Task Killers... The Answer from Google & Developers.

[dfuser312553]

^^^ you're hilarious! I asked why you don't take it there

 

[Martin030908]

Task killers = placebo effect.

All the hard evidence points to they are not needed.

 

[aaf709]

BIG improvement in performance when you do this and its all confirmed via acatlogs.

Can you please point us to the acatlogs you refer to?

I think he means the aLogcat app at aLogcat - Logcat Application ~ Android Application v2.1.6 By Jeffrey Blattman | Tools

Or it could be CatLog at http://www.androlib.com/android.application.com-nolanlawson-logcat-jBzAm.aspx

 

[Claudzion]

So now that we'ce gotten that out.of the way. Do task killers improve battery life? Seems that question wasn't answered or I missed it.

Sent from my ADR6300 using DroidForums App

 

[dfuser312553]

^ No 6789!

 

[ArtooDroid]

I honestly don't know why everyone is hating on task killers.

I just got my first smartphone a couple weeks ago (Droid R2D2) and love it. However, I found the battery life to be atrocious - I would have it on me at work, only use it barely on my lunch break (maybe some Angry Birds, or web browsing news sites), and it would be close to dead after only about 6 to 8 hours. Someone introduced me to a free task killer, and ever since using it, bloatware stops running, among other things I'm not using at the moment, and my battery life has increased to at least 12 hours per day.

I don't know how Android is supposed to 'manage' apps and memory automatically when my battery used to just drain like mad when I had not even touched it while at work. There's no reason for it to just die like that. I will continue to use my task killer as it is the only thing preventing my phone from dying before my shift is over at work. I don't see how it can cause any kind of harm.

 

[BayouFlyFisher]

I honestly don't know why everyone is hating on task killers.

I just got my first smartphone a couple weeks ago (Droid R2D2) and love it. However, I found the battery life to be atrocious - I would have it on me at work, only use it barely on my lunch break (maybe some Angry Birds, or web browsing news sites), and it would be close to dead after only about 6 to 8 hours. Someone introduced me to a free task killer, and ever since using it, bloatware stops running, among other things I'm not using at the moment, and my battery life has increased to at least 12 hours per day.

I don't know how Android is supposed to 'manage' apps and memory automatically when my battery used to just drain like mad when I had not even touched it while at work. There's no reason for it to just die like that. I will continue to use my task killer as it is the only thing preventing my phone from dying before my shift is over at work. I don't see how it can cause any kind of harm.

You really didn't read this thread did you? Try to read the following:

Task Killers Per Lifehacker:

Android Task Killers Explained: What They Do and Why You Shouldn't Use Them
How Android Manages Processes

In Android, processes and Applications are two different things. An app can stay "running" in the background without any processes eating up your phone's resources. Android keeps the app in its memory so it launches more quickly and returns to its prior state. When your phone runs out of memory, Android will automatically start killing tasks on its own, starting with ones that you haven't used in awhile.
The problem is that Android uses RAM differently than, say, Windows. On Android, having your RAM nearly full is a good thing. It means that when you relaunch an app you've previously opened, the app launches quickly and returns to its previous state. So while Android actually uses RAM efficiently, most users see that their RAM is full and assume that's what's slowing down their phone. In reality, your CPU—which is only used by apps that are actually active—is almost always the bottleneck.

Why Task Killers Are (Usually) Bad News

Apps like Advanced Task Killer, the most popular task killer in the Market, act on the incorrect assumption that freeing up memory on an Android device is a good thing. When launched, it presents you with a list of "running" apps and the option to kill as many as you want. You can also hit the Menu button to access a more detailed "Services" view, that lists exactly which parts of each application are "running", how much memory they take up, and how much free memory is available on your phone. This set-up implies that the goal of killing these apps is to free up memory. Nowhere on the list does it mention the number of CPU cycles each app is consuming, only the memory you'll free by killing it. As we've learned, full memory is not a bad thing—we want to watch out for the CPU, the resource that actually slows down your phone and drains your battery life.
Thus, killing all but the essential apps (or telling Android to kill apps more aggressively with the "autokill" feature) is generally unnecessary. Furthermore, it's actually possible that this will worsen your phone's performance and battery life. Whether you're manually killing apps all the time or telling the task killer to aggressively remove apps from your memory, you're actually using CPU cycles when you otherwise wouldn't—killing apps that aren't doing anything in the first place.
In fact, some of the processes related to those apps will actually start right back up, further draining your CPU. If they don't, killing those processes can cause other sorts of problems—alarms don't go off, you don't receive text messages, or other related apps may force close without warning. All in all, you're usually better off letting your phone work as intended—especially if you're more of a casual user. In these instances, a task killer causes more problems than it solves.
What You Should Do Instead

