Related
Does transformer need to install any task killer? My transformer runs a little bit laggy after openingtoo many apps behind.
You may get a bunch of different answers/opinions on this. The short answer is no. Android handles memory as it needs it by closing apps as needed. There have been a lot of post on task killers and how they can interfere with the way Android should run. There are also people that use them and have good results. I don't use one and have a few android devices and they all work fine regarding memory.
I use Advanced Task Killer (ATK) myself and only the widget. That one stops all the current apps. I seldom use this function as Android seems to be pretty capable of handling the memory by itself. Only in rare occasions the TF slows down or lags a little, I use it.
Probably you want to try active apps. I dont know if it's working with honey comb but it does quite well identifying what applications are running and cpu usage. Probably it will help.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk
How about minfreemanager? I kind of like that, it seems to be a good compromise between ATK and letting android handle the memory.
Of course, this also depends on the user, always press back instead of homescreen to close the app.
I've not needed a task killer at all yet. Once everyother day I restart it just to be safe, but I have been attributing it to honeycomb "beta" problems and/or the fact that it's not complete yet.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App
ELTinos said:
I use Advanced Task Killer (ATK) myself and only the widget. That one stops all the current apps. I seldom use this function as Android seems to be pretty capable of handling the memory by itself. Only in rare occasions the TF slows down or lags a little, I use it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am also using ATF and wondering why some programs will not kill off even tho i select it to kill. Like logmein, i select it and kill it, a minute later it shows up again ??? Does AFk even work? I noticed that after killing off some apps i see it frees up more memory, but couple of minutes later the same apps will start again....
dazz87 said:
I am also using ATF and wondering why some programs will not kill off even tho i select it to kill. Like logmein, i select it and kill it, a minute later it shows up again ??? Does AFk even work? I noticed that after killing off some apps i see it frees up more memory, but couple of minutes later the same apps will start again....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's because since Froyo, the most a task killer can do is to restart the app / release it from memory. What it means is .. if your program runs a service/ Thread, the program will not be killed but merely restarting the app. That's y some apps that get restarted will show up again. The only way to kill is either you get a super user to do the kill from command shell 'kill -9 PID' or
go to the settings -> Applications and click on stop.
Hope this helps.
Also using task killer is not a good idea. It might drain battery if you use it regularly. if you asked me why? because when you restart the app/ kill the app, the program will load (this actually consuming CPU hence battery) again.
And if you asked again why did google keep those in memory?
it's because it's designed so that when you want to open up again it's faster..
Here is a link that might be helpful.
http://androinica.com/2010/05/googl...-imply-task-killermanager-apps-are-pointless/
I use atk, but like others I only use the widget. It's mostly a compulsive thing; I like to hit it twice and see my available memory shoot up 200 megs. I'm sure HC can handle it but I could swear it reduces lag in some instances; as if some apps or HC interfaces are scaleable to remaining available memory. Probably my imagination, but it hasn't hurt me yet.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
Hey what's up everyone. Anyone know why there is so much RAM being used on the phone? As soon as I bought the phone without installing any apps, I'll open the task manger and see over 430mb's of memory being used, giving me a little over 100mb's left. I'll run 3 apps, bring it into the 80-90mb's left and the phone gets laggy.
Anyone know why the phone is using so much memory with nothing running In the Task manager? I never see it under 400mb's of use.
Thanks
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App
Is it the same after a reboot?
For my Sensation, I've noticed that after a few times using it and playing with it, the avaliable RAM decreases even if I have no more than 5 apps running
Rebooting the Sensation gives me fresh RAM.
Also you may use a taskiller or task manager, that will show you much more running tasks than what is displayed by the stock HTC task manager
HTC's task manager is not even showing the right amount of ram. Go into menu->settings->applications->running and look at your ram there.
I just pulled the battery out and turned the phone back on. Says 468mb's are being used. Have around 110 availible.
