Closing apps

[CXXV]

Why is it that Andoird apps don't have a close or exit. It's a real pain having to hit the escape key a bunch of thime to exit an application.

In that regard the RIM OS works much better. I knew exactly what was running and what I wanted to close.

It is particularly annoying with the internet app. One has to navigate backwards through as many sites visited for the stupid thing to finally close.

 

[copestag]

just hit your Home key it achieves the same results and requires one touch

 

[mhrebin]

for the browser I always have a window open that has the google page on it so when im ready to exit the browser i just open that window and hit back once and I am at my homescreen.

 

[dmast205]

In Dolphin HD, hold the back key and a window will pop up with exit options

 

[scary alien]

Yeah, the app developer should (as a good programming practice) include an "exit"-type menu option at the main or key places in his/her app so you don't have to have to hit the back key so many times.

Pressing the back key should "pop" you back out of the app and Android should reclaim any resources when it needs them (i.e., without requring you to explicitly kill the app/task).

 

[doogald]

Android manages memory and will save state of and close apps running in the background as needed when newer apps are launched. With some exceptions, almost all apps are suspended when they are not in the foreground. You really don't have to sweat closing apps.

 

[CXXV]

just hit your Home key it achieves the same results and requires one touch

The problem with that method in the browser is that it retains the last page visited. I want it to always start up on the home page.

 

[doogald]

The problem with that method in the browser is that it retains the last page visited. I want it to always start up on the home page.

If you have a long chain of backs, You can just open a new window, which opens home, manage windows, close the one that is not home, and then hit the Home key.

Or add a bookmark shortcut for your home page on a home screen in the launcher and always use that to open the browser.

 

[MrDangerous]

In some roms, you can press and hold back to kill the app.

 

[erisuser1]

Android manages memory and will save state of and close apps running in the background as needed when newer apps are launched. With some exceptions, almost all apps are suspended when they are not in the foreground. You really don't have to sweat closing apps.

+2

Indeed true - theoretically.

This behavior is INTENTIONAL. It is done so that Android appears as if is a giant multitasking machine with unlimited memory. So, when you go back to an app, it appears to be exactly where you last left it. Some people find this uncomfortable, because that's not the way that applications on other computers behave - but when you get over that unfamiliarity, you start to realize - "Hey, this is the way that ALL programs on ALL computers ought to behave!"

The fact that it appears this way does not mean that the app is consuming resources - up to a point. (It can consume memory without stealing any CPU cycles)

The "theoretically" part is that the apps are not forced to save their state until such a time as the built-in Android "low memory killer" forces them into this "saved state/hibernation mode" - and so, in fact, the phone can get somewhat slower before the "low memory killer" kicks in and does this, depending on the threshold values used for free memory.

That's why many custom ("dev") ROMs use larger values for setting the behavior of the built-in Android low-memory-killer: they kick apps out of virtual memory faster. More memory is left over for file caching operations, and this makes the phone less sluggish (at the same clock frequency). The downside of this is that sometimes apps like your home screen manager get kicked off - and the user has to wait a little bit longer while they reload ... back to the last state you had them in.


eu1

 

[fldude99]

What I don't like is that when pressing the "home" key when in an app like maps..it turns off the gps, causing a lock to have to be regained when going back to maps...what's up with that?

 

[bberryhill0]

Menu> More> Home?

I do think that apps should have an exit option but Google doesn't agree.