Low Memory Manager A Brief Explanation
This in no way is meant to be a techincal description of how androids low memory manager operates, in fact I just wrote this up very quickly in as simple of terms to remind myself on how it works, so im sorry in advance for all the typos.
In laymans terms the following is a brief introduction of what it does how android low memory manager works:
All applications will fall into one of the following 6 catagories: Foreground Apps, Visible Apps, Secondary Server, Hidden Apps, Content Provider, Empty Apps.
Each catagory is assigned a static threshold value and if and when memory levels fall below that value, starting with the least critical catagory "Empty Apps" the os will begin terminating those apps until enough memory becomes available.
Then if memory levels continue to run out, the os will then move onto the next catagory down the line "Content Provider" and begin terminating apps the same way & so on & so until required memory levels are reached.
So say we have the empty apps set at 42mb, content provider set at 32mb, hidden apps set at 28mb, secondary server set at 22mb, visible apps set at 10mb, & forground apps set at 6mb.
So if & or when available memory levels fall below 42mb the os will begin killing apps in the empty app category, & if available memory falls below 32mb the os will begin terminating apps in the content provider, if available memory falls below 28mb hidden apps get killed, if available memory falls below 22mb secondary server apps get killed, if available memory falls below 10mb visible apps get killed & if memory falls below 6mb visible apps begin getting killed.
So its very easy to see how having any of those values set to high can really affect things, not so much in the empty app category (but thats a double edge sword on its own) but if things get down to the bottom 3 is when the user will be most affected.
Now, some say to keep the empty app category set higher, to keep things free which in theory would help to yor droid snappy, but on the flipside having it set to high can & will result in an over active minfree killer which in theory would have a negative affect on battery life.
