Develop Bugs

Applications?

Why don't all app's have a exit or close? Take Facebook for instance once, you load that app it stays open no way to close it and taking up battery. Is there a app so you can have theses close.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

For crying out loud, search a little. You have a rooted device running Leo Droid and yet NO IDEA how Android manages applications? There are a plethora of task killers (-> google it) around, but also everybody knows they are not needed (-> google it).
Don't get me wrong, I know that not knowing stuff is a perfectly natural thing for a human being (after all, I am a teacher). But in this day and age of information being readily available at the click of your mouse (Google et consortes, this forum's "Search" button...) you still need someone to find/type in the answer to YOUR QUESTION so that you get it on a platter... Sigh.

shankly1985 said:
Why don't all app's have a exit or close? Take Facebook for instance once, you load that app it stays open no way to close it and taking up battery. Is there a app so you can have theses close.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read this right away!
Multitasking the Android Way
http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/04/multitasking-android-way.html
P.S Do NOT use any of those task killers on your 2.1 or later versions of Android phone!
Cheers!

Concerning Facebook I totally understand his complain. Even with disabled notifications and "leaving" the app via backbutton it is listed as the highest battery-consumer (under*#*#4636#*#* --> battery usage while idle).
Since I didn't find a solution for that I uninstalled Facebook. But the other guys are right, as long as an app is programmed well, it does nothing in background and sleeps. No need to close apps or free RAM. Free RAM is always a sign of bad memory management in the OS so keep it filled up as it will speed up your phone!
Ge...ta...ta...tapatalked mit meinem Desire

Thanks facebook is high battery consumer, never used a task killer and I never will.
elburna said:
Concerning Facebook I totally understand his complain. Even with disabled notifications and "leaving" the app via backbutton it is listed as the highest battery-consumer (under*#*#4636#*#* --> battery usage while idle).
Since I didn't find a solution for that I uninstalled Facebook. But the other guys are right, as long as an app is programmed well, it does nothing in background and sleeps. No need to close apps or free RAM. Free RAM is always a sign of bad memory management in the OS so keep it filled up as it will speed up your phone!
Ge...ta...ta...tapatalked mit meinem Desire
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I have installed the facebook-app and it is no battery drainer for me.
Go to chat, then menu -> go offline.

if the app is closed then it won't sync up itself will it? (or if it does it'll just restart itself again).
say you have facebook to sync each hour - I thought the hour was from open...
so open check news feed, back out of it (facebook still running), after running for an hour it will check again and notify you if you have notifications on...
The only thing that does seem to annoy me slightly is when I open improved email it seems to open a whole host of other apps at the same time, including soundhound, stocks, maps, and about 10 other things... no idea why as it doesn't need those apps opening at all

"Don't keep activities" - anybody use it?

Love the phone but a few times the launcher has redrawn after exiting an app because of most likely memory issues. Anybody using this option? Assuming over time this would keep more memory free and reduce this issue. Any thoughts?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

mobilehavoc said:
Love the phone but a few times the launcher has redrawn after exiting an app because of most likely memory issues. Anybody using this option? Assuming over time this would keep more memory free and reduce this issue. Any thoughts?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is one of the reasons why I don't like that Google included these developer options pre-installed on this phone. They're developer options for a reason, we can install them if we need to.
This feature is designed so that developers can test their app to be sure that data is properly saved when is no longer in the foreground. For example, if a user receives a phone call or jumps to another app, the app needs to do what is necessary to save it's data. At times, Android can kill a process in the background. If the user plans to go back (perhaps they finished the phone call), they want to see what it is they were working on last. The developer is supposed to handle this case by rebuilding everything as it was before (to provide that seamless experience for the user when switching between apps).
This debug feature helps us test that it works.
For the average user, all you're really more likely to do is slow down your apps. As they will have to rebuild themselves when you resume them, and you may even open yourself to more quirky bugs (for those apps that didn't properly test the above scenario).
So please don't enable it unless you're doing it for development purposes. My 2 cents.
*EDIT* Here's a page from the Android Dev Guide justifying my explanation:
http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/debugging/debugging-devtools.html
Immediately destroy activities
Tells the system to destroy an activity as soon as it is stopped (as if Android had to reclaim memory). This is very useful for testing the onSaveInstanceState(Bundle) / onCreate(android.os.Bundle) code path, which would otherwise be difficult to force. Choosing this option will probably reveal a number of problems in your application due to not saving state. For more information about saving an activity's state, see the Activities document.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
(and yes, they used to call it "Immediately destroy activities")

