im thinking of buying Xiaomi mi 8 SE instead. need your opinions. - Xiaomi Mi 8 Questions & Answers

so im thinking of buying the mi 8 SE 4gb variant to save some money, but first i have some questions.
what are the benefits of 6gb Ram variant over 4gb? i read its to keep several apps on the background running, but i don't open more than 4 apps, i think i just need one game that keeps running on the background. so.. is 4 ram more than enough for me? or does 6 ram improve something like gaming performance? i actually looking for a phone that can run the new heavy game: black desert mobile and i need it to keep running on background while i browse on youtube
second: is the snapdragon 710 can run heavy games like black desert mobile on max graphics settings without heating problems, lags, and framedrops? do you advice to max the graphics settings, does it drain lots of battery on max settings or only a bit?
and finally how big the gap between SD 710 and 845? i only need a phone that can perform very smoothly on heavy graphical games like black desert. is the SD 710 enough? is there big difference in performance? thank you for helping me decide which one to buy!

I have the same plan to purchase a Mi 8 SE but I'm worried that there will be no community for Mi 8 SE, because it used a different kind of chip.

Don't buy the 8SE. It's really nice for pricing but it will be the new Mi Note 3, bad bad support, a lot don:t care about it, because no FDD-LTE B20 (800MHz).
The 710 is good, really good, better than 820 but thats not the key. The RAM is not that fast and the ROM also not, so no UFS 2.0 or 2.1, just EMMC and this is much slower than UFS. I think for the normal user it's ok but you can not.compare 845 with UFS 2.1, it's much faster.
More RAM is better but 6GB are way too much! With my 6GB device I got 3,3GB free but like I sad, you never have too much.
If you looking for a good device, than wait a lil bit. Maybe Nokia will drop some good device but on the other way ~240€ for SP710 is more than good.

Actually, it has the same LPDDR4x RAM (I think at the same clocks too). Also, it features UFS 2.1. Performance-wise it is a fast device.
In my opinion, the 710 (6xA55+2A75) will be used in many devices in the future. I think it offers the best performance/efficiency/value ratio.
If you don't mind the lack of B20 and the slightly downgraded camera without OIS, go for it.

