Generic app using less memory on iPad vs iPhone

Question

I wrote a universal application that works great on both iPhone (iPod Touch) and iPad. The only difference for both platforms is nib files and startup graphics. Both iPad and iPhone nib files have the same functionality, only graphics, buttons and text are more on the iPad.

When I run the tools in both applications to check for memory leaks, I was surprised to see that the iPad uses less memory compared to the iPhone. And I'm trying to understand why this thing ...? In any case, it should be the other way around, with the larger image files used for the iPad.

I compare the Live Bytes metric for All Allocation in a summary of the objects in the tools.

iPad reports max about 600 KB
iPhone reports maximum size of about 3.6 MB

In both cases, I use real devices, not a simulator.

The higher the iPhone, the better, it does not cause problems, but I'm just wondering why the iPad reports such low numbers ...?

Answer 1

Your first step is likely to be to determine which objects take up so much memory when working on your iPod Touch, and then compare them with the objects present when working on your iPad.

Tools, fortunately, make this very easy. Use the Allocations template and you will see a list of all the different types of distributions. From there, you can click and do some data mining. If you want to learn more about the Tools, I recommend checking out the WWDC2010 videos, for free if you are a member of the iPhone Developer Program.