[Q] stop google maps, and keep it dead - Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]

Figured this was a general Android app problem. And in case it matters, I'm running an HTC EVO Shift with stock room and rooted.
My problem, and this has been so since day one but its gotten to the point of bugging me too much, is that google maps will constantly run. i can kill it using taskiller, but it'll just come back after a few minutes. and normally with more than one copy. i do use it a lot which is why i don't just flat out delete it off my phone. however, it'll auto run its self without me doing anything.
for example. i can hit the kill all button (i've hidden the system apps) and it'll kill everything off and be fine and dandy. give it about 5 minutes and during which i don't even touch my phone, and when i refresh taskiller, maps is running again and is the only thing running, and their may be more than one copy of it running (aka more than one icon with the name "maps" under it).
so short of uninstalling it, how does one go about making it stop and stay stopped till i run it again? is there some program that's starting it? how do i find and destroy it? And yes i'm fairly certain its not latitude. i've never even run that program once. personally, i'd like to just uninstall it, but don't see it under titanium backup any where's. is it embedded in google maps or something?

When you buy a phone you should 1st do some research about it's OS, how it handles memory and all that. You don't even deserve an answer you know that?

Why are you so obsessed with killing Google Maps?
If your phone works fine I don't see the problem. Android handles process killing by itself when needed. Task killing in Android is a bad reflex. Android doesn't work like WM.

Hello Viper,
I played around with this for a little while, and here is what I came up with for ideas:
1. You have the 'Let Google use my location' enabled. Settings -> Location and security -> Use Wireless networks
2. You have some app that is tied to Google Maps, maybe not Latitude, but something.
I also have Latitude, but I found that if I leave the 'my location' setting unchecked, Google Maps stays away. Once Maps once, though, it is there until I reboot.
p.s. You deserve an answer. I can't figure out why people who don't even have the answer go out of their way to point out that they don't like your question.

If you really want to kill map uninstall it or use titanium backup to freeze it.

purline said:
Hello Viper,
I played around with this for a little while, and here is what I came up with for ideas:
1. You have the 'Let Google use my location' enabled. Settings -> Location and security -> Use Wireless networks
2. You have some app that is tied to Google Maps, maybe not Latitude, but something.
I also have Latitude, but I found that if I leave the 'my location' setting unchecked, Google Maps stays away. Once Maps once, though, it is there until I reboot.
p.s. You deserve an answer. I can't figure out why people who don't even have the answer go out of their way to point out that they don't like your question.
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Click to collapse
What he said. Had Same problem on my inspire. Latitude killed my battery.

I read from some where that Google Apps use Google Map to check android phone's location.

viperv303 said:
Figured this was a general Android app problem. And in case it matters, I'm running an HTC EVO Shift with stock room and rooted.
My problem, and this has been so since day one but its gotten to the point of bugging me too much, is that google maps will constantly run. i can kill it using taskiller, but it'll just come back after a few minutes. and normally with more than one copy. i do use it a lot which is why i don't just flat out delete it off my phone. however, it'll auto run its self without me doing anything.
for example. i can hit the kill all button (i've hidden the system apps) and it'll kill everything off and be fine and dandy. give it about 5 minutes and during which i don't even touch my phone, and when i refresh taskiller, maps is running again and is the only thing running, and their may be more than one copy of it running (aka more than one icon with the name "maps" under it).
so short of uninstalling it, how does one go about making it stop and stay stopped till i run it again? is there some program that's starting it? how do i find and destroy it? And yes i'm fairly certain its not latitude. i've never even run that program once. personally, i'd like to just uninstall it, but don't see it under titanium backup any where's. is it embedded in google maps or something?
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Click to collapse
Helo...i am x Android fan boy...there is an option in settings, kill task or process until I start it again manually or something...don't have an Android device anymore so you will have to figure it yourself...anyways...but the option is definitely there, used it myself a few times...
And yes, you DO deserve an answer...people who criticize should be banned IMHO. Anyways...hope I helped...

missparker76 said:
Why are you so obsessed with killing Google Maps?
If your phone works fine I don't see the problem. Android handles process killing by itself when needed. Task killing in Android is a bad reflex. Android doesn't work like WM.
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Click to collapse
Google Maps can prefetch map data when you're not using the app, so it keeps burning battery power and data in the background.
You can disable prefetching and switch off network location, but then you'd have to switch it back on everytime you need it. In some scenarios killing the maps app makes more sense.

In android you DONT kill apps/process's/services unless there is a problem with the app itself.
There is no point in using a task killer unless you want to waste your battery for some reason. That is why you do not deserve a answer.

Instead of being a jerk, you could have just avoided the thread. And, pretty much, there's no use killing it. If you're rooted, you can use titanium backup to freeze and unfreeze when you want to use it, but apart from that, inorder to avoid problems, just let it be.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

I have latitude and trust me, im feeling the pain lol. Latitude is raping my battery at the expense of keeping my gf happy.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

Go to Settings > Location. Uncheck GPS and wireless networks. It should be good enough to not run constantly. BTW, task killers are bad. Who ever thought it would be a good idea to have on Android is stupid and who ever installs a task killer is stupid too.

Wow...people need to learn how to stop trolling. You dont think they deserve an answer then dont waste your time replying. The title was self explanitory and could have been skipped by the xda gods if they didnt seem fit for their level.
OP, I would keep an eye on the battery use and if you see it there then worry about killing it somehow. If not then it is not doing you any harm. Your not in windows aymore. Lol

Unchecked network location, switched off map prefetching, disabled auto updating, but when I rebooted Google Maps still started all by itself to download a few megabytes of data.
Task killers are a waste of time for most apps, but Google Maps is an exception. Google Maps is really a misbehaving app that needs to be tought who's boss.

i thought this was supposed to be a help site
lvnatic said:
When you buy a phone you should 1st do some research about it's OS, how it handles memory and all that. You don't even deserve an answer you know that?
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Why do you guys act like asses on here? You were asked a question. If you've no desire to help, keep you mouth shut. I came here looking for the same answer and I find vitriol. And for the record, at night I like to play games and could give a poo about the maps. The maps, however, cause the game to stutter. Pain in the rear. So in conclusion, thanks to those of you trying to help. And the others, regardless of how 'senior' your member may be, can keep you hating to yourselves.

supernugget said:
Why do you guys act like asses on here? You were asked a question. If you've no desire to help, keep you mouth shut. I came here looking for the same answer and I find vitriol. And for the record, at night I like to play games and could give a poo about the maps. The maps, however, cause the game to stutter. Pain in the rear. So in conclusion, thanks to those of you trying to help. And the others, regardless of how 'senior' your member may be, can keep you hating to yourselves.
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amen to that

If the OP doesn't want to use the memory in his phone, that he paid for, could he remove it and send it to me?
I could always use some more!

supernugget said:
Why do you guys act like asses on here? You were asked a question. If you've no desire to help, keep you mouth shut. I came here looking for the same answer and I find vitriol. And for the record, at night I like to play games and could give a poo about the maps. The maps, however, cause the game to stutter. Pain in the rear. So in conclusion, thanks to those of you trying to help. And the others, regardless of how 'senior' your member may be, can keep you hating to yourselves.
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I couldnt agree more!!!
Ive noticed in the short time ive been on this forum that theres ALOT of pricks in here, that makes the atmosphere really bad.
Not all are retards just because a question is "stupid"
Actually, there are no such things than stupid questions, if no one asks, no one will ever learn, so please show some respect for the people whos not as superinteligent as you are...
Sorry, had to get it out
I do also notice the battery is draining fast on my Samsung S3, and on top of the consuming list is Google maps, and considerably a lot more than the next one on the list, so i too would love to stop that Google map unless its VERY important for the phone to work normally...

