Develop Bugs

What causes the Home Screen to crash?

Relatively often I find when turning the Desire on I get a white spinning circle and the home screen has basically crashed. Most of the time this clears itself but sometimes it doesn't and I have to turn off/on the phone (* see below).
What background apps/services are known to do this? I'm pretty sure I'm killing something using Task Panel, I shouldn't be.
* I've found pressing the Search button and then accessing the People App (from the Phone option) clears the crash.
Thanks

If you're allowing any process to automatically kill other processes, you're asking for trouble. First disable that, its pointless and uses more resources/battery than it saves.
If you still have an issue with the home app locking up, in my experience its usually a badly written widget. If you have any widgets on your screens that aren't "original" I would start by getting rid of them and then re-adding one-by-one over time until you find the culprit. Check the comments/reviews of them too, if they're locking up the phone people will usually comment about it on the Market.
If that still hasn't fixed it, I'm not sure what else would be locking up the home app, my next suggestion would be a hard-reset to "clean up" and go from there.

foner78 said:
If you're allowing any process to automatically kill other processes, you're asking for trouble. First disable that, its pointless and uses more resources/battery than it saves.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean? I use Task Panel, that kills apps/services. Is that what you mean? But I'm not using it to kill system services just :
BlueTooth share - I don't use Bluetooth, why does this still run?
Photos - HTC Photo App
Gallery - Nexus One Phto App
FM Radio
MyBackup Pro
3G Watchdog - Monitor data usage
ShopSavvy - Check prices elsewhere
Footprints - What a pointless app!
TrainTimes UK
Facebook App
These are killed when I put the phone in standby or I click Kill All.
I really don't see why most of these have to run, when I turn the phone on but there's no option to stop them doing it. I really don't need a lot of these running all the time!
I'd also think, if I kill an App and it's needed, it would just reload itself. So when the Home Screens re-loaded, it would be running again in the Task Manager but there's nothing there.
foner78 said:
If you still have an issue with the home app locking up, in my experience its usually a badly written widget. If you have any widgets on your screens that aren't "original" I would start by getting rid of them and then re-adding one-by-one over time until you find the culprit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only widget I'm using that doesn't come with the HTC Desire is the HTC Notes widget. Thanks btw.

As foner78 has already suggested, I would try first try removing your task killer (TaskPanel) so as to eliminate it as the cause of your issue.
It is also worthwhile reading up on how Android manages processes/multitasks - good sources are here and here.
The Desire is my third Android phone, and whilst I've tried using task killers, I've come to the conclusion that leaving the OS to handle it itself is the best option.
Regards,
Dave

This is also my second Android phone.
I would definitely recommend you read the links posted by foxmeister to get a better understanding of processes/activites/services on Android and why you don't need to play any role in killing them.
The short version is... you have nothing to gain from killing processes in this way and you do risk having problems with your phone. Right now, you DO have a problem with the home app and you are randomly killing processes. Logically it makes sense to rule this out as the cause.
Got to be worth trying, surely!?

Thanks guys.
I removed Task Panel and put on Advanced Task Killer instead. Advanced Task Killer lets you filter out system services, so you can only kill Apps. Problem fixed.

bradavon said:
Thanks guys.
I removed Task Panel and put on Advanced Task Killer instead. Advanced Task Killer lets you filter out system services, so you can only kill Apps. Problem fixed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Geez, talk about missing the point...

Well I'm glad that you've got rid of the problem, though I would still urge you to stop ANY automatic process killing as that still leads to problems and has no advantage. There are many topics on here to explain why, and the links posted previously. Do yourself a favour and learn about android processes. Your understanding of processes from other systems such as Windows simply does not apply here.
Still, you can lead horse to water...