Related

Difference Between Snapdragon and Exynos on the Galaxy Note 9

I used my wife's Note 9 (Snapdragon - ATT ) and ran ANTUTU Benchmarks for grins and giggles and the phone got a score of about 284,000 - very respectable.
When I received my N960F - a Note 9 from Clove in the UK, I ran the same Benchmark from ANTUTU and the best score I could get was 236,000 - a HUGE difference.
I really expected more parity between those phones and wonder why there is such a big difference? Is the Exynos Process that far behond Snapdragon's latest?
(I know these benchmarks don't mean much - but just the same, after spending nearly a grand on this phone, I would have expected better)
Any thoughts?
same chips but on the S9. should give you an idea
Geekser said:
I used my wife's Note 9 (Snapdragon - ATT ) and ran ANTUTU Benchmarks for grins and giggles and the phone got a score of about 284,000 - very respectable.
When I received my N960F - a Note 9 from Clove in the UK, I ran the same Benchmark from ANTUTU and the best score I could get was 236,000 - a HUGE difference.
I really expected more parity between those phones and wonder why there is such a big difference? Is the Exynos Process that far behond Snapdragon's latest?
(I know these benchmarks don't mean much - but just the same, after spending nearly a grand on this phone, I would have expected better)
Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What are your thoughts on battery life between the 2?
lawtq said:
What are your thoughts on battery life between the 2?
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great question but I haven't used either long enough to really get a sense for it - On first blush, battery seems similar on both - I can easliy get thru an entire day without charging - though I find myself automatically placing my phone in my wireless charger from time to time because I have always had to - I think I can break myself of that habit though - will play around a bit more on both and see how they fair in a comparison of daily use....
soraxd said:
same chips but on the S9. should give you an idea
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lawtq said:
What are your thoughts on battery life between the 2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Geekser said:
great question but I haven't used either long enough to really get a sense for it - On first blush, battery seems similar on both - I can easliy get thru an entire day without charging - though I find myself automatically placing my phone in my wireless charger from time to time because I have always had to - I think I can break myself of that habit though - will play around a bit more on both and see how they fair in a comparison of daily use....
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Did Samsung work on the kernel sources to improve the Exynos 9810's efficiency and performance to be on par with Snapdragon 845 ?
The answer is "NO".
Looks like the the tides have turned recently in favor of the snapdragon chipset.
Sent from my SM-N960U1 using Tapatalk
Virgo_Guy said:
Did Samsung work on the kernel sources to improve the Exynos 9810's efficiency and performance to be on par with Snapdragon 845 ?
The answer is "NO".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know and I don't understand why. I think Exynos could be as good or better than the Snapdragon - but for some reason - it lags behind...
Geekser said:
I know and I don't understand why. I think Exynos could be as good or better than the Snapdragon - but for some reason - it lags behind...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could the Exynos 9810 be better in the s9/s9+/Note 9? - Probably to an extent working on the kernel but would still be behind the SD.
Geekser said:
great question but I haven't used either long enough to really get a sense for it - On first blush, battery seems similar on both - I can easliy get thru an entire day without charging - though I find myself automatically placing my phone in my wireless charger from time to time because I have always had to - I think I can break myself of that habit though - will play around a bit more on both and see how they fair in a comparison of daily use....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Look forward to hearing from you
Snapdragon Note 9 : Will Allow you to Play FASTER Gamecube/Wii/PSP Emulation. But Will not allow you to install custom roms or root your device.
Exynos Note : Will not play gamecube/Wii Games Smoothly but will allow you to install custom rom.
Personally if I didn't want Wii/Gamecube emulation, I would have easily bought exynos.
Ok in synthetic benchmarks such as antutu the 845 gets a higher score because of the better graphics processor. When it comes to the cpu side of things the 9810 is at least as good and sometimes better.
Cool Person said:
Snapdragon Note 9 : Will Allow you to Play FASTER Gamecube/Wii/PSP Emulation.But Will not allow you to install custom roms or root your device.
Exynos Note : Will not play gamecube/Wii Games Smoothly but will allow you to install custom rom.
Personally if I didn't want Wii/Gamecube emulation, I would have easily bought exynos.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dolphin emulation on both chipsets recently took a massive jump forward. exynos included.
you can root on international snapdragon variants of the Note 9. I believe China has unlocked snapdragon. I've heard chit chat mentioning Canada as well, fact check these yourself tho.
mikey_sk said:
Ok in synthetic benchmarks such as antutu the 845 gets a higher score because of the better graphics processor. When it comes to the cpu side of things the 9810 is at least as good and sometimes better.
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Click to collapse
