Autoloading apps - now short bat life

E39

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Received my 2.2 upgrade several days ago. In general, I like the new features. I'm using Advanced Task Killer and noticed that under 2.2 a lot of apps are loading automatically in the background and it's consuming memory and now my battery life is less than a day.

I don't remember if there's a way to keep (mostly downloaded) apps from running automatically.
 

harrellj

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There's a lot of debate about task killers, but one consensus is that they don't work in 2.2. Otherwise, the OS itself handles memory usage much better in 2.2 than it did in 2.1 (and 2.1 is better than prior... thinking about it, thats probably where it came out to get one, back in donut/cupcake days). Basically, try disabling ATK for a day and see whether or not your battery life improves.

If you want the nitty gritty details on how the system handles memory usage, there's a whole thread on task killers where the debate about whether to use them or not is still ongoing.
 

iPirate

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Uninstall them or check their settings and turn them off. also remove the task killer
 
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E39

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Great advice. I've since already stopped several apps but never thought of ATK as being a problem. I'll shut it down tonight and see what happens by morning.

ATK didn't seem to be much of a problem under 2.1

Thanks for the help.
 
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E39

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Got rid of several apps I no longer/never used. Uninstalled ATK. No change in battery life. Searched other threads here and found some good suggestions. I'll try those.

I just don't like (basic) apps (not services) that just launch on their own.
 

BayouFlyFisher

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Best write-up I've seen on the ATK issue:

Written by Martin030908
Android was designed from the ground up as an operating system (OS) for mobile devices. Its built-in application and memory-management systems were engineered with battery life as one of the most critical concerns.
The Android OS does not work like a desktop operating system. On a desktop OS, like Windows, Mac OS X, or Ubuntu Linux, the user is responsible for closing programs in order to keep a reasonable amount of memory available. On Android, this is not the case. The OS itself automatically removes programs from memory as memory is needed. The OS may also preload applications into memory which it thinks might soon be needed.
Having lots of available empty memory is not a good thing. It takes the same amount of power to hold "nothing" in memory as it does to hold actual data. So, like every other operating system in use today, Android does its best to keep as much important/likely-to-be-used information in memory as possible.
As such, using a task manager/killer to constantly clear memory by killing apps is strongly NOT RECOMMENDED. Generally speaking, you should only "End" applications if you see one which is not working correctly.
 

eliassami5

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Best write-up I've seen on the ATK issue:

Written by Martin030908
Android was designed from the ground up as an operating system (OS) for mobile devices. Its built-in application and memory-management systems were engineered with battery life as one of the most critical concerns.
The Android OS does not work like a desktop operating system. On a desktop OS, like Windows, Mac OS X, or Ubuntu Linux, the user is responsible for closing programs in order to keep a reasonable amount of memory available. On Android, this is not the case. The OS itself automatically removes programs from memory as memory is needed. The OS may also preload applications into memory which it thinks might soon be needed.
Having lots of available empty memory is not a good thing. It takes the same amount of power to hold "nothing" in memory as it does to hold actual data. So, like every other operating system in use today, Android does its best to keep as much important/likely-to-be-used information in memory as possible.
As such, using a task manager/killer to constantly clear memory by killing apps is strongly NOT RECOMMENDED. Generally speaking, you should only "End" applications if you see one which is not working correctly.

that is quoted directly from Google and Android's Developers...so they know what they are talking about. Dont use a task killer..in 2.1 or 2.2 or 1.5 or 1.6 or 2.0.1....in ANY version!
 

bmv

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If you don't use a task killer, how do you end Apps?
 

harrellj

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Some apps have their own close buttons. For those who don't, the OS usually is fine at closing them. If an app is seriusly misbehaving, letting the dev know so that it can be fixed is always a good idea, but I find a rebbot is sufficient to fix any odd issues on the phone (like tech support jokes, reboot first and then fix if issue persists).

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
 
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E39

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So far JuiceDefender seems to being a good job. I also turned WiFi back on to reduce dependency on 3G. Using the OS settings to check on running apps isn't a problem.
 

rustydog

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I do not understand why apps that I do not use and do not intend to use are running. Amazon MP3, visual voice mail, voice search and My Verizon Mobile I never use. I have a crigs list app that runs all the time and I use the app every 2 or 3 weeks, why should it be running?
 

tgs3838

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Well ever since i got the 2.2 update Iv noticed my battery life seems to have really went to crap. Other night i fully charged my phone. Right b4 i went to sleep i took it off the charger. Maybe 6-7 hours later it was already at 70%. Maybe that's normal. But i swear it just doesnt last like it did. Iv also rooted since the update. But i haven't loaded any roms or anything. So im not sure if thats causing a problem or not.
 

eliassami5

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I do not understand why apps that I do not use and do not intend to use are running. Amazon MP3, visual voice mail, voice search and My Verizon Mobile I never use. I have a crigs list app that runs all the time and I use the app every 2 or 3 weeks, why should it be running?

it makes no difference if they are loaded or not..they DO NOT DO ANYTHING, they dont waste your battery life! they dont strain the CPU! they just lye there in memory until you need to use them. Do Not Worry About Them..again...DO NOT WORRY ABOUT THEM. How many times do we have to repeat this?? It takes the same amount of energy to store NOTHING in memory than it does to store SOMETHING in memory so you are wasting your time killing processes that are just lying dormant in memory.

Oh and by the way you might wanna check the apps that you download to see if they are causing your battery to drain quickly...Such as the Craigslist app. If you go into its settings, it is defaulted to update EVERY 2 min on wifi and EVERY 10 min on 3g if i am correct...thats whats robbing your battery. Change the settings in that app and see how much better your battery life gets. Since the latest update i think its 10min and 20min..but still not any better.
 

IcyStorm

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I don't know, but I typically kind of care why these things run. I use LauncherPro, and the thing redraws (preventing me from interacting with anything) when my phone's low on free RAM. I noticed that this particularly happens when all these things are running in the background, whether they're in the foreground or not. Perhaps this is an issue with LP, but still, I still like free RAM because it seems to give me fewer issues.
 
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