The explanation from the Android devs is quite nice and help understand how it works but in reality is not always like that.
If you use any task amnager to monitor the memory usage you will notice that overtime the OS will consume a lot of the memory to the point that will render the OS slower.
What i mean is that even if Android works perfectly managing the memory we cannot say the same about the applications we install.
I've used/tested pratically all the top 100 apps for Android and a LOT of them will not work as the devs say.
I know it is not an Android problem, but still from time to time you need to kill some of those apps manually.
My opinion is to not get rid of the task manager, but just stop the auto-killing process. Then if you notice some slow down on the system, use it to check what apps are holding back memory (after you have closed them for a while).
Once you found what application is giving problems, search an alternative because the one you are using is not developped correctly.

cgrec92 said:
Geez, talk about missing the point...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've not missed any point thank you. I asked for advice why the home screen was crashing and I was given it. I read that informative document over at Android HQ and now have a better idea of how Android memory management works.
It still means I want to be in control of the apps running on "my" phone. Some apps consume way too much memory (although as that document describes, that "usually" isn't a problem) and some connect with my phone's data connection way too often. It also annoys me Apps I never ever use still insist in running all the time, like the Stock Control App and Footprints (does anyone use that?). The latter seems to do more than it appears (usually if I kill it, it takes the home screen with it). I don't kill those two any more but it still annoys me they run.
It looks like Android is much, much better than Windows Mobile at App memory management but that too claimed to kill apps when memory was low. Except it never did.
Since "not killing" system services/apps my Desire's Home Screen hasn't crashed once. I see no harm in killing Third Party Apps, as Krpano says it can sometimes be necessary.
It's always really annoyed me Windows Mobile has no ethos of a simple "exit" button, so few apps have it. On Android I've yet to come across any app with an exit buton. Some apps say they have one but it merely hides the app to the background. We should be given the choice of exiting an app, when we're finished with it. Windows, Linux (correct me if I'm wrong) and MAC OS all have such a feature as default.

bradavon said:
I've not missed any point thank you. I asked for advice why the home screen was crashing and I was given it. I read that informative document over at Android HQ and now have a better idea of how Android memory management works.
It still means I want to be in control of the apps running on "my" phone. Some apps consume way too much memory (although as that document describes, that "usually" isn't a problem) and some connect with my phone's data connection way too often. It also annoys me Apps I never ever use still insist in running all the time, like the Stock Control App and Footprints (does anyone use that?). The latter seems to do more than it appears (usually if I kill it, it takes the home screen with it). I don't kill those two any more but it still annoys me they run.
It looks like Android is much, much better than Windows Mobile at App memory management but that too claimed to kill apps when memory was low. Except it never did.
Since "not killing" system services/apps my Desire's Home Screen hasn't crashed once. I see no harm in killing Third Party Apps, as Krpano says it can sometimes be necessary.
It's always really annoyed me Windows Mobile has no ethos of a simple "exit" button, so few apps have it. On Android I've yet to come across any app with an exit buton. Some apps say they have one but it merely hides the app to the background. We should be given the choice of exiting an app, when we're finished with it. Windows, Linux (correct me if I'm wrong) and MAC OS all have such a feature as default.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OR you can just let Android do all this for you...

cgrec92 said:
Geez, talk about missing the point...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was a bit harsh my friend!

While I respect the point that it is YOUR phone and of course you can choose how you use it, we are simply offering you advice. Please don't take offence at this, but some of the things you say in your last post show us that you still do not understand Android processes.
I would just like to explain that very often when you see an app "running" in the background using a Task Manager, it is not actually running at all... by which I mean it is not consuming any CPU time. These apps are simply left resident in the memory so that they are quick to resume if/when you come to use them again. When memory is short and another task tries to grab some Android makes a decision about which of those applications you are least likely to use again soon and kills it. Literally kills it, erasing all traces from memory. This is of course totally transparent to the user.
On older Android phones the "cleanups" often resulted in pauses in the user experience and this is why I used a Task Manager on my G1. However the Desire has so much more memory and CPU time combined with the updated Android code that this all happens without you seeing it. I would suggest to you that the only reason you are aware of these apps in the background is because you have gone looking in a Task Manager which is giving you misleading information.
I don't recommend removing the Task Manager, it is useful when an App does "go bad", but I strongly recommend disabling all automated task killing. By running that you are using actual CPU time and battery resources, which has a greater impact on overall system performance than the resident background applications. You may disagree based on your PC or WinMo experience, but it simple is the case with Android which manages tasks and memory very differently to those.
The final point is... having 30MB of free memory on the device is no different to having 40MB free. As long as a process has space to load and run it the "free" space is irrelevant on these devices. When a process doesn't have space Android makes space by killing the background apps in the most efficient way possible.
I hope you'll consider my advice carefully and at least try it, you will have a better Android experience if you do, but of course if you choose to do things your way then I still hope you have a good experience with your Desire