Related

Stupid question that is probably more of a rant...

Ok, so we all have the latest greatest most "open source" phone, right? LMFAO
Why is it, seeing as battery life is complete CRAP, that programs are not smart enough to be able to turn on and off the wifi, gps, wireless networks, etc as needed? When I open google maps, it should start up the GPS. When I try to get on the web, it would be nice if it could check for pre-configured wifi. When those programs are exited, or after an inactive time limit, the wifi, gps, etc should shut back down. It seems silly to fumble around in settings to turn things on and off all the time.
Since this is a problem with Google's software, I assume they will continue to support the "not our problem, let the developers figure it out" stand, while locking us out of the ability for a fix.
Am I the only one that thinks this way?
I completely agree! I am greatly disappointment in the direction Android is going. Leaving everything to 3rd party developers and then locking root access, yeah, really smart move! As soon as T-Mobile USA releases a 3G pocket pc, I am so gone. I would have left my HTC Wizard behind for another device (and G1) but I'm stuck with this strange 3G AWS frequency and no real option for a WM device except what my provider offers. Google still has a chance to fix this issues for Android but I am very impatient with things in general. One day, it could be a great OS but as of right now and the way the road looks ahead is a dismal path to possible destruction. My suggestions to Google would be to jailbreak all devices, create your OWN soft keyboard so all programs can be used with it, ADD SOME KIND OF OFFICE SUPPORT, add support for your own software (built in) to be able to control all settings (like speed racer mentioned), video recorder, better camera options, and better Marketplace support. Again, this is a new mobile OS and it will evolve somewhat but if things continue to happen in the same path or pattern, failure is practically the only option.
gospeed.racer said:
Ok, so we all have the latest greatest most "open source" phone, right? LMFAO
Why is it, seeing as battery life is complete CRAP, that programs are not smart enough to be able to turn on and off the wifi, gps, wireless networks, etc as needed? When I open google maps, it should start up the GPS. When I try to get on the web, it would be nice if it could check for pre-configured wifi. When those programs are exited, or after an inactive time limit, the wifi, gps, etc should shut back down. It seems silly to fumble around in settings to turn things on and off all the time.
Since this is a problem with Google's software, I assume they will continue to support the "not our problem, let the developers figure it out" stand, while locking us out of the ability for a fix.
Am I the only one that thinks this way?
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Click to collapse
Hi, download Locale or Power Manager.
I have seen both, and they are good....but they dont do what I am asking.
NATIVE support. Its like Google has all these different departments, and none want to work with the others. Everything needs to be streamlined together, maps should be able to turn on and off resources....instead of me doing it with my keypad. Who chooses to leave GPS on all day? Same with Wifi?
I am fed up with Google thinking everyone needs to do the grunt work. They cant even get their own software working properly (for example, try using the search function in maps, then try to get directions to that search...good luck!) and instead of USEFUL updates, we get updates that RESTRICT us.
gospeed.racer said:
for example, try using the search function in maps, then try to get directions to that search...good luck!
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Click to collapse
Hmm... seems pretty easy for me? Open maps application, start typing your search (e.g. "starbucks mountain view"). List of locations comes up. I tap one, it shows location on map. Tap on the address and it brings up menu. Choose Directions to this Address and click Route button.
true...but if you simply click on "directions" and type in the exact same items you searched before, it suddenly forgot how to search.
For example, if I search for "pdx" or "gresham" on the maps, no problem. But, when I click "directions" and type in the same thing, it cant find it. It cant do a search and come up with a list of results? Google cant? LMAO. Seriously? I guess I need to do a search, write down the results. Then do another search, get directions, and type in the previous location that I wrote down. Pretty handy if you ask me!
Never had this issue with the desktop version of google maps. I can type in "gresham" and "PDX" and it can get me there. On the phone, it cant figure it out.
Apparently no one can read or understand what has been said. Google hasn't left it to 3rd parties, they are working on these things as we speak. It is in their "roadmap"
OK so it doesn't do everything your home computer can. Why can't you give it time. Why did you buy something that is brand new if you weren't ready to be patient? That is like the people who claim Vista sucks just because they used the beta version and had problems.
Give it time. As for directions are you talking about Gresham, OR? I get directions just find typing pdx and then gresham, or
Obviously you have to type the state for the city, also that little bookmark icon can be usefull... just search for the two things you want first (PDX then do a search for gresham) then use the history bookmark to add those to the direction. Worked simple that way too.
And guess what... I also can use copy and paste too... wow I guess there are many ways to do it you just have to figure it out.
gospeed.racer said:
Ok, so we all have the latest greatest most "open source" phone, right? LMFAO
Why is it, seeing as battery life is complete CRAP, that programs are not smart enough to be able to turn on and off the wifi, gps, wireless networks, etc as needed? When I open google maps, it should start up the GPS. When I try to get on the web, it would be nice if it could check for pre-configured wifi. When those programs are exited, or after an inactive time limit, the wifi, gps, etc should shut back down. It seems silly to fumble around in settings to turn things on and off all the time.
Since this is a problem with Google's software, I assume they will continue to support the "not our problem, let the developers figure it out" stand, while locking us out of the ability for a fix.
Am I the only one that thinks this way?
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Click to collapse
No, it's not an open source phone (and I don't think google or T-mobile have said that the G1 would be), but the _software_ is. If you want a totally open phone, you should be looking towards the openmoko platform, or the dev version of the G1 that google have now announced.
neoobs said:
OK so it doesn't do everything your home computer can. Why can't you give it time. Why did you buy something that is brand new if you weren't ready to be patient? ....
... wow I guess there are many ways to do it you just have to figure it out.
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If Google was up front and said that it wasnt ready yet (why are WE the beta testers?) that would be one thing, but the way it is marketed in commercials and on the website, this is a phone that is ready for mass use. It is very much still in beta.
The problem with your "its not a home computer" logic is that is CAN do the functions I am referring to. It just doesnt. I used bad examples- try using something like "denny's" instead. In a search it will pull them up, but in the "directions" it will not. Apparently if there are more than one result it gets confused. My example was bad.
I have been patient, the updates so far have done nothing (for my phone at least) but fix problems and patch loopholes. There has been nothing updated that improves functionality that I have seen yet. I found their roadmap- Looks like some soft keyboard functionality next year, and more supported languages. Who hoo.
gospeed.racer said:
If Google was up front and said that it wasnt ready yet (why are WE the beta testers?) that would be one thing, but the way it is marketed in commercials and on the website, this is a phone that is ready for mass use. It is very much still in beta.
The problem with your "its not a home computer" logic is that is CAN do the functions I am referring to. It just doesnt. I used bad examples- try using something like "denny's" instead. In a search it will pull them up, but in the "directions" it will not. Apparently if there are more than one result it gets confused. My example was bad.
I have been patient, the updates so far have done nothing (for my phone at least) but fix problems and patch loopholes. There has been nothing updated that improves functionality that I have seen yet. I found their roadmap- Looks like some soft keyboard functionality next year, and more supported languages. Who hoo.
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Don't get mad a google for marketing... the commercial doesn't even say that it is google's OS... it just says Powered By Google. It blows for them.
