Develop Bugs

An experiment...

So we've got root access. Awesome. Everyone has been looking forward to installing apps to their SD card as well as other neat tricks.
Well, I haven't.
I hate to be the buzz killer but there is a fundamental flaw with the way apps are installed and uninstalled that means even moving them to a spacious SD card is not solving the problem.
Before I go rooting the phone and hacking as a way to eliminate some of the more annoying problems with Android, we need to first distinguish between bugs, technical limitations and poor implementation. Not allowing installs to the SD card out of the box is a technical limitation...Apps2sd creates a Linux partition on your SD but it's not ideal.
But that's neither here nor there. I'm not here to discuss the reletive merits of rooting or using apps2sd. What I want is the underlying code to work properly before I go hacking. It doesn't matter if we only have 100mb of space or 2GB for apps. If I install a 2mb app and them remove it I want the WHOLE 2mb back.
This morning news of the pre release alpha of Fennec (mobile Firefox) was announced. I attempted to install it but there was only 25mb of space on my phone. Apparently this is a BIG install and needed about 39mb. Anyway long story short, it didn't work. No matter how much space I cleared (up to 40.89mb at one point) it still told me I didn't have enough space.
So now I have a phone with 40mb of space and I had to clear out some unused apps to get there...I also cleared out my IM app, Nimbuzz, which I DO use. So I figure I'd install it again...but I'm thinking, it was big! Over 4mb installed. I figure I'll look for a smaller lighter app. I try Meego. Nice, small, but no Skype chat. So I uninstall and try Fring. Nice, has Skype...but no Facebook. The only one with the features I want is Nimbuzz. So I uninstall Fring. Two apps installed. Two apps removed. I look at my space. 35mb.
5mb has seemingly vanished into nothing!!! Meego was only about 500kb. Fring about 1.5mb. Where did all that space go?!?
I reset and there's no difference.
So to my experiment. I needed to verify the space suck bug.
Reset phone. I'm starting with 39.89mb.
Install Robo Defence Free. It's advertised as 1.25mb.
Reset phone. 38.02mb. I've used up 1.87mb with that install. According to App Manager Robo Defence is using up 1.41mb.
Uninstall Robo Defence. 38.18mb. Restart. final = 39.42mb.
In just one app install and removal, I've lost 0.47mb
Why? What has used that space?
Despite having 40mb of space this morning when attempting to install Fennec, I have since removed Nimbuzz, Shopper, Robo Defence, Poker, Layar, and Google Translate and I've not gotten back up to 40mb.
Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?

Yeah this is a major worry.
I hope someone can get to the bottom of it...

Try going to settings - applications - manage applications then hit menu and choose sort by size. This should show you the biggest space hog. My guess is that the browser and/or market caches are getting big as you're browsing for these apps. You can press on market and there will be a button to clear the cache, same for internet.
Hope this helps

Nope, that didn't even dent it. This is a real bother.

Have you tried to delete the cache and the data of the application before uninstalling it ?
Under settings/applications/manage applications when you choose an app you can see the size of the application but also the size of the data and the size of the cache. Maybe uninstalling an app don't remove at least the data and/or cache...

Guy's, honestly... You are looking far to deep into this and the word "control freak" comes to mind..
Enjoy your phone and dont quibble over 0.47MB when you have 32gb to play with. A massive thanks to Paul for getting us this root in the first place, we now have options to do anything we want with the phone.
Worry if your phone cannot be used, yes
But worring over small, irrelivant problems will just lower your enjoyment of this beast! Take a chill pill and enjoy that wee can now install apps on the sd card and are not limited to space
Cheers Paul))))
JD

JupiterDroid said:
dont quibble over 0.47MB when you have 32gb to play with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What about those of us who don't plan to root? I think the OP's point here was that this is an issue and rooting isn't really a solution for a lot of people.

Why would you not root? I dont see why you would not open your phone up to obvious advantages and extra app's, especially when these apps have the potential to extend battery life and volume levels, two of which we know with the Desire are pretty dire.
JD

Perfect volume and 2 days battery here mate
I'd only root for A2SD, but might see if Google sort it themselves first as I don't use a lot of apps anyway - it's just a phone after all

JupiterDroid said:
Guy's, honestly... You are looking far to deep into this and the word "control freak" comes to mind..
Enjoy your phone and dont quibble over 0.47MB when you have 32gb to play with. A massive thanks to Paul for getting us this root in the first place, we now have options to do anything we want with the phone.
Worry if your phone cannot be used, yes
But worring over small, irrelivant problems will just lower your enjoyment of this beast! Take a chill pill and enjoy that wee can now install apps on the sd card and are not limited to space
Cheers Paul))))
JD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First installing to SD slows down your apps noticeably. It's not ideal. It's the best solution we have RIGHT NOW, but don't mistake that for being a good thing.
I'm not quibbling over 0.45mb. If you reread I LOST 5mb! That's enough space for a few apps, no?
My point being that up until now this clear bug (losing data that doesn't seem to be associated with an app so is therefore not counted in it's cache and is not cleared) has been ignored by throwing SD space at it. That's foolish.

Well i get just over 1.5 days battery life and volume is not too bad for me, but i would like the music volume to be louder Also the main thin gthe root would mean for me is that i could get the Nexus rom on to my Desire and hopefully get a quick update to Froyo Because lets face it, how long are we going to wait for HTC to update sense???
JD

Don't like stock Android - I'm happy with Sense!
But enough thread hijacking!!

So you will be happy to wait 6 months for HTC to update Sense to intergrate with Froyo? (based on past updates, eg.. Hero, which is still on 1.6)?? I can understand your point, but sense for me is just a waste of screen space
The only reason i bought the desire was because of the slightly more RAM and actual buttons instead of touchscreen buttons Sense isnt a real big must for me
JD

Well, yeah! The Desire as it is does exactly what I want it to out the box. I had to cook my own ROM for my HD2 to get it working as I want but this just works!!
I prefer the eye candy of Sense, stock Android is boring and I hate using garish themes...if I feel the need to root it I will but as it is I have no need to

Very true mate Well i hope they have a frozen youghut ready for you apon release
JD

Guys, take it somewhere else eh.

Aitese said:
So we've got root access. Awesome. Everyone has been looking forward to installing apps to their SD card as well as other neat tricks.
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same here. I've two Desire, installed exactly the same apps and had a difference of 12 mb afterwards. I tried to delete every cache a.s.o, still a difference of 5 mb.. reboot .. nothing changed. Next day -> reboot again -> 2 mb difference? No clue what's exactly going on with the rom.
@sense: I bought the desire cause i thought it can't be worse than the nexus one cause if i don't like sense, just install launcher2 and deactivate it. What i did not know: HTC just removed some stock android applications and integrated their crappy apps, and in addition they implement some features i want to REMOVE, i do not want to see them anymore (f.e. flickr.. why flickr? this is android/google, i want a picasa button!, tweet, stocks a.s.o... no uninstall option).
I need root to get rid of the things i don´t like.

I did say sorry for it - he's the one coming back at me!!
I'll leave it now mate, my 2p though, I personally don't care about the memory - if it gets to a point when I do I'll hard reset and start again. Probably just needs the Android equivalent of a defrag!!

Have done two hard resets (not for this reason) and my memory was lower after each - something to do with the re-installing of the apps I surmise?

al89nut said:
Have done two hard resets (not for this reason) and my memory was lower after each - something to do with the re-installing of the apps I surmise?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's strange. After a hard reset it should have exactly the same memory each time. After all, that's the whole point of a hard reset.
And I must say that the issue raised by OP is very worrying. Installing and then uninstalling applications should give you back the exact same memory as you had before. I can accept residual files on the SD card, but the precious space on the internal flash should definately be fully reclaimed after an uninstall.
If not, there is a fundamental flaw somewhere. If anyone can shed more light on this issue, please do so!

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.

Should You Use a Task Killer?

