Database Develop

[Q] Full RAM after using a some apps... with a little analysis

After fixing some lags with I/O system by using filesystem LagFix I still have a Lag problem in my system and I think it's not related to Samsung.
I think this could be an Android problem.
After a fresh reboot I get 124MB of free RAM.
BUT... every day I need to reboot the phone because after 3 hours it became laggy.
Now I analysed this and read a bit about the memory management on several forums and was able to reproduce the lag 2minutes after reboot.
I just need to use much applications one after another to raise the RAM usage for every application.
When the free RAM reaches 40MB I think the system clears some pieces for using it for the app I now want to use and there is the LAG.
Is there any fix for Android not caching every activity of an application in the RAM?
Now for me Android feels like: Usage -> Full RAM -> Lag
Sorry for the new thread but after 2 hours of research I didn't find anything useful over search function.

Yea, every program should have as much ram available as their size. 2gig for program storage on sgs, so there should be the same amount of ram ;D Anyway, theres still less memory for programs on the sgs than for example in the N1. I'd say there is about 384MB of ram total on the sgs and not the 512 claimed.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

Not just the RAM for the apps... there's much more...all mails from internet, all google talk conversations, the wather I checked out from internet with any widget, feels like every interaction is cached into the RAM until it reaches the 40mb mark and after that every interaction on my system is laggy... for example: opening the notification bar needs 2-3 seconds.
I already talked to N1 users with the same problem

DasLeo said:
I already talked to N1 users with the same problem
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heading out the door in a minute so can't comment on the rest, but I strongly disagree with that part of your statement.
As an N1 owner I've NEVER seen lag like I suffer on the SGS. Never seen the absolute FREEZE in the GUI like the SGS gets.
I'm running FroYo on the N1 now, so can't compare side-by-side to the SGS things like memory usage, but I don't think that's the issue here if you're going to use the N1 as a comparison, despite other users complaining of lag.
You might try Autokiller or the free memory manager app from the Market and see if that improves thing, they'll keep more or less memory free depending on settings. You could test how soon lag comes with default, minimal, and aggressive settings.

I never testet Froyo because everyone said, it's unstable but for me it seems like froyo has other RAM management than Eclair when you said you can't reproduce this problem.
I'm already using a task killer... I have my main apps ignored or excluded and most time there are 2 or 3 apps which will be killed after lock or time or what else.
What's the problem here... if I would use a PC with 512MB RAM and use only 10 small applications, it won't cache everything in the ram until it's full.

Hi, didn't read all the posts, but u should look into the RFS file system, which is samsung proprietery file system. It has a very bad implementation on android (i could be wrong). As for ram, the phone has 512 mb, but 128 are reserved for Gsm/data connection. Just think if you had an incoming call and all your ram was in use, u had to wait for the system to clear up some memory before being able to receive the call physiclly. That would be a long wait.
I could be wrong and sorry for the bad english.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

Have you ever tried "Minfreemanager" app?
It can change the minimum available memory level in different app usage.
The device must be rooted first.
Then select "Aggressive" preset and see the result.

rkantos said:
. I'd say there is about 384MB of ram total on the sgs and not the 512 claimed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If this turns out to be true, samsung is up for a massive lawsuit from MANY angry customers who've been mislead due to false marketing

tra33372 said:
Have you ever tried "Minfreemanager" app?
It can change the minimum available memory level in different app usage.
The device must be rooted first.
Then select "Aggressive" preset and see the result.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DAMN!!! Nice app... it does exactly what I need cleans my RAM so I'll get 120MB and after that loading of apps is much faster than starting apps with Android included RAM cleaning.
It just cleans my RAM like a reboot but without the reboot
This should be a temporary solution until someone finds a better solution or until froyo is released.
I would like to have an application like this with an autoclean option on 2 hours

Guys please,
Getting off-topic here. Here is Android Development.
Not Q&A or General.
Please post in the right section.
Here is getting too many off-topics that pose no relation to Android Development.
Too cluttered.
Thanks

DasLeo said:
DAMN!!! Nice app... it does exactly what I need cleans my RAM so I'll get 120MB and after that loading of apps is much faster than starting apps with Android included RAM cleaning.
It just cleans my RAM like a reboot but without the reboot
This should be a temporary solution until someone finds a better solution or until froyo is released.
I would like to have an application like this with an autoclean option on 2 hours
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Auto killer is better.Its exactly the same as minfreemanager but can be made to apply at boot.Minfree manager resets itself at boot.

