I called Verizon today regarding my battery life (at work which I started today I get sh*tty reception which kills my battery in 4 to 5 hours--usually last a full 12-14 hours pretty perfectly). The rep that I talked to quickly realized that I knew what I was talking about tech-wise and thankfully didn't treat me like an idiot.
She said something that got my attention though: she said HTC recently (as in the past few days) released something to Verizon reps saying that Task Killing apps actually interfere with the system and code in a way that drains battery *more* on the Thunderbolt than any other device thus far.
Anyone else heard of something like this or have a reason why it would do this?
*edit* I'm looking for like a dev answer to this... How it interferes with the system? I've seen the threads that explain how it messes with the Activity code but it seemed like it was more than that for the Thunderbolt.
Haven't gone a full day with ATK uninstalled but I'll try tomorrow and see how it goes.
swimminsurfer256 said:
I called Verizon today regarding my battery life (at work which I started today I get sh*tty reception which kills my battery in 4 to 5 hours--usually last a full 12-14 hours pretty perfectly). The rep that I talked to quickly realized that I knew what I was talking about tech-wise and thankfully didn't treat me like an idiot.
She said something that got my attention though: she said HTC recently (as in the past few days) released something to Verizon reps saying that Task Killing apps actually interfere with the system and code in a way that drains battery *more* on the Thunderbolt than any other device thus far.
Anyone else heard of something like this or have a reason why it would do this?
*edit* I'm looking for like a dev answer to this... How it interferes with the system? I've seen the threads that explain how it messes with the Activity code but it seemed like it was more than that for the Thunderbolt.
Haven't gone a full day with ATK uninstalled but I'll try tomorrow and see how it goes.
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they told me the same thing but not about the battery drain, just that it screws with the system
but on other phones (droid 1) they highly recommend using task killers.
obviously two different phones/companies, but still you'd think they say dont use them for all phones, not just certain phones, because most people feel they are useless.
But it hasn't screwed up anything that i've noticed, and my battery has actually improved since day one, so i think it depends on your phone. And i dont think my improvement is from task killers, i'm rooted and i think custom kernels and roms have helped increased battery life.
Id say whatever works for you do it, and dont worry about the task killers ruining you phone, but if you find out they are then dont use them.
good luck
I would guess that they'd negatively impact performance. The only reason you'd need a task killer is if you were on a 1.5-6 device. In all later version, tasks are managed natively as part of the core os.
One problem is with people using them to auto-kill apps far too aggressively. If you're constantly killing apps that are constantly re-launching (such as clock/weather/SMS/MMS/news/widgets/etc that tend to stay resident), you're going to end up up using a lot more processor time, and thus battery life, than if you just let the apps sit idle.
I heard that its because Android 2.2+ automatically restarts apps that you close and then it uses more memory to restart each time it is killed. There is a built in task killer in the phone anyways. No need for a secondary killer. But from my personal experience: yes I got worse battery life with task killer than without it. Although on my Droid x it was the opposite. Must depend on the phone
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Trevlo said:
I heard that its because Android 2.2+ automatically restarts apps that you close and then it uses more memory to restart each time it is killed. There is a built in task killer in the phone anyways. No need for a secondary killer. But from my personal experience: yes I got worse battery life with task killer than without it. Although on my Droid x it was the opposite. Must depend on the phone
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Your explanation is off a bit but you get a C+ for the spirit of it.
In short, Android use your free memory to cache programs into using spare resources. ATK then removes these apps from this free memory, making it free again. Android then uses your free memory to cache programs. Then ATK. Then Android. Etc... See the problem? Slows down your system and wastes battery doing it. You are correct in that there is a built-in memory-freeing system that does this really when it's needed. There are ways to influence how aggressively it frees memory up.
The reason it helped with your Droid X was because of how pathetic Blur was. With custom roms that removed most of Blur, ATK hurt a lot there as well.
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Jaxidian said:
Your explanation is off a bit but you get a C+ for the spirit of it.
In short, Android use your free memory to cache programs into using spare resources. ATK then removes these apps from this free memory, making it free again. Android then uses your free memory to cache programs. Then ATK. Then Android. Etc... See the problem? Slows down your system and wastes battery doing it. You are correct in that there is a built-in memory-freeing system that does this really when it's needed. There are ways to influence how aggressively it frees memory up.