Thanks. I turned it off. Did notice some bugs while on. I just wish with 1GB of RAM the launcher wouldnt have to reload. Hopefully things get better. Might just be my apps but it happens quite often when leaving the browser.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

mobilehavoc said:
Thanks. I turned it off. Did notice some bugs while on. I just wish with 1GB of RAM the launcher wouldnt have to reload. Hopefully things get better. Might just be my apps but it happens quite often when leaving the browser.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
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Click to collapse
weird.. how many widgets do you have on your launcher? the more widgets you have, the slower the launcher is.
Have you tried another launcher? The stock launcher has never been known for being fast and efficient, although I haven't had any issues with it (whereas I'm a LauncherPro fan on my other devices).

kwazi said:
weird.. how many widgets do you have on your launcher? the more widgets you have, the slower the launcher is.
Have you tried another launcher? The stock launcher has never been known for being fast and efficient, although I haven't had any issues with it (whereas I'm a LauncherPro fan on my other devices).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have quite a few Widgets but nothing too crazy I don't think. I use LauncherPro on my other devices as well but I love this new launcher so I'm going to stick it out. Like I said the most common task that causes the issue is when I'm using the web browser and then come out of it. Otherwise its been stable. I've noticed the same thing with Honeycomb on my Xoom so it might just be one of those things I have to put up with.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

i'm also noticing some redraw and occasional lag when hitting the home button.
I'm hoping that CM9's custom launcher will have an option to lock it in memory- that may increase the performance by a lot.
also when replacement launchers like go launcher start optimizing more for ICS those might be good options.

Have you tried converting your launcher into a system app? You'll need to use Titanium Backup Pro or something similar to do it for you, or simple copy the APK into your system/app folder... Really sped up my launcher!

shawnshine said:
Have you tried converting your launcher into a system app? You'll need to use Titanium Backup Pro or something similar to do it for you, or simple copy the APK into your system/app folder... Really sped up my launcher!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you see the date on this thread, almost 8 months old
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

95Z28 said:
Did you see the date on this thread, almost 8 months old
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
... and yet people still continue to discover the thread and benefit from it.
Thanks for clarifying the meaning of "Don't keep activities"

my razr xt910 cannot be counted upon to run smoothly with all the apps simultaneously running and forcing itself to go into reboot. i then fancied an iPhone single styled system (as compared to Android multi-talks) cuz iPhone looks robust and responsive. all the killer that claimed to do the job looked more of a farce and then when i stumbled upon the destroy activity i was like OMG. srsly b4 using it I've only got just inner 100mb of ram, after using it i have a whooping 400mb ram. UI appears faster and all. regarding the relaunching of apps and battery life being used up. i think I'll start to worry about it on a later date. what say any body. ooh yes to add on, even after i deleted 40 apps on my phone it still hanged like fcuked. i guess i can reinstall them back again and not have to worry about it. btw i can't seem to root my xt910 for nuts so i can't custom ROM it along with all other fanciful mods that i hear about what others did to their phones.

Why don't browser pages stay in memory?

I've been wondering why my browser tabs get kicked out of memory after so long. Usually if I take a phone call or switch into a large app and return to the browser, I have to reload all my pages. I normally have 3-5 tabs open at once. With VZW's slow 3G it's a pain to reload and lose my place. Doesn't this phone have 1GB of RAM? I wouldn't think a phone call would cause the browser to be removed from memory would it? This has been plaguing me for years just wondering if there was anything I could do to prevent it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

Yes its just something to do with the latest ICS version, memory management is more aggressive with the browser or something. It drives me mad too. Sometimes ill switch to the homescreen for one second without loading a single thing, go right back to the broeser and it was kicked from memory.

Is the behaviour the same in the new Chrome Beta?

Yup, I find this a bit annoying, too.

DirkGently said:
Is the behaviour the same in the new Chrome Beta?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't seem to be. I've just had a test and it seems to keep all pages open.

Open browser -> load page -> menu -> save for offline reading

lilirose said:
Open browser -> load page -> menu -> save for offline reading
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But wouldn't you then have to do this for each tab?

Because Android doesn't offer true multitasking. It closes apps you are actively using and caches apps you don't ever use... Poor memory management and aggressive task closing makes for a poor user experience.

