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So I am reading the tips and tricks article - GREAT article by the way! - and I come upon the note stating to not use task killer (shown below in bold).
SHOULD I USE A TASK KILLER?
Absolutely not. You have the best OS and one of the best spec'd phones ever. You would be doing more harm than good. If you do have one, uninstall, reboot and let me know what you think!
In addition, even Google at Google I/O 2010 addressed app developers and asked them to no longer include "quit" or "close" as options within their apps. I think Andronica (another great android site) summed it up well with their article, found here.
XDA user iunlock created a thread with some good debate based off this sticky. You can read all the thoughts by clicking here. In short, the overwhelming majority agreed and some have commented on seeing an increase in performance after deleting their task killers. Awesome job guys.
That having been said, I went a day. Sure, it ran smooth, but my battery life stunk.
I'd like to hear from other users on the pros/cons of using a task manager on your Vibrant. Not trying to start a flame war, just wanting to hear thoughts other than my own (and the little voices that come from the ear piece of the phone )
Personally I am completely for it, as long as you are not killing off critical processes or apps that you use on a regular basis. Bottom line here - know what you're doing.
Feedback please?
I had the exact opposite reaction after getting rid of the task manager, battery life increased.
I kept ATK, battery life improved with it. If i play games and then hit the Home button which i always do. it stays running in background and kills the battery. Didnt really notice much of an impact with performance but my battery life increased
I use task manager. people can say what they want, but lowmemorykiller is designed to kill apps when the system needs memory. our phones have a lot of memory so they are capable of keeping so many apps open, if no one believes me download a task killer and just open it up to see how many apps are really running on your phone, its ridiculous, especially if you still have the bloatware. I don't necessarily use it because my phone bogs down from so many apps (that reason was back in the day with my g1) i do it because theoretically your battery life should go up. What's worse, a task killer running, or the last 20 apps you've used? All I know is my phone runs fine, smooth, and has battery life that I really cant complain about. It's hard to really tell what is correct though, I mean theres's hundreds of posts about the gps on our phone and mine launches up, finds my exact location within 30 seconds, and navigates perfectly. Got mine the day it came out, so ive really never worried about what other people have said, i just find out for myself. try both and see what you observe to be best.
I own(ed) a G1, Google Ion, myTouch, CLIQ, Behold II, Nexus One, myTouch Slide, GARMINfone, and Samsung Vibrant.
I have never used a task killer / manager on any of them and have never experienced lag on any of them.
My battery has also lasted from wake (9am) to bed (im usually in the bed by 11pm, sleep comes much later) on all of them and that includes at least 2 hours of stereo Bluetooth music. WiFi, GPS and Sync on all day. Bluetooth and brightness are managed as needed.
I'm no developer, but I have flashed my fair share of roms, and run plenty of tests. I don't know what is best, but I do know that they are NOT NECESSARY. Are they helpful or useful to you? Possibly. If you want to use one, have fun. I see no reason for me to start now...
EDIT: I also play a fair bit of SNESoid, GENSoid, and now PSX4droid....
Also, I don't have a car charger or office charger. I only charge overnight.
If you have to use a charger during the day, you blew it.
Task Mangers slow my phone down more. I don't use them.
joe.kerwin said:
I use task manager. people can say what they want, but lowmemorykiller is designed to kill apps when the system needs memory. our phones have a lot of memory so they are capable of keeping so many apps open, if no one believes me download a task killer and just open it up to see how many apps are really running on your phone, its ridiculous, especially if you still have the bloatware. I don't necessarily use it because my phone bogs down from so many apps (that reason was back in the day with my g1) i do it because theoretically your battery life should go up. What's worse, a task killer running, or the last 20 apps you've used? All I know is my phone runs fine, smooth, and has battery life that I really cant complain about. It's hard to really tell what is correct though, I mean theres's hundreds of posts about the gps on our phone and mine launches up, finds my exact location within 30 seconds, and navigates perfectly. Got mine the day it came out, so ive really never worried about what other people have said, i just find out for myself. try both and see what you observe to be best.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android has a task killer built in to kill apps if memory is low automatically.
Couldnt enjoy my phone without one.
laristech said:
Task Mangers slow my phone down more. I don't use them.