I use Memory Booster Lite (free version) app to free up memory, must do that manually but it works very well, if you buy the app it free up memory automaticly.

Pika007 said:
If this turns out to be true, samsung is up for a massive lawsuit from MANY angry customers who've been mislead due to false marketing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone does have 512mb of ram. It just isn't used properly.
MOJO783010 said:
Hi, didn't read all the posts, but u should look into the RFS file system, which is samsung proprietery file system. It has a very bad implementation on android (i could be wrong). As for ram, the phone has 512 mb, but 128 are reserved for Gsm/data connection. Just think if you had an incoming call and all your ram was in use, u had to wait for the system to clear up some memory before being able to receive the call physiclly. That would be a long wait.
I could be wrong and sorry for the bad english.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, wrong. The reserved ram is in the form of a ram disk, which seems to be a bit oversized. Not really sure why a ram disk is needed at all, personally.
sammy555 said:
Auto killer is better.Its exactly the same as minfreemanager but can be made to apply at boot.Minfree manager resets itself at boot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the correct solution. the JF* series of firmwares have very bad default settings for killing unused apps. Use this app to set them a bit better and you shouldn't have any problems.

Pika007 said:
If this turns out to be true, samsung is up for a massive lawsuit from MANY angry customers who've been mislead due to false marketing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does have 512 of ram, but some is partitioned off for the phone, so that you can always receive phone calls. Just about every device does this, because users would be more upset if they couldn't pick up the phone until they had closed a bundle of running programs. Don't you think that people here would have noticed earlier if the SGS physically had less ram than claimed ?
As far as the OP is concerned, sounds like you are just running too many programs at once. Its not an android problem, its user error.
Any task manager, but particularly an auto-killer will set you right, although alternatively you could try not leaving every app open when you're finished with it. You think your PC would run ok if you left one game open while you opened another ?

DasLeo said:
I never testet Froyo because everyone said, it's unstable but for me it seems like froyo has other RAM management than Eclair when you said you can't reproduce this problem.
I'm already using a task killer... I have my main apps ignored or excluded and most time there are 2 or 3 apps which will be killed after lock or time or what else.
What's the problem here... if I would use a PC with 512MB RAM and use only 10 small applications, it won't cache everything in the ram until it's full.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wasn't comparing a N1 on FroYo to the SGS on Eclair. My comments were in regard to when I was on Eclair, which was several months...FroYo's only been available for a couple of months. What I said was since I'm on FroYo now, I can't compare side-by-side, but my experience with an N1 on Eclair was never any lag problem or GUI freezes.
Anyways, I also suggested you try Autokiller, and you missed that or misunderstood it by saying you already run a Task Killer (which is generally considered a bad idea, but I see you picked up on Autokiller after someone else suggested it. Enjoy.
Pika007 said:
If this turns out to be true, samsung is up for a massive lawsuit from MANY angry customers who've been mislead due to false marketing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nah, all phones advertise the actual chip size in it, not the amount the system actually lets you use.

tra33372 said:
Have you ever tried "Minfreemanager" app?
It can change the minimum available memory level in different app usage.
The device must be rooted first.
Then select "Aggressive" preset and see the result.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. This removes almost all lag I'm experiencing.

[Q] All apps seem to load on startup

Hi,
It appears that any time I reboot the phone, it starts with all applications loaded.
Unless I go to Advanced Task Killer and kill all, my phone is very slow. Also free memory jumps from about 90M to 150M after the kill.
Does anyone know ho to stop that from happening? Is there some kind of startup list that can be edited?
I am using rooted UCJH7 but no other tweaks and fixes.
Thanks

You could have just searched the market for 'startup'.

There are quite a few startup editor apps in the market, I haven't tried any, but most of the reviews seem pretty hit or miss. Just search "startup" in the market.

