Hi, after reading some information on the internet I have seen people have said that task killers dont help at all and it doesnt help save battery either. Can anyone confirm this?
Thanks
Alot of apps that you see running in Task Killers are apps that are on pause in the background.
What happens alot of the time if you kill them, that they restart again in a couple of seconds. And apps that are restarting the whole time will cost you more battery that just some apps on pause/sleep in the background.
So as far as i know, these days Task Killers dont help at all, they can even make it worse.
*If i am totally wrong about this, enlighten me*
Razje said:
Alot of apps that you see running in Task Killers are apps that are on pause in the background.
What happens alot of the time if you kill them, that they restart again in a couple of seconds. And apps that are restarting the whole time will cost you more battery that just some apps on pause/sleep in the background.
So as far as i know, these days Task Killers dont help at all, they can even make it worse.
*If i am totally wrong about this, enlighten me*
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Agreed, I personally haven't seen an improvement in the past and there are a number of articles that say they are un-needed.
It's not needed because Android, having the Linux base, has good memory management which is different from Windows.
Thanks for this. As on my last android phones I spent about 10 minutes a day killing apps.
Razje said:
Alot of apps that you see running in Task Killers are apps that are on pause in the background.
What happens alot of the time if you kill them, that they restart again in a couple of seconds. And apps that are restarting the whole time will cost you more battery that just some apps on pause/sleep in the background.
So as far as i know, these days Task Killers dont help at all, they can even make it worse.
*If i am totally wrong about this, enlighten me*
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You are right. Killing apps will make things worse. With the exception of an occasional rogue app, which can be killed fromt the default app management offcourse.
I hardly ever kill an app. Generally it's not necessary.
Related
I have read that taskkiller is not necessary on Android as the OS will kill off running apps when it needs memory - what are people's thoughts on this?
Hmmm...I read somewhere (maybe on here) heard if the App is coded properly that when not in use it will be background so not take up memory.
Not too knowledgable, but in that case would imagine they are acting like a windows service so will be taking up memory somewhere....so perhaps what I read was nonsense
Well, I have stopped killing tasks and guess what - I notice no difference at all! Hero is just as speedy (or slow depending on how you wanna look at it!).
Interesting!
Killing truly idle applications wont have significant effect. There are however many applications which appear idle, but still drains resources. An example is Peep, the twitter client, which starts automatically even if there's no twitter account configured. It has some frequent checks that put load on the CPU and thus helps drain power. Killing it adds many hours of standby time.
i'm not using any task manager/killer, did try them for a couple of days, can't really tell the difference, except i was wasting time constantly killing apps :/
suisen said:
i'm not using any task manager/killer, did try them for a couple of days, can't really tell the difference, except i was wasting time constantly killing apps :/
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Ditto... surely there is no need as the OS will kill a unused app if it needs the memory ??? I don't have any problem running any apps one after the other... they just load.
The only lag I get is while the handset starts a widget update, once they are started everything runs slickly.
I found it a little slicker without taskiller. Especially in the use of big apps like copilot or documents2go. It seems to be managing itself pretty well.
Yep. I can report that the phone is working very well without Taskkiller. I have uninstalled it now.
If you are reading this, give it a try for a few days and tell us what you think. You may be pleasantly surprised...
Ditto - I've removed taskiller so I don't get tempted. Surprise surprise, no problems, no lag, etc. Now mostly this is due to removing the clock and people widget, but memory management seems fine after playing many different games and browsing the internet.
I think a benefit to doing this is that you aren't going to get and bizarre problems caused by killing system processes by accident - ie you won't miss alarms or stop receiving email alerts.
I installed a task killer and noticed that when killing certain apps, the phone just lags real bad. I discontinued use of it and now the phone has no serious pausing. I was killing unknown apps with Android box icons.
heygrl said:
I installed a task killer and noticed that when killing certain apps, the phone just lags real bad. I discontinued use of it and now the phone has no serious pausing. I was killing unknown apps with Android box icons.
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yeah I uninstalled it as well. I heard Android does great job of managing ram and as soon as it gets low, it will start killing other apps automatically.
you need to learn what apps need to stay running, but some apps are just fluff and worthless... you may need to set up you task killer to ignore certain apps like handcent and clock... killing any android processes is usually a bad idea.. I just kill my 3rd party apps that open for no reason or use it to close apps when I am done using my phone for a while...
You should not need a task killer with this phone. Android has been managing its own memory and background services quite nicely for a while now.
SkOrPn said:
You should not need a task killer with this phone. Android has been managing its own memory and background services quite nicely for a while now.
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Thats what i was told but when i uninstalled the task killer my phone lagged with everything i did. Even when closing programs properly it still lagged. Im keeping my task killer.
acjames said:
Thats what i was told but when i uninstalled the task killer my phone lagged with everything i did. Even when closing programs properly it still lagged. Im keeping my task killer.
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yeah maybe its not as good as most people say it is at controlling its own memory usage.
Task Killers = meh,
Android has a way of doing things and that means keeping apps open for some time, I tried using app-killers and it did not seem to make my phones run better, and auto kill everything is even worse...
heygrl said:
I installed a task killer and noticed that when killing certain apps, the phone just lags real bad. I discontinued use of it and now the phone has no serious pausing. I was killing unknown apps with Android box icons.
