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Lifehacker article on task killers

That title is a little misleading. Task Killers are very useful apps, provided that you know which tasks to kill and which tasks to not kill. I have often encountered situations where my phone is slow that I can't even switch between home screens.

That said, Froyo is supposed to fix the problem. Let's see how that works out.
 
The problem is carriers are installing them for customers in the store and setting it up with ridiculous settings like auto kill every hour.
 
IDK this is just a large debate that will never really get resolved... JI6 comes with a task manager with the ability to kill open apps... why would there be an official ota update that includes this utility if there is no reason to use it? personally I dont really use app killers and I rarely use the JI6 task manager but I do think its a useful tool.
 
mavictb said:
IDK this is just a large debate that will never really get resolved... JI6 comes with a task manager with the ability to kill open apps... why would there be an official ota update that includes this utility if there is no reason to use it? personally I dont really use app killers and I rarely use the JI6 task manager but I do think its a useful tool.
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I agree, as would most, that a task killer can be useful in some instances, notably when an app misbehaves, whether it be poorly written or just having a fit for some reason.

You're right I expect...it's a debate that will never end. I'm at a point where I won't even bother arguing my view any more.
 
my two cents is that they arent necessary. i can see the benefit of maybe once a day stopping all tasks or something..but i just usually reboot my phone. thats my task manager
 
`Ghost` said:
my two cents is that they arent necessary. i can see the benefit of maybe once a day stopping all tasks or something..but i just usually reboot my phone. thats my task manager
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To me that sounds like a big waste of time, why wait for the phone to start up all over again when you can end your app with the touch of a button. Also, when you reboot your phone doesn't that just start up more apps?
 
Painkiller006 said:
To me that sounds like a big waste of time, why wait for the phone to start up all over again when you can end your app with the touch of a button. Also, when you reboot your phone doesn't that just start up more apps?
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You make a great sub point. and that is everyone has their own preferences!
 
Just flashed a Froyo Rom.

This is .... interesting. It certainly is using up a lot more RAM. On the other hand, my phone can ow run smoothly even with just 58MB of free RAM. On Eclair the phone will slow to a halt.
 
The Task Manager that was included in the recent OTA doesn't constantly run in the background, nor does it auto-kill, the two main Downsides to Task Killers. It also doesn't give you the chance to kill a system critical process (like some task killers do), which means it's also safer.


It also has a very nice feature that further points out the lack of need for a Task Killer: It shows how much CPU an app is running. 90% of the apps I've seen listed in it use 0% CPU when they're not being actively used.
 
psz said:
The Task Manager that was included in the recent OTA doesn't constantly run in the background, nor does it auto-kill, the two main Downsides to Task Killers. It also doesn't give you the chance to kill a system critical process (like some task killers do), which means it's also safer.


It also has a very nice feature that further points out the lack of need for a Task Killer: It shows how much CPU an app is running. 90% of the apps I've seen listed in it use 0% CPU when they're not being actively used.
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WOW! , psz, ghost and the op, the only sane ones in this post....
Like I've said in other forums, its fine if you you think task killers are great, But PLEASE don't encourage new or uninformed users to use them ....
 
dan0zone said:
WOW! , psz and the op, the only sane ones in this post.... Like I've said in other forums, its fine if you you think task killers are great, But PLEASE don't encourage new or uninformed users to use them ....
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And how exactly should the newbies learn if we keep telling them what they shouldn't do, instead of what they should do? There's nothing wrong with telling a new user to get a task killer. Just remember to include a short tutorial as well.
 
snapper.fishes said:
And how exactly should the newbies learn if we keep telling them what they shouldn't do, instead of what they should do? There's nothing wrong with telling a new user to get a task killer. Just remember to include a short tutorial as well.
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How about encouraging them to do some research and make their own informed decision?
Don't you think that's better than " install a task killer it will make your phone run as smooth as butter "...
I am yet to see anyone who suggested a task killer to another user " include a short tutorial as well "..
One of the biggest issues is after you guys encourage them to do this and they run into problems, they come to the forums seeking help , which is fine, but they usually forget to mention that they have a task killer installed. So after days of trouble shooting only to find out the reason they not getting their text messages , is because the task killer was killing their messaging services ... This is so annoying....
 
`Ghost` said:
my two cents is that they arent necessary. i can see the benefit of maybe once a day stopping all tasks or something..but i just usually reboot my phone. thats my task manager
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Good call, `Ghost`. :) I think people forget that these phones are really tiny computers. Even with Linux/Android, because of the way we use these things, rebooting once is a while is a great way to smooth things out. I once saw a comment that it's recommended by Motorola that one reboots his Droid on a daily basis. I don't know if that's actually true, but it's not a bad practice as far as I'm concerned.
 
I have never installed an aftermarket task killer, have no lag and good battery performance. Great article Ken.
 
robo21 said:
I have never installed an aftermarket task killer, have no lag and good battery performance. Great article Ken.
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Ah...you do have lag, you just don't know it! We practitioners of Voodoo have no lag!
1218.gif
 
`Ghost` said:
You already got me to root AND odin the JI6...what you gonna make me voodoo now too? :rolleyes::D
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hee hee hee!
teu11.gif


It does work, quite well. I've never had a problem with it. You just have to remember to disable/enable it when appropriate.

You know Odin now, and it's clear you're pretty sharp. You might consider Bionix or Fusion someday. I think you'd be pleasantly surprised. :)
 
w_bovine said:
You know Odin now, and it's clear you're pretty sharp. You might consider Bionix or Fusion someday. I think you'd be pleasantly surprised. :)
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Link me or pm me and explain to me what bionix / fusion benefits are and such.



I for one actually like Twiz 3.0

YEAH I SAID IT.
 
I didn't experience any lag until I flashed a custom ROM. Then the lag came.

Lag fix solved the issue. Have to admit that phone is now running faster than before. Haven't checked the quadrant score yet.
 
snapper.fishes said:
I didn't experience any lag until I flashed a custom ROM. Then the lag came.

Lag fix solved the issue. Have to admit that phone is now running faster than before. Haven't checked the quadrant score yet.
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That's interesting. What ROM did you flash? Don't worry about Quadrant scores too much...the ext2 lagfix has a tendency to skew the results.
 
I really like the native task killer that was included in the JI6 update. Every time Pandora starts freezing my phone up and acting strange, I can quickly kill it.
 
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