Do you use a task killer?

[MdExTexan]

The AT&T rep that sold me my phone recommended Advanced Task Killer, and I installed it the day I got my phone. (Dec. 20th). He said killing open apps would save battery life. Sometimes when I open ATK I find apps open that I don't remember having started, so I close what I'm not using. I may try not using it tomorrow to compare battery drain with and without.

 

[sremick]

He said killing open apps would save battery life.

Except when it doesn't. Apps set to respawn require more CPU as the app keeps relaunching itself over and over... kill, reload, kill, reload... uses more battery in the long run.

You might want to find a more-knowledgeable AT&T rep...

 

[pyrobob4]

You might want to find a more-knowledgeable AT&T rep...

And where might a person find one of those?

In my experience, ATK has helped. I run pretty basic stuff (no fancy widgets, or anything like weatherbug) but ATK did seem to increase my battery life. I got it after about a week of having my phone, and went from lasting one day, to lasting 2 or more. However, to validate my opinion, I do plan on uninstalling it for a week to test performance.

Admittedly, I'm not looking forward to being proven wrong. Not in a "I hate being wrong" way, either. I have a little case of OCD, and hitting that ATK widget is just something I have to do before I sit my phone down. It would feel weird if I didn't have that anymore... There's just something satisfying about "8 apps killed, 190M memory available". But that's just me.

 

[Tempusfugit]

Anyways; there are a lot of people that say they help and others (mainly users that are programmers and developers) that say that task killers do not help.

I came to the same conclusions, but you worded it a lot nicer than it sounds in my head... lol

Seriously, nobody with any authority on the matter suggests using an AUTO task killer. Use some common sense.

 

[TripsYou]

So would any of you recommend using ATK as long as it is used to only kill apps mostly used for pleasure. Like if you are playing a game that uses a lot of battery and when you are done playing the game for a while you kill it. I read what Sremick said about kill,reload,kill,reload. But its ok to kill if you aren't going to be reloading that app for a little while right?

 

[sremick]

Why not just exit the app properly by using the "back" button, or the app's built-in exit feature? Most apps will unload when you use "back", but not if you use "home".

 

[BookLover]

So would any of you recommend using ATK as long as it is used to only kill apps mostly used for pleasure. Like if you are playing a game that uses a lot of battery and when you are done playing the game for a while you kill it. I read what Sremick said about kill,reload,kill,reload. But its ok to kill if you aren't going to be reloading that app for a little while right?

I think you missed the point.

Android will close/unload the software if/when it needs the memory that the software is cached in.

If you're not doing anything that requires the use of the memory taken by the cached software, then it will stay "open" -- but NOT running. It's like a car parked in the parking lot, WITHOUT the keys in the car. It's just parked there but not using gas ("resources") -- When you actively use software, you're putting in the keys and turning over the engine, using gas. When you stop using it, the engine stops and the keys come out, but the car stays where you last parked it.

If you "kill" the software, you're actually putting the car back where you first got in and you (e.g., Android) has to use energy to go back to the starting point just to drive it to where you ended up. Basically, parking the car where you end up is a lot more efficient than putting it back in your garage and you have to take a cab back to your garage to get it again.

 

[VGPod36]

Umm... My phone came with a "Task Manager" app. So, I don't need to download one. I don't use it often, but it's there.

 

[pyrobob4]

Why not just exit the app properly by using the "back" button, or the app's built-in exit feature? Most apps will unload when you use "back", but not if you use "home".

It's not much of an argument because of the relative rarity of this event; but what if you just forget, or happen to hit the wrong key? In that case, it would most likely be faster to just hit the ATK widget, rather than re-opening the app and backing out properly. Especially when the app in question is in the drawer, or a few pages away from the home screen.

I keep the widget on my home screen, and one other, simply for ease of access. Set it to high or medium security so that it doesn't kill all the re-starters, and ignore any other apps that you might need to.

 

[sremick]

It's not much of an argument because of the relative rarity of this event; but what if you just forget, or happen to hit the wrong key? In that case, it would most likely be faster to just hit the ATK widget, rather than re-opening the app and backing out properly.

Well, it's the difference between asking a car to come to a complete stop and park, versus shooting out its tires. Either stops the car, but one can leave more of a mess.

Imagine: your app is open, active, in the middle of writing a file... and you kill it before it has a chance to finish writing the data, close the file, release the file handles, update the filesystem properly, etc.

And people wonder why they have so many mysterious, inexplicable issues with their phones...