EP2008 said:
Because Android doesn't offer true multitasking. It closes apps you are actively using and caches apps you don't ever use... Poor memory management and aggressive task closing makes for a poor user experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep. It's a little too aggressive. It's most annoying when i'm using Spotify or something. I might pause the music for a little while for whatever reason, run a couple apps. When I go back to Spotify I have to restart the whole app.
It should intelligently monitor usage and cache apps based off that...

tweak your VM settings, as well as min free settings.
My pages has always stayed in memory

s2d4 said:
tweak your VM settings, as well as min free settings.
My pages has always stayed in memory
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mind providing some examples and/or guidance on how to accomplish this?

s2d4 said:
tweak your VM settings, as well as min free settings.
My pages has always stayed in memory
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah this is what i want to try and tweak the oom numbers but i just been too lazy...

Hmm. I have never used Spotify before, but that sounds way too aggressive. I use slacker.com and if i pause it there does not seem to ever be a problem going back and having the song pick up right where i left off. Google listen seems to do the same. Now don't get me started on the one or two times per day slacker causes my galaxy nexus to reboot ......

rudolphe said:
Mind providing some examples and/or guidance on how to accomplish this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Need it too...

I never experienced this. I have chrome and chrome beta with bunch of tabs in each of them open and they always stay there. I am on stock 4.1.1 and i have stock android browser disabled.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

Ram manager ??

So do you guys find it necessary to have a ram manager to free memory or no ?

No, ics have a good system to manage ram.

No. Creates more issues than it solves.

+1 for no. Watchdog has always been a must have for me, but it hasn't yet had to call out an app on my SGN.

No. Don't use automated tools to kill tasks and free up memory... in Android, free memory is wasted memory. You make your phone work harder when you interfere with its built-in memory management.

I kill running services that shouldn't be running... That allows for more RAM to be used by active applications.

EP2008 said:
I kill running services that shouldn't be running... That allows for more RAM to be used by active applications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Users always feel they are smarter than the OS when it comes to killing processes. They are usually wrong.

adrynalyne said:
Users always feel they are smarter than the OS when it comes to killing processes. They are usually wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Funniest thing I read all day and its true

adrynalyne said:
Users always feel they are smarter than the OS when it comes to killing processes. They are usually wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes,I feel that having running SERVICES that I'm not using is a huge waste of memory and battery resources. Android is not smart in this regard.
For example, I use the amazon app store to check for free apps of the day ONCE a day. No need to have it run as a service all day, using up ram and CPU. Another example is pulse news reader. I want to go in the app, refresh the feeds, read them and exit, but the app remains running as a service for no reason. I also use a document scanner app which runs as a service when I'm not using it for no good reason. So, I kill the service.
To suggest that I'm wrong in doing this shows a lack of understanding of the issue at hand.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

EP2008 said:
Yes,I feel that having running SERVICES that I'm not using is a huge waste of memory and battery resources. Android is not smart in this regard.
For example, I use the amazon app store to check for free apps of the day ONCE a day. No need to have it run as a service all day, using up ram and CPU. Another example is pulse news reader. I want to go in the app, refresh the feeds, read them and exit, but the app remains running as a service for no reason. I also use a document scanner app which runs as a service when I'm not using it for no good reason. So, I kill the service.
To suggest that I'm wrong in doing this shows a lack of understanding of the issue at hand.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
You have no idea how android works and deserve to have your nexus confiscated.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App

EP2008 said:
Yes,I feel that having running SERVICES that I'm not using is a huge waste of memory and battery resources. Android is not smart in this regard.
For example, I use the amazon app store to check for free apps of the day ONCE a day. No need to have it run as a service all day, using up ram and CPU. Another example is pulse news reader. I want to go in the app, refresh the feeds, read them and exit, but the app remains running as a service for no reason. I also use a document scanner app which runs as a service when I'm not using it for no good reason. So, I kill the service.
To suggest that I'm wrong in doing this shows a lack of understanding of the issue at hand.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
Android does not operate like windows. Apps listed as "Running" are actually only loaded in ram and are not using cpu cycles or battery power. Android loads them in ram in order for them to start/be available more quickly to the user. If Android needs more ram for a task, it will remove any thing it needs to in order to free up more ram. You are wasting battery power and cpu cycles by "killing" those apps/service. If you think of ram as a memory stick you will realize that once something is loaded there, it doesn't take any power to keep it there.
Good luck
Good luck

jordanishere said:
You have no idea how android works and deserve to have your nexus confiscated.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
System services should obviously not be messed with, but disabling autostarting services that you don't use is generally not a problem. It may take more power/time to start up apps that use those services (since they will have to be manually started), but if it's an app that you use infrequently it may be worth doing.
Intelligently tuning what services are allowed to autostart themselves is NOT the same as indiscriminately killing apps chasing after "free memory".
Personally, I wouldn't terminate services, but only modify which ones are allowed to automatically start up with the OS.

