since 2.1 i havent had a task killer that did anything except clear up ram, useful, but doesnt kill tasks. theres the built in task manager, but its a pain to get to, does any task manager actually work to kill apps?
Here we go again
Task killers, battery savers etc will end up draining your battery faster than not using one at all as well as killing the smooth operation of your device. It's been stated a thousand times but once again:
Android manages itself very nicely thank you so stop trying to sabotage your own device with what amounts to malware.
soraxd said:
since 2.1 i havent had a task killer that did anything except clear up ram, useful, but doesnt kill tasks. theres the built in task manager, but its a pain to get to, does any task manager actually work to kill apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its not always a good thing to clear up ram. some processes are cached in your ram so that the next time you use those apps, they boot up faster
There is absolutely no need to use any App Killer at all in Android. Android will free the memory space automatically.
Related
My Cappy starts with about 165mb of free RAM, but it quickly goes away as I use apps. I have Task Killer installed and set to kill apps every 30 minutes, but once I get down to about 90mb of RAM it is impossible to get anywhere near what I boot with free. I'm used to memory leakage on my WinMo phones, but this is way worse. I had CleanRAM on my Tilt 2 (from XDA) and it worked pretty good and allows scheduling. Is there a similar app for Android?
I'd get rid of Task Killer, you don't need it.
its not leaking memory...it handles memory differently than windows of yore....stop fretting about how much memory you have available and just reboot your phone once every few days....thats not needed, but if it makes you feel better to look at useless numbers...
Yeah you need to stop looking at this as either a windows pc or an old device (think g1). Get rid of the task killer and never look at how much free ram you have again. Its not important at all. I've had this phone for months and I literally have no idea how much ram it uses on average because I have never checked or cared. My phone has been running smooth since day one. Yours will too.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Available RAM is a useless number? Having unused apps continue to run in the background is nothing to worry about?
Does anyone have anything usefull to respond with?
Miami_Son said:
Available RAM is a useless number? Having unused apps continue to run in the background is nothing to worry about?
Does anyone have anything usefull to respond with?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you look at Window 7, there is a concept called pre-fetch. This allows the OS to load the programs into memory based on past usage, and frequency of usage. This lets us open the program much faster, than fetch when requested. This info is loaded to memory, and kept there, until some other program comes in that needs more memory.
And just 'cos a program is present in RAM doesn't mean it would use CPU.
And, based on my observation of android, I see that I have close to 180 MB free when the phone boots up. But this quickly reduces to around 120-150 in less than an hour based on what I use. After like a day this I see that free RAM is about 80-120 MB. And even after 3-4 days of no reboots, the free memory is still present at the same 80-120 levels. I am not sure what kind of memory management android uses, but its very effective, and never caused any noticeable lag in the system.
And, I do not use any task killers, not free up RAM in task manager.
Your concerns are flawed in the fact that the Linux kernel handles memory different than what you are used to. Simply speaking, Linux keeps memory used by applications on need to basis. It keeps it loaded until something else needs to use it. It will take from something else at the required time. A system actually performs faster when there is less memory available because that means that applications are able to be recalled quicker. It's not like it can only load from what is left available.
You will also notice that many applications take up memory but are using 0 CPU. This speaks to the fact that it simply loaded into memory and not taking up resources required for other operations.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Lot to learn about this Android, I see. So, why are there so many task killers on Market and other RAM-related programs if it is not important? Should I really not be concerned when I see a program I hardly use being shown as running on startup?
Miami_Son said:
Lot to learn about this Android, I see. So, why are there so many task killers on Market and other RAM-related programs if it is not important? Should I really not be concerned when I see a program I hardly use being shown as running on startup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I got my android phone, the first thing I did was put up things like task killer, start up auditor, etc. But as weeks passed, I realized these were more of deteriorating performance, than improve it. So got rid of them. Android can handle itself.
Autokiller optimises memory by changing values in android rather than kills apps. I reccomemd it, definately makes the phone faster. Set it to agressive.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Miami_Son said:
Lot to learn about this Android, I see. So, why are there so many task killers on Market and other RAM-related programs if it is not important? Should I really not be concerned when I see a program I hardly use being shown as running on startup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It started with the combination of old versions of android (think cupcake and doughnut) and phones like the G1. Older versions didn't handle ram as well as they do in eclair and up. If you combine this with the fact that those older phones had less ram, and likely didn't use any gpu acceleration (unsure of this though), then task killers and other programs were considered necessary to get a fluid feeling experience.
They are still in the market now for 2 reasons.
