App.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

using Xamarin.Forms;

namespace ImageIssue
{
	public class App : Application
	{
		public static int screenWidth;
		public static int screenHeight;

		AbsoluteLayout layout = new AbsoluteLayout ();

		public App ()
		{
			ContentPage contentPage = new ContentPage ();

			RenderImages ();

			contentPage.Content = layout;
			MainPage = contentPage;
		}

		private void RenderImages ()
		{
			int numRows = 5;
			int numColumns = 5;
			int numImagesRendered = 0;
			int numImagesToRender = 19;

			for (int i = 0; i < numRows; i++) {
				for (int j = 0; j < numColumns; j++) {
					if (numImagesRendered >= numImagesToRender)
						return;

					// LARGE IMAGE ==============================================================
					//BGHouse = 829k image
					// See Screenshot #1
					//	287.8 MB Working Set
					//	287.9 MB Max
					//
					//layout.Children.Add (new Image { Source = "BGHouse", Aspect = Aspect.Fill }, new Rectangle (screenWidth / numRows * i, screenHeight / numColumns * j, screenWidth / numRows, screenHeight / numColumns), AbsoluteLayoutFlags.None);



					// SMALL IMAGE ==============================================================
					//BGHouseSmallerSize = 46k image
					// See Screenshot #2
					//	287.4 MB Working Set
					//	288.1 MB Max
					//
					layout.Children.Add (new Image { Source = "BGHouseSmallerSize", Aspect = Aspect.Fill }, new Rectangle (screenWidth / numRows * i, screenHeight / numColumns * j, screenWidth / numRows, screenHeight / numColumns), AbsoluteLayoutFlags.None);

					numImagesRendered++;
				}
			}
		}
	}
}

MainActivity.cs

using System;

using Android.App;
using Android.Content.PM;
using Android.Runtime;
using Android.Views;
using Android.Widget;
using Android.OS;

namespace ImageIssue.Droid
{
	[Activity (Label = "ImageIssue", Icon = "@drawable/icon", MainLauncher = true, ConfigurationChanges = ConfigChanges.ScreenSize | ConfigChanges.Orientation)]
	public class MainActivity : global::Xamarin.Forms.Platform.Android.FormsApplicationActivity
	{
		protected override void OnCreate (Bundle bundle)
		{
            App.screenWidth = (int)(Resources.DisplayMetrics.WidthPixels / Resources.DisplayMetrics.Density);
            App.screenHeight = (int)(Resources.DisplayMetrics.HeightPixels / Resources.DisplayMetrics.Density);

            base.OnCreate (bundle);

			global::Xamarin.Forms.Forms.Init (this, bundle);
			LoadApplication (new ImageIssue.App ());
		}
	}
}

Version Info.cs

=== Xamarin Studio ===

Version 5.10.2 (build 53)
Installation UUID: 3477b147-e3de-47d4-87f5-4f0230db8f1e
Runtime:
	Mono 4.2.2 (explicit/efae6a0)
	GTK+ 2.24.23 (Raleigh theme)

	Package version: 402020029

=== Xamarin.Profiler ===

Version: 0.24.0.0
Location: /Applications/Xamarin Profiler.app/Contents/MacOS/Xamarin Profiler

=== Xamarin.Android ===

Version: 6.0.1.9 (Enterprise Edition)
Android SDK: /Users/matthewr/Library/Developer/Xamarin/android-sdk-macosx
	Supported Android versions:
		2.3   (API level 10)
		4.0.3 (API level 15)
		4.4   (API level 19)
		5.0   (API level 21)
		5.1   (API level 22)
		6.0   (API level 23)

SDK Tools Version: 24.4.1
SDK Platform Tools Version: 23.0.1
SDK Build Tools Version: 22.0.1

Java SDK: /usr
java version "1.7.0_71"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_71-b14)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 24.71-b01, mixed mode)

=== Xamarin Android Player ===

Version: 0.6.5
Location: /Applications/Xamarin Android Player.app

=== Apple Developer Tools ===

Xcode 7.1.1 (9081)
Build 7B1005

=== Xamarin.iOS ===

Version: 9.4.1.23 (Enterprise Edition)
Hash: 7f1cef9
Branch: master
Build date: 2016-01-15 19:47:34-0500

=== Xamarin.Mac ===

Version: 2.4.1.5 (Enterprise Edition)

=== Xamarin Inspector ===

Version: 0.5.0.0
Hash: 45b35bb
Branch: master
Build date: Thu Jan 14 18:53:32 UTC 2016

=== Build Information ===

Release ID: 510020053
Git revision: 7ee6b4076e3f2907ae518876a91babcfdc2ea20e
Build date: 2016-01-15 11:54:57-05
Xamarin addins: 650d2ecb32cf74b3a4ac610d868925d5880f2967
Build lane: monodevelop-lion-cycle6-c6sr1

=== Operating System ===

Mac OS X 10.10.5
Darwin mMac.fios-router.home 14.5.0 Darwin Kernel Version 14.5.0
    Tue Sep  1 21:23:09 PDT 2015
    root:xnu-2782.50.1~1/RELEASE_X86_64 x86_64

Using a Large image

• BGHouse = 829k image
• 287.8 MB Working Set
• 287.9 MB Max
• Code Snip - https://gist.github.com/mattregul/f2ca40428937e87667e2#file-app-cs-L39
• Link to Large Image - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/62849286/Cases/243277/BGHouse.png

Using a Small image

• BGHouseSmallerSize = 46k image
• 287.4 MB Working Set
• 288.1 MB Max
• Code Snip - https://gist.github.com/mattregul/f2ca40428937e87667e2#file-app-cs-L49
• Link to Large Image - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/62849286/Cases/243277/BGHouseSmallerSize.jpg

Sample App (modified version)

• Includes a small and the original large image for testing
• https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/62849286/Cases/243277/ImageIssueMod.zip