All Things Android - Apps, Phones, Tablets - Discussion

That's a massive over-simplification and kind of unhelpful.


I personally use two apps for task management purposes.
There's the one that comes bundled with Froyo for the Defy that I use when I want to manually kill off apps.
Then I also use Spare Parts - it basically gives you access to a larger range of Android's system settings and you can adjust the system task management.

 

True, it is over-simplification I guess. And, as you mentioned, task managers that come bundled with devices from Motorola and Samsung can be benign as they only show applications and processes that are "safe" to kill. I was referring to a lot of third party apps that just list everything.

I'll be the first to admit that I'd have no clue what's ok and what's not ok to kill, so I just leave it alone and don't mess with it.

 

^Oversimplification? Yes. Wrong? Nope.

Task killers, if not used correctly, can actually shorten battery life noticeably. But Spare Parts is probably the best way to handle the "always running" app situation. Spare Parts can change how aggressively Android kills off certain OOM valued tasks. The lower the OOM value, the harder it is to kill off that task.

If you want to tune what Spare Parts does in fine grain detail, look at "AutoKiller Memory Optimizer" in the market. It will tell you the OOM value of all the running apps and let you manually set minfree values.

If anyone wants specifics of how it works, look here.

 

I never said he was wrong but to merely state that using a task killer can do more harm than good without expanding on that in any way is rather unhelpful.

Yes, if you end up killing the wrong things, it's actually a disadvantage but, IMO at least, you have to be pretty clueless to end up doing that.

 

I know... I was just saying that no one was wrong..LOL. But I agree. System apps are system apps, and they're pretty easy to tell which are which. Third party apps can always be killed off with no issues.

 

I see your point and I'll keep it in mind for the future. I've opened the "Manage Apps" screen in Gingerbread and indeed, it's laid out pretty nicely. I was mostly talking about stuff like ATK where its just a long unorganized/filterable list.

 

It's just like anything really, if you don't know what you're doing you're liable to make things worse.

As Jason says, the way to do it is Spare Parts, though there are advantages to having a task manager you can use to manually kill tasks as well.
As you say, with Gingerbread Google have finally realised that and started including a task manager of their own.

 

Samsung Vibrant's official source is just released in the repository!!!! Woot! Can't wait for speedmod, OC/UV and all that to come. OC/UV has been there for a while except it was based on I9000 source and that chew through battery like it's tofu.

 

A good thing about the task manager i posted (Mini Task manager) is that you can set certain apps on an "ignore list" that it wont kill (im sure others have this too). and it doesnt show anything thats part of android's "core" system apps anyway. So i dont think you could do any harm with it.

I dont use a task manager if i dont have to, but i have noticed before when apps stay running that i "closed" hours ago. and lower my free memory a substantial amount. So in that case i do use it.

I did see that Auto Task Killer before, but i didnt try it. I guess it just closes apps that you arent using after awhile? If it messes up though it could be a pain

 

i can not find the same Great applications of IPHONE for android like wide range of dictionaries and tour guides .......
why HTC in USA priced more than in Europe!

 

theres ton of dictionaries.... what kind are you looking for and maybe we can point you in the right direction

 

Gingerbread looks more like Froyo SP1 than a completely new release. I'm waiting for Ice Cream.

 

PONS-DUDEN-COLLINS DEUTSCH-ENGLISH DICTIONARIES

GUIDE FOR CITIES LIKE AMSTERDAM..........these guides is really good when you travel, contain Museum,Maps,Transport......

They make useful software for IPHONE .......but the IPHONE itself is very expensive thats why i want to buy HTC Desire

 

What kind of apps are you looking for? Stuff like lonely planet guides or something?

Most HTC devices sold here new are sold on a 2 year contract through a carrier. By doing that we have subsidized pricing that makes the phone cheaper to purchase than the retail price (eg. a 500 dollar phone selling for 199)

 

Thats pretty good, here the cellphones are cheaper, but we all have to get 3years contract.. And that is very long.

 

Over here, you can get a Desire HD free on a 24 month contract with an equivalent cost of ~£22.50/month.

 

Handcent SMS


Replacement SMS app, soooo much better than the stock app.


Handcent SMS - Android Application on the Android market

 

You are aware that there's a proper Android market website?


