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Advanced Task Killer?? Yay or Nay??

Mskgreenel

Mskgreenel

Android Enthusiast
^^^ I meant Yay or Nay!! ^^^

Hi y'all!!! I'd like to see a friendly debate about ATK. I've read conflicting info in these forums and other places on the web. I sure we all want incredible battery life on our Incredibles :D

I had ATK Paid on my Eris and now on my Incredible. I've disabled it many times to try to see if the difference and I can't ( on either device)...

Please keep the debate friendly!!!
 
I guess I'd have to know more about Android apps and how they sleep when not in use, etc. Less processes running should be an advantage regardless.
 
I've been reading that it doesn't affect speed and that its unecessary to keep killing tasks.

However, last night for example I played a game called falling ball for 30 secs, then hit home and put the phone to sleep. picked it up in the morning to find out it had used something like 5pct of the battery on the game falling ball running in the background.

Had I killed it I would have been better off.

Whats a bit disconcerting is that in android apps are just allowed to autostart. I installed skype and I've found it running a couple of times without me starting it. I don't use skype to receive calls, only to occasionally call out.

SO I use ATK when I won't be using phone for a while or after I've open up several things.
 
Germwise said:
I've been reading that it doesn't affect speed and that its unecessary to keep killing tasks.

However, last night for example I played a game called falling ball for 30 secs, then hit home and put the phone to sleep. picked it up in the morning to find out it had used something like 5pct of the battery on the game falling ball running in the background.

Had I killed it I would have been better off.

Whats a bit disconcerting is that in android apps are just allowed to autostart. I installed skype and I've found it running a couple of times without me starting it. I don't use skype to receive calls, only to occasionally call out.

SO I use ATK when I won't be using phone for a while or after I've open up several things.
Click to expand...
I've found this to be a bit annoying. I will have FM Radio, Voice Dialer, Gtalk, sometimes weather automatically starting after ive turned them off.
 
Germwise said:
I've been reading that it doesn't affect speed and that its unecessary to keep killing tasks.

However, last night for example I played a game called falling ball for 30 secs, then hit home and put the phone to sleep. picked it up in the morning to find out it had used something like 5pct of the battery on the game falling ball running in the background.

Had I killed it I would have been better off.

Whats a bit disconcerting is that in android apps are just allowed to autostart. I installed skype and I've found it running a couple of times without me starting it. I don't use skype to receive calls, only to occasionally call out.

SO I use ATK when I won't be using phone for a while or after I've open up several things.
Click to expand...

I've noticed that Skype is always running it's sneaky behind in the background!! I decided to log off and log on when I plan to use it which isn't often.
 
I think the big problem is that most people think that every app loaded in memory is "running". If it's not using CPU, it's not using your battery. All those things sitting there at 0% aren't doing anything. You're wasting more battery CLOSING them (not to mention the battery you're using to run your task killer).

Task Killers are useful for one reason in my mind. Troubleshooting. It's possible that you may wind up with a misbehaving program that isn't properly stopping in the background or maybe something is just a bigger CPU hog than you would have thought. Things like OS Monitor can help you look into these issues.

However, taking the time to close a bunch of tasks using 0 CPU cycles is wasting your battery, not saving it.

The other major issue is that most people haven't the slightest idea what they are doing and close things when they don't know what they are. Then a bunch of stuff stops working and they wonder what's wrong with their phone. Unless you know PRECISELY what a task does, you shouldn't be touching it.
 
This is a good topic I hope more people will start responding. From what I've read, it is not good because it can kill vital processes unknowingly - Android OS should know when to kill a process it if is useless and how to keep its power use minimal if it stays on. I'll let the more techy people touch on that.

Another question I have is how do you adjust startup processes.

For example - I manually kill Gtalk, but every time I restart it keeps coming back! go away!
 
Anonimac said:
Big time nay and anyone who tells you otherwise needs to donate their G1, stop watching sci-fi network, and read some non-fiction.
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Get ready for the onslaught of nay sayers and flamers. I have tried to tell people this for a long time and they don't listen.
 
I used it a lot when I first got my phone, but now I've stopped forcefully killing apps.

Just out of curiosity though, if I have an app that shows up in the Battery Usage screen, does that mean it's currently using up that much % of the battery? Or is that only when you are actively using it?

I ask this because I have a GPS app that is showing up on the Battery Usage screen even though I'm not using it and have GPS turned off, I just hope it's not draining the battery even though I'm not using it.
 
Anonimac said:
Big time nay and anyone who tells you otherwise needs to donate their G1, stop watching sci-fi network, and read some non-fiction.
Click to expand...

The dumb beezy at VZW who sold us our second Inc. said 'make sure u download atk.' I wanted to reach across the counter and smack her.
 
marcelob said:
I used it a lot when I first got my phone, but now I've stopped forcefully killing apps.

Just out of curiosity though, if I have an app that shows up in the Battery Usage screen, does that mean it's currently using up that much % of the battery? Or is that only when you are actively using it?

I ask this because I have a GPS app that is showing up on the Battery Usage screen even though I'm not using it and have GPS turned off, I just hope it's not draining the battery even though I'm not using it.
Click to expand...

The battery usage % is the total amount of your used battery that each particular function has used since you last unplugged your phone from a power source. You'll see at the top it tells you how long it's been since you unplugged it.

So no, it's not an indicator of what is CURRENTLY using your battery, it's an indicator of what already has used your battery.
 
i wish google would come out and make a statement about this. is an uninstall required? I don't have it auto killing or anything like that
 
I think its a good idea to use a task killer but it has nothing to do with memory, its for battery life. All those background processes use up cpu cycles which eat up battery life. Also, the cpu is throttled down when idle, if the cpu gets busy it may run at its maximum processor speed which uses more juice than its idle speed.
 
Germwise said:
i wish google would come out and make a statement about this. is an uninstall required? I don't have it auto killing or anything like that
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They don't need to. On the android site they explain how android handles memory and sleeping apps.
 
jfunk said:
The battery usage % is the total amount of your used battery that each particular function has used since you last unplugged your phone from a power source. You'll see at the top it tells you how long it's been since you unplugged it.

So no, it's not an indicator of what is CURRENTLY using your battery, it's an indicator of what already has used your battery.
Click to expand...

Ah ok, that puts me more at ease :)

Thanks.
 
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