PLEASE READ: Do NOT worry about Apps running in the Background

[Mjaydakid]

What is OCD?

[BayouFlyFisher]

What is OCD?

When I use the term it applies to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. We all joke about it, but it is a live changing/controlling disorder that is absolutely no laughing matter for the folks with it and for their loved ones. (I just had to type that!)

[anewday]

Good to know. I was worried of the background apps draining the battery.

[kodiak799]

I just did an experiment. Left my screen on overnight (should have been 0% brightness, but ended up with 30% because that is my default locale setting).

Virtually no other usage. I had wifi, gps and bluetooth turned off, 3G on. No task killer running. Here's the data on battery usage:
Display: 91%
Cell Standby: 4%
Android System: 3% (15.2 minutes)
Locale: 2% (3.1 minutes)
Total battery time: 10.2 hours

I have a number of widgets running. I've thought in the past Advanced Task Manager gave me a bit more battery life killing non-excluded stuff every 30 minutes, but those numbers for Android System and Locale are consistent regardless of what else is running and whether I've used a task killer. Even so, those two took up 5%, or about 31 minutes of battery time. Even if you could halve that (and I don't think you can), you would gain just 15 more minutes of battery life.

I need to re-run this with the brightness at 0 (think I will get 12-13 hours of battery life in "never sleep" mode). Also, I've played around with locale launching Kaloer clock which has a lower brightness than available from the settings menu, though I'm not sure this has any effect on battery life vs. 0% from the settings menu.

It's possible if I had opened a bunch of apps throughout the day I may have seen some additional battery drain or notice lag. Ultimately I probably will re-install Advanced TM to autokill every 30 minutes and set-up a bunch of exclusions. Doesn't seem to take any battery and it will kill anything that hangs or maybe is updating more than I want it or need it to.

[aggiechase37]

I must say, I just deleted ATK and my phone runs smoother too. And I'm running Home++ as well as some non market apps like Google Earth, 2.1 Gallery, and Swype. Let me run around for a day with no ATK and then I'll re report...

[SSHGuru]

ATK being Advanced Task Killer - the one that doesnt do ANYTHING until you tell it to? Deleting that has no effect at all.

Deleting the automatic ones will have an effect.

[kodiak799]

Well, I've got to run some more tests. Deleted Advanced Task Manager (had it set to autokill every 30 minutes, with exclusions for most of my frequently run stuff) and it seems my battery life may have gotten a shocking improvement = 1hour+ more. On the other hand, my phone did seem a bit faster at times, but hardly a good trade-off if it was draining my battery like that. Had to be something else, no way it has that kind of impact on the battery (if anything, it should have a marginally positive effect I'd think).

[Droidfish]

I had gotten so used to Advanced Task killer that getting rid of it was like saying goodbye to an old friend, lol. I even redownloaded it like "what harm can it do?"

I wouldn't say I run smoother without it but I was definitely wasting my time with it(a lot of time)

[aggiechase37]

Two days of running Android with NO ATK and I must say that my phone still runs smoother without it. Seems snappier, only a marginal amount of lag every now and again, but this is less lag than what I had been experiencing with ATK. So I'm going and staying commando with no ATK. You guys really should consider doing the same. At least delete it and see how it goes for a couple days. If you're experience is anything like mine you won't look back!

[BishopNoble]

I think someone should post on page one (with an update maybe) some of the things this is supposed to fix. Maybe some of the tips for determining your battery usage. Some of the good information on multiple pages. I got to page 11, and never heard an answer to "I have this program that runs in the background, it doesn't have a close option, and it uses all my battery. Shouldn't I use ATK to close this?"

So it would be nice if that kind of information wasn't buried in this long thread.