Android has a task killer built in to kill apps if memory is low automatically.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know, read. I referenced that in the first line. It's a low memory killer, my phone still has 100mb of memory available even with 15-20 apps open. I'd rather have those tasks not running if i've finished with them. Plus apps also reopen periodically by themselves, auto-kill on a 3rd party task killer will kill this as soon as the phone is sleeping, the build in task killer will not.
AndroidZ28 said:
I own(ed) a G1, Google Ion, myTouch, CLIQ, Behold II, Nexus One, myTouch Slide, GARMINfone, and Samsung Vibrant.
I have never used a task killer / manager on any of them and have never experienced lag on any of them.
My battery has also lasted from wake (9am) to bed (im usually in the bed by 11pm, sleep comes much later) on all of them and that includes at least 2 hours of stereo Bluetooth music. WiFi, GPS and Sync on all day. Bluetooth and brightness are managed as needed.
I'm no developer, but I have flashed my fair share of roms, and run plenty of tests. I don't know what is best, but I do know that they are NOT NECESSARY. Are they helpful or useful to you? Possibly. If you want to use one, have fun. I see no reason for me to start now...
EDIT: I also play a fair bit of SNESoid, GENSoid, and now PSX4droid....
Also, I don't have a car charger or office charger. I only charge overnight.
If you have to use a charger during the day, you blew it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's no way your g1 ever lasted 14 hours, let alone consistently with that usage. Either that or you dont understand how some of us use our phones. The only reason this must be such a debated topic is because there truly isn't much of a difference. Will your phone have a weeks worth of battery life with one? No. Without one? No. Users preference I suppose, but before i deleted bloatware, my telenav and slacker radio were always open and i honestly never even opened them to even check them out.
That having been said, I went a day. Sure, it ran smooth, but my battery life stunk.
I'd like to hear from other users on the pros/cons of using a task manager on your Vibrant. Not trying to start a flame war, just wanting to hear thoughts other than my own (and the little voices that come from the ear piece of the phone )
Personally I am completely for it, as long as you are not killing off critical processes or apps that you use on a regular basis. Bottom line here - know what you're doing.
Feedback please?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
People will give all sorts of anecdotal evidence one way or another about this topic. Just keep in mind that anecdotal evidence won't answer the question. It's not a simple yes/no question either.
Here's the deal. *IF* you have errant tasks that are causing partial wake issues (running too much or too often when the phone is supposedly asleep), those applications will be the culprit for your bad battery life.
These are not likely to be core tasks of the OS, or OS bundled bloatware either...but they can be. When I had my Behold II and was running ADW.Launcher, for instance, I had to use a task manager to keep parts of Touchwiz from waking up and complaining about the UI not being front-and-center. And the reason WHY I used a task manager was a simple one. It was a core data task of the embedded software that could not be REMOVED.
The best solution to partial wake issues is to identify the tasks that are causing them, and GET RID OF THAT APP. In my very specific case above I was unable to do so, so a task killer had value.
The reason why task managers can be a very bad idea are legion. The Android OS runs a lot of interdependant tasks, and killing one seemingly innocuous task can and often will start a domino effect with other tasks that rely on them. It can even cause other dependant apps to eat 100% of cpu time during sleep cycles or at other times, and make your battery life mysteriously go to hell.
So far on this Vibrant, I've found no core tasks causing partial wake issues. Third party apps and widgets however, I've found quite a few that "wake up" and cause partial wake issues (i.e. they are spending too much time working and running when the phone is in "sleep" mode). Pure Messenger Widget being one of the nastiest I've tried lately.
What do I recommend? Use the built in battery statistics, and install the market app "Spare Parts". This combination will give you the ability to glean useful information about exactly what is running and what it's doing. There are other tools and whitelist managers that you could employ as well, but this is enough for me.
And even if you are running task managers and killers, you should be using the above to know whether what you are doing is a complete waste of time or even making matters worse.
When left to its own devices, Android 2.1 does a remarkably good job managing tasks and memory, PROVIDING THAT 3RD PARTY APPS ARE BEHAVING. Since we all run a very different set of 3rd party applications and widgets, it's no wonder that people are having battery life issues (great, bad, not so bad, etc..) all over the map.
I use Advanced Task Manager Pro and I love it. The close-all widget is great because it closes everything except what you have told it not to kill, and it kills itself to that is not running down your battery either.
joe.kerwin said:
There's no way your g1 ever lasted 14 hours, let alone consistently with that usage. Either that or you dont understand how some of us use our phones. The only reason this must be such a debated topic is because there truly isn't much of a difference. Will your phone have a weeks worth of battery life with one? No. Without one? No. Users preference I suppose, but before i deleted bloatware, my telenav and slacker radio were always open and i honestly never even opened them to even check them out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know what to tell you other than it did.
