06-02-2005, 07:30 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Windows Mobile and Memory Management - Why is it so Dysfunctional?
Sometimes Windows Mobile devices embarrass me. :-( I have a consulting client using an XDA2 and it was in her purse and the record button got pressed (same old problem). I had forgotten to change the "only power button can turn the device on" because it had hard reset randomly on her a few weeks prior. So anyway, she had a voice recording that completely filled up the memory on her device. When a Windows Mobile device gets to where it has 50 KB of memory left, it completely falls apart. In her case, after she plugged it into power, it soft reset over and over (three times apparently), then hard reset. Then she calls me and asks why it happened. And what can I tell her?
It kills me that these devices are so fragile, that they have no software measures to free up memory. I've seen this scenario play out over and over where one thing or another, whether it's Notes, PIE, or something else fill up the memory, and there are no tools built into the OS to recognize that there's a low memory situation and do something about it. Why do we have a Disk Cleanup tool in Windows XP, where most of us have 60+ GB hard drives and rarely run out of space, but we lack something so vital on a device that has limited storage space? Equally as important, why doesn't Pocket Internet Explorer have an option to limit the cache size on the device? Why doesn't Notes have an option to keep "x MB memory free" and stop recording when the device starts to run out of memory? To my knowledge, there isn't a single Windows Mobile application that has any options for the preservation and management of memory on the device.
Why is there so little attention paid to memory management on these devices? That's a question I have no answer for.
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06-02-2005, 07:43 PM
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5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 5,067
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Re: Windows Mobile and Memory Management - Why is it so Dysfunctional?
Yes, to my knowledge, this can only be achieved by constantly polling the available memory size. That is, the operating system doesn't send a message (or "interrupt") your application if the memory becomes full. On the desktop Windows (and other, full-fledged operating systems), because of the virtual memory (swapping to HDD), this will never become an issue.
Very few applications do this on the PPC - for example, Pocket Artist (Tools/Preferences/Memory/X kb reserved for the system) or, speaking of recording sound/voice, NoteM (Tools/Options/Maxmum (sic!) drive usage).
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06-02-2005, 07:58 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 68
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I guess this is fixed in WM 2005. It should write the notes to storage, leaving the RAM intact.
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06-02-2005, 08:04 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by DustyLBottoms
I guess this is fixed in WM 2005. It should write the notes to storage, leaving the RAM intact.
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But is that really the solution? You'll have RAM to execute programs, which is certainly better, but how well with the OS work where there's no storage room to write data to? That's not truly a fix for this problem.
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06-02-2005, 08:05 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 233
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You know my big gripe???
No Safe Mode!
Why is there no way to safely soft reset when the new start up app or today plug in I installed causes problems?
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06-02-2005, 08:07 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 147
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Jason, I think a lot of this comes down to theses devices simply needing to catch up to mainstream needs of users.
What I mean is that in my view - and read this as just that, an opinion - Microsoft and Palm both were completely caught off guard by the demand and pressure these devices would be put under by users in day-to-day use. I think I can support this with the continual updating of the CE core and addition of features to make them more and more compatible with their desktop counterparts.
I think that Microsoft just now has gotten back on top of the crest if-you-will with 5.0. This version is built from the ground up with security, multimedia, memory in mind, not as afterthoughts or not thought of at all. Is it the ultimate answer? Of course not, but clearly a step in the right direction.
Memory allocation, from what I've read, is better in 5.0 but the scenario your client has is, I would bet, still going to be an issue.
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Clinton Fitch ~ MVP-Mobile DevicesPrincipalClinton Fitch (Dot) Com!
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06-02-2005, 08:19 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,183
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by clintonfitchdotcom
Jason, I think a lot of this comes down to theses devices simply needing to catch up to mainstream needs of users.
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What's to catch up on? This sort of storage capacity protection has been around for at least a decade in Windows. Why would PPC not need the same? It should have been there from the start.
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06-02-2005, 08:22 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 147
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by SteveHoward999
Quote:
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Originally Posted by clintonfitchdotcom
Jason, I think a lot of this comes down to theses devices simply needing to catch up to mainstream needs of users.
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What's to catch up on? This sort of storage capacity protection has been around for at least a decade in Windows. Why would PPC not need the same? It should have been there from the start. |
That's my point Steve. It wasn't thought of as being important in P/PC land until it was too late. That is what I mean by catching up. Realizing that most people use and expect desktop like functions out of these devices and put the same types of demands on them.
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Clinton Fitch ~ MVP-Mobile DevicesPrincipalClinton Fitch (Dot) Com!
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06-02-2005, 08:26 PM
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5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 5,067
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by SteveHoward999
Quote:
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Originally Posted by clintonfitchdotcom
Jason, I think a lot of this comes down to theses devices simply needing to catch up to mainstream needs of users.
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What's to catch up on? This sort of storage capacity protection has been around for at least a decade in Windows. Why would PPC not need the same? It should have been there from the start. |
Well, with the severely constrained RAM/ROM sizes and CPU's (it must have been a separate thread, or, even worse, a process, taking up system resources), no wonder the creators of WinCE 1.0 (in the era of 2 Mbyte, 44 MHz SH3 devices like the HP 300LX) didn't include this.
Of course, now that there is plenty of RAM and CPU, it really should be included.
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06-02-2005, 08:47 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 226
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Right on with the need to fix this, but why the dig on Pocket PC specifically? Does another PDA do this better?
Now, something like ActiveSync... that's something to give Microsoft some crap about. :twisted:
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