ArcPad 10 on Trimble Ranger 3XE "low memory"

[DavidBrooks3]

I'm loading 12 point layers, 1 line layer and 1 shape file rendering street addresses ArcPad map onto a Trimble.  Open the map, a very drilled in extent, and after very few adding or editing of features ArcPad freezes up and a "low memory" message appears.  The maps loaded do not have any rasters or tiles.  I located another post that suggested lowering QuickDraw Coursness to 0-2 (a slider control in ArcPad 10) which I have tried all settings to no avail.  I have unchecked QuickDraw for all layers to no avail.  I have also looked into Win Mobile 6.5 settings to lower resolution on the Trimble unit but cannot find any such feature.  Is this something I configure when getting data for ArcPad or is it a configuration in ArcPad or is it a configuration step once the map is opened in ArcPad?  Any help would be much appreciated.

[TimHopper]

David,

The issue you're running into is most likely just a limitation of processing power on your mobile device.  I've run into this issue more times than I can count.  I've seen the issue on different projects with anywhere from ~8-80 feature classes in the document.  Sometimes the issue is related to one particular layer (such as a street reference layer) and sometimes it's just a combination of many feature classes in the map at one time.

The only real way to eliminate this issue is to remove layers from your document.

Either..

A. You have separate apm's which contain different sets of your data or..
B. You add and remove layers from your map as needed.

This issue is documented under:

CQ00312809: Errors are received when adding a large number of layers to ArcPad on a mobile device.

The ArcPad development team is continually striving to improve the performance of axf files on mobile devices.  The main issue at hand, however, is that the vast majority of mobile devices lack any real processing power.  They just cannot be treated the same as a desktop or laptop computer.

[DavidBrooks3]

Thanks Tim,
Your suggestion to reduce visible feature classes has worked.  It is disappointing to purchase a top the line GPS unit and still have to do this.  Thankfully my customers are docile. 
Thanks again,

[JamesMudd1]

Very large complex features can cause these issues.  Avoid using multipart features, features with 'holes', and very dense/complex features with many vertices. 

--Jim

[MosquitoGIS]

The bigger issue at hand is that the Operating System installed on these handhelds only allow for a very limited amount of memory to be used per program (I think it is like 32MB).  You could have a unit with 512MB plus, and Windows Mobile is still going to only allow and allocate just that 32MB to ArcPad and absolutely no more.  So, You could have the most expensive unit around with the highest amount of processing power and memory around and you will still run into this issue.  It isn't the unit that is the problem, it is the OS.