Does Virtual RAM really help your phone?
If you tried looking around your phone’s settings, you might find an option to extend your device’s RAM capacity. Neat trick, right? Well, this is because as we go into the future, Android phones are getting more demanding. They are hungrier for system memory hence the introduction of a software-based solution. And, this solution is what we call Virtual RAM.
The way it works is simple. In your phone’s settings, you can find a toggle that enables your phone to use its storage to extend RAM capacity. So, if you have a phone with 6GB of RAM, then you can up the number and make it 8GB or more. Depending on how much storage your phone can use as Virtual RAM.
This is great because more RAM means that our phone is more capable in terms of multitasking. Specifically, keeping multiple applications open. This is because the RAM on your phone is in charge of remembering which applications you used and what you did on those applications. So, the more capacity it has to be able to remember, the faster you can launch applications that you previously used.
So, it seems that when it comes to RAM, more certainly is merrier. But, some relate more RAM to better gaming performance. While this is true to some degree, can the same be said for Virtual RAM? Does this software-based spec expansion provide a major power boost for your phone?
Does Virtual RAM provide a performance boost for your device?
Let me start by saying that Virtual RAM is helpful as a supportive aid for your phone’s existing RAM. Because, while Virtual RAM may not be as good as the existing RAM in terms of potential. It can still step in and cut the workload of the existing RAM when its memory capacity gets filled up.
But that’s it. In terms of device performance, you won’t be seeing a massive difference. Sure, more RAM makes your phone feel smoother and it helps it keep more applications open. But the difference in performance between a 6GB RAM phone and an 8GB RAM phone, for example, is not that huge.
Also, Virtual RAM does not help gaming performance. Because, as we said, it is there to provide aid for multitasking and cutting the workload of the existing RAM. It does not have the purpose of boosting the device’s performance for gaming. Plus, more RAM is not the immediate answer to your gaming issues in your phone.
If you have a smartphone that already carries 6GB or 8GB of RAM, the best thing you can do to help it perform better while gaming is to keep it cool and clear the background applications from the RAM. Don’t think that Virtual RAM will help you if you use your phone primarily for gaming.
What Virtual RAM can also do is harm the storage life of your smartphone. How? All modern devices, including your smartphone, rely on flash storage to preserve information for a long time. Flash storage or Flash memory also has limited read and write cycles. So when you enable the use of Virtual RAM, constant reading and writing is involved which consequently, is not good for your device’s storage as it will wear it out in the long run.
So, why do we have this feature on our devices?
As we said, modern smartphones are getting more demanding. In addition, apps are also larger these days so having more system memory is better. But, at the same time, manufacturers don’t want to push costs up higher by adding more physical RAM to the devices.
They want to leave that for their premium lineup of devices which is why we are seeing Virtual RAM features on our phones. Specifically phones that are within entry-level to midrange categories.
But does this mean that you should avoid this feature entirely? Not really. The manufacturer of the smartphone put it there for a reason. It might be for marketing or the convenience of users.
What you can do is decide if you want to use and risk the wear and tear on your device’s storage or avoid it and settle for whatever RAM capacity you have on your phone.
After all, a bigger RAM size does not immediately mean better performance. It just means that the phone can hold more apps open for longer. It’s a give-and-take situation when it comes to using Virtual RAM. You gain more system memory at a cost.
