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Hi,
some of the applications does not have a exist option (maybe i didnt figured this out!). in this case how can i close them (i.e. can i do that by using back button).
I can press and hold the home button to see which applications are running and switch between them. but this does not allows me to close them.
please help
ooo7
This has been answered many times before, but just to make it easy, you can use apps from he market. Personally, I've tried TasKiller and Advanced Task Killer. The latter I find to be the best.
http://www.cyrket.com/package/com.rechild.advancedtaskkiller
jamesking420 said:
This has been answered many times before, but just to make it easy, you can use apps from he market. Personally, I've tried TasKiller and Advanced Task Killer. The latter I find to be the best.
http://www.cyrket.com/package/com.rechild.advancedtaskkiller
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HI,
but the problem with the advanced task killer is it gives huge list (i.e. I have not even started them.. i think it gives a list what ever i got in my program list)
for example, if i press and hold the home key i will icons of application i am running, however if i run advanced task killer i will get morethan what i have in previuos method.
i maybe doing something wrong.. but cant figure it out. please help
thanks ooo7
Yes,
I do have the same issue, there are a lot of applications listed which I haven't opend before.... I also want to close applications on a regulair base.
It seems the hero will slow done a bit when having a few apps open, which ofcourse is logical.
Advanced task killer lists all the processes that are running.
All devices (Mobiles, PC's and PDAs) have processes running that you haven't opened. these are the OS, and other apps that need to be running the whole time, like Gmail (or you dont get any push mail), calendar (Or you dont get any reminders), messaging, and many more. this is basic stuff and you need to understand it. just cos you haven't opened it, doesn't mean it is not running.
try opening task manager on a windows pc, and most have 20-30 processes running. Did you start all of them?
Also, holding the home key does NOT show you running programs, it only shows you the last 6 programs YOU accessed. Android has NO way of showing you what processes are running without a third party program. (or not that i know of anyway)
gotta agree with jamesking420 though, advanced taskiller is the best of the bunch at the moment.
Android closes applications when it needs the memory, but until then it keeps them cached in memory. So unless you hit some sort of bug, there is no reason to manually close applications. How did you get into the habit of manually closing applications on your cell phone, anyways?
Volker1 said:
How did you get into the habit of manually closing applications on your cell phone, anyways?
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Click to collapse
probably from years of dealing with the antichrist of Mobile operating systems. Otherwise known as Windows mobile!
From what I've learned begin new to Android is that it is self monitoring. It will automatically close programs as needed ulike WinMo devices. You can just hit the back button or home button. It might store in the cache but the device will shut the program down as it is not needed.
archboy69 said:
From what I've learned begin new to Android is that it is self monitoring. It will automatically close programs as needed ulike WinMo devices. You can just hit the back button or home button. It might store in the cache but the device will shut the program down as it is not needed.
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Click to collapse
Truly idle apps won't affect performance, but misbehaving apps still cause problems. Ex: Peep drains the battery in no-time when it has no account preferences and thus can't possibly do anything useful. Give it valid twitter credentials, or kill it, and the battery lasts a lot longer. I.e. if you don't want to use twitter you either have to kill Peep every time after boot, get rid of it completely, or connect an external battery-pack
phel21 said:
get rid of it completely
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Click to collapse
Hell yes, how could I do that?
archboy69 said:
From what I've learned begin new to Android is that it is self monitoring. It will automatically close programs as needed ulike WinMo devices. You can just hit the back button or home button. It might store in the cache but the device will shut the program down as it is not needed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
rught, and if you add the android 'Task Bar' widget you can see, how much memory is free. You can also observe, that there are changes, because the operating systems frees memory by itself.
As others have written, there is no need to manually interfere, plus, if you switch off your device from time to time (I do it every night), you'll probably never have any problems with resources.
The known speed issues, that some users experience, should be solved by HTC and not with extensive use of Taskkillers and alike ...
Is there anyway of stopping peep and other things i don't use from starting up automatically?
Hello guys;
just received my phone yesterday and i have a question regarding open programs
does the back button until home screen close the program or it still run in memory?
some people advise the use of task killers to kill unwanted tasks to save battery
while others say that Linux is handling this automatically and using task killers is no use
some people claims that after they stopped using task killers their battery life was better
i am new the Android as i am an ex WinMo user so please enlighten me
Thanks for huge efforts guys
Yes, they are. Android does a poor job of managing tasks, even to the point it auto starts like everything in your phone and very few of them turn themselves off.
You can manually manage them in applications, running processes, but task killers are so much easier.
I have owned 3, and the one that is easiest to use, that I have never found a bug with is Advanced Task killer (Little green droid icon). The purchased version is expensive, but worth it as it gives you one click widget to kill tasks.
