I know this sounds a bit stupid(!) but is there a 'correct' way to exit applications?
If the app doesn't have a specific Exit button, I just click the Home key to get back to the home screen, but when I look in TasKiller, I have quite a few apps still running...
I know this sounds a bit stupid(!) but is there a 'correct' way to exit applications?
If the app doesn't have a specific Exit button, I just click the Home key to get back to the home screen, but when I look in TasKiller, I have quite a few apps still running...
The lack of app exit button is a bit weird after using other phones isn't it? I know that after 3/4 years of SymbianOS, I'm still struggling to get my head around it, but I've only had my Hero for four days.
After playing around with the Android API last night, I can confirm that the back (←) button calls finish() in the application (effectively closing it), but I'm not convinced this always occurs. Some applications are designed to stay open when you back (←) your way out of them for example (music apps like Last.fm, Imeem, etc.), while others seem to remember their previous state (like the internet browser). Besides which, it's often more convenient to use the Home button to get out of an application (who wants to back through dozens of previously visited web pages just to close the browser?), and as you indicate, it doesn't always seem to close them.
I wonder if Android leaves the app open for a little while when you hit the home button in case you intend going back to it? ...only to close it if you don't return within a few minutes?
Last edited by FADviral; August 22nd, 2009 at 05:26 AM.
I'm in the same boat - Previous Symbian user and had my Hero for only a few days! Just wanted to check I hadn't missed anything glaringly obvious really!
It's not a problem really, although I didn't notice some lag starting, which is when I checked TasKiller to discover I had lots of apps including about 4 games open! :/
Thanks for your reply; I guess it's up to an apps' developer to decide how an application exits (or doesn't) then!
Yeah, I forgot to mention that I've also noticed the lag after opening and "closing" numerous apps. I'm hoping HTC's next lag-busting firmware release will resolve the situation.
Funny isn't it! Even though Android is obviously designed to have many apps running at once, you would think some kind of task manager would be available out-of-the-box!
As for the possibility of apps closing themselves after a while, I don't think that's the case as I had some apps still open I hadn't used for a few hours.
In TasKiller you can see which apps are consuming CPU resources in yellow, so I presume it's only really these which affect performance.
"Most people who come to Android from a desktop environment find it a bit odd that you’re not required to shut down applications once you’ve finished using them. This is because Android terminates apps automatically when internal memory is getting low. Until that point they remain resident.
Sometimes though, it’s helpful to force close apps you’re not using to free memory, extend battery life and improve performance."
While I'm sure it's correct for many apps, for others it's not. As I said above, when you click the back (arrow) button, it triggers the finish() event. Some apps will shutdown when it's triggered, but others override it and remain in memory.
What's more TasKill pretty much confirms this behaviour. Google SkyMap will vanish from TasKill if you close it with the back button, but the Last.fm app does not. There's good reason for the Last.fm app to behave that way though because it constantly monitors the music player, caching and sending listening data to your last.fm account. (You can stop it doing that though by unticking its 'scrobbling' option.)
Unlike the back button, the home button never seems to trigger the finish() event in apps at all.
Last edited by FADviral; August 22nd, 2009 at 11:59 AM.
I'm also an ex Symbian S60 user of 5 years. If you guys hold down the home button you get a task switcher type window which shows the last 6 apps you opened.
I've read up on programming for Android (not actually got round to doing it yet though!) and as mentioned, apps get killed when memory/resources are needed. There are different parts to applications: there are activities (usually screens you interact with), as well as services which run in the background. (There are not the only types, but will do for now)
The example usually given is an mp3 player - just because you've chosen an album to play, doesn't mean you should have to look at the music player screens whilst the album plays, you might want to browse the web or send a text. So the actual music playing part is handled by a service that can run without being displayed to the user. The music player UI though is an activity that the user interacts with - in the background though, it's using the service to actually play the music.
As for apps remembering their state - someone's already mentioned a finish() call. Basically, apps can be in a number of different active and non-active states, and usually the application is told what state it's being moved into. So if a user presses the home key, the application is told "Hey, you're not going to be active any more" - the application can then decide what to do, for example, write some data somewhere, capture some text the user has typed in a field. Or, ignore it completely!
Hope that makes sense (even though it's probably not 100% accurate )
Last edited by SFA_AOK; August 22nd, 2009 at 12:26 PM.
im a previoius veryyy basic fone user and this forum is so useful! just installe TasKiller and realised i had about 30 apps running!!!
task panel is better, it allows you to add apps to a "Wanted List" and set when Task Panel will auto kill the apps on the wanted list based on available memory. For example, I've noticed that the voice search and voice dialer apps ( I NEVER use them) seem to pop on in the background for some reason, so, they're on the wanted list of apps to auto kill if there's a memory shortage.
task panel is better, it allows you to add apps to a "Wanted List" and set when Task Panel will auto kill the apps on the wanted list based on available memory. For example, I've noticed that the voice search and voice dialer apps ( I NEVER use them) seem to pop on in the background for some reason, so, they're on the wanted list of apps to auto kill if there's a memory shortage.
I did a search in the Market for "Task Panel" & "TaskPanel" no luck ...
Is this a non-Market App ? Please provide a link if you can ... TKX
__________________ Help Us: Submit FAQ's You have answered over and over! Will add them to OUR FAQ LIB. Check out our FAQ's.... Also Check out our Tag Search.
The QR Code is the black/white pattern to the left of the Taskiller logo. However, you'd need an app such as ixMAT Scanner to use it.
Chegs.
Advanced task killer is better. Allows you to choose wether to close an app on press or recall the app like a task manager which is what I wanted. With taskiller it just kills the app when clicking on it.
task panel is better, it allows you to add apps to a "Wanted List" and set when Task Panel will auto kill the apps on the wanted list based on available memory. For example, I've noticed that the voice search and voice dialer apps ( I NEVER use them) seem to pop on in the background for some reason, so, they're on the wanted list of apps to auto kill if there's a memory shortage.
I installed Task Panel X at one time and setup auto-kill of certain apps. I found that this app itself used 40% of the battery overnight!! I couldn't believe it. I uninstalled it and just use TasKiller which is quick and easy.
For tech lovers dreaming of a magical phone, HTC's 3rd Android Phone - the HTC Hero - seems poised to rescue the masses from mobile phone boredom. The design is a more sleek, sexy version of the HTC Dream and HTC Magic and both hardware and sof... Read More
Exiting Apps
numerous apps. I'm hoping HTC's next lag-busting firmware release will resolve the situation.
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