Project Svelte will bring Android 4.4 KikKat support to phones with as little as 512MB of RAM

[TopWargamer]

http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/10/31/kitkat-feature-spotlight-project-svelte-extends-android-4-4-support-to-devices-with-as-little-as-512mb-of-ram/

 

Google has decided to trim the fat with Android 4.4 in an initiative they've christened "Project Svelte." This isn't a single change, it's a wide range of additions to the Android API and optional hardware configurations designed to make KitKat run smoothly on devices with as little as 512MB of system memory. 

According to the new 4.4 developer page, Project Svelte starts with recommendations and options targeted at device manufacturers. Specifically:

• Dalvik JIT code cache tuning
• kernel samepage merging (KSM)
• swap to zRAM
• tune out-of-memory levels for processes
• set graphics cache sizes
• control memory reclaim

 

. . .

 

Project Svelte isn't going to magically make older devices compatible with 4.4 - even Google's own Galaxy Nexus (with 1GB of RAM) isn't getting an official update, likely because of the aging OMAP SoC.

 

I don't see the point in doing this. I mean, I know Google wants Android 4.4 KikKat on as many devices as possible, but it's 2013 and phones with 512MB of RAM are a thing of the past, and the industry needs to move past this and move forward so we can get more powerful mobile devices. 

 

If you disagree with me, that's ok, and I can see why you would, but I just don't see the point of this. 

[orangecat]

Wow thats great... my phone has 256 and still runs Android 2.2 and my pentium 3 was faster.

[LonliestofAll]

I don't see the point in doing this. I mean, I know Google wants Android 4.4 KikKat on as many devices as possible, but it's 2013 and phones with 512MB of RAM are a thing of the past, and the industry needs to move past this and move forward so we can get more powerful mobile devices. 

 

If you disagree with me, that's ok, and I can see why you would, but I just don't see the point of this. 

Completely agree with you give us more RAM!!!!

[bartekxx12]

I think the lower RAM usage isn't intended for phones as much as it is for very low power devices such as... smart watches and other wearables that might come in the future. 

[bradscoolio]

The less unecessary ram utilization the better, regardless of how much ram you have. +1 for new phones & +1 for old

[Sors]

2 weeks ago I had a phone with 512 MB of RAM, so people DO have these phones, they are not a thing of the past, and it would be nice if they could run an operating system more current than gingerbread.

 

Not everybody can buy the new phones every year.

[VSG]

The purpose is in bringing 4.4 to new but less hardware intensive devices- be it something inexpensive such as the upcoming Moto G or wearbles such as a smart watch or Google Glass.

[LifesCompanion]

This is actually really awesome for me. 

My phone while it does run Android Jelly Bean it is awfully slow, trying to open apps like Facebook and the default text app is a nightmare (so much lag, oh gawd) 

[Hulk]

Down here, we only get unlocked phones which can easily go to over a 1000$, so upgrading your phone every 1-2 years is not a feasible idea. If you are someone above the age of 20, you are likely upgrading your phone every 4-5 years, so this is great news! While you can get 0% EMI payments over a course of 1-2 years, not everyone is that open with spending a huge chunk of money on something as simple as a phone. I really hope that someone makes a ROM for my HTC Sensation though

[MasterJV]

The less ram we use, the better. Some people don't want to buy a new phone because they dont want to pay $200 down with contract, and they can't afford to pay full price. If phones can have a longer lifespan, great.

It'll also give companies reasons to really innovate and bring real and practical features to their phone so people can buy them is they want,

as well as bring the price down.

[ofr057]

I'm running gingerbread .... so I would love for this to work out