Why you don’t need a task killer app with Android.

http://androidspin.com/2010/05/25/why-you-dont-need-a-task-killer-app-with-android/
Why you don’t need a task killer app with Android.
Posted Posted by Cody Banks on 25th May 2010 Comments 5 comments
A lot of people have asked us what the best app is for killing tasks? Well, the answer is none of them. Sure there are some nice apps out there for killing tasks, but the fact is you just don’t need one with Android. In fact, most developers
won’t even look at your logcat file if they see you running a task killer app on your Android-based phone.
To clear things up about this, Google’s Android developers blog has finally put this debate to rest about why a task killer is unnecessary, as well as why there are certain services that run in the background all the time, I’m sure at one time or another you’ve seen them and asked yourself “Why do those services keep starting after I kill them?”. Below you can read about when applications stop.......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I've found no matter how many times it's said, someone will have an anecdote about how their phone became amazingly fast or they doubled battery life using one of these apps. People who want to use them will continue to do so. Don't trouble yourself.

It's nice to have one to kill the odd app that is messing up, but other than that I don't use one.

Aitese said:
I've found no matter how many times it's said, someone will have an anecdote about how their phone became amazingly fast or they doubled battery life using one of these apps. People who want to use them will continue to do so. Don't trouble yourself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the reason people say this is because it's actually true.
that's just the truth, maybe you should try using one and notice the difference.
I uninstalled mine for the first time yesterday to test the theory and today, my battery lasted a grand total of 4.5 hours. that's a whole 3 hours less than before.
and at the end of the day, when it's laggy and then use the TK, it really does clear things up.
still wish there was a way to make the battery last longer, it really does suck

samac92 said:
It's nice to have one to kill the odd app that is messing up, but other than that I don't use one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can do this from android... no need for an app.

Barff1984 said:
I uninstalled mine for the first time yesterday to test the theory and today, my battery lasted a grand total of 4.5 hours. that's a whole 3 hours less than before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd say if you're only getting between 4.5 and 7.5 hours battery life, I'd say you've probably got a rogue app installed anyway.
Regards,
Dave

foxmeister said:
I'd say if you're only getting between 4.5 and 7.5 hours battery life, I'd say you've probably got a rogue app installed anyway.
Regards,
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, taskkillers aren't battery savers they are drainers...
Have had my desire for a couple of days now (comming from a htc hero) and since I removed my taskmanager my desire has juice for about 1,5 days.
With taskpanel I hardly reached 24 hours... And I haven't noticed the device becoming slower...
I don't miss it and if I don't get any strange apps I won't ever install a taskmanager again...

well there are some apps which don't work properly.
Take the xda android app as example. it would sometimes just freeze, and there was no way to restart the app, no option for force close was provided by Android OS either.
In this case Android isn't doing anything, so you have to kill the process manually using
1. the default android feature
2. using a task killer.
I like the quick access to the advanced task killer over the notification area, therefore i use it.
People can tell me whole day long how ingenius Android is, and that it will do everything automatically. But i made very different experiences with some 3rd party apps, which needed some killing every now and then. The xda app is only ONE example of many.