1. Because some people still have those old phones and still run old versions of android. (less likely)
2. Habit. If people are used to using them and tell others they are necessary because they've always worked, why would a developer pull his money making app from the market? (much more likely)
So when Pandora or Grooveshark freeze, which happens all the time, and leaves my phone utterly useless until they're done doing whatever it is they're doing, how is using a task killer to...kill the process...not useful? It's much faster than rebooting the phone. I also think it's much faster than going into each application's individual settings to use the 'force stop' command. Is there a different way to kill a stuck app other than these methods?
Miami_Son said:
My Cappy starts with about 165mb of free RAM, but it quickly goes away as I use apps. I have Task Killer installed and set to kill apps every 30 minutes, but once I get down to about 90mb of RAM it is impossible to get anywhere near what I boot with free. I'm used to memory leakage on my WinMo phones, but this is way worse. I had CleanRAM on my Tilt 2 (from XDA) and it worked pretty good and allows scheduling. Is there a similar app for Android?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Along with what everyone else said, remember that a memory leak is a LEAK, something that is continuously draining, not a one-time thing. So, if memory goes to 80MB free and holds, that's not a leak, that's simply memory that is being used. If free memory drops to 75, then 60, then 55, 50, 45, and so on, then you have a true leak to worry about.
Well, what we Windows Mobile users often also refer to as leaks is the bad habit of some apps to not release their memory when closed. For instance, a program that carves out 25mb of RAM when started and returns less then half of that when closed.
jaju123 said:
Autokiller optimises memory by changing values in android rather than kills apps. I reccomemd it, definately makes the phone faster. Set it to agressive.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anyone else know much about "Autokiller"?
i used to use a task killer with my G1, and continued to do so with my captivate but i saw a few things like this: http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/ and decided to get rid of my task killers and my phone seemed actually a little faster and seemed my battery life increased.
matt310 said:
So when Pandora or Grooveshark freeze, which happens all the time, and leaves my phone utterly useless until they're done doing whatever it is they're doing, how is using a task killer to...kill the process...not useful? It's much faster than rebooting the phone. I also think it's much faster than going into each application's individual settings to use the 'force stop' command. Is there a different way to kill a stuck app other than these methods?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is useful in those situations but realistically when people give that argument they are just looking for a reason to keep it. Android has the ability to kill tasks built in. If you're on 2.1 then yeah it's buried deeper in the menu but not a big deal. I can't imagine an app freezing enough to warrant having a task killer for. If you're on 2.2 it's much more easily accessible.
When we talk about task killers we're talking about people using them to kill open tasks that aren't causing issues simply to see more free ram available.
I have two Task Managers installed: "System Panel" and "Advanced Task Manager"
When I use the above two apps to check my free memory (RAM) available, it always shows around 75-100 mb remaining
When I use the stock app manager to check free memory, the value is always significantly higher - like 140-160 mb.
Does anyone know why there is discrepancy between the two readings? Which one shows the more accurate value?
sax1981 said:
I have two Task Managers installed: "System Panel" and "Advanced Task Manager"
When I use the above two apps to check my free memory (RAM) available, it always shows around 75-100 mb remaining
When I use the stock app manager to check free memory, the value is always significantly higher - like 140-160 mb.
Does anyone know why there is discrepancy between the two readings? Which one shows the more accurate value?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i dont know why there would be a discrepancy but you shouldnt use a task manager/killer on android 2.2+
slowz3r said:
i dont know why there would be a discrepancy but you shouldnt use a task manager/killer on android 2.2+
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why not?
sax1981 said:
Why not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Starting in Froyo, Android has become more efficient at it's own native memory management than past versions and Gingerbread continued that improvement. What this means is that if Android starts running low on RAM, it will start killing things itself and reclaiming/reallocating the memory without the need for a third party app. The other concern about using a TasKiller most people raise is that if you set it to autokill, system apps or other sort of apps that need to be run(such as Facebook widget, other kind of widgets, noLED, et al) will relaunch on their own causing the TasKiller to kill it again... relaunch... kill... relaunch... kill keep your CPU cycles at 100% and draining your battery quicker than it should be.
That being said, I still use a TasKiller on autokill with the screen off simply because I like to (and paid for the app, so dangit, I'm gonna use it! ). Once you have identified the apps that relaunch upon kill and set TasKiller to ignore them, the battery concern isn't an issue.
sax1981 said:
Why not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
they changed the way android 2.2+ handles apps in the background so when the task killer kills an app it does more harm than good, mainly kill the hell out of your battery because android wants to start it back up again
Dont know the details but thats the jist of it
System panel is a must have. It's not used to kill all apps, just to monitor your phone and kill an out of control app.
To answer the question, the way android shares RAM between processes is very difficult to actually identify free RAM and which apps are using what. So some apps make the choice to display the free RAM differently, no way around it as there is no one "right answer" on each memory usage. I always go by system panel myself.
