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I hear about people using different taskiller apps and now I have been reading that these apps are the cause of some problems and that the phone "knows" when to close apps if it needs the memory.
So what is the verdict??? Are Taskiller apps evil or necessary or do they have any value at all???
I use Taskiller. It's a great app but I have to admit, I wonder about its effectiveness. I tend to 'close all apps' if there are a lot running but I've found that this often causes more problems than it solves. As an example, I use the footprints widget on one of my screens. If I close the footprint app using Taskiller, sometimes it causes the whole touchflo process to terminate unexpectedly. I've also found problems closing processes with Taskiller which are related to the social networking/mapping features. If you know what processes to put in the 'ignore' list then fine, but closing some processes can hinder the phone's overall function.
Sometimes, however, if you want to close an app, there's no way other than to use a task killer. Take Peep for instance. No way to close it other than killing it. So yeh, task killers; generally unnecessary but sometimes handy.
Most applications do not properly handle shutting themselves down on Android. Android itself does not close many applications automatically, so a task manager is needed. How ever the automatic task managers have a tendency to kill system services as well and can cause a lot of problems on the phone.
s0v3r1gn said:
Android itself does not close many applications automatically, so a task manager is needed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess that is ultimately the question....is it really needed???
I used taskiller in the beginning but after I stopped using it I think my phone is generally more responsive and better. Why? Because it doesn't have to start apps everytime I change screen or whatever. However I do have taskiller to kill apps that crashes or similar just in case. I do not use it frequently though. Instead I let the phone handle killing apps and whatnot.
So in my opinion taskiller is not needed because the phone takes care of everything that's needed mostly.
advanced task killer screwed up my text messages so i havent bothered with one since. luckily the device is just as as quick and responsive without it. so my vote is 'a' and 'c'
My favorite has been Advanced Task Killer Free. It doesnt cost anything and doesnt get rid of any vital processes that Android needs, especially if youre using SenseUI. Also, I have seen noticeable performance increases afterwards. So yes, I would say it is needed.
I've been using advanced task killer with problems. It seems to do what it suppose to but it also closes the radio for some reason. The rx signal comes back but the evdo doesn't unless I do a reset... I even payed for the advanced task killer thinking it would have more options but only has a hourly function.
Linux has it's own scheduler which handles tasks very efficiently.
no its not needed. i use to use advance task manager and it totally screwed and lagged my phone. not to mention i wasnt getting my sms because of those apps...i stopped using it and my phone functions great. if i feel that the phone is bunddled up with alot of apps i previously opened, i simply reset it (i hardly do resets because the phone functions excellently).
so no to task killers.
I had Taskiller installed, but after initially using it, I found that I wasn't bothered to use it, but it was still there with the icon at the top of the screen.
I read that they can actually slow your system down, so as I wasn't using it, I uninstalled it and maybe it isn't but the system does seem a little more responsive now
Vince
i used advanced taskiller and it kept my phone awake even when locked/lcd off. that murdered my battery. i uninstalled and use task manager now with no issues. it is not as simple as dragging down the notifications bar but my battery life is fine now.
I've definitely found that there is pretty much zero benefit to regularly using a task killer. Other peoples mileage will vary of course, and I'm sure there will be combinations of applications that don't sit too well together and cause issues, but I'm pretty confident than Android handles resource management well enough for most users.
I do wonder how may of those who swear by task killers are also using swapper, as I can well imagine that swapper will cause problems with Androids own resource management.
Regards,
Dave
HAHAHA guess you're not getting a clear cut verdict on task killers from this thread! seems like everyone has their own opinion....
There was an earlier debate on this topic. The thread is here... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=569709&highlight=task+killer
and the android info is here (must read for understanding task killing) http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=569709&highlight=task+killer
They work well when set up properly. No reason to be closing widgets and programs on your sense ui that you use on a fairly often basis because it will take some time for them to load when you want to view them.
Leave the stuff you use regularly open and close the junk that takes up resources that you don't regularly use. Most of these programs have exception lists for a reason.
People that automatically end all and close sense, or their system dialer files will obviously run into problems and lag when all that stuff restarts at the same time.
Aridon said:
...Most of these programs have exception lists for a reason.
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Click to collapse
Exactly. They are fine if you exclude ALL the necessary components, then just have a few remaining on the main page that you know can be quit. Advanced Task Killer has been fine for me with their 'ignore list'.
i found that since ive stopped using task killer m battery life has improved quite alot
now i leave all the work to the android system
I have had the hero from day one and have had taskiller installed for about as long. I DID use it but do not now... and have no slow downs...
how?.......
custom rom....?
service which frees memory?
no...
Simply press back to exit a program and not home... if you press home the program most likley will not catch the button press and close. click back to exit and the program closes properly.
Press Back ....... this ISNT an iPhone with only 1 button.
nuff said...
I'm going without on this hard reset. On the last go around, even with disabling native sms app and using a 3rd party I was still getting the 100% awake time issue on the sprint hero.
FWIW, On a sprint hero make sure you ignore htiqagent, iqrd and omadm. Killing these will cause a radio reset, and ignore htcsense if you are using sense, which btw you can disable by removing its default setting in settings-apps-manage apps.
I think it is safe to say that I'm pretty ignorant about Android/Linux/etc. Nevertheless, I have Advanced Task Manager and I like to use it. I do use it judiciously, only ending certain programs/apps yet leaving most of that business to Android. And, of course, I use it to end the program itself.
El Mono
A couple of days ago I decided to wipe my phone which was running cyanogen's 4.2.13 because it felt slightly sluggish and I figured it was because I've been through so many rom updates and havent wiped, coming from before the whole google/cyanogen cease and decist.
i wiped the phone, reflashed 4.2.13 and enoch theme and began restoring all my data and apps. I noticed very strange behavior coming from the phone shortly after this though. sometimes the phone would just become completely unresponsive, not even the red button would put it to sleep mode. only option was to pull the battery which allowed the phone to run fine after a reboot.
this has happened a total of 3 times since I wiped/reflashed it (monday night). today it happened again and I decided to let the phone run until I was able to open advanced task manager. to my surprise, about every single application I have on my phone was running in the Applications tab. after killing all, the phone was back to being responsive again. I did not execute anything to open these apps, the phone simply started lagging out and I suppose the reason is because every app was trying to get some use of the CPU.
now I am keeping a heavy watch on my advanced task manager list to see if this will happen again, and I noticed that the Messaging application has spawned itself on the list. is this normal? is something wrong with my phone? has it been compromised? I haven't downloaded anything strange, just the same apps I had before wipe/reflash.
No your location hasn't been compromised and there isnt any spyware or viruses on your phone. Those are services, just like on computers that do numerous things.Sometimes settings becomes active after using power control.You could just put the widget for the taskiller on you home screen if your concerned about speed. If your home screens are filled with hundreds of widgets try removing some and see if the speed increases.The 10MB hack might be helpful if you switch b/t a lot of apps.Or you could try another rom if you wanted.
im pretty sure an app like AK notepad doesnt run as a service, but it was populated a few times on my applications tab, along with other things such as calculator.
i don't use the power control widget either. leaving the task killer widget on my home screen to kill the processes as they fork bomb my phone is just a sloppy way to fix whatever is wrong.
and my home screens arent filled with widgets. the only widgets I use are weather, calendar, curvefish's bluetooth wifi silent screenlock, and overclock widget.
If all your apps keep running in the background try using advanced task managers auto end list
hi all,
i m new user for Nexus one, i wonder what is the best task apps to auto kill when the phone in sleep mode in order to save battery. My phone havent ROOT yet, shall i do it? After i have update the Android 2.1 i found it very good compare with iphone.
thank you very much
Killing tasks won't help to save battery... don't buy the hype. Android will manage your apps for you.
No killing tasks can help your battery. There are many apps on the market that are poorly written and drain battery.
McFroger3 said:
No killing tasks can help your battery. There are many apps on the market that are poorly written and drain battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that makes sense... but I don't run any poorly written apps. And neither should you.