The reason it helped with your Droid X was because of how pathetic Blur was. With custom roms that removed most of Blur, ATK hurt a lot there as well.
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+1 thank you... didn't feel like explaining all that
one thing to add for all you wondering...ram will use the same amount of power whether it is full or empty so don't' worry about using up all your ram...the android os will kill off apps and caches as needed to keep you running fast and efficient. our batteries life sucks because we use our phones so much or because (like me) we run beta software with bugs.
i've tested numerous times and sitting idle overnight (about 8 hours) on 4g OR WIFI, i will lose between 4 and 6 percent.
Quit muddying up the dev section! This has nothing to do with DEV!
This should probably be in the general section, and yes active task killers will ruin your battery life, if you have it uninstall it. The only way you should ever force close running apps is with the app management built into the android system and thats only for rogue apps that never stop running.
Jaxidian said:
Your explanation is off a bit but you get a C+ for the spirit of it.
In short, Android use your free memory to cache programs into using spare resources. ATK then removes these apps from this free memory, making it free again. Android then uses your free memory to cache programs. Then ATK. Then Android. Etc... See the problem? Slows down your system and wastes battery doing it. You are correct in that there is a built-in memory-freeing system that does this really when it's needed. There are ways to influence how aggressively it frees memory up.
The reason it helped with your Droid X was because of how pathetic Blur was. With custom roms that removed most of Blur, ATK hurt a lot there as well.
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on droid x wit blur atk still hurt battery life. only worked on eclair.
One thing that I have encountered in supporting VZW technical issues, in addition to battery life, over-aggressive task killers, if not configured properly, can kill necessary apps. People call cause their alarm clock didn't go off, they didn't get text messages for 30 min to an hour, etc. Some of these programs *need* to run in the background.
Yeah from what I understand its not the phone but the os. On eclair task killers helped out . But froyo and gingerbread both take care of all of that in the back ground and using tk's affects the way the two os's are working. I was told all of this back on my Captivate and at the time I was hooked on task killers and Froyo leaks were just coming out. My batt life sucked and a dev some probably know , Designingears , explained all this to me and omg it was hard for me to take in and delete advanced task killer lol. But I did and have never looked back and it definitely improved my batt life. Now every now and then you just get a stubborn run away app that the os just can't stop, can't remember the app but theres a couple out there that take care of this and there not task killers. Me, I just reboot my phone every now and then and all is well .
Sent From My HTC Inspire 4G @ 1.5Ghz | [ROM] CoreDroid HD GB 2.3.3 V6.6
so from what I've learned being in the business for 6+ years. The task killers kill everything where android needs certain things to run so your system doesn't lag. That being said a lot of the manufacturer are including a task killer in there new roms to over come this issue. Example the new droid x 2 has a new task killer app. Motorola was the first to say to Verizon no task killing apps and now HTC follows. Wont surprise me with the gingerbread updates to android phones if you see more companies build task killers into their roms. I stopped using a task killer last week and battery life has increased. Just my thoughts and opinion.
bhowell423 said:
so from what I've learned being in the business for 6+ years. The task killers kill everything where android needs certain things to run so your system doesn't lag. That being said a lot of the manufacturer are including a task killer in there new roms to over come this issue. Example the new droid x 2 has a new task killer app. Motorola was the first to say to Verizon no task killing apps and now HTC follows. Wont surprise me with the gingerbread updates to android phones if you see more companies build task killers into their roms. I stopped using a task killer last week and battery life has increased. Just my thoughts and opinion.
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I second that. When I bought my Thunderbolt the clown at the store told me to put a task killer on it. I did that it killed the battery...On Perfect Strom 1.4 I am getting over 10 hours with out a task killer. Not scientific but I consider 10 hours good for battery life on this phone
Day 1 when I bought the TB a HTC rep was in the VZ store and he was saying same thing then about task killers worsening battery life and performance
RandomlyWatts said:
I would guess that they'd negatively impact performance. The only reason you'd need a task killer is if you were on a 1.5-6 device. In all later version, tasks are managed natively as part of the core os.
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exactly.. froyo and GB do the task management job well.. when I had my droid 1 running 2.0, i compared with and without a task killer, and battery life improved a little when I did use task killer. But then with froyo and above, it would actually make it worse to use one..
Me thinks that the phone processes is set up to where a simple task manger can kill them, thus messing with some essential processes. Which in turn, would make the phone have to use a little bit more juice to start the processes back up over and over.