Borodin, thanks. I'll try that. But I've noticed after 5 apps running. The phone will get real laggy. I came from an HTC HD7 and I loved how smooth it was. Not seeing that in this phone much...but still like it.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App
I'm not saying that it's not ridiculous that Sense 3.0 is using that much RAM, I'm just saying that may be we have more mem available then we think.
In my phone right now:
HTC's readings are 438 used/120 free
Android's readings are 253 used/263 free.
Phone definitely needs a make over as Sense is just bogging it down.
Supposedly has something to do with the 2.3 Android system
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App
Yes I don't know why the two are reporting different amounts. But I have a feeling that the one in the running services is showing the correct value.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App
I installed ADW ex & checked a few times to see how much ram I had and it shows a little over 200mb free(in tsk mngr). Not to mention this thing is now snappy as hell.
Sent from my HTC Feeling.
Strange, I can reach a max of 338Mb free (according to a task killer and an external task manager from the market) after a reboot and after having killed all unecessary tasks. I use settings=>apps=>running apps to kill some tasks, and taskiller to kill some other, because both of them don't display all of the running tasks and display some that the other doesn't display.
After two days of (eavy?) use, doing the same trick to kill al unwantesd tasks, I can't go over 200 or sometimes 150MB so I reboot.
Just like most modern os you don't have to worry about memory. Android will take care of it. Also remember, if you're not using the memory its useless. It's better to have 10mb of memory free always as long as you don't notice issues. Apart from apps there are cached apps, buffers and other things loaded to keep the phone speedy. Just don't look or think about it and definitely don't use a task killer.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App
.....or at least, use a task killer very carefuly if you use one, set it to ignore all the system tasks, and also all tasks the OS will always keep on puting ON again indefinitly if they are killed, your wallpaper, any media related app, etc
(after each reboot, I have Gmail, the reader, news, weather, facebook, messaging, etc opened in the background for nothing, I definitly prefer killing it as they will start again normaly if I need them)
But right, except for N64oid and Fpse, I have never been bothered by too low RAM on the Sensation. And when that happened on these 2 emulators, it was after 2 days of heavy use without any reboot, so....^^
mobilehavoc said:
Just like most modern os you don't have to worry about memory. Android will take care of it. Also remember, if you're not using the memory its useless. It's better to have 10mb of memory free always as long as you don't notice issues. Apart from apps there are cached apps, buffers and other things loaded to keep the phone speedy. Just don't look or think about it and definitely don't use a task killer.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you 100%, and again with your comment about the task killer. Don't install a task killer, and don't obsess about killing about with the built in task killer. Since 2.2 android has done an amazing job at managing and using available resources. It's pre-loading services and apps into memory to have things launch sooner, etc. When the system runs out of available memory it will kill whatever apps it feels it needs to kill in order to give the smoothest experience possible.
Paging Dr B said:
I agree with you 100%, and again with your comment about the task killer. Don't install a task killer, and don't obsess about killing about with the built in task killer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only reason I have a task killer now is if anything is loading for no reason. With that I found that VTOK & Movies by Flixster were always running & causing the phone to never sleep & draining my battery. They were always listed as in the foreground (along with Tmobile's Wifi Calling & MyAccount apps).
Bloatware!! The sooner it can be removed, the better.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using Tapatalk
I've noticed that rosie uses alot of ram on every sense build. But 3.0 is a little over the top. It gets killed quite easily as well after using the xda app, browser, and download manager for example. And then sense has to completely reload... Htc obviously noticed it a little late in the game and was quick to make miniscule changes in a desperate attempt to conserve ram usage. No scrolling wallpaper? On a dualcore 1.2ghz processor? Really? Lockscreen lag? Lag at all? Can't wait fire a cooked sense 3.0 rom. The difference will be tremendous!
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App
Android is at its most efficient when the memory is being fully utilised. Don't think of memory usage in Windows terms.
crx4xharder said:
No scrolling wallpaper? On a dualcore 1.2ghz processor? Really?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ask and you shall recieve, and that's what HTC just did. The no-scrolling wallpaper is considered a UI feature just as it is on the Galaxy S 2. It's also standard on ADW-EX and Launcher pro. I personally dig the stationary wallpaper.
what have you got so bad against task killers??
