Say an app has a download size of 3 GB, do you need 3 GB of memory or 3 GB of storage?
In: Technology
That would be 3 GB of storage.
“Storage” is the “disk” of a phone, which is very similar to an SSD hard drive of a computer. Memory is what is also called RAM. Phones are very similar to other, more ordinary computers and this is just one such example of how.
Storage is a funny way of saying “this exists some where in memory.”
The “where” is handled the phone’s operating system.
So your phone is a kitchen
Memory(ram) is how much counter space you have. Got a butt ton of Memory(counter space) and you can do a lot of cooking at once.
Storage(HD) is your cabinets/pantry. Got a butt ton of cabinets(Storage) and you have a wider variety of things you can potentially cook
You need 3GB of storage, so that app can comfortably fit in the cabinets
Mobil phones are just computers so the difference between memory and storage is the same between a phone and a computer.
Memory is the amount of data the processor can work with at one time, this matters for the kind of programs you are able to run but not for the size of anything you would download.
Storage is how much data the device can have on it before it is out of space and can’t hold anymore.
In your example of a downloading 3gb download memory doesn’t matter, only storage. Memory would matter for something like a game, if a game needs 4gb of memory then a phone with 3gb of memory wouldn’t be able to run it.
The downloaded app would be kept in the device’s storage. Memory is required to hold data temporarily, when it will be needed by the processor, so would rarely, if ever, need to hold the entire app at one time.
However, you may also need more storage than just the download size. The download file will be packaged, and probably compressed, so after unpacking and decompressing where necessary, it will need more space on disk. It might also create or retrieve more data after installation, adding further to the storage requirements.
Storage. Memory typically refers to RAM, which is a much, much faster (but also much more costly per GB) medium used by the CPU to store data that is in use by currently running programs (apps).
Storage is space on the phone. Memory is more of a “workspace”
Think of it like a desk. Strorage is the space under or in the desk where you put everything books pencils etc.
Memory would be the top of the desk, your actual workspace. Much smaller space to temporarily hold important information that’s being readily accessed.
If you try to put everything in your desk on the top of the desk, you overflow and drop things (memory overflow) and projects (apps) come to a halt.
I understand your confusion and it is due to bad naming. Firstly you are right that we often differ between Random Access Memory which gets wiped every time you reboot and permanent storage like a drive. In a computer we often shorten RAM to just memory. However in cell phones they used the term memory to market the permanent storage as early phones they used Programmable Read Only Memory for permanent storage. But as phones have become more like computers the terms are easy to mix. The same term can mean either RAM or PROM (later developed into Flash memory and then SSD) depending on context.
Imagine storage is your backpack, while memory is your hands.
Your hands are really great at taking things quickly, and using them quickly. Unfortunately, you can’t store a lot of stuff in your hands and – most importantly – it’s hard to hold stuff in your hands while you’re sleeping. Your backpack, meanwhile, is a *lot* slower. It takes time to put stuff into the backpack, and it takes time to pull stuff out. Sure, there’s things you can do to make it faster – but it’ll never be as fast as having it in your hands. That’s all fine, though – you can store a ton of stuff in the backpack, and you can even take it off and leave it somewhere while you’re sleeping.
In a phone (or computer), Memory is like your hands. It’s right there, and it’s *really* fast, but it doesn’t hold a lot of stuff, and you lose the stuff if you turn your phone off. Storage is like a backpack – yes, it’s quite a bit slower and anything you want to use typically goes into memory before getting used, but you can store a whole lot of stuff in it and that stuff stays even if the phone loses all its power.
Apps will always go into storage, for two simple reasons. First and foremost – nobody wants to lose all their apps if their phone dies. That would be insane! In fact, just about every piece of important data goes to storage, because memory is far worse at holding onto stuff. From the thousands of memes you’ve saved to the basic files used to run the phone, it all goes to storage. Secondly, memory is a lot more expensive than storage – so a modern iPhone will have 4 GB of memory but at least 64 GB of storage. On a PC (where part prices are publicly available), 500 GB of high-end storage will cost around as much as 32 GB of high-end memory.
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