Advanced Taskiller is known for crashing the home screen and stopping vital system services requiring a reboot. I own the full, and I have no use for it.
Okay, let's see how many questions I can answer here....
First of all, using the back button does not close the program. Neither does the home button. Android does handle this natively, but it does so automatically. It doesn't matter how you exit a program, it stays running until it needs to close. Whenever too many apps are running, slowing the system down, it will close the older ones as needed. All automatically. Nice, huh?
Task killers let you do this more aggressively, or manually. You may want to do this if you want your system to be "extra" fast, or to save battery. Most of them have extra features, too, like switching to running apps, or uninstalling them, etc. Beyond that, you don't need it. Some people say that task killers actually drain battery, but in my experience, they help slightly. And they do improve performance slightly too--as long as you are smart about not killing the wrong apps. (HINT--if it's a widget or a background service, never kill it)
So really, it's up to you. Get a free one, or a trial, and try it out, see if it makes things better or worse. Just take into account the learning curve before you give up on it--you have to exclude widgets, background processes, and maybe a couple other apps, too... takes a bit of trial and error to figure out which apps get bugs when you kill them.
It's not necessary but highly recommended. I use Taskiller the paid version. I mainly use it to kill apps that start to have problems and to kill a lot of the apps that boot with the phone.
on G1: i use it every time i reboot, because on boot/startup, some apps open automatically that are not needed (e.g. maps, Documents To Go, alarm, etc.)
clears up a lot of memory
on Nexus One: not sure yet whether that's really necessary considering more RAM available
I use Advanced Task Manager purely because I bought it on my G1 and so thought I might as well. It has a kill-all widget (you can set exclusions of course) but I don't use that. I normally only use it to kill apps that I want to restart or just to monitor what apps are doing what.
I have tried running the phone without using it at all and using its automation feature to kill everything except widgets and background processes every 30 mins. I honestly didn't notice any battery life difference or performance except that abviously apps were slower to open if they'd been killed rather than when they were in the background.
In my opinion and based on anecdotal experiments, task killers are not necessary on the N1 and certainly nothing like as vital as they were on G1
system6 said:
Yes, they are. Android does a poor job of managing tasks, even to the point it auto starts like everything in your phone and very few of them turn themselves off.
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Click to collapse
Bull****. Prove your statement. This isn't Windows we're talking about. Android manages tasks and memory very well, if only people let it... but for some reason people can't understand that Android WILL automatically free memory AS NEEDED. Instead they open a task killer and **GASP** see open programs!! Autostarting certain apps is actually a good thing, since often those are the apps that people tend to use often, so they load very quickly. There is always some free memory with Android, and it never lets it get to a point where that drops to 0.
uansari1 said:
Bull****. Prove your statement. This isn't Windows we're talking about. Android manages tasks and memory very well, if only people let it... but for some reason people can't understand that Android WILL automatically free memory AS NEEDED. Instead they open a task killer and **GASP** see open programs!! Autostarting certain apps is actually a good thing, since often those are the apps that people tend to use often, so they load very quickly. There is always some free memory with Android, and it never lets it get to a point where that drops to 0.
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Click to collapse
+1. I dont use any task killers and have had no problems with speed or battery life.
uansari1 said:
Bull****. Prove your statement. This isn't Windows we're talking about. Android manages tasks and memory very well, if only people let it... but for some reason people can't understand that Android WILL automatically free memory AS NEEDED. Instead they open a task killer and **GASP** see open programs!! Autostarting certain apps is actually a good thing, since often those are the apps that people tend to use often, so they load very quickly. There is always some free memory with Android, and it never lets it get to a point where that drops to 0.
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Click to collapse
This.
I thought a task killer was necessary and went out and spent the dollar something on Advanced Task Killer. It made me feel "good" to know what I control what apps are open. But you know what? Ever since a factory reset, I have not put the Task Killer back on my phone and it's been about a week and a half if not more of letting android control my memory... And like uansari said... Android does a very good job of it.
I have not had to close any apps because of short memory. Android does a great job. Save your money.
Android (and Windows for that matter) has great memory management, but it's mostly a problem of rogue apps that don't sleep properly. I have Advanced Task Manager, and I've noticed with the Nexus One I see more "applications" running (like Launcher) that didn't show up on my G1 (running Enom's 1.6 before I got my N1). I found that I had to block a bunch of apps to keep them from being closed, and I got a couple of weird bugs that seemed to stem from closing apps. One of them was this problem with the audio not be routed properly to my BT or wired headset when connected. I use the task manager much more sparingly now, and only kill apps when they act up.
