I read that there is no need for Task Killers since Android manages the apps by itself. If this is true, why does the phone get sluggish when too many task are running and speeds up when tasks get killed. I keep reading that because a task is running doesnt mean its using memory or cpu power but again if this is true why does ram increase when I kill tasks?
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Question about Task Killers
- Thread starter mentallo
- Start date
chanchan05
The Doctor
There is a difference between running tasks and cached tasks. Android does indeed manage RAM on its own quite nicely, the difference is if you actually did exit the other apps. Pressing the home button does not exit an app, it takes it to background and keeps it running, using CPU, hence the slow down. Actually exiting the app stops CPU usage, but the RAM used does not decrease, because the app is cached so you can open it up faster when next you access it.
chanchan05
The Doctor
I'm totally on board. Pressing the exit button does not really mean that an app has been shut down, instead, it is still running in the background, consuming memory and draining battery. While a task killer always can help you kills these apps that are not in use. And it kills those apps running in the background to save your battery and optimize memory.
That's how i understand task killer
No you did not seem to understand what I said. Pressing the exit button stops the app. It does not work anymore, does not use CPU and does not use battery. It is however cached in memory.
Also, task killers can actually use up more battery than not. When you kill certain apps that are still running via Task Killers, Android thinks it crashed, and will try to run it again, automatically in the background, using up battery. Android will close the app on its own once the process is finished.
Adauth
Android Expert
+1
chanchan05
The Doctor
The task manager that comes in the phone only clears cached apps. It does not let you kill actively running apps that are used by other services. For example, the Facebook upload service is ALWAYS running in the background. If you kill it with a task manager, it will just reload and run again because it is connected to other services in the phone (notice the "share" option always has Facebook in it if the app is installed?) The built in task manager cannot see this service because this is deemed as a necessary running process. At least that's how I understand those built in task managers.
So if I open an app like one of my banking apps. Then I hit the home button. I open task manager and still see it listed as "running". If I hit the button to exit it or close it thats OK? Maybe I shouldnt worry about it but whenever I open task manager and see a list of apps I have recently used I feel like I have to close them. Im use to the iphone where I would always clear recently open apps to get memory back. But here im not so worried about memory but more so the battery.
chanchan05
The Doctor
Hitting home button does not close the app, but rather puts it in background. To close an app, either hit the exit button for it (usually menu button>exit) or repeatedly press "back". And on Android, even if there is no app running in the background, the task switcher will always show the last 6-8 apps used, like a history.