You just say "don't use it", without any explanation....
I use one, like I do on my 2 other Android devices, my Sensation is extremely stable, and I don't want to lose fps when I use Fpse or N64oid, sorry to tell you you're wrong: having less than 150MB ram, because many apps are running in the background, when starting one of these 2 emus, makes fps drop, or frameskip less efficient.
Try it yourself if you don't believe me.
i900frenchaddict said:
what have you got so bad against task killers??
You just say "don't use it", without any explanation....
I use one, like I do on my 2 other Android devices, my Sensation is extremely stable, and I don't want to lose fps when I use Fpse or N64oid, sorry to tell you you're wrong: having less than 150MB ram, because many apps are running in the background, when starting one of these 2 emus, makes fps drop, or frameskip less efficient.
Try it yourself if you don't believe me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I don't use emulators. I also don't have a sensation, so I can't comment on gaming on one. I have however played just about every game imaginable on my SGS1 and have never had to worry about closing an app to play any game. The main reason why I tell people like the OP to not use task killers is because they tend to begin automatically killing tasks(the people using them, not the app on it's own), and since the newer versions of android behave they do, those tasks just end up starting again which then leads to an endless loop of task killing, and battery drains for no reason. I also make it a habit of restarting my phones once a day or two, so I never really give the devices to get bogged down with extra crap running. I'm just saying that's my experience. If you like it, then so be it. Kill away.
Another thing you may want to try is, backing out of all of your running apps instead of being addicted to the home button. Home leaves the apps running and using resources; Backing out closes them and keeps the universe in a zen like state. I love the home button, when I know i'm going back to use a certain app immediately. If not then I back out.
allright, I agree with what you say.
Luckilly, I've set my Taskiller not to endlessly kill tasks that always start again (and actually, Taskiller doesn't display them, or don't kill them automatically or in one click on the widget, only if you go to the app itself and select force kill, what I never do knowing they will start again asap).
I mainly use it, from its widget, to kill everything related to messaging, gmail, facebook, reader, tutorial, etc, that tend to start automatically and never stop when I connect datas or reboot the Sensation.
I also most of the time try to back out instead of home button, but for a few apps, it may be loooonng because it will display a lot of pages back before killing the app.
As for newer versions of RAM management, it also depends on the ROM I suppose.
With my stock SFR/Vodafone french ROM, after, let's say, 2 days of use, the RAM goes under 170Mb, even if I close all tasks, I don't know where RAM is drained, I'm pretty sure my stock ROM is responsible for it, so I reboot every day or every 2 days too.
I am now a ICS user and I realize when you hold the home button you'll have a list of recent apps. Cool, but I realize the list is very very long, are all those apps currently running at low usage for quick access? If so, is there a way I limit the amount of apps, I remember with 2.3.4 (whatever) cyanogenmod you could modify the number for recent apps. I ask because with so many running I imagine it will drain battery. Thanks
You can remove them from the recent apps list by swiping them away (either left or right).
I understand that, but if I let it stay because it is sort of a hassle having to deal with them individually. Will it consume a lot of battery? Am I better off leaving it, or just swiping constantly killing the task.
That, I'm not too sure of. I believe that by swiping it, it'll dismiss it from the recent apps and kill the task because there would be no point to just remove it from the recent apps list and still have it runing in the background but I think you'll need more clarification on that.
Sorry I can't help so much; I'm not running ICS yet, so I can't be too sure.
Thanks, I'll give it a Google anyways
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
You are better off leaving it as it is. It is really just a recent apps list, just with a thumbnail, exactly like the one in gb. Swiping can just resets the app, the same as 'backing' out of it. This has the effect of removing some apps from cache completely, though not all.