RogerPodacter / slowz3r / unremarked - Thanks for the info!
I've seen a lot of debates abt whether advanced task manager is good for the phone or not but im not sure if it has a positive effect on our xt720 with very little ram, so does it make more sense to use advanced task manager?? Btw im talking abt the 2.1 version of xt720 not the dexter's froyo or anything else. any help would be appreciated!
Advanced task manager is an app and task killer. Although discussion is varied it is safe to say a majority of very computer literate people tend to think task killers are bad for your phone and actually cause more battery drain in the end.
It is important to know how android handles memory. When you open an app for example the browser, and then move to gmail android puts the browser in an idle state. If after that you open say google maps and your phone has no more free memory android will kill your first process the browser to make space. The apps which are idle take no memory resources and just sit there. Killing idle apps, which usually reappear as soon as they are killed drain more juice, and are slow to launch.
A better app to use is the Autokiller memory optimizer. It uses a script to change androids own parameters at boot. So you can specify at what ram you want android to kill the idle apps. It does not involve killing apps and lets android handle everything. Ive been using it for quite some time and my phone is snappy fast and has around 60-70MB ram free all the time. I use the strict settings anything about that free's too much ram. Ofcourse your phone needs to be rooted for this to work.
sohrab.naushad said:
Advanced task manager is an app and task killer. Although discussion is varied it is safe to say a majority of very computer literate people tend to think task killers are bad for your phone and actually cause more battery drain in the end.
It is important to know how android handles memory. When you open an app for example the browser, and then move to gmail android puts the browser in an idle state. If after that you open say google maps and your phone has no more free memory android will kill your first process the browser to make space. The apps which are idle take no memory resources and just sit there. Killing idle apps, which usually reappear as soon as they are killed drain more juice, and are slow to launch.
A better app to use is the Autokiller memory optimizer. It uses a script to change androids own parameters at boot. So you can specify at what ram you want android to kill the idle apps. It does not involve killing apps and lets android handle everything. Ive been using it for quite some time and my phone is snappy fast and has around 60-70MB ram free all the time. I use the strict settings anything about that free's too much ram. Ofcourse your phone needs to be rooted for this to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im trying the app now so far so good. After i put it in strict level, there is nothing else that i should be doing with the app rite? i can just continue with the normal use of my phone rite? thx a lot! oh and i already uninstalled advanced task manager.
Nopes, just use your phone as you would Use the lowest settings that make your phone feel fast. How much free memory are you getting now? Also reboot your phone once. I've used the strict settings makes my phone feel great lemme know how it works out for you.
You should also use milestone overclock to overclock your processor if you dont already. Its available on the market for free. I use 1 Ghz, 74 Vsel!
After using the memory app, I have also 60-70mb free oh and I also use milestone overclock my settings are 1ghz 62vsel. What are the advantages of increasing the vsel value?
Sent from my Milestone XT720 using XDA App
I find that having a higher vsel keeps the system more stable during memory intensive tasks. Also I found no difference in battery life thats why I use the stock presets. Before I used 56 vsel 1 ghz but when I opened up the camera or something the system would hang and reboot. Try it out, its also much faster
More vsel actually drains the battery faster. From my experiance and recomnendations I found out that 1Ghz @ 66vsel is my optimal setting.
About ATK and Autokiller memory optimizer - crap! I preffer Running service and Manage application to deal with programs if I need to, but I mostly let Android decide for himself. My phone always have around 60MB free memory and ROM is fast and very responsive.
Also you may wanna try JuceDefender. Awesome app which saves you battery and clears RAM, if you are not feeling comfortable doing it yourself.
eSu.Matix said:
More vsel actually drains the battery faster. From my experiance and recomnendations I found out that 1Ghz @ 66vsel is my optimal setting.
About ATK and Autokiller memory optimizer - crap! I preffer Running service and Manage application to deal with programs if I need to, but I mostly let Android decide for himself. My phone always have around 60MB free memory and ROM is fast and very responsive.
Also you may wanna try JuceDefender. Awesome app which saves you battery and clears RAM, if you are not feeling comfortable doing it yourself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Umm, I think you're confusing autokiller memory optimizer with the normal task killers. Look it up, it isnt a task killer but changes androids native application management parameters. Which ROM are you on?
Also ive used ultimate juice for sometime. It doesnt clear RAM, it just toggles your data and wifi according to options you set. I also noticed that without juice defender my phone works just as much so dont know how much that helps.
Battery calibration after new ROM flash has always made my battery meter more accurate and lasts longer.
I very well may and I apologize for that.
Actually I use recovery mode options to set the aggressiveness of the running service and I'm more than satisfied.
