Windows Phone Thoughts: Why Many New Devices Are Coming with 128 MB Flash ROM and 64 MB of RAM

Ever wondered why many of the new high-end Pocket PCs come with twice as much Flash ROM as RAM? Here's why: Flash ROM, while slower than RAM, is permanent storage – meaning that if your device loses power, the apps/data in Flash ROM are still safe. Current Pocket PCs still use RAM for database and registry storage, so losing power will still put you in a world of hurt. If you look at the way Windows Mobile Smartphones work you can see where this might all be headed: everything will be in Flash ROM, and devices can come out of a battery-dead state without a hiccup.

When I got my X50 for testing, I installed several applications into Flash ROM, and they all worked without a hitch. From a freshly hard reset device, I had 62.76 MB of RAM available and 89.65 MB of ROM. 29.24 MB of RAM storage was free, and 24.88 MB of program RAM was free after connecting via ActiveSync. Did you know that ActiveSync uses 0.03 MB of storage RAM when it syncs? I know I didn't! :-)

Here's what I installed, and the amount of system RAM free after each install:

DinarSoft HandyMenu - 29.24 MB
DinarSoft MemMaid - 29.21 MB
Warfare Inc. - 29.21 MB
SkyForce - 29.21 MB
FlexWallet 2005 - 29.21 MB
LandWare Movie Guide - 29.13 MB
Xrgomics TenGO - 28.33 MB
Sprite Backup - 28.07 MB
Sprite Space Detective - 28.06 MB
WebIS Mail 2 - 28.01 MB
Spb Pocket Plus - 26.60 MB (this was forced into main RAM)
Spb Time - 26.42 MB
Spb Imageer - 26.10 MB
Spb Finance - 26.05 MB
Pocket Skype Beta 0.9 - 26.00 MB
Lextionary - 25.99 MB
WorldMate Pro - 25.98 MB
PDAmill Anthelion - 25.98 MB
ScaryBear Software Superlist - 25.98 MB
RCX Columbia Encyclopedia - 25.98 MB

I was particularly surprised to see that an input program such as TenGo worked - they normally have to be installed in RAM because of problems loading software from Flash ROM after a soft reset. I was able to install all those apps and barely touch the system RAM.

Mind you, this doesn't mean I wouldn't welcome a device with 128 MB of RAM. I don't use GPS, which I've heard takes up gobs of RAM, but I have seen 30 MB of RAM used up when playing a VGA-sized video - so it seems that 64 MB isn't quite enough for all scenarios, yet that's what several major OEMs are giving us in their high-end devices. :?

The moral of the story? If you install everything possible into Flash ROM, you'll have quite a bit of RAM left over. Never install to main RAM unless you have no choice, and be sure to email any developer that has an app that doesn't work properly from Flash ROM.