I really wish we had "Cards" like the Pre, so we could always know exactly what was open. Plus, the ability to "alt-tab" (swipe back and forth) is a million times better than this "hold home button" crap. Sigh. Need better alt tabbing.
while i do not disagree that Android does a ok (yes, ok! just that...) job to manage tasks & processes, I disagree that it opens or keeps open apps that are necessary or frequently used. That's not Android that does it, it's the apps that tell it to do it.
for instance (as i mentioned a few posts up), everytime i boot, it opens "Documents To Go"... an app i most infrequently use, almost never, but like to have in case i have to review a doc or excel sheet on the go.
It doesn't have to open on startup, it is not frequently used, but it still opens on start up.
so yes, i do use task killer, on startup. but i use it sparingly thereafter
shmigao said:
while i do not disagree that Android does a ok (yes, ok! just that...) job to manage tasks & processes, I disagree that it opens or keeps open apps that are necessary or frequently used. That's not Android that does it, it's the apps that tell it to do it.
for instance (as i mentioned a few posts up), everytime i boot, it opens "Documents To Go"... an app i most infrequently use, almost never, but like to have in case i have to review a doc or excel sheet on the go.
It doesn't have to open on startup, it is not frequently used, but it still opens on start up.
so yes, i do use task killer, on startup. but i use it sparingly thereafter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's fine... so Document to Go opens at boot, along with other apps. My point is that as you start opening other apps, and Documents to Go stays latent, it will get closed automatically as other apps demand memory. I'm not directing this specifically at you, shmigao... just responding to a concern a lot of people seem to have. Apps automatically opening at startup is common and don't cause a performance decrease.
I have yet to experience any slowdowns on my N1, and I never use the task killer that's built into Astro.
i use "automatic task killer" free from the market and my phone runs fine. I dont even have to think about it, because it clears memory when phone goes to sleep. I think it was more needed on htc magic than nexus.
uansari1 said:
Bull****. Prove your statement. This isn't Windows we're talking about. Android manages tasks and memory very well, if only people let it... but for some reason people can't understand that Android WILL automatically free memory AS NEEDED. Instead they open a task killer and **GASP** see open programs!! Autostarting certain apps is actually a good thing, since often those are the apps that people tend to use often, so they load very quickly. There is always some free memory with Android, and it never lets it get to a point where that drops to 0.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly.
I stopped using task killers on my N1 because it cause more problems and hosed my battery faster. I haven't used it in almost two weeks, and the phone is smooth and the battery lasts a lot longer.
No need for task killers on the N1, IMO.
uansari1 said:
Bull****. Prove your statement. This isn't Windows we're talking about. Android manages tasks and memory very well, if only people let it... but for some reason people can't understand that Android WILL automatically free memory AS NEEDED. Instead they open a task killer and **GASP** see open programs!! Autostarting certain apps is actually a good thing, since often those are the apps that people tend to use often, so they load very quickly. There is always some free memory with Android, and it never lets it get to a point where that drops to 0.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HA! Tell me how you really feel....LOL. I have tested my wifes G1 and my old MyTouch and found it gave me about 30% more battery time.
Yes it will auto close programs when it needs the resources, just like a Palm pre, but running processes are just that.....RUNNING.
uansari1 said:
Bull****. Prove your statement. This isn't Windows we're talking about. Android manages tasks and memory very well, if only people let it... but for some reason people can't understand that Android WILL automatically free memory AS NEEDED. Instead they open a task killer and **GASP** see open programs!! Autostarting certain apps is actually a good thing, since often those are the apps that people tend to use often, so they load very quickly. There is always some free memory with Android, and it never lets it get to a point where that drops to 0.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am perfectly happy with android managing my open applications and I have no concerns about RAM. My primary problem is that I am given *no* way to actually close an application if I really want to. An open application could still be polling, syncing, or updating and if I don't want that anymore how can I close it without the application developer explicitly coding an option for me to do so?
(an) Automatic task killer gives me the peace of mind that I can close applications that I use only once in a while and start with a clean slate every time I unlock the device.
I am not one of those users who places every single program there and requires a minimum amount of free ram, but I do have it cleaning up programs that have no business staying resident.
Wouldnt it by wise to use the "ignore" list many of these apps have.
That way you can have your frequenly used apps always able to quick load and the ones that you never use killed off.
I understand that Android has good memory management but I dont see the point of having some apps sitting there when I have no intention of opening them up on a regular basis.
Wow! Such heated debate over something so simple!
This isn't Android 1.0 or 1.5 or even 1.6(pretty darn good at auto closing)... this is Android 2.1 on 1ghz w/512mb RAM! The auto scaling of the CPU and the auto task closing is very, very, very good! There is no need for a task manager unless you want to use it to close something very specific because you want it closed NOW!
But there is no NEED for it, especially on the Nexus One. All it will do, if used regularly, is decrease battery life (yes, decrease, because it takes a lot more CPU power to open up an app than it takes to hold that program in the RAM's cache). As well, it will slow down your Android experience... Hero users found this one out, at least smart ones did, that the best way to keep it zipping along was to not use a task killer, except for media rich apps like youtube, music player, video player.
On a G1 running a Hero ROM, slightly different story in terms of speed, it was beneficial for several reasons; 1. Android 1.5 doesn't have nearly as good auto task management as 2.1. 2. A G1 used almost all of it's RAM to boot up the Hero ROM, and thus the auto settings were no where nearly as agressive as they would need to be.
But we are not talking about a G1 running a Hero ROM... we are talking about a Nexus One running stock Android 2.1...
If the OP, or anyone, wants a task killer, get Astro file manager, and use that. Kill the select few apps that you really want to when you get done, but don't bother getting an auto killer that messes with the already amazing job Android 2.1 and the Nexus One do!
it can be useful... i use it to close certain app that autostart or keep running in the background and use the GPS franticly trying to get a location
It started driving me mad. If I minimize browser, I can't be sure it won't close. Not only minimizing for longer periods, but short ones as well - wanted to reply an sms when a page was loading, but when I got back to it, it started over. And all the loaded tabs were gone! Saving states my ass, it takes time to load a page from zero and only the active browsing window remains. How to make this "multitasker" multitask?
does this also happen if you return to the browser by holding home?
kendong2 said:
does this also happen if you return to the browser by holding home?
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Click to collapse
Yes, that's the only way I switch betwen apps.
Have you installed the 'system-based' taskiller mod by any chance (you know, the one that was announced here that automatically keeps memory free by modifying the default thresholds for killing apps)?
If so, I reckon that's the issue! Either that, or you have too much running, so popping the browser into the background makes it a background task and it gets killed cos you're really short of RAM.
Let us know if you have used the tweak though...
@kengdong...
it doesn't matter how you change the apps.
For android it's the same, whether you tap an icon on a homescreen/list or whether you select it from the "task switch" thing... all that does is listing the last recently used applications but still tapping them results in the same internal action.
Source: Android SDK Documentation
I've had pretty much the same issue since I got the phone back in November (I guess I've just gotten used to it by now). I'm never really sure when I switch back to the browser if it will retain the page loaded and any other windows, or if it will reset, close the other windows, and have to reload the active page. I'm on the stock Telus ROM, no custom ROM, not rooted, no tweaks, nothing extra (I've been waiting patiently for 2.1 to come out before messing with custom ROMS).
olafos said:
Source: Android SDK Documentation
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thx for the heads up, i wasn't sure about this, actually i was asking to maybe get an answer to this worked
anon2122 said:
Have you installed the 'system-based' taskiller mod by any chance (you know, the one that was announced here that automatically keeps memory free by modifying the default thresholds for killing apps)?
If so, I reckon that's the issue! Either that, or you have too much running, so popping the browser into the background makes it a background task and it gets killed cos you're really short of RAM.
Let us know if you have used the tweak though...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I have stock rom and I have never used any task killer or related app / tweak.
And I don't run too much stuff.. only music player, messaging and sense's facebook perhaps. If music player is paused, why can't it quit it instead... I prefer multitasking of my past htc s730 which had like 7 megs of free ram after booting.
Even after a hard reset, this behavior remains.
i dont know.. it works fine for me....
1.. maybe there is a setting in the browser.. to always refresh.
2.. you have a repair issue.. Need to take it in to your local service provider repair center. Let them see your issue.
Dan330 said:
i dont know.. it works fine for me....
1.. maybe there is a setting in the browser.. to always refresh.
2.. you have a repair issue.. Need to take it in to your local service provider repair center. Let them see your issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Come on, it's no hardware issue. Most of the time the browser stays, but u just can't be sure about that because it sometimes just closes. I think that it's an issue with Android's STUPID memory management, which also has a scheduled "quit all" script.
Yesterday I opened up a few articles on the browser and decided to read them later. This morning they all remained and I was pleasantly surprised I could read them. This very moment, though, they are gone by now even though I haven't quit the browser - probably that 'quit all' script kicked in.
There could be something in settings, where you could chose apps which would not close ever unless quit..
I would love if Android apps were quitable without any automatic mem management.
Suggest to grab AutoKiller or MinFreeManager, which are just frontends to Android's memory management (also they reapply settings at boot time, as the system file that's being modified is reset every boot.)
See what your current settings are, and lower them (e.g. use "moderate" preset). Just search XDA for autokiller or minfreemanager for more info.
Pressing home should only move that application to the background (pressing back should close it).
If you are pressing home and applications are still closing then there must be a task killer of some sort in place closing it for you.
Lennyuk said:
Pressing home should only move that application to the background (pressing back should close it).
If you are pressing home and applications are still closing then there must be a task killer of some sort in place closing it for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You obviously have not read the topic.
No task killers, tasks dont neceaarily close, its juast that u cant be sure they will remain in memory.
Lennyuk said:
If you are pressing home and applications are still closing then there must be a task killer of some sort in place closing it for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes - it's the standard Android process management rather than a 3rd party task killer.
I guess the browser is given a low priority and is one of the first apps to be killed.
Regards,
Dave
This is obvioulsy my first android device and although cool. its a lot to get use too. I am used to having a taskmanager to close any open applications or ones running in the background. How do you to that with the Droid X? Everytime i opened an app, i just hit the home button and assume it closed. How do you close a program or an running app? Sorry if its a dumb question
You can download an app manager from the market. However, you probably don't even need to worry about that since the processor can more than likely handle the open apps. The android os is pretty good at managing your apps for you. Some people even say that the app manager messes the phone up.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
thank you...i'll just keep it the way it is then and assume the app closes when i exit to the home screen.
Another question for all the Droid X users. Is there a way to remove that little green droid that give you tips on the home screen. He is as annoying as the paperclip dude in microsoft word
nevermind...i just had to drag it down into the waste basket. i did try it before, must just not have draged it far enought donw before
Just to tell you, btw, apps in Android are notified when they get minimized so they can release resources. So say you're in a game, and you hit home, the game knows that you aren't playing anymore, so it's not just sitting on the menu eating resources.
microdot said:
nevermind...i just had to drag it down into the waste basket. i did try it before, must just not have draged it far enought donw before
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All that does is remove it from the home screen, it doesn't kill the app.
nindoja said:
All that does is remove it from the home screen, it doesn't kill the app.
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Click to collapse
i understand, i just wanted to have it off the homescreen....maybe replace it with a nice digital clock widget.
Another winmo convert like myself? Just laughing as this is what I was doing all day yesterday.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Two recommended Task Managers are TasKiller (I use) and ATK / Advanced Task Killer (my wife uses). Both are spoken highly of around here.
x.v_ said:
Just to tell you, btw, apps in Android are notified when they get minimized so they can release resources. So say you're in a game, and you hit home, the game knows that you aren't playing anymore, so it's not just sitting on the menu eating resources.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry so are you saying that android automaticaly kills the program when you exit out or say hit home? If so is apps like taskkillers really necessary and why do people have them?
No, task killers aren't necessary, and generally people only have them because they don't know any better. Having loads of free memory will do nothing to increase your performance because most apps don't require much, and the very reason Android keeps them in memory is to reduce loading times. Unused RAM is wasted RAM. Android will automatically kill old tasks if it needs to free up memory, so trying to micromanage and preemptively kill tasks yourself is a waste of time and will only make your experience worse. Poorly designed "automatic" task killers from the Market can even decrease your battery performance, so be wary.
I may fall into the "don't know any better" crowd since this is my first android phone, but I'd had the voice recognition app lock up on me a few times and using the task killer to end the app and restart it was the only way I could get it running again.
Unless you have any way I could have done that, it seems to me that task killer has its uses.
You can kill tasks and services from stock Android's Applications menu under Settings.
microdot said:
Sorry so are you saying that android automaticaly kills the program when you exit out or say hit home? If so is apps like taskkillers really necessary and why do people have them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because whoever builds the ROMs for these phones thinks that having built in apps you never use running in the background is a good idea.
DroidX for instance launches a whole bunch of apps on boot you are not using, no need to have them tying up memory.
Even some relaunch themselves in the background when other apps are opened.
So to answer your question, the default ROMs that ship with the phones are generally sloppy. You dont NEED a task killer but it helps speed up the device.
Its like getting a cheap HP or Dell computer from Best Buy, they load it up with some much crap you have to re-image or uninstall all the software you dont need.
You can't unfortunately uninstall the programs that are locked by the ROM.
The only app manager I use is System Panel from the Market. I only used it before on my Eris to monitor memory and battery life. I use it on my X now for informational purposes, because the X is so much faster than the Eris was, which I loved by the way.
Tl;dr its good for monitoring, but above posters are right, mostly unnecessary.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Is Multi-tasking currently supported in 2.1? I get this doubt because everytime I open a new application the previous goes hidden. This apparently takes up or keeps eating the resources in the background.
Instead, if 2.2 (froyo) comes up with something like the iPhone 4 handles it will be simply superb. I know even now there are add ins from the market, still they are not easy and friendly as iPhone 4 handles multi-tasking - where we can simply scroll through the application and open or close or minimise the different applications that are already open.
Please someone confirm this...or am I missing something until android 2.2 comes out.
Your right... whenever I am running an application and I press the menu button then start another application, I can see the old application running in the Services (or background).
When I quit the new application and go back to the former app, it shows me where I left off... Now, this is "technically" multi-tasking but of the sucky kind...
