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Task Killers, are they a good thing?

The articles I read around also said that task killers should not be used but I found very difficult to quit some of the applications, so I am considering using one.
 
For older phones, they were almost a necessity. The memory management wasn't efficient, and phones were slow because so many apps were cached in RAM. However, phones aren't that "dumb" anymore.

Android handles memory different from a computer which uses it for raw processing power. That's handled by the system, and a set amount is reserved for handling requests. Android now uses RAM to store apps for TRUE multitasking. Apps are stored for fast retrieval and use. In today's Android world, open RAM is wasted RAM. If you want your phone to run quickly and efficiently, don't use a task killer.

However, if you're stuck on Eclair, Donut, or God forbid, Cupcake, it MAY be necessary for you still.
 
This is a really contentious issue amongst droid users and the general consensus is that no you shouldn't use them (there's tons of sites telling you exactly why)
However, that being said, I still use a task-killer on my froyo tablet as I find some apps misbehave and don't release memory when requested by the system as they should. I do use it selectively however (for the most part) and only kill certain, specific apps (ones that though they may memory-leak I still find useful)
I also find the freeze/defrost option in titanium pro (root required) very useful in keeping my overloaded system running smoothly.
From what others say, I would surmise that the more up-to-date your phone + os are, the less likely you are to need a task-killer.

Sent from my antique Speak & Spell running Froyo.
 
TinkerB3ll said:
This is a really contentious issue amongst droid users and the general consensus is that no you shouldn't use them (there's tons of sites telling you exactly why)
However, that being said, I still use a task-killer on my froyo tablet as I find some apps misbehave and don't release memory when requested by the system as they should. I do use it selectively however (for the most part) and only kill certain, specific apps (ones that though they may memory-leak I still find useful)
I also find the freeze/defrost option in titanium pro (root required) very useful in keeping my overloaded system running smoothly.
From what others say, I would surmise that the more up-to-date your phone + os are, the less likely you are to need a task-killer.

Sent from my antique Speak & Spell running Froyo.
Click to expand...


but you can do that in "setting\apps", and close 'em from there.
 
Yep. But that requires a lot more taps than the two it takes me with the task-killer I use - Damn I'm lazy! :-P

Sent via my antique Speak & Spell running Froyo
 
ExtremeNerd said:
For older phones, they were almost a necessity. The memory management wasn't efficient, and phones were slow because so many apps were cached in RAM. However, phones aren't that "dumb" anymore.

Android handles memory different from a computer which uses it for raw processing power. That's handled by the system, and a set amount is reserved for handling requests. Android now uses RAM to store apps for TRUE multitasking. Apps are stored for fast retrieval and use. In today's Android world, open RAM is wasted RAM. If you want your phone to run quickly and efficiently, don't use a task killer.

However, if you're stuck on Eclair, Donut, or God forbid, Cupcake, it MAY be necessary for you still.
Click to expand...

It's not so much that the memory management was inefficient in older versions of Android. The internal process management was crappy, so the system did a poor job purging and suppressing apps running in the background. Earlier generations of phones also had tiny amounts of ram compared to current phones. Going from 80mb of ram available for apps to 600mb makes a huge difference.

Also, Android handles RAM the same way linux does and always has (which makes since because Android is almost but not quite Linux).
 
I lock some/many apps down with Titanium Backup.

I don't need a bunch of default apps trying to do stuff in the background that I don't use. Just wasting battery.
 
ExtremeNerd said:
For older phones, they were almost a necessity. The memory management wasn't efficient, and phones were slow because so many apps were cached in RAM. However, phones aren't that "dumb" anymore.

Android handles memory different from a computer which uses it for raw processing power. That's handled by the system, and a set amount is reserved for handling requests. Android now uses RAM to store apps for TRUE multitasking. Apps are stored for fast retrieval and use. In today's Android world, open RAM is wasted RAM. If you want your phone to run quickly and efficiently, don't use a task killer.

However, if you're stuck on Eclair, Donut, or God forbid, Cupcake, it MAY be necessary for you still.
Click to expand...

Agreed. The older ones don't deal with RAM nearly as efficiently as the new ones do. ICS and JB don't need task killer apps, but older ones still might (haven't used one in a long time so honestly IDR)
 
GuitarG20 said:
Agreed. The older ones don't deal with RAM nearly as efficiently as the new ones do. ICS and JB don't need task killer apps, but older ones still might (haven't used one in a long time so honestly IDR)
Click to expand...

Android RAM management hasn't changed much. What has changed is how android manages the process lifecycle and multitasking, and the amount of RAM has greatly increased.
 
What about controlling which apps can use your data connection, use various hardware, monitor what you do, etc? There's all these permissions that various apps have that would be fine while you're interacting with the app but that aren't so comfortable if the app happens to be running in the background.

All I can think of, besides a task killer (which this thread has me convinced is not a great idea), is installing apps on demand and uninstalling when done, but that would be severely clunky.
 
divinebovine said:
What about controlling which apps can use your data connection, use various hardware, monitor what you do, etc? There's all these permissions that various apps have that would be fine while you're interacting with the app but that aren't so comfortable if the app happens to be running in the background.

All I can think of, besides a task killer (which this thread has me convinced is not a great idea), is installing apps on demand and uninstalling when done, but that would be severely clunky.
Click to expand...

Don't download sketchy apps. If an app is running in the background, it's usually meant to.
 
It can be hard to tell what is and isn't sketchy...and then there's stuff like this:
http://androidforums.com/android-ap...hortcuts-browsers-redirected.html#post4762529
review of app said:
There is one caveat to Notification History that may turn off many privacy-conscious users from bothering with Notification History: it apparently needs access to just about everything you type in order to get the job done. The only thing that it doesn’t track is passwords, which for me is enough, but might not be for many people. The developer is also very clear on where to go to turn off that tracking and Notification History’s functionality as well.
Click to expand...

It's not sketchy but neither is it something I want running all the time. That one has a setting for it but it could just as easily not have said setting.

I want to have my Gingerbread and eat it too! ;)
 
divinebovine said:
It can be hard to tell what is and isn't sketchy...and then there's stuff like this:
http://androidforums.com/android-ap...hortcuts-browsers-redirected.html#post4762529


It's not sketchy but neither is it something I want running all the time. That one has a setting for it but it could just as easily not have said setting.

I want to have my Gingerbread and eat it too! ;)
Click to expand...

Push advertising isn't something used by mainstream apps. It's still very taboo, and I personally don't install anything without reviewing the permissions. If they make sense, install. If not, better luck next time. Push advertising is like Google ads, using your history to personalize. I prefer admob with uses only internet permissions.
 
This thread reminded me of something - and that is that it would be nice if the app developers only asked for permissions that are absolutely necessary for that particular app.

I try to avoid any apps that ask for permission to automatically load at start-up, unless there is a truely legitimate and necessary reason for it to do so.

It is obvious that some developers ask for that permission when it is not necessary because I have seen different apps that do the same function (like a radio app for example) but one will ask for permission to load at start-up and another one does not, so that shows it is not really necessary.
 
divinebovine said:
It can be hard to tell what is and isn't sketchy...and then there's stuff like this:
http://androidforums.com/android-ap...hortcuts-browsers-redirected.html#post4762529


It's not sketchy but neither is it something I want running all the time. That one has a setting for it but it could just as easily not have said setting.

I want to have my Gingerbread and eat it too! ;)
Click to expand...

With Android there is a difference between something running and something running in the background. Properly written apps close when you back out of them in Gingerbread. Some, like Pandora, have a quit or exit function in their menu. An app sitting in the background typically isn't really doing anything. In this state they are waiting for you to launch them again. An app that is using the CPU is a different story. If it is using the CPU then it is actually running at that time which means it is using the battery. You can see which apps are running too much or using too much battery in the battery stats under settings.
 
If you are rooted you could freeze/defrost apps. Also look at firewalls such as droidwall or Lbe. I use the latter and it does as I require regarding controlling permissions.

Sent from my antique Speak & Spell running Froyo
 
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