There are a plethora of free apps out there for monitoring (and killing) those annoying applications that hog up your RAM, make your phone slow, and drain your battery.
Having been an android user for a little over 6 months, I have tried them all and have found Task Manager by Rhythm Software (it is important to note the name of the publisher as there are quite a few apps named "Task Manager")
There are several reasons this Task Manager is superior the the others that I have used
(Advanced Task Killer, Auto Task Manager... too many to list but you get the point)
First of all, the application displays all of the tasks that your phone is running, including pesky applications such as footprints and stocks that are intertwined with the Android operating system. Many similar applications simply do not show all running processes and in turn do not allow for maximal memory saving.
The next thing is its ability to show system tasks and force them to quit. This is very handy for the somewhat adroid-savvy user. Yes, there are some system tasks that should not be messed with, but I have found that killing "Stocks" at the same time as "com.android.stocks" actually causes the program to quit, rather than simply causing it to restart. It is also nice to be able to quit those annoying background applications that are not necessary at the moment. This saves quite a bit of battery.
The third thing I like about this app is the handy widget that you can place on any of your home screens. This particular widget is nice in that it shows the amount of RAM you have clear without having to click on it. This gives you a good idea as to whether you should click on it and kill the running tasks, or to leave it alone and continue with your android experience. Widgets for other similar applications work similarly but I find this one to the the most convenient.
Last, and most importantly, is that it remembers what tasks you want to kill and which ones you want to leave alone. Although it has an ignore list and an autokill list, the use of these is not necessary for it to remember which tasks you have previously killed and which ones you left opened. The autokill function is decent, but like with every other task killing application I have tried, is far from perfect and does work amazingly well. The ignore list on the other hand is very convenient.
To wrap it up, I would give this app a 4.5/5. It would be a 5/5 if the autokill feature worked better and if there were no ads (but then you would have to pay for it!!!)
-NPSmith
Having been an android user for a little over 6 months, I have tried them all and have found Task Manager by Rhythm Software (it is important to note the name of the publisher as there are quite a few apps named "Task Manager")
There are several reasons this Task Manager is superior the the others that I have used
(Advanced Task Killer, Auto Task Manager... too many to list but you get the point)
First of all, the application displays all of the tasks that your phone is running, including pesky applications such as footprints and stocks that are intertwined with the Android operating system. Many similar applications simply do not show all running processes and in turn do not allow for maximal memory saving.
The next thing is its ability to show system tasks and force them to quit. This is very handy for the somewhat adroid-savvy user. Yes, there are some system tasks that should not be messed with, but I have found that killing "Stocks" at the same time as "com.android.stocks" actually causes the program to quit, rather than simply causing it to restart. It is also nice to be able to quit those annoying background applications that are not necessary at the moment. This saves quite a bit of battery.
The third thing I like about this app is the handy widget that you can place on any of your home screens. This particular widget is nice in that it shows the amount of RAM you have clear without having to click on it. This gives you a good idea as to whether you should click on it and kill the running tasks, or to leave it alone and continue with your android experience. Widgets for other similar applications work similarly but I find this one to the the most convenient.
Last, and most importantly, is that it remembers what tasks you want to kill and which ones you want to leave alone. Although it has an ignore list and an autokill list, the use of these is not necessary for it to remember which tasks you have previously killed and which ones you left opened. The autokill function is decent, but like with every other task killing application I have tried, is far from perfect and does work amazingly well. The ignore list on the other hand is very convenient.
To wrap it up, I would give this app a 4.5/5. It would be a 5/5 if the autokill feature worked better and if there were no ads (but then you would have to pay for it!!!)
-NPSmith