Barff1984 said:
the reason people say this is because it's actually true.
that's just the truth, maybe you should try using one and notice the difference.
I uninstalled mine for the first time yesterday to test the theory and today, my battery lasted a grand total of 4.5 hours. that's a whole 3 hours less than before.
and at the end of the day, when it's laggy and then use the TK, it really does clear things up.
still wish there was a way to make the battery last longer, it really does suck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The thing is I HAVE used them. Advanced Task Killer was the first app I installed on receiving my Desire...the phone became glitchy and buggy and laggy and it was horrible. I uninstalled ATK and all that stopped. It now NEVER slows down, and I'm getting well over 8hrs of use a day.
I suspect you have a buggy app, and THAT is what you need to find.
We need to stop giving bad app developers a feww ride by ignoring their bad code and just killing the process. Uninstall their app, give it a bad review and insist on using a rival app.

Shahpur.Azizpour said:
well there are some apps which don't work properly.
Take the xda android app as example. it would sometimes just freeze, and there was no way to restart the app, no option for force close was provided by Android OS either.
In this case Android isn't doing anything, so you have to kill the process manually using
1. the default android feature
2. using a task killer.
I like the quick access to the advanced task killer over the notification area, therefore i use it.
People can tell me whole day long how ingenius Android is, and that it will do everything automatically. But i made very different experiences with some 3rd party apps, which needed some killing every now and then. The xda app is only ONE example of many.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can force close an app from Android. Menu > Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > Locate the app > open it and force stop.
Create a shortcut to manage applications short cut on your home screen if you like, then you'll only need to do this:
Open Manage Applictions short cut > Locate the app > open it and force stop. - This is just as simple as using a task manager shortcut.

TheOriginalKi said:
You can force close an app from Android. Menu > Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > Locate the app > open it and force stop.
Create a shortcut to manage applications short cut on your home screen if you like, then you'll only need to do this:
Open Manage Applictions short cut > Locate the app > open it and force stop. - This is just as simple as using a task manager shortcut.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
actually using the notification drawer is more comfortable for me. But this is just personal preference.

Yes-They might be useful to kill the occasional rogue app. but apart from that they are pretty pointless. Android does a good job of killing tasks itself.
Despite all the evidence to the contrary people many will continue to use them and use them indiscriminately. Still if they want generally poorer performance and reduced battery life surely that is their choice.

Shahpur.Azizpour said:
actually using the notification drawer is more comfortable for me. But this is just personal preference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How does that work. the notification draw is pretty much blank most of the time save for new message/downloads etc ?

has anyone actually tried to load up so many apps, so there's almost no memory left, so android kills other apps by himself? It's all excellent in theory, but never witnessed it in real life.

guys I had advanced task manager installed in my phone and my phone was laggy, and my battery was always down to 40-50% at the end of the day, but yesterday on someone's advice I removed ATM, and instantly i noticed the difference, there was no lag in the menus and everything was smooth, and today my battery was an astonishing 85 % remaining when i came back home, and I intentionaly used my phone more than usual. so at least one thing is sure that I will not be using any task manager.

matthoy said:
How does that work. the notification draw is pretty much blank most of the time save for new message/downloads etc ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
with advanced task manager you can see a small icon at the notification area (at all times). When pulling down the drawer you'll see an entry which says "advanced task manager".
just touch it and a list with current running apps will show up.

kamidadevil said:
guys I had advanced task manager installed in my phone and my phone was laggy, and my battery was always down to 40-50% at the end of the day, but yesterday on someone's advice I removed ATM, and instantly i noticed the difference, there was no lag in the menus and everything was smooth, and today my battery was an astonishing 85 % remaining when i came back home, and I intentionaly used my phone more than usual. so at least one thing is sure that I will not be using any task manager.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there are way too many variables in this equation, as to just claim that ATM is responsible for hogging 30-40% battery power per day.
Of course it will have some kind of impact, just like other apps too. But i don't think that it will have a much bigger impact.