To minimize just press the homebutten. To switch between the last 6 task just press the homebuton for about 1 second.
In 2.1, you still long press the home key to show the most recently run applications. This is not necessary the running application. You could have manually closed an application but it will still be shown. Similarly, you could have application actually running and yet not shown there.
Another point to be aware is that although long press of home key brings up the most recently used application and allows you to jump to them, there is no facility to force close an application from there; unlike in iOS4, where on the multitasking application dock, you can force close it, as well as jumping to that application.
Another key difference between the two is that in Android 2.1, only the last 6 used applications are shown, although most of the time, I find 20+ applications running, often started by themselves mysteriously (that's another story though). So, for the running application not listed as one of the six, you can't jump to them via long pressing home. Instead, you have to go back to the desktop, find your application, and launch the application in order to switch to them.
So yah, 2.1 is a little "backward" still compared to iOS4. Hopefully 2.2 improves on this.
As far as I know the multitasking from android is better than the one in iOS4. Multitasking is not complete on iOS4, there are some applications that you are not available to use as multitasking application.
http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/04/multitasking-android-way.html
Here is the link to why and how the android multitasking works.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/199528/multitasking_with_ios_4_is_horrible_apple_blew_it.html
Here an article of PCWORLD giving negative feedback about iOS4 multitasking
eaglesteve said:
In 2.1, you still long press the home key to show the most recently run applications. This is not necessary the running application. You could have manually closed an application but it will still be shown. Similarly, you could have application actually running and yet not shown there.
Another point to be aware is that although long press of home key brings up the most recently used application and allows you to jump to them, there is no facility to force close an application from there; unlike in iOS4, where on the multitasking application dock, you can force close it, as well as jumping to that application.
Another key difference between the two is that in Android 2.1, only the last 6 used applications are shown, although most of the time, I find 20+ applications running, often started by themselves mysteriously (that's another story though). So, for the running application not listed as one of the six, you can't jump to them via long pressing home. Instead, you have to go back to the desktop, find your application, and launch the application in order to switch to them.
So yah, 2.1 is a little "backward" still compared to iOS4. Hopefully 2.2 improves on this.
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Click to collapse
..now that's one place where we look ancient than iOS4, are there any words that this will be improved in 2.2?
Instead it could have just been without multi-tasking so when we start a new app the previous one to get closed atleast that saves on the RAM. I hate iPhones but just this feature makes me disturbed why android hasn't dones this yet as this is so very basic.
I know the third part app in the adroid market does this but not as elegant as the iphone 4 handles this.
sany said:
..now that's one place where we look ancient than iOS4, are there any words that this will be improved in 2.2?
Instead it could have just been without multi-tasking so when we start a new app the previous one to get closed atleast that saves on the RAM. I hate iPhones but just this feature makes me disturbed why android hasn't dones this yet as this is so very basic.
I know the third part app in the adroid market does this but not as elegant as the iphone 4 handles this.
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Click to collapse
Actually, the way iOS4 handles it is not even half as elegant as the way jailbroken phones do it. It is even better to disable iOS4 task switcher and use Cydia task switchers (there are 5 or 6 different method, you pick the one that you like most). If I'm the developer at Google, I'd copy jailbroken iPhone's switcher called the Circuitous. With it, you can swipe the task bar left or right to go to the previous or next active application!!! You can also double press the home key for example to show a list of task actually running (rather than most recently launched applications). You press home key to truly quite the application, and long press to make it run in the background while in both case show the desktop.
I personally don't like the task switcher in iOS4. It does not let me force close the application with the same act of quiting it. Instead, one has to bring up the task list and remove it there in order to force close. This is not productive. Also, very often I toggle betwen two or three application, and I find swiping the taskbar to be a lot more fun and productive.
How do I know if there's programs running in the background or not?
And how do I shut down programs where I can't find any Quit button (mostly of the programs I think is like this).
Chrilleee said:
How do I know if there's programs running in the background or not?
And how do I shut down programs where I can't find any Quit button (mostly of the programs I think is like this).
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Click to collapse
Samsung's stock widget will tell you if anything is "running" other things will be idling that the widget may or may not pick up on. You can pick up a 3rd party task killer to see more details.
3rd party task killers would be one way to quit the programs after closing. The way Android operates, if you hit the "back" button out of your program it quits running but will stay in memory if there is available room in your memory.
Actually the Android 'idea' is that you don't close applications. Android will keep applications around in case you want to go back, and only close them when memory is needed. Before closing them outright it will try to close secondary activities and recover memory elsewhere, so that closing an app is the last resort.
Android applications are explicitly organized in autonomous activities so that they can be stopped independently.
