[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] mettleh3d:
Currently running: CM 10.1, build 0319 stock kernel and cpu settings.

TL;DR - The Hercules and its 1GB RAM suddenly seem like it can't multi-task like it once could. However maybe its app developers just heinously demanding more resources so their apps can look amazingly fluid because they forcefully killed everything else in the back?

What's the deal?

I remember a time in yesteryear yonder, whence I would have 5-7 apps running in the back without breaking nary a sweat. SO WHAT THE HELL happened Android? That was back on Touchwiz and Gingerbread!

Today I can't have utorrent and chrome open simultaneously. TWO apps. For instance if I've utorrent downloading, ill switch to Chrome (recent apps switch; not open) and maybe answer a Whatsapp immediately after; utorrent will undoubtedly be killed and must be reactivated.

Now I understand that chrome and utorrent are naturally RAM heavy applications, but it helps further my point. Why are apps being killed so quickly today? Was it Touchwiz that was great at ram management? Was it gingerbread? Or have apps been slowly updating over the last two years and demanding more allocation of RAM from the get go so that everything else gets forcefully killed? I remember when the Hercules was announced and all the reviewers claimed 1GB was such a stupid amount of overkill RAM and we'll never see it taxed. Now that 2GB has become the standard with the introduction of the GS3, I theorize app devs are being more liberal in demanding resources from devices without giving too much consideration for older models. So apps are killed more frequently to make room to the foreground.

So why do you care?

-The stock stopwatch app will die if you run a few more apps afterwards. This is just derp. Really, try this yourself. Can you imagine your morning alarm was silently force killed because you were reading a website before bedtime?

-Some audio apps can be killed as well. ie Doggcatcher. Audio actually stops if certain conditions of apps are opened after Doggcatcher. Derp.

-Device slows to a complete crawl during the course of a day. I don't believe I've ever owned a device (clamshell Sammy, Blackberry or Android) that didn't exhibit facepalm-worthy memory leak issues. If Android was designed to have its RAM filled, why do slowdowns exist?

-Incoming phone calls suffer lag when re-acquiring attention. This seems bizarre because in About > System you can see the Hercules indicates it has 768MB RAM, indicating a quarter is reserved for system apps. Which means it shouldn't really have this problem.

-Application settings requesting 'Persistent Notifications' to ensure app foreground attention. Apps like Tasker, utorrent, Battery Guru request this to remain alive. Is this the solution now? And is this 100% immune if system requires the resources?

-Apps take longer to open. I can't quite pinpoint this. Just a feeling.

Alright man relax, the Galaxy S4 and HTC One come packing with 2GB

Upgrading to a new flagship doesn't seem to be the solution to stifle this issue. App developers are excellent at what they do and naturally want their product to look its best with the resources available to it. With 3D games exhibiting the capabilities of a Snapdragon 600 and Tegra 4, where's the incentive to tell either to slow down? This same logic can be directly applied to the smartphone spec war and the recurring battery life bottleneck story.

Excellent read here from Gizmodo:

So what's your point?

I'm not sure I have one. I'm just observing whats happening. We are finally actually seeing applications that are pushing our hardware to its limits. While 1GB of onboard RAM used to be a drool inducing spec, 2GB is not really a huge leap considering the jump the Snapdragon S3 made to the S4, S4 Pro and now the 600 in magnitudes of processing power. 2GB would certainly be astronomical, if it took a trip back in time and only had to run 2011 apps. I guess my point is: I'm throwing a tantrum that the Hercules is showing its age, even if it's not its fault.

Forgive my rambling and lack of proof-reading. At work.