Thanks mate. My concern was that it would be a battery drain, but I'll let it be.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
No battery drain unless it's some kind of service (which is usually (always?)) in the notification bar. When you press the home button, the app will be put into RAM and classified as cache, so it is quicker to open up next time. Note that filling RAM uses no extra battery, RAM is powered the same regardless. If you are using an app that requires more RAM than is available that is classified 'free', it will start removing some of the apps android has put into ram as cache and fill it up with necessary data from the foreground app.
Task managers are useful, however not any more useful than Androids built in managing (system settings --> apps). There is never a need to close any app forceably UNLESS it is not working as it should, whether it be frozen, excessively slow or not loading in some way or another, etc. All other circumstances are taken care of for you and memory is used as efficiently as possible.
Thank you Harbb for the very detailed explanation. That is exactly what I was looking for. I thought myself the same but needed clarification simply because the list was so long, I semi feared it could be running. Cheers mate!
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
No problem mate, just happy to help. Always good to clarify these things.
i disagree Harb. RAM management is sometimes pretty poor without using a task manager.
For example some apps that use a lot of RAM such as Real Racing 2, could force close because of lack of RAM.
I've never experienced something genuinely FCing because of a lack of RAM, but will try out the RR2 demo and see how it gets on, i'll try and get it to crash or FC. 768mb of RAM would've been really nice on the NS though as a good chunk is used by the system.
Just a tip instead of going to settings/apps..ect
Just go to recent apps hold down on the app and click app info much quicker
also most of the top recent apps are not using any resources but the lower ones are swiping will close and free up the RAM
Its a built in taskkiller that Google put into ICS even though they always said one was not needed.
Recently my SGS2 LTE becomes sluggish if I don't turn it off for a week or two. I also notice that my RAM normally sits at about 500+/785MB. I know that clearing my memory lowers it quite a bit, but then I don't get certain notifications because it clears certain apps from the Running Services and Cached Processes. So my question is A) how can I keep my RAM lower without clering the memory? and B) how can I keep my phone from being so sluggish? Is this just normal and turning it off and on every week or two is normal protocol for keeping a smooth phone? Keep in mind that my phone is totally stock as well. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.
How many apps do you have on your phone?
Any task killers or task managers?
What apps do you have that are updating or syncing?
When you say sluggish, is it just the launcher or is it everything?
Are you getting any force closed error messages?
Uncle Irish said:
How many apps do you have on your phone?
Any task killers or task managers?
What apps do you have that are updating or syncing?
When you say sluggish, is it just the launcher or is it everything?
Are you getting any force closed error messages?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not including the stock apps, I have roughly 45 installed.
Other then my Gmail, Email, WhatsApp, and 2 games, I don't think any others are actively syncing.
When I say sluggish I mean everything.
And yes at the really bad times, I'll get the Force Close message.
did u flash the note uclc5 radio?
icenight89 said:
did u flash the note uclc5 radio?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No I did not.
45 apps and you are wondering why it is sluggish.... Do you think your phone is a desktop?
Just caching all the **** will rape your phone. It's a good phone but remember the cache and ram are still weak.
Do yourself a favor and reduce to half th apps.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk
Pay no mind to the post above mine. 45 apps is not the culprit. I have about 70.
You should try a factory reset to test things out. Make sure u back up everything u need and pull everything u want off the internal storage and save to PC. Start totally fresh and then start adding apps slowly to test. Could be a rogue app causing it but never know. Factory image "should" resolve.
