Applications that start themselves.

[IOWA]

It matters because I don't want an app I that I rarely use to run on its own taking up memory.
They can affect performance by using memory.

If you don't agree so be it, that's your right, I honestly don't care, but just because that's your opinion doesn't mean I have to agree.

I think it's incredibly amusing that so many of you advocate rooting and romming to have complete control of your devices, yet when someone wants to be able to control the app behavior you take issue with it.

After Android 2.2, it having an app cached into the memory will not affect the performance of your device negatively. As far as poorly coded apps, I prefer just to get rid of them altogether.

Because of the way Android is built, if you unload an app manually, Android will either just reload that same app, or find another one to take its place.

 

[OfTheDamned]

I think the key, with anything in Android, is knowing what you are looking at. If you observe an app that is killing your battery because it isn't functioning properly then somethings needs to be done by the user to handle that. Freezing or uninstalling the app in question is always going to be the best solution, but there are rare occasions that other methods need to be used.

Overall the use of a task killer or task manager on and Android device running Froyo and beyond will do far more harm than good. Killing processes or apps can start to cause issues in the general operation of the device, especially with custom UIs like Sense. Killing a rouge app may help short term and it is for that very reason that force closing is an option in settings, but it is not a long term solution. Long term you are looking at a possibly crippled device with this method.

The best course of action when you run into an app that just won't work well is to remove it. If it is a system app or bloat then removing updates and reinstalling may help. If it goes beyond that, then the next option is rooting and uninstalling or freezing. If that is not an option then a reset may work best. A task killer isn't going to keep things running smooth for very long and in cases dealing with battery life it is going to drain much more than it will conserve.

As many have said before, if it isn't broken don't fix it. Let the OS do its job and enjoy the device.

 

[EarlyMon]

I advocate rooting and I don't take issue with taking control of app behavior.

I simply advocate making sure the goals are met with an engineered approach.

 

[pool_shark]

After Android 2.2, it having an app cached into the memory will not affect the performance of your device negatively. As far as poorly coded apps, I prefer just to get rid of them altogether.

Because of the way Android is built, if you unload an app manually, Android will either just reload that same app, or find another one to take its place.

As previously stated, I don't have a problem with it starting apps I use frequently or keeping them running, I would do that with scripting anyway, it's the ones I rarely use that keep starting that bothers me.

 

[IOWA]

As previously stated, I don't have a problem with it starting apps I use frequently or keeping them running, I would do that with scripting anyway, it's the ones I rarely use that keep starting that bothers me.

Curious, why does it bother you? If you let Android do it's thing, it'll learn what you use(usually) and then keep that loaded.

(Again, minus the whole poorly written app deal.)

 

[pool_shark]

Knowing that I can tune memory, caching, IO, paging, etc on other platforms to make the system run optimally as I see it, is what makes me not have the high opinion that you all seem to have that Android is handling it efficiently.

For me the proof would be me having the option to tune it as I see fit, and see if I make it better or worse.
In other words, full control of my device instead of being at the mercy of Android's own tuning.

Everyone has their own opinion, mine just happens to be different than yours.
No big deal.

 

[pool_shark]

Curious, why does it bother you? If you let Android do it's thing, it'll learn what you use(usually) and then keep that loaded.

(Again, minus the whole poorly written app deal.)

I have had apps running that I rarely use running on a regular basis, seesmic is one example.
It doesn't matter when the last time I used it was. The exception being if I force closed an app. That app won't get started again unless I start it. Task killers apparently don't actually force close the apps, if anything they do a kill.
I can't tell you what the difference is between force closing and killing on Android, (maybe it's a kill -15 vs a kill -9) I just know it's different because if I use a task manager to kill it, it will eventually restart, if I force close it, it will not.

 

[EarlyMon]

Knowing that I can tune memory, caching, IO, paging, etc on other platforms to make the system run optimally as I see it, is what makes me not have the high opinion that you all seem to have that Android is handling it efficiently.

For me the proof would be me having the option to tune it as I see fit, and see if I make it better or worse.
In other words, full control of my device instead of being at the mercy of Android's own tuning.

Everyone has their own opinion, mine just happens to be different than yours.
No big deal.

So, are you familiar with System Tuner?