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idk if youre rooted or not, or if this app works on the vibrant cuz it does an amazing job on the g1, but you could try autokiller, tho it requires root. what it does is change the android memory management settings and will kill apps more frequently depending on the settings you choose.
speedysilwady said:
idk if youre rooted or not, or if this app works on the vibrant cuz it does an amazing job on the g1, but you could try autokiller, tho it requires root. what it does is change the android memory management settings and will kill apps more frequently depending on the settings you choose.
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I still need to use it for those unruly apps but I got so used to it because my old phone would lag with Slacker even in the background and I had to kill it. I've stopped using it and I've stopped having major problems. Just an FYI for those out there that still use one, it's not needed here on a regular basis really.
I noticed that I can't use the "kill all" function in Advanced Task Manager by Arron La any more without making my phone freeze up. My brother suggestion Task Manager by Rhythm Software (he has a MyTouch Slide). This program doesn't give me any problems when killing files and also doesn't list system files (that I've noticed).
The people who are having problems with task killer are the ones that are not setting it up correctly or don't have enough apps installed for it to make any difference.
If you don't setup the ignore list correctly your phone will freak out or make your existing problem worse.
Android 2.2 is a different story though, Froyo is faster without a taskiller
Buddy here's what .....
Download AutoKiller from the market , then go to the dev's webpage ,there he has a lot of information about android and memory management .... then you can make an informed decision .... the lag issue you continue to have .,.,..., you might have to do a hard reset to clear the system of that poorly coded task/app killer ....
Here's some more information http://androidforums.com/samsung-vibrant/124542-constant-apps-restarting-themselves.html
I hope that here on xda we can help people to understand Android and memory management , so they are not fooled by these task/app killers that work against the system ......
heygrl said:
I still need to use it for those unruly apps but I got so used to it because my old phone would lag with Slacker even in the background and I had to kill it. I've stopped using it and I've stopped having major problems. Just an FYI for those out there that still use one, it's not needed here on a regular basis really.
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I used to have the original my touch 3g, lag central, even on custom roms. Task killer was handy, so I got in the Babbitt if killing tasks. I then got me a nexus, and it seemed to have not needed one, but I still used it out of the Babbitt and being paranoid of my plbattery being wasted with apps on the background and lag lol. Well, I'm now done with them, seriously, no need for task killers. I think on this phone it does more damage then good, most apps need to be running on the background, killing them just lags your phone. Like you'd lose signal, or it would run time and date update again, etc.
Task killers may not be necessary for memory management, but it will help save on battery by killing 3rd party apps that stay running in the background. I use Advanced Task Manager myself, and never get any lag when I run it. The main thing you need to "exclude" if you havnt already, is the TWLauncher(or whatever launcher you're running).
So I installed automatic task killer just to see if I noticed a difference. So it says it is freeing memory when I engage it. Great, more memory available seems to allow the phone to run smoother/quicker. However, give the phone a couple of hours and gradually the available memory on the phone lowers and lowers until it goes below 100mb and beyond. Engaging automatic task killer frees some memory but does not bring it back to its startup memory of over 150mb. I of course do notice that my phone begins to get "laggy" once I start to dip below 100mb. I guess my question is, "where is all my memory going?". Im not too concerned about using automatic task killer. I just want to know where my memory is going cause this is most certainly the cause of a laggy phone. A quick reboot and my phone is back to its highest point of 158mb and running nice and smooth. What gives? Also where are the other 150mb or so that the phone has available according to specs? If its all dedicated to the the android OS than why is the phone so laggy by the end of day? Sorry if its too many questions but im just looking for some insight into the memory management of the x10 and android. Maybe a 1.6 issue?
It's nothing to worry about. Unused memory is useless memory. It's *nix based so the memory in use isn't going to drain the battery or slow the system down. It manages everything by itself. By repeatedly killing tasks you're actually stressing things unnecessarily.
The only time you should kill all the tasks is when you know something is being problematic, before locking your phone when you have a suspicious app that doesn't always stop automatically, etc. Otherwise the Android OS takes care of this by itself.
I stopped using task killers months ago (except for when I lock my phone because of what I mentioned above.. programs keeping it from going into a deep sleep) and my battery easily lasts two days with periods of very heavy usage.
I only use a task killer to kill certain things when they cause problems, which is not often. Things I use often I leave in memory, they only get reloaded anyway.
Tbh if things are getting laggy that quickly you probably have an app that is misbehaving.
