I removed ATK from my phone,based on the posts that it's not needed, but another /??

[jasonvancouver]

I have the Droid Incredible.

I removed Advanced Task Killer from my phone..based on the posts that it's not really needed. [Can it hurt the phone if a task killer is used ??.... or are people just saying it is not necessary to have one ?? It seems there are 2 camps, some for and some against Task Killers.

[But, what I wonder is.... why don't the apps. have a function in them to simply close out the app, instead of just hitting the home screen, or back arrow ?? On my old blackberry (which I would never go back to), you could always officially 'close' an application, so a task killer was never needed.

I guess I am confused about whether to use a task killler or to keep it uninstalled on my phone and just let the Incredible handle its own resources. What is truly best for the phone, if I am having no problems ?

Any feedback ?

 

[terpitude71]

task killers are fine as long as theyre used properly. dont use it to manage your running tasks; android does a fine job of that on its own. the only reason i use mine is if i want to specifically kill off a process that is causing issues.

 

[xarophti]

I removed mine, too. Never used it. I find if I REALLY need to kill something causing a problem, I can just go into "settings", "applications" and "manage applications" and force close it there. Yes, it's a few more steps, but I'm certain I'm only killing the one process that needs it.

 

[eKennedy#AC]

I also came looking for the answer to the question of whether ATK could be harmful. Yesterday I got a whopping 4.5 hours of battery life. Last night I installed ATK, and set it to "Agressive" mode, killing background tasks/apps every 30 minutes.

Today, I've been unplugged for 9.5 hours and am only down to 25% battery, with all my radios and GPS on. So ATK apparently more than doubled my battery life.

Seeing all the posts about how ATK is not needed, I wonder if that increased battery life really is ATK's doing, but I certainly saw huge improvements after I started using it.

So, is ATK supposed to be not necessary but ok if you really want to run it, or is it actively discouraged as it might cause other problems?

 

[jasonvancouver]

I also came looking for the answer to the question of whether ATK could be harmful. Yesterday I got a whopping 4.5 hours of battery life. Last night I installed ATK, and set it to "Agressive" mode, killing background tasks/apps every 30 minutes.

Today, I've been unplugged for 9.5 hours and am only down to 25% battery, with all my radios and GPS on. So ATK apparently more than doubled my battery life.

Seeing all the posts about how ATK is not needed, I wonder if that increased battery life really is ATK's doing, but I certainly saw huge improvements after I started using it.

So, is ATK supposed to be not necessary but ok if you really want to run it, or is it actively discouraged as it might cause other problems?

That is the same question I have. If it doesn't hurt the phone to have a task killler, why not use to it close out applications every few hours.

Does anyone have knowledge about this.....we know it isn't always needed, but if we install and use it.... is it safe for the phone ??

 

[jasonvancouver]

task killers are fine as long as theyre used properly. dont use it to manage your running tasks; android does a fine job of that on its own. the only reason i use mine is if i want to specifically kill off a process that is causing issues.[/Q

Thanks... what do you mean 'used properly'.... do you mean using the ATK is ok as long as you are killling only tasks that you don't need. For example, if you set an alarm clock on your phone....you wouldn't want to kill that task before going to bed.

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

http://www.androidcentral.com/how-properly-set-and-use-task-killer-oh-yes-i-went-there

 

[terpitude71]

lol. thanks, jerry. i was just about to link your article

 

[jasonvancouver]

http://www.androidcentral.com/how-properly-set-and-use-task-killer-oh-yes-i-went-there

Thank you for the information, that helps. It sounds like the main idea is that task killers aren't really needed....but if you choose to use one, just be smart about it and know what you are killing, etc.

But, I am curious.... what doesn't the Droid simply offer the ability to close apps. ? I assume it is because the thing is powerful enough that the user doesn't need to be shutting off apps. all the time in order for the phone to keep working ( they I used to have to do on my BB Curve).

 

[Kedar]

Yeah I wish we had the choice to close apps when we wanted too.