If you absolutely have to have a task killer, just download Astro File Manager. You'll need a file manager on this phone anyway, and Astro has a built in configurable task killer and can also back up apps to SD.
uansari1 said:
Well that makes sense... but I don't run any poorly written apps. And neither should you.
If you absolutely have to have a task killer, just download Astro File Manager. You'll need a file manager on this phone anyway, and Astro has a built in configurable task killer and can also back up apps to SD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I try not to. But sometimes I get curious and download some random apps haha.
I use Advance Task Manager since I bought it when I had a Cliq.
It works good when I need to kill something to restart it or if I need to do a batch uninstall.
Astro is amazing and no one should have an android phone without it.
Thks all,
If so, i shall just leave as it is and not install any of those task killer or auto task etc......
But anyway to min the battery drain since there are so much apps running on RAM when the phone is in sleep mode. My battery can only last for 8 hrs from 9am till 5pm (i am so distracted, i do turn on my BT and talk on phone for at least 100mins-150mins a day.)
Thank you
chocodip said:
Thks all,
If so, i shall just leave as it is and not install any of those task killer or auto task etc......
But anyway to min the battery drain since there are so much apps running on RAM when the phone is in sleep mode. My battery can only last for 8 hrs from 9am till 5pm (i am so distracted, i do turn on my BT and talk on phone for at least 100mins-150mins a day.)
Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Keep the screen brightness as low as you can. Also having a lot of widgets can contribute to battery drain.
uansari1 said:
Killing tasks won't help to save battery... don't buy the hype. Android will manage your apps for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
while this is true, I notice that android's threshold for closing programs is lower than I prefer. It seems to start closing programs at around 25 mb free (on stock kernel and rom) as reported by ES strong's task manager. At this level there is a noticeable amount of sluggishness on my N1. Of course this only lasts for perhaps 10 seconds or so as I am switching apps or whatever until android closes the processes to free up some ram.
I've read comments like yours many times, and I go back to not using one for a while thinking I must just be paranoid. Each time I return to the task manager because I get ticked about sluggishness.
If you manage your ignore list carefully to avoid closing stuff you actually want running in the background you lose nothing. The phone is fast enough that it loads apps quickly even if they're not sitting in the ram, so I prefer to hit the autokill widget once in a while or after using something like the youtube app or other resource hogging apps that I don't use on a regular basis.
I haven't noticed a difference in battery life, but the task manager improves my experience with the phone. It seems that as long as the free memory stays around 40+ I don't see the sluggishness.
Which task killer you use?
rossiscatch said:
while this is true, I notice that android's threshold for closing programs is lower than I prefer. It seems to start closing programs at around 25 mb free (on stock kernel and rom) as reported by ES strong's task manager. At this level there is a noticeable amount of sluggishness on my N1. Of course this only lasts for perhaps 10 seconds or so as I am switching apps or whatever until android closes the processes to free up some ram.
I've read comments like yours many times, and I go back to not using one for a while thinking I must just be paranoid. Each time I return to the task manager because I get ticked about sluggishness.
If you manage your ignore list carefully to avoid closing stuff you actually want running in the background you lose nothing. The phone is fast enough that it loads apps quickly even if they're not sitting in the ram, so I prefer to hit the autokill widget once in a while or after using something like the youtube app or other resource hogging apps that I don't use on a regular basis.
I haven't noticed a difference in battery life, but the task manager improves my experience with the phone. It seems that as long as the free memory stays around 40+ I don't see the sluggishness.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My screen always in lowest light mode......i will try to install the advance task....hope it deos help abit.