Just my .02 o.o
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Atk initially "sounds" good because most of us use to windows OS. Atk would/could be of use if droids ran windows... Droid is based off Linux and if you read up on how Linux operates, there is no need to constantly kill apps when it doesn't draw on system performance while in the background. Where the problem is, is that some apps have permissions to chill in the background and by killing them and the system brings them back up, just to be killed again. Not gonna drag thus on because I'm typing on my phone, but atk's aren't necessary.
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Related
ive noticed that after a day or two of my phone being on the available ram starts to drop no matter how many apps i kill (using advanced task killer). its kind of gradual but im just wondering if that app isnt killing them right or if after being on for so long phone processes i cant see start opening up. this has happened regardless of the rom im using and even on stock. only a restart resets it and i hate doing it cuz a restart drops the battery like 10%. its not a wrong ram reading the phone is noticeably slower
dak_181 said:
ive noticed that after a day or two of my phone being on the available ram starts to drop no matter how many apps i kill (using advanced task killer). its kind of gradual but im just wondering if that app isnt killing them right or if after being on for so long phone processes i cant see start opening up. this has happened regardless of the rom im using and even on stock. only a restart resets it and i hate doing it cuz a restart drops the battery like 10%. its not a wrong ram reading the phone is noticeably slower
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Click to collapse
App Killers are useless. They are unnecessary on modern UNIX-based operating systems. Save yourself the trouble and uninstall it.
dak_181 said:
ive noticed that after a day or two of my phone being on the available ram starts to drop no matter how many apps i kill (using advanced task killer). its kind of gradual but im just wondering if that app isnt killing them right or if after being on for so long phone processes i cant see start opening up. this has happened regardless of the rom im using and even on stock. only a restart resets it and i hate doing it cuz a restart drops the battery like 10%. its not a wrong ram reading the phone is noticeably slower
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Click to collapse
Don't use task killers, end of story.
What i do is restart the phone every morning once i get up and let it charge back up
You really shouldn't be having ram issues with a phone with this much ram lol.
Task killers are worse for these and a lot of developers will tell you the same.
Just let the phone kill the apps and unless you are having low ram issues, like rebooting or slowness because of memory, there shouldn't be anything to worry about.
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Building on what everyone has said, it also seems like you may have a rogue app that's causing a memory leak.
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OK, we are supposed to have like a huge amount of memory for the 3D but when I check my task manager I have like about 80 to 100 free. Is that normal? I do have a task manager, memory optimization, and this is still going on.
Thoughts?
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snake411 said:
OK, we are supposed to have like a huge amount of memory for the 3D but when I check my task manager I have like about 80 to 100 free. Is that normal? I do have a task manager, memory optimization, and this is still going on.
Thoughts?
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Click to collapse
Only use the task manager that is pre installed on the phone. Also you have 1gb to play with why not use it
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aray92 said:
Only use the task manager that is pre installed on the phone. Also you have 1gb to play with why not use it
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Why only the one with the phone? That doesn't give you much flexibility. It simply allows you to kill running applications.. And you have to do it manually.
Any other thoughts to get my memory up? It's just weird that i have 1gb oh memory, the same amount of software as i did my evo4g and I still only have the same amount of memory free as i did the evo4g.
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snake411 said:
Why only the one with the phone? That doesn't give you much flexibility. It simply allows you to kill running applications.. And you have to do it manually.
Any other thoughts to get my memory up? It's just weird that i have 1gb oh memory, the same amount of software as i did my evo4g and I still only have the same amount of memory free as i did the evo4g.
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Because other task managers and such mess with the system. the stock one works great and kills things when it needs to. nothing wrong with all your apps running, if you need more memory it will kill whatever is open that you are using the least. makes your phone faster because you dont have to re load everything all the time
Android manages memory on its own and is a lot different than say how Windows handles it. I'll try to explain this, but my explanation will probably be a little simplified.
First, Sense 3.0 uses more memory to begin with and secondly there was reports of the Evo 3D reporting used/available memory slightly incorrect but I don't remember if that was confirmed or how far off it was.
As for Android, to keep the phone optimized for performance and battery, it keeps apps stored in memory - seemingly as much as it can to an extent. The apps don't run, they're just preloaded. This also allows those apps to do their thing if needed (update information every so often for example).
