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I LOVE my task killer. It is necessary on my Captivate.

B

braj

Android Enthusiast
I know a lot of people say it isn't necessary on Android, but I have found it completely is, 1st to kill all the crap ATT loads at start once I reboot, and definitely to kill the Market which bogs down my machine if I don't kill it manually. I also need it to kill graphics apps like Gallery, when doing any work switching between these sorts of apps, otherwise my device slows down so much I consider it frozen.

Of course you need to exclude many apps from the task killer, but I am finding the advice that you don't need and shouldn't use a task killer incorrect, at least on the Captivate. Maybe other phones work better but this Captivate can hang if there isn't enough free memory available.

I'm using SystemPanel which has a one-click widget to kill stuff.
 
Do you know what the name of the app is that has the green android robot to end all the running apps? i have the light version of system panel and i dont like the black box and red-X it haves. the "android robot" app does the same thing except after you click it it doesnt go to the blank black screen and it shows you how many apps you killed and how much space you freed up. I was watching a review on youtube. heres the video YouTube - Apple iPhone 4 vs. Samsung Captivate and he uses it at 11:05. thanks for any help you may be able to give me
 
I just re-downloaded Advanced Task Killer which I think actually is the best of them, but I own SystemPanel and it maybe is a better per-app task killer, so I'll try using them both and see. SystemPanel gives lots of useful information.
 
I don't believe a task killer is necessary. Most people see the items in the task list and think that if the "task" is there, it's hogging resources. This probably stems from being Windows users and not familiar with Linux/Unix.

I read an interesting article that said task killers were helpful when Android was at its infancy. Now, they really aren't needed and can actually do more bad than good.

I was using ATK since I got my phone a month over a month ago. I stopped last week and noticed my phone is running better (faster) and my battery life has greatly improved. Phone is completely stock (not Rooted, no lag-fix, etc.).

Here's the article:

Android Developers Blog: Multitasking the Android Way
 
Well, I just stopped using ATK again, it doesn't do as good a job as SystemPanel, it seems to kill things too deeply. But I stand by using a task killer, I was having massive slowdowns on my phone but I started using the task killer for SP as part of my normal workflow, with the right apps excluded, and it made my phone much more responsive. I'm sure ATK can be set up to work better than I have it, but SP is easier to configure and gives more info and control. ATK use was causing apps to stop being listed as default, so for example clicking Hom would sometimes prompt me to choose a launcher, and cause widgets to stop updating.
 
braj said:
...to kill all the crap ATT loads at start once I reboot.
Click to expand...

You can stop stuff from loading using Autorun Killer (AndRS Studio), free from the Market. I have a boat load of stuff that's blocked at startup.

From the author: "Autorun Killer lists all installed apps which are intended to start at boot, and lets you prevent them from starting (actually it kills them right after the start). Some services are written to automatically restart themself if they are killed, this is marked on bottom right/app as !!self restarter!!."
 
I have had my phone since the launch in July - never used a task killer, and have never had any system slowdowns. This is not my first Android phone either. I was WinMo user in the past and got by fine without a task killer there.

I don't know what others do to their phones that slows them down and requires a task killer, but I don't seem to have that kind of a problem - and i am a power user too.

To each his own - but don't let anyone tell you that you HAVE TO have a task killer.
 
I used ATK when I first got it. Used it for a few weeks, then removed it. I saw absolutely no difference in performance but my battery did seem to last a bit longer without it. No matter how I set ATK up, I was never able to achieve better battery or performance.

I dont even have it installed anymore. If i absolutely need to kill something, the running apps thing lets me stop it there.
 
I am taking picture, opening in the gallery, then opening them into PicSayPro or Vignette, then sharing to Facebook.... stuff like that. Maybe it is the stuff I do but without killing one camera app another may cause conflicts and cause everything to come to a grinding halt. I think the key is just killing certain things and making sure others never get killed. Anyhow, my direct experience is it definitely helps, I tried going without and it was not good.
 
skinien said:
I don't believe a task killer is necessary.

I read an interesting article that said task killers were helpful when Android was at its infancy.

Android Developers Blog: Multitasking the Android Way
Click to expand...
I concur.

After doing some reading to educate myself on Android, I've also come to the conclusion no task killer is needed.

I tried one before I had the knowledge I have now, and after removing it I noticed my phone actually responds faster... this article you've linked is a good one.

Cheers... :)
 
Believe what you want, all I know is I have direct experience comparing with and without, and depending on what you have loaded, what you are running, it can be very helpful. The difference may be between a frozen device that needs the battery pulled and real productivity. Not that killing all tasks willy-nilly is a good idea at all, that may give you exactly the opposite effect.
 
braj said:
Believe what you want, all I know is I have direct experience comparing with and without, and depending on what you have loaded, what you are running, it can be very helpful. The difference may be between a frozen device that needs the battery pulled and real productivity. Not that killing all tasks willy-nilly is a good idea at all, that may give you exactly the opposite effect.
Click to expand...

Everyone has their own needs - but I have had this phone since launch and never had to pull the battery; never had it lock up (except waiting on media scanner on new boot and that was not really a lock up) and I never shut it off.

On the Moto forums, the people that regularly use task killers tend to have more stability problems then those without. I have friends that are long time Android users and always used task killers, but after 2.1 they stopped and their life has been easier.

I think if you run to many apps, or ones that are poorly written, then you will have issues. Especially if you download hundreds of apps and run out of space on the system partition.

If you think you need it, try it, but I caution against making it a default tool without a reason to have it.
 
I wouldn't use it if I didn't need it. But then I'm not just making a couple phone calls and playing a couple games, I'm doing photo editing and using con-stock camera apps that use lots of memory, and since the camera apps are interacting with the hardware there seems to be conflicts often, even just between the Gallery app and other camera software (maybe because it links to the default camera). I only kill the things I have to kill, plus I see absolutely no reason to keep ATT's stuff in memory as I'll never launch it and so therefore it serves no purpose, and I'm not really wanting some automated process killing them at startup.

ATK seems a bad idea to use and again I had issues with it just yesterday when trying it again, but SystemPanel has been good to me. Anyhow, I WAS having to pull the battery once in a while until I just started killing things when switching between these kinds of tasks. Just killing everything is definitely a bad idea, no doubt.
 
keep in mind that the danger with task killers is their 'automatic' mode where they will kill tasks they have determined no longer need to run. This, and an under-informed user manually killing stuff they shouldn't. Using a task killer in manual mode only, and only killing apps that you know are causing problems can be useful. There is not a simple black and white topic and no one answer for everyone.
 
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