McFroger3 said:
Keep the screen brightness as low as you can. Also having a lot of widgets can contribute to battery drain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
chocodip said:
My screen always in lowest light mode......i will try to install the advance task....hope it deos help abit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Advance task manager also lets you set a timer for auto closing all open apps except for the ones you have on your exception list.
chocodip said:
hi all,
i m new user for Nexus one, i wonder what is the best task apps to auto kill when the phone in sleep mode in order to save battery. My phone havent ROOT yet, shall i do it? After i have update the Android 2.1 i found it very good compare with iphone.
thank you very much
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try Juice Defender,is free on the market and everytime you turn the screen to sleep it kills the background data to save battery and @ wake-up its normal again.Read the reviews.
rossiscatch said:
while this is true, I notice that android's threshold for closing programs is lower than I prefer. It seems to start closing programs at around 25 mb free (on stock kernel and rom) as reported by ES strong's task manager. At this level there is a noticeable amount of sluggishness on my N1. Of course this only lasts for perhaps 10 seconds or so as I am switching apps or whatever until android closes the processes to free up some ram.
I've read comments like yours many times, and I go back to not using one for a while thinking I must just be paranoid. Each time I return to the task manager because I get ticked about sluggishness.
If you manage your ignore list carefully to avoid closing stuff you actually want running in the background you lose nothing. The phone is fast enough that it loads apps quickly even if they're not sitting in the ram, so I prefer to hit the autokill widget once in a while or after using something like the youtube app or other resource hogging apps that I don't use on a regular basis.
I haven't noticed a difference in battery life, but the task manager improves my experience with the phone. It seems that as long as the free memory stays around 40+ I don't see the sluggishness.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've got over 400 hours of uptime without closing ANY apps with a task killer, and haven't had ANY sluggishness. So if you're really noticing your phone slowing down (and be honest), then I'd exchange it. Frankly, I think a lot of people just "think" their phone is slowing down...
Cyanogen says don't use a Task killer!
Paul22000 said:
Cyanogen says don't use a Task killer!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So if cyanogen says jump of a bridge you would? lol
Just messing with you.
I ve installed the Juicedefender and advance task manger......hope meanwhile there will be sthg better. Battery usage is killing me....
uansari1 said:
I've got over 400 hours of uptime without closing ANY apps with a task killer, and haven't had ANY sluggishness. So if you're really noticing your phone slowing down (and be honest), then I'd exchange it. Frankly, I think a lot of people just "think" their phone is slowing down...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I'm sure you're right.. it's all in my head.
Couple of things OP:
1. Bluetooth is a battery hog!
2. How frequent do you have email update, weather update, et al set to?
3. Did you properly calibrate your battery meter when you got your N1? (Two ways to do it, 1) follow the in box guide and charge the phone before using or 2) run down the battery until the phone shuts itself off, pull battery out, put it back in. Now, without turning it back on, put it on the charger and leave it on for a couple hours past the green light coming on, take off charge, finally turn back on)
4. Do you have WiFi running? GPS? Streaming anything?
Have you downloaded any apps from the market just on a quim? There are some pretty bad apps that will never close until you uninstall and do a soft reset, and sometimes uninstall again.
Killing apps is actually going to hurt your battery. It takes more juice to power up the CPU to open an app then it does to hold it in the RAM, unless it is a crap written app that keeps running, and running, and running... but you shouldn't be using those apps anyways.
rossiscatch said:
Yeah, I'm sure you're right.. it's all in my head.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It most likely is... even when apps sit idle in RAM, the CPU usage for them is 0% in almost every case. Like I said... I don't have those issues at all, so it's either in your head or you have a dud.
uansari1 said:
It most likely is... even when apps sit idle in RAM, the CPU usage for them is 0% in almost every case. Like I said... I don't have those issues at all, so it's either in your head or you have a dud.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think it's a problem with my phone. If you don't notice then good for you. I notice it and it bothers me. Your finger pointing is neither helpful or needed.
Hi
Ive just got this app (really to save myself some battery time)
On launching for the first time it presents me with a whole bunch of stuff including my clocks
Now i'm sure this maybe a pretty dumb question but if i kill the htc clock App will that stop the time and weather updating correctly? (i have my weather set to update hourly) and also if i kill any app like K-9 or Peep (that i have an update schedule set for) will it stop that schedule till i manually launch the app again or will it auto launch when it reaches the sheduled update time?
