Around the end of the last year quite a few Android smartphones were announced where the top executives proudly revealed that their phone has a whopping 10GB of RAM and hence is the fastest and best performing smartphone in the industry. Honestly speaking, most of us won’t even have that much RAM on our computers which we use for carrying out daily tasks. This raises a question: does higher specification guarantee a good performance on the phone?
The RAM on Windows based PCs and Android smartphones work differently and while the statement, ‘more the RAM better the performance’, may stand true for Windows based computers, it isn’t entirely valid for Android based devices. Apps and games are installed on the phone’s storage while the CPU and GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) are responsible for its processing. RAM just lets the applications run in the background which helps in multi-tasking. Having very less RAM on any device though may lead to performance issues, regardless of the OS.
In this day and age, laptops come with an average 8GB of RAM, coupled with a decent processor, which are good enough for a power user to play games, edit videos on the go, programme and more. For an average Joe this would easily be termed as a high end configuration.
Likewise, basic usage of the phone can be described as making and receiving calls, accessing social media apps, communicating through chat applications, browsing the internet, listening to music, playing random games etc. A power user, on the other hand, needs to run quite a few applications simultaneously in the background or play games which need extreme graphic performance for a longer duration.
So, if you fall in the first category of users, 4GB or at max 6GB of RAM should be more than enough. For the people in second category, there are gaming phones like the Asus ROG phone or Nubia Red Magic which are made keeping gaming in mind and have additional hardware which supports rigorous usage.
Similarly, of late a lot of brands have been focusing on higher megapixel count on their smartphone camera. For example, that having a 24-megapixel camera will result into a great shot is nothing but a myth. A good picture is not only dependent on various external factors like the lighting, positioning of the object, steady hands etc. but also how well the image processing happens at the software level in the phone. Google Pixel is able to create stunning images with just one camera sensor while phones with multiple camera sensors or with higher megapixel count aren’t able to match at all.
Overall the performance of the device is also dependant on the software optimisation which we often tend to miss. Google’s Pixel and Apple iPhones do not have more than 4GB of RAM but still are able to offer a great user experience and have the best camera on any smartphone yet.
Brands like Samsung, OnePlus, OPPO, Huawei, Realme and Xiaomi etc. have been really good at marketing their products and have successfully created a ‘need for more’. This need is created basically because most of these phones run on a custom Android skin namely ColorOS, EMUI, MIUI etc. In most cases these skins are heavy compared to the stock Android and come with a lot of unwanted applications. Further, most of these applications cannot be removed thus requiring extra resources to run, so brands opt to put in extra RAM.
This extra RAM thus costs extra which in the end gets paid out of the customers’ pocket. Take an example of OnePlus 6T, where the 6 GB RAM and 128 GB internal storage variant is priced at Rs.37,999 while the 8GB RAM and 128 GB storage variant is priced at Rs.41,999. Apart from RAM there is absolutely no difference in both these variants and as a buyer you end up paying extra Rs.4000 for the RAM which is not required in the first place.
Same is the case with Realme, which offers budget smartphones under the Rs.20,000 price tag and the pricing of Realme 2 Pro starts at Rs.13,990 for the 4 GB and 64 GB variant, add another Rs.2,000 and you get the 6 GB RAM and 64 GB internal storage variant for Rs.15,990. The 8 GB RAM and 128 GB internal storage variant is further priced at Rs.17,990. Again there is absolutely no difference in internal specifications apart from RAM and storage. Also remember, the more RAM you have in a phone, the more battery will be consumed.
So, when you’re purchasing your next smartphone, always remember to assess your requirements and take an informed decision, rather than going with the marketing gimmicks. Ultimately, it’s up to the user to understand the features they need on the phone, but anything beyond 6 GB of RAM is surely an overkill.
(A technology buff, Jitendra stays up-to-the-minute of trends in smartphones, gadgets, apps and more.)