codesplice said:
if it's an app that you use infrequently it may be worth doing.
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Click to collapse
Is it worth doing when Android does this automatically?
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EP2008 said:
Yes,I feel that having running SERVICES that I'm not using is a huge waste of memory and battery resources. Android is not smart in this regard.
For example, I use the amazon app store to check for free apps of the day ONCE a day. No need to have it run as a service all day, using up ram and CPU. Another example is pulse news reader. I want to go in the app, refresh the feeds, read them and exit, but the app remains running as a service for no reason. I also use a document scanner app which runs as a service when I'm not using it for no good reason. So, I kill the service.
To suggest that I'm wrong in doing this shows a lack of understanding of the issue at hand.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
you basically proved what he said was true

I agree with using "Autostarts", it's one of my fav apps and cuts down on startup time and certain apps like to be triggered for all kinds of rediculous things. Once again though I think it is counterproductive to use automated task killers. Watchdog will alert you of apps running away with your ram and battery, but does not just auto kill all random apps. As far as the Amazon AppStore, I agree that it can be very malicious with RAM if it wants to be even when just checking the FAOTD in the mornings, on my Atrix I would get constant alerts from Watchdog for Amazon AppStore. On my SGN however I have yet to recieve ANY alerts for ANY app yet from Watchdog, this leads me to think there is better optimization going on with ICS or the Nexus than I had with Gingerbread and Atrix.
Is there any reason not to use AutoStarts or WatchDog? They are not auto killing apps at all. And I am requesting a "real" technical explanation not just you opinion or a "think of it like.." story, those are useless to me and offer no explanation.

jordanishere said:
Is it worth doing when Android does this automatically?
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
Eh, usually there's not much benefit to be had - but preventing a service from auto starting when you might not use its app for the entire time Android is booted won't cause any problems. You're essentially "freezing" the service while still allowing it to be used on demand .

WiredPirate said:
I agree with using "Autostarts", it's one of my fav apps and cuts down on startup time and certain apps like to be triggered for all kinds of rediculous things. Once again though I think it is counterproductive to use automated task killers. Watchdog will alert you of apps running away with your ram and battery, but does not just auto kill all random apps. As far as the Amazon AppStore, I agree that it can be very malicious with RAM if it wants to be even when just checking the FAOTD in the mornings, on my Atrix I would get constant alerts from Watchdog for Amazon AppStore. On my SGN however I have yet to recieve ANY alerts for ANY app yet from Watchdog, this leads me to think there is better optimization going on with ICS or the Nexus than I had with Gingerbread and Atrix.
Is there any reason not to use AutoStarts or WatchDog? They are not auto killing apps at all. And I am requesting a "real" technical explanation not just you opinion or a "think of it like.." story, those are useless to me and offer no explanation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I relied upon autostart tuning and Watchdog on my N1, but haven't experienced a real need for either on the SGN. Not necessarily a technical response, but just my experience.

Wow, the ignorance on XDA is staggering.
A RUNNING SERVICE is not the same as a cached app or background process.
Why the heck would anyone want 3 or 4 running services in the background when they don't need them running?
Right now, I have the logmein service using 26mb, Amazon app store using 38mb, pulse taking up 43mb and I'm NOT using these apps. They are running as services and using ram, battery and cpu.
Continue to defend Android and all its flaws. The user doesn't always have to accept how poorly some things function.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

EP2008 said:
Right now, I have the logmein service using 26mb, Amazon app store using 38mb, pulse taking up 43mb and I'm NOT using these apps. They are running as services and using ram, battery and cpu.
Continue to defend Android and all its flaws. The user doesn't always have to accept how poorly some things function.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
Less an Android flaw and more related to how developers wrote those apps. Otherwise I think we are in agreement though.

codesplice said:
I relied upon autostart tuning and Watchdog on my N1, but haven't experienced a real need for either on the SGN.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why?
10char

Close all?

What's a good app or way to close all apps at once?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

mario24601 said:
What's a good app or way to close all apps at once?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Press the Home button.

irishtexmex said:
Press the Home button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol apps dont close when you press the home button smart one. and op if you click the multi-window button(the one on the right of home button) you can swipe them all away really fast but dont really know about all at once

FaDeGFX said:
lol apps dont close when you press the home button smart one. and op if you click the multi-window button(the one on the right of home button) you can swipe them all away really fast but dont really know about all at once
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes was hoping for an all close at once type app. Had that on iPhone thought might have something similar.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

There are 3rd party app killers in the play store. Check there...
There was a stock task manager...but I guess Google removed it for JB
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

App killer

Cyanogenmod 10.1 has a button on the multitasking menu to do that. But it's kinda pointless except to clear the list of recently used apps. Android, if my understanding is correct, automatically fills the memory with tasks so killing apps is worse than pointless since you're just causing the system to prioritize unused background processes over the ones that you use more often.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

irishtexmex said:
Press the Home button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should listen to this guy. I know you're coming from a different OS, so you aren't aware of how Android deals with memory. The system is very good at multitasking. Apps that have been idling in the background will be pushed out and won't consume resources or ramp up your CPU. By killing those apps, you force the system to have to reload and process resources necessary to start the app. Android will keep enough of the resources to quickly fire up the app, but restrict activity so that your battery is pretty much unaffected.
An analogy if you need it: Android will bookmark and close whatever you were reading. That way, you can move the book around or leave it on the shelf and quickly pick it up and continue from the last page you were on. You are requesting that the system instead just closes the book, and buries it in a box with other books, and which is located in the attic. It takes more resources to find the book and locate the page again. Just let Android do its thing. Any popular dev will tell you the same thing.
TL;DNR - Don't use a task killer, you will get far better battery life and performance if you let the system deal with system resources.
FaDeGFX said:
lol apps dont close when you press the home button smart one. and op if you click the multi-window button(the one on the right of home button) you can swipe them all away really fast but dont really know about all at once
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't listen to this guy. He used the phrase "smart one," which I haven't heard since I was in elementary school (and I thought it was un-clever and uselessly sarcastic then). He also thinks that swiping away apps from the recents menu kills them. This is not how Android works. AOKP devs will not implement a recents menu that actually does let you swipe to kill apps because it's a useless feature that does more harm than good (zero benefit, actually). Just trust that your system knows how to handle its resources.
TL;DNR - Swiping away apps from the recents menu doesn't kill them. Stop trying to kill apps; only do so if they're unresponsive.

If u really want it, aokp has this feature
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

reboot?

Hung0702 said:
You should listen to this guy. I know you're coming from a different OS, so you aren't aware of how Android deals with memory. The system is very good at multitasking. Apps that have been idling in the background will be pushed out and won't consume resources or ramp up your CPU. By killing those apps, you force the system to have to reload and process resources necessary to start the app. Android will keep enough of the resources to quickly fire up the app, but restrict activity so that your battery is pretty much unaffected.
An analogy if you need it: Android will bookmark and close whatever you were reading. That way, you can move the book around or leave it on the shelf and quickly pick it up and continue from the last page you were on. You are requesting that the system instead just closes the book, and buries it in a box with other books, and which is located in the attic. It takes more resources to find the book and locate the page again. Just let Android do its thing. Any popular dev will tell you the same thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let's say I start loading a web page and quickly jump to another app before it's loaded, then when I return to Chrome the page is ready and waiting. Doesn't this imply that apps are not just simply bookmarked and closed, but may remain active in the background? I am asking, not saying btw.

1234568 said:
Let's say I start loading a web page and quickly jump to another app before it's loaded, then when I return to Chrome the page is ready and waiting. Doesn't this imply that apps are not just simply bookmarked and closed, but may remain active in the background? I am asking, not saying btw.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Foreground apps are told that they are no longer in view, but are allowed to keep running if they wish. The OS will stop them if the memory is needed - which with 2GB is not very often on the nexus 4!

So Hung0702 was wrong on the last page when he said:
Apps that have been idling in the background will be pushed out and won't consume resources or ramp up your CPU
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems as though background apps can use resources and may have a negative impact on battery. Now I have got to the bottom of this I also want a clear all button!

1234568 said:
So Hung0702 was wrong on the last page when he said:
It seems as though background apps can use resources and may have a negative impact on battery. Now I have got to the bottom of this I also want a clear all button!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, they can keep using resources in the background. However, they will usually not keep the cpu awake unless they have an actual background service, so they will not stop the device from sleeping. As far as I know this is not enforced, but most apps will release the wakelock when told to pause by the OS (because the app is now hidden). This means they shouldn't have much impact on battery life.
You can see what is currently running by going to Settings -> Apps and select the Running tab. The recent apps list is not the same - most will have actually closed when you hid them.