• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Task Killers and Memory Watching Advice

opplife

Member
Aug 22, 2010
66
1
Hey there i notice there are a number of apps for dealing with turning off apps that are running in the background and using memory

1. Which is the best task killer app out there?
2. How much memory should you generally as a rule of thumb keep available at anytime?

Thanks
 
Hey there i notice there are a number of apps for dealing with turning off apps that are running in the background and using memory

1. Which is the best task killer app out there?
2. How much memory should you generally as a rule of thumb keep available at anytime?

Thanks

I'm sorry but this question is a bit like:

1. Who is the most prolific serial killer right now?
2. How many people should the serial killer leave alive per spree, to retain your sympathy for being a misunderstood individual
 
Upvote 0
1) Don't use task killers - they take up storage space and use battery.

2) As much as you can - uninstall apps you don't use and clear app cache data every now and then.

How can i clear the app cashe data??
Also what other data should i be clearing??
Ie any cookies via the web??
what needs a good clear out every now and then??
Thanks in advance
 
Upvote 0
ignore the fools who think android was designed perfectly and handles apps perfectly. it wasn't.

Advanced task killer is probably best, BUT it seems to have trouble on Froyo. Works brilliantly on 2.1 and will make your battery consumption next to nothing if set up properl.y

You should read up on how Android manages tasks and you'd see in plain English that there's absolutely no need for task killers :rolleyes:
 
Upvote 0
ignore the fools who think android was designed perfectly and handles apps perfectly. it wasn't.

Actually, it was. The only issue is the applications which are poorly coded which sometimes linger in memory and android can't close, but you don't need a task killer to manage these really anyway.

...and even if you were right, it gives you no right to call everyone fools for having an opinion. Many of us have tried task killers and many of us concur that they waste more battery (by using up more resources than they save) than not having one.

You may see battery life being saved, and performance gain (which I assume is the object of the exorcize) if you run a task killer strictly, but then you can end up causing more issues than you are solving.

Android manages unused apps by putting them into the background with 0% resources, using no battery. This is actually something Android does very well.
 
Upvote 0
so you guys are saying that the KEY point of android: an incredible app store, should be treated with heavy caution and we should severely restrict what we can download? I mean there are thousands of apps out there that are great but are unfortunately coded badly to screw up battery consumption and RAM, so are you seriously suggesting instead of using all of these great apps, I simply refrain from using them, have a very basic smartphone, or instead, use them, and task kill once in a while, so that I have an awesome smartphone??
 
Upvote 0
so you guys are saying that the KEY point of android: an incredible app store, should be treated with heavy caution and we should severely restrict what we can download? I mean there are thousands of apps out there that are great but are unfortunately coded badly to screw up battery consumption and RAM, so are you seriously suggesting instead of using all of these great apps, I simply refrain from using them, have a very basic smartphone, or instead, use them, and task kill once in a while, so that I have an awesome smartphone??

I don't see where he says that in his post. I also didn't get the memo telling me that the key point of Android was the app store. You sound very angry, have you been getting enough sleep recently?
 
Upvote 0
1) Don't use task killers - they take up storage space and use battery.

2) As much as you can - uninstall apps you don't use and clear app cache data every now and then.

I'll wade in on this one and give this a big +1

Sorry EmperorKabir but you are wrong. With android 1.5 and before task killers where absolutely essential, now they are more or less redundant. They cause more problems than what they solve.

also don't make me laugh about it using 0% battery when unused. That might be the theory but in practice, too many apps like to relaunch themselves in the background, especially with Froyo.

I suggest your read up on the way Android manages tasks. Your taskiller will use more memory/battery than background/cached tasks.
 
Upvote 0
How can i clear the app cashe data??
Also what other data should i be clearing??
Ie any cookies via the web??
what needs a good clear out every now and then??
Thanks in advance

Applications sometimes store data (eg. contact photos in your phonebook, bookmarks in your browser) and cache data (browser history, news stories, etc). Most apps are quite efficient with deleting old or unwanted data, but it's handy to check.

There are 2 ways to do this:

Menu > Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > Menu > Sort by size. Go to the top of the list to your largest applications and open each app in turn. Clear the "cache" if there is an option to do so. (Note: DO NOT clear data from the Contacts Storage app if you have the Facebook Online Directory service activated, as it will sign you out of the directory and remove Facebook friend data)

The other way is using the Astro app:
Open Astro, then Menu > More > Preferences > Cache. From here you can clear cache data from all apps with a single click, and also clear the thumbnail cache too.

My understanding is that cache data is like a Temp folder on your PC and can be safely deleted. I haven't experienced any problems by removing cache data.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Frank_Toronto
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones