I've gotten a little frustrated with the current task management apps on the marketplace. They either try to do way to much or they are slow to start up. They try to use your network and location to be smart, they try to auto kill tasks. But all this ends up doing is causing your phone to not go to sleep which kills your battery. This also keeps them consuming memory. At the end of the day they are actually doing the opposite of what they are trying to help. Some are better then others and I do have my favorites but I wanted to see what it actually took to write one.
TaskFarmer is a different kind of task manager. This program is designed to make task management easier for the end user and to utilize as few resources as possible. It's a very simple/minimal application that lists the currently running user tasks and you select to kill. To accomplish this task the following design goals were followed:
1. First and foremost it will not poll the system. It only pulls the active tasks when it’s interface has been activated. This means that the TaskFarmer will not keep your phone from going to sleep which causes severe battery drain. So don’t expect automatic task killing from this application.
2. TaskFarmer only asks for permission to Get tasks and Restart/Stop tasks. It does not ask for network access, location awareness, or any other permission to run.
3. TaskFarmer only lists user run applications. It will not show Core System tasks or Core HTC tasks to keep the user from making a mistake. At this time there are is no way to add custom exclusions but this feature is coming.
4. TaskFarmer uses minimal memory and cpu and is fast to start up.
Task farmer currently sits at just over 200 lines of code and I intend to keep it near that. This app will stay a simple task management tool. If I decided do more with it I will make an advanced version of this app.
Installation is pretty easy if you have a filemanager like ASTRO on your device. Just put the TaskFarmer.apk file on your SD card, in your app settings allow non-market sources (menu -> settings -> applications put a check next to "Unknown Sources"), then open up ASTRO (or other file manger) and browse to the SD card and select the APK and it'll give you the option to install it.
I'm just using it for myself right now but I thought if others found it useful I'd create and icon and stuff for it and get it on the market. It is a fully signed package but just not ready for submission to the market. I've only tested it so far on the ERIS which is why I'm only posting it here.
I've started up a blog on wordpress here where I can post updates: Vine Ripe Software Blog
For lack of a better place to put it for now (my domains are long since retired) I've put it up here:
TaskFarmer.apk
if anyone has a better idea of where to host files let me know.
Again, It's just a simple task manager and that's all it does. You can keep it running or clicking menu will allow you to quit the app which has the app actually kill itself unlike some other task managers.
TaskFarmer is a different kind of task manager. This program is designed to make task management easier for the end user and to utilize as few resources as possible. It's a very simple/minimal application that lists the currently running user tasks and you select to kill. To accomplish this task the following design goals were followed:
1. First and foremost it will not poll the system. It only pulls the active tasks when it’s interface has been activated. This means that the TaskFarmer will not keep your phone from going to sleep which causes severe battery drain. So don’t expect automatic task killing from this application.
2. TaskFarmer only asks for permission to Get tasks and Restart/Stop tasks. It does not ask for network access, location awareness, or any other permission to run.
3. TaskFarmer only lists user run applications. It will not show Core System tasks or Core HTC tasks to keep the user from making a mistake. At this time there are is no way to add custom exclusions but this feature is coming.
4. TaskFarmer uses minimal memory and cpu and is fast to start up.
Task farmer currently sits at just over 200 lines of code and I intend to keep it near that. This app will stay a simple task management tool. If I decided do more with it I will make an advanced version of this app.
Installation is pretty easy if you have a filemanager like ASTRO on your device. Just put the TaskFarmer.apk file on your SD card, in your app settings allow non-market sources (menu -> settings -> applications put a check next to "Unknown Sources"), then open up ASTRO (or other file manger) and browse to the SD card and select the APK and it'll give you the option to install it.
I'm just using it for myself right now but I thought if others found it useful I'd create and icon and stuff for it and get it on the market. It is a fully signed package but just not ready for submission to the market. I've only tested it so far on the ERIS which is why I'm only posting it here.
I've started up a blog on wordpress here where I can post updates: Vine Ripe Software Blog
For lack of a better place to put it for now (my domains are long since retired) I've put it up here:
TaskFarmer.apk
if anyone has a better idea of where to host files let me know.
Again, It's just a simple task manager and that's all it does. You can keep it running or clicking menu will allow you to quit the app which has the app actually kill itself unlike some other task managers.
It should work on any device.