If not, it may be just what you're looking for - personally, I recommend it.

It's absolutely not for everyone but at your level of experience, you ought to be ok.

Again - sorry, but it's my thing, you're not the only one reading this - disclaimer: never tinker with your system without a full nandroid backup first.

And don't even think of using System Tuner to tweak Android unless you're expert in unix and stack virtual machines, one, the other, or both. In my opinion.

 

[pool_shark]

So, are you familiar with System Tuner?

If not, it may be just what you're looking for - personally, I recommend it.

It's absolutely not for everyone but at your level of experience, you ought to be ok.

Again - sorry, but it's my thing, you're not the only one reading this - disclaimer: never tinker with your system without a full nandroid backup first.

And don't even think of using System Tuner to tweak Android unless you're expert in unix and stack virtual machines, one, the other, or both. In my opinion.

Nope, never heard of it. I'll take a look. Thanks.

 

[IOWA]

I have had apps running that I rarely use running on a regular basis, seesmic is one example.
It doesn't matter when the last time I used it was. The exception being if I force closed an app. That app won't get started again unless I start it. Task killers apparently don't actually force close the apps, if anything they do a kill.
I can't tell you what the difference is between force closing and killing on Android, (maybe it's a kill -15 vs a kill -9) I just know it's different because if I use a task manager to kill it, it will eventually restart, if I force close it, it will not.

Have you considered ROM/kernel development? I can't think of a better way to fine tune your device by hand.

 

[EarlyMon]

Have you considered ROM/kernel development? I can't think of a better way to fine tune your device by hand.

Set /system to read-write using EStrongs File Explorer and also edit post-boot init files to tune the system.

Some files may be hidden by the runtime ramdisk, so often, cooking your own rom can be as simple as taking your rom to an editable environment, modify whatever Linux parameters desired, and then re-packaging as a flashable rom. (Can't edit through the ramdisk, so that's the only way.)

That's how a great many rom devs get into it in the first place.

Just saying.

 

[pool_shark]

Have you considered ROM/kernel development? I can't think of a better way to fine tune your device by hand.

That requires programming skills which I don't have. I could probably teach myself over time (I taught myself Unix, hacmp, websphere, performance/tuning, NIM, etc), I honestly just don't have the desire to do programming.
I think it's due to the laziness.

 

[chanchan05]

I have had apps running that I rarely use running on a regular basis, seesmic is one example.
It doesn't matter when the last time I used it was. The exception being if I force closed an app. That app won't get started again unless I start it.

Seesmic is a type of app that syncs at a specific time interval. Its just a background process active that doesn't do anything because its not being used, just like a random program set up to run at boot. It won't die after you start it because its waiting for the time interval to sync. For example, if you are actually using it with notifications, if you kill it, it won't alert you of mentions or direct messages every 15min like its supposed to.

 

[pool_shark]

Seesmic is a type of app that syncs at a specific time interval. Its just a background process active that doesn't do anything because its not being used, just like a random program set up to run at boot. It won't die after you start it because its waiting for the time interval to sync. For example, if you are actually using it with notifications, if you kill it, it won't alert you of mentions or direct messages every 15min like its supposed to.

If I had actually logged in and had it set to sync I would agree with you, but since I didn't...
Not to mention, seesmic was just one example.

 

[chanchan05]

If I had actually logged in and had it set to sync I would agree with you, but since I didn't...
Not to mention, seesmic was just one example.

No. Its like one of those programs you install on your computer that has startup on boot privileges. Your phone starts seesmic up on boot, then it just sits in the background.

 

[pool_shark]

No. Its like one of those programs you install on your computer that has startup on boot privileges. Your phone starts seesmic up on boot, then it just sits in the background.

If I force close it, it doesn't start again until I start it, so that can't be the case.

 

[chanchan05]

If I force close it, it doesn't start again until I start it, so that can't be the case.

Uh, you aren't booting up again after force closing, so why should it start again? It has permission to startup at boot, not everytime after it closes. Android still probably recognizes it as an unused or rarely used app (I seem to remember you said so yourself) so I guess its normal.

Also, once you start it, it turns on the sync process which runs in background. It doesn't however turn it off after you logged out, it just sits in the background waiting to be turned on again if you needed it, not using resources.