That said, not all apps are created equal. Many of you have used task killers in the past and actually found that after freeing up memory, your phone works a bit better. It's more likely that this is because you've killed a bad app—one that was poorly coded, and (for example) keeps trying to connect to the internet even when it shouldn't. Any performance increase you experience is more likely because you killed the right app, not because you freed up loads of memory (or, in many cases, it's just placebo). Instead of killing all those apps, find out which ones are actually causing the problems. If you really know what you're doing, you may benefit from using a task killer to stop the one or two inefficient-but-loved apps on your phone.
Note, however, that this is still a contested notion. A lot of developers (including ROM builder extraordinaire, Cyanogen) will not even look at your bug reports if you're using a task killer. In this humble blogger's opinion, your best bet is to stay away from regular task killer usage entirely. If you absolutely have to have that one battery-killing app on your phone, though, kill away—just be aware that when you experience a recurring Android bug later on, the task killer may be at fault. Of course, you can just stop using it to determine whether that is or isn't the case.
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Uninstall the task killer, assuming you do not have a rogue app and your battery life will get even better. And give a little consideration to the fact that you've had a smartphone for two weeks and the people that say Task Killers are not needed wrote the operating system that is used out our phones!!!

Good luck.

 

[markymark]

So now that we'ce gotten that out.of the way. Do task killers improve battery life? Seems that question wasn't answered or I missed it.

Sent from my ADR6300 using DroidForums App

Ask 5 people you will get 5 different answers.

Most of the "experts" will tell you that they do no good and you are better off letting Android manage the memory itself.

I can tell you that under 2.1, that definitely was NOT the case. My battery life improved dramatically under 2.1 when I started using Advanced Task Killer Free. I don't use the autokill function, but I have noticed that some of the big battery hog apps like Nav, maps, google earth, skymaps etc. do not stop running when you exit them, and keep draining battery. So I occasionally go into ATK and kill everything after using one of those apps and it definitely helps. Make sure you update the ignore list with things that shouldn't be killed like the clock.

Under 2.2 Froyo, supposedly they modified some programs to remove the API that allows you to kill them. Some programs like skype mobile, my verizon etc. will keep starting up after you kill them. I still use ATK pretty much the same as I did under 2.1, and I think if you use it judiciously it will help battery life. I just use it to kill those battery hogging apps that I mentioned. I can easily get 24-36 hrs or more between charges with a seidio 1750 battery.

Bottom line....there is no right answer, you will probably have to try for yourself and see what your experience is.

BTW....lesson #1....in my experience, most of the time the people in the verizon stores don't know squat about the phone and most of the time will just make stuff up.

 

[hookbill]

Threads merged.

 

[kptphalkon]

I agree that under some circumstances a task killer is necessary.
I dont run ATK constantly but i do keep it for when i notice a big app has not exited, or when something hangs, otherwise keeping an autokill list really is a waste of time since android will keep trying to load memory with apps you "frequently" use, causing wasted cpu usage from the killer and droid interfering with each other.

Now the droid devs say that having empty memory and full memory uses the same amount of power, and i have also noticed that background tasks are inactive and consume no cpu at all, unless they are widgets that update periodically. It really comes down to preferance.

For rooted users i assume we have moto's blur, or for other non moto people bloatware apps already phrozen or otherwise disabled, so at least for me, the only apps that run are things i specifically want.

Either way you will not be stopping droid from auto-loading the memory, and why should you? It is basically pre-caching apps you are likely to use or are likely to be used by the system for faster access times, and i have no problem with that.

Thats my two cents

Sent from the F-Zero cockpit on my D2G

 

[aaf709]

To me, a Task Killer is like using a Weed Wacker on your yard. Sure it looks nice afterwards, but they're gonna grow back.

 

[estafusisx]

To me, a Task Killer is like using a Weed Wacker on your yard. Sure it looks nice afterwards, but they're gonna grow back.

Good analogy but it would be more accurate if u replace ur weed wacker with a lawn mower blade on a stick (with gas at $100 to the gallon) and u grow mutant grass that grows immediately a half inch above where u think you want it then stops.

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[kptphalkon]

To me, a Task Killer is like using a Weed Wacker on your yard. Sure it looks nice afterwards, but they're gonna grow back.

Good analogy but it would be more accurate if u replace ur weed wacker with a lawn mower blade on a stick (with gas at $100 to the gallon) and u grow mutant grass that grows immediately a half inch above where u think you want it then stops.

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+1 internets


Sent from the F-Zero cockpit on my D2G

 

[incrednicole]

I work for verizon, me and my co workers have noticed that it works great on 2.1 but sucks the battery life out of your phone if your running 2.2

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[eriscrazy]

Advanced task killer

I have been a true believer that you don't need advanced task killer on android devices. Does this hold true for the Droid x?

Sent from my Liberated Droid X!