Sent from my X10i using XDA App
Thanks for the quick replies. Automatic task killer has already been uninstalled. Looking forward to the update with hopes that it helps with lag issues
Sent from my X10a using XDA App
Well that still doesn't solve the problem of badly written apps draining the battery. Often I've found that without a task killer my battery life has improved, but on occasion when I download a new app, I look at my battery usage a few hours later, and that app has managed to use 45% of my battery even though I used it for a few minutes. So then I just reboot
In conclusion, don't use a task killer, but keep an eye on the battery usage feature if you find that it has suddenly gone down (Settings -> About Phone -> Battery Usage)
I use Memory Booster. Quiet amazing.
hi i used to be same as you and always used talk killers
then i came across this article http:// www.ipmart-forum.com/ showthread.php?t=528674 (watch for spaces in the link)
since reading this i installed watchdog lite and i only kill a task if its overusing the system.
you can set it to notify you when an app is using more than a certain % of resources and its great then if i need to i just kill that app/process
pngface said:
Well that still doesn't solve the problem of badly written apps draining the battery. Often I've found that without a task killer my battery life has improved, but on occasion when I download a new app, I look at my battery usage a few hours later, and that app has managed to use 45% of my battery even though I used it for a few minutes. So then I just reboot
In conclusion, don't use a task killer, but keep an eye on the battery usage feature if you find that it has suddenly gone down (Settings -> About Phone -> Battery Usage)
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that doesn't work all the time is kinda annoying to keep checking your phone and see if the battery is alive or not
bongd said:
It's nothing to worry about. Unused memory is useless memory. It's *nix based so the memory in use isn't going to drain the battery or slow the system down. It manages everything by itself. By repeatedly killing tasks you're actually stressing things unnecessarily.
The only time you should kill all the tasks is when you know something is being problematic, before locking your phone when you have a suspicious app that doesn't always stop automatically, etc. Otherwise the Android OS takes care of this by itself.
I stopped using task killers months ago (except for when I lock my phone because of what I mentioned above.. programs keeping it from going into a deep sleep) and my battery easily lasts two days with periods of very heavy usage.
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K i seriusly need some answers how the hell do people come to know which app prevents it from sleeping? how can you figure out a bad application . does sleep here means when locks itself and screen goes blank? confused :S
Hi,
Is there a way to close all task when i shake the phone ?
Never mind - found it...
shake task killer
thanks anyway guys
There are many articles about how pointless is blind task killing under android. When You kill tasks your phone has to start them again when needed and uses battery for that. Also accelerometer gestues drain significant amount of power. By using such app You do much more harm than good. And one more thing - having plenty of free ram is also pointless, unused ram is a wasted ram. Android can take care of himself very well (background apps are terminated automaticaly when resources are needed), You should just be careful not to install some rogue app that keep phone awake when screen is off - betterbatterystats will help You here. Remember that smartphone is not a PC and android is not Windows. It's not a coincidence that android apps does not have "close" button like apps on PC - they don't need it.
I have the LG G2x.
I often go to Running Services and check what's running. I am under the impression that this is a good way of knowing which apps run in the background, and how much they consume (memory).
AM I WRONG about this? Sometimes I will uninstall an app if I see it won't close for a long time for no apparent reason - assuming it's slowing down my phone.
THANKS
hmm.....think u dont need to do this. and if u want to know the correct details of all running process and activities then install some advanced task managers from market. also you may kill them all together using that app. may include exclude list....so on!!
Sent from my MB860 using xda premium
I really don't see why you should close the services, unless you are actually experiencing performance problems. Android should be efficient enough to shut down anything that takes way too much resources...
A running services doesn't necessarily mean that it is doing something in the background, it just means that it hasn't been killed and is ready to do whatever it does best.
So unless you have a really old phone with very little RAM or you are actually experiencing performance problems, you shouldn't worry. But it is always good to keep an eye on what is going on once in a while anyway ;-)
if your phone has enough ram and also if the running services dont harm the performance of your device you shouldnt be worried about that ....but i wud still suggest u to use the ram manager instead of closing the running apps in settings
Android doesn't need any sort of micro-managing when it comes to resources. It manages itself, right up until the point where someone does something stupid like installing a 'Task-Killer' or 'RAM Optimiser'.
Stop trying to sabotage your phone and start using it instead!
DirkGently said:
Android doesn't need any sort of micro-managing when it comes to resources. It manages itself, right up until the point where someone does something stupid like installing a 'Task-Killer' or 'RAM Optimiser'.
Stop trying to sabotage your phone and start using it instead!
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FINALLY ! I was expecting this would be the case with Android as well. THANK YOU !!!!!!
DirkGently said:
Android doesn't need any sort of micro-managing when it comes to resources. It manages itself, right up until the point where someone does something stupid like installing a 'Task-Killer' or 'RAM Optimiser'.
Stop trying to sabotage your phone and start using it instead!
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Very true Task Killers and the like have been proven to use more memory than anything else. Also they tend to aggrivate a low Memory situation. Some task killers will prematurely shut down programs, the program auto-restarts to finish the task. Which causes even more memory to be allocated. Sometimes a program will have to restart several times causing a larger than usual memory drain. So long story short, stay away from Task Killers.
prboy1969 said:
Very true Task Killers and the like have been proven to use more memory than anything else. Also they tend to aggrivate a low Memory situation. Some task killers will prematurely shut down programs, the program auto-restarts to finish the task. Which causes even more memory to be allocated. Sometimes a program will have to restart several times causing a larger than usual memory drain. So long story short, stay away from Task Killers.
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Thank you as well!
I wonder why Google doesn't restrict these from the Market....