Decided to write an article about task killer use, mainly because of so many people being surprised that i do not recommend it, after their so called techy friends told them they need one, I'll post the opening paragraph with a link to the rest of it.
Task killer, one of the most prominent words within the android world. One that causes many arguments and confusion, well today lets see if we can put it all to rest.
I am constantly surprised when talking to new android owners that come to me with questions about their "faulty" phone and "poor-performing" battery, to discover that one of the first apps they installed was a task killer. Even more surprised when I dig deeper and ask why, with one of the top responses being because their "techy" friend said its a vital app. First things first, anything vital will be a core part of the the operating system. If google required that a task killer be a core part of their os, they would have included an easy way to kill apps, end of. Also, if your "techy" friend told you to download an task killer, please, ignore any advice from them in the future, you will regret it if you don't.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android Guide: Should I Use a Task Killer - Droid Den

You start off by saying you don't need one and then you say you do and even recommend one!
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

themikeyboosh said:
You start off by saying you don't need one and then you say you do and even recommend one!
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
maybe you should read it again more carefully the paragrah your on about was simply laying out some reasons why you may need a task killer

themikeyboosh said:
You start off by saying you don't need one and then you say you do and even recommend one!
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
system panel is not a task killer mate, its a tool to help you identify bad apples. That is the reason for that apps existence, just ask its dev.

I read yr thread. I'm not so experienced in the systems. But i think this thread is following a good logic, and the systems at the end are all about logic.....
So, first thing i do after finish reading was killing the task killers.
Thanks again for the post.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

Excellent article mate keep up your good work.
Many many people are brainwashed by many misleading reviews on Google in to thinking they need a task manager but this article explains nicely why they dont.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

System panel is a good solution. Try also power tutor, if it works with your phone

AndroHero said:
maybe you should read it again more carefully the paragrah your on about was simply laying out some reasons why you may need a task killer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No no, I've read it, it's plain as day. You've just said it again.
le3ky said:
system panel is not a task killer mate, its a tool to help you identify bad apples. That is the reason for that apps existence, just ask its dev.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it kill tasks? Need I go on.....It doesn't matter how you jazz it up "pal" there's no denying it can be used to kill tasks.

removed

themikeyboosh said:
Does it kill tasks? Need I go on.....It doesn't matter how you jazz it up "pal" there's no denying it can be used to kill tasks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol? Do you honestly not understand?
There are apps out there that are coded badly.
In order to remove those apps you first need to id them.
SystemPanel helps you find out which app is causing a problem.
Then you may uninstall that app.
Nothing about using it as a task killer in there.
Does that help? I could try to put it in simpler terms if not.

I only use a task killer when I want to run some benchmarks shortly after having played around with resource-intensive apps like games.Other than that only as mentioned in the article,to trace and kill bad or frozen apps.Any other use is only harmful.

Very good article. It should be sticked.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

I don't use a task killer with my HTC Desire. But back in the day with 1.5 and 1.6 I needed a task killer. Now 2.1 or higher doesn't need one.

for sure, higher memory and more efficient android definitely does not need one.

"Android is smart enough to recognise when it is running low on available memory, and will start to close those apps that it deems are low priority."
Then pls tell me why after opening more and more apps my desire gets slower as it is running out of memory, and after killing them with task killer except for the one im using its running smoothly again. I would love to stick with the android solution, but its just not working out...
Rooted Desire S-Off running latest Redux Rom (Gingerbread)

At first I thought a task killer was making my battery life longer - but I tried it again a couple of months after using Android - just to see if it impact battery life and found no difference - or not noticable anyway on day-to-day use.

Thanks for this, very informative. Defo should be a sticky

[Q] Why do applications autostart?

Here's a list of apps that are open when my phone is just turned on:
Paperdroid
Greed2
Market
NewsRob
Tasker
Google Mail
News
Wifi Manager
Gallery
Colornote
Footprints
Messages
Nimbuzz
Clock
twicca
Skebby
fring
FM Radio
Music
Stocks
Except a few system ones (Gmail, Messages..), why do apps open even if I never used them? Especially the HTC ones (Stocks, Footprints), they are really annoying apps I never opened.
Can this be solved somehow? It may not use resources or battery but I don't understand why I can't decide what to open.
It feels like the Windows system tray, bunch of stuff often stuck there autostarting with no way of removing it (if not by using 3rd party programs).

