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To have an app killer or not to, that is the question

Hey guys. I have a quick question. May sound dumb or may have already been asked but i can't find it. The question being, is it safe to use an application killer or not. I understand that some programs must stay running (have done that much research.) But it is safe to have an app killer and kill simple apps such as facebook, myspace, yahoo messenger, etc. I am currently using the advance task killer free version. I just don't want to do anything to harm anything such as the phones functioning. Thanks in advance for the help.

Comments

fezzik

The answer is a resounding no. Appkillers and Virus scanners use system resources and do very little that is useful that you can't do yourself without using all those resources. On the DINC some people have claimed it saved their battery life but to me it isn't worth it. It causes more problems than it solves.

AZSALUKI

while i agree with fezzick, i do still use advanced task killer. just make sure you have apps that you need to run on the ignore list (like my alarm clock. i thought it didn't work.....i was just killing it constantly, so of course it didn't work...lol). i just like to kill them all at once as it seems i have about a dozen running after a couple hours and it's just easier for me to hit kill all apps (minus the ones on my ignore list).

nlawrence77

I read a bunch of posts about having a task killer with the 2.2 update. I had one for awhile after the update but after everything I read about why to not have one, I finally uninstalled it. And wow, I could not be happier. My battery life is amazing now! And I use my phone like crazy. I'm texting all day long, and using the internet several times a day, not to mention several of my different apps. I can get a full days use out of my phone without having to charge it. Of course, I do have to charge it every night. I highly highly recommend uninstalling the task killer...

w40d1n1

It all depends on what you want out of your phone. If you want long battery life, then don't install a task killer. If you want faster application response (from already running apps, i.e. Internet browser) that dynamically require more and more memory as you use it, then install a task killer and configure it to only stop apps that don't auto-start. I've found that some apps like mail, gmail, browser, games, run much snappier if the underlying OS isn't busy having to stop other apps and free other resources. Ironically, none of these issues are new, Mainframe, host based, virtual, and cloud computing developers have been dealing with shared resource issues for decades. Silly android devs, they think they've discovered something new.

Chillenout

I would say no. It's not needed. ATK made my system really lag. I deleted it, but then my battery life tanked big time,I could barley get 5 hours of battery life with hardly using the phone at all....until I found this niffty little app called Juice Defender.

Juice Defender is a miracle worker. After configuring it, I'm able to get my 1750 battery to last 14-15 hours....and that's WITHOUT A.T.K and with heavy use....

FramCire

NO NO NO

With Froyok, if you use an app killer you will be stopping and restarting apps a ton that dont take up any resources when running. Thus, you are hurting your phone!

ericreinhardt

What is everyones take on System Panel? Do you think that its something that takes away from the battery etc.

Eric

dino22

ATK shows apps running in the background. Actually, they are not. Click settings, about phone at bottom, battery, battery use and it will show you what is actually running.

w40d1n1

What if the app shows up under Settings, Applications, Manage, Running ?

If Android is Linux, and the app shows up in the process table, it is running. It might be idle, but the app still has all the same capabilites (i.e. use resources) as a foreground app. So, it the app has bugs, or is poorly written, it can still consume resources on froyo, even if you think it isn't running.

Google recently wrote an article encouraging Android users, when installing apps, to pay attention to the features/resources/functionality being granted to the new app during the installation process. I didn't get the oppty to deny that choice to Skype, Amazon, etc.

dino22

System panel. Do you think that its something that takes away from the battery etc.
What if the app shows up under Settings, Applications, Manage, Running ?
So, it the app has bugs, or is poorly written, it can still consume resources on froyo, even if you think it isn't running.

First, I am not an expert. I only know what I read and was told by verizon. Second, if the app has bugs, should it show up on systempanel?

