I use Advanced Task Killer/Why do apps show active when I have never opened them??

[jasonvancouver]

I use Advanced Task Killer on my Incredibler.

However, I notice that throughout the day, apps. will show "active" under the Task Killer when I have never opened that day and some I have never even opened since I have owned the phone : for example "footprints," "voice dialer."

After killing all my apps and I power down the phone, when I power the phone back up, the following apps. show as running or active :

FM radio
AK notepad
music
clock
calener
gmail
footprints
voice dialer

Do these apps. just automatically turn on, even without my opening them from the touchscreen ?

 

[howarmat]

STOP USING ATK!

download an app called "system" or "system panel" from the market

Then it will show you apps actually running and those that are CACHED and not doing a damn thing. They might show as running using ATK but thats not really true. and some of those like the dialer, calender and clock HAVE to run

 

[jasonvancouver]

STOP USING ATK!

download an app called "system" or "system panel" from the market

Then it will show you apps actually running and those that are CACHED and not doing a damn thing. They might show as running using ATK but thats not really true. and some of those like the dialer, calender and clock HAVE to run

Can you help me understand something... I am coming to Incredible from Blackberry Curve. Whenever I had a app open on my BB, I was able to "close" the app. within the app. itself. For example, I could be using the media player on my BB, then left click and there was an option to "close" the application.

It seems that on the Incredible, there isn't an option to "close" most apps. on the app. itself. On the Incredible, for example, in order to close the native Maps application, all that I can see is to use the left-pointing arrow at the bottom of the phone to back out of it....then kill the task for maps.

Do I understand this correctly... that on the Incredible or Android phones, a task killer of some sort is needed to close applications, as the applications do not seem to have an option to close built in.

 

[howarmat]

no the OS takes care of it you dont need a task killer

 

[gvillager]

no the OS takes care of it you dont need a task killer

+1 Android is very good at managing the phones resources unlike blackberries. Your days of having to reboot the phone on a regular basis are gone.

 

[StayFly]

really i tend to have to do this often and i don't even have that many apps.

 

[Execute]

On an Incredible?! That doesn't sound right. I'd quit using your task killer for a week and see if it gets better. I have never killed apps(except for trying to find one that was preventing phone from sleeping) and my phone always runs extremely fast and snappy. I can see maybe using a task killer for the Eris or something like that, but not on an Incredible IMO. Well maybe circumstantially, but only if you fully know whats going on.


EDIT* I misread the previous post, but still my thoughts to the OP about the task killer.
And also, good advice about task panel. Gives you a good look at what running tasks are actually using resources or just sitting harmlessly, using no resources, just waiting to be called on. They will be killed automatically if another app needs that memory.

 

[slinky317]

The ONLY thing you'd need a task killer for is for the Calendar app, because that's borked thanks to HTC (it keeps the phone awake and doesn't let it sleep, killing your battery life). Personally, I downloaded TaskPanel just so I could add Calendar to my auto-kill list. Other than that, I never touch it.

 

[howarmat]

never had a problem with the calender app. I have heard that the flickr app causes issues with the calender causing the sleep issue though. might want to stop the sync on the flickr app if you have it enabled

 

[dansod]

Task Panel is the way to go? Better than a Task killer that is frowned upon? I want to get more battery life.

 

[Execute]

Well to be honest, with the Incredible you shouldn't really need a task killer at all, except for that stupid calendar bug mentioned above. The OS handles this pretty well. Of course this debate has been going on for the life of Android, so you are gonna have to use your own judgement. Just search around for "Android Task Killers" and you will see. Just note: Using task killers to just use the "kill all" feature can easily lead to apps not working right. If your gonna try one, make sure you know fully what it does. I'd also suggest, if you really want to try one, do a little research, then use one for a week, then uninstall it for a week. See if you can see a noticable difference. Probably won't.

Again about the using kill all on task killers. If you don't make a exclude list, you could kill the clock app. While it appears to be working, the alarm probably won't work. Try telling your boss you are late because Advanced Task Killer messed up your Android You could kill Facebook and not get updates, or same with weather. Etc, Etc... Thats why I say to do a little research rather than just getting one and going on a killing spree to get increased performance, that you probably won't see anyway. Hope this helps.

 

[jasonvancouver]

Well to be honest, with the Incredible you shouldn't really need a task killer at all, except for that stupid calendar bug mentioned above. The OS handles this pretty well. Of course this debate has been going on for the life of Android, so you are gonna have to use your own judgement. Just search around for "Android Task Killers" and you will see. Just note: Using task killers to just use the "kill all" feature can easily lead to apps not working right. If your gonna try one, make sure you know fully what it does. I'd also suggest, if you really want to try one, do a little research, then use one for a week, then uninstall it for a week. See if you can see a noticable difference. Probably won't.

