Known resource hog apps...

[alprazolam]

This is a piggyback from the threads about doing away with Task Killer programs. The explanation was that resource hungry apps are what causes phone lag. So...please list out apps that you KNOW cause problems based on uninstalling and seeing a performance increase.

Apps that have been reported to cause lag and/or battery drainage issues:
youmail
locale (the paid version!)
foxyring
eBuddy
Meebo
Nimbuzz
Task Panel
Beautiful Widgets
The default browser (recommended to use Dolphin instead because it can be exited with a back button hold) If you prefer the default browser, it is recommended that you clear the cache once in a while).
lockbot
Lock 2.0
Track My Life
Missed Reminder

 

[aleis]

locale the paid version!
foxyring looks really similar (even uses locale plugins)!

 

[droidkevlar]

youmail - This app would kill my phone battery. Couldnt go half day without charging. I just went back to uninstalling it and using the old fashion way of checking the voicemails. After uninstall, now I can go a full day of moderate use and crappy sig strength.

 

[thetomlin2]

eBuddy, Meebo, and Nimbuzz all kill battery ... to the point where I seldom do Instant Messaging on my phone.

 

[alprazolam]

youmail - This app would kill my phone battery. Couldnt go half day without charging. I just went back to uninstalling it and using the old fashion way of checking the voicemails. After uninstall, now I can go a full day of moderate use and crappy sig strength.

What about Visual Voicemail? I've heard negative things about it's usage. I've been using it since I got the phone but haven't tested to see if I'd see an improvement by uninstalling.

 

[doogald]

locale the paid version!

Oh, that's good to know! I'm using the beta, but really all I want from it is to go silent on a schedule. Maybe I should go back to Volume/Mode Scheduler ...

 

[droidkevlar]

What about Visual Voicemail? I've heard negative things about it's usage. I've been using it since I got the phone but haven't tested to see if I'd see an improvement by uninstalling.

Never used it and never will. And you cant uninstall it. Its part of the phone. Maybe when root happens you will be able to.

 

[deathratlehead]

eBuddy, Meebo, and Nimbuzz all kill battery ... to the point where I seldom do Instant Messaging on my phone.

ebuddy has an option now to save you battery, but what it does is stop instant notification of messages and just periodically checks for new ones...kinda defeating the purpose of an instant message app.

 

[bjf88]

Sadly... Task Panel. It was fine until the last update I think. Or maybe it was just the widget... hmmm. Oh well, don't need it!

 

[OfTheDamned]

Great thread idea!

You guys may want to start a full app list in the first post or possibly a piggyback list in each new post. That way people can look at one list and know if an app is a problem.

 

[jamo]

I actually just uninstalled Beautiful Widgets. I don't know if it was a resource hog, but it made my screen lag in b/t home pages and when unlocking, and I didn't like that. I am better off with weather widget and power widget.

 

[L0stS0ul]

The default browser is a beast and I recommend killing it as the os does not clean it up enough. Another option is to switch to Dolphin which allows you to hold the back button to exit the application.

Any app that activates the camera I've found causes huge resource usage that's not fully cleaned up by the os.


Heck I'll plug my own app to help. I don't think for most things a task killer is needed so I wrote my own task management application and learned a tremendous amount about the internals of how the android os actually works. Most of the task killers do way to much. Mine just lists the apps and then allows you to kill them. Download is available here with full source code so you can see it does nothing when it's not active and is less then 200 lines of code:

http://vineripesoftware.wordpress.com/

I will say though that when my app is reading available memory < 40mb when you've killed off all the apps I recommend restarting the phone. There is something in either the HTC code or android itself that has a pretty significant memory leak and it is in the system processes. I find I have to reboot my phone every 3-4 days

 

[droidkevlar]

Just like a regular computer, and I know its not Windows, it still needs a weekly reboot. As stated above, there is some type of leak and no task killer that I have seen (even the one listed above) stops this. After about 5-6 days of use, I notice lag between making calls, email, etc. To fix, I just do a simple reboot and everything goes back to normal.

 

[thetomlin2]

ebuddy has an option now to save you battery, but what it does is stop instant notification of messages and just periodically checks for new ones...kinda defeating the purpose of an instant message app.

Yeah, totally defeats the purpose ... I just turn it on when I want to see if someone is on.

 

[alprazolam]

Great thread idea!

You guys may want to start a full app list in the first post or possibly a piggyback list in each new post. That way people can look at one list and know if an app is a problem.

Sure thing...I started a list in the first post. If anyone disagrees with an app being in the list, please say so and why.

 

[snorge]

I say Sportstap, ShopSavvy, Google Voice lol, and maybe weather bug free edition.

 

[OfTheDamned]

I say Sportstap, ShopSavvy, Google Voice lol, and maybe weather bug free edition.

Really? I have the first three and they have never given me any trouble. Although I only use the Google Voice app for visual voicemail.

 

[ericDylan]

i have had real problems with lockbot both payed and free version ... and also lock 2.0 though lock 2.0 wasn't as bad as lockbot was at freezing up my phone and making it laggy

 

[L0stS0ul]

google voice is pretty buggy. It FC's on me every time it starts up. Now that the mobile web version of google voice is so good I really don't have a use for the app anymore.

 

[alprazolam]

google voice is pretty buggy. It FC's on me every time it starts up. Now that the mobile web version of google voice is so good I really don't have a use for the app anymore.

I get the same bootup FC as you but it doesn't seem to run as a process or cause major lag. Are you getting lag from the app?

 

[L0stS0ul]

I don't get lag from it. Just the annoying FC. It's just a buggy app. It does start automatically on my ERIS and will even restart after some time if you kill it. One of those persistent apps.

I have uninstalled it on my eris though. The mobile web app works for everything I use GV for.

 

[droidkevlar]

I say Sportstap, ShopSavvy, Google Voice lol, and maybe weather bug free edition.

I have to agree with above. I use Sportstab as a widget and ShopSavvy all the time and doesnt effect me.

 

[Ryobi]

Missed reminder will stop your phone from sleeping, thus sucking the wind from your battery.

Weather Widget donate is really good and does not in any way harm the creatures in this film.

 

[wisel]

I installed beautiful widgets yesterday and uninstalled today it silenced all of my notifications, calls everything. I didnt look around much to see if there were adjustments i should have made.

 

[MisterMcGoo]

Why would the default browser be any more of a resource hog than Dolphin? While I agree there may not be a conventional way of "exiting" the default browser, if you have it parked on a static website (i.e. google.com), there shouldn't be any resources continuously running and updating the page, etc.