Not the best title. but I can't think of a better one. Basically, as I have installed more and more apps on my Thunderbolt over time, I find that many of them run in the background (I'm guessing to check for new content, etc.), and because of this, apps that I am regularly using (e.g., browser being the most important one) are being unloaded from memory by Android (smartly, in theory) to make room for these background processes.
The problem is that I use the browser and a few other apps very regularly, and it's gotten to the point where if I leave the browser, open my email, and go back to the browser, the browser has been unloaded from memory because of all of the background apps.
Not everyone may have seen this, but when the stock browser is unloaded from memory, it loses all of its tab, and while it does retain the current tab, it has to reload everything from the most recent cached version - which is often not actually the most recent page you've seen. So if I am working on something in the browser, take a 20 minute break, and come back to the browser, it's been kicked out of memory so I'm now looking at a web page that is not the most recent, and has to be reloaded - plus it has to reload this old one from cache anyway and that takes ~8-10 seconds. Plus I've lost any other tabs entirely.
Anyway, it's not a huge deal, just a hassle, and I'd love for some way to "pin" certain apps to memory so they never get unloaded if that is possible? Or maybe I should try a new browser, although most of the ones I've tried seem way too busy - I like the "lightweight" feeling of the stock browser, has just the right feature-set for me.
I've tried a task killer (yeah, yeah, yeah, but this actually seemed like the sort of issue it might be able to help with) and it's not much help as it actually would need to be killing stuff like every second to make a difference (since the background apps are constantly starting), and they don't do that...
And for the final data point, some of the background apps running now are: WInamp, Youtube, Springpad, Alarm Clock Extreme, The Economist, NY TImes, Battle.net Authenticator, Google+. And then some of the garbage that Verizon forces onto the phone like Rhapsody and Slacker - I could root, but I think that by default would just push the problem into the future. Anyway, point being the background apps aren't like weird little apps, they're pretty standard things that I would imagine many are using.
The problem is that I use the browser and a few other apps very regularly, and it's gotten to the point where if I leave the browser, open my email, and go back to the browser, the browser has been unloaded from memory because of all of the background apps.
Not everyone may have seen this, but when the stock browser is unloaded from memory, it loses all of its tab, and while it does retain the current tab, it has to reload everything from the most recent cached version - which is often not actually the most recent page you've seen. So if I am working on something in the browser, take a 20 minute break, and come back to the browser, it's been kicked out of memory so I'm now looking at a web page that is not the most recent, and has to be reloaded - plus it has to reload this old one from cache anyway and that takes ~8-10 seconds. Plus I've lost any other tabs entirely.
Anyway, it's not a huge deal, just a hassle, and I'd love for some way to "pin" certain apps to memory so they never get unloaded if that is possible? Or maybe I should try a new browser, although most of the ones I've tried seem way too busy - I like the "lightweight" feeling of the stock browser, has just the right feature-set for me.
I've tried a task killer (yeah, yeah, yeah, but this actually seemed like the sort of issue it might be able to help with) and it's not much help as it actually would need to be killing stuff like every second to make a difference (since the background apps are constantly starting), and they don't do that...
And for the final data point, some of the background apps running now are: WInamp, Youtube, Springpad, Alarm Clock Extreme, The Economist, NY TImes, Battle.net Authenticator, Google+. And then some of the garbage that Verizon forces onto the phone like Rhapsody and Slacker - I could root, but I think that by default would just push the problem into the future. Anyway, point being the background apps aren't like weird little apps, they're pretty standard things that I would imagine many are using.
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