no, I dont think there are any variables involved in my case except ATM, I never use internet on mine phone during the day coz i always have internet access on my laptop, instead today I used wifi intentionaly just for testing battery and played asphalt which I normaly dont play during the work hours,

Here's a video from the Developer site that explains very well how Android manages Apps:
http://developer.android.com/videos/index.html#v=fL6gSd4ugSI
And if I really need to kill something (very rare!) then I use Task Tray Beta:
http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.stonedonkey.tasktray or find it in the Market.
This app is also great for seeing what 's actually running and what 's not anymore. And for switching to some App that you know is running, but in the default Android task switcher you can see only 6 apps.... and this will show all.

I tried out a few task killer but all they did was stop my alarm going off in the morning! I'm sure that's something I could have changed though.
I find the best way to keep my desire running nice and quick is to give it a reboot every morning on my way to work. Only takes a couple of minutes....give it a try...

Questions from an iPhone switcher

So far I have been largely impressed by Android OS. I really, really like the level of customization - the importance of which cannot be overstated. I'm not out to start a flamer thread, but there are lots of things that Android, given the proper hardware, does better. However, there are still a couple things that I'm missing before I can declare my Desire fully ready for the stresses of the day.
I'm fairly addicted to podcasts - I listen to then pretty much every day, most of the day while at work. I know there are several apps where I can download podcasts right from the phone as well a few iTunes hop-on software packages. The goal is to get as much like what I can do in iTunes as possible. Say I have an audiobook that gets interrupted or that I want to supplement with some music. Is there a music program that can decipher between normal audio files and ones that are tagged as being audiobooks? Meaning that when you stop it in order to play another audio file, does it pick up where you left off? Also, I have 29 gigs of podcasts that I have not yet listened to. This is where the need for a simple, elegant media program on my desktop comes in. I'd like to be able to individually select which episodes of each podcast I'd like to sync with my Desire or have the option of just syncing everything in that specific podcast that has not yet been listened to. So basically, the same sorting capabilities of iTunes. That's the first thing that is missing.
I know there are hundreds of these task killer programs; some more thorough than others. This is where the iPhone exceeds (now) - but webOS even more so. I've found something that is a push in the right direction; QuickDesk Beta. But I need something like that that can also be brought up in the lock screen. More importantly though, there needs to be some kind of widget that can be placed within QuickDesk that displays all the programs currently open (even if they're in a static state), so you can easily 'x' whichever ones you'd like to close out of. I'm talking actual apps, not background services or mods of that type. WebOS is pretty much the benchmark for mobile task management, so I'd love to come as close to it as possible. This is the second thing that's missing, or maybe that I'm just not aware of yet. Any suggestions / ideas?
I'm running DeFroST 2.0b
One more quick question: I installed DeFroST 2.0b over 2.0a. After I had done this, I reinstalled the baseband version update, cause the echo came back. It's great now, but I'm wondering if there is anything about that procedure that is prone to cause problems. I know you should factory reset / clear cache before a ROM install, but I really didn't want to re-enter all my info / re download all my apps. I understand Google does a backup of your personal information on Froyo, I'm just not sure to what extent. Anyway... just curious.
Thanks to richardtrip and everyone involved in the making of the DeForST ROM - It's great! Definitely a cause worth donating to.

regarding what you said about task killers - there has been hundreds of threads about it already and still people dont understand that YOU SHOULDNT USE a task killer on android system.
http://androidspin.com/2010/05/25/why-you-dont-need-a-task-killer-app-with-android/

well, i need to from time to time. mainly for the browser.

For podcast have a look at Google Listen, might not do all you want but a good place to start.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

I'm also a bit of a podcast nut, I've tried most of the podcatching apps and found doggcatcher to be the best. Listen is pretty good for a free one.
By the way is that baseband update a fix for everyone that has the echo problem? That echo is the only reason I am still using Pays Eclair rom...
As for task managers, I think there is a place for them on older devices where ram is limited. You don't need one on the desire though.

st0kes said:
I'm also a bit of a podcast nut, I've tried most of the podcatching apps and found doggcatcher to be the best.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I looked for doggcatcher but the only one I see is for a $6.99 one, not free....

I didn't say doggcatcher was free.

For syncronising your media whit your phone, you could try doubletwist.

st0kes said:
I didn't say doggcatcher was free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, sorry, I misread it.... thanks. Didn't realise LISTEN was a program too...

cez10 said:
regarding what you said about task killers - there has been hundreds of threads about it already and still people dont understand that YOU SHOULDNT USE a task killer on android system.
http://androidspin.com/2010/05/25/why-you-dont-need-a-task-killer-app-with-android/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do if you want to kill tasks. Are you saying no apps are badly written? Google for a bit, or read comments for various apps on the market-place.

cez10 said:
regarding what you said about task killers - there has been hundreds of threads about it already and still people dont understand that YOU SHOULDNT USE a task killer on android system.
http://androidspin.com/2010/05/25/why-you-dont-need-a-task-killer-app-with-android/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They reason they don't understand it is that your link doesn't explain it. And the blog from google essentially says the OS just kills it when there is no memory left. If the OS can do it we can do it (and some of them do run in the background)

Thanks for all the suggestions and tips, guys. I guess it's not so much an app killer that i want, but rather, a nice looking way of seeing everything that's open. I dunno, I guess my thinking a little too conventional for the Android world. Google listen can't seem to find anything I'm looking for. And Doubletwist, while a great idea, is honestly the buggiest, slowest, something that should be labeled as being in alpha stages that I've ever seen. It is a step in the right direction though. I'll definitely check out doggcatcher. I'm loving the XDA app, btw!

Xephrey said:
So far I have been largely impressed by Android OS. I really, really like the level of customization - the importance of which cannot be overstated. I'm not out to start a flamer thread, but there are lots of things that Android, given the proper hardware, does better. However, there are still a couple things that I'm missing before I can declare my Desire fully ready for the stresses of the day.
I'm fairly addicted to podcasts - I listen to then pretty much every day, most of the day while at work. I know there are several apps where I can download podcasts right from the phone as well a few iTunes hop-on software packages. The goal is to get as much like what I can do in iTunes as possible. Say I have an audiobook that gets interrupted or that I want to supplement with some music. Is there a music program that can decipher between normal audio files and ones that are tagged as being audiobooks? Meaning that when you stop it in order to play another audio file, does it pick up where you left off? Also, I have 29 gigs of podcasts that I have not yet listened to. This is where the need for a simple, elegant media program on my desktop comes in. I'd like to be able to individually select which episodes of each podcast I'd like to sync with my Desire or have the option of just syncing everything in that specific podcast that has not yet been listened to. So basically, the same sorting capabilities of iTunes. That's the first thing that is missing.
I know there are hundreds of these task killer programs; some more thorough than others. This is where the iPhone exceeds (now) - but webOS even more so. I've found something that is a push in the right direction; QuickDesk Beta. But I need something like that that can also be brought up in the lock screen. More importantly though, there needs to be some kind of widget that can be placed within QuickDesk that displays all the programs currently open (even if they're in a static state), so you can easily 'x' whichever ones you'd like to close out of. I'm talking actual apps, not background services or mods of that type. WebOS is pretty much the benchmark for mobile task management, so I'd love to come as close to it as possible. This is the second thing that's missing, or maybe that I'm just not aware of yet. Any suggestions / ideas?
I'm running DeFroST 2.0b
One more quick question: I installed DeFroST 2.0b over 2.0a. After I had done this, I reinstalled the baseband version update, cause the echo came back. It's great now, but I'm wondering if there is anything about that procedure that is prone to cause problems. I know you should factory reset / clear cache before a ROM install, but I really didn't want to re-enter all my info / re download all my apps. I understand Google does a backup of your personal information on Froyo, I'm just not sure to what extent. Anyway... just curious.
Thanks to richardtrip and everyone involved in the making of the DeForST ROM - It's great! Definitely a cause worth donating to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please do me and your phone a favour and never use a task killer!!!
Slows down your phone, kills your battery and gives you a unstable android os!
Sent from my HTC Desire

I can pretty confidently say that I won't even both with task killers now. So I will do you that favor.

