[Defy Android Development] YetAnotherForumUser:
The [FONT="Monospace, Courier New"]free[/FONT] command is not very helpful to decide whether there is something wrong with memory management as it does not tell you where the memory goes. Memory which is reported as free in [FONT="Monospace, Courier New"]free[/FONT] is memory which goes to waste as it is currently just using power without doing anything useful in return. On my phone - which is still running fine after 13 days of uptime [FONT="Monospace, Courier New"]free[/FONT] currently shows the following:

$ free
total used free shared buffers
Mem: 488416 478764 9652 0 30632
-/+ buffers: 448132 40284
Swap: 0 0 0

The value you're really interested in on Android is the value reported by [FONT="Monospace, Courier New"]dumpsys meminfo[/FONT]:

$ dumpsys meminfo
Applications Memory Usage (kB):
Uptime: 323524324 Realtime: 1116943532

Total PSS by process:
94261 kB: com.android.browser (pid 27359)
37919 kB: system (pid 19681)
28965 kB: android.process.acore (pid 25800)
27138 kB: com.namelessdev.mpdroid (pid 31066)
25104 kB: com.android.settings (pid 26196)
20040 kB: com.teslacoilsw.launcher (pid 28763)
19845 kB: com.android.systemui (pid 19766)
19720 kB: com.android.phone (pid 19855)
11963 kB: com.android.deskclock (pid 30092)
11313 kB: org.pocketworkstation.pckeyboard (pid 2597)
8367 kB: com.google.android.gallery3d (pid 25614)
7943 kB: com.google.android.youtube (pid 30125)
6249 kB: com.motorola.usb (pid 19860)
5804 kB: android.process.media (pid 25629)
5793 kB: com.metago.astro (pid 30992)
5528 kB: com.google.android.apps.uploader (pid 25651)
4965 kB: com.android.calendar (pid 31133)
4513 kB: com.android.providers.calendar (pid 31116)
3757 kB: com.android.quicksearchbox (pid 30550)
3263 kB: com.android.defcontainer (pid 31297)
3001 kB: com.android.smspush (pid 19938)

Total PSS by OOM adjustment:
37919 kB: System
37919 kB: system (pid 19681)
45814 kB: Persistent
19845 kB: com.android.systemui (pid 19766)
19720 kB: com.android.phone (pid 19855)
6249 kB: com.motorola.usb (pid 19860)
25104 kB: Foreground
25104 kB: com.android.settings (pid 26196)
6264 kB: Visible
3263 kB: com.android.defcontainer (pid 31297)
3001 kB: com.android.smspush (pid 19938)
11313 kB: Perceptible
11313 kB: org.pocketworkstation.pckeyboard (pid 2597)
20040 kB: Home
20040 kB: com.teslacoilsw.launcher (pid 28763)
27138 kB: Previous
27138 kB: com.namelessdev.mpdroid (pid 31066)
181859 kB: Background
94261 kB: com.android.browser (pid 27359)
28965 kB: android.process.acore (pid 25800)
11963 kB: com.android.deskclock (pid 30092)
8367 kB: com.google.android.gallery3d (pid 25614)
7943 kB: com.google.android.youtube (pid 30125)
5804 kB: android.process.media (pid 25629)
5793 kB: com.metago.astro (pid 30992)
5528 kB: com.google.android.apps.uploader (pid 25651)
4965 kB: com.android.calendar (pid 31133)
4513 kB: com.android.providers.calendar (pid 31116)
3757 kB: com.android.quicksearchbox (pid 30550)

Total PSS by category:
131276 kB: Dalvik
105354 kB: Native
65551 kB: Unknown
17906 kB: Other dev
17215 kB: .so mmap
14645 kB: .dex mmap
2586 kB: .apk mmap
766 kB: Other mmap
90 kB: Ashmem
50 kB: .ttf mmap
8 kB: Cursor
4 kB: .jar mmap

Total PSS: 355451 kB
KSM: 0 kB saved from shared 0 kB
0 kB unshared; 0 kB volatile

The phone reports 236 MB free in Settings->Apps. Anything in the Background category is ready for re-purposing.

Looking at that [FONT="Monospace, Courier New"]procmem[/FONT] dump for systemui on your phone shows that it has a PSS of just over 11 MB, in other words next to nothing. How did your phone behave when you took that [FONT="Monospace, Courier New"]procmem[/FONT] dump?