Help me understand the "don't ever use task killers" argument

[zerosouls]

This debate again... I say stop talking about em and use em or don't. Its not my phone using task killers and if its yours, well at least its not mine.

The end. ;P

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

 

[aaf709]

I understand that Task Killers weren't so popular until they used the word Killer instead of Placebo in the name.

 

[hookbill]

This debate again... I say stop talking about em and use em or don't. Its not my phone using task killers and if its yours, well at least its not mine.

The end. ;P

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

lol…how many times are we going to see this debate? It will always come up.

I don't use a task killer and I think most people who understand the Droid don't use it either. But for the OP if you want to use it then try it. If your phone starts to behave whacked a month down the road make sure that's the first thing you delete.

Some people just got to try it and make up their own mind.

 

[IncredibleMe]

Some folks are complaining about my thread because this is an old topic. However, mine is different in that I asked specifically to give me examples of how task killers harm your phone.. and nobody has posted anything. I'm not talking about battery life with or without the task killer. You're gonna scream to the hilltops not to use a task killer? Fine. Tell me the facts on actual damage if you do.

 

[doug piston]

Some folks are complaining about my thread because this is an old topic. However, mine is different in that I asked specifically to give me examples of how task killers harm your phone.. and nobody has posted anything. I'm not talking about battery life with or without the task killer. You're gonna scream to the hilltops not to use a task killer? Fine. Tell me the facts on actual damage if you do.

You are not getting it. There is no physical damage to be done. Only unnecessary redundancy that android already does by itself. Point being the is no point in a task killer so why waste the space. There have been many examples in this thread why they are not needed.

If you want to use it, then use it. Its your phone. Stop asking about try it and find out if you like it.

/rant

 

[gonnadie4thegov]

The only way i could see you damaging your phone if you close an app or program that is sending, recieving, reading, or writing data and it could corrupt that app and have it cause problems to your phone.

 

[bigaudiofanatic]

So it has almost been 2 hours and I have left 4 applications open. I opened apps killer they are still running. Hmm to me they could of been closed by now or should have been sense they have not been used.

 

[IncredibleMe]

Some folks are complaining about my thread because this is an old topic. However, mine is different in that I asked specifically to give me examples of how task killers harm your phone.. and nobody has posted anything. I'm not talking about battery life with or without the task killer. You're gonna scream to the hilltops not to use a task killer? Fine. Tell me the facts on actual damage if you do.

You are not getting it. There is no physical damage to be done. Only unnecessary redundancy that android already does by itself. Point being the is no point in a task killer so why waste the space. There have been many examples in this thread why they are not needed.

If you want to use it, then use it. Its your phone. Stop asking about try it and find out if you like it.

/rant

Stop asking about it? Whoa.. I thought this was a friendly forum? This how you treat new folks?

 

[doug piston]

Some folks are complaining about my thread because this is an old topic. However, mine is different in that I asked specifically to give me examples of how task killers harm your phone.. and nobody has posted anything. I'm not talking about battery life with or without the task killer. You're gonna scream to the hilltops not to use a task killer? Fine. Tell me the facts on actual damage if you do.

You are not getting it. There is no physical damage to be done. Only unnecessary redundancy that android already does by itself. Point being the is no point in a task killer so why waste the space. There have been many examples in this thread why they are not needed.

If you want to use it, then use it. Its your phone. Stop asking about try it and find out if you like it.

/rant

Stop asking about it? Whoa.. I thought this was a friendly forum? This how you treat new folks?

That is not how i treat folks. I am simply stating with this being as divide as it is the only way you get an answer is to try it yourself. If you like, good. If you don't, good. I don't think your answer will lie in this thread.

 

[megawatz]

I have a task killer, but I only use it when my phone is a little slow. I think it's called System Panel Lite. It comes with a widget that is a square box and has a red X on it, to close all the apps that are not excluded on the list that you specify. So it's not all bad. I wind up going from 32mb of space to 75 (usually).

The only thing I worry about sometimes is if you close the program immediately it could corrupt the files that might be reading/writing while it's running, causing it to not function properly. Anyone else heard this theory?

It's basically the same reason when you shut your Windows computer down manually, the system files sometimes gets corrupted and causes the system to run a little slower/not work properly. Get what I mean?

 

[Darkseider]

So it has almost been 2 hours and I have left 4 applications open. I opened apps killer they are still running. Hmm to me they could of been closed by now or should have been sense they have not been used.

They are not using any CPU time and a minute amount of memory. They cause no performance degradation nor are they using any measurable amount of battery. This is what Android does and does well. Stop obesessing. If you actually saw the laundry list of processes that run on an Android you would die thinking "OMG RUNNIG APPS!! KILL! KILL! KILL!" Let Android do its' job, it does it well. If you are rooted use the MinFree memory manager to tweak memory reclamation aggressiveness and limits. Otherwise Android stock does the job just dandy.

Now... BURN IT! BURN IT WITH FIRE!!!

 

[gonnadie4thegov]

So it has almost been 2 hours and I have left 4 applications open. I opened apps killer they are still running. Hmm to me they could of been closed by now or should have been sense they have not been used.

I always knew people from Bridgeton couldn't read

This subject has been talked about a lot in here since the Droids release. I've talked to a developer who is very well versed in Linux/Android and he summarized the following as correct......