<insert witty signature here>
@kr3w1337 yes Skyrocket is a desktop, or the closest thing to a desktop. If you think 45 apps are too much - last I checked I had 89, and then I installed a few more mapping apps
This is our future, the desktop capabilities are leaking into our wearable items. It's not perfect and this guy's skyrocket is slow ... let's find out why (I will have an app for that in the coming months)
@RoLo. let's use what others suggested and add a few more things:
Are you using apps that are on your SDcard or use data on your SDCard ? I'm sure they are loaded to memory but if they interact with the external SDCard and if you have a slow card this may be part of your problem
Also, do you have stock ROM ? if you do I suggest learning how to install one of the rooted trimmed ROMs that take away some of the apps known to hog your phone resources
Another thing - is your data connection turned on all the time ? I found out that our phone is looking for the best network (4G) and then if that is not there it "downgrades" the search. All of that consumes time especially if you are on the move. Your apps freeze as a result and wait for the phone to establish connection all the time. To resolve this in some scenarios - go to your wireless settings and limit your phone so it only looks for connection up to 3G
Another thing as people already mentioned is the apps you have running. I'll ask this: do you have multiple apps that keep updating and getting new information ? the network handshakes between apps and data-network is slowing the rest of your apps down. If you are on WiFi it's a lot better
I hope this gives you a few more ideas to chase. It's a great phone and a huge step in the right direction where one day (soon) our phones will be part of our computing, information and services tools. It will do many things and serve as a phone as well
JD
kr3w1337 said:
45 apps and you are wondering why it is sluggish.... Do you think your phone is a desktop?
Just caching all the **** will rape your phone. It's a good phone but remember the cache and ram are still weak.
Do yourself a favor and reduce to half th apps.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No way dude, I have exactly 182 apps, never had under 120 on my old Atrix, had no problem even on GB!
Sent from my HTC Vivid via Tapatalk
Nice post dorj1234
Happy to give you your first thanks
kr3w1337 said:
45 apps and you are wondering why it is sluggish.... Do you think your phone is a desktop?
Just caching all the **** will rape your phone. It's a good phone but remember the cache and ram are still weak.
Do yourself a favor and reduce to half th apps.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you crazy i have 100 apps and my phone runs like a breeze
This is my first post on XDA and although i'm not new to the android scene having owned a lot of devices in previous years but I never came down to post queries of my own cause everything used to go real smooth!
I recently got a Nexus S i9020t from a friend and tried flashing a Jelly Bean rom on my device.
No issues so far with everything working with every rom that i've tried...
The only thing that bugs me is the ram.
I've tried several kernels on top of different roms (Matrix, Air (Big-Mem version), Marmite etc.) designed for Jelly Bean but I never to seem get any greater ram than about 150-170 mb even on first boot with no applications installed and when I restore about 50 of my apps through titanium it goes down to 120-150 at max.
I have tried rebooting my device every now and then but the ram leak doesn't get any better.
That way most apps that I run crash my device (im a big fan of chrome on android but the lack of availability of free ram degrades performance)
I've been looking into using different free task managers on the play store but of no use.
Simply put, my question relates to the free ram this device can generate!
Can anyone give me an explanation as to the lack of free ram and what kernel, tips and tricks I could follow to improve it?
You can try flashing a kernel that supports BIGMEM(check the development section). Since you're new you won't be able to post any question regarding said mod. Basically gives you 50mb of extra RAM which, IIRC, takes away from the HD recording portion of the phone or something of that nature. The 512MB RAM sucks, but I never had an issue with it on mine. Then again, I never really ran a lot of applications. Android can handle the tasks on its own and free up memory when needed. But you may face a few launcher redraws now and then.
chronophase1 said:
You can try flashing a kernel that supports BIGMEM(check the development section). Since you're new you won't be able to post any question regarding said mod. Basically gives you 50mb of extra RAM which, IIRC, takes away from the HD recording portion of the phone or something of that nature. The 512MB RAM sucks, but I never had an issue with it on mine. Then again, I never really ran a lot of applications. Android can handle the tasks on its own and free up memory when needed. But you may face a few launcher redraws now and then.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah so like you said I did try the Big Mem versions of Air Kernel and Matrix but it was never really of much use. Matrix gives me about 180 mb of ram when the device has no foreground apps running (except the system processes of course) and Air goes to about 140-160 not more.
The thing that I don't get is that this other friend runs Jelly Bean on his Galaxy S with Devil Kernel or something and his free ram is above 190-ish.
Technically both sport the same hardware with a few extras on Nexus S (led flash, lack of gorila glass, NFC etc.) but it really doesn't make sense.
And about those Launcher redraws. Yeah, they've been going really frequent now that I installed and use chrome as my daily browser.