Well android handles memory management really well. Those apps load up and take a very small amount of memory and when you open the app it will increase the memory usage and when you close it it will run in the background again and take up very little memory. The fact the apps are open in the background shouldn't slow down your phone. The fact you have 90mb free is good. This isn't windows mobile where the more free memory you have the faster your phone is. There are apps u can use to see if your apps are running in the background or foreground when your not using them. If they are running in the foreground and taking up alot of memory then there's a problem. Hope i explained the memory management well enough.
And btw for future reference, read the stickies. You posted this in development. Should be posted in Q and A

jasonyump said:
Well android handles memory management really well. Those apps load up and take a very small amount of memory
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The fact remains, free memory almost doubles after I kill them.
>The fact the apps are open in the background shouldn't slow down your phone.
The fact is that they do slow down the phone a lot.
The problem is that it seems that all applications get fired indiscriminately. And the question is if someone with some knowledge of Android internals can shed some light on that.
I will post specific numbers on memory after I reboot it next time.

alexnoalex said:
Hi,
It appears that any time I reboot the phone, it starts with all applications loaded.
Unless I go to Advanced Task Killer and kill all, my phone is very slow. Also free memory jumps from about 90M to 150M after the kill.
Does anyone know ho to stop that from happening? Is there some kind of startup list that can be edited?
I am using rooted UCJH7 but no other tweaks and fixes.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i too thought so initially. but when i started observing, i observed that the apps that load up at start up are generally the apps that i frequently used.

[Q] Why does many installed apps increase lag?

Can't see why this is the case (but it obviously is) as long as I have lots of free disk space and not many apps running at the same time. Any logic in this?

I've been experiencing the same issue and wondering the same thing...
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S GT-I9000 using Tapatalk Pro

There seems to be several things causing this, but the two key issues are:
The moviNAND (the internal flash drive/"SSD") firmware seems to have an issue with fsync() taking extremely long. E.g., it slows down whenever a file is written/updated on the internal storage.
RFS, the file system used by Samsung is buggy as hell and corrupts data after a while.
There are several topics on these issues in the Android Development forum. There are also several "lag fixes" trying their best to overcome these issues. Go check them out

Einride said:
There seems to be several things causing this, but the two key issues are:
RFS, the file system used by Samsung is buggy as hell and corrupts data after a while.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We have no idea if that is ACTUALLY true.. Just because fsck picked some things up on 1 phone, doesn't mean it happens everywhere.. Furthermore, it doesn't mean the problems detected affect operations

that has no truth at all about more apps slowing down the phone, my phone is the prove

Before jpk i didn't noticed slowdowns with aprox 100 apps, now i do on jpk =/
Prolly that all pictures/links/info stays in his workmemory?

probably cause some of them run in the system memory or run at startup

KaliKot said:
probably cause some of them run in the system memory or run at startup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bingo!
and that is what most people does not realize
they need to Optimize the phone, most people take it for granted
the phone is not a phone, the phone is a mini computer that fits in your hands
just like your big desktop PC it can go crazy if you don't take care of it

AllGamer said:
Bingo!
and that is what most people does not realize
they need to Optimize the phone, most people take it for granted
the phone is not a phone, the phone is a mini computer that fits in your hands
just like your big desktop PC it can go crazy if you don't take care of it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you tell me why with the same apps installed on the Nexus it doesn't lag like the SGS?
Can you stop blaming users when is the phone which doesn't work as expected?

Oletros said:
Can you tell me why with the same apps installed on the Nexus it doesn't lag like the SGS?
Can you stop blaming users when is the phone which doesn't work as expected?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
utter ****e -i have well over 100 apps on my sgs and experience NO lag whatsoever!

bonehooch said:
utter ****e -i have well over 100 apps on my sgs and experience NO lag whatsoever!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Utter ****e? Why?

it was mentioned many many times
just install autorunkiller and a good task manager then all the problems will be gone
stock ROM is very fast when you maintain the phone

AllGamer said:
it was mentioned many many times
just install autorunkiller and a good task manager then all the problems will be gone
stock ROM is very fast when you maintain the phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With autokiller the phone is still laggy.
And please, stop thinking I'm stupid or I don't know a **** about smartphones, ROM's changing, firmware or knowing how a phone must run.

AFAIK this topic and its responses are for the OP

I have about 190 Apps installed and do not experience any diferene in overall speed of the phone. But only because i know that a lot of the programms start on boot and stay in background.
I have more than 15 apps turned off with the full version of autorun killer to prevent the auto restart of the apps. Otherwise the phone would definetaly slow down.
It´s really incredible what apps start on the boot!

TMReuffurth said:
I have about 190 Apps installed and do not experience any diferene in overall speed of the phone. But only because i know that a lot of the programms start on boot and stay in background.
I have more than 15 apps turned off with the full version of autorun killer to prevent the auto restart of the apps. Otherwise the phone would definetaly slow down.
It´s really incredible what apps start on the boot!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you need to be rooted ti use all of the functions in autorun killer? I am not rooted.
Can you compile a breif list of the "biggest culprits" to stop with this utility to gain back the most speed and efficiency? I am a bit nervous that I will stop the wrong items and somehow damage my phone...