Sent from my XT720 using XDA App
P.S. StealEpicBlue with some little tweaks from me (few deleted system apps).
eSu.Matix said:
I very well may and I apologize for that.
Actually I use recovery mode options to set the aggressiveness of the running service and I'm more than satisfied.
Sent from my XT720 using XDA App
P.S. StealEpicBlue with some little tweaks from me (few deleted system apps).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you do that. I am running steelblue also and can always tweak it more. Is it through Androidiani recovery that you set the aggressiveness. I might start a thread tomorrow about all the things Androidiani does and how to use them. Haven't been able to find too much on it, but I know alot of people use it.
Hey guys, just looking to see if an app exists.
I use SuperBox to 'clear/free' my memory. I like to keep it at around 230MBs free at all times or so. My question is this: is there an app that exists that does this same thing, in a one-click widget form? Someting I can set as a 1x1 icon on one of my screens to just tap and it will clear the memory? That would be quite convenient, as right now I need to open up SuperBox, navigate to the Memory pane, then click 'Clear Memory'.
Thanks for the suggestions!
es taskmanager.
By default it will clear all apps in the list except a few which are hidden.
You can unhide apps/services by accessing the options menu.
You can also set a kill list only, so when you tap the widget it will only kill apps in your kill list.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.estrongs.android.taskmanager&feature=search_result
Clearing memory doesn't really help your phone to much, it's just gonna restore in a second.
You can create shortcuts to your memory clearing App
Sent from my R800i using XDA App
task killers as you all should know are not healthy for android phones. linux pools memory. it manages it on its own.
Here's a good article on this: Android Task Killers Explained: What They Do and Why You Shouldn’t Use Them
In Android, processes and Applications are two different things. An app can stay "running" in the background without any processes eating up your phone's resources. Android keeps the app in its memory so it launches more quickly and returns to its prior state. When your phone runs out of memory, Android will automatically start killing tasks on its own, starting with ones that you haven't used in awhile.
The problem is that Android uses RAM differently than, say, Windows. On Android, having your RAM nearly full is a good thing. It means that when you relaunch an app you've previously opened, the app launches quickly and returns to its previous state. So while Android actually uses RAM efficiently, most users see that their RAM is full and assume that's what's slowing down their phone. In reality, your CPU—which is only used by apps that are actually active—is almost always the bottleneck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thus, killing all but the essential apps (or telling Android to kill apps more aggressively with the "autokill" feature) is generally unnecessary. Furthermore, it's actually possible that this will worsen your phone's performance and battery life. Whether you're manually killing apps all the time or telling the task killer to aggressively remove apps from your memory, you're actually using CPU cycles when you otherwise wouldn't—killing apps that aren't doing anything in the first place.
In fact, some of the processes related to those apps will actually start right back up, further draining your CPU. If they don't, killing those processes can cause other sorts of problems—alarms don't go off, you don't receive text messages, or other related apps may force close without warning. All in all, you're usually better off letting your phone work as intended—especially if you're more of a casual user. In these instances, a task killer causes more problems than it solves.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Task killers are useless on anything newer then android 2.1. All they'll do is break some apps. I haven't used these on my phones and don't have issues. If your phone is slow its due to a rogue app.
Edit: somehow missed Norflynns post. That link sums it up perfectly.
Sent from my R800i using XDA App
^^^ What they said
It's ok to have a task manager to keep an eye on processes and kill troublesome ones, but no point in constantly killing all your processes.
i am currently on Gb 2.3.5, i was wondering if i need advance task killer?
or is there something better? or i shouldn't install anything?
You do not need task killers. They are counter intuitive. They prevent the phone from sleeping and also conflict with androids inherent memory management, which is linux, because of the kernel. Things are cached in memory for ease of reopening later, while free memory is filled up with other caches to sped up the OS. Totally free and unused memory is wasted (to a point, eventually you need some, but android handles that pretty well).
Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk
No. Android takes care of memory for you.
Sent from my Droid Charge running Infinity Beta
Do like I do and holds down the home button and kill all the task that you don't want running
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA App
dont use task killers! sure, use the built in task manager to close apps when you're done with them but never use "clear ram" or any other task manager. Like previously stated they do way more harm then good
If you feel like you'd prefer to forego multitasking ability for sake of having more RAM available, you could always use V6 supercharger to adjust your minfrees values.
I rarely have many things going at once, and so I have my values set to free up RAM at pretty high values. Still allows me to swap seamlessly between Opera, Twitter, FB, and my Fantasy Football app, which is really my bread and butter. Any games or other programs are used seldom enough to where I can wait to allow them to free up RAM from other sources and open the program without much aggravation.