If you are on your homescreen and keep the home button pressed you either see recently used programs or running programs (don't remember which one of the two it was)

Flaggie said:
If you are on your homescreen and keep the home button pressed you either see recently used programs or running programs (don't remember which one of the two it was)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
recently used.

Certainly agree about Doubletwist. Nice idea, not ready.

[Q] startup apps

hey all
another question for me today...
my g2 has been slowing down quite a bit lately. almost ready to root. but first i wanted to see if i can deal with this a bit longer.
first things first, i've read plenty of posts and articles, even a thing from cyanogen himself i believe that said that taskkillers are worthless in the android operating system. that being said, according to an app i just installed called "startupcleaner2.0" i have 42 apps loading at startup. my g2 takes almost 5 minutes to boot. some of these apps are of course required apps and system things, things that i absolutely need, but then there are things like, "CardioTrainer," an app i've never even used but would like to check out sometime, or "G4" which i see no reason why it should need to run until i run it myself, or "HootSuite" which I don't even use (I just use the separate facebook and twitter apps) but just haven't gotten around to uninstalling yet.
i have plenty of space left on my sd card, and really don't want to uninstall all these extra apps because i'd like to try them at sometime, and if i don't like them then delete them (and some apps like for example, G4, i REALLY don't want to install cause i do use them, just see no reason for them to start at startup). so, should i actually make use of this StartUpCleaner2.0 and have it stop these apps from running? or is it the same situation as the supposedly useless (and potentially bad for your phone taskkillers) where it's sort of counterproductive to the way android is meant to be managed?
thanks for your input. it just seems lame that with all this space there should be a limit to the amount of apps i can have installed for my phone to run good. but if that really is the case i'll uninstall some (i just did a sweep of like 20 apps/games i never used). if not, then i'll give this StartUpCleaner2.0 a try and stop pretty probably half of these things from starting at startup.
thanks!
Dave

anyone? would love to find out about this.

polarbearmc said:
anyone? would love to find out about this.
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All I can say is: Read this: http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/ And for what is worth; thats the truth, the only truth and nothing but the truth there is about this subject.
P.S. You may always thank me afterwards when you have concluded that installing a app killer did not help you in any way improving your battery life.

You might use watchdog or titanuim backup to freeze those apps so they can't run at all while still leaving them installed. That's what I'd do, or use a startup/autorun manager.
I use Autorun Manager since I use the apps, just don't want them running at boot because like you pointed out, it increases boot times.

you know i think that is one of the things i had read telling me not to use task killers which is why i stopped using them. but there's still the fact that my phone is sluggish now with lots of apps installed in a way that it wasn't when i first got it. and i refuse to believe it's sluggish just from "having them installed" even if i'm not using them ... if that's the case, then android REALLY doesn't do a great job of shutting down tasks and whatnot on its own...
also i wasn't considering using a task killer exactly, it was something to stop apps from running at startup in the first place. especially apps that i simply don't use at all but apparently are loading.
HLeenders said:
All I can say is: Read this: http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/ And for what is worth; thats the truth, the only truth and nothing but the truth there is about this subject.
P.S. You may always thank me afterwards when you have concluded that installing a app killer did not help you in any way improving your battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I use the Autostarts app for the same thing, disabling apps on startup. It can help with boot times a little, but honestly it doesn't make too much of a difference. One of the problems now is that many apps that start on boot don't show up in Autostarts and other autorun manager type apps, so you can't control their boot priority. I think this started in 2.3.
And yes, don't use a task killer with Android. I used to use one a while back, and it made absolutely no difference in battery life or performance. In fact, it made some apps a lot slower to restart. That was with my old Cliq. Ever since I've had my G2 I haven't used one.