Since they're not exactly running and just sitting in memory, they have minimal drain on the battery. If you have a more detailed task manager, you'll see CPU usage is sitting around 0% for everything that's open.
While Android manages its own memory, when one app closes, it most likely will open another to keep loaded. The problem with using task managers to keep your memory free is that most of the time you're fighting the system. Close one app, another or the same one loads again. It drains more battery opening/closing constantly than to just leave it sit.
I think the only reason a task manager should be used ever is to close a rogue app - one that can't/won't close and is just working the CPU.
I think the suggestion to just use the stock one is so you don't set anything up that would fight the system or close something the core system needs running.
Hell, I have around 100MB showing free and the phone still flies. Android doesn't need to keep so much memory free like Windows does.
snake411 said:
Why only the one with the phone? That doesn't give you much flexibility. It simply allows you to kill running applications.. And you have to do it manually.
Any other thoughts to get my memory up? It's just weird that i have 1gb oh memory, the same amount of software as i did my evo4g and I still only have the same amount of memory free as i did the evo4g.
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
gk1984 summed it up pretty well for you. Here is an article if you have interest in reading a little. http://lifehacker.com/5650894/andro...ed-what-they-do-and-why-you-shouldnt-use-them
Just stick with the built in task killer, and let android manage it's memory. As has been noted, the reason that you have such a huge amount of your memory being used up is simple: Sense 3.0 uses a ton of resources, period. When we get an AOSP rom on this thing, install that. I guarantee we will have 700mb or more free memory. Sense is nice, but a resource hog none the less.
Alright, coming from WM way back to an iPaq, as soon as I got an android I got task killers, especially as I watched my memory go down to like 40 megs.
After reading I am deciding to remove any (excluding ZDBox) task killers that I have, and see if Android really does manage memory well.
I have to admit that when I did notice my launcher running slow, I would kill tasks and it would pick back up. Anyways....
I have one question - I am running Juice Defender, that doesn't kill tasks, just manages wifi, and the radio, right? Its ok to keep that going?
I am running a rooted TB with BAMF SoaB with GoLauncher as my home.
Any input on this would be appreciated!
JuiceDefender does no task killing, just deals w/networking as you said. The only reason a task kller would be necessary is a misbehaved app that wakes up often and burns processor cycles - Android reclaims memory when needed (a built in task killer, if you will). If you have a less-than-popular app, it might have such a problem, but popular apps get enough scrutiny that they should not be burning cycles and should not need to be killed.
That helps me, thx.
I completely agree for juice defender. It helps on "saving your battery", not on managing app on background.
You could try Advanced Task Killer. it's a good one. I used it on my I9000 when i had a Gingerbread rom and it worked great
v6supercharger,no need for taskkiller..
Sent from my LT18i
rashid.fairus said:
v6supercharger,no need for taskkiller..
Sent from my LT18i
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I have read your post about this v6supercharger (wouldn't mind a real one for my truck, another post)
You indicate its easy, but I have zero knowledge about this kind of stuff. I will be going over the instillation instructions, but want to be sure that if I screw something up in the setup, It will be easy (battery pull) to start over?
Also, I am running a rooted phone with a CPU speed setting, and have overclocked it to 1400, will this V6 do the same, or is it a completely different setup?
jerrya said:
So I have read your post about this v6supercharger (wouldn't mind a real one for my truck, another post)
You indicate its easy, but I have zero knowledge about this kind of stuff. I will be going over the instillation instructions, but want to be sure that if I screw something up in the setup, It will be easy (battery pull) to start over?
Also, I am running a rooted phone with a CPU speed setting, and have overclocked it to 1400, will this V6 do the same, or is it a completely different setup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
at the first time it maybe cause a bootloop(stuck),so pull out battery and boot again,so better not run it on boot,if its working(no bootloop) then you can set it to run on boot so you have permanent setup,and you can unsupercharger if you dont like it,it doesnt touch your clock speed,it just playing with ram and out of memory things,dont worry bout setting it,it will suggest for you..
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=991276
Sent from my LT18i
Thanks, I will give it a go Monday, thats my best time when I have all day without distractions. Will report when I get done with it.
jerrya said:
Thanks, I will give it a go Monday, thats my best time when I have all day without distractions. Will report when I get done with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
good luck,and make sure you made a backup..
