Help Task Killers! Must read for new Android Users

[SirSlayer]

Is SystemPanelLite considered a 'Task Killer' ? and for those that think that Task Killers are harmful... would SystemPanelLite fall into that category? (even with minimal usage, like monitoring?)

never used it couldn't tell ya

 

[Upright]

Day 2 with no task killers and I haven't experienced any need to kill apps. I've been using the phone heavily and battery life is much better.

 

[drexappeal]

You could install Astro File Manager.....has no Auto kill functions and a kill when needed feature with it, and isn't loaded until needed. Plus gives you all kinds of other options like well...file management.

How do you get to the settings or use the task killer on Astro File Manager? I downloaded it, just to have something to see the files on my phone, but might as well try out the task killer if it's on there.

 

[SirSlayer]

How do you get to the settings or use the task killer on Astro File Manager? I downloaded it, just to have something to see the files on my phone, but might as well try out the task killer if it's on there.

Menu/Tools

 

[SirSlayer]

Day 2 with no task killers and I haven't experienced any need to kill apps. I've been using the phone heavily and battery life is much better.

Sweetness! yea I haven't killed un app in 3 months 2 days 54 min and 36 seconds!!!..haha j/k

 

[djsunyc]

i fully charge my phone before i go to bed. i leave the wi-fi and sync on overnight. when i wake up (about 8 hours later), the battery loses a bar. (with no use while sleeping)

i turned off task killer last night. fully charged my phone and went to bed. when i woke up the next morning, the power was still 100%. it's now 12+ hours since i fully charged it and it's still at full bars. (with no use so far).

 

[SirSlayer]

i fully charge my phone before i go to bed. i leave the wi-fi and sync on overnight. when i wake up (about 8 hours later), the battery loses a bar. (with no use while sleeping)

i turned off task killer last night. fully charged my phone and went to bed. when i woke up the next morning, the power was still 100%. it's now 12+ hours since i fully charged it and it's still at full bars. (with no use so far).

Welcome to the forums!!!!

 

[Bek]

Is SystemPanelLite considered a 'Task Killer' ? and for those that think that Task Killers are harmful... would SystemPanelLite fall into that category? (even with minimal usage, like monitoring?)

It's not an automatic task killer, no. But you can use it to manually kill tasks. Subtle but significant difference.

 

[TehBigCarp]

I hear ya. You can Google this topic and you will find allot of users that have had problems with the phone even with it just installed. I added another link of one such issue.

Going around the forums I can see that you are very adamant about not using task killers. My experience since June 4th and the Evo has been opposite and would appreciate your thoughts and opinions on it. Before using a task killer my battery wouldn't last the day. With me using a task killer now and having it auto kill what i choose every half hour, my battery lasts much much longer. Curious as to if I missed something in your warnings or not. Any feedback would be great! Thanks for the time!

 

[SirSlayer]

Going around the forums I can see that you are very adamant about not using task killers. My experience since June 4th and the Evo has been opposite and would appreciate your thoughts and opinions on it. Before using a task killer my battery wouldn't last the day. With me using a task killer now and having it auto kill what i choose every half hour, my battery lasts much much longer. Curious as to if I missed something in your warnings or not. Any feedback would be great! Thanks for the time!

Its great for the battery now, but in the end I fear you will be on here asking about other issues that will show up. One of which is notifications will all of a sudden stop working. I can agree that the battery life is to be somewhat testy. There are lots of suggestions out there for better battery life. But one that I have loved the most is this.

1. Root - do a full root and unlock NAND
2. Flash Fresh rom. Has no task killers and I can go 24+ hours with med to heavy usage without a charge and never have to kill an app and runs very smooth.

My Path To Root:
1. I used this first: http://androidforums.com/all-things-root-evo-4g/91831-www-unrevoked-com-went-live.html

2. Then I followed this guide: [TUTORIAL] IDIOT-PROOF Root Guide! NAND Unlock and ADB Update!! - xda-developers

3. Lastly: (How-To) FULLY ROOT UNLOCKING NAND -WITHOUT- USING ADB IN 30 STEPS! - xda-developers

Rom that I flashed:
[ROM] 6/17/10 | Fresh Evo 0.3 | apps2sd + compcache + battery tweaks + apk optimized! - xda-developers

Ok, so at first this looks like a lot to go through but its soooo worth it. While I didn't have to many issues with my battery before, I do love the difference.