[Q] How to kill or close apps in HTC One X

Hi Guys,
I've noticed that when i "remove" (flick upwards) an app from Recent Apps, it does not really kills/closes that app. I know i can go to Task Manager and kill that app. My question is that is there any way (settings) that enables "Kill" of the app when i remove it (using upward flick) from the Recent Apps.
I tried looking up for this but was not successful hence a new thread (i was somewhat sure someone must have ask for it already).
Thanks

veerm said:
Hi Guys,
I've noticed that when i "remove" (flick upwards) an app from Recent Apps, it does not really kills/closes that app. I know i can go to Task Manager and kill that app. My question is that is there any way (settings) that enables "Kill" of the app when i remove it (using upward flick) from the Recent Apps.
I tried looking up for this but was not successful hence a new thread (i was somewhat sure someone must have ask for it already).
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont believe that there is a setting where you can change that. If you want to kill an individual app, use the task manager but in general, there is really no need to be killing all of your apps - the Android OS is designed to have apps sitting there not closed (and the HOX has 1gig of RAM so your shouldnt see any slow down anyway!).
Some custom ROMS for other devices do have a setting where you can set longpress backbutton to kill the app that you are in. Havent seen this in any One X roms yet but im sure it will come

It has been written many times before but can't be said enough, task killers isnt helping the system at all! Android OS itself controls the ram memory and closes the apps that isnt used in case of running out of memory
Skickat från min HTC One X via Tapatalk 2

App killers are phone killers!!1
Even if you force close the app, it may reopen immediately. some apps do this on their own. you dont need to worry about it.
the phone will prioritise the currently running app over cached or paused apps when it needs to. this is an autonomous feature (you don't have any control over it)
I stopped using App Killers and found performance/battery-life/usability to be exactly the same.
remember, Android has your back.

Megabunny said:
Even if you force close the app, it may reopen immediately. some apps do this on their own. you dont need to worry about it.
the phone will prioritise the currently running app over cached or paused apps when it needs to. this is an autonomous feature (you don't have any control over it)
I stopped using App Killers and found performance/battery-life/usability to be exactly the same.
remember, Android has your back.
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Click to collapse
Yeah but those apps are open and fill up almost whole 1GB RAM and when somone wants play game it is laggy cos not enough ram ..
Even when am broqsing internet is so laggy ..
But when u not doing with mobile it doesnt drain battery cos cpu is idle 99%

gifton1 said:
the HOX has 1gig of RAM so your shouldnt see any slow down anyway!).
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well you will see slow down because it's an HTC One X..somehow HTC have managed to reduce the performance of a quad core processor to something that resembles a dual core device...juttering and slowing down..hogging all the RAM and re-drawing the launcher constantly
well done HTC. This the last time you're getting my money.

Megabunny said:
...
the phone will prioritise the currently running app over cached or paused apps when it needs to. this is an autonomous feature (you don't have any control over it)
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, however, the priorization is all wrong. When I send my browser to the background just to open an email for an address, most of the times the browser gets closed.
So, when I revert to the browser it has to start all over.
When I look in taskmanager, I see many programs that should be closed before closing the browser, because the browser was the lastest used application.
I would love to have more control over the dumb task closer of the HOX! For instance:
- really close applications that have been in the background for at least a certain amount of time (so games can have more memory without stutter!)
- close applications in reverse order of latest used instead of used most memory
- try to leave at least a certain amount of memory free (and let ME choose this amount)
So, when many tell that task killers are not needed they are only right for non-HOX devices. In other words, the HOX task killer that works automagically has serious issues preventing us to multi-task!

Bright.Light said:
- try to leave at least a certain amount of memory free (and let ME choose this amount)
!
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linux caches stuff in memory to make it quicker when you do want it. unused ram is wasted ram. it is not like windows.