Android is different to most other phone operating systems. It's closer to Linux than any other type of operating system. Lots of services and applications constantly run in the background just like they do on Windows. However, and this is important, they do not have to use up a ton of resources. A service or app can be loaded, yet use almost no additional memory, and 0% CPU until it actually has to do something.

In general, killing off stuff is a waste of time. Android automatically asks apps to close that aren't needed when it needs more memory. Killing off some of the processes you are killing off also means it'll slow your phone down, as these processes only need to reload, and when you do need to use them it means the phone will be slower for the few seconds it takes to reload them.

Stolen from Cereal Killer

 

[IncredibleMe]

You are not getting it. There is no physical damage to be done. Only unnecessary redundancy that android already does by itself. Point being the is no point in a task killer so why waste the space. There have been many examples in this thread why they are not needed.

If you want to use it, then use it. Its your phone. Stop asking about try it and find out if you like it.

/rant

Stop asking about it? Whoa.. I thought this was a friendly forum? This how you treat new folks?

That is not how i treat folks. I am simply stating with this being as divide as it is the only way you get an answer is to try it yourself. If you like, good. If you don't, good. I don't think your answer will lie in this thread.

I have tried it - that isn't the point of the thread. It's not a "do you like task killers" thread. I just wanted to know if using them actually damages the phone. Your reply about them just duplicating what Android does was the kind of response I was looking for so I thank you for that.

 

[littlerick]

I've read many threads on task killers. I myself knew nothing about them before I got my phone. Like many others, the actual manager of the VZ store downloaded advanced task killer to my phone. Yes, I've heard from others that VZ reps don't know anything...blah blah... but logically, if using task killers is so bad, you'd think that a tech at VZ (they can't ALL be idiots) or someone at HTC would be putting out a company-wide memo to not only stop downloading task killers to customers' phones, but to not even endorse them at all.

So, I have read in the the threads over and over to "let the OS run like it's supposed to.." and "the Incredible will close programs itself..." but here are a few questions I have.

1) I haven't read a worst case scenario yet as to what "bad things" can happen to your phone if you use a task killer. Instead of saying "don't use them," can you give me some proven examples of horrible things that can happen to the phone?

2) I have read threads stating that some things that are listed in a task killer's list of currently running apps/programs aren't necessarily using up battery, they're just open. After rebooting my phone, I opened advanced task killer and saw a TON of stuff open or running (at least according to advanced task killer) - FM Radio, Notes, YouTube, Clock, Calendar, Footprints, Gmail (I don't use), Voice Dialer, Market. HOWEVER, when I go to Settings to see what is actually pulling juice from the battery, none of these are listed...unless they are covered under the "android system" listing. After some time, everything I mentioned was still listed as open or running under advanced task killer - if the Incredible is supposed to maintain itself and close things that shouldn't be open, then why are all these things still on?

IMHO, there is not a doubt in my mind that using advanced task killer has saved batter life - nobody can tell me different. Maybe it varies with other folks using it and results might vary. Whether using the app is good or bad, that is the point of this thread. So.. convince me I shouldn't use it anymore.

Stop asking about it? Whoa.. I thought this was a friendly forum? This how you treat new folks?

That is not how i treat folks. I am simply stating with this being as divide as it is the only way you get an answer is to try it yourself. If you like, good. If you don't, good. I don't think your answer will lie in this thread.

I have tried it - that isn't the point of the thread. It's not a "do you like task killers" thread. I just wanted to know if using them actually damages the phone. Your reply about them just duplicating what Android does was the kind of response I was looking for so I thank you for that.

so which point is the point of the thread? 1st you want them to convince you not to use it now its will it damage the phone

 

[smartphoneguy]

New Incredible Owner

Okay...I am cautiously weighing in here....as the opinions seem very strong on both sides of the ledger.

I've had my Incredible for almost two weeks now - my first smartphone. After a few days I called VZ and told them I wanted to return it - because battery life was absolutely the pits. It would barely make it six hours on standby.

When I took it to the store to return it, a very knowledgeable VZ rep (who also owns an Incredible) helped me download ATK and change a few other settings. After talking with him awhile I agreed to give it another try. After leaving the store, I went home, charged the phone and it rewarded me with 24+ hours of standby time. Since then, I am typically getting 30+ standby hours on a charge (this is with the original 1300 mAh battery).

In all fairness to this forum, I also turned off Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, & GPS. Right now I don't need to have those apps running.

The bottom line is - I really don't know if ATK solved the problem, or whether turning off the unneeded functions solved the problem, or a combination of both. For those of you who are technically talented - (I am technically challenged :icon_eek I can understand that you want your Droid to operated correctly and without unnecessary stuff interfering with the software. But for folks like me...without a lot of technical background, I just want it to work, as I love the phone.

I would be interested in others opinion's here as to whether I could really live without ATK....if you look at the reviews for this model phone on VZ's website (more than 1500) the overwhelming majority of reviews list negative comments regarding battery life. Right now I have ATK set to kill apps whenever the screen is darkened, and I also have an ATK widget on the home screen that I can "one-tap" to kill running apps. What is perplexing is that many times when I dont have anything open, I'll tap it and it will tell me it closed 3 or 4 apps. So, not only is Android opening apps I'm not using, it's not closing them either! Arrgghh!

Is there something us non-tech folks are missing....????

P. S. I still have a couple of weeks to upgrade to the Droid X if I want to.