[Q] Closing Programs - myTouch 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Has anybody figured out a way to use the back button to exit out of programs instead of hiding them so that you don't have to go to "manage applications" in order to force close them and save battery life?...i know, run.on.

konsts said:
Has anybody figured out a way to use the back button to exit out of programs instead of hiding them so that you don't have to go to "manage applications" in order to force close them and save battery life?...i know, run.on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I understand the MT4G is supposed to do a job on it's own of closing most applications most of the time, better then any other android had (at time of release anyway). I suppose if you think it's that big of an issue you could download a task killer, but I've heard over and over again to not use on on the mt4g because you just don't need it. That's just what I heard though.
Could be wrong, wouldn't be the first time.

Is there a setting for that then? because nothing closes on my phone

yeah i agree on NOT using those task killers. i have seen many posts from devs saying they cause more problems then there worth. interfere with apps causing force closes and some other thing that i cant remember off the top of my head.

Google up "Why you shouldn't be using task killers with Android", read, educate yourself, and stop doing unnecessary things with your phone. Understand how things work before you attempt "making them work better", and screw them up in the process.

Ok sounds good, but why then when you get rid of the bloatware like "amazon mp3" by disabilig them, do you get improved battery life? What am I missing?

You don't. Battery life won't be bothered by having or not having Amazon MP3. The only thing you get is more memory (which isn't used anyway) and more space on the /system (which isn't used anyway). Additional thing you get that IS used - is less cluttered app drawer.

konsts said:
Ok sounds good, but why then when you get rid of the bloatware like "amazon mp3" by disabilig them, do you get improved battery life? What am I missing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Task Killers do more harm then they do good. any developer, any coder, any one with any Android knowledge will tell you "you do not need it, and they do more harm then good". In fact Google themselves has said that it's not worth it. and the dev team @ Cyanogen will not accept a event log for trouble shooting if you have used a task killer.
But the reason we delete bloat ware is to gain that memory for other applications and data. no all apps can be stored to the SD card and they do leave a foot print on the phone. So we delete them to gain the space back.
Android phones are Lunix based computers which can multitask lightyears better than any current windows based computer system, phone or server. They were designed with this very principle in mind. In fact if you have ever used Ubuntu 10.10 they have a 4 "work spaces" where you can do different stuff simultaneously. similar to the "home screens" on android.
as far as them "running" in the background they are not absorbing any data/battery/resources from your phone. They are setting in a "frozen" state until you open them. In fact, if you didn't know this, if you press and hold the home button you can access recently open apps. It keeps them in the "frozen" state so if you switch back to them they'll open where you left them.

Thanks for all the comments. But I don't need convincing on the task killers; I understand they're worthless. My intent was to find out how to make my phone perform better (battery life-wise). And although I think I have a better understanding on how android handles apps it also just confused me.
I used to get 8-10 hrs max on my phone and basically have to charge it all the time. Since I temp rooted (permroot isn't working for me) using VISIONary and disabled a bunch of apps using Terminal Emulator, I'm sitting on 23.5 hrs off the charger right now with 45% battery left!!! And all I did was disable apps. So I'm mad confused how I'm getting so much battery life when the only thing that's changed in my phone according to you wouldn't change anything.

konsts said:
Thanks for all the comments. But I don't need convincing on the task killers; I understand they're worthless. My intent was to find out how to make my phone perform better (battery life-wise). And although I think I have a better understanding on how android handles apps it also just confused me.
I used to get 8-10 hrs max on my phone and basically have to charge it all the time. Since I temp rooted (permroot isn't working for me) using VISIONary and disabled a bunch of apps using Terminal Emulator, I'm sitting on 23.5 hrs off the charger right now with 45% battery left!!! And all I did was disable apps. So I'm mad confused how I'm getting so much battery life when the only thing that's changed in my phone according to you wouldn't change anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
battery life has alot to do with your social networks, and syncing. If i turn off everything, and turn the screen brightness to about 25%, i drop about 2% per 5 hours. So it really depends on what you disabled, and if they were absorbing any resources on your phone.