It's not a guarantee that killing an app will cause data corruption, but if the app provides a proper means to exit, you should always use that instead.

Task Killers are only for ending misbehaving/unresponsive tasks that cannot be terminated any other way. Unfortunately, give an inexperienced user a missile launcher and all of a sudden they're using it to swat flies and open doors.

 

[pyrobob4]

Unfortunately, give an inexperienced user a missile launcher and all of a sudden they're using it to swat flies and open doors.

I love Shadowrun!

You seem to assume that all people use ATK like a frightened blind man with a broad sword; swinging away recklessly at anything he notices. This is probably true for most, but some users are like those hyper sensitive blind people, who are actually more aware than those gifted with vision; able to quickly and accurately locate threats, and eliminate them with deadly precision.....

Where was I going with this? Oh, right.

Again, it depends on the app and the situation. Most games, for example, probably wont be writing info to your phone. Speaking from experience, the game Zombies live is a massive power hog, and I often forget to close it properly, due to the way I use the app (opening and closing it repeatedly using the home key, in order to keep it alive while I use the calculator).

But like I said earlier, "relative rarity of this event".

 

[garak0410]

I am so torn weather to use a task kill or not. What is the difference between Advanced Task Killer and Automatic Task killer, is there even a difference? Those of you who do use a task killer, have you seen a difference in the smoothness of your phone and longer lasting battery?


Please spread the word about this thread. I am very interested in seeing what most Captivate users use! Thank You!

I tried both with one and without one for months and I get better battery life and performance WITH one...

 

[emuneee]

I haven't used a task killer since my first week getting my Captivate in June. I am rooted, running my own cooked Rogers Captivate Froyo ROM with Lagfix...but I don't have ANY issues where there are programs in the background killing my battery, using excessive data, or causing slowdowns.

 

[cmt074]

I don't bother with task killers. I usually learn how to really quit a program but even when I have a bunch of programs running it doesn't seem to make any difference on the performance of the phone. Also, I rarely go more than a day without rebooting my phone - not because there is a problem but I obsessively like to have a freshly booted phone .

 

[freakdaddydog]

I have used various task killers since picking up my Captivate in July and don't see a real need unless you have a poorly behaved application. Backgrounded processes are normally not consuming any resources and any memory utilized by the app will be re-used, as needed, by the kernel. In my opinion, the task killers don't provide any benefit, and that is after 6 months of usage. YMMV.

 

[bmoliver]

I have used various task killers since picking up my Captivate in July and don't see a real need unless you have a poorly behaved application. Backgrounded processes are normally not consuming any resources and any memory utilized by the app will be re-used, as needed, by the kernel. In my opinion, the task killers don't provide any benefit, and that is after 6 months of usage. YMMV.

There are times that you do need to close an application. For example, when I need to re-connect to my work wifi, I have to physically close the browser and then restart it in order to pick up the new IP address. If the browser is running in the background, the new IP address will not be obtained. The only way I have found to close Opera Mini (or Opera Mobile) is to use a task killer to end the program.

 

[jpovis]

I did at one time. I uninstalled it and see no difference in battery use.

 

[gcobb]

When my phone starts, everything from AT&T Navigator to Gallery shows up in the running processes. I use Android System Info, close each one I'm not using and don't have to worry with it until I restart my phone again.

 

[BookLover]

When my phone starts, everything from AT&T Navigator to Gallery shows up in the running processes. I use Android System Info, close each one I'm not using and don't have to worry with it until I restart my phone again.

The damage was done during bootup, all those apps loading slows down the bootup significantly. But once the bootup is complete, clearing them from your list doesn't help anything.

Unfortunately you can only freeze apps from booting if you're rooted.

If you install Watchdog Lite, you'll see that those apps consume zero resources after boot. And you'll see apps disappear out of the Watchdog list as you start using other programs.

Save yourself some time and just leave them be. They'll close on their own.

 

[TripsYou]

From what I have read on the web (from different sources) and on this thread. I am going to go without a task killer. If I think a app is being weird or using a lot of battery I will just go into apps and kill it myself. The Captivate has one of the strongest processors out right now so I'm sure it can handle whatever we throw at it as far as knowing what apps to keep going and what apps to put in idle

Thank you everyone!

 

[Simba501]

Task Killers are only for ending misbehaving/unresponsive tasks that cannot be terminated any other way. Unfortunately, give an inexperienced user a missile launcher and all of a sudden they're using it to swat flies and open doors.

+1, very applicable metaphor