i was about to post the same question. Just dont understand why they start when i got my sync set to manual

totally agree that all these apps/services or whatever you call just annoying as they are started without user permission. Hv raised a similar thread some time ago, and Im not expert on such issues, but as far as I understand, the only way to get rid of them is -unfortunately- passing through root & custom roms.. No way out to stop them from being run automatically especially the Sense ones. However, acc to more advanced users or developers, they are not so "dangerous" in terms of battery consumption, nor any other impact on system as long as user do not activate and use them. For those which requires synching e.g. stocks, news, facebook, peep etc. it is enough to keep autosynch option disabled, thus it is no longer needing to think/care about them, that's it. But if the point is to ensure more room available in the internal memory, then -as said- the only solution is flashing rom with any 3rd party rom like cyanogen, modaco, defrost, ........
Me? still stuck with the official froyo on my unbranded, unrooted Desire (since April 13th)

iLHaNroID said:
totally agree that all these apps/services or whatever you call just annoying as they are started without user permission
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when you download them you give them all the permissions they need, if you dont like the way a program behaves ..... simple dont download it

Wow that's helpful, simply don't download stock and peep and others.how come I did not think about it???
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

it starts them, cause it has enough memory to cacche them.
so when you want to launch them, they open fast. simple as that.
when do people stop worrying about memory and all this. android handles that very well. no reason for watching memory and running programs even.

koichirose said:
Can this be solved somehow? It may not use resources or battery but I don't understand why I can't decide what to open.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Put simply, the reason why these start at boot is because they are set to receive the ACTION_BOOT_COMPLETED intent.
Allows an application to receive the ACTION_BOOT_COMPLETED that is broadcast after the system finishes booting. If you don't request this permission, you will not receive the broadcast at that time. Though holding this permission does not have any security implications, it can have a negative impact on the user experience by increasing the amount of time it takes the system to start and allowing applications to have themselves running without the user being aware of them. As such, you must explicitly declare your use of this facility to make that visible to the user.
Constant Value: "android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bear in mind that 99.99% of Android users will never know that this has happened, or that these processes were started. So, if they want to use Stocks, Peep, or whatever, they don't need to make a conscious decision to have the app start automatically - it just does.
Whilst I'm sure Google could build in an official API to allow you to control this behaviour, it would only be of benefit to a very tiny minority of users.
Regards,
Dave

Thank you for the explanation.
All I want would be an option to disable autostart.
I found it in fring, for example, and would like to see other developers add this option as well.

The only bad impact you could have is that boot time could be a couple of seconds longer for every application that starts. Otherwise, that memory it occupies will be freed the second the system needs it and CPU-wise, those applications are staying idle in the background

koichirose said:
All I want would be an option to disable autostart.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. Android has a slightly ridiculous amount of processes and apps running in the background all the time, and while they in theory shouldn't put a strain on the battery when they're not using the CPU, I'm beginning to think that they do since battery life on Android usually is awful, no matter how many precautions you take.

MapleDouglas said:
Same here. Android has a slightly ridiculous amount of processes and apps running in the background all the time, and while they in theory shouldn't put a strain on the battery when they're not using the CPU, I'm beginning to think that they do since battery life on Android usually is awful, no matter how many precautions you take.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
exactly, no matter how many precautions you make, so you are basically saying it doesn't matter how many apps are "running"... It makes no difference whether memory is used by an app or not.
Read this article to understand it better: http://www.droid-den.com/android-guides/android-guide-should-i-use-a-task-killer

le3ky said:
exactly, no matter how many precautions you make, so you are basically saying it doesn't matter how many apps are "running"... It makes no difference whether memory is used by an app or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With "precautions" I wasn't referring to killing processes, but general battery saving precautions, many based on common sense. I agree that task killers never should be used, unless a specific app has frozen and is given you trouble. But you can just go to Android's own Applications screen for that.

Is there a free way to stop applications from starting up?
This can be accomplished with a cheap app Autostarts, but I would rather not pay.

i'm trying the trial of startup manager, blocks some but not all. looks like it just kills the process once it's started tself. gonna get rid, and just use the task manager i have now.
it doesnt matter if it only makes a small difference, it's (for me anyway) about control, no different that on the PC
i have plenty of RAM in my PC but i wont allow every single program to have something start itself at bootup. it;s annoying. that's why i use msconfig to kill em.
that's what we need for android.

I don't know of other programs, but autostarts works quite well, and it's not that expensive, as I recall.

snudel said it all: stop worrying about memory.. i was a long time iphone user. on iphone memory is a nightmare.. soh on desire i was all the time fc'ing app's, them i notice the problem wasnt memory os the great number of opened apps, but me.. now they run on background, open fast, the mem management is awesome, they dont seen to utilize any noticeable amount of battery.. so, before changing the system, try changing yourself..

[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.
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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.