neidlinger said:
Task Killers do more harm then they do good. any developer, any coder, any one with any Android knowledge will tell you "you do not need it, and they do more harm then good". In fact Google themselves has said that it's not worth it. and the dev team @ Cyanogen will not accept a event log for trouble shooting if you have used a task killer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is correct. However, there is one situation in which I do end apps, and that is in the case of resource-intensive, 3D games. The MT4G has so much RAM, that even games like NFS Shift, X-Plane, and Jet Car Stunts never close. They stay running in the background forever, which is unnecessary. So I'll close those, but no other apps.

TeeJay3800 said:
That is correct. However, there is one situation in which I do end apps, and that is in the case of resource-intensive, 3D games. The MT4G has so much RAM, that even games like NFS Shift, X-Plane, and Jet Car Stunts never close. They stay running in the background forever, which is unnecessary. So I'll close those, but no other apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do the same but i'll got to settings > apps > running > and sever them.
BTW Backbacker is a good 3D game.

neidlinger said:
BTW Backbacker is a good 3D game.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not finding that one. The closest I can find is this one, but that's a GPS resource, not a game.

TeeJay3800 said:
I'm not finding that one. The closest I can find is this one, but that's a GPS resource, not a game.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
look for backbreaker football. it was a the Amazon freebie yesterday.

konsts said:
Has anybody figured out a way to use the back button to exit out of programs instead of hiding them so that you don't have to go to "manage applications" in order to force close them and save battery life?...i know, run.on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Settings/applications/development/stop app via long press.
Make sure you check the box. That's how you stop the app completely.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

No such thing on stock ROMs. CM feature.

didnt know he had a stock rom till i read his sig. xda app doesnt show that sig. saw it now that im a pc. my bad.

Related

kill tasks n battery saving

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.

task panel killing my live wallaper, swaps it to default nexus one paper?