And for the maps... I haven't been able to get either the phone or desktop to map the locations for me. Besides that doesn't it make more sense to figure out where the dennys is before getting directions to it?
It hasn't even been a month in a half yet and you think you are patient. I don't remember any significant updates to any OS in the first month it was out.
I guess my point is that tmobile (not Google apparently) released a phone that isnt ready for the general public. It should be in beta still, until the bugs (like a battery that lasts half a day under light use, calls that do not ring through, messages that dont show up, and ringtones that sometimes work and sometimes dont) are fixed. There are many problems with the phone and the OS and if you cant admit that I dont know what to say. If you are happy then fine, but not all of us are. We did NOT sign up for beta testing, if we had then there is no issue.
Sounds to me that someone should have done a little bit of research before purchasing their phone? I mean, come on! It hasn't even been 2 months yet. Maybe a razr would fit your likings more? Tmobile has plenty of those.
I say if you aren't gonna get out there & learn to write your own apps to make it the phone you want it to be, don't complain. No one held a gun to your head & said buy the phone or else. You bought into the hype. Deal with it.
No one is perfect the first time out the gates. You should have known this if you came from a windows mobile device previously. Microsoft has been at it for how many years & they still haven't gotten all the bugs & kinks out. If you think you can do better than google, I'm all in! Lets see what you got. Till then, buy a phone that doesn't have all the hype you want. Then you won't be setting yourself up for disappointment.
I haven't had any issues with this phone. So you can't save apps to the SD (YET) but that can be fixed. So your battery isn't the best (YET) but that can be fixed. Give it time. You didn't come sprinting out your mothers womb did you? Didn't think so. Let Android learn to crawl before you expect it to run hundred yard dashes
gospeed.racer said:
I guess my point is that tmobile (not Google apparently) released a phone that isnt ready for the general public. It should be in beta still, until the bugs (like a battery that lasts half a day under light use, calls that do not ring through, messages that dont show up, and ringtones that sometimes work and sometimes dont) are fixed. There are many problems with the phone and the OS and if you cant admit that I dont know what to say. If you are happy then fine, but not all of us are. We did NOT sign up for beta testing, if we had then there is no issue.
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That is funny... I had all those issues on my wing... guess I should go complain in the herald forums about my beta testing that device too.
I admit it has errors... but that doesn't mean it is the worse phone ever made like you make it out to be.
Yeah go complain at the Herald forums! They'll just tell you that you're an idiot and to unlock your phone and flash a new ROM on it. Oh wait... you can actually do that with a wing and not this pos and it actually ends up being a decent pda. That's the difference... and yes a lot of this anger comes from people with stock RC30. Also, to the dude who wipes his ass with money, lol, a lot of tmo. customers didn't have much of a choice for pdas with 3g. It's not a matter of not having the facts but the expectations were very high for this os and phone seemed to have fallen quite short. I'm not going to repeat what the shortcomings are... for they have been hammered into our skulls enough already but Google basically copied a lot of things from different mobile OS and seem to have forgotten the basics and left them out. They other thing is they won't admit any mistakes were made but simply state that they will be left to 3rd developers. After that, a security update was pushed out that locked root. How will or why should this affect developers? Well, there are several applications that only be used on rooted devices and this number will continue to rise. Several developers have quit trying to port over a few applications because of this and the crappy java layers used on android. And finally, T-mobile, google, and htc all claim that this is an open source device and os. It used to be.... the security flaw was announced on every tech blog and web site so basically google (yes google!) Sent a quick patch to fix it and now open source is dead essentially. I guaranty that root will be locked down on every other android device released next year. I know we will find a way to unlock everything here but it's just bs and you guys know it. Of course, no fanyboys will admit it while having their lips firmly placed on google's ass. It's not open source and it won't be until we unlock root ourselves. And now one can argue with me until the next android device comes out. Yes, it is its infancy but it really seems more like a beta. Just disappointed like many others. It's such a stable OS and has a lot of potential but a lot of basic things have been left out, nothing less or nothing more...
I'm sorry, can you show me where T-mobile and HTC claim the G1/Dream is an "open source device" please? I haven't seen anything from either company stating that the G1 would be open source. Android, on the other hand _is_ open, and while, yes I will agree that it's frustrating that you need to "hack" the device to be able to use it to it's full potential, Google have addressed this by releasing the "dev" handsets. Ultimately, as a previous poster has pointed out no-one forced you into picking up the G1, and as you've discovered, frustration often comes with picking up bleeding edge hardware.
So basically your mad at htc/google/tmobile cuz you neglected to read the specs on their websites? Damn my headlight just went out on my car. I'm gonna go yell at chrystler for not putting a better bulb in it! Your forgetting to realize what I stated before, no one forced you! You can piss & moan all you want but again as I stated before, make your own apps to make it the phone you want it to be! So you want 3g? Why? Cuz its faster? Umm I forgot where htc/google/tmobile said this was a laptop? Can you show me? Cuz last time I checked, it was still a cell phone. 3g is a novelty. I don't live in a 3g area so maybe I'm just speaking on deaf ears. I by no means am a fanboy of htc. If tmobile got that touch blackberry, i'd be all over it like white on rice! Be angry but all your gonna get is white hairs & wrinkles. Its wasted energy. Take a seat & wait for android to grow & then you may speak. Or go out & do it better than google. Make your own os. Let's see how you do your first time out
And as far as the unlocking & flashing, how long did it take for that to be a reality? I wasn't there from the start of windows mobile but I'm pretty sure people weren't able to do that right out the box. It is a skill that needed to be learned, as with Android. Maybe you'll research your device better next time.
so I can write apps that will make me not to miss calls when they dont ring through? Will help battery life? Will keep me from missing messages?
I AM TALKING ABOUT THE ROOT GOOGLE SOFTWARE not just apps. Have you heard me complain about a video recorder? A video player? no, because those CAN BE FIXED. How do we change the way Google maps works? WE dont...Google does.
The OS itself is very nice. Coming from WM6.1 the stability is great. I dont need to reboot daily, constantly shut down programs, etc. I understand that WM has been around forever, I had a tmobile PPC2003, so I have been around this stuff for a bit. Android is new, given time it will get better. But I am missing calls NOW. I am constantly charging my battery NOW. These things are important as it is a "phone" after all. The roadmap addresses NONE of these things, just some multi language support and a keyboard.
I am quite sure that there will be many more replies to how f'd up my thinking is, but I am done. I am at the point where all I can do is repeat myself. Its NOT ready yet, and there are MAJOR things that need fixes.
gospeed.racer said:
so I can write apps that will make me not to miss calls when they dont ring through? Will help battery life? Will keep me from missing messages?
I AM TALKING ABOUT THE ROOT GOOGLE SOFTWARE not just apps. Have you heard me complain about a video recorder? A video player? no, because those CAN BE FIXED. How do we change the way Google maps works? WE dont...Google does.
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No, you DO fix the problem - you file a bug with google, and if you have the skills, a patch that fixes the problem, if it's all ok, then it'll get accepted into the source and fixed.
The only problem is, that as T-mobile have (I assume) insisted that the G1 is locked, google need to compile the release for you.
please, go read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source and, if you can return your G1, I don't think it's the phone you want.

