Does you Nexus run better with or without a task killer?

[Ngo93]

Just wondering about this since I may be switching to a Nexus One soon. And if your phone runs better without a task killer, how does that affect your battery life compared to using a task killer?

 

[grainysand]

It's never mattered one way or another to me, but the rare few occasions where I've experienced instability, it was caused by a task killer.

Task killers do squat for battery life, I've found. Want better battery life? Undervolt your phone.

 

[Roze]

Don't really notice a change in battery life when using a task killer. I just use it for apps used once in awhile and I don't like knowing that its still ruining when I have excited it. I like things to be cleaned and organized

 

[ap3604]

Task killer = waste of battery since it kill's apps that aren't using any power in the background and android uses up power to eventually restart them

 

[Roze]

Task killer = waste of battery since it kill's apps that aren't using any power in the background and android uses up power to eventually restart them

hmm...now that's interesting...I guess that makes sense, lol. Though I'm still going to kill some of those annoying apps like Amazpon MP3...just turned off the auto reconnect for that one..but some apps I used once every other day...I KNOW that the OS will shut it down when it's not in used for an extended period of time...does anyone know what's the time limit is? lol.

 

[crabman]

Lets not get too hasty. Task killers can be handy when used properly. You should use a good one like SystemPanel. http://androidforums.com/android-ap...task-killer-people-who-hate-task-killers.html It shows you exactly what your apps are doing in terms of cpu utilization, radio activity, etc. This gives you the tools you need to identify apps that have decided to smoke crack, gone whack on you, and of course stop them. This is nearly always what happens when you suddenly have a change in battery usage for the worse. Killing tasks willy nilly is a crutch but doesnt fix the problem.

The second thing a task killer can do is give you an easy way to stop apps that use a lot of battery and need to run in the background. Take trapster. It uses a lot of battery because it pulls down a lot of data and works with maps both of which stay lit up. This isnt a fault, it needs to do this to work. To stop it you need to switch to it and drill a menu. Or hit one button and kill all with a task killer which is faster and more convenient. The key here is you should exclude all apps which you use frequently from being killed. This way you are working with the memory management scheme instead of against it. What ends up happening is most of your tasks are not killed and will continue to be managed by android. Those that do get killed will probably not be needed anyways because you use them infrequently. Processes have many levels of activity, here is a cut and paste.....

An activity has essentially three states:

It is active or running when it is in the foreground of the screen (at the top of the activity stack for the current task). This is the activity that is the focus for the user's actions.

It is paused if it has lost focus but is still visible to the user. That is, another activity lies on top of it and that activity either is transparent or doesn't cover the full screen, so some of the paused activity can show through. A paused activity is completely alive (it maintains all state and member information and remains attached to the window manager), but can be killed by the system in extreme low memory situations.

It is stopped if it is completely obscured by another activity. It still retains all state and member information. However, it is no longer visible to the user so its window is hidden and it will often be killed by the system when memory is needed elsewhere..... End cut and paste.

The last thing memory management does is kill apps that it assumes are no longer needed after a time, the concept being that the task has probably been abandoned and it will instead cache new data in expectation of coming events.

So, I guess to sum it up task killers should be looked at as tools to deal with specific problems and they should be set up and used in a way that works with memory management and not against it.

 

[bigfod]

Undoubtedly faster when I removed the task killer.

For those of you that have one running, look at the size of your ignore list, then check how many processes you actually end up killing. The processes that you kill with be nothing compared to everything on ignore.

Removing ATK has made my phone visibly faster. I'm not going back.

 

[Talderon]

I use a task killer, however, I don't have it auto-kill anything. There are some really crappy coders out there, however, their apps really are useful.

One is particular that I have a hard time going without is OneBusAway. I need it to keep tabs on when my bus is going to be at the stop so I don't miss it, it is way better than other ones for the Seattle/Metro area and spot on accurate.

Issue is, once you launch it and exit the program, it EATS CPU and makes my phone run dog slow, so I have to kill it when I am done using it, or the phone lags. In this case, it is handy to have it, otherwise, I would not bother.

