cuts has been vamped, today screen plug-ins gone, and now he has to delete his rom programs to re-install cleanly again (to restore his short cuts and registry settings)
Remember, most of these programs installed in ROM defaults to storing their data in RAM!
The only difference between installing in ROM and RAM is the size of the back-up file. You still have to back up, and you still have to restore. ROM is slower than ram, and your programs will start up slower.
They may have included a lot of ROM, but have not educated the user as to the implications, or implemented methods so it made more sense. Sure you can do some tweaks yourself, like move your IE cache or avantgo (and make your machine less stable), but should Dell not have changed the OS so you dont have to be an expert to ameliorate the disadvantages from Dell's setup.
Until the OS is properly rethought (how does ms-smartphone use ram?) adding gobs of rom does not add much at all. I'd rather have 128Mb ram thank you.
Ok Surur, thank you for expressing your opinion. :lol: Such creative use of bolding! I fully agree with you that Microsoft has done a very poor job of optimizing the OS to use Flash ROM - on the Pocket PC side at least, which is why I mentioned the Smartphone as being what might come next.
(thankfully, some OEMs are doing 128 MB of RAM, so you have that option)
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Why Many New Devices Are Coming with 128 MB Flash ROM and 64 MB of RAM
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