Sorry for the (potentially) stupid questions
Cheers
The only thing you're going to achieve with using a task killer, is lowering performance and causing even worse battery drain. If that's what you want to do, fine, but otherwise, I wouldn't bother if I were you.
Here's why:
Android's memory management is nothing like Windows Mobile. Applications you've finished with are MEANT to stay in memory until they really are completely finished with, and just because YOU aren't using them, doesn't mean the phone has. If they've been inactive long enough, or some other program needs the RAM, Android will tidily close them down.
If you close them prematurely, then Android will have to load them back up again, so that whatever was using said program's services, can continue to function. This noticeably affects phone performance, and puts an extra load on your battery. Do you REALLY want to do that?
I'm not using any task killers, and my phone runs great, and battery is up to 2.5 days.
Hmm interesting, i might try that, im killing all instantly and repeately, thanks for the tip
FloatingFatMan said:
The only thing you're going to achieve with using a task killer, is lowering performance and causing even worse battery drain. If that's what you want to do, fine, but otherwise, I wouldn't bother if I were you.
Here's why:
Android's memory management is nothing like Windows Mobile. Applications you've finished with are MEANT to stay in memory until they really are completely finished with, and just because YOU aren't using them, doesn't mean the phone has. If they've been inactive long enough, or some other program needs the RAM, Android will tidily close them down.
If you close them prematurely, then Android will have to load them back up again, so that whatever was using said program's services, can continue to function. This noticeably affects phone performance, and puts an extra load on your battery. Do you REALLY want to do that?
I'm not using any task killers, and my phone runs great, and battery is up to 2.5 days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats correct.
I installed it on the phone, and the battery was empty the same night
Uninstalled it, and all works fine now.
Greetz.
would an app like task panel work?
you can add apps that are system apps etc to the ignore list and have apps such as games on the force to kill list or is it just best not to have any task killer apps installed at all?
its strange that there are so many task killer apps and its bad to run on your device. There must be some reason as to why there is an app for this purpose?
ragmanchu said:
would an app like task panel work?
you can add apps that are system apps etc to the ignore list and have apps such as games on the force to kill list or is it just best not to have any task killer apps installed at all?
its strange that there are so many task killer apps and its bad to run on your device. There must be some reason as to why there is an app for this purpose?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They exist, because people think memory management on Android works like it does on Windows Mobile. It doesn't, and never has. Think if it like the so called "memory manager" tools you can get for XP that claim to be able to free all your RAM and speed up your system... Every single one of them is nothing but a placebo designed to part you from your cash, and often end up CAUSING problems, just like task killers on Android do.
Avoid them.
FloatingFatMan said:
They exist, because people think memory management on Android works like it does on Windows Mobile. It doesn't, and never has. Think if it like the so called "memory manager" tools you can get for XP that claim to be able to free all your RAM and speed up your system... Every single one of them is nothing but a placebo designed to part you from your cash, and often end up CAUSING problems, just like task killers on Android do.
Avoid them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Guess thats a good enough reply lol
task killers can work fine, but you need to know what is running and what is using it.
for example, if you have the music widget on the homescreens, then the music player process will be opne in the background.
likewise friendstream will keep people, facebook and twitter open in the background.
if you kill those processes, they will just get opened again.
As long as you are careful, using task managers will not decrease battery life, you just need to know how to use them properly. randomly killing everything in the background is NOT the way to do it.
and you should never close clock if you want your alarm clock to actually go off!!
Might be worth making a list of what apps should be ignored and what apps can be forced killed?
When i had an app killer installed, i used to only force kill games and sat nav apps, the rest i asked it to ignore but after reading this thread, i decided to delete the app killer app =)
Ive put a bunch of stuff like clock, weather, Peep and facebook etc on the ignore list and have used the task killer to only kill off frivolous apps like Spark (for xbox friends) streamfurious, photos etc...Nothing Major!