Keep in mind that the fact that an application is 'in background' does not mean that it is actually doing something, and empty memory does you no good unless it's actually needed, so it might as well be used to keep an application loaded.
Only applications that stay active in background have a quit button, like IM clients for example. The others don't have it because ideally you don't need to close them. Of course when the system does need to free memory you might experience some delay as applications are closed.
On the iPhone OS there is a similar model, with the difference that applications don't have 'activities' that can be independently closed. In case of memory starvation the OS first asks applications to free some memory, if possible, then starts killing them outright, but it has no means to force applications to free memory.
I stopped using task killers and found that they are not that needed unless you really can't stand small delays now and then. I didn't find the iPhone multitasking any friendlier at all...
eaglesteve said:
Actually, the way iOS4 handles it is not even half as elegant as the way jailbroken phones do it. It is even better to disable iOS4 task switcher and use Cydia task switchers (there are 5 or 6 different method, you pick the one that you like most). If I'm the developer at Google, I'd copy jailbroken iPhone's switcher called the Circuitous. With it, you can swipe the task bar left or right to go to the previous or next active application!!! You can also double press the home key for example to show a list of task actually running (rather than most recently launched applications). You press home key to truly quite the application, and long press to make it run in the background while in both case show the desktop.
I personally don't like the task switcher in iOS4. It does not let me force close the application with the same act of quiting it. Instead, one has to bring up the task list and remove it there in order to force close. This is not productive. Also, very often I toggle betwen two or three application, and I find swiping the taskbar to be a lot more fun and productive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there anything similar to Circuitous available in the market for use.
thanks
S
I really do not understand how people say that iOs 4 is better in multitasking than 2.1 android. I've used the "multitasking" feature of iPhone and it is for sure not multitasking. It behaves as it should only for native apps and I believe it will not finally work for every application of the appstore.
On the other hand, multitasking on android is better. Every app you choose to re-start comes at the state you left it. Not on the first screen. Of course there is a lot of room for development, but it actually is multitasking and not multitasking in quotes.
P.S. I kind of laugh with Jobs's enthusiasm for things that already exist in the market even for years (for example videocall). It is like they invented something revolutionary and actually there are many people who totally fall for all these...
Uneducated sheep...
darnap; said:
On the iPhone OS there is a similar model, with the difference that applications don't have 'activities' that can be independently closed. In case of memory starvation the OS first asks applications to free some memory, if possible, then starts killing them outright, but it has no means to force applications to free memory.
I stopped using task killers and found that they are not that needed unless you really can't stand small delays now and then. I didn't find the iPhone multitasking any friendlier at all...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damap,
In both iOS 4 and jailbroken iPhone running backgrounded, any activities other than the telephone application can be manually closed rather then left running in the background, in order to free up memory.
I don't know about the other Android phones but I find SGS unbearably slow, whether if I do not use task killer to manually kill off the application every now and then. Not sure how much of it is due to the way Android multitask though.
ivas75 said:
I really do not understand how people say that iOs 4 is better in multitasking than 2.1 android. I've used the "multitasking" feature of iPhone and it is for sure not multitasking. It behaves as it should only for native apps and I believe it will not finally work for every application of the appstore.
On the other hand, multitasking on android is better. Every app you choose to re-start comes at the state you left it. Not on the first screen. Of course there is a lot of room for development, but it actually is multitasking and not multitasking in quotes.
P.S. I kind of laugh with Jobs's enthusiasm for things that already exist in the market even for years (for example videocall). It is like they invented something revolutionary and actually there are many people who totally fall for all these...
Uneducated sheep...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is some important points to be aware of, and most iPhone users are not aware of these points:
- If you want "true" multitasking, you must jailbreak and use backgrounder. All third party applications could then multitask. However, even that will not have two applications with audio running simultaneously. So, you can't have radio and music playing at the same time. The one in the background must pause.
- To be eligible for multitasking under iOS4 third party applications must specifically enable so. If not, you can only multitask them with jail breaking.
- if an application has been enabled for multitasking under iOS4, then backgrounder application in a jailbroken phone offers the option of letting user select the method of multitasking. The choices are to either multitask this application the "true" way as it always did prior to iOS4, or the iOS4 way (which means you don't start your applications from the beginning, but when in background, only certain processes such as GPS, VOIP, downloading, audio are running), or to automatically select the method, which means that if the application has been enabled for iOS4 multitasking then that mode will be used, otherwise it will multitask the "true" way.
sany; said:
Is there anything similar to Circuitous available in the market for use.
thanks
S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry I'm not aware of such customization possibility yet. But i would like to request for such tools so that multitasking in Android can be more easily performed. One thing about using back button for quitting application is that I find it goes to a different screen of the same application rather than the previous application, so it can be confusing. Sometime back button merely get rid of a pop up message but does not seem to quit the application.
