What does it mean by "free memory" in a BB?

[yorrick]

It may sound like a dumb question, but it seems like two applications doesn't quite agree with the status listing of free memory on a Blackberry.

I have an 8310 and when I type <num>+<shft>+'h' to bring the "Help Me!" notice, it shows the following:
"File Free" = 8,942,913 bytes
"File Total" = "54,919,168 bytes

Now - I have two applications to manage the memory of my 8310 - MemoryUp and Aerize Optimizer which shows the following information...

MemoryUp
"Total memory" = 37,397,344 B
"Free memory" = 27,911,272 B
"Used memory" = 9,486,072 B

Aerize Optimizer
"All" = 8M of 54MB
"Code" = 10MB
"RAM" = 11MB
"Persistent" = 10MB
"Transient" = 10MB
"Objects" = 60KB

I am assuming what the Blackberry 8310 "Help Me!" information is accurate (for the sake of discussion)
Then the two other apps doesn't quite explain the following issues:
1) Why does MemoryUp doesn't show the same "free memory" as the Blackberry "Help Me!" information?

2) What does MemoryUp "Free", "Used" and "Total" memory correspond to given that it doesn't match with anything else (like the "Help Me!" information)

3) Why does Aerize Optimizer show a shortage of 0.9MB in the "All" compared to the Blackberry "Help Me!" information?
I really hope it isn't a "round off" error!!!

4) When you add up (in Aerize Optimizer)the memory used in all the categories, it adds up to 49MB. How come this doesn't tally up to 54MB [U]total[/B]?
Where is the unaccounted 6MB of memory?

I have looked through the user manuals for both products and it is quite perfunctory in the description of how it measures memory.
As a final question, why can't MemoryUp and Aerize Optimizer views of "memory" in the Blackberry be consistent with the status?

As far as I can see, when either MemoryUp or Aerize Optimizer frees up memory, something occurs and a message pops up saying "X amount of memory is freed". Is it imaginary or is it real? Is a battery pull a panacea to all Blackberry ills? (these were rhetorical questions - so they don't count!)

[zerog46]

I don't think either of those programs work very well, and to me it's defeets the purpose of keeping your memory free by adding programs to do this. Just do a battery pull say every 1 to 2 weeks and you should be fine. Or you can do a alt shift delete and it will perform a hard reset...

[takeshi]

You need to hit Alt-Right Shift-Del twice for a hard reset. Once is a soft reset.

I don't use the memory apps or regularly pull my battery. Just being aware of memory usage does the trick for me. Obviously, YMMV.

[John Clark]

Yep, I concur. The File Free in Options Status is good enough. The rest is snake oil. Memory using-snake oil. The best way to keep up with your free memory is to get rid of things you don't need/use. See my memory optimizing post. Link is in my sig.