I unhooked my phone from the power at 7:30 am on the 13th April, its now 16:36 on the 14th april and it still has 30% of the juice left, and i always have wifi and mobile data connection on too...phone is always left on with facebook connecting ever 4 hrs and peep once a day and mail set for every 2 hrs (besides which i do check and update them manually a couple of times a day)
I'll try all this without task killer installed and test how long the phone can run before charging
As you say, it could well be a combination of the battery coming up to speed and a placebo effect.
However, surely it cant do more harm than good to kill an app like Spark !
However, im no Phone Genius so im sure someone will soon tell me that im completely wrong
But so far so good....like i said, ill test things without task killer installed
I've stopped using the task killer now and my battery life has improved very noticably.
oursoul said:
I've stopped using the task killer now and my battery life has improved very noticably.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im not so sure about this.
im using a task killer when i want to close the browser or something using internet, as we all know internet drains a lot of battery and even if the browser or market is in the background it still probably has some active connections = draining battery
cez10 said:
im using a task killer when i want to close the browser or something using internet, as we all know internet drains a lot of battery and even if the browser or market is in the background it still probably has some active connections = draining battery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to close fast the browser or any app, you should have a try at taskOS and launch it with the search key whenever you want...
Binned this app in favour of Juice defender, my new battery saving app of choice, seems to be working as it should too...nice
profete162 said:
If you want to close fast the browser or any app, you should have a try at taskOS and launch it with the search key whenever you want...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but then that works pretty much like a task killer
can anyone correct me about the apps i.e. browser using internet while not active(in background) is this true or not? of course having the sync/updates turned off
Task killers can be handy for those times when apps seem to have crashed but aren't forcing close. for example, i've had times where ebuddy just doesn't want to even try to sign in. Task kill it. Try again. all is well. And last my internet browser wouldn't let me click any buttons. Again, killed it - restarted - all is ok.
I've had to use such an app countless of times due to unwanted/unneeded apps running, hanging FCs and black screens, checking/closing net related or sensor using apps, and numerous times when 300KB apps wouldn't install citing 'low memory' when I have more than 70MB free, but it was the RAM being near full causing FCs in apps like Market, and halting the installs. I only use Androids built-in TaskPanel widget for this though. Everything routine is set over to the ignore list so that I don't accidently hit and close that (single hit closes the app). Additionally I use this app to check and to switch to an opened application that is running (when it's not in the recent list).
Sent from my HTC Desire using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk
profete162 said:
If you want to close fast the browser or any app, you should have a try at taskOS and launch it with the search key whenever you want...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the route I've taken naturally. I'm using jkAppSwitch on my longpress search key, mainly used for switching but can be used to kill problem apps.
Full task killers are being proven to be useless on the Desire.
I would recommend using an app that monitors the cpu usage(watchdog etc.). This way your can see which apps put a drain on your phone.
Thank you for the information. But I do notice a considerable improvement in battery power with Advanced Task Killer.
I hope someone can provide me an answer.
while phone looks like its sleeping the apps are still working and using the processing power for whatever they are doing there behind the black screen.
and theres alot of apps that need to sync or update or pull data off the internetz
would that be a possible issue of standby battery drain?
i mean i can turn my phone on at random times and there will be 10-20 apps running in the background when i didnt even use them.
they just start check something and sut back down.
can i stop the apps from autolaunching?
remove task killer and run auto killer .. also use autorun killer to stop certain apps from starting. I would caution you to be careful what apps you stop. You make cause important apps not to work.
fuzzysig said:
while phone looks like its sleeping the apps are still working and using the processing power for whatever they are doing there behind the black screen.
and theres alot of apps that need to sync or update or pull data off the internetz
would that be a possible issue of standby battery drain?
i mean i can turn my phone on at random times and there will be 10-20 apps running in the background when i didnt even use them.
they just start check something and sut back down.
can i stop the apps from autolaunching?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If there are apps running its cause they have a task to do. You can manually change your syncing to stop these apps from starting. Also try autokiller and set it to aggressive. This way the apps continue there task and android shuts them down faster than normal
Thanks for the tip. I have both running. I haven't stooped any apps from running with autorun killer, I'm hoping it does it on its own. The other is set on aggressive.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App