Again about the using kill all on task killers. If you don't make a exclude list, you could kill the clock app. While it appears to be working, the alarm probably won't work. Try telling your boss you are late because Advanced Task Killer messed up your Android You could kill Facebook and not get updates, or same with weather. Etc, Etc... Thats why I say to do a little research rather than just getting one and going on a killing spree to get increased performance, that you probably won't see anyway. Hope this helps.

Ok, thank you. So what you are saying is, I really don't need to be worried about killing tasks on the Incredible..it can handle it... that's great.

Is it correct, then, that on the many android apps. that don't have a "close" option... all that I have to do is just use the "backward arrow" on the phone itself, to get out of an app, or even just him the "home" button ?...and the phone will manage its resources itself ???
[/B]
I guess maybe I am still thinking that I have a blackberry curve, etc... and have to manage all of this stuff.

Honestly, I am amazed with this phone. It almost seems too good to be true sometimes with all that it can do, etc.

For once in my life I feel like I bought the right phone for me.

 

[Principal Skinner]

I have the exact same question as jasonvancouver ...being used to a BB Storm, you had to close apps. The calendar, email, web, and messaging(?) were always running. I just went to the VW store to complain about battery life. The guy had me download task killer.
After reading these posts, I am going to uninstall. Especiall since the calendar app is important to me.

 

[6s1d9]

Ahhhh, VZW reps... gotta love them and all their wisdom.<--- sarcasm... yeah, go ahead and Uninstall all your task managers/killers. When you don't want to use an app anymore just hit home or the back button and move on. No worries. I came from a storm too and it was hard to adjust to but your DInc will take care of it for you.

 

[jasonvancouver]

Ahhhh, VZW reps... gotta love them and all their wisdom.<--- sarcasm... yeah, go ahead and Uninstall all your task managers/killers. When you don't want to use an app anymore just hit home or the back button and move on. No worries. I came from a storm too and it was hard to adjust to but your DInc will take care of it for you.

Thanks for the advice. I think us former blackberry users will have to be retrained out of old habits, lol.

 

[Commander]

I really do get a kick out of all the task killer negativity bandwagoning in the forums. I get that Android handles memory usage as needed but it obviously isn't smart enough to know when to end an app that isn't allowing it to sleep. Some say it is flicker, others say Gmail sync with exchange, then others say calendar bug.

I can tell everyone one thing. As suggested above I went a week with a task killer and SystemPanel. The I went a week without and SystemPanel. The result was an average of 9 hours without a task killer to the 14% warning screen and an average of 16 hours (plugged back in at night) and never got below 50% WITH a task killer. Now, I spent extensive time setting up ignore and auto kill lists. I work in IT and am very comfortable with what I am doing. I excluded clock, and all of the things everyone is so worried about being killed by the task killers and have had no missed alarms or adverse side affects. As I mentioned I'm not the least bit worried about my memory usage/availability but I am very worried about my battery life and I've gains several hours. I just shared this because it seems like a lot of regurgitation of info about how bad task killers are when they may actually serve a purpose if people would stop and consider the possibilities instead of lecturing newcomers.


Oh, btw, I'm a former BB owner too and never worried about ending tasks on my Curve due to memory either. It ran fine and needed the every so often battery pull we were all so used to. My biggest grip is the way Android handles sound profiles.

 

[dgalanter]

no the OS takes care of it you dont need a task killer

I downloaded a task killer and my phone started having problems here and there. I deleted it, and I'm all good now. I think that we who've come from BB think we need some task killer. We don't. Let the phone do its thing. It knows what it's doing.

 

[bubbabeatz]

for some reason i did a week using my task killer and the next week deleting it completely off the phone.. my battery lasted much longer every time using the task killer without i averaged about 7 hours and completely dead.. kind of pathetic when background sync is off and location is off hahaha

 

[tbdaly]

STOP USING ATK!

download an app called "system" or "system panel" from the market

Then it will show you apps actually running and those that are CACHED and not doing a damn thing. They might show as running using ATK but thats not really true. and some of those like the dialer, calender and clock HAVE to run

ATK sucks, no need for it. The "system" app is simply amazing and shows whats really open and running on your phone.

 

[bubbabeatz]

ATK sucks, no need for it. The "system" app is simply amazing and shows whats really open and running on your phone.

i will try this out then instead of the stupid atk