Autokiller and task killers are not the solution here! Quick lesson on Android, and why having even A SINGLE BAD APP is going to ruin your whole phone!
Android has something called an 'Intent'. In order to start an app, an intent is made by your launcher or a button you press, and the Android system reads this intent and works out what app it needs to start up.
There is a second type of intent though, called a 'Broadcast Intent'. This is an intent that is sent out to anything that is registered to listen to it. This means that an app can register to listen to all sorts of events, such as battery level changed, application start, or a tons of other things. Even if the application is closed, if it is registered as a listener, Android will start it right back up so it can deal with the intent. If the intent comes every 5 seconds, Android will run this app every 5 seconds even if you have a taskkiller killing the app.
The only real solution is to not install apps which are bad! Finding bad apps is a real mission, too. Hopefully in the future, utilities will be available to let us track down these terrible apps, but till then, you'll have to work it out yourself.

yiannisthegreek said:
Do you need to be rooted ti use all of the functions in autorun killer? I am not rooted.
Can you compile a breif list of the "biggest culprits" to stop with this utility to gain back the most speed and efficiency? I am a bit nervous that I will stop the wrong items and somehow damage my phone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No need for Root to use all features of Autorun Killer. I would disable only the apps you know and which you do not need at startup and running in background, such as (in my case) Paypal, App Center from Androidpit, Daily Briefing, Photoshop Express, Word Press, TweetCaster, etc.
Every of these apps works normal, even when deactivatet on startup.
So unless you do not disable system apps (must be previously set enabled in settings) you are safe.

RyanZA said:
(...)There is a second type of intent though, called a 'Broadcast Intent'. This is an intent that is sent out to anything that is registered to listen to it.(...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there any possibility/app to show what is registered for which app?

watching the apps
Samga said:
Is there any possibility/app to show what is registered for which app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is an app called Autostarts at 0.95$.
It shows what is launched au startup, when you enable/disable wifi etc.
It think it gives insight on how apps seems launching out of nowhere.
I also reccomend Watchdog Task Manager Lite, the free version.
It does not kill anything, but notifies and logs the bad apps that consumes over a certain CPU percentage.

Samsung Galaxy S mysterious ram usage cm10.1

Hey there, this problem might have been discussed before but I wasn't able to find it, so the problem is with ram usasage, I once went to the apps in settings and on the running apps I always see 250mb+ ram used by something, then I killed all the apps, but that just made a dliference of 50mb ram, It's real anoying because when I want to switch between apps it's slow and when I turn a browser back on after using aother app the page realoads which I guess wpuldn't happen with 300 mb ram, does anyone know the reason for this, I am currently running cm10.1.
Thanks!

ltkipras said:
Hey there, this problem might have been discussed before but I wasn't able to find it, so the problem is with ram usasage, I once went to the apps in settings and on the running apps I always see 250mb+ ram used by something, then I killed all the apps, but that just made a dliference of 50mb ram, It's real anoying because when I want to switch between apps it's slow and when I turn a browser back on after using aother app the page realoads which I guess wpuldn't happen with 300 mb ram, does anyone know the reason for this, I am currently running cm10.1.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What ROM and Kernel are you using?

Mango Polo said:
What ROM and Kernel are you using?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ROM; cm10.1 nigtly 20130330 galaxysmtd Kernel: 3.0.70-g7b668b [email protected] #1

Free RAM is useless. It just sits there sucking up power and being available in case you need it. It's pretty much a waste to have 300 MB of RAM and then only use 100 MB. Instead you should try to keep your RAM full at all times with the things you are likely to need in the near future. For example, if your phone is currently only using 20% of your RAM but already caches the browser in case you'll use it soon it will be faster to load the browser. If you decide to use the music player on the other hand the cached browser can be overwritten with the music player without requiring any additional time, so no harm is done.
Modern systems don't have "free" and "in use" RAM, they have "free" (wasted space), "in use" and "cached". You shouldn't look at the amount of free RAM but rather the amount of actually used RAM is a better indicator.
The reason you only gain 50 MB when you kill all apps is because only 50 MB will be actually in use by apps and all remaining unused space is used for caching things. If your phone is slow, this is not the cause of it. You may just have a slow phone or the ROM might be slow for some (other) reason.