so...
i'm running enomther's 1.8.1 ROM, with the licorice theme, and the newer radio, and intersectraven's 900mV AVS kernel...
i don't know what the cause is, but i put on the spectrum live wallpaper, and when i use the task panel widget to shut down running tasks (because i'm too lazy to turn off google listen and all the other notifications), it kills my wallpaper, and reverts it to the nexus one wallpaper (that grid looking wallpaper with the little multicolored things that cross the screen, i don't like it, tbh)
any suggestions?
timothydonohue said:
so...
i'm running enomther's 1.8.1 ROM, with the licorice theme, and the newer radio, and intersectraven's 900mV AVS kernel...
i don't know what the cause is, but i put on the spectrum live wallpaper, and when i use the task panel widget to shut down running tasks (because i'm too lazy to turn off google listen and all the other notifications), it kills my wallpaper, and reverts it to the nexus one wallpaper (that grid looking wallpaper with the little multicolored things that cross the screen, i don't like it, tbh)
any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're kidding right? just exclude it from the list that is killed...I'm sorry but I don't see how that's not obvious to a "senior member"
ralexand said:
You're kidding right? just exclude it from the list that is killed...I'm sorry but I don't see how that's not obvious to a "senior member"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A senior member does not mean you have more intelligence than everyone, it is determined by your post count. Simply because you have a high post count, does not mean your Intelligence Quotient is higher than everyone else's, or that you have lots of common sense for that matter.
You can have 1000 post, and still not have the most basic knowledge, while it may be rare - don't judge people on a forum based on something as silly as the amount of post they have.
Your a plain "member" and you didn't even use a period..
Stop using task managers. They are 100% unnecessary.
Until you get a runaway app, then they are pretty handy. They are also good for things like trapster where you want it to run in the background when you are using it but stopping it (batt hog) is easier and faster with a task killer than going to it and drilling the menu. Also with the right combination of apps running you can get slowdowns which are immediately fixed by killing some of them. I think 100% unnecessary is something I'm going to have to disagree with.
I prefer one like systempanel that gives quite a bit of information about what those pesky apps are doing to help pinpoint malefactors. I exclude most of the apps I use with even moderate frequency save a few exceptions like trapster.
krabman said:
Until you get a runaway app, then they are pretty handy. They are also good for things like trapster where you want it to run in the background when you are using it but stopping it (batt hog) is easier and faster with a task killer than going to it and drilling the menu. Also with the right combination of apps running you can get slowdowns which are immediately fixed by killing some of them. I think 100% unnecessary is something I'm going to have to disagree with.
I prefer one like systempanel that gives quite a bit of information about what those pesky apps are doing to help pinpoint malefactors. I exclude most of the apps I use with even moderate frequency save a few exceptions like trapster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Slowdowns? Is Cyanogen's ROM immune to these slowdowns? I have not one task manager installed, and my phone never hangs, or slows down, apps never even seem to malfunction. I'm obviously lucky.
Been the rare case for me as well. But yes, on cm I have had occasion to need to kill apps. There are a number of things which would be factors. Whether or not you shut down at night, how many apps you use, in what combination, etc. As to not encountering an app that doesnt play well with others there are only two kinds of N1 owners. Those that have had a whacked app and those that are going have a whacked app.
Still, you don't need a task manager running. If there's an errant process, you can stop it in running services.
Yeah, you can, it just takes longer. I use system panel very seldom, particularly to kill tasks. I have most tasks that I typically run regularly excluded because I understand the memory management scheme in android and know I dont need to kill tasks without reason. Having it and properly setting it up however improves the speed with which you can do so if you have a need based on the things you use like in my case with the trapster exampleyou can. Read about system panel here ----> http://androidforums.com/android-ap...task-killer-people-who-hate-task-killers.html This program is not actually a task killer although it can perform that function when needed.
ralexand said:
You're kidding right? just exclude it from the list that is killed...I'm sorry but I don't see how that's not obvious to a "senior member"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the solution, not so much for being a little jerky about it.
i hadn't even thought about the wallpaper being a 'task', so it didn't occur to me to even open task panel to check it. i only use the widget.
and, i am not using it because i'm 'trying to save battery life'. i consider it legitimate use, because some programs don't play nicely together. google listen and the music
player will play over each other, for example. easier to just press the widget button and kill them than to individually open those programs up to pause them.
timothydonohue said:
thanks for the solution, not so much for being a little jerky about it.
i hadn't even thought about the wallpaper being a 'task', so it didn't occur to me to even open task panel to check it. i only use the widget.
and, i am not using it because i'm 'trying to save battery life'. i consider it legitimate use, because some programs don't play nicely together. google listen and the music
player will play over each other, for example. easier to just press the widget button and kill them than to individually open those programs up to pause them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to save battery life, keep killing the live wallpapers. :-D
Eclair~ said:
Your a plain "member" and you didn't even use a period..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, being a senior member doesn't mean you're good in english as well.
Mi|enko said:
If you want to save battery life, keep killing the live wallpapers. :-D
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol, it doesn't kill the live wallpaper to a static one, it kills it to another one i don't like.
it's fine. exception added
musashiken said:
Yeah, being a senior member doesn't mean you're good in english as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never said it did, but good shot at irony. Ow, I'm hit. I could also say you didn't capitalize English. Unless I'm missing something, this could go on forever. I'm sure I made an error in this post as well..
lol Ok, I think I'm done here. Carry on gents.
Eclair~ said:
Never said it did, but good shot at irony. Ow, I'm hit. I could also say you didn't capitalize English. Unless I'm missing something, this could go on forever. I'm sure I made an error in this post as well..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol, don't take me seriously. Err, just trying to increase post count?
Anyway I'm done here. Guy got his answer anyway.

Any suggestions for a good task manager?