I am a pretty heavy user, but I do have fantastic coverage and work in a bright environment so brightness stays down. SetCPU works wonders.
I tested my Vibrant today. Came off the charger at 5:30am. It's now 10pm & my phone is freaking out for juice. I think my G1 could match this.
I'm constantly pulling from Gmail & Exchange (usually on Edge - poor reception in the office). I used GPS for about 10 min on the way home. Once home I started wifi. I turned it off an hour ago to play a few rounds of Let's Golf.
That's not terrible for such a badass smart phone, I think.
-bZj
_____
-sent from my Samsung Vibrant via XDAapp
I personally will only have a task manager installed for when I'm working on my game / app projects, as to make sure they properly close when exited or to kill them if something goes wrong (neverending looping media), so I don't have to reboot the phone.
I was using atk before my last factory reset. I've decided against it now though. I've also decided not to use any more web apps when I have a perfectly good browser. Just seems like a waste of resources to me and my phone is much quicker without them. That and launcher pro have made this feel like a different phone. I think the combination makes atk unnecessary.
If I decide to keep this phone I'll reroot and clean out all the crapware. I'd prefer to keep this phone well-maintained like my computer sip that a task killer would be mostly unnecessary.
Hi
I've been reading xda threads for long now and I have always wondered if there was a way to transform a smartphone into a basic phone. Let me explain myself.
I own an HTC HD2 and I'm really satisfied with it's big screen, power, ... I live in a house with electricity cool and thus charging it every 1 or 2 days is not a real problem. But once a while I have to live a fews days or a week without electricity (for example holidays like a one week camping), but I still have to receive a few important phone calls.
I'm using Android right now and this led me to think of a linux build (for example launched from WM) that would only enable us to browse our contacts directory and manage phone calls. The interface would be very simple, without beautiful effects, and I guess it would be possible for the battery to last very long this way, since most of the apps launched on powerful OS would not even be included. There would be not slidings, no transparency, and everything that require power.
I'm sorry if such a topic exists but I took some time to search and nothing appeared. And please don't replay "It is not the purpose of smartphones" since I know that, I've made a choice and I'm satisfied, but I just want to know if there's a way to make it even better.
I'm not (yet?) a developer so what I ask might be unrealistic, but I'm convinced this idea could be useful to most people. There could also be other ways to achieve this, like another OS or just a WM mode...
Don't you think it would be great to be able to switch to this when long battery life is needed ?
dalapigi said:
Hi
I've been reading xda threads for long now and I have always wondered if there was a way to transform a smartphone into a basic phone. Let me explain myself.
I own an HTC HD2 and I'm really satisfied with it's big screen, power, ... I live in a house with electricity cool and thus charging it every 1 or 2 days is not a real problem. But once a while I have to live a fews days or a week without electricity (for example holidays like a one week camping), but I still have to receive a few important phone calls.
I'm using Android right now and this led me to think of a linux build (for example launched from WM) that would only enable us to browse our contacts directory and manage phone calls. The interface would be very simple, without beautiful effects, and I guess it would be possible for the battery to last very long this way, since most of the apps launched on powerful OS would not even be included. There would be not slidings, no transparency, and everything that require power.
I'm sorry if such a topic exists but I took some time to search and nothing appeared. And please don't replay "It is not the purpose of smartphones" since I know that, I've made a choice and I'm satisfied, but I just want to know if there's a way to make it even better.
I'm not (yet?) a developer so what I ask might be unrealistic, but I'm convinced this idea could be useful to most people. There could also be other ways to achieve this, like another OS or just a WM mode...
Don't you think it would be great to be able to switch to this when long battery life is needed ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
That is actually quite interesting, but the first time I have heard of such a query in the 9 months this phone has been released.
Just out of interest, have you tried running the phone with just the standard WM interface to see how long the battery lasts?
Alternative solutions:
1 - You could always try wind-up, or solar charger.