Aha, but then the real world performance of the sd is far better than the exynos + it's more efficient leading to a lot better battery life + the modem is better. Then you throw in a GPU that is literally another class in a phone that potentially will be used also for gaming and this year a lot of heavy games were released with vastly different experience on the two variants (last year samsung got a free pass on their lossy g71 mp20 as no heavy games released, not the case this year and it's shaping more to release frequently in the future).
g72 mp18 can't even come close to the PREVIOUS year sd 835 in real world gaming. sd 845 benefits heavily from the note 9 cooling as it had some thermal restrictions and sustain performance was close to the sd 835 one (still far better than g72 mp18 sustain for both snapdragons), while the mali GPU doesn't benefit that much from the new cooling, the GPU is just slow.
In Europe we actually pay more for that phone, 1000 euros are not equal to 1000 us dollars, all that while we get a SOC that is between midrange and highend instead of the highend one that is for the US market. Previous years the exynos was better (galaxy s7 for example), but the difference between the two variants were never that big as this year.
Edit: check the other real world benchmarks like pcmark, browser benchmarks and so on - the sd variant wipes the floor with the exynos. Still, benches are not all, sadly the real world difference is also there and noticeable.
Again if you look at the geek bench scores for cpu (android central, did a comparison) the cpu side of the exynos 9810 outperformed the 845. I would agree when factoring in the 845 graphics the overall score of the 845 is better. Again you would be VERY hard pressed to notice the difference in the real world. And there is zero lag on either of these variants I found.
I know people in the industry and alot of the perceived difference is due to the scheduler for the 9810 not being as optimised as for the 845. Rule on the street is that Sammy will redress this soon with an update.
Also the woolfson DAC on the exynos provides a better quality audio experience and fuller sound stage than that of the aqstic DAC on the 845.
Again the difference is slim. I've noticed zero lag even on fortnite.
Reast assured both chips ate brutes. After all both the 845 and 9810 are currently fabricated/manufactured by samsung.
mikey_sk said:
Again if you look at the geek bench scores for cpu (android central, did a comparison) the cpu side of the exynos 9810 outperformed the 845. I would agree when factoring in the 845 graphics the overall score of the 845 is better. Again you would be VERY hard pressed to notice the difference in the real world. And there is zero lag on either of these variants I found.
I know people in the industry and alot of the perceived difference is due to the scheduler for the 9810 not being as optimised as for the 845. Rule on the street is that Sammy will redress this soon with an update.
Also the woolfson DAC on the exynos provides a better quality audio experience and fuller sound stage than that of the aqstic DAC.
Again the difference is slim. I've noticed zero lag even on fortnite.
Reast assured both chips ate brutes. After all both the 845 and 9810 are currently fabricated/manufactured by samsung.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a lot more complicated than a simple scheduler and if it was going to be fixed, it was going to be fixed for the note 9 launch as it's a good few months from the s9/s9+ release with the same SOC (that is a lot in the fast moving forward mobile industry). Most likely they won't do any improvements even in future major android releases. Geekbench score is peak performance on burst load tasks, it's not counting task migrations, frequency scaling, cores hotpluging and so on. There are good articles for the 9810 in anandtech, how it can be improved, why it can not be improved beyond given point, but they are kinda techy and not easy to read if you are not into it.
tl:dr The CPU cores are great, but has some flaws and everything around them is sh*t (sorry for my language, but yeah). The DAC is great tho, this is totally true.
For the GPU part there are a lot of materials about adreno 630 vs g72 mp18 with actual stats like max fps, min fps, FPS stability and so on. Fortnite will run ok, but on the sd845 it can run maxed out fluently (for the most part). Also when one spend 1000 euro, he should think about future proving and gaming is moving fast forward this year. If you game on your phone, it's kinda a bummer to settle for lower GFX settings on one of the most expensive phones this year, if you want smooth experience.
Not saying the exynos is super bad, it's not, but it's not on par with the sd845.
Again you would be hard pressed to notice the difference. Both variants are perfectly fine so everyone buy either with confidence.
It's not true, marvel strike force is unplayable on exynos version
9810 user here and i have to limit the exynos speed for it to get to a day. This sucks. I paid usd1000 but need to turn pn battery saver every morning
No rows written here reflect the reality. Just snapdragon users happy with their chipset. Another report on the S9 test that is outdated. The smallest SOT with exynos is 7h with only mobile data. Who does not know how to use an android or uses it as a playstation is his job. For a normal user it's great.
roticanai said:
9810 user here and i have to limit the exynos speed for it to get to a day. This sucks. I paid usd1000 but need to turn pn battery saver every morning
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't even have to do that with my Note 8. You can likely squeeze more out of it, but a lot depends on usage patterns of course.