 

[zillah]

The android OS was designed so that a task killer was not needed.

It just puts more pressure on your phone's resources without any significant benefit rather than just using the OS itself.

In only rare circumstances for specific third party apps it makes sense.

 

[G1Bodie]

The android OS was designed so that a task killer was not needed.

It just puts more pressure on your phone's resources without any significant benefit rather than just using the OS itself.

In only rare circumstances for specific third party apps it makes sense.

I second this smart man..If we NEEDED task killers one would be stock by now..

 

[bitxboi]

I only use it to kill the browser basically, since I find it annoying that it never closes (neither each window, unless you close them manually, but then it opens a new one)

 

[bluehaze013]

Task killer isnt needed unless you are running buggy apps, best approach is to remove the buggy apps. This is an advantage Apple has with the screening of all the apps put on their marketplace but at the same time is a disadvantage in the apps they put on their marketplace. You just have to be smart and you shouldnt need a task manager.

 

[turbosol16]

.

Undoubtedly faster when I removed the taskaster.

Mine also seems faster since I removed the task killer I had installed

 

[|mpulse]

Best option for batter life?

A spare battery!

I don't know what you're switching from, but one of the best things about this phone (I used iPhone's for three years...) is that unlike the iPhone it supports battery swapping! I cannot believe I ever dealt with not having this as an option... It sounds so silly now.

 

[2003vstrom]

yeah my N1 seems to be the same speed with or without. task killer

 

[Three]

Am I the only person that believes they have seen a noticeable improvement in battery life since installing a Task Killer(Advanced Task Killer

 

[crabman]

Like any other app all task killers/management apps are not created equally. ATK is far from the best available, it lacks the tools that allow you to use a task killer correctly in concert with androids memory management scheme and has some known instabilities and issues that remain unresolved. Again, I would recommend that you folks that are basing your decisions on your experiences with that app consider checking out the link I posted on SystemPanel. Task killer applications should work with you and should cause no system instability or sluggishness whatsoever. Nor should they improve your system speed, this is not their purpose and using them for this purpose is not going to work.

 

[RogerPodacter]

i use system panel and it is by far and away the best task manager out there. nothing else even comes close to it.

 

[koolbon]

i use system panel and it is by far and away the best task manager out there. nothing else even comes close to it.

I second that. I tried various task killers, then stopped using them. The phone functions better without them and I notice no difference in batter life.
I use System Panel to check once in a while and that's it although I don't think I even need do that.

 

[bhds]

I second this smart man..If we NEEDED task killers one would be stock by now..

So........Using that line of thought we also dont need any apps other than games.

 

[Ngo93]

The only difference between System Panel and ATK is that System Panel shows a lot more information right? They both kill apps all the same don't they?

 

[Buck Shot]

I unistalled mine a few days ago. I don't are any significant change

 

[silversport]

I use ATK but I don't have it running all the time. I start it to kill whatever apps are running (including ATK). I exclude a few that I don't want to stop.

This kind of use shouldn't slow the system down since ATK only runs for a few seconds, should it?

Also, I does seem to improves my battery life using it this way.

 

[Roze]

I use ATK but I don't have it running all the time. I start it to kill whatever apps are running (including ATK). I exclude a few that I don't want to stop.

This kind of use shouldn't slow the system down since ATK only runs for a few seconds, should it?

Also, I does seem to improves my battery life using it this way.

It doesn't matter that ATK runs for a few seconds but how killing the apps affect the CPU when it nees it again; as it has to reload the apps from scratch. The CPU uses more resorces when it loads the apps again. This wouldn't be the case if you just left it on standby, which uses 0% of the CPU.

FAQ: Why You Shouldn’t Be Using a Task Killer with Android Geek For Me – Android CDMA Sprint Hero

 

[crabman]

Exclude most all of your frequently used apps and they were likely not going to be needed again anyways meaning you have done no harm to the memory management scheme as it pertains to battery life. Again, task killers should be used as tools to find and fix problems and increase convienience where applicable when you do have an app that does run in the background and uses battery you would prefer to save. This can be done without detriment to androids memory management so long as you use the tool in a reasoned manner.