VM Heap Tool 2.0 Update

Version 2.0 has been released, with a major overhaul to the user interface and improved robustness. Since most of the code has been rewritten, force closes are likely to happen. Just please use the “Report” button if you’ll see one, and re-install if it will keep force closing.

Also, it is now possible to easily translate it so I might open a Github or something similar for translations. Or just let me know if you’re interested. Thank you.

VM Heap Tool Icon Poll and 1.3 Update

I have had a few icons sent to me by a couple of good souls, and I’m very grateful to them for dedicating some of their time. Much appreciated :)

Now comes the hard choice of picking one. So, which one would you prefer? Icon 1, Icon 2, Icon 3, Icon 4, or Icon 5?

Thanks to all voters!

P.S. VM Heap Tool has also been updated to 1.3, the changes can be now seen on the Market properly — finally.

VM Heap Tool 1.1 Update

Changes include a fix for screens with HVGA resolutions as the buttons were covering the input area where the size is specified, and also support for Android devices running on OS version 1.6 and newer.

As usual, it’s up on the market.

VM Heap Tool Release

Each application running in Android is allowed a certain amount of memory. When it starts to fill up, the garbage collector (GC) will be called to free some of it so the application can carry on running (if it wasn’t called, the application would just close with an out of memory error). Every time the GC is called, it will take a few CPU cycles to carry out the task. By increasing the heap size, it is however possible to spare these cycles as it will take a longer time for the application to fill its memory space before GC needs to be called, resulting in the application running faster (at the cost of more memory). Some applications which may benefit from this are Gallery3D, image manipulation application, video players, and games in general. Most (if not all) applications are however written with low memory constrains in mind, so speed-ups may not be so visible.

So this little application just allows to change the size of the heap, as well as allowing to backup and restore the file where this setting is found. Root with system write and busybox are however required for this task. Good values are between 12 and 32, with 32 probably being the best value to settle on (your mileage may vary though). Incremental changes are always the best to see where you’re going if you try to go for the more extreme ranges.

It is available on the market (see QR code below) for free, and the AppBrain link is here.

P.S. Another nice thing is that if VM Heap Tool runs fine on your phone, so should Font Changer :)