would you upgrade to the 8gb note 9?

So looking at the note 10 designs it looks like its going to have the hole punch. ( which I dont like)
At the moment the note 9 8gb version is on sale at £649. Trade in of my 6gb version will get me £340.
Is it worth the £309 price difference to get the extra ram and storage and the hybrid sim version bearing in mind I'm going to stick with the note 9 until at least the note 11?
Not in my opinion, I doubt you'd notice the extra ram that much and you could buy an SD card for much cheaper if you really needed extra storage.
clax6 said:
So looking at the note 10 designs it looks like its going to have the hole punch. ( which I dont like)
At the moment the note 9 8gb version is on sale at £649. Trade in of my 6gb version will get me £340.
Is it worth the £309 price difference to get the extra ram and storage and the hybrid sim version bearing in mind I'm going to stick with the note 9 until at least the note 11?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my opinion, it depends on what you do with your phone...
Do you play heavy games or daily basis activities?
If only daily basis activities (Email, Gmail, Word, Excel, Facebook, Reddit, Telegram or others) then 6GB would be enough, my opinion only.
Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk
No, 6gb is enough
Save your money. Your existing note will be good until it dies. Companies keep adding minute changes to their "next flagships" to play with our minds to buy their new phones. They want your money is all it is. Keep your note 9. But it you have the extra cash then have at it.
I've had both and you absolutely cant tell a difference
Carlosmff said:
In my opinion, it depends on what you do with your phone...
Do you play heavy games or daily basis activities?
If only daily basis activities (Email, Gmail, Word, Excel, Facebook, Reddit, Telegram or others) then 6GB would be enough, my opinion only.
Click to expand...
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That worked on you? You know it's all a gimmick right?
Jammol said:
That worked on you? You know it's all a gimmick right?
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Not sure why someone thinks the ram would effect game performance.. especially when going from 6gb to 8gb lol. I don't think most people know what ram really is or does honestly.
crixley said:
Not sure why someone thinks the ram would effect game performance.. especially when going from 6gb to 8gb lol. I don't think most people know what ram really is or does honestly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hum Does not affect games... right... well smart guy... please clarify us... and tell us what RAM is and how does this not affect games...
Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk
Carlosmff said:
Hum Does not affect games... right... well smart guy... please clarify us... and tell us what RAM is and how does this not affect games...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ram is random access memory and effects how many applications stay open in the background. If you're planning on running ten resource heavy games open at once maybe. Game performance would be much more heavily impacted by the GPU and CPU performance than by the amount of ram (which from 6 to 8gb would have no effect whatsoever I would guess). Unless you're planning on switching back and forth between two very intensive games I can't see why this would benefit you.
How about you instead tell me how it benefits game performance? Smart guy lol
I have 8/512 note 9, only reason is i need 2 things.. huuge storage and 2 sim cards...if no need for 2 sims i would get 6/128 and stick sd card inside
crixley said:
Ram is random access memory and effects how many applications stay open in the background. If you're planning on running ten resource heavy games open at once maybe. Game performance would be much more heavily impacted by the GPU and CPU performance than by the amount of ram (which from 6 to 8gb would have no effect whatsoever I would guess). Unless you're planning on switching back and forth between two very intensive games I can't see why this would benefit you.
How about you instead tell me how it benefits game performance? Smart guy lol
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The current industry of smartphone tech reminds me of the PC age. Not to mention, when ram levels started increasing and folks kept closing out their background apps to "get the device to be faster." I still chuckle at those days.?
Jammol said:
The current industry of smartphone tech reminds me of the PC age. Not to mention, when ram levels started increasing and folks kept closing out their background apps to "get the device to be faster." I still chuckle at those days.?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or when they kept putting out higher and higher megapixel cameras because people thought megapixels = quality lol
crixley said:
Or when they kept putting out higher and higher megapixel cameras because people thought megapixels = quality lol
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Click to collapse
Manufacturers are trying to get us back to wanting more megapixels yet again; they got us hating bezels because our phone started to be good enough to keep for more than a year; they got us obsessed with the amount of RAM there is in our phones and how the CPU benchmarks. I've got a Note 9 and a Mi Max 3 and I honestly could happily use either of them day-to-day. Manufacturers in all industries have a duty to make us want to crave things, and they do a good job of it. To answer the question though - no the OP should not upgrade unless they have money to burn as RAM will have absolutely no difference on gaming performance or day-to-day performance - it's just a psychological up-sell to get people to get the 512GB model. Also did you really say you'd be effectively selling your Note for £349??
leoni1980 said:
Manufacturers are trying to get us back to wanting more megapixels yet again; they got us hating bezels because our phone started to be good enough to keep for more than a year; they got us obsessed with the amount of RAM there is in our phones and how the CPU benchmarks. I've got a Note 9 and a Mi Max 3 and I honestly could happily use either of them day-to-day. Manufacturers in all industries have a duty to make us want to crave things, and they do a good job of it. To answer the question though - no the OP should not upgrade unless they have money to burn as RAM will have absolutely no difference on gaming performance or day-to-day performance - it's just a psychological up-sell to get people to get the 512GB model. Also did you really say you'd be effectively selling your Note for £349??
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Yes that is the trade in price.
After reading lots of posts (as well as this one) about the 2 different models I'm going to stick with what I've got. I have a 256 sd card so I have plenty of storage and as regards ram unless your doing a speed test side by side I dont think I'm going to notice. I'm probably going to stick a sim only sim in September when my contract ends and hold out with the 9 until i either break it or something revolutionary comes out. Which i doubt.
Another thing that i think the 9 has in its favour is the fact that it DOES have a forehead and chin as when watching videos you dont cover any of the screen where as with a real edge to edge like the s10 and most probably the note 10 i think it will be an issue let alone the pesky hole punch!
Thanks for all the replies
crixley said:
Or when they kept putting out higher and higher megapixel cameras because people thought megapixels = quality lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
clax6 said:
Yes that is the trade in price.
After reading lots of posts (as well as this one) about the 2 different models I'm going to stick with what I've got. I have a 256 sd card so I have plenty of storage and as regards ram unless your doing a speed test side by side I dont think I'm going to notice. I'm probably going to stick a sim only sim in September when my contract ends and hold out with the 9 until i either break it or something revolutionary comes out. Which i doubt.
Another thing that i think the 9 has in its favour is the fact that it DOES have a forehead and chin as when watching videos you dont cover any of the screen where as with a real edge to edge like the s10 and most probably the note 10 i think it will be an issue let alone the pesky hole punch!
Thanks for all the replies
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I sometimes use an older iPhone and I really do love the bezels as far as usability goes. All the newer phones lead to me catching UI elements - for example I'm a big YouTube watcher and the only phone I've used recently where I never accidently skip videos when moving my phone around is the iPhone. The other downside to bezels being removed is that phones really do all look pretty much the same now.
---------- Post added at 11:09 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:05 AM ----------
clax6 said:
Yes that is the trade in price.
After reading lots of posts (as well as this one) about the 2 different models I'm going to stick with what I've got. I have a 256 sd card so I have plenty of storage and as regards ram unless your doing a speed test side by side I dont think I'm going to notice. I'm probably going to stick a sim only sim in September when my contract ends and hold out with the 9 until i either break it or something revolutionary comes out. Which i doubt.
Another thing that i think the 9 has in its favour is the fact that it DOES have a forehead and chin as when watching videos you dont cover any of the screen where as with a real edge to edge like the s10 and most probably the note 10 i think it will be an issue let alone the pesky hole punch!
Thanks for all the replies
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As for RAM, whatever anyone says, it has no bearing on actual application speed - all RAM does is hold applications in memory. Apps are flushed from memory according to space and the particular memory setup the manufacturer implements. Some manufacturers throw loads of RAM at their devices but their battery management is so brutal that it's almost worthless.
Google themselves think 4GB is enough, and cynicism aside, they do actually write the OS, which the manufacturers don't. If anyone knows how much RAM is necessary it's Google IMO. I can't think what would motivate them to think otherwise. Unless you have applications hogging loads of RAM, the worst you can expect with less RAM is that an application you had open a while back has to re-open again. With 6GB of RAM this should rarely be an issue, and many apps freeze their state anyway
Tend to agree that you likely wouldn't see much benefit with extra RAM and I certainly don't think extra 2Gb at a cost of £300 is good value.
That said I can see the appeal of 512Gb internal storage versus 128Gb
If you really want an 8Gb / 512Gb Note 9 then wait until Note 10 is on sale, I guarantee Note 9 price will fall significantly and the difference to upgrade to 8Gb / 512Gb Note 9 will likely be less expensive.
crixley said:
...
I don't think most people know what ram really is or does honestly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its a pickup right?
like the ones people like to have "in case they need to hull stuff" which happens 2 x every 5 years.
or like when constructions workers think they need a pickup because coming to work in a car is so unprofessional but unfortunately everyone knows ure not aloud to use your own personal machinery on construction sites.
or even: pollution on 4 wheels?
lol ok jokes over.
You won't notice any difference between the 6GB and the 8GB models
clax6 said:
So looking at the note 10 designs it looks like its going to have the hole punch. ( which I dont like)
At the moment the note 9 8gb version is on sale at £649. Trade in of my 6gb version will get me £340.
Is it worth the £309 price difference to get the extra ram and storage and the hybrid sim version bearing in mind I'm going to stick with the note 9 until at least the note 11?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Monitor your memory usage. If you never approach 6GB utilization, then you'll never gain anything with an extra two GB. Have you filled 128 GB with content you couldn't put on a $50 SD card?