It's not really an app but this is a pretty cool Android-related video IMO:

<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fqFpq9WXbJo?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fqFpq9WXbJo?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width='853' height="510"></embed>

 

Doesnt work on all rooted/custom ROM phones though




Also,

Facebook Girls

Want to SEE and RATE pictures of some of the HOTTEST GIRLS on FACEBOOK? This is the app for you. Perfect for when you're at school or work and bored. Hundreds of pictures of the hottest girls on Facebook.


Best app EVER, well worth the dollar. i cant think of any other way i'd rather spend my money.

 

The only problem I've had with it so far is with the new T-Mobile UK account monitoring app.
And given what I know of T-Mobile, it's far more likely the problem is of their doing - it's affecting people running the original stock firmware as well people like me running leaked Froyo ROMs.

 

None of the apps from the Android market work for me, on wifi and using Cyanogen.

 

LCD Density is brilliant for devices with high(er) resolution screens. ^^ (my home screen is still a mess )

 

can you guy's combine all the stuff mentioned in the first post....10s and 10s of pages and growing is annoying also catergorize it.

 

Errr excuse me? Posters in this thread is nice enough to share what they think is a good android app. If you can't be bothered to look through the thread yourself then I don't think anyone can't help you here.

 

Is that your new phone Johnny, or are you still rocking that Magic.

 

Unless someone has a lot of time in their hands..
Also I envy your phone Johnny. Damn you.
Looking for a great time killer for my french and chemistry class.. Any idea? I already went through Angry Birds, Air controller and a bunch of puzzle games...

 

Looks a lot like a Desire HD to me

 

That is my DHD right there. Still setting (custom) things up.

Tower Defense? You phone isn't exactly worst. You GPU is faster than mine.

 

Yeah well, since I saw one of those sexy 4.3" screen, I feel like my 4" is not enough D:

 

Congrats! Welcome to the High end android phone Club.
That screen look humongous, even compare to my 4'' Vibrant.

 

You guys should give LCD density a try, it makes a world of difference. I am using launcher pro with 5 columns and 6 rows.

On the other hand, since the EU DHD and North American DHD are different, I had to do my rooting all via command prompt last night, good times.

 

really? any good thread summarizes all the good findings in the first post.

 

Hmm.. Works on all my custom ROMs.

EDIT: I was the OP of this thread... It would be a serious task to go through this whole thread and compound the findings and opinions into one gigantic OP. Though there are some basics that need to be added to the first post.

 

As Johnny has pointed out, these are just individual's recommendations.
You can't summarise that.

If you want a list of the 'best' Android apps, Google it.
There are plenty of sites out there that have top 10s etc.

 

Doesnt work for me on mine, and i read about problems with custom ROMs and the market that other people had.

I recently re-flashed though so i should give it another try.

 

Weird, I seem to be unable to root my device using the standard tools. Bah I don't like complicated stuff!

 

You might have 3e recovery. With that you have to "shell root" then full root.

 

Shell root

 

What is your avatar? Looks like a purine base but not really lol.

 

Thats a caffeine molecule >_>'
Refer to my title!

 

Thats how I rolled! (not the 3e part, the shell root part)

Pretty much like a temp root, allowing you to do other things in the mean time.

 

I don't think I'm good enough to do that kind of thing.. Although I wish I was!

 

It's straight forward enough if you find a good set of instructions, literally copy and paste. Just gotta be sure you are following it to the letter.

 

What's the difference between 2.2. and 2.2.1?

 

2.2.1 has different framework libraries and a much newer base than 2.2. 2.2.1 also renders fonts differently.

Its basically a more feature complete version of 2.2.

 

My SGS has been very hot lately.. The heat also seems to be draining the battery real fast.. I installed Froyo last week and uninstalled my app killer.. Maybe I should reinstall the app killer?

 

google had a topic about task managers a while back.... they recommended not using them do to some reason ( ill have to find the article again ) but I would use a rooted app called autokiller memory optimizer

 

I'm not sure that's quite right.
I think you'll find that some or perhaps all of the heat is coming from the battery because it's discharging so quickly.
Same idea as your phone getting warm while on charge.

 

Well yes this can be right, although you still did not answer my question.. Is my battery discharging because of the lack of app killer?!

 

No idea.
Without seeing your phone, I'd just be guessing.