Yeah, I'm bringing up this subject again.

I know it's an old debate and I may not change anybodies mind here, but that's fine. A lot of people use task killers, but most don't use them properly. I came across this article today that explains quite well what they do and don't do.

Enjoy, and share your thoughts.

http://phandroid.com/2011/06/16/android-psa-stop-using-task-killer-apps-now/

Accepted answers

Wildman

AZSALUKI wrote:
i honestly don't even know how these types of apps work? what does system panel do? and how do you utilize it?

System panel keeps track of the load of all the application open on your device and determine the load of resources that each app takes up to run effectively, I your device has a lag and it is caused due to a app you can determine the problem app and allows you to decide if it can be disabled or deleted.... Also there is a task manager that allows you to disable heavy loaded apps if the system doesn't when you need it to release the memory.

You have to enable the moniting option and allow to run a day or so before you get reliable status....

Menu / Settings / Monitoring Enable..

All comments

Wildman

I'm sorry but I don't feel this man babbling on helps explains anything. his information sounds more on a personal opinion than from a technology level.

Task killer can be bad if a user does not understand the purpose and design of the app, I have used them for some time with no issues. All user have there views on this but until the app is tried and understood users will be misinformed.

I acknowledge that a number of users got me to take a look at Task Panel again after a number of time away from using it and I can say with it my device has ran well also so I am running ATK on one of my devices and Task Panel on other and both devices seem to be running equally as smooth.

Ann154

I will agree that a person needs to learn how to use the application properly. When I first got the Droid Eris I did install ATK one day and tried to understand it. I couldn't figure it out so it was uninstalled and a different task manager that didn't have an auto-kill or it was off by default (I don't remember.) After Eclair was loaded on the Eris, I wasn't happy with that application anymore. I started looking for something else and found one that I use for me to monitor the running applications easier.

I recently had a chance to look at ATK that was installed on a Honeycomb tablet (display model) of all things. I still don't understand that application's UI. I was able to find that you can turn the auto-kill off in the application.

Granted I probably still don't understand how one can setup a task killer properly without causing issues.

AZSALUKI

i'm trying out "watchdog" right now. it's not exactly an app killer, but more of a monitor. i quit using app killers last fall and did not notice any difference in battery life or performance, whatsoever....so i never reinstalled one. my phone runs smooth without it and as far as i can tell, i get as good (if not better) battery life on my tbolt as anyone else (3 solid hours of actual use and another 10-15 of idle time.....easily getting me through a day of what i consider fairly decent usage). however, watchdog was the free amazon app the other day and i'm a sucker for free....so i'm running it now on a moderate setting. during the first day it has notified me once to inform me that wordsfree (words with friends) is a hog. i wasn't surprised by this, but it appears to be working. i haven't really looked into it much yet, but as far as i can tell it just informs you of apps that you may want to force close or at least keep an eye on. again though....i really don't know yet, what exactly it is monitoring on these apps.

Wildman

AZSALUKI wrote:
i'm trying out "watchdog" right now. it's not exactly an app killer, but more of a monitor. i quit using app killers last fall and did not notice any difference in battery life or performance, whatsoever....so i never reinstalled one. my phone runs smooth without it and as far as i can tell, i get as good (if not better) battery life on my tbolt as anyone else (3 solid hours of actual use and another 10-15 of idle time.....easily getting me through a day of what i consider fairly decent usage). however, watchdog was the free amazon app the other day and i'm a sucker for free....so i'm running it now on a moderate setting. during the first day it has notified me once to inform me that wordsfree (words with friends) is a hog. i wasn't surprised by this, but it appears to be working. i haven't really looked into it much yet, but as far as i can tell it just informs you of apps that you may want to force close or at least keep an eye on. again though....i really don't know yet, what exactly it is monitoring on these apps.

Looks like my next test tool... :smileyvery-happy:

Wildman

Watchdog seem nice but I went back to System Panel because it seems to be more useful..

AZSALUKI

i honestly don't even know how these types of apps work? what does system panel do? and how do you utilize it?