Realme X2 Pro 12GB + 256GB

Is the 12GB RAM version worth it? When will I need this much RAM?
I'd say if you are going with the Chinese version it's worth it, especially if you like notifications without delay cause in some cases you may have to keep apps open that's when the extra RAM will be of benefit. And on another note the price difference isn't crazy especially with the decent prices for the phone itself already
Well,the obvious advantage of having the 12gb ram model is the 256gb of ufs 3.0 storage which will come in handy even if the 12gb ram is probably Overkill,
To quote the great Flossy Carter:
I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it"
If you use your smartphone as a workstation as a lot of people do, editing 4k videos, using heavy resources apps as running Ubuntu through Termux and some others things ... it is worth it. If you use it for checking social media and play games go with the X2 and save 100/150$

6GB Or 8GB

I am planning to buy k20 pro. can someone please suggest if 6gb varient has no lag or I should buy 8gb. I read many articles which confirms that buying 8gb is waste of money as it will not make any performance change. currently, I am using MI A2 as per developer option I can see my usage is around 3gb but not sure why phones lags a lot. Can someone please suggest on Redmi K20 pro please
Depends on your multitasking and usage pattern.
In the 6GB model you get around 5.7GB total RAM and from that around 2.2GB of RAM is consumed by the OS and kernel.
If you use heavy apps and games and like to multitask between them often ..like txting someone on facebook or instagram and getting back to chrome/youtube/games etc then do consider the 8gb model as you'll face far less stutters and microlags on that vs the 6gb model.
It's ofcourse smooth on the 6GB ram to but you just get that extra headroom on the latter model to strech your android's legs a little bit more
nakulp said:
Depends on your multitasking and usage pattern.
In the 6GB model you get around 5.7GB total RAM and from that around 2.2GB of RAM is consumed by the OS and kernel.
If you use heavy apps and games and like to multitask between them often ..like txting someone on facebook or instagram and getting back to chrome/youtube/games etc then do consider the 8gb model as you'll face far less stutters and microlags on that vs the 6gb model.
It's ofcourse smooth on the 6GB ram to but you just get that extra headroom on the latter model to strech your android's legs a little bit more
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your valuable information.
Since the price difference between them is somewhat small,
I'd go for the 8 gig version, every day of the week. The phone
is still very cheap, and offers the most bang for the buck.....
:good:

Question S21 Ultra RAM size matters?