 

[meyerweb#CB]

That is the same question I have. If it doesn't hurt the phone to have a task killler, why not use to it close out applications every few hours.

Does anyone have knowledge about this.....we know it isn't always needed, but if we install and use it.... is it safe for the phone ??

Because if you close the wrong apps, it can cause problems. It won't hurt the phone in the sense of bricking it, but it can cause things you expect to work fail, and cause your phone to crash if you stop some critical system process.

Even for non critical processes, there are trade-offs. For example, if you close out gmail, you won't get any notifications of new mail until you open the app. That might be an issue for some, not others.

 

[wrecklass]

Your mileage is going to vary. Most people are using the "One day my battery was awful, the next day it was great." anecdotes, and they are really dangerous. Unless you know you did the exact same things each day, there is no way to tell if the battery usage was helped or hurt by "Appzkillerz!!1!"

The Android OS will unload your apps when it needs the memory. Apps in the background are paused and using NO battery. Very few apps have the need to keep doing things in the background. And if you are doing something that needs to keep running in the background, then killing it will cause harm to the system eventually.

You will get more battery life out of turning off 4G, GPS, etc. Lower the screen brightness. The usual advice for any smartphone.

So the best recommendation is to ignore the task killers.

 

[Menno]

But, I am curious.... what doesn't the Droid simply offer the ability to close apps. ? I assume it is because the thing is powerful enough that the user doesn't need to be shutting off apps. all the time in order for the phone to keep working ( they I used to have to do on my BB Curve).

Because that's not how the android Operating system is designed. How android works is it has a built in memory manager that runs COMPLETELY in the background. (this is in the article jerry linked). When your device needs more memory, the manager will automatically kill apps to free it up.

The programs that can really drain your battery in the background without you knowing it ("streaming" services like pandora) have a close option because they use a lot more memory than most. but for most products, the built in memory manager helps.

The reason task killers can be bad is you have the risk of deleting the wrong thing, or more common is that you kill all these background apps, just to have them auto start because they weren't killed by the memory manager. That's why they can be a bad thing. people run them so much that apps are closing and opening (which consume more power than standby) all the time, on top of causing errors by shutting down the wrong thing.

I have ATK on my phone, but I only open it and use it if I need to. and the last time I had something really lagging my phone was over a month ago.

With android 2.1 and higher with a phone like the incredible, the task killer (at least the "used" abilities) won't give you enough benefit to justify the potential costs. The auto-kill is slightly better. But chances are, if your battery is draining faster, it's NOT because you have apps running, it's because either an app is poorly coded (found under battery status) or you have something configured the drain the battery, like using GPS location for weather widgets.

 

[jasonvancouver]

Because that's not how the android Operating system is designed. How android works is it has a built in memory manager that runs COMPLETELY in the background. (this is in the article jerry linked). When your device needs more memory, the manager will automatically kill apps to free it up.

The programs that can really drain your battery in the background without you knowing it ("streaming" services like pandora) have a close option because they use a lot more memory than most. but for most products, the built in memory manager helps.

The reason task killers can be bad is you have the risk of deleting the wrong thing, or more common is that you kill all these background apps, just to have them auto start because they weren't killed by the memory manager. That's why they can be a bad thing. people run them so much that apps are closing and opening (which consume more power than standby) all the time, on top of causing errors by shutting down the wrong thing.

I have ATK on my phone, but I only open it and use it if I need to. and the last time I had something really lagging my phone was over a month ago.

With android 2.1 and higher with a phone like the incredible, the task killer (at least the "used" abilities) won't give you enough benefit to justify the potential costs. The auto-kill is slightly better. But chances are, if your battery is draining faster, it's NOT because you have apps running, it's because either an app is poorly coded (found under battery status) or you have something configured the drain the battery, like using GPS location for weather widgets.

Great explanation - thank you. I will probably still have a task killer available and use is sparingly, as you suggest. I have had no problems with battery life. I had the plain Droid before and I can't any difference between battery life on the Droid vs. INc.

thanks again for the explanation. Sounds like the Inc. is smarter than I/we are giving it credit for.