Hello, all. I am currently running the free version of Advanced Task Killer, which seems to work ok, but there has to be something better. What I've noticed is, that after a reboot, the app will tell me that I have about 240 MB of available memory when all apps are closed with the exception of the task killer itself.
However, by the end of the day, after I've opened and closed a few apps, sent some messages and emails, made some calls, etc, the task manager will show significantly less available memory available. It could drop to as low as 135 MB with all apps closed with the exception of the task killer.
This leads to me to believe one of two things:
a) The Task Killer is full of it and it does not have an accurate read of how much memory is actually available.
b) The Task Killer is only able to "kill" certain tasks while others remain running in the background and it does not show that the app(s) are actually running.
Honestly, I think it is option B, because I do notice that when the app tells me that I have less than normal available memory, the phone does tend to function slower and lag a bit. Nothing that cannot be fixed by a powering it off and on, but I am hoping that someone knows of a good app (even if it is a paid app) that will actually bring up ALL tasks running and kill them. I've also noticed that even with this task killer, Google Talk (which I have never used) always remains open in my phone and I have to manually go into into the settings and turn that off.
Any suggestions?
My suggestion is to not use one.
I do use Autokiller though which tweaks the thresholds for Android's internal "task killer".
It's best to let Android do it's thing.
Tikerz said:
My suggestion is to not use one.
I do use Autokiller though which tweaks the thresholds for Android's internal "task killer".
It's best to let Android do it's thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? Do you mind elaborating on why you feel that way a bit so I can understand? Because I do notice that when the I am running a bunch of things at once and I use this app to kill the tasks, it does improve the performance of the phone.
I can understand why some people say you don't need one but I do think it is necessary to have it installed for when you do. I'd rather kill apps than pop the case, battery cover and battery to fix a frozen phone.
I have some GPS apps I run occasionally that after exiting them they don't turn off the GPS or lock the GPS on and drain my battery. So for those apps where the developer didn't put a close buton on the menu it helps shut them down. I don't know why Google Market doesn't require apps to have a close option.
get OS MONITOR from the market
PAPutzback said:
I don't know why Google Market doesn't require apps to have a close option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because users shouldn't have to manage their own memory. Apple folks already love laughing at us for that very reason, and even though it pains me to say it they're absolutely correct.
I can certainly buy the argument that task killers are nice for those occasions when something does go haywire and it needs to be forcibly killed, and I can understand using one just because you're curious and want to see what's running and how much memory you have, etc, but beyond that I find that they're unnecessary. My EVO runs very smoothly without me manually intervening, even after many days of uptime with many apps running.
GHOST99K said:
get OS MONITOR from the market
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow! That's detailed and a lot more than I bargained for....lol. Thanks! Good thing my phone is rooted and I was able to use it since I never did the recent update to the 1.47.xx OTA update and I'm waiting for a fully functional version to be released, but there is a lot of stuff on this that goes well beyond my basic knowledge. Apparently, my phone has 89 processes running with no apps running (according to Task Killer) and only one widget running and the CPU is fluctuating at 10-40% usage.
Interestingly enough, but apps report the same amount of available memory......EXACTLY the same. So it can be assumed that both apps provide an accurate figure of available memory.
I would advise against using a Task killer. Android has its own memory management, which works extremely well on the EVO, to be honest. The latest update (1.47) feels like its makes the EVO perform much better and allows it to be more efficient.
If anything, I would suggest you read this thread about an app called Autostarts, which isn't a task killer, rather a startup manager that can be tweaked to do many different things. By not allowing certain things to start up when your phone boots, you'll have more memory to begin with and Android will be more efficient in memory management. I would try Autostarts before using a task killer.
Hope that helps.
eagle63 said:
Because users shouldn't have to manage their own memory. Apple folks already love laughing at us for that very reason, and even though it pains me to say it they're absolutely correct.
I can certainly buy the argument that task killers are nice for those occasions when something does go haywire and it needs to be forcibly killed, and I can understand using one just because you're curious and want to see what's running and how much memory you have, etc, but beyond that I find that they're unnecessary. My EVO runs very smoothly without me manually intervening, even after many days of uptime with many apps running.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, but having to run a task killer is a small price to pay to not be part of the iPhone bandwagon crew, IMO.
Are you running a custom rom on your phone? I just have a rooted stock rom. Maybe that's why your phone can go days without the performance being affected? I still have all the bloatware on mine, and I've put off removing it because I am still a noob at this and I'm in the learning process. I wonder if the new update that was just released improves this aspect of the phone at all.....?
pseudoremora said:
I would advise against using a Task killer. Android has its own memory management, which works extremely well on the EVO, to be honest. The latest update (1.47) feels like its makes the EVO perform much better and allow it to be more efficient.
If anything, I would suggest you read this thread about an app called Autostarts, which isn't a task killer, rather a startup manager that can be tweaked to do many different things. By not allowing certain things to start up when your phone boots, you'll have more memory to begin with and Android will be more efficient in memory management. I would try Autostarts before using a task killer.
Hope that helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I will definitely look into it. All advise is appreciated as I am very new to all of this. You answered my last question on my previous post with this, too.... I can't wait for a fully functional rooted OEM rom to be released with the goodies from the new update to try it out. I'm hesitant to update my phone now and lose superuser as I use the WiFi tether a lot.

