Why Exactly Does Froyo Have a Task Manager?

[SingJsong]

According to A Taste of Froyo: Google Android 2.2 Explored - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News, Froyo will have a native task manager. I didn't know of this until this article. Now, given how Android caches inactive programs and ends them when memory is needed (and the universal advice of getting rid of your task killer and how it's not needed to save battery life), why did Google decide to include this? I can't imagine it was ONLY for force closing when an app is behaving erratically. The article even says it's there for "for those dire times when every megabyte counts." I'm woefully confused; is this really needed?

 

[vbetts]

People did download task killers to save battery at first. But now where it's proven that killing tasks save almost no battery, people do it to free up resources. It probably is setup now to integrate this, seeing how many people put it on their phones. Hell, the Radioshack's here in my area are all required to have it installed on their Evo demos.

 

[Drhyde]

Well caching and ending programs works most of the time, I find there are a few that just don't want to let go of my memory. I usually just kill a couple individually. While it could be said that a task manager isn't necessary, I still like having it.

 

[betty]

People like big numbers and the amount of free RAM is not an exception to that rule (although it really should be). Unless something is actually effecting performance or battery life i see no reason to kill it.

 

[Lemurion]

What I find annoying is that there are some applications that like to keep running in the background - such as some Twitter apps - when all I really want them to do is give me a snapshot of my feed and then close out - I'll look again when I have time.

I use a task killer to make sure they go away and stay away once I'm done - because leaving the constant background updates does drain battery.

 

[ajd6c8]

I definitely notice my EVO clunking around when ATK tells me the free memory is < 75 MB. And there are apps - like a few of Sprint's annoying preloaded apps - that for whatever reason not only launch at boot but also launch randomly even after I've killed them. This to me is unacceptable and contrary to what Android staff says, is plenty reason enough to keep ATK handy.

Whether a native Task Manager is necessary is debatable, but what the hell, why not.

 

[Jammy]

Sometimes some of my apps stop responding - Youtube does it semi-frequently. In these cases, I'd fire up my task killer.

 

[stainlessray]

Well caching and ending programs works most of the time, I find there are a few that just don't want to let go of my memory. I usually just kill a couple individually. While it could be said that a task manager isn't necessary, I still like having it.

I agree,the difference is surprisingly evident when the number gets low. idc what any tech says, if i can tell the difference it's real, not perceived. it gets clunky as some1 above put it, and coincidentally, the default launcher has crashed multiple times when i ignored the TK. besides, i don't know what those apps are doing while running. they all seem to want location info, and device control whether they are needed or not.
Granted, if I want to run the app, they can be using that info at their leisure, but I prefer at least to have the ability to kill them if I choose.

 

[William T Riker]

The native task manager is a "Running" tab in the Applications part of settings, from there you can tap the app, then force close it.

 

[bluenova]

The native task manager is a "Running" tab in the Applications part of settings, from there you can tap the app, then force close it.

Not really sure how this is new for 2.2, you can do the same thing in 2.1 through Settings > Applications > Running services.

 

[zabrooks]

I personally would think it would be a great feature. I have noticed on my hero when my alarm goes off during a phone call the phone tends to crap itself... i would love to have another option besides remove the battery.

 

[Deleted User]

Ran benchmarks with 30 apps running and them killed them all using ATK. The marks before and after were too close to even worry about. Memory was like 40 something mb free when ran and then killed and had over 160mb free with really no difference at all. Maybe some truth to the battery lasting longer, but haven't tested.

 

[ConcertFreak]

Ran benchmarks with 30 apps running and them killed them all using ATK. The marks before and after were too close to even worry about. Memory was like 40 something mb free when ran and then killed and had over 160mb free with really no difference at all. Maybe some truth to the battery lasting longer, but haven't tested.

Wow. I haven't read anything like that before... stunning info.

Does anyone know how to figure out what apps are currently uploading/downloading data?

I've got a ton of apps currently installed and can't figure out which one is hijacking my bandwidth.
There is almost always a little arrow down symbol in the top left corner of my screen.