Marshian said:
Free RAM is useless. It just sits there sucking up power and being available in case you need it. It's pretty much a waste to have 300 MB of RAM and then only use 100 MB. Instead you should try to keep your RAM full at all times with the things you are likely to need in the near future. For example, if your phone is currently only using 20% of your RAM but already caches the browser in case you'll use it soon it will be faster to load the browser. If you decide to use the music player on the other hand the cached browser can be overwritten with the music player without requiring any additional time, so no harm is done.
Modern systems don't have "free" and "in use" RAM, they have "free" (wasted space), "in use" and "cached". You shouldn't look at the amount of free RAM but rather the amount of actually used RAM is a better indicator.
The reason you only gain 50 MB when you kill all apps is because only 50 MB will be actually in use by apps and all remaining unused space is used for caching things. If your phone is slow, this is not the cause of it. You may just have a slow phone or the ROM might be slow for some (other) reason.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah only 50mb is used to keep the apps running, but it probably takes up a whole lot more when using the apps, and this is a problem for me that it is slow to change between apps, and when I do change between the for example if I wanna text some one back while using a browser, once i turn the browser back on it restarts the page, and that didn't happen in my zte blade, unless I had some more apps running.
I wanna know what is using those 250+mb of ram!

ltkipras said:
yeah only 50mb is used to keep the apps running, but it probably takes up a whole lot more when using the apps, and this is a problem for me that it is slow to change between apps, and when I do change between the for example if I wanna text some one back while using a browser, once i turn the browser back on it restarts the page, and that didn't happen in my zte blade, unless I had some more apps running.
I wanna know what is using those 250+mb of ram!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
see exchange service,any svn services n keep track of system usage. normally 100mb+ will be taken for ui, framework...etc.
but. eventhough u keep track of it,then slaughter it, it will come back to life n running, so i wouldnt recommend slaughtering system usage.
switching between app normally slow for full or stock rom. try find some debloated rom. it will be suitable for u if u wanna more free ram rather than liquidity.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using xda app-developers app

I also observed some sluggishness after some time of usage. Sometimes the phone got totally unresponsive, not catching any push events (from buttons or screen), so that I couldn't even wake it after the screen timeout. I had to wait even few minutes before it was alive again.
Google Chrome was the most ram-eating app as far as I know.
Sometimes the best method is just restart your phone from time to time or even make a wipe - this is normal for all low-end android phones as they get sluggish after some time.
Long story short: I ended up buying a new phone with 2gb of RAM

pawci0 said:
I also observed some sluggishness after some time of usage. Sometimes the phone got totally unresponsive, not catching any push events (from buttons or screen), so that I couldn't even wake it after the screen timeout. I had to wait even few minutes before it was alive again.
Google Chrome was the most ram-eating app as far as I know.
Sometimes the best method is just restart your phone from time to time or even make a wipe - this is normal for all low-end android phones as they get sluggish after some time.
Long story short: I ended up buying a new phone with 2gb of RAM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well...good luck on ur new fone
wish i had extra money to buy one......
but, bigger ram doesnt solve anything as far as i know.stock gapps n app from firmware will be da 'pacman' here. unless ur obtain 'god mode' for ur fone.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using xda app-developers app

I have the same issue
I'm using CM10.1 RC5, kernel 3.0.76-gc0a8d45 [email protected] #1
I have same symptoms pawci0 and ltkipras mentioned.
But I don't want to buy a new phone...
The lack of memory is noticeable when I run Waze or maps . It just opens for a couple of minutes and closes by itself or rather hangs the entire device.
What should I do? Go for the CM10.1 stable, try a different ROM (i.e. Slim). Change kernels?

nope, waze doesnt use that much ram, try to fix permission first n clear cache in recovery
n try to use other kernel, mine ok with multitask, rather heavy with online games n hearing mp3 n receiving whatsapp, line n we chat at da same time
n try greenify app to control app thats always running.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using xda premium

Just try a other rom or kernel you would be amazed how lets say a change of kernel can speed things up. The point is everyone uses their phone differently different apps and things so you need to find the rom that suits you mostly.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using xda app-developers app

