Help Angry Birds killing my battery, even when not running

[ZDroid1]

I got the full free version of Angry Birds, and it's killing my battery even when not running. Last night, I unplugged my phone (it was at 100%) and played Angry Birds for 10 minutes at 2:00AM. This morning I came to work, and even though I have not used my phone much, I noticed my battery is going down constantly right before my eyes (70%, 60%, by the hour). I got in the car and it was 15%. I drove to work and when I got to work 30 minutes later, I wanted to check, only to find out the phone is DEAD.

When I held the Home soft key to see what apps are running in the background (before it died), I noticed Angry Birds was running. That is the only difference. The battery usage feature shows that "Android OS" was eating up 60% of my battery.

 

[mttfrog13]

when u hold the home button it doesn't show the apps running, it shows the most recent apps you have run. Either way, angry birds was probably still running. Make sure you press the "back" button and exit the game and don't just press "home".

 

[ZDroid1]

when u hold the home button it doesn't show the apps running, it shows the most recent apps you have run. Either way, angry birds was probably still running. Make sure you press the "back" button and exit the game and don't just press "home".

Thanks for the tip.

 

[sremick]

mttfrog is correct. Holding "home" is jut the last 6 apps you ran. And not using "back" will usually leave an app running (although using "back" doesn't guarantee it'll end).

To really see what apps are using your CPU, use a utility like one of these:
SystemPanelLite Task Manager - Android app on AppBrain
Android System Info - Android app on AppBrain
OS Monitor - Android app on AppBrain

 

[ZDroid1]

Shouldn't Angry Birds be smart enough to know that if I hit HOME and don't go back to it for a long time, it should shut down?

Or at least it should have a SLEEP mode so that if I don't go back within 10 minutes, it should stop draining my battery/CPU while in the background.

I'm just saying I hit HOME to exit out of all of my other apps and never had this problem. Most apps seem to know how to play nice within the system.

 

[SlappyMcgee]

pressing home doesnt kill the app. It only puts it in the background. by using the back button on angry birds it will ask if you want to exit the app.

 

[RedRyno]

Shouldn't Angry Birds be smart enough to know that if I hit HOME and don't go back to it for a long time, it should shut down?

Or at least it should have a SLEEP mode so that if I don't go back within 10 minutes, it should stop draining my battery/CPU while in the background.

I'm just saying I hit HOME to exit out of all of my other apps and never had this problem. Most apps seem to know how to play nice within the system.

No, they are angry, all they know is vengeance...

 

[jeremytanner]

I just tested it a few times with the full version. I can't get mine to stay resident in the background. When I hit home, and then hold the home key and reopen Angry Birds, it starts up as if a new session. I check what's running in memory and it doesn't show. Maybe it's possible something else was eating your battery? It's not always the last app that's to blame.

 

[sero]

easy fix to this. everybody that owns a droid should get ATK (advanced task killer) right off the bat. so many things run in the background and i find games hardly ever close. ATK is on my homescreen, if i play a game, it gets run. if i'm about to put the phone down for a while, it gets run. if i run a bunch of apps, it gets run. it takes 2 clicks and maybe 1 second to kill everything running and free up phone memory

my battery lasts 2 days on average~

 

[mttfrog13]

Shouldn't Angry Birds be smart enough to know that if I hit HOME and don't go back to it for a long time, it should shut down?

Or at least it should have a SLEEP mode so that if I don't go back within 10 minutes, it should stop draining my battery/CPU while in the background.

I'm just saying I hit HOME to exit out of all of my other apps and never had this problem. Most apps seem to know how to play nice within the system.

Its not angry bird's fault. Its the multi tasking of android os so you could say its android's "fault". Its things like this which is precisely the reason why "true" multi tasking isn't included in iOS or wp7. I believe in iOS 4 there is a sleep mode. And I don't know the specifics of how android handles multi-tasking but I've heard various arguments about how android does close apps eventually or something but idk the specifics. All I know is that most developers of apps and the android os say you don't need task killers because android is able to handle this itself. Maybe there is a bug in angry birds?

 

[Rardac]

Haven't had this problem with Angry Birds (fun! fun!) and I will quite often just hit the home button when I get to a stopping point. Also - altho I don't spend a lot of time web surfing or GPSing - I get about two days of use out of each battery charge. <shrug>

 

[sremick]

easy fix to this. everybody that owns a droid should get ATK (advanced task killer) right off the bat. so many things run in the background and i find games hardly ever close. ATK is on my homescreen, if i play a game, it gets run. if i'm about to put the phone down for a while, it gets run. if i run a bunch of apps, it gets run. it takes 2 clicks and maybe 1 second to kill everything running and free up phone memory

my battery lasts 2 days on average~

1) The "Droid" is a specific Android-based phone made by Motorola and offered on the Verizon network. This forum is about the Captivate, which is a different Android-based phone and offered on AT&T. We don't call all cars "Tauruses" regardless of the brand/model either.

2) Regarding task-killers: Task killers - CapFAQ

 

[NorCal Einstein]

I just tested it a few times with the full version. I can't get mine to stay resident in the background. When I hit home, and then hold the home key and reopen Angry Birds, it starts up as if a new session. I check what's running in memory and it doesn't show. Maybe it's possible something else was eating your battery? It's not always the last app that's to blame.

I read an article that said something to the tune that the developers of Angry Birds didn't quite finish the app's ability to multitask (let you resume where you left off when you leave the app). Hopefully they fix/finish this soon!

 

[ageros]

I've played angry birds almost daily since the beta, and now even with the full version and have not seen this particular issue.

As far as battery life goes I'd recommend an app like watchdog to keep an eye on your cpu cycles, if an app is eating cpu time for no reason that will drain your battery. Apps sitting in the memory don't drain the battery unless they require cpu cycles.

 

[speedfreak32]

I've played angry birds almost daily since the beta, and now even with the full version and have not seen this particular issue.

As far as battery life goes I'd recommend an app like watchdog to keep an eye on your cpu cycles, if an app is eating cpu time for no reason that will drain your battery. Apps sitting in the memory don't drain the battery unless they require cpu cycles.

Same here. I play it nonstop. I have no battery problems and I leave it running in the background.
I would pay for an add free version. I would sit through a time share seminar for a copy of this game...

 

[txtigah]

easy fix to this. everybody that owns a droid should get ATK (advanced task killer) right off the bat. so many things run in the background and i find games hardly ever close. ATK is on my homescreen, if i play a game, it gets run. if i'm about to put the phone down for a while, it gets run. if i run a bunch of apps, it gets run. it takes 2 clicks and maybe 1 second to kill everything running and free up phone memory

my battery lasts 2 days on average~

+1. Gotta run ATK constantly. It amazes me how many programs just randomly start up and run on this phone. But I am getting a good day out of it with lots of calls, emails, texts, then gaming later with the kids. Be sure to run ATK often.

 

[kway64]

My phone keeps crashing when playing angry birds. It started with the beta and I downloaded the full version today and it still does it. My phone will restart repeatedly until I do a battery pull. What's weird is sometimes I can play for half an hour and others it does it in the first five minutes. The game always starts just fine. It only messes up while playing.

 

[sremick]

+1. Gotta run ATK constantly. It amazes me how many programs just randomly start up and run on this phone. But I am getting a good day out of it with lots of calls, emails, texts, then gaming later with the kids. Be sure to run ATK often.

Umm, no. Bad idea.

Read this:

Task killers - CapFAQ