6 ms·

> had specs maxxed out Indeed, their 10 year old flagship has 6GB of RAM. https://www.gsmarena.com/oneplus_3-7995.php https://www.gsmarena.com/oneplus_3-7995.

by MYEUHD 2mo ago

> had specs maxxed out Indeed, their 10 year old flagship has 6GB of RAM. https://www.gsmarena.com/oneplus_3-7995.php https://www.gsmarena.com/oneplus_3-7995.php (for comparison, last year's iPhone 17 has just 8GB or RAM, 9 years later)

freedomben 2mo ago
Yeah I remember buying a OnePlus 7 Pro with 12 GB (!) of RAM like 7 years ago. The processor was also bleeding edge and that sucker ripped. It combined with stuff like termux was so capable that I used it to run all kinds of stuff that makes little sense on a normal phone. The day that phone retired (from drop damage) was heartbreaking*. * It actually ran even longer after that as various utilities but not a daily driver, but when I didn't have it with me all the time the convenience slowly waned and it got forgotten
- 8n4vidtmkvmk 2mo ago
  That's the phone I was using too. Gave it to my wife a couple years ago and she used it until just a couple months ago when it too suffered a fatal drop. Very sad. Good phone. I was worried about that pop up camera failing at some point, but it never did
  - freedomben 2mo ago
    Indeed, that pop up camera worried me too but was never an issue. It survived lots of pocket lint, and even beach sand and was always reliable. I'd easily trade the current "notch" approach on most phones for a pop up camera (assuming similar quality).
    - robotnikman 2mo ago
      Same. Oneplus showed that the pop up camera was a perfectly workable approach for the front camera instead of using a notch.
      - xp84 2mo ago
        Boy, do I miss the amount of diversity and innovation we used to have in cell phones. I remember having this phone [1] which put the camera on a little rotating thing so you could use the same one for front or back facing - obviously this either saves money or means they have twice the budget for the cameras as if they had two. Obviously these cameras themselves were potato cameras compared to modern ones, but this design was still a great innovation and unique. We rarely get many design ideas that are that different today, as everyone mainly just wants to look like an iPhone, and Apple for its part only sits around obsessing on how they can make the iPhone's form more and more featureless and pure. https://www.mobilecollectors.net/phone/6666/lg-vx-7000 https://www.mobilecollectors.net/phone/6666/lg-vx-7000
- h4ch1 2mo ago
  I still daily drive a Oneplus 7T; for ~$350 in 2020, it's served me incredibly well, barely any performance drop over the years. The battery has weakened ofc, the 2 day battery life has dropped to a measly 9 hours, but that's more than enough.
ricw 2mo ago
Not an apples to apples comparison#. iOS uses way less ram than android, plus has memory compression. That’s why Apple gets away with less ram and much smaller batteries with equal or better performance. # pun intended
- UqWBcuFx6NV4r 2mo ago
  Careful. If you acknowledge this provable fact you just invite hordes of specs-table-rotted gigahertz-chasers to post replies that completely miss the point.
- zenoprax 2mo ago
  Regarding memory compression: isn't the use of `zswap` and `zram` commonplace on embedded Linux at this point?
- MYEUHD 2mo ago
  Of course it's not an apple to apple comparison, the iPhone 7 from the same year was 50% more expensive and had only one third of the RAM (2 GB)
  - deleted 2mo ago
    [deleted]
  - UqWBcuFx6NV4r 2mo ago
    [flagged]
- microtonal 2mo ago
  plus has memory compression. FYI, Android has had zRAM support since KitKat, which is from (checking notes) 2013. Same year as iOS. iOS uses way less ram than android Common measurements I have seen is around 40%, I wouldn't say way less, but it is definitely less. Still, 3x more for a model in the same year is impressive (and more than needed to be competitive with iOS) and we should give OnePlus credit for it. Sadly a lot of low-ish to midrange phones are going back or sticking to 6-8GB today, thanks to the RAM squeeze and the efficiency of iOS is certainly helping Apple here. Certainly nobody is going to complain about the performance of the iPhone 17, despite only having 8GB RAM. In Android, Samsung doesn't seem to suffer as much. You can pick up an S26 here with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage for 623 Euro, which is a nice midrange price. I guess there are benefits if you can produce your own memory.
asveikau 2mo ago
Phones are skimping on RAM lately because of the price spikes due to the AI boom. Phones and laptops are sometimes debuting with less RAM than their predecessors of the same brand.
- ColdStream 2mo ago
  Turns out the Wife and I finally upgrading late last year was a brilliant move. Have locked in the RAM advantage for a few years ahead even if personally I don't really need it.

by MYEUHD 2mo ago

freedomben 2mo ago

Yeah I remember buying a OnePlus 7 Pro with 12 GB (!) of RAM like 7 years ago. The processor was also bleeding edge and that sucker ripped. It combined with stuff like termux was so capable that I used it to run all kinds of stuff that makes little sense on a normal phone. The day that phone retired (from drop damage) was heartbreaking*. * It actually ran even longer after that as various utilities but not a daily driver, but when I didn't have it with me all the time the convenience slowly waned and it got forgotten

8n4vidtmkvmk 2mo ago
That's the phone I was using too. Gave it to my wife a couple years ago and she used it until just a couple months ago when it too suffered a fatal drop. Very sad. Good phone. I was worried about that pop up camera failing at some point, but it never did
- freedomben 2mo ago
  Indeed, that pop up camera worried me too but was never an issue. It survived lots of pocket lint, and even beach sand and was always reliable. I'd easily trade the current "notch" approach on most phones for a pop up camera (assuming similar quality).
  - robotnikman 2mo ago
    Same. Oneplus showed that the pop up camera was a perfectly workable approach for the front camera instead of using a notch.
    - xp84 2mo ago
      Boy, do I miss the amount of diversity and innovation we used to have in cell phones. I remember having this phone [1] which put the camera on a little rotating thing so you could use the same one for front or back facing - obviously this either saves money or means they have twice the budget for the cameras as if they had two. Obviously these cameras themselves were potato cameras compared to modern ones, but this design was still a great innovation and unique. We rarely get many design ideas that are that different today, as everyone mainly just wants to look like an iPhone, and Apple for its part only sits around obsessing on how they can make the iPhone's form more and more featureless and pure. https://www.mobilecollectors.net/phone/6666/lg-vx-7000 https://www.mobilecollectors.net/phone/6666/lg-vx-7000
h4ch1 2mo ago
I still daily drive a Oneplus 7T; for ~$350 in 2020, it's served me incredibly well, barely any performance drop over the years. The battery has weakened ofc, the 2 day battery life has dropped to a measly 9 hours, but that's more than enough.

ricw 2mo ago

Not an apples to apples comparison#. iOS uses way less ram than android, plus has memory compression. That’s why Apple gets away with less ram and much smaller batteries with equal or better performance. # pun intended

UqWBcuFx6NV4r 2mo ago
Careful. If you acknowledge this provable fact you just invite hordes of specs-table-rotted gigahertz-chasers to post replies that completely miss the point.
zenoprax 2mo ago
Regarding memory compression: isn't the use of `zswap` and `zram` commonplace on embedded Linux at this point?
MYEUHD 2mo ago
Of course it's not an apple to apple comparison, the iPhone 7 from the same year was 50% more expensive and had only one third of the RAM (2 GB)
- deleted 2mo ago
  [deleted]
- UqWBcuFx6NV4r 2mo ago
  [flagged]
microtonal 2mo ago
plus has memory compression. FYI, Android has had zRAM support since KitKat, which is from (checking notes) 2013. Same year as iOS. iOS uses way less ram than android Common measurements I have seen is around 40%, I wouldn't say way less, but it is definitely less. Still, 3x more for a model in the same year is impressive (and more than needed to be competitive with iOS) and we should give OnePlus credit for it. Sadly a lot of low-ish to midrange phones are going back or sticking to 6-8GB today, thanks to the RAM squeeze and the efficiency of iOS is certainly helping Apple here. Certainly nobody is going to complain about the performance of the iPhone 17, despite only having 8GB RAM. In Android, Samsung doesn't seem to suffer as much. You can pick up an S26 here with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage for 623 Euro, which is a nice midrange price. I guess there are benefits if you can produce your own memory.

asveikau 2mo ago

Phones are skimping on RAM lately because of the price spikes due to the AI boom. Phones and laptops are sometimes debuting with less RAM than their predecessors of the same brand.

ColdStream 2mo ago
Turns out the Wife and I finally upgrading late last year was a brilliant move. Have locked in the RAM advantage for a few years ahead even if personally I don't really need it.