Database Develop

Memory management app

I was looking at an article about memory management on android. They say that android runs better without any manger. Correction it runs better without a memory manager. Question for you people, what programs do you use and what are your thoughts?
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Most people use these app think it would enhance their performance.
I would certainly not object to such hypothesis.
However, I find that using these app would kill apps either too quickly or too late.
I do realize that there are advance options that would optimize such hassles. But after configuring these options, I found that it's easier to use my device without it.
So my final advise is not use it.
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I think this is true in most cases. However who wants a 3D game running in the background eating up resources?
I recommend using a Task Killer but only killing heavy tasks like games, etc. I used to kill all tasks (which doesn't hurt anything really) but doesn't seem to be 100% necessary.
I also recommend that if you use a task killer (and want to kill all tasks) and a home clock widget (like beautiful widgets) that you add it to the ignore list or the time will eventually become off.

my captivate slows down within 5 mins of heavy use without me killing all tasks periodically with taskiller. thats why apple uses fake multitasking...u cant slow the iphone 4 down with applications in the background even if you try, because essentially there not running.......just paused and resumed.

It seems that one that is a good one to consider is one that tweaks the settings that the native task killer to android uses.
Here is an interesting thread on it. Out of that thread 3 of them have developed. I originally was using Advanced Task Killer, but after reading this thread, I am now using AutoKiller, and think it is doing a good job. And the end result of what to kill is decided by the OS, not the task killer.
The name of it is misleading, ad it does not kill tasks. It just changes the settings that the OS uses to make that decision.

I use ATK. I have security set to high (doesn't show processes), I don't use auto kill, and I have established an ignore list. I find that my device is faster with the way I use the TK.
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Task killer for froyo

Is there a task tiller that actually works with froyo I tried a bunch from the market but .none of them seem to work apps will still run on the background tanks in advance
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App

Advance Task Killer Free works great for me

You don't need a task killer. Android 2.0 and up uses what is called an out of memory manager (OOM). If the phone needs memory for something, it'll automatically kill apps to free up space. If you really want to control your phones memory, get an app like Autokiller. It'll allow you to change the OOM manager settings. But, like I said, with 512MB of memory, you don't need it.

heybobitsme said:
You don't need a task killer. Android 2.0 and up uses what is called an out of memory manager (OOM). If the phone needs memory for something, it'll automatically kill apps to free up space. If you really want to control your phones memory, get an app like Autokiller. It'll allow you to change the OOM manager settings. But, like I said, with 512MB of memory, you don't need it.
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You only mention killing an app to free up memory but what if you want to kill it because it's consuming network resources or has gotten into a bad state?

kylehase said:
You only mention killing an app to free up memory but what if you want to kill it because it's consuming network resources or has gotten into a bad state?
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You can also kill apps with it but if it's an app taking services it will most likely just restart after killing because chances are more then one app is using that service which is why its being used a lot in the first place
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Samsung Galaxy S mysterious ram usage cm10.1

Hey there, this problem might have been discussed before but I wasn't able to find it, so the problem is with ram usasage, I once went to the apps in settings and on the running apps I always see 250mb+ ram used by something, then I killed all the apps, but that just made a dliference of 50mb ram, It's real anoying because when I want to switch between apps it's slow and when I turn a browser back on after using aother app the page realoads which I guess wpuldn't