RAM always at 70% on MI5

Hello fellow MI5 users,
I received my phone one week ago and I start having some issues with the RAM. In fact, at the start of the phone, it's already at 70% filled up which is too much for me. Indeed I use a lot of RAM and I'm that type of guy who let the apps running in background everytime because I keep opening them everytime. I was wondering if it was possible to have a link to a better ROM because I guess it's the problem and also a link for a tutorial on how to flash it I'm a newbie in this type of manipulation but I'm very interested so I hope you will help me guys. By the way, my MIUI version is the MIUI 8 Global 6.8.18. I honestly don't know what can i give as information but I'll answer ASAP at any questions
Have a good day

This is working as design - Android keeps apps in RAM to reduce I/O on resuming from background - faster & more energy efficient.
You can change the number of background processes via the development settings or you can kill apps on closing.

adwinp said:
This is working as design - Android keeps apps in RAM to reduce I/O on resuming from background - faster & more energy efficient.
You can change the number of background processes via the development settings or you can kill apps on closing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've seen that indeed but it was set at standard so I'll probably put it at 3 I guess. How should I set the memory optimization? I've read it should be set off, altough I tried middle and I feel comfortable like that?
Is it normal to start at 70% without anything started ?

Unitae said:
I've seen that indeed but it was set at standard so I'll probably put it at 3 I guess. How should I set the memory optimization? I've read it should be set off, altough I tried middle and I feel comfortable like that?
Is it normal to start at 70% without anything started ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For the 3GB version? Pretty much. MIUI is horrible.
After booting I typically had 1.3GB / 3.0GB free but after a while this averaged to around 650MB free.

free ram is useless ram , which cant accelerate anything

ps2lover said:
free ram is useless ram , which cant accelerate anything
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that but I need more because I use multi-task a lot. Is there a way to change the ROM so I have more space to work with? Even if the ROM itself is beautiful.
Indeed it's the 3gb version 32gb. It have lags sometimes and I think it's due to the full RAM. Can I have a link to a custom ROM which works fine on this device?

I'm a little confused, you want as much RAM available but you want as many processes in the background as well? That sounds contradicting to me. Memory optimization maps to ZRAM, if you set it off there will be no memory compression and thus even less processes will be kept in the background. If you set it high, you can have as many processes as possible, but there could be lag due to (de)compression time overhead.

Try different Rom
Try to use a different Rom. On the Stock Rom is a lot of bloatware which is using your RAM too.
First you need to get an Bootloader unlock permission and have to unlock the BL.
It could take up to 10 Days to get the permission from Xiaomi
http://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-5/how-to/unlocking-xiaomi-mi-5-bootloader-t3336243
After that you have to flash a recovery like trwp via ADB. Google it for videos or threads how to do it.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-5/development/recovery-twrp-xiaomi-mi-5-t3412123
After that you can flash a developer Rom.
I use the Resurrection Remix and it works fine. The CM 13 stucks in Bootloop. Maybe because I made a full wipe and had to sideload my rom.
Because you don't have a SD card option you have to have the room installed on your hard drive. But just follow the description below
http://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-5/development/unofficial-resurrection-remix-m-5-6-9-t3395945
It took me just 1 day to get the unlock permit but don't try do do it without it. You brick your phone.
The RR Rom works really fine. Fingerprint and everything. It has no bloatware and you have to get the gaps like in the description. Arm64 nano seems enough.
Good luck and fun with a great phone.
Normally the android system kills the unused apps even in background. But i also experienced lack in multitasking.

leledumbo said:
I'm a little confused, you want as much RAM available but you want as many processes in the background as well? That sounds contradicting to me. Memory optimization maps to ZRAM, if you set it off there will be no memory compression and thus even less processes will be kept in the background. If you set it high, you can have as many processes as possible, but there could be lag due to (de)compression time overhead.
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I think you misunderstood the OP question, he wanted more free RAM at start in order to have as many as possible apps in the background.

lapocompris said:
I think you misunderstood the OP question, he wanted more free RAM at start in order to have as many as possible app in the background.
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Yup exactly

Try trwp 3.0.2.0 with 3.0.2.1 people experience bootloop

Omied said:
Try trwp 3.0.2.0 with 3.0.2.1 people experience bootloop
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In fact, I'm just doing some research before asking because I'm very new. I have found some videos but they are pretty old and not on this phone but I guess it works more or less the same way

lapocompris said:
I think you misunderstood the OP question, he wanted more free RAM at start in order to have as many as possible apps in the background.
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OK, in that case, just open Security->Permissions->Autostart and disable those which aren't immediately needed upon start. I have 18 autostart items (mostly system monitoring & social media apps) and I usually start with 1.5 GB free RAM.