Task Manager?

[sherlock5545]

Wouldn't it be better to remove all the apps from the "Recent Apps" menu? By doing so, applications would be cached, which means "no impact" in terms of battery life, or so I always thought

 

[funkylogik]

Isnt "recent apps" just a list of the recently used apps and swiping them away or clearing the list just removes the name of the app from the list and nothing else?

 

[dennygreen]

I use taskswitcher. dunno if that's what we're talking about here. I can't imagine using Android without it or something similar.

 

[funkylogik]

That sounds more like a taskbar mate. For switching between apps?
I use Dock4droid n cant imagine android without it now lol

 

[Rxpert83]

I use taskswitcher. dunno if that's what we're talking about here. I can't imagine using Android without it or something similar.

Were talking about applications that kill all other running applications.

It looks like your referring to multitasking

 

[Townie33]

I greatly appreciate ALL the input!

 

[ardchoille]

Isnt "recent apps" just a list of the recently used apps and swiping them away or clearing the list just removes the name of the app from the list and nothing else?

Correct. Swiping apps out of the task manager list doesn't impact the apps or processes themselves.. it just removes app entries from the task list. For instance.. if you know you won't be visiting a certain app for a while but you need the last 5 or so apps listed in order to quickly switch between them without having to scroll through unnecessary apps.

EDIT: The information contain in this post is accurate with pre-honeycomb versions of Android.

 

[sherlock5545]

Are you sure? Try opening your browser and visit a page: then back off by pressing the home button, your browser is now running on the background. Now, remove the browser from the recent apps by swiping it away. If you try to open the browser again, it will start from scratch.

 

[Rxpert83]

Are you sure? Try opening your browser and visit a page: then back off by pressing the home button, your browser is now running on the background. Now, remove the browser from the recent apps by swiping it away. If you try to open the browser again, it will start from scratch.

Correct. Swiping away from recent apps effectively kills the app.

Whether this is a "force close" or a "back button exit" remains to be seen

 

[ardchoille]

Correct. Swiping away from recent apps effectively kills the app.

Whether this is a "force close" or a "back button exit" remains to be seen

This wasn't the standard with older versions of Android. It seems there has been a change in recent versions. When did this happen?

If this is a change in the way Android handles apps, I would assume it's a "back button exit" rather than a manual kill. Manually killing apps isn't good for Android.. unless that has also changed.

 

[jhawkkw]

This wasn't the standard with older versions of Android. It seems there has been a change in recent versions. When did this happen?

I think this became standard in Honeycomb, but you actually had to hit the x instead of swiping. Swiping became the norm in ICS. Whether it existed before HC I'm not sure.

 

[ardchoille]

I think this became standard in Honeycomb, but you actually had to hit the x instead of swiping. Swiping became the norm in ICS. Whether it existed before HC I'm not sure.

Ah, yes, honeycomb did implement some major changes, I wasn't aware that was one of them. Thank you for that info.

 

[funkylogik]

I can kill all apps though with a task killer and they still stay in the recently used list even though theyve been shut down and ive got maximum available ram so i thought it would be the same vice-versa if know what i mean lol

 

[Frisco]

What TASK MANAGER do you folks use?

I not a big fan of the one I have. For whatever reason I must not be using it correctly, because each time I open it a ton of apps are still running (like Google Search, Maps, S Suggest, etc) and I am asked of I want to KILL them myself.

I really don't need all these apps running all the time (I don't believe).

As always, thanks in advance.

Task manupulators (I don't like "manager" or "killer" for this sort of app) aren't about the apps or widgets they affect, as much as they are about the services which those apps and widgets depend on.

Some system services are blood related to certain apps which many users consider "bloatware," and other needed apps as well. So, if a "manager" comes along and stops one or two of the services the app/widget needs, those services can go into a re-start loop and drain resources, including the battery.

Thus the "opposite effect" mentioned by SUroot.