Confused about background services, battery and syncing

[MojaveHigh]

I am really confused about how background services and syncing affect my battery life. I have read through much of the Battery Tip/Tricks thread but sometimes feel like I'm getting conflicting information and some things seem against common sense.

I've heard that background processes don't really affect battery life because they sit in basically a frozen state until needed. But it would seem that just sitting in memory requires some power. Also, I've read that the starting of these processes actually requires more power than just letting them sit in the background.

I've used the task killer to get rid of background services I have no interest in having running only to see these services reappear after a few minutes or so. Some of these services have no reason to be running in the first place. Like TV Guide - why does that need to run in the background? Not to mention there is NO way to turn if off, very limited settings. Should I just remove these types of apps? Should I assume some apps just behave badly?

I am also confused by the background data and auto-sync settings. There are some apps I want to always sync, such as GMail, Twitter, Beluga, Weather, Sports sometimes, etc. Other apps like TV Guide (see above!), Facebook, Stocks I'm fine to have sync on start or manually. The two check boxes seem to contradict each other. If I have Auto-Sync turned off but Background Data on, does that mean some apps will sync in the background or not? Turning off Auto-Sync immediately appears to disable all app syncing. So then what is the Background Data setting for?

I'll probably find answers to these questions as I read more, I'm just flustered right now.

I don't want to turn my TB into an expensive paperweight. I want to use its features, have some background processes running, get notifications, et. But I also don't want random useless apps/services/settings running when they don't need to be.

 

[fatboy97]

Where to start... here is an example... job x I downloaded, clicked on it once to see it, thought it was interesting so I left it, returned to the home screen... later I found out my battery was running down quickly... job x was pulling data down from the internet every hour... really, I didn't do anything... that exactly what some jobs do... they start and set all their settings to the way the programmer wants then to start and that is pull data every hour instead of asking you how often you want it when you started the program.

This might be exactly what the TV Guide app is doing... you need to go into the settings and find out if they have a setting for when it pulls or refreshes data. The OS will shut down apps that are not running when it determines is a good time, and it usually does a very good job, but it will not shut down apps that are pulling data every hour.

Facebook, weather stocks, sports, etc, etc, etc, all can be setup differently... you need to know your apps. Apps that run in the background can and will take up battery... but some you want there, like Gmail and maybe Weather, but you need to know how often things are set to pull data or check.

And a word of caution... Task Killers are not good... they are bad... if an app keeps reappearing, it's because it needs to be there or you have it set to do something... you don't always know what all the apps that are running in the background do, and sometimes it takes more battery life to kill those apps than to let the OS take care of them itself... plus some then take up more battery to start back up, then if you would have left them running in the first place.

Hope this helps.

 

[FrankXS]

...you need to know your apps. Apps that run in the background can and will take up battery...

What is a good way to see a list of what these are?

-Frank

 

[Cyber Warrior]

What is a good way to see a list of what these are?

-Frank

There really isn't any kind of list. As mentioned above, some apps you may want to sync all the time.. like gmail. The best thing to do is explore all your apps and widgets. Go into each one and search around for any settings for update intervals. They would basically be any apps that need to update their info throughout the day. Social apps, weather apps, news apps, apps that use GPS/location, etc...

 

[berdinkerdickle]

HTC Desire - Managing your online accounts

Managing your online accounts
Changing general sync settings

1. From the Home screen, press MENU, and then tap Settings > Accounts & sync.
2. Select or clear the following:
Background data: If this is selected, applications can send and receive online account information even if you are not currently using them.
Auto-sync: If this is selected, applications can use the sync schedule defined in the account settings. If this is cleared, you will need to sync accounts manually.

Synchronizing an account manually

1. From the Home screen, press MENU, and then tap Settings > Accounts & sync.
2. Tap the account that you want to sync.
3. Tap Sync now.

Changing account settings

You can change settings such as the sync frequency and the types of information synchronized, the kinds of notification you receive, and the way that account information is displayed.

1. Tap the account that you want to edit.
2. Edit the account settings.

Removing an account

You can remove an account to delete it and all information associated with it from your phone, for example messages, contacts, or settings. Removing an account does not delete information from the online service itself.
Note: You cannot remove some accounts, such the first Google Account you signed into on the phone, except by deleting all personal information from your phone with a hard reset. For instructions on doing this, see Restarting or factory resetting your phone.

1. From the Home screen, press MENU, and then tap Settings > Accounts & sync.
2. Tap the account that you want to remove.
3. Tap Remove account, and then confirm that you want to remove the account.