You can't really get more simple than the os doing everything for you though. The point with android is you don't think about things like multi-tasking and just use your phone. Can't get more simple and elegant than that.
There is no need for a task manager like ios as you just open the apps you want without worrying about closing apps, or what's open and what's not.
ios on the other hand uses sudo multi-tasking, the apps don't actually stay open. I'm sure this works well but it has it's limitations. So when you close an app in ios task manager, you are not actually closing the app as it is already closed, essentialy you are just removing the icon from the drawer.
Android's system is far better. Why have a task manager when you don't need one, and especially when you only use sudo multi-tasking so the apps in the task manager are not even open at all.
Sent from my X10i using XDA App
bushbox browser said:
You can't really get more simple than the os doing everything for you though. The point with android is you don't think about things like multi-tasking and just use your phone. Can't get more simple and elegant than that.There is no need for a task manager like ios as you just open the apps you want without worrying about closing apps, or what's open and what's not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both Android and iOS4 are exactly the same in saying that nobody shoud have to manually close an application. Both advocates that you let the OS close it when resources are insufficient. For iOS4, most of the application merely save the state where you left off, so it is not actually active, but with some exceptions: GPS, VOIP, audio playing, downloading, etc.
However, I personally do not find it to my liking. If I've been using say TomTom navigation software and have just completed a trip, and know that I wont be using it again in the next few days, I would rather be able to long press the home key to completely stop it, instead of just pressing the home key to keep it running in the background.
bushbox browser said:
So when you close an app in ios task manager, you are not actually closing the app as it is already closed, essentialy you are just removing the icon from the drawer.
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Click to collapse
bushbox browser, this is not how it works, based on what I was told. If you have removed the icon from the multitasking dock, then come back to launch the application, it will start from the beginning rather than where you last left of. This was a question that I asked and was told the answer. Therefore, it is capable of stopping the task from running there, not merely removing the icon from the drawer.
Hope that helps to clear up the misconception.
eaglesteve said:
Both Android and iOS4 are exactly the same in saying that nobody shoud have to manually close an application. Both advocates that you let the OS close it when resources are insufficient. For iOS4, most of the application merely save the state where you left off, so it is not actually active, but with some exceptions: GPS, VOIP, audio playing, downloading, etc.
However, I personally do not find it to my liking. If I've been using say TomTom navigation software and have just completed a trip, and know that I wont be using it again in the next few days, I would rather be able to long press the home key to completely stop it, instead of just pressing the home key to keep it running in the background.
bushbox browser, this is not how it works, based on what I was told. If you have removed the icon from the multitasking dock, then come back to launch the application, it will start from the beginning rather than where you last left of. This was a question that I asked and was told the answer. Therefore, it is capable of stopping the task from running there, not merely removing the icon from the drawer.
Hope that helps to clear up the misconception.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks all, it is really comforting enough to see comments from knowledgeable people in the forum who are really researching with the apps and how they work.
My only concern is that nothing in the background should slowdown the performance by hogging the resource. As long as it is taken care off that is fine.
sany said:
thanks all, it is really comforting enough to see comments from knowledgeable people in the forum who are really researching with the apps and how they work.
My only concern is that nothing in the background should slowdown the performance by hogging the resource. As long as it is taken care off that is fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My concern is the same as yours too. Unfortunately, I'm personally of the view that allowing so many applicaitons to be kept alive DO hog resources and slow things down. Therefore I'm using the task killer on my SGS to manage it. I'm using a task killer that also kill itself after killing off the unwanted task, so that itself would not be taking more resources (or at least that's how I hope would turn out).
Then the other aspect of multitasking is the user interface or how we effect:
- showing all live applications (not just most recent 6 applications), to swith there. As I said, I've notice that on my SGS, if left alone, typically have 20 to 30 applications live. The long press of the home button showing just 6 of them is not exactly a workable way to switch, is it?
- then, there is an issue of being given the freedom to truely quit an application rather than minimise it to the background, and here Android's as well as iOS4's design leaves much to be desired IMO. They both need to learn from jailbroken iPhone's backgrounder.
- finally, I believe Android as an OS could improve by having a true task manager showing applications which are truely alive, thus allowing switching to them, as well as allowing quitting of the listed applications. Yes, if user want to let the OS manage it they could just leave the list alone and not quit it, but freedom should be given to users to do so.
That's the reason I much prefer the jailbroken iPhone's method of multitasking (especially when using the Circuitous method of task switching) over iOS4 as well as Android's.
This is like a neverending story, when I had WM phone everybody was b*tching about the way he have to go to task manager and close apps and always look for tha apps that are running. Now I have android which is doing everything on its own, u dont have to care about running apps and now is everybody dreaming about iPhonish multitasking. Did I land on Mars here?