New to android...taskmanager??

This is obvioulsy my first android device and although cool. its a lot to get use too. I am used to having a taskmanager to close any open applications or ones running in the background. How do you to that with the Droid X? Everytime i opened an app, i just hit the home button and assume it closed. How do you close a program or an running app? Sorry if its a dumb question
You can download an app manager from the market. However, you probably don't even need to worry about that since the processor can more than likely handle the open apps. The android os is pretty good at managing your apps for you. Some people even say that the app manager messes the phone up.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
thank you...i'll just keep it the way it is then and assume the app closes when i exit to the home screen.
Another question for all the Droid X users. Is there a way to remove that little green droid that give you tips on the home screen. He is as annoying as the paperclip dude in microsoft word
nevermind...i just had to drag it down into the waste basket. i did try it before, must just not have draged it far enought donw before
Just to tell you, btw, apps in Android are notified when they get minimized so they can release resources. So say you're in a game, and you hit home, the game knows that you aren't playing anymore, so it's not just sitting on the menu eating resources.
microdot said:
nevermind...i just had to drag it down into the waste basket. i did try it before, must just not have draged it far enought donw before
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All that does is remove it from the home screen, it doesn't kill the app.
nindoja said:
All that does is remove it from the home screen, it doesn't kill the app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i understand, i just wanted to have it off the homescreen....maybe replace it with a nice digital clock widget.
Another winmo convert like myself? Just laughing as this is what I was doing all day yesterday.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Two recommended Task Managers are TasKiller (I use) and ATK / Advanced Task Killer (my wife uses). Both are spoken highly of around here.
x.v_ said:
Just to tell you, btw, apps in Android are notified when they get minimized so they can release resources. So say you're in a game, and you hit home, the game knows that you aren't playing anymore, so it's not just sitting on the menu eating resources.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry so are you saying that android automaticaly kills the program when you exit out or say hit home? If so is apps like taskkillers really necessary and why do people have them?
No, task killers aren't necessary, and generally people only have them because they don't know any better. Having loads of free memory will do nothing to increase your performance because most apps don't require much, and the very reason Android keeps them in memory is to reduce loading times. Unused RAM is wasted RAM. Android will automatically kill old tasks if it needs to free up memory, so trying to micromanage and preemptively kill tasks yourself is a waste of time and will only make your experience worse. Poorly designed "automatic" task killers from the Market can even decrease your battery performance, so be wary.
I may fall into the "don't know any better" crowd since this is my first android phone, but I'd had the voice recognition app lock up on me a few times and using the task killer to end the app and restart it was the only way I could get it running again.
Unless you have any way I could have done that, it seems to me that task killer has its uses.
You can kill tasks and services from stock Android's Applications menu under Settings.
microdot said:
Sorry so are you saying that android automaticaly kills the program when you exit out or say hit home? If so is apps like taskkillers really necessary and why do people have them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because whoever builds the ROMs for these phones thinks that having built in apps you never use running in the background is a good idea.
DroidX for instance launches a whole bunch of apps on boot you are not using, no need to have them tying up memory.
Even some relaunch themselves in the background when other apps are opened.
So to answer your question, the default ROMs that ship with the phones are generally sloppy. You dont NEED a task killer but it helps speed up the device.
Its like getting a cheap HP or Dell computer from Best Buy, they load it up with some much crap you have to re-image or uninstall all the software you dont need.
You can't unfortunately uninstall the programs that are locked by the ROM.
The only app manager I use is System Panel from the Market. I only used it before on my Eris to monitor memory and battery life. I use it on my X now for informational purposes, because the X is so much faster than the Eris was, which I loved by the way.
Tl;dr its good for monitoring, but above posters are right, mostly unnecessary.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App