Question about multitasking

I have a question about Wp7 lack of multitasking. Do you mean its not possible for example to listen to internet radio using a third party app and browse the xda forums at the same time, for example?
Thanks for the clarification.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
i havent heard much about the multitasking.... sorry
That's right. The only thing that runs in the background that i'm aware of is the Zune music player (which has a radio if you want). I haven't found anything else.
sammy_user said:
I have a question about Wp7 lack of multitasking. Do you mean its not possible for example to listen to internet radio using a third party app and browse the xda forums at the same time, for example?
Thanks for the clarification.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct. Neither can you use it for GPS navigation while surfing the web or speaking on the phone. Your milage may vary as to how much it affects you though.
Well you can do things while calling so at least this is good.
Yes, multitasking is very limited to wp7. I am sure they might add a few features to it so that we don't feel completely controlled.
also the other noticeable thing is the web browser being able to multi task. for example, you can download a large file, and go off and do something else, and it will keep downloading.
For crying out loud! Please stop calling background scheduling for multitasking! Multitasking is, always has been, and always will be, the ability to do more than one thing. WP7 can multitask just fine, and so can apps. Period. They can.
What you're asking about is something completely different, and you're even contradicting yourself. As some of the native apps, and some made by OEMs, can run in the background, there's no doubt about the OS supporting background scheduling. It's there.
What's actually happening is that MS is protecting us from lousy programmers by not letting most programs run in the background. There's mostly no use for it anyway, unless you want some lousy piece of s.... software eating up your battery, devouring your data plan.
Hell, if you want to, I'll be glad to write a program that will fill up the file storage, using battery like crazy and even using way more data than you can afford. Only down side is that it won't run in the background to f.... up the performance of your other apps.
emigrating said:
Correct. Neither can you use it for GPS navigation while surfing the web or speaking on the phone. Your milage may vary as to how much it affects you though.
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Huh? Am I missing something? Why would you need to use the GPS while you are surfing the web?
From my experience it goes like this: surfing the web->home button->maps[back to home][back to explorer]...and just like that you are back to exactly back to where you were having done MULTIple TASKs at once ; )
tiwas said:
For crying out loud! Please stop calling background scheduling for multitasking! Multitasking is, always has been, and always will be, the ability to do more than one thing. WP7 can multitask just fine, and so can apps. Period. They can.
What you're asking about is something completely different, and you're even contradicting yourself. As some of the native apps, and some made by OEMs, can run in the background, there's no doubt about the OS supporting background scheduling. It's there.
What's actually happening is that MS is protecting us from lousy programmers by not letting most programs run in the background. There's mostly no use for it anyway, unless you want some lousy piece of s.... software eating up your battery, devouring your data plan.
Hell, if you want to, I'll be glad to write a program that will fill up the file storage, using battery like crazy and even using way more data than you can afford. Only down side is that it won't run in the background to f.... up the performance of your other apps.
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Click to collapse
Show me one app that can multitask please?! and by app I mean any third-party or OEM addon to the core OS.
Sure, on WM and Android there is/was a mantra that everything should run in the background - always. But that's not to say that multitasking is evil, it's not. It just needs to be controlled.
Microsoft could quite easily have allowed third-party apps to multitask (or at least register a small service running in the background) if your app needed it - they have "technical exceptions" when submitting to the marketplace, this would be a great opportunity for you to describe why your app needed real multitasking and it would be up to the testers to [dis]agree.
premiumdude said:
Huh? Am I missing something? Why would you need to use the GPS while you are surfing the web?
From my experience it goes like this: surfing the web->home button->maps[back to home][back to explorer]...and just like that you are back to exactly back to where you were having done MULTIple TASKs at once ; )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was just an example, although it's something that's bugged me more than once. But okay, I'll agree it isn't the most common scenario. How about this instead, you're driving along using Navigon and you want to change your tunes, so you press home, then zune, find an artist/album and press play, go back home and then back to the satnav app only to discover you've missed a turn because it didn't tell you you needed to turn off the turnpike at the last exit. Now you're stuck driving another xx miles to get back to where you need to be.
If you don't drive, perhaps you map your morning runs using a GPS tracker. So you're on your way and the phone rings. Since you've got a headset you continue running while talking only to have your entire statistics screwed up because the phone stopped tracking you while on the phone.
Or even better, you're using some third-party app to sync your Hotmail or Exchange tasks to your phone. Problem is, the app cannot multitask so it will never notify you of [over]due tasks unless you constantly keep the app open...
While I definitely agree you don't need your RSS reader or Angry Birds clone running in the background, all the time, there are scenarios where real multitasking is important.
emigrating said:
That was just an example, although it's something that's bugged me more than once. But okay, I'll agree it isn't the most common scenario. How about this instead, you're driving along using Navigon and you want to change your tunes, so you press home, then zune, find an artist/album and press play, go back home and then back to the satnav app only to discover you've missed a turn because it didn't tell you you needed to turn off the turnpike at the last exit. Now you're stuck driving another xx miles to get back to where you need to be.
If you don't drive, perhaps you map your morning runs using a GPS tracker. So you're on your way and the phone rings. Since you've got a headset you continue running while talking only to have your entire statistics screwed up because the phone stopped tracking you while on the phone.
Or even better, you're using some third-party app to sync your Hotmail or Exchange tasks to your phone. Problem is, the app cannot multitask so it will never notify you of [over]due tasks unless you constantly keep the app open...
While I definitely agree you don't need your RSS reader or Angry Birds clone running in the background, all the time, there are scenarios where real multitasking is important.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wholeheartedly agree. Excellent examples. Was able to put myself in those scenarios and see how important deep multitasking is. Thank you for helping me see that.
tiwas said:
For crying out loud! Please stop calling background scheduling for multitasking! Multitasking is, always has been, and always will be, the ability to do more than one thing. WP7 can multitask just fine, and so can apps. Period. They can.
What you're asking about is something completely different, and you're even contradicting yourself. As some of the native apps, and some made by OEMs, can run in the background, there's no doubt about the OS supporting background scheduling. It's there.
What's actually happening is that MS is protecting us from lousy programmers by not letting most programs run in the background. There's mostly no use for it anyway, unless you want some lousy piece of s.... software eating up your battery, devouring your data plan.
Hell, if you want to, I'll be glad to write a program that will fill up the file storage, using battery like crazy and even using way more data than you can afford. Only down side is that it won't run in the background to f.... up the performance of your other apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it cannot multi-task anything besides Zune, therefore, I guess technically you could say that it can multi-task like .1% of all the apps available.
MartyLK said:
Wholeheartedly agree. Excellent examples. Was able to put myself in those scenarios and see how important deep multitasking is. Thank you for helping me see that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol,
I think it's as simple as like with Android I can have google maps open and have turn-by-turn open in the background, so the british lady still gives me audio directions while I play Angry Birds or surf the web (as a passenger in a car) like going to a party or something.
Also let's say I'm at the gym and want to use Pandora (which WP7 doesn't even have or I sure as hell can't find it in the app store) in the background while im texting/emailing between bench sets, just simple **** like that I wish WP7 could do.
It's not life or death but it is the reason I use Android more than WP7 on my HD2, although I do like WP7 more at times as well, but it sure as hell can't multi-task for any practical purpose.
orangekid said:
lol,
I think it's as simple as like with Android I can have google maps open and have turn-by-turn open in the background, so the british lady still gives me audio directions while I play Angry Birds or surf the web (as a passenger in a car) like going to a party or something.
Also let's say I'm at the gym and want to use Pandora (which WP7 doesn't even have or I sure as hell can't find it in the app store) in the background while im texting/emailing between bench sets, just simple **** like that I wish WP7 could do.
It's not life or death but it is the reason I use Android more than WP7 on my HD2, although I do like WP7 more at times as well, but it sure as hell can't multi-task for any practical purpose.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hear ya there. I keep the sim card in my HD2...running Android...for purposes of using TbT voice nav and other things WP7 doesn't give me.
MartyLK said:
I hear ya there. I keep the sim card in my HD2...running Android...for purposes of using TbT voice nav and other things WP7 doesn't give me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
exactly.
I'm glad I've got dual-boot rocking on my HD2, as much as I do like WP7, I don't think I could use it as a daily without being able to restart the phone and load up android whenever I want to, maybe when the OS is more matured and actually CAN multi-task and offer more of the apps I like.
Somebody needs to just make something like the jailbroken iphone app backgrounder that lets you choose what multitasks. It worked fine back before apple had "fast app switching"
Anthonok said:
Somebody needs to just make something like the jailbroken iphone app backgrounder that lets you choose what multitasks. It worked fine back before apple had "fast app switching"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's true. I used backgrounder + Proswitcher forever before iOS4 came out and it worked great, smooth, and had awesome palm pre-like task switching, and you could background any app, it really didn't hurt battery life much at all. I would love to see this on WP7 if it could be implemented till MS gets their act together.
kinda like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMAVyaNQdnw
orangekid said:
that's true. I used backgrounder + Proswitcher forever before iOS4 came out and it worked great, smooth, and had awesome palm pre-like task switching, and you could background any app, it really didn't hurt battery life much at all. I would love to see this on WP7 if it could be implemented till MS gets their act together.
kinda like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMAVyaNQdnw
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep it was great. I coudlnt live without it. Also this way only people with unlocked phones (thus meaning they more than likely have knowledge of how things work) will be using this and shouldnt complain if there device gets slow or anything. They would know the consequences.
Anthonok said:
Yep it was great. I coudlnt live without it. Also this way only people with unlocked phones (thus meaning they more than likely have knowledge of how things work) will be using this and shouldnt complain if there device gets slow or anything. They would know the consequences.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well if the 3GS can handle it so well on a 600mhz processor and 256mb ram, I'm sure a WP7 device with 1ghz and 576mb ram could handle it just fine with no slow-downs.
tiwas said:
For crying out loud! Please stop calling background scheduling for multitasking! Multitasking is, always has been, and always will be, the ability to do more than one thing. WP7 can multitask just fine, and so can apps. Period. They can.
What you're asking about is something completely different, and you're even contradicting yourself. As some of the native apps, and some made by OEMs, can run in the background, there's no doubt about the OS supporting background scheduling. It's there.
What's actually happening is that MS is protecting us from lousy programmers by not letting most programs run in the background. There's mostly no use for it anyway, unless you want some lousy piece of s.... software eating up your battery, devouring your data plan.
Hell, if you want to, I'll be glad to write a program that will fill up the file storage, using battery like crazy and even using way more data than you can afford. Only down side is that it won't run in the background to f.... up the performance of your other apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've seen your post history and, no offense, but you're starting to remind me of the fanboys at MacRumors, thinking that their phones are perfect until Apple changes one thing. Then suddenly it is revolutionary and intuitive.
Multitasking would greatly benefit WP7. Live with it. Apps don't even run under lock properly. But I'd like to be able to run a music app and surf at the same time. Want a gimped experience? Fine with me. Just don't go whining when people want to make the most out of their experience with their phones.

Got my sensation.. where to begin?

I finally got my phone today. I am new to android, and actually i am new to smartphones.. this is my first smartphone and i decided that if i get myself one im going big and im getting the sensation
my question is.. where to begin with? like i just have the phone in my hand.. what is the first thing i should do or configure on the phone? i know its maybe a big question, but any help on how to setup the phone in the best way would be appreciated, as like i said, it is my first smartphone
thanks
Just go through the initial setup and then just use it. Change the home screens to your liking, download some apps and enjoy the handset. There's not a lot else to do as yet
mazinya said:
I finally got my phone today. I am new to android, and actually i am new to smartphones.. this is my first smartphone and i decided that if i get myself one im going big and im getting the sensation
my question is.. where to begin with? like i just have the phone in my hand.. what is the first thing i should do or configure on the phone? i know its maybe a big question, but any help on how to setup the phone in the best way would be appreciated, as like i said, it is my first smartphone
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Put it through it's paces I reckon to see everything is working out of the box. Sign up to gmail so you can use the market.
Use the GPS, internet, Youtube etc etc. Make sure everything works as they should.
Setting up the screen is already done for you just go to settings>Personalize and pick "Scene" or "Skin" to begin with.
Watch a quick Youtube video http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=How+to+operate+HTC+Sensation&aq=f
But you can customize it to your liking. Watching some videos will makes things quicker to pick up if you're new to Android phones.
Import your numbers to your sd card and then back to your google account, that way you won't lose your numbers if you lose your phone and when the time comes to upgrade to a new phone, you only have to sign in and you can have all your numbers back automatically, oh and your apps will come back too.
Sign into any emails you have and make sure that any new numbers you get you save to google and they will be kept too.
Try whats app and communicate for free across multiple platforms (supports BB, Iphone, symbian and Android) it's kinda like BBM, sign into facebook, twitter everything you have an account for and then sit back and let the phone do the rest, for me this is were HTC Sense stands alone, no other phone integrates social networking better.
Test your GPS out with the Navigation, join latitude and most importantly, make it your own.
Congrats on your new phone.
From all apps menu open "show me"
Very helpful info
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using XDA App
dladz said:
Import your numbers to your sd card and then back to your google account, that way you won't lose your numbers if you lose your phone and when the time comes to upgrade to a new phone, you only have to sign in and you can have all your numbers back automatically, oh and your apps will come back too.
Sign into any emails you have and make sure that any new numbers you get you save to google and they will be kept too.
Try whats app and communicate for free across multiple platforms (supports BB, Iphone, symbian and Android) it's kinda like BBM, sign into facebook, twitter everything you have an account for and then sit back and let the phone do the rest, for me this is were HTC Sense stands alone, no other phone integrates social networking better.
Test your GPS out with the Navigation, join latitude and most importantly, make it your own.
Congrats on your new phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
would u mind telling me how to back them to my google account?
im planning on getting a 16gb card so i wouldnt want any contact to get lost when i change cards
also, should i be downloading juice defender as well?
mazinya said:
would u mind telling me how to back them to my google account?
im planning on getting a 16gb card so i wouldnt want any contact to get lost when i change cards
also, should i be downloading juice defender as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, if your numbers are on your sim then go to your people (phone book) press menu and click import / export, then import from sim, then select google.
If they're on your actual phone because you've input them one at a time, then click on import / export again and select export to sd card, then straight after it, press menu and click on import / export again, then click import from sd, when it asks where to? you say to google.
After you've done that simply click on menu from the phone book, go to view and just select google, as you have already moved them over.
PS: It may take a moment to sync all the contacts over so if it's dragging it's heels, make sure you have a good connection at the time ie: 3G upwards, preferably WIFI, and press menu, settings, accounts and sync and sync google.
That should sort that out for you
Not sure if you know this but when you save your numbers to google, it also means that you can't lose your numbers and if you change your phone, all you will have to do is sign into your google account and the numbers will come flooding back on their own, this will work for apps too, providing you've told your phone to do so.
Once you've done this with your phone, it won't make any difference what sd card you have in your phone.
As for juice defender, no not really, just go to accounts and sync, tell the phone not to sync stocks and news and weather all the time oh and facebook, just do them manually, i tend to leave google alone and allow it to sync, last thing you need is you turn off google, forget to sync in a month and you lose all the contacts which you aquired in that time!
Juice defender and the like are nifty apps but not really needed unless you have probs with your battery, your not going to get much more than a day from any Smart phone these days besides a nokia 6200000 or whatever they're called, just try to preserve what you can, turn off wireless communications unless you need them, like GPS, WIFI, mobile data and bluetooth.
Like i said b4 alter your account settings for different services, alter the brightness of your phone and when you get the chance to root properly, get autostarts and set up some rules for your phone so your not starting up programs that you don't need, autostarts is like a task killer, but instead of killing open apps and actively running in the background all the time, it actually sets the rules for them so they can be told not to open before they do, sounds hard but it's really easy
Task killers aren't recommended, they kill processes which shouldn't be killed, 99 - 100 people on XDA will tell you that, the other 1 is probably the bloke who moans about having a crap battery all the time
dladz, thank you very very much for the elaborated answer. it is greatly appreciated.
about the battery.. i noticed that i cant see battery percentage like other here are showing.. i see stats but i dont see in percentages how much is left, only in a green line that when it goes down it gets orange and then red.
would i need to install juice defender if i wanna see accurate percentages?
if you have in mind any more useful and necessary apps that i should download and install, it would be great.
When you get it all set up,go and read about the problems others are having and see if you can live with them,example my bluetooth has a bad background noice rendering it almost useless,I thought it was the headset I was using but turned out it's the phone so if a s/w update doesn't fix it then I will have to send it back to HTC,just got it back from a loose charging port fix.So basically if you need to exchange it don't wait like me and have to send it in for warranty repair.
mazinya said:
dladz, thank you very very much for the elaborated answer. it is greatly appreciated.
about the battery.. i noticed that i cant see battery percentage like other here are showing.. i see stats but i dont see in percentages how much is left, only in a green line that when it goes down it gets orange and then red.
would i need to install juice defender if i wanna see accurate percentages?
if you have in mind any more useful and necessary apps that i should download and install, it would be great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get the Battery Widget by Elvison.
It will do what you are looking for
Don't obsess over the battery
Congrats on your purchase, I hope you enjoy android and your phone as much as I do. Everyone here has experiences fast battery drain when they get their new phone. The reason is because they're using their new phone a whole lot simply because it's a new phone. It's not rocket science. Just be sure to charge it whenever you can and you'll be fine.
Be sure to check out the free apps in the android market. The thing I love most about android is the voice command ability, and how it's so tightly knit into all of googles services. "text - Mary", "Call - Teresa", "Navigate to In N Out". You can also use voice to text to dictate an email while on the road. Have fun.
Macklessdaddy said:
When you get it all set up,go and read about the problems others are having and see if you can live with them,example my bluetooth has a bad background noice rendering it almost useless,I thought it was the headset I was using but turned out it's the phone so if a s/w update doesn't fix it then I will have to send it back to HTC,just got it back from a loose charging port fix.So basically if you need to exchange it don't wait like me and have to send it in for warranty repair.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i dont wanna jinx myself, but so far i have none of the problem mentioned here on the board and i hope it stays like that although most problems started to pop out at a much later time, so i will keep crossing my fingers it wont. so far im loving it
Yea I just started setting up my phone yesterday too, and it's a little overwhelming, lol. It's gonna be a wild ride, with s-off rumored to come out soon.
mazinya said:
dladz, thank you very very much for the elaborated answer. it is greatly appreciated.
about the battery.. i noticed that i cant see battery percentage like other here are showing.. i see stats but i dont see in percentages how much is left, only in a green line that when it goes down it gets orange and then red.
would i need to install juice defender if i wanna see accurate percentages?
if you have in mind any more useful and necessary apps that i should download and install, it would be great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your more than welcome m8, hope it helped.
As for the battery, i would put up with it until we are able to permanently root our devices, get a custom recovery on there and the rom's will come flooding in, then there will be a percentage over the battery on your home screen (up the top)
There are apps which will give you a read out, too many to mention but they run in the background and I could do without that and for that reason i wouldn't recommend them because i wouldn't get them, if you don't mind the app running then there are loads on the market.
Paging Dr B said:
Congrats on your purchase, I hope you enjoy android and your phone as much as I do. Everyone here has experiences fast battery drain when they get their new phone. The reason is because they're using their new phone a whole lot simply because it's a new phone. It's not rocket science. Just be sure to charge it whenever you can and you'll be fine.
Be sure to check out the free apps in the android market. The thing I love most about android is the voice command ability, and how it's so tightly knit into all of googles services. "text - Mary", "Call - Teresa", "Navigate to In N Out". You can also use voice to text to dictate an email while on the road. Have fun.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm from Liverpool born n bred and believe me, the people who made the voice recognition did not have scousers in mind when it was made.
I've had some pretty strange things come out of what i've said to my phone, needless to say some other people with strong accents will have the same problem it's funny tho.
If i speak the queens then it works perfect but i must sound like a right tit.
another question i have.. when i download an app or a game from the market.. how do i know if this app\game should be installed on the phone or on the SD card?
Is there an option to to choose where to install the app? (i dont think i have seen an option to choose)
mazinya said:
another question i have.. when i download an app or a game from the market.. how do i know if this app\game should be installed on the phone or on the SD card?
Is there an option to to choose where to install the app? (i dont think i have seen an option to choose)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not so much an option, rather the ability to move it afterwards.
So if an app is installed on my SD card and then im switching cards, then i will have to install this app again right?
Your phone will still know that the app is installed but the files will have shifted so it won't open it or it will force close.
best thing to do is to get a decent SD card and just take care of it, personally when I really install a rom, I clear all the data on it by formatting the card, that way you get a fresh slate.
I back up co pilot and some games my pics, tunes and videos. The reat can be re iinstalled.
Got it... well, i ordered a 16GB card so until the card arrives i will wait with installations

What's your opinion on auto task killers?