2 - buy the cheapest PAYG phone you can get (on your network)and put your HD2 SIM in it.. These tend to last quite a few days on standby and you don't really care if it gets bashed or wet.
fred_up said:
Alternative solutions:
2 - buy the cheapest PAYG phone you can get (on your network)and put your HD2 SIM in it.. These tend to last quite a few days on standby and you don't really care if it gets bashed or wet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
could u really do that? </3
@fred_up
Those are nice ideas ! (Infact I've lost my cheap phone recently)
Morpheus, what you mean is WM without sense ? I'm not sure there would be a huge improvement...
dalapigi said:
WM without sense ? I'm not sure there would be a huge improvement...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can turn Sense off in Settings/More/Today,
and according to BattClock power consumption on my Leo (YMMV) is:
Sense: 100-300 mA
Windows Default: 42 mA
Turning off sense would give you a noticable amount of battery life......
The sense interface is a hungry hungry beast........
The linux idea is nice but the problem is that it would be running on top of windows and therefore not save any battery.........
Luckily I still have my trusty (4 days without a charge) N95........
The old girl still comes in handy...
D4rkSoRRoW said:
could u really do that? </3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whenever I break my good phone I just use a T-mobile PAYG phone until I can order a new phone. Or if I'm going camping or biking or something.
nice i will try to disable sense ! thanks for this tip
about linux, i believe i read that wm is completzly shut down when launching android (it only serves as a trigger ?)
Running SPB Mobile Shell, I lose 1% of battery life every 3 hours on standy. That's with data and wifi turned off and just the phone running. That would give me about 300 hours of standby time. In theory that should last you a week with a few short calls.
Problem with Android/Ubuntu on this phone right now is you have to run it off the sd card, which draws a lot more power. Whenever the screen is on it draws a lot of power anyway. The best I've done so far is 6% drain over 8 hours with just the phone running in standby.
The most obvious/best solution for you is to just bring an old dumb phone instead or as backup. Then you can just slip the sim card out and use that to make/receive calls.
Fellas
Settings - About Phone - System Software Updates
I disabled this and it seems battery life is improving day by day, fewer freezes as I go along and interface is smoother than after I started bloating up on apps and games.
Oh and I have since uninstalled utilities like ATKs and the likes. Looking and feeling good so far.
Will update should this be just a mirage on my part.
Oh and please reboot after disabling guys.
Enjoys.
I will try this And see what I find. I am glad that you are no longer using task killers
To many rely on them. I have stopped using them and hate when I find a rom that has them installed.
well hates a strong word but i dislike them
update
Alight.
It's been some time already now.
I can say there has been some extension of battery life with this but there are more room for improvement.
So after reading and digging around I must say having followed some suggestions and ideas from members here and there have squeezed more juice from the battery.
Amongst.
Run haret in winmo while the hardware buttons are still lit up.
Charge android while the hardware buttons are still lit up.
As for screen freezes try calibrating the gsensor in winmo with the phone screen down at the edge of say a table for obvious reasons. This has reduced tremendously the random freezes.
hello,
i have an htc hd2 and try to install android but all versions i had installed drop battery to 0 after 10 hours
can anybody tell me best android build for HTC HD2?
tks
Hey Sir,
It is always different for everyone, many of these Builds are already really efficient, but here is some tips I would recommend:
- installing some auto kill aps that will kill your aps after your done with it. This really reduces battery usage
-you might want to change from 3G to 2G as that saves a lot of battery
-Reduce brightness of screen to nothing
-turn off GPS
-Turn off Auto-Sync
-Do not use Wi-fi
-Getting a Class 8 SD card i heard decreases battery life as well
Hope this helps,
Luckych
my problem is battery life.
i use advanced task killer , wi-fi and bluetooth off
facebook connection only once per day
Best way to extend battery life...turn your hd2 off.
Just kidding.
I for example use non Sense builds,
and I get about a day of normal usage. If I use the wifi to browse the net it goes down to 10-12 hours. I do not use any task killers.