This may help your battery life.

Today I had been experimenting with my battery life again and stumbled across this.
If you download advance task manager from the market. *NOTE* It is a paid application or *NOTE* This is illegal but you can download an .apk but again it is illegal and I am not encouraging you do it. *NOTE* You can purchase it and return it within 24 hours with your money back.
Step 1- Get advance task manager.
Step 2- Go into your home system and go into your default home or your home system.
Step 3- Now choose a screen in the home. Eg: 1,2,3 etc...
Step 4- Keep your finger tap'ed on the empty screen or somewhere empty in the screen. You can also just press the menu button and tap *ADD*.
Step 5- Choose widgets and find advance task manager.
Step 6- Now when you tap the widget icon, it will terminate all your applications.
Step 7- It will then direct you to a choice for your home application/s.
Step 8- You can just press lock and not choose your home and it will stay draining very little battery.
*Note* I do not guarantee this to work but it worked for me since I had my phone on the lock where I had a choice of home screen since 3:00 PM and it is now 6:00 PM...
3 hours and still full battery.
I have also previously managed to keep the battery up for 3 days and in the 3 days I was left with 15 percent battery.
I will post images if you people are having trouble *JUST PM ME OR POST BELOW IF YOU WANT IMAGES*
Appreciate the tip but since the inception of the Android OS this was one of the first and biggest tips amongst all of the community. It's nothing new. The Android OS actually does a damn good job of killing apps by itself. Unused RAM is useless RAM. It's a *nix based system.
The only time where this is good is when you have a stray app that's using CPU when it opens in the background when it shouldn't. Especially when it's keeping things awake. I only advise that you use this before locking the phone intentionally, and when you'd like it to go into a deep sleep.
I use task killers only when I'm putting my phone away for a while. Works better than when I used task killers. I'm also mindful about the apps I install and I uninstall and reinstall when need be, format my phone occasionally (I am an extremely heavy user) and defrag my SD card because of the heavy usage.
bongd said:
Appreciate the tip but since the inception of the Android OS this was one of the first and biggest tips amongst all of the community. It's nothing new. The Android OS actually does a damn good job of killing apps by itself. Unused RAM is useless RAM. It's a *nix based system.
The only time where this is good is when you have a stray app that's using CPU when it opens in the background when it shouldn't. Especially when it's keeping things awake. I only advise that you use this before locking the phone intentionally, and when you'd like it to go into a deep sleep.
I use task killers only when I'm putting my phone away for a while. Works better than when I used task killers. I'm also mindful about the apps I install and I uninstall and reinstall when need be, format my phone occasionally (I am an extremely heavy user) and defrag my SD card because of the heavy usage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree but this worked for me and I recommend trying this. Also I agree with everything you have said and sometimes when I am out somewhere I tend to keep the phone in a deep sleep but I do not want to miss any calls or texts happening to me so I do this.
Appreciate what you have told me as well.
Also what good does formating do? (NOT SAYING IN AN OFFENSIVE MANNER, I AM JUST CURIOUS)
zm4 said:
I agree but this worked for me and I recommend trying this. Also I agree with everything you have said and sometimes when I am out somewhere I tend to keep the phone in a deep sleep but I do not want to miss any calls or texts happening to me so I do this.
Appreciate what you have told me as well.