IV seen a couple forum's we're people go back and forth about task killers, ( manly about whether or not you need them)
It seems like the argument against it is that the android system already kills apps. And most of the programs and apps constantly try to restart (draining you're battery)
But the argument for it. Is that the android O/S lets way to many apps run. And keeps them in memory, before it actually starts killing them.
But from what I can tell it doesn't look like any of the arguments were 'rom' or even 'phone' specific.
What do you Guy's think?
Are you for, or against auto killers?
And why?
Do you think they make a difference?
Do they drain your battery?
If you do use them. "Which ones do you use"? And y?
(Let the arguments begin) I'm interested to know what you guys think?
Sent from my G2X.
Rocking stock CM 7.2.0-RC1
Do not use them. The Android OS is very good at knowing what to keep in memory and what not to. You want your memory to be full pretty much all the time (unused memory is wasted memory), and the OS will swap data out to your internal storage (or SD card?) when necessary.
Think about it: Do you have auto-task-killer for Windows or Mac OS? Of course not. The OS manages memory very well.
Now, I *may* kill a task that has a memory leak or is taking up gigantic amounts of memory for no reason (as I would on Windows using the Task Manager), but I'll only do that on an app-by-app basis, and it usually results in my uninstalling the crappily-written app.
So no, "auto" task killers are worthless.
Android continues to run random crap in the background for no reason. Crappy programing. I have had mixed results with various task killers. It is a shame that Google can not get their stuff together. They have the resources to do it correctly, so it leads me to the conclusion it is intentional.
Why the hell does Maps need to run all the freaking time? It's ridiculous. Is ICS any better than Gingerbread? I hope it is. That would be a worthy reason to upgrade, but for the short time I tried an ICS rom it still ran tons of crap for no reason at all other than google wants it to run.
Hopefully one day someone will come out with an efficient OS. Until then we are stuck trying to implement workarounds to Google's crap programing.
ok, ill try to explain this
Android and windows operating systems are very different in the way they handle memory useage.
In windows, when you open a program the program allocates a chunk of memory that it can use, it then tells the system to give it more if it needs it, and it gives it back when it dosent. Once the program is closed all of this memory is 'forgotten' instantly and cannot be recovered, so when you restart the program you are starting it over like new. (one exception being programs that stay running in the background after you close the window)
In android, this is all handled much MUCH MUCH more efficiently.
Android apps are made up of processes and services. A process is a foreground window that you interact with. Unless you hit the back key to exit out of the program, it is simply paused. Once paused a process can use NO CPU!! none at all! ZERO! It is still kept in memory so that if you want to go back to the app, or you restart it later, and its still in memory, the phone will spend less time, CPU power, and battery power relaunching it from the start. if the phone begins to run low on memory it starts closing these programs. id say 90% of the time closing a paused process is so fast, and takes so little resources that you cant tell when its happening, even if you watch really closely for it.
The problem with apps using battery in the background is android Services.
Services are different from processes. services have no UI, the user cannot interact with them directly at all, and they should only contain code that is needed to run in the background. When you exit an app through its own menu, it shuts down its own services, unless it believes that they are needed still. These processes can run in the background for as long as they want... to a point. if android needs the memory for something else, and its already killed every process that's not running, it will start killing unused services.
Services are the main thing that separate android from the IOS. Android can multi-task, and services are the way that it does it. The reason that these can suck the battery dry is because of bad programming by the app creator. If your facebook app wants to sync your pictures, it will keep a service running to do that, perhaps using GPS, Network, and SD card data the whole time. Its the app's fault, not android's.
For example:
If your playing music, and you want to go to another playlist, a service is the part of the program reading the song off the SD card, downloading album art, and playing it over the headset. while the process is showing you all this and letting you pick another playlist. if you press your home key in the middle of a song, the process is paused, so the UI can no longer use CPU power, however the service is still running, still playing music. when you stop the music and then close the app, a WELL PROGRAMMED music app will stop its service, then pause its UI. 10 minutes later you want to play music again, so you reopen the app only to find that it is exactly the way you left it! all ready and waiting for you to hit play. this is because while it was paused, it was not using battery or cpu power, but was still stored in the RAM. when you reopened it, the OS just reads all this ram and 'un-pauses' the program for you.
Finally just because an app has a process, does not mean that it is drinking your battery power by the megawatt! Some services are just there, waiting for something, using little to NO cpu power. For example your SWYPE and Android Keyboard services are running constantly. however they are not using much battery power at all. the services are only there listening for android to shout that it needs a keyboard, at which point the service runs the paused process.
one last thing, the reason google maps runs in the background is because something on the phone wants location data. (could be the fact that you checked 'share anonymous data about my location with google' or the fact that you want your weather service to update based on your location, or any other 100's of things) While any program can access GPS data, the numbers you get back are latitude and longitude. This is damn near useless for any location based app, so they ask the Google Maps process to return a city, state, zip code, street address, ect... instead of your Average app maker programming an entire system for this, and getting map data from somewhere else on its own (that will most likely be not as efficent), google made a wonderful maps program and let everyone use it for its location data! Hows that for open source?
As for app killers, they are useless, 100% useless and i think that they are the only thing that should be banned from the google market. they ONLY hurt and NEVER HELP!!! the only thing that is useful is CM7/CM9's 'hold back button to kill app' this can be used to kill that annoying rogue app that has an awful programmer. but even then about 75% of the time the programmer will make it just start back up anyway, so the only solution is to UNINSTALL it.
korny647 said:
IV seen a couple forum's we're people go back and forth about task killers, ( manly about whether or not you need them)
It seems like the argument against it is that the android system already kills apps. And most of the programs and apps constantly try to restart (draining you're battery)
But the argument for it. Is that the android O/S lets way to many apps run. And keeps them in memory, before it actually starts killing them.
But from what I can tell it doesn't look like any of the arguments were 'rom' or even 'phone' specific.
What do you Guy's think?
Are you for, or against auto killers?
And why?
Do you think they make a difference?
Do they drain your battery?
If you do use them. "Which ones do you use"? And y?
(Let the arguments begin) I'm interested to know what you guys think?
Sent from my G2X.
Rocking stock CM 7.2.0-RC1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly I can care less about a task killer. My phone runs perfectly without any task killer.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
Klathmon said:
ok, ill try to explain this
