Windows Phone Thoughts: An Interesting Power Point On Persistant Storage

"Remember that RAM requires power to keep its data. The amount of power needed is linear with the amount of RAM. That is to say, 64M of RAM needs twice as much power to keep it running as 32M does. 128M needs four times as much power as 32, etc. And this power drain is constant. The RAM is sucking your batteries dry while the device is in use and while it's suspended. It even continues to drain your batteries when they are "critically low" and the system won't let you turn it on. Also, people didn't buy 128M RAM devices for the program space. They bought them to store stuff in. And those devices had lousy battery lives as a result."

Robert Levy dropped us a note with this post from Mike Calligaro in the Windows Mobile Team Blog. Persistant storage has always sounded nice to me, but after reading this post, it hammers home the point that it really will change the way we use our devices. I never appreciated how much my battery was monopolized by RAM (If I had really thought about it, I probably would have realized this, but like I said, this post hammered home the point to me in a way I hadn't really thought to think of ;) ). For all of you who are still skeptical about Persistant Storage in WM 2005, take a read through. And if you think you know why all the hype is warrented and welcome PS, take a read as well - it may make you think more than you had!