Sent from my LT18i
Just got the rezound. I installed advanced task killer and normally it says 10+ apps are running, even ones i dont ever open. ill kill everything and they seem to open right back up. so pretty much when ever i app kill eveyrthing i get about 11+ apps killed. doesnt seem normal..
the apps it randomly opens are like pandora, block buster, slacker. ect..
LOL @ advanced task killer.
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That was going to be my first question. Why in the world are running that program?
I find ATK really helps save battery life a lot.
phio said:
LOL @ advanced task killer.
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EmerikL said:
That was going to be my first question. Why in the world are running that program?
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Click to collapse
+1 : D : D
Sent from my E10i using xda premium
what is so wrong with ATK?
iv been using it since my 1st android phone (htc hero) and its been amazing.
Jacrushar said:
I find ATK really helps save battery life a lot.
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Click to collapse
Take two placebos, and call us in the morning.
Warrior 3000 said:
what is so wrong with ATK?
iv been using it since my 1st android phone (htc hero) and its been amazing.
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Click to collapse
Back then it was necessary. But since what, Froyo, it hasn't been.
so what should i use?
The built in task manager.
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Or just let it do its own thing.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA Premium.
Don't need a task manager on Gingerbread and beyond. Just let everything be.
Don't even use a task manager, Android deals with apps in it's own ways, if you force kill them with a task killer, they'll be right back, ATK causes system instability.
Also, the 10+ apps are most likely bloatware and apps you installed that are scheduled to send/receive info intermittently, forcing the app to constantly open in the background for that purpose.
Sent from the resounding Rezound
These threads always make me angry because the people who post "ATK IS WORTHLESS" are just as ignorant as those who think ATK is a requirement.
99/100, ATK won't be necessary these days. Android has built in task management. ATK is really something that store reps were trained on because task management in Eclair was pretty horrible.
Think about it like this. Those 10+ apps are being shut down, then using extra CPU cycles to start up every time you kill them! That's going to kill battery faster than letting them live.
Since Froyo and beyond (meaning Gingerbread, Honeycomb, and Ice Cream Sandwich), ATK is essentially unnecessary. You can uninstall it and won't notice much of a difference most of the time. They've done studies and found on some devices, ATK will either improve battery or hurt battery by +/- 5 minutes (in other words, no battery improvement except possibly a negligible 5 minutes on average for a couple of devices). Search for the article on Droid Life if you're interested.
With that being said, ATK can still be useful. Did Angry Birds crash freeze on you and is causing your system to run slowly? ATK kill it. Is Facebook completely stuck because it's trying to find your location and you have 0 GPS signal? ATK kill it. Is Currents sucking up your battery because it's trying to download on a weak data signal? ATK kill it.
I haven't had ATK installed in a while, but what I do have is Watch Dog. Watch Dog allows you to set a CPU threshold. When certain apps start sucking on your CPU for extended amounts of time, it pops up an alert. From there, you can Ignore it, White List it, or Kill it. This way you're not just killing tasks for the sake of killing tasks.
Best kill software? Best Battery saver software? Interested in opinions. Feel free to drop names of what you use and why you like it, what features it has and if its paid or not. Go!
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TheCrispytoast said:
Best kill software? Interested in opinions. Feel free to drop names of what you use and why you like it, what features it has and if its paid or not. Go¡
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't mess with Task Killers. They're only going to make things worse. They tend to kill processes prematurely, which then restart again. Using even more resources, and wasting battery. Your best bet if you want to use something is the V6 SuperCharger. It's going to do what you want and a whole lot more. you will feel a significant difference in the way your device performs. It's not a " Task Killer " , it's Better Memory Management. Plus it's FREE.
prboy1969 said:
Don't mess with Task Killers. They're only going to make things worse. They tend to kill processes prematurely, which then restart again. Using even more resources, and wasting battery. Your best bet if you want to use something is the V6 SuperCharger. It's going to do what you want and a whole lot more. you will feel a significant difference in the way your device performs. It's not a " Task Killer " , it's Better Memory Management. Plus it's FREE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Trying it out now. And what do you use as far as battery savers?
Not a big fan of them. Have yet to run into one that actually does what it says.
TEAM MiK
MikROMs Since 3/13/11
I've tested quite a few number of task killers but i realized that the phone is better off without them. I noticed a drop in my battery backup and now i don't use any task killer. It's better without them. As for battery savers, none of them actually work.