SystemPanel integrates a task killer, app manager (installer / uninstaller with multi-version APK archival), and device status monitor. Optional $2.99 background monitor service to record long-term battery, display and CPU usage. beta9: HTC Incredible Support

I do have SystemPanel to kill an app that may misbehave, although I have never needed it, and to once in a while note how much cpu and memory a program is using and to see total ram available. It is a nice to know program, not essential. If system panel is running it is using cpu and battery, although minimal. So, the question is, what do you intend to do with it? Are you using Lite or did you purchase the optional. The free version will not give you history, just current info. Since it is not recording, minimal everything usage.

One thing it will do is clear up the idea that all these apps are running in the background per ATK. If I go into systempanel and tap a program like voice dialer, which appears to be running, I see 0s cpu and 0 resource use. If I go into systempanel itself, it used 15 secs cpu .6% resources.

The apps that appear to be running are in memory in kernel form. This means they are in ram, but not running. So vz navigator is not running but it is held in memory using 17mb! Since I only have Xmb ram (512?), this stuff can mount up.

If you use an app killer, it will just reload, and that uses cpu and resources. In some cases this is a google droid decision, HTC decision or a verizon sales decision,. For example, to sell the VZ navigator FOR $10 A MONTH WHEN YOU CAN GET GOOGLE NAVIGATION FOR FREE!

This is all in system panel. Sample ram usage for my pc.

touch input 27mb.

voice search 19mb

voice dialer 17mb

system panel 27mb

battery time lite 10mb
google services framework 9mb

calendar 7mb

obexservice?

sync service?

shype mobile 3mb

and there are about 50 on my fone.

Having lots of available empty memory is not a good thing. It takes the same amount of power to hold "nothing" in memory as it does to hold actual data. So, like every other operating system in use today, Android does its best to keep as much important/ likely-to-be-used information in memory as possible. In other words the incredible computer has a memory manager. Let it work.

But, you can go to settings, applications, running services and get an even better idea of what is actually running and using memory. I do not recommend stopping any of these services.

Back up and click on manage applications/manage and remove applications and see list of downloaded programs and the size of the program. Click running at top and tap one of the programs. You can if you wish force a stop. But, to what end? Stop android system? Camera? Clock. Dialer? Again, let your just released computer work.

However, anything that is actually running uses cpu and battery. But systempanel is not running until you open it. When you leave it stops running but is held in ram.

Want to save battery? Settings, display, brightness, reduce brightness and significantly reduce battery usage. Click on automatic brightness and let droid run it. Unfortunately, I like mine near max. Disable wi-fi and bluetooth. Settings –> Wireless & networks–> Bluetooth. Android includes a built-in Power Widget that can easily toggle these settings on or off—just long press on the background of one of your screens, choose Widget –> Power Control to add it to the screen.

If you’ve decided you no longer want a widget:

1. Tap hand hold the widget for about 2 seconds.

2. Keep your finger on the widget and drag it to the trash can that appears. It will then be deleted.

PER VERISON. The droid is a computer that can make fone calls. Do a cold boot at least once a week to clear out the complications that should not be there, just like on every other computer.

Per VZM: Under unusual conditions, the incredible almost perfect computer may use so much ram that one of the programs may not work because it is not releasing ram as desired - a glitch in the ram mgt system? For example, when the fone rings and you put it against your ear, software turns off the display for safety reasons. If there is not sufficient ram to run this software program, the display will automatically shut off the display even if you do not put it to your ear or face. If you want to hit speaker on, the display turns off so fast that you only have 1 sec to tap the speaker on – this is a glitch. So, in this one case, you can use a task killer to knock programs out of ram, to release memory. However. You will be better off doing what you do when any computer has a glitch. DO A COLD BOOT! Hold down power button until it says power off, tap, tap ok.

PER VERIZON. DO A SYSTEM RESET. This is a computer. If you do a cold boot and your computer still does not seem to be running normally, do a system reset. Take out the battery for a min. No data will be lost. You will have to sign back into gmail. I had to do this because for a reason no one will ever know my gmail was not sending or receiving. Reset, now it works.

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