Overall, in my experience I'd say Matrix Kernel would be perfect if it weren't for that Voodoo Colour Mod. It gives a weird hue to my display orangy in nature but Air comes around well in that department.
We all understand what you're experiencing. Basically, our Nexus S devices just are not able to keep up with the ever increasing size of electronic files. Even though it's nice to be able to run JB, it really stretches the Nexus to it's limits. I too am torn, because I love the smoothness of 4.1.1, but to be honest, the phone can handle GB much easier. One other thing, Chrome is a huge consumer of ram ... really too much for the NS. As much as I love my Nexus, the handwriting is on the wall, if I really want to continue to enjoy all the new stuff coming our way.
The colors can be adjusted to your liking. Some kernels have a setting that's not the factory norm(ie Trinity). You also have to keep in mind some of that RAM has to be dedicated to the OS itself. You're gonna have to deal with the fact the phone has a memory limitation on 4.1. Sucks, but there's really not much else you can really do about it.
I could never get above 125MB on GB even with a custom kernel. With only 512MB ram, more than half of that is already used by Android itself, there's not much left for apps. That said, I would remove unnecessary widgets on home screens, install Autostarts, or ROM Toolbox, or Gemini App Manager or other autostart management app and turn off autorun triggers on apps. The less background apps the more rams you can free up. I'm currently running with about 75MB and it's smooth. I set auto free rams to start killing apps if it's below 45MB.
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium
[email protected] said:
I could never get above 125MB on GB even with a custom kernel. With only 512MB ram, more than half of that is already used by Android itself, there's not much left for apps. That said, I would remove unnecessary widgets on home screens, install Autostarts, or ROM Toolbox, or Gemini App Manager or other autostart management app and turn off autorun triggers on apps. The less background apps the more rams you can free up. I'm currently running with about 75MB and it's smooth. I set auto free rams to start killing apps if it's below 45MB.
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those auto triggers you talk of what software do you use to counter those cause I just looked at the cached processes inside the stock Application Manager and it showed a few that always show up when my phone boots. Of those that I usually encounter is Titanium, Maps, Google Search and a two or three more. Killing them doesn't make much of a difference though. Either the ram display at the bottom is screwed or the ram just doesn't go up when I abort any one of them and after a while they again show up. How do I deal with them?
Some general points.
Yes we want more ram. But we want it to use it. Free ram is wasted ram.
Task managers suck. All of them.
Low ram should not crash your device.
Stop worrying about how me free ram you have
Chrome sucks. It sucks on all devices. Sucks on n7. AOSP just runs better.
Want to keep a little more free ram because your device lags when its low on ram. Go to developer options and limit background processes
I'm with al. No point in over-obsessing about it. Cached processes aren't doing anything. They're there for when you want to switch apps for quicker access, which part of the way Android operates. You can limit what starts on startup to increase boot time(probably not even worth it), which I do even though I just said it probably doesn't help much, with a startup manager.
I to am no fan of task killers. I've heard that they can sometimes consume more ram since some of the killed apps will try to start again.
I found the autostarts app very useful. I have disabled around 50% of all auto starts. Mainly for installed apps but also a bunch of system apps. Another useful tool is Auto Memory Manager which sets the ram level where the system kills apps according to their category (e.g. Foregroud, visible, hidden etc). I use the "mild" manager with the level for empty apps raised. I manage to get around 80 MB free when running nothing. However I have a performance ROM which might affect that number.
My Nexus S has been retired a long time now.. I'm currently using the GS3 with lots of rams so it's not an issue for me anymore dealing with low rams... However, same symptoms on the GS3 or any Android phone, the less available rams means more processes are running which can cause slow app responsiveness. Also, some app even runs in the background hogging load of cpu usage, that definitely slows down your phone. I use task manager to kill off those high cpu apps when they go wild. OS Monitor is a good app for monitoring cpu usage... GO SMS Pro is an example app that sometimes persistently consumes 30% - 50% cpu, killling it off makes the phone smooth again.
S-beamed from my GSIII via xda premium