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Please stop using task killers...

I work at BBM and task killers cause us so much grief it's unbelievable. People come in all the time complaining that their phone is defective because it's freezing and force closing applications and they all have one thing in common, the little green dude chilling in the notification bar.

As soon as I see it, I back up their info, restore to factory defaults, and tell them not to ever use a task killer again. 99% never come back. The worst are the ones who stand there and argue that a task killer couldn't possibly be the issue.
 
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I'm on 2.2 and keep the ATK on my phone for when apps crash. I have it set to manual kill, and have added all the system functions to the ignore list. I've never had an issue with battery life using the ATK in this manner.

Actually I just switched to the 150MB/mo. data plan (because most of the time I'm around a computer or WiFi network anyway) and to stay within that data limit I turned off the 3g network and all background data. This increased my battery life SIGNIFICANTLY, and I will only turn on the 3g network when needed... though I know this isn't an option for a lot of users of the DX.
 
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I'm on 2.2 and keep the ATK on my phone for when apps crash. I have it set to manual kill, and have added all the system functions to the ignore list. I've never had an issue with battery life using the ATK in this manner.

Actually I just switched to the 150MB/mo. data plan (because most of the time I'm around a computer or WiFi network anyway) and to stay within that data limit I turned off the 3g network and all background data. This increased my battery life SIGNIFICANTLY, and I will only turn on the 3g network when needed... though I know this isn't an option for a lot of users of the DX.

Its an option if they pick up the amazing app known as quick settings. Free in the market and one of my most favorite apps on my phone. Btw, 3g radio can be a HUGE battery killer in low coverage areas.
 
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I work at BBM and task killers cause us so much grief it's unbelievable. People come in all the time complaining that their phone is defective because it's freezing and force closing applications and they all have one thing in common, the little green dude chilling in the notification bar.

As soon as I see it, I back up their info, restore to factory defaults, and tell them not to ever use a task killer again. 99% never come back. The worst are the ones who stand there and argue that a task killer couldn't possibly be the issue.

I just got my Droid X three days ago (coming from the D1) at BBM and as I was walking out the security guy at the door stops to check my bag and receipt. When he sees that I have the DX he wants to recommend a couple of "must have" apps. The first one was ATK. I told him that that would be the last app I ever put on my phone because 2.2 does not need this. He stood there and wanted to argue with me. When I asked how long he had been using his Droid phone, it was a little more that a week. Shook my head and walked out.
 
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I'm on 2.2 and keep the ATK on my phone for when apps crash. I have it set to manual kill, and have added all the system functions to the ignore list. I've never had an issue with battery life using the ATK in this manner.

Actually I just switched to the 150MB/mo. data plan (because most of the time I'm around a computer or WiFi network anyway) and to stay within that data limit I turned off the 3g network and all background data. This increased my battery life SIGNIFICANTLY, and I will only turn on the 3g network when needed... though I know this isn't an option for a lot of users of the DX.


if you are using wifi, the phone automatically switches off the 3g connection and transfers all data usage to wifi...
 
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I'm on 2.2 and keep the ATK on my phone for when apps crash. I have it set to manual kill, and have added all the system functions to the ignore list. I've never had an issue with battery life using the ATK in this manner.

Actually I just switched to the 150MB/mo. data plan (because most of the time I'm around a computer or WiFi network anyway) and to stay within that data limit I turned off the 3g network and all background data. This increased my battery life SIGNIFICANTLY, and I will only turn on the 3g network when needed... though I know this isn't an option for a lot of users of the DX.

You only need to turn off background data to help save battery.

3G is needed for texts and MMS to get through, I believe.

Do you get all your texts even though you've shut off 3G? or do you depend on Google Voice for that? Just curious.
 
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if you are using wifi, the phone automatically switches off the 3g connection and transfers all data usage to wifi...

Correct, but when I'm out and about it of course goes back to 3G and automatically transfers data constantly, though small bits of data... it still occurs.

You only need to turn off background data to help save battery.

3G is needed for texts and MMS to get through, I believe.

Do you get all your texts even though you've shut off 3G? or do you depend on Google Voice for that? Just curious.