Hi All! Leaving the internal memory size apart, is 16 GB RAM worth the pocket stretch? Does it make a difference in any specific scenarios?
I am asking because, in my usage case, I don't need 512 GB internal memory, as I keep my files (including music, recorded videos etc.) backed-up in cloud and on external drives. I would consider the 512 GB version only if 16 GB RAM would bring any additional benefit (for example smoother performance, battery efficiency, future-proofing etc.).
Curious about your thoughts on this subject.
Highly doubt it. My gaming PC has 16GB of RAM and that's still fine lol.
I went for the 256/12GB model.
Consider the non Ultra models make do with 8GB and have excellent performance as do many phones with 6 and 8 GB.
Also the RAM on the S21 Ultra is a newer gen of RAM which has higher speeds (read/write) which has a performance benefit as well. Reviewers have subtly mentioned that although it doesn't seem to get brought up much in marketing ect. Not sure if the regular and + models have the same.
If 256 GB storage is sufficient, then 12 GB/256 GB would be just fine to go with. I would say the 4 GB extra RAM will contribute to a bit more battery drain and will do nothing at all performance wise. People who need more storage should only go for the 16 GB/512 GB variant for the storage space alone.
RAM is used simply for fast storage and retrieval of data and code while a program is running. The general advice is that adding more RAM when you are not using the RAM you already have is a total waste of time and money. So, what could you store in RAM? Well, for an Android phone the most likely answer is "more programs." Since the system doesn't necessarily actually close a program when you go to the home menu or push back it's still potentially taking up RAM. The more RAM you have, the more programs you could potentially keep in RAM and so the more programs you could potentially start nearly instantly. But, the flash memory on these phones is pretty fast anyway so I'm not sure you'd really notice the difference between a .5 second and 1.1 second start up for a program. Another thing RAM can do is cache the contents of your long term (flash) storage. That way the system can access such data more rapidly when it needs it. This is actually where most RAM goes when you're running Windows or Linux - they're passively using all the otherwise unused RAM as cache for the file system. So, more RAM could mean faster file I/O but only if you are doing a lot of file I/O.
I have 16GB of RAM in my laptop. I play all the latest games, I do software development, I do CAD/CAM work. I have never used 16GB of RAM except when running high end simulation systems. There's a system called CARLA which uses Unity to simulate a driving environment for autonomous driving systems. That uses 24GB of RAM to initially compile the simulation. That's the one and only thing I would need more than 16GB for. Now, we're really talking about 12GB vs 16GB here. So, the question is, do you need those extra 4GB for anything? No, I can't think of any real reason a phone would need more than 12GB of RAM. I'll bet I could live with 12GB in my laptop and still virtually never use it all up.
Well, maybe there is ONE thing I could see the extra RAM being used for - high speed/resolution photography. It's possible that having more RAM could allow for longer buffering of things like super slow-mo. Now, I'm about 99% sure they don't do that. But, maybe they could. You might not be able to write to flash quickly enough for some super speed or super high end (like 8K) video without significant buffering to RAM. So, maybe in that case more RAM could be useful. But, the fact that the Ultra comes with 12GB normally would suggest that they aren't likely to optimize applications just for the 1% of people who opt for the top of the line top of the line phone.
TL;DR - No, I don't think the extra 4GB is worth the money and I didn't buy the 16GB/512GB version.
Virgo_Guy said:
If 256 GB storage is sufficient, then 12 GB/256 GB would be just fine to go with. I would say the 4 GB extra RAM will contribute to a bit more battery drain and will do nothing at all performance wise. People who need more storage should only go for the 16 GB/512 GB variant for the storage space alone.
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I really don't think extra ram is going to significantly affect battery performance though. If anything it would be a pretty insignificant amount.
eyeatoma said:
I really don't think extra ram is going to significantly affect battery performance though. If anything it would be a pretty insignificant amount.
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The lastest memory consumes less power than the previous generation. You can never have too much ram, or storage space. My 10+ is using about 7-8 gb of it's 12 gb in normal operation.
My 10+ isn't using excessive power at idle at all.
5G or rather it's poor implementation would be the power hog I be concerned about.
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blackhawk said:
The lastest memory consumes less power than the previous generation. You can never have too much ram, or storage space. My 10+ is using about 7-8 gb of it's 12 gb in normal operation.
My 10+ isn't using excessive power at idle at all.
5G or rather it's poor implementation would be the power hog I be concerned about.
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Why are you continually posting about an article over 1 year ago about a SOC which is obsolete? Furthermore, battery usage on 865 Qualcomm was very good as shown by Anandtech. Whatever rocks your boat I suppose.
peterg21 said:
Why are you continually posting about an article over 1 year ago about a SOC which is obsolete? Furthermore, battery usage on 865 Qualcomm was very good as shown by Anandtech. Whatever rocks your boat I suppose.
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Yeah ancient history
Try it... you'll like it.
Popcorn on standby
Is Qualcomm's Snapdragon 865 a Step Backward for Smartphones?
Could Qualcomm's Snapdragon 865 actually send phones backward, as far as overall performance and battery life? It's not impossible -- but it's not a sure thing, either. It'll depend on just how much optimization Qualcomm and its OEM partners do around these new capabilities to offset the cost of 5G.
www.extremetech.com
Collin80 said:
Well, maybe there is ONE thing I could see the extra RAM being used for - high speed/resolution photography. It's possible that having more RAM could allow for longer buffering of things like super slow-mo.
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Yes, that's when extra RAM in S21 Ultra comes into play: 8k videos, director's view(simultaneous front & back camera recording), 108MP, zooming, tripod lock, pip, single take...etc, etc.. The 16GB RAM might sound like an overkill but it will definitely help with all the multitasking load when called upon.