Good Luck. Post if you need more help and Welcome to the forums!!!

 

[shandroid]

Ever since i uninstalled my task killer my battery is shit

 

[SirSlayer]

Ever since i uninstalled my task killer my battery is shit

Use a task killer then, no one is saying you are not allowed too. Thing is in a month or so when other things really crap out don't come complaining here. The post above you shows what I did to get past the battery issue. There are several posts everywhere in the forum about battery issues and all the fixes seem to be just a band-aid. HTC has admitted to saying its a hardware issue and I am sure it will get addressed in the future. I will tell you the steps I took to root and running fresh 0.3 kicks ass. I can go 24 hours without charging and no task killer needed.

If you had a task killer installed I have heard of some people needing to do a factory reset as well to start off without a task killer to begin with.

Hope this helps sorry you are having issues.

Edit: Here is what I was talking about for HTC issue:
http://androidforums.com/htc-evo-4g...they-now-know-what-causing-battery-drain.html

 

[shandroid]

ahh maybe the damage was already done in 4 days of killin tasks left n right? lol i'll have to read how to do a reset. Good idea. And i'm too rookie to start rooting, but thanks for your reply.

 

[SirSlayer]

ahh maybe the damage was already done in 4 days of killin tasks left n right? lol i'll have to read how to do a reset. Good idea. And i'm too rookie to start rooting, but thanks for your reply.

Anytime. Well when you get the nerve up to try root, it looks more complicated then it is. But I will always recommend you read everything and follow the directions to the tee.

To reset your phone to factory defaults (keep in mind this will wipe everything, but your paid apps will be waiting for you in the google market.)
From the home screen:
Menu/Settings/Privacy/Factory data reset.

 

[shandroid]

Thanks!

What's the best way to back up to my mac just click n drag folders?

 

[SirSlayer]

Thanks!

What's the best way to back up to my mac just click n drag folders?

Your SD Card won't get touched. So all the user data there from apps will be there for you when you reload them. No need to back those up. Titanium backup is good for backing up apps if you want, though I didn't have much luck with it. When I have whipped in the past I leave the SD card alone and when I reload an app to the phone the user data is still there .

 

[liquidtrance]

Another Evo here that's been Task Killer free all week, I noticed slightly more battery life almost immediately.

 

[mlw911]

If I do a reset will I loose my contacts?

 

[SirSlayer]

If I do a reset will I loose my contacts?

Not if you sync them with Google. After a reset when you log into your google account they will automatically load onto the phone. The only thing you will have to do is re-load your apps and re-customize the phone.

 

[legion21]

this was a great read thanks for the info

 

[yah5]

Interesting reads.

I'm new to Android and at first was constantly using the task killer, but then I decided it's getting ridiculous. I now load my most used applications and keep them from getting killed, which is around 6 applications. Everything else I let the task killer kill automatically and now I feel a lot less stressed about leaving apps open and also am worry free. I'll be retaining this behavior as I feel it's best of both worlds between battery life and apps opening quickly that are in memory.

Thanks.

 

[pank]

Great post with a ton of useful info.
Thanks!

 

[sesso]

I think this is all garbage.. I have been a linux user for years and when we want to stop a service..... we Kill it. If it was bad I highly doubt network engineers would use $kill -9 <appname>

 

[sesso]

Day 2 with no task killers and I haven't experienced any need to kill apps. I've been using the phone heavily and battery life is much better.

The only time to use a task killer is when you know something has a memory leak and it will cause your phone to run slower if its not used. For example older versions of firefox and some windows apps like internet explorer had memory leaks.

I like to use one and have for years. Never had any issues. It should just be personal preference.

 

[SirSlayer]

I think this is all garbage.. I have been a linux user for years and when we want to stop a service..... we Kill it. If it was bad I highly doubt network engineers would use $kill -9 <appname>

I understand what you are saying. I too am a Linux engineer and have been for sometime. I realize that Android is built on Linux but did you know that Android is smart enough to kill apps on its own? Do you realize how may people come here complaining about issues and we find out that it was their task killer that was causing the issue. This is an OS based on Linux. That doesnt mean its exactly like linux. I am going to try to say this in a nice way, but if you search these forums you will find.plenty of reasons why you shouldn't use one. I know I know your a "linux expert" but did you build Android? Just wondering.