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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
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...
I have tried 3 different task killers but each one do not seem to be killing the task even though it says it is.
When i open the "killed" apps, they open to the last screen before they were killed.
I am using the froyo ROM. On 2.1, when the apps were killed and then re-opened them, it always went back to the main screen.
perhaps stop using them u only disturb androids internal memory managment.
I prefer using task killers, it made the phone quicker when i was on 2.1
U should search Google, for why android doesn't need task killers.
Cyanogen even mentioned it in his tweets.
Tadkillers are pointless on android
Sent from my Desire using XDA App
nope they are not.
but i agree they are useless on daily operation
i am using them to kill everything after boot, since android loads everything into memory.
which is not usefull either.
after that one kill, i am also not using any.
Thanks, I find the task killers are very convenient to use.
When I kill a app, I prefer to go to its main home page rather the last page I was on.
Can others confirm if there having any issues regarding this?
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
Right after experimenting a little, i have discovered the following.
The task killers are killing apps. I have done a test to confirm this.
I have opened many apps and then gone into the menu then RUNNING APPLICATIONS. There it shows me all the opens that i have opened. So i then kill nthem using a task killer and i go back to RUNNING APPLICATIONS. Now these apps are not there so they have been killed.
This "issue" that im having may be standard feature of froyo.
So can anyone open a few apps, use them for a few seconds and then kill them. When you re-open them, do they go to the last page you were on or do they go to app main page.
thanks
Can anyone just do a quick test for me on there desire?
It will be much appreciated.
Hi Everyone,
Thanks for taking the time to look at my situation. I'm a new user and have been experimenting, trying a few different ROMs, loved the feel of cyanogenmod7 (b36) but couldn't hack the poor battery life (approx 5 hours light mod use with radio 26.04.02.17). I went back to LeeDrOid (installed v2.0 this time but have previously used 1.51 and got 24 hours battery on moderate use with the same radio). Once back at LeeDrOiD 2.0 I have the following two relatively minor but annoying issues.
1) On all my other ROM flashes android has somehow been able to detect apps I have downloaded from the market and installs them automatically. I've now wiped and flashed v2.0 3 times and it won't find or restore the my (40 odd) apps. Is this a common issue with this build? Is there a specific app or process that is responsible for restoring these apps that I can tinker with?
2) I use ADWLauncher for my home. The system keeps forgetting that I want to use it as default. It often works for about 2 or 3 uses of the home key (eg either to bring up previews, or to return to home screen from an app) and then asks me which program (ie launcher, ADWLauncher EX, even quick desk which I installed on one of the re wipes to try and see if other apps handled the home default better). I've tried clearing from setting>applications manager, and have reflashed but the fault keeps happening. Is this a common problem with this build, or is there something I am missing [most likely scenario].
Thanks in advance for any help your are able to give. The android community is an amazing thing.
Cheers,
Mike.
I was having a very similar issue with the apps not restoring after flashing a new rom. I live in a country where there are no paid apps available.. so i've been using MarketAccess. What i found is that when i forget to open MarketAccess and emulate a US sim BEFORE launching the market for the first time after a flash, my apps wont download. But when i do launch MarketAccess before launching the market, then all my apps download. So i've made it a habit now to install MarketAccess first thing after a fresh install of a new rom.
I don't know if you live in a country with paid apps though so my point may be totally irrelevant lol
As for your second concern about adw launcher... im not too sure about that. Maybe you have a task killer installed? If so that may be interfering. Uninstall that and see if it helps. You shouldnt really ne using task killers anyway. But again you might not have one so this point may be irrelevant too lol
Thanks for responding.
I'm in australia so we have the full Market apps store here. I haven't heard of market access before, is that a standard app our one specific to your zone? This problem only seems to be for this version 2 rom, and not the other roms I have flashed. Scratching head.
With the launcher, I haven't got a task killer installed. I use astro or the system task manager. It's very puzzling, the default setting will sick for a few times usually, then ask me again. Capricious little beasts, these phones
I do use juice defender though, do you think that could be cutting off the default sections while the system is in use? I'll give that a shot.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Mate, you were on the right track. It was juice defender that was killing the home screen default. I sorted it out in the configure apps section by making it visible. Stupidly, I hadn't thought of jd as a task killer. Thanks for your help.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Glad you sorted that out.
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.
Click to expand...
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!).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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)
!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
linux caches stuff in memory to make it quicker when you do want it. unused ram is wasted ram. it is not like windows.