Oh? Is it just the background data being enabled that uses up data?
Yes, I still get texts w/o 3g on.

I hate that you have to have BG data on to access the app market!
 
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Wow. So Task Killer is actually killing my battery?

I will uninstal and see what difference it makes.

It only eats up your battery if you have it set on auto kill every _ minutes. If you just use it to kill things when it gets slow or they are unresponsive then it doesn't kill your battery. It's also only working of you have 2.1, 2.2 disabled it and its pointless to have for 2.2
 
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I work at BBM and task killers cause us so much grief it's unbelievable. People come in all the time complaining that their phone is defective because it's freezing and force closing applications and they all have one thing in common, the little green dude chilling in the notification bar.

As soon as I see it, I back up their info, restore to factory defaults, and tell them not to ever use a task killer again. 99% never come back. The worst are the ones who stand there and argue that a task killer couldn't possibly be the issue.

hahahaha I know that feeling I do level 3 support and I hate those customers saying no no no to everything like they know...if they knew why did you call? :D
 
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No, it improves my battery life by a lot.

Something else is wrong.
Friends don't let friends roll with a task killer.
I pulled one off a co-workers Droid 1 the other day because she said her phone was acting weird and stopped in a Verizon store and someone installed it.
She then said that her phone dies within 5 or 6 hours.
Saw a task killer... removed it and no more problem.

Then again, I understand the internals of Android and know that task killers are probably a cure to an old problem that no longer exists.

That being said - if a task killer is HELPING YOU then something else is wrong.
Is it checking email more often than every 30 minutes?
Are you in a bad coverage area?
Use it in the sun a lot? (it cranks the screen brightness up, using more power)
And so forth...
 
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No, it improves my battery life by a lot.

you may think its improving your battery life, but its not.

additionally, if ure on froyo 2.2, there is absolutely no need for it, as you can still kill apps via settings -> applications -> manage applications

task killers are bad. PERIOD. let Android OS inherently kill its own tasks on its own. it does this at kernel level. you're draining the battery, causing instability issues by manually closing apps.

The ONLY time you should be killing apps is if it keeps force closing, or not responding as it should.
 
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You are in the minority here...find your offending app and get rid of it. ATK is a band-aid for something that is set up wrong on your phone.

IMO;)
So when a stock phone with no apps installed other than the bloatware lags what are you supposed to do? I no longer use atk but autokiller now and my phone is very fast, but stock it lagged bad, I originally used atk to keep it from lagging and it worked along with giving me a longer battery life, the bloatware gave me tons of problems until I used atk.
 
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Problem is, a lot of the so called "general users", or people who just buy the phone 'cause they need a phone but aren't really interested in learning how to use it, don't get this. I saw some guy using a DX in my class the other day, and I mentioned I had the same one and asked him how he liked his phone. He said it was the most frustrating thing he ever owned, because it would crash and require a battery pull several times a day, get really sluggish, and eat the battery in just a few hours which was not enough to last the whole day on campus. He said he was going to sell it. I told him to remove the task killer, which he did, and several days later he was thanking me for saving his phone which he was about to sell. Naturally I referred him to this site and offered him more tips, but I highly doubt he will even bother since he's not really a techie. Like I said he is a great example of the typical users that make up probably like 90% of the people who use the phone. Sometimes you wonder why people say they hate their android phones, but chances are they have absolutely no close how to use it-- similarly, they probably have 5-10 market apps and thats about it. fact is, it is a complicated high tech device and it takes a lot of time for many to learn.

Even without paragraphs (heh) this post is spot on, I couldn't have said it better myself.
 
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So when a stock phone with no apps installed other than the bloatware lags what are you supposed to do? I no longer use atk but autokiller now and my phone is very fast, but stock it lagged bad, I originally used atk to keep it from lagging and it worked along with giving me a longer battery life, the bloatware gave me tons of problems until I used atk.

bloatware does NOT slow down Android OS. its not like other OS's where less memory = more lag.

Android OS keeps applications in memory, and kill tasks on its own at kernel level.
 
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