Also what good does formating do? (NOT SAYING IN AN OFFENSIVE MANNER, I AM JUST CURIOUS)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bongd is absolutely correct in what he says, the whole android system is designed to manage apps automatically, therefore while an app may appear on the task manager, they do not necessarily waste battery as they are sitting "idle"- that also means that an app will load up quicker when you go to open it, rather than if you kill the task.
Also my other point, and this is the big one, killing tasks can not only corrupt an app from working correctly but also it can cause instability to your system in the long run (because you are also killing certain tasks which are system processes) thus you notice bugs ion your phone and required to flash firmware again.
I've used advanced task manager and task panel side by side quite religiously for a while, yes it is faster and battery life does SLIGHTLY improve but trust me your phone doesn't like it.
Sent from my X10i using XDA App
zm4 said:
I agree but this worked for me and I recommend trying this. Also I agree with everything you have said and sometimes when I am out somewhere I tend to keep the phone in a deep sleep but I do not want to miss any calls or texts happening to me so I do this.
Appreciate what you have told me as well.
Also what good does formating do? (NOT SAYING IN AN OFFENSIVE MANNER, I AM JUST CURIOUS)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Formatting is good because just like a computer, things can get f***ed up for no reason. You can have all the correct settings but things don't happen as anticipated. It happens with any complex electronic devices, so this is why I recommend it every few months but this varies depending on how intensely you use your phone.
I use mine like crazy and tweak the hell out of it. I do it about once a month, but then again I have cell phone OCD.
The task manager helps to close apps that constantly keep connecting to the Internet, it's not about freeing up RAM it's about using the Internet connection
Some "apps" are some bad hogs when it comes to the phones recourses
Some "apps" are quite some hogs when it comes to the phones recourses.
Internet connection, Syncing, Updating ads and so on.
Some of these "bad hogs" also keep running "at full speed" in the background.
They have no whatsoever routines to save energy/recourses once loaded (background or not).
Designers of these "bad apps" don't care about battery-life, or they simply have no whatsoever knowledge/experience about mobile devices and how an application should behave on a such device.
If one are the kind who downloads lots of "cool" applications from the market, a task-killer can help allot, depending on how many "recourse hog" application one have installed and loaded in the background.
SysGhost said:
Some "apps" are quite some hogs when it comes to the phones recourses.
Internet connection, Syncing, Updating ads and so on.
Some of these "bad hogs" also keep running "at full speed" in the background.
They have no whatsoever routines to save energy/recourses once loaded (background or not).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah but we don't have any app that tells us which app is using the battery and data connections right? sure the android OS tells us the battery usage, but data?
A app to stay away from is eBay it hogs cpu time and constantly refreshes in the background, my batt goes from 2days down to 8ish hours when the eBay app is installed
Sent from my X10a using XDA App
tookieboy said:
yeah but we don't have any app that tells us which app is using the battery and data connections right? sure the android OS tells us the battery usage, but data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
System Panel can do this
Taskkiller stuff is not welcomed by my X10. When I kill all the apps , sometimes my connection to my operator goes down. I don't know how many necessary process' this taskkiller stuff kills as well.. I avoid "kill all" , instead I kill the ones that I'm sure that they're using internet and cpu in vain. Wish all the mobile developers use the close() method , then we won't be facing that kind of problems..

Categories

Resources