Sure, 12GB or 8GB would handle that too, but performance-wise 16GB RAM processor support won't suffer a sweat.
mzsquared said:
Yes, that's when extra RAM in S21 Ultra comes into play: 8k videos, director's view(simultaneous front & back camera recording), 108MP, zooming, tripod lock, pip, single take...etc, etc.. The 16GB RAM might sound like an overkill but it will definitely help with all the multitasking load when called upon.
Sure, 12GB or 8GB would handle that too, but performance-wise 16GB RAM processor support won't suffer a sweat.
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I am sure that 16GB RAM support won't suffer a sweat! But if 12GB would still do the job, why buy the extra RAM? I mean when recording for example (8K, director's view, you name it), you will only do that, you won't be multitasking so that you will need additional RAM for the other apps. I can hardly imagine someone shooting 8K and playing games/doing heavy photo editing at the same time. So practically no RAM swapping would come into play in this scenario.
katolink said:
I am sure that 16GB RAM support won't suffer a sweat! But if 12GB would still do the job, why buy the extra RAM? I mean when recording for example (8K, director's view, you name it), you will only do that, you won't be multitasking so that you will need additional RAM for the other apps. I can hardly imagine someone shooting 8K and playing games/doing heavy photo editing at the same time. So practically no RAM swapping would come into play in this scenario.
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Yeah, who knows how much demand on RAM it'll put, but it's bundled w/ 1/2TB drive and that actually makes the deal somewhat cost effective, hence no extSD.
I've built a couple of PCs for my own use in the past(WindwsOS) and I'm aware of the ever changing requirements for a decent rig, and that reminds me of the same arguments about RAM when I was preparing to get the components for the first one, long, long time ago: "oh.. 2X4GB is plenty enough, 16?, yeah, but that won't be utilized, it's an overkill". Then, with the second one the build required a min. of 16 for Windows and then some more to better accommodate the CPU and the software I was running, mostly graphics/videos. I don't have the need to build computers anymore but I do check sometimes on the adds about the newest CPUs, MBs etc... totally amazed about the number of available RAM slots.
eyeatoma said:
I really don't think extra ram is going to significantly affect battery performance though. If anything it would be a pretty insignificant amount.
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Yeah I'm not at all saying it'll drain significantly more, and I would still consider it as a minus even when the drain is a hair bit more and isn't doing any favour to the phone performance wise.
My whole point is that one shouldn't waste more money going for the more RAM variant if 256 gigs storage suffices one's need.
Are there any stats on how much the extra 4gb drains a battery? Is it imperceptible or something larger like a few extra percent each day?
mhw100 said:
Are there any stats on how much the extra 4gb drains a battery? Is it imperceptible or something larger like a few extra percent each day?
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Not that I know of. As far as I know, the S20 Ultra was the first Samsung phone to come in 12GB and 16GB versions. Considering that S21 phones are still in pre-order phase and have not reached consumers, maybe people who own S20 Ultras are in the position to say something about this (if they read this thread by any chance).
mhw100 said:
Are there any stats on how much the extra 4gb drains a battery? Is it imperceptible or something larger like a few extra percent each day?
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At ldle my guess is not even 1% difference. This is the latest generation ram; about 20% more efficient than the Note 10+ and faster.
I have the 10+ 12 gb ram variant. It runs cool and fast. It never even entered my mind the 8 gb variant gets better battery life; doubt it does.
Their pricing makes it compelling to add another 4/256 for $140 when you're already spending a ton of money on the device.
It won't be recovered when reselling it but gives some future proofing if the idea is to keep it a few years.
Also as dex is developed maybe the ram will become more important.
mhw100 said:
Their pricing makes it compelling to add another 4/256 for $140 when you're already spending a ton of money on the device.
It won't be recovered when reselling it but gives some future proofing if the idea is to keep it a few years.
Also as dex is developed maybe the ram will become more important.
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No SD card, no sale. Worthless overpriced junk to me... no matter how much bloody ram it has.
I don't use DeX so much, therefore its future development does not concern me that much. Also, I never have more than 3-4 apps opened simultaneously, to which I switch alternately. Also, most of the time I tend to clear unused apps from memory (pressing the "recent apps" button and closing them). It is all about battery efficiency and smooth experience for me, this is what matters most. If the extra 4GB RAM has nothing to do with that, then I'll pass.
One thing that could be relevant is the future Android major updates (i.e. Android 12, 13), since I plan to use the phone for at least 2-3 years. Would extra RAM benefit me? I personally doubt that next Android versions will need that much RAM, but who knows?
when i got the note i was pretty convinced i wouldnt upgrade phones until one met 2 criteria of simply 1. more ram, and 2. any other reason making me want to buy it.
no its not needed at all for phone calls and texting... but you can have open a huge confrence call BDM, another game, and web browser and a terminal running some linux install your also connected to with on vnc.. and you know what... you can do all this already with 12gb... sooo
ill get it if and when i get it(it is however a very nice device with 512 and 16.. even the 256 and 12 and other variants anyone using them wouldnt have speed complaints with any of them and can record in 8k.. if you have the option in life for 16.. why not, especially if your ending up paying monthly)
I Initially wanted to go for the 12gb/256gb as I feel the 128gb would just not cut it for photography or videos, but decided to go for the 16/512gb as I got it around the same price as the 12gb/256gb with employee discount.
I also went crazy as since my S9+ didn't get excited about any other samsung phones than this one.
Also as google wants to stop free google photos upload to cloud it made sense to go for the higher tier.
I have my Pixel4XL to supplement the S21 Ultra
On a side note, I love the fact the S21 ultra can go from Macro to Space Zoom to wide angle which on Paper looks like the Army Swiss knife of photography.

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