Help Novice question

[GoNavy]

This may seem like a simple question to some, but being new to smartphones I need help...lol...I was wondering when you open an app on your phone, how do you close it. Do I need to goto task manger each time and close it there, or when I hit the center home button does it just close itself. I seem to have a lot of stuff running in the background for no apparent reason when I look at task manger, stuff I haven't even opened, is there a way to have these programs not load until I need them, then shut them off when I am done with them.

 

[Unforgiven]

I am going to start with my quick answers. I have included a much lengthier explanation at the end of this thread. I recommend reading it.

This may seem like a simple question to some, but being new to smartphones I need help...lol...I was wondering when you open an app on your phone, how do you close it.

It's not a simple question, Android closes apps when they are ready to be closed. It may be when you are done using or it may be later.

Do I need to goto task manger each time and close it there, or when I hit the center home button does it just close itself.

The home button simply returns you to the home screen. Android will control if/when your apps are actually closed.

I seem to have a lot of stuff running in the background for no apparent reason when I look at task manger, stuff I haven't even opened, is there a way to have these programs not load until I need them, then shut them off when I am done with them.

Don't worry about what is running in the task manager. Android is optimized to run at or near memory capacity to make your device more responsive and save battery. Apps you see in the task manager may be cached but are not using processor or memory.

OK, having said all that, click the hide button below for a more in depth description.

I hope I helped.

Spoiler

It's best to let the system manage things, here's why:

Activities
Android apps use activites to preform tasks. For example, if you use a file manager to send a picture via email, the file manager calls the send activity within an email app, passes the file name to it and the email app sends the picture.. not the file manager. This will result in seeing the email app as "running" even though the user didn't actually launch that email app.

Smaller apps
Using activites helps developers design smaller apps. A file manager app that contains every bit of code needed to do everything a file manager does would likely be so large that no one would want to install it. Developers know that an android phone more than likely has an email app so there is no need for the developer to include email code in his/her file manager to send a picture when he/she can call an activity in an existing email app to do the job. This results in a smaller file manager app since there is no need to include email code or any other code for an activity that can be done via an app that is already present on the phone. This also alleviates redundant code. When you install an app outside of the android market, also known as sideloading, the file manager app calls the package installer (already present in Android) to install the requested app.

Running apps vs. cached apps
The "Manage Applications" list included in many android devices lists running apps as well as cached apps. Cached apps don't use any CPU or battery, they're cached so they will load faster the next time you need them. Killing cached apps results in those apps requiring more time to load the next time they are launched.

System management
By default, every android application runs in its own Linux process. Android starts the process when any of the application

 

[GoNavy]

Excellent answer thank you very much, makes much more sense now. Guess I'll start backing out of apps as opposed to home key. Direction you get with these phones are little vague to say the lease....

 

[Unforgiven]

Excellent answer thank you very much, makes much more sense now. Guess I'll start backing out of apps as opposed to home key. Direction you get with these phones are little vague to say the lease....

I agree, the user guides are worthless. Ask away, there are a lot of smart, friendly folks here. We'll get you up and running with almost anything. If you aren't finding and answer that meets your needs in the existing threads, don't be afraid to start a new one.

 

[0078265317]

Or install "go launcher ex". There is a tab on top to close all running programs. I like cloud theme.