one last thing, the reason google maps runs in the background is because something on the phone wants location data. (could be the fact that you checked 'share anonymous data about my location with google' or the fact that you want your weather service to update based on your location, or any other 100's of things) While any program can access GPS data, the numbers you get back are latitude and longitude. This is damn near useless for any location based app, so they ask the Google Maps process to return a city, state, zip code, street address, ect... instead of your Average app maker programming an entire system for this, and getting map data from somewhere else on its own (that will most likely be not as efficent), google made a wonderful maps program and let everyone use it for its location data! Hows that for open source?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you! That makes a lot of sense. My phone still seems to slow down when I do a lot of web surfing. When my available memory drops below 100mb the Internet slows to a crawl. Any tips? I have been using a task killer to manually close out runing apps to free up space.
jcbofkc said:
Thank you! That makes a lot of sense. My phone still seems to slow down when I do a lot of web surfing. When my available memory drops below 100mb the Internet slows to a crawl. Any tips? I have been using a task killer to manually close out runing apps to free up space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if your using the stock browser, press the tab button at the top right...
close the probally 20 or so tabs that are still open that you dont use anymore
the more memory the active app takes up the more android has to kill, after it kills all empty processes, it starts killing services, and active services, then notifications, ect...
the further up the list you go the more cpu power it takes to free up the resources.
Many tabs take up alot of ram
Klathmon said:
ok, ill try to explain this
Android and windows operating systems are very different in the way they handle memory useage.
In windows, when you open a program the program allocates a chunk of memory that it can use, it then tells the system to give it more if it needs it, and it gives it back when it dosent. Once the program is closed all of this memory is 'forgotten' instantly and cannot be recovered, so when you restart the program you are starting it over like new. (one exception being programs that stay running in the background after you close the window)
In android, this is all handled much MUCH MUCH more efficiently.
Android apps are made up of processes and services. A process is a foreground window that you interact with. Unless you hit the back key to exit out of the program, it is simply paused. Once paused a process can use NO CPU!! none at all! ZERO! It is still kept in memory so that if you want to go back to the app, or you restart it later, and its still in memory, the phone will spend less time, CPU power, and battery power relaunching it from the start. if the phone begins to run low on memory it starts closing these programs. id say 90% of the time closing a paused process is so fast, and takes so little resources that you cant tell when its happening, even if you watch really closely for it.
The problem with apps using battery in the background is android Services.
Services are different from processes. services have no UI, the user cannot interact with them directly at all, and they should only contain code that is needed to run in the background. When you exit an app through its own menu, it shuts down its own services, unless it believes that they are needed still. These processes can run in the background for as long as they want... to a point. if android needs the memory for something else, and its already killed every process that's not running, it will start killing unused services.
Services are the main thing that separate android from the IOS. Android can multi-task, and services are the way that it does it. The reason that these can suck the battery dry is because of bad programming by the app creator. If your facebook app wants to sync your pictures, it will keep a service running to do that, perhaps using GPS, Network, and SD card data the whole time. Its the app's fault, not android's.
For example:
If your playing music, and you want to go to another playlist, a service is the part of the program reading the song off the SD card, downloading album art, and playing it over the headset. while the process is showing you all this and letting you pick another playlist. if you press your home key in the middle of a song, the process is paused, so the UI can no longer use CPU power, however the service is still running, still playing music. when you stop the music and then close the app, a WELL PROGRAMMED music app will stop its service, then pause its UI. 10 minutes later you want to play music again, so you reopen the app only to find that it is exactly the way you left it! all ready and waiting for you to hit play. this is because while it was paused, it was not using battery or cpu power, but was still stored in the RAM. when you reopened it, the OS just reads all this ram and 'un-pauses' the program for you.
Finally just because an app has a process, does not mean that it is drinking your battery power by the megawatt! Some services are just there, waiting for something, using little to NO cpu power. For example your SWYPE and Android Keyboard services are running constantly. however they are not using much battery power at all. the services are only there listening for android to shout that it needs a keyboard, at which point the service runs the paused process.
one last thing, the reason google maps runs in the background is because something on the phone wants location data. (could be the fact that you checked 'share anonymous data about my location with google' or the fact that you want your weather service to update based on your location, or any other 100's of things) While any program can access GPS data, the numbers you get back are latitude and longitude. This is damn near useless for any location based app, so they ask the Google Maps process to return a city, state, zip code, street address, ect... instead of your Average app maker programming an entire system for this, and getting map data from somewhere else on its own (that will most likely be not as efficent), google made a wonderful maps program and let everyone use it for its location data! Hows that for open source?
As for app killers, they are useless, 100% useless and i think that they are the only thing that should be banned from the google market. they ONLY hurt and NEVER HELP!!! the only thing that is useful is CM7/CM9's 'hold back button to kill app' this can be used to kill that annoying rogue app that has an awful programmer. but even then about 75% of the time the programmer will make it just start back up anyway, so the only solution is to UNINSTALL it.
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Well said, makes it alot more clear to me.
But that being said is there anyone that still has an argument for auto killers?
Or is it pretty much a no across the bored. Here at xda.
If that's the case why are their so many task killers that have a huge amounts of downloads,?
Just a bunch of noobs falling for snake oil?
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA
korny647 said:
Well said, makes it alot more clear to me.
But that being said is there anyone that still has an argument for auto killers?
Or is it pretty much a no across the bored. Here at xda.
If that's the case why are their so many task killers that have a huge amounts of downloads,?
Just a bunch of noobs falling for snake oil?
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA
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yes and no.
most people only have experience with windows, and when something is running in windows it is actually running. most people think a computer is a computer (roughly) so they think that running in android means the same. not really falling for something, just a misunderstanding.
also if i made one of these apps (regardless if i knew how it worked at the time or not) im not gonna stop the money coming in because i might be wrong
Klathmon said:
yes and no.
most people only have experience with windows, and when something is running in windows it is actually running. most people think a computer is a computer (roughly) so they think that running in android means the same. not really falling for something, just a misunderstanding.
also if i made one of these apps (regardless if i knew how it worked at the time or not) im not gonna stop the money coming in because i might be wrong
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True, so true.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA
Read here also.
http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/
Good stuff, Klathmon. Couldn't have explained it better myself.
If you want a "task killer" don't use a task killer use a memory optimizer... such as the v6 supercharger or autokiller from the market. These aren't task killers but they basically just make your phone a ram nazi.
Pin it to Win it.
Allow me to jump on the bandwagon. Don't use them. Allow the operating system to work as it was intended for better or worse.
Thanks everyone for this very interesting thread.

