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FADviral
Member
The lack of app exit button is a bit weird after using other phones isn't it? I know that after 3/4 years of SymbianOS, I'm still struggling to get my head around it, but I've only had my Hero for four days.
After playing around with the Android API last night, I can confirm that the back (←
button calls finish() in the application (effectively closing it), but I'm not convinced this always occurs. Some applications are designed to stay open when you back (← your way out of them for example (music apps like Last.fm, Imeem, etc.), while others seem to remember their previous state (like the internet browser). Besides which, it's often more convenient to use the Home button to get out of an application (who wants to back through dozens of previously visited web pages just to close the browser?), and as you indicate, it doesn't always seem to close them.I wonder if Android leaves the app open for a little while when you hit the home button in case you intend going back to it? ...only to close it if you don't return within a few minutes?
I'm in the same boat - Previous Symbian user and had my Hero for only a few days! Just wanted to check I hadn't missed anything glaringly obvious really!
It's not a problem really, although I didn't notice some lag starting, which is when I checked TasKiller to discover I had lots of apps including about 4 games open! :/
Thanks for your reply; I guess it's up to an apps' developer to decide how an application exits (or doesn't) then!
It's not a problem really, although I didn't notice some lag starting, which is when I checked TasKiller to discover I had lots of apps including about 4 games open! :/
Thanks for your reply; I guess it's up to an apps' developer to decide how an application exits (or doesn't) then!
Funny isn't it! Even though Android is obviously designed to have many apps running at once, you would think some kind of task manager would be available out-of-the-box!
As for the possibility of apps closing themselves after a while, I don't think that's the case as I had some apps still open I hadn't used for a few hours.
In TasKiller you can see which apps are consuming CPU resources in yellow, so I presume it's only really these which affect performance.
As for the possibility of apps closing themselves after a while, I don't think that's the case as I had some apps still open I hadn't used for a few hours.
In TasKiller you can see which apps are consuming CPU resources in yellow, so I presume it's only really these which affect performance.
Dem
Well-Known Member
No problem! I just had a quick search to find out more about this and read the following on TasKiller Android App Review by AndroidTapp.com | Android Tapp. Android App Reviews -
"Most people who come to Android from a desktop environment find it a bit odd that you’re not required to shut down applications once you’ve finished using them. This is because Android terminates apps automatically when internal memory is getting low. Until that point they remain resident.
Sometimes though, it’s helpful to force close apps you’re not using to free memory, extend battery life and improve performance."
"Most people who come to Android from a desktop environment find it a bit odd that you’re not required to shut down applications once you’ve finished using them. This is because Android terminates apps automatically when internal memory is getting low. Until that point they remain resident.
Sometimes though, it’s helpful to force close apps you’re not using to free memory, extend battery life and improve performance."
FADviral
Member
Thanks for the link and info!
While I'm sure it's correct for many apps, for others it's not. As I said above, when you click the back (arrow) button, it triggers the finish() event. Some apps will shutdown when it's triggered, but others override it and remain in memory.
What's more TasKill pretty much confirms this behaviour. Google SkyMap will vanish from TasKill if you close it with the back button, but the Last.fm app does not. There's good reason for the Last.fm app to behave that way though because it constantly monitors the music player, caching and sending listening data to your last.fm account. (You can stop it doing that though by unticking its 'scrobbling' option.)
Unlike the back button, the home button never seems to trigger the finish() event in apps at all.
While I'm sure it's correct for many apps, for others it's not. As I said above, when you click the back (arrow) button, it triggers the finish() event. Some apps will shutdown when it's triggered, but others override it and remain in memory.
What's more TasKill pretty much confirms this behaviour. Google SkyMap will vanish from TasKill if you close it with the back button, but the Last.fm app does not. There's good reason for the Last.fm app to behave that way though because it constantly monitors the music player, caching and sending listening data to your last.fm account. (You can stop it doing that though by unticking its 'scrobbling' option.)
Unlike the back button, the home button never seems to trigger the finish() event in apps at all.
I've read up on programming for Android (not actually got round to doing it yet though!) and as mentioned, apps get killed when memory/resources are needed. There are different parts to applications: there are activities (usually screens you interact with), as well as services which run in the background. (There are not the only types, but will do for now)
The example usually given is an mp3 player - just because you've chosen an album to play, doesn't mean you should have to look at the music player screens whilst the album plays, you might want to browse the web or send a text. So the actual music playing part is handled by a service that can run without being displayed to the user. The music player UI though is an activity that the user interacts with - in the background though, it's using the service to actually play the music.
As for apps remembering their state - someone's already mentioned a finish() call. Basically, apps can be in a number of different active and non-active states, and usually the application is told what state it's being moved into. So if a user presses the home key, the application is told "Hey, you're not going to be active any more" - the application can then decide what to do, for example, write some data somewhere, capture some text the user has typed in a field. Or, ignore it completely!
Hope that makes sense (even though it's probably not 100% accurate )
The example usually given is an mp3 player - just because you've chosen an album to play, doesn't mean you should have to look at the music player screens whilst the album plays, you might want to browse the web or send a text. So the actual music playing part is handled by a service that can run without being displayed to the user. The music player UI though is an activity that the user interacts with - in the background though, it's using the service to actually play the music.
As for apps remembering their state - someone's already mentioned a finish() call. Basically, apps can be in a number of different active and non-active states, and usually the application is told what state it's being moved into. So if a user presses the home key, the application is told "Hey, you're not going to be active any more" - the application can then decide what to do, for example, write some data somewhere, capture some text the user has typed in a field. Or, ignore it completely!
Hope that makes sense (even though it's probably not 100% accurate
)task panel is better, it allows you to add apps to a "Wanted List" and set when Task Panel will auto kill the apps on the wanted list based on available memory. For example, I've noticed that the voice search and voice dialer apps ( I NEVER use them) seem to pop on in the background for some reason, so, they're on the wanted list of apps to auto kill if there's a memory shortage.
justjimjpc
Premium Member
I did a search in the Market for "Task Panel" & "TaskPanel" no luck ...
Is this a non-Market App ? Please provide a link if you can ... TKX
justjimjpc
Premium Member
Thanks I was able to finally find it in the market but was not finding it on Cyrket.
cheggerspop
Well-Known Member
It's Taskiller.
or you can use the QR Code from the below link -
Cyrket - TasKiller free
The QR Code is the black/white pattern to the left of the Taskiller logo. However, you'd need an app such as ixMAT Scanner to use it.
Chegs.
Advanced task killer is better. Allows you to choose wether to close an app on press or recall the app like a task manager which is what I wanted. With taskiller it just kills the app when clicking on it.
JoeC
Well-Known Member
I installed Task Panel X at one time and setup auto-kill of certain apps. I found that this app itself used 40% of the battery overnight!! I couldn't believe it. I uninstalled it and just use TasKiller which is quick and easy.