With Smart Actions, is there any need for a task killer?

[Kas84]

I have heard mixed reviews about task killers. Some swear by them where others will tell you that they are a waste. Is it true that they can sometimes have a negative effect on battery life? If not, what are the very best task killers to download? Any help is appreciated.

Sent from my DROID4 using DroidForums

 

[Kabel_Guy]

I have used watchdog. It alerts when an app breaks a cpu thresh hold and gives you the option to kill. Some apps don't close and eat battery. Others will just restart which eats battery every time you kill. Let phone manage most and kill only the stubborn ones watch dog alerts me on (which are very few golflogix, weatherbug two worst offenders for me.)

Sent from my stock thunderbolt, a year later, a bunch of updates later, finally happy.

 

[TC_Mits]

I use ATK (Advanced Task Killer) and find it seems to unclog things when my old DX bogs down. I just kill everything (that won't stop the phone from working) when I do it. A lot of useless (to me anyway) stuff reloads quickly, but occasional manual use like that has no real impact on the battery.

Task killers won't significantly hurt battery life unless you use the auto-kill options on apps that are able to reload themselves. That creates an endless cycle of kill-and-reload that would obviously eat through a charge very quickly. I don't use auto-kill and don't have that problem.

As for whether tks "are a waste" -->
The idea here is that Android is built to leave recent apps in memory until another needs the space. What I find is that, to paraphrase Orwell, 'some apps are more equal than others.' The FF page I just left to check my ToDo list gets booted by CityID or VZNavigator apps that I have NEVER used. So I use ATK to clear out memory before leaving FF. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

There are many threads operated by cadres of crusaders whose sole purpose in life seems to be the death of task killers. They remind me of the prohibiton era Temperance Union in their zeal and perseverance. What I have not exactly figured out yet is 'WHY?' they are so concerned. If I want to drain my battery playing Angry Birds all day, there's no uproar over that. So why the great fuss about task killers? Frankly, it makes me suspicious that there must be more going on here than meets the eye.


Perspective instantiates reality.
( By DX w/DF app. )

 

[greekchampion04]

you said it... the way android OS is set up, you dont need a task killer. also, moto did build in a tool for us that allows us to manage (and kill) running apps if something is giving you problems.

as for apps you never use running in the background and taking up memory, why dont you just freeze/delete them?

motoblur app killer:
settings --> manage apps --> running