question about stopping apps

I notice that a lot of apps run on start up and after I stop them they'll just start again 5 or 10 mins later. I use adv task killer and the stock task manager. Is there an app I can download to manage them better or is there something in settings ive missed.
Task killers, especially automated ones, went out of favor when better memory management came in over the last couple Android releases.
Something like Titanium Backup will let you "freeze" apps/services that you don't think you need and, perhaps more importantly, easily unfreeze them when you realize you really did need them. Root is generally required.
The more you stop an app, the more it's going to keep trying to run. Don't use task managers. Let your phone do what it wants. When you need the memory to do something, just do it! You're phone will know how to allocate the RAM and freeze tasks. If you want an app to never run, that you can't get rid of, freeze it with Titanium Backup. Be careful with that, though.
Edit: Damn jeff, posted at the same time!
Edit 2: Of course, this would be common knowledge if he would bother to do the basic research I thought most people do when they first get a device. I knew task killers were bad before I even knew about custom roms.
I use Gemini to stop apps from auto starting when the phone boots up
Sent from my GT-P7510 using xda app-developers app
The problem is that my phone doesn't allocate. I play a game called peggle and when I run it , it runs really slow and laggy but if I clear all of the processes running in the back ground the game runs fine. I was hoping to get more control over my phone once I rooted it. Don't get me wrong I can flash roms and use Titanium Backup to uninstall the stuff I couldn't. But it feel like thats where it stops. I use gmail and facebook but I only want them to run when I'am using them, kinda like my computer. But we can't alway get what we want.
P.S sorry I couldn't find the sticky on why task managers are bad to use, finding stickys on this site is sometimes like trying to find a pirate's buried gold
I'll admit that there is a lot of "old" information out there on task killers and things like Juice Defender. It can be pretty confusing. It took me a good year before I realized that the Android world had changed from the times of those posts and reviews. Basically, as I understand it, prior to Froyo, memory management was pretty poor in Android. Task killers were a "user-land" way of making up for OS-level deficiencies. Froyo and certainly GB have much better memory management, making task killers more of a source of system instability than the benefit they once were.
There isn't a good way to be able to say "I don't want this, that, and the next service to not be running while I'm running this game/app." Those things are running services generally because they need to stay in contact with the mother ship to do something you want, like keeping abreast of changes, or sometimes something you don't want, like tracking your surfing habits or location. A service also runs when the app needs to keep track of or respond to something else happening on your phone, like battery/bandwidth monitoring tools, or notifiers of various sorts. A well-designed app will try to restart its services when it detects they have stopped.
You might be able to freeze things with TiBackup or the like, kill the services, play the game, unfreeze, then continue. I've never tried anything that fancy. I seem to recall that TiBackup could use the tagging from Apps Organizer to select things for batch operations, but I haven't tried it myself.
falcons2 said:
I use Gemini to stop apps from auto starting when the phone boots up
Sent from my GT-P7510 using xda app-developers app
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+1 to this. I've tried everything from killing apps to freezing them. I finally stuck with using Gemini to stop apps from auto-opening. Apps such as Maps, DSP Settings, etc. This allows you to stop the apps from turning on until you turn them on.
To add to what jeff said, another thing even if it says facebook is running it might not be. But it could be a service that facebook borrows from android so you dont need fifteen instances of gps running simultaneously. Instead android gps is used by fifteen different apps. And if it happens to turn on to update your locations facebook thinks it needs to also update so if you want to tell you friends your at the local brothel automagically you can.
That is why it appears when you kill a process and 10 seconds later it is started back up. Something is using it for some reason.
Maybe you can try this one.. https://play.google.com/store/apps/...vbS5lbHNkb2VyZmVyLmFuZHJvaWQuYXV0b3N0YXJ0cyJd... i've been using it and it works great for me..
Warrenforfree said:
Maybe you can try this one.. https://play.google.com/store/apps/...vbS5lbHNkb2VyZmVyLmFuZHJvaWQuYXV0b3N0YXJ0cyJd... i've been using it and it works great for me..
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Thanks! I flashed a new rom hoping it would use less system rescources. I use valhalla final , before valhalla my system used around 225megs sysyem ram after it droped to around 186. then I unistall some stuff i didnt use that came with it and it got to around 178. Now peggle plays fine. but when I kill apps running in the background the system only uses 156megs. then my emulators run fine. It drives me nuts when programs run rampant. They should only run when I use them, like my computer. My gf reminded me that its just a phone and maybe iam asking too much
Glad you are up and going! If you like Valhalla Final, you might want to try FB's trimmed-down version of Raver's Valhalla Black. It comes with one of AntonX's kernels and is a little snappier and leaner version than the "Valhalla Final" version, in my opinion. You can try later versions of AntonX's kernels as well. (Links for both in my sig).
Your phone is a computer. It's just that Windows is a lot better at "hiding" all the crap that is running in the background!

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