quojo

Has anyone used both. Ive heard that that Advanced Task Killer, still drains the battery. What about the Automatic Task Killer, which puts everything to sleep when not in use.

Thoughts

Dtatch

First off this linux, memory management is completely different. The processes that aren't in use and have been backed out of...return button instead of home...are in reality already "asleep". They take up a segment of your memory yes but with linux unlike windows there is little depreciation in performance, if any, when memory is in use and this is not what is causing much of the battery drain. The cpu being used is what causes the majority of battery drain. I do not use a task killer, but I do have systempanel just in case I need to control run away apps. I would refrain from using anything that automatically kills tasks unless your entirely know what you are doing and what you are killing. Many of the things that show up in your task killer will start back up after being killed automatically and all that you are doing is making the process active again which uses the cpu and drains battery.

I don't mean for this to be a discussion on using a task killer vs. not but if your goal is to mainly increase battery life try refraining from using a task killer, particularly one that auto kills, and see how your battery life differs. If there is no difference in battery usage this is healthier for your system because android itself allocates memory.

quojo

Thanks, that is what i am noticing. I appreciate your input

cwrig

When I switched to android everyone said I needed a task killer. So I ran one for a while. Then I took it off and found the phone ran much better. Task killers are highly over rated.

kheovnien

if you are rooted there is an app called autokiller: it basically functions as an "enhanced" version of what's already built into android. essentially it kills apps when the free memory is lower than your setting. is it necessary? maybe not but i like knowing i have extra memory available instantly.

Dtatch

That's my biggest problem with Verizon and other carries right now, I have a few friends that have gone in with problems with their android phones and were directed by associates to get a task killer , all-the-while google talks about how if they do anything for your phone it is typically not good. There are people on both sides of the issue where ever you go. But if people ran a linux distro they would get a better understanding of how the memory works in os's like android. I dual boot my computer with windows (only out of necessity) and ubuntu and unlike windows if I have 30 things open in ubuntu it runs just like it would if I had 2. Like I advised the original poster try it both ways and see how well it works for you, but memory that is not being used in android is wasted memory for all intents and purposes. Freeing memory will not boost performance. It's hard to get out of windows "kill all" mentality but don't we all just want a phone that just works...give it a chance

vr4

same here. better performance after removing ATK and oddly enough my battery life is incredible. went from decent (50-60% after 10 hours unplugged) to 80% with the same amount of use. i use the phone quite a bit too.

aminaked

Will the memo ever get around? Don't kill tasks!

If the app has an exit button, you may want to use it. Otherwise, returning to the home screen when done with an app is good enough. Apps sitting idly in memory do not use CPU/battery power. Android will clear them from RAM as needed.

Occasionally, you may need to kill a problem app. You can do this via phone settings > applications > manage applications. This shouldn't be needed very often. If the app keeps causing a problem, uninstall it and contact the dev.

steve19800

I also think linux has different operation system compare to windows. But have you guys noticed if you go to galaxy s task manager there are 'active applications' with RAM usage i.e. music player 9.97 MB, internet 15.02 MB which keep running on the background until we shut it off manually, you can't use 'back' to shut it down. Don't know why???

And if you keep 2, 3, 4 or 8 applications running on background it will slow down your phone. If you go to 'Help' to extend battery life it is necessary to end unused application. This means 'active application' is drain battery.
Why it does not release the RAM after some time of idle time particularly music player and internet, it is really annoying you have to go to task maanger and end it manually. Can't use automatic task killer either for those application cause it will cause your music off when the screen goes off.

Last edited by steve19800; September 30th, 2010 at 12:50 AM.