Edit: now using NexusHD2 build.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
now using NexusHD2 build but i dont like the graphics....
i need a android build with nice graphics and good batery life
try one in my signatures. Updated today and most things are working ... hope to get everything working soon !
i am using mdj desire clean.last me for about a day of light usage.
battery problem plauge the hd2 on adroid.its all down to power management.
someone in the forum reported a build that only draws 5-8mah when on standby.which one,i cannot remember,you'll have to do your homework.
one thing's for sure,unless u get a higher capacity battery for hd2,this is the way to go.
and yes,i do know there are extended batteries selling online but they make my hd2 look like some high tech brick.
slim high cap batteries are a rare thing on hd2.
all of the different android builds are good for HD2 as for battery the trick is to start Android as fast as possible after starting your phone if you start it quick enough you will have 3-5mA in standby with almost every build as long as u have an updated kernal. Here is what I do and it works every time . I am using Energy's winmo rom it has a launch Android icon that you can place on the home screen as a quick link or free link. After you restart your phone just watch it soon as sense loads up and you see the home screen QUICKLY tap the home hard key to activate the lights then tap the LAUNCH ANDROID icon
thanx guys
mdj series or cynagenmod series, I like Typhoon...good luck
Hey guys. sorry if theres a thread like this already. im new to this forum and searched for nearly 3 hours but didnt find much of what i was looking for.
i have a t-mobile 1024 Hd2 with a custom windows mobile ROM LEO_firestorm_v7.4.23135-FX
and a android ROM (installed to SD)
mattcfroyo 1.5
and i also have setcpu installed. the phone(and both rom's) work great. the only issue is the battery life. my phone even when i would barely use it would maybe make it about 12 hours on a charge(doing very little web browsing, turning wifi/ bluetooth off when not in use, brightness around 30%). what have you guys done to get better battery life? should i install different ROMS? is there a WM rom that is basically barebones so it takes less resources and improves battery life? i dont care what the WM side looks like as i only want to use android anyways. i want to use Android as my main OS and how should i setup setcpu? really sorry if this thread is a repeat. if there is another asking exactly what i am please give me a link. im very new to this, so guides are very appreciated aswell.
i did find the thread "HOW TO: Wipe Battery stats to improve battery life" and ill be trying that. what i mainly want to know is how to guys have your roms and setcpu setup.
links to better roms/guides etc. are very appreciated. thanks allot guys.
any rom needs to be compatible with the 1024 hd2 though.
Hi and welcome to XDA,
I've my phone set up as shown in my signature. I don't use bluetooth, basically have no calls, some texts and fairly heavy browsing (web, tapatalk pro, newsrob pro) when I'm on the train. I have a 3mA-5mA drainage in standby. My phone will last 10-12 hours on a charge, after which I have to plug it in. I'm kinda used to it now, but last week I thought I'd give UltimateJuice a try. My phone lasted a little over 17hrs, though I probably used it a bit less intensive that day. The days after I got about 14-15 hours a day with regular use.
I have JuiceDefender installed, which also manages cpu speed. Basically it allows the cpu up to 614 Mhz when the phone is sleeping and 1190 Mhz when awake. Screen brightness is set to 15% currently. When I'm at home, JuiceDefender switches WiFi on automatically, when I'm outside it connects to 3G every 15 minute during 1 minute (adjustable).
Drainage is still somewhat heavier compared to WM, but I can live with it.
Sincerely,
Mac
looks like i found a solution today. last night i underclocked my cpu to 700mhz and i have not seen any performance difference and the battery is lasting allot longer. i have been using it moderately and the battery has gone down 8% in 3 hours of use which is already allot better than before.
i checked my battery power and after it was fully charged it showed 4.2mah so i knew that wasnt the problem. does anybody have the problem that their contacts(in android) are removed if they soft reset their phone? and if so does saving contacts to sim work to fix it? thanks
adrenalinechild said:
does anybody have the problem that their contacts(in android) are removed if they soft reset their phone? and if so does saving contacts to sim work to fix it? thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, that doesn't sound familiar. Are you syncing your contacts with your Google account?
Sincerely,
Mac
Sent from my reborn HD2 using Tapatalk Pro
no i just manually put in a few to my phone. does saving contacts to sim work in android on the hd2?
adrenalinechild said:
no i just manually put in a few to my phone. does saving contacts to sim work in android on the hd2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes it does, but why don't you have all your contacts sync with google?
roloracer said:
yes it does, but why don't you have all your contacts sync with google?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
backup everything before you do this though. it's known to cause crash at startup and you won't be able to use your android again.
im having a problem with my hd2. i made a call today. and all the incoming voice sounded like a decepticon. kinda cool but definately not useful to actually talking to a person. what should i do to fix this? is it the rom i am using?
adrenalinechild said:
im having a problem with my hd2. i made a call today. and all the incoming voice sounded like a decepticon. kinda cool but definately not useful to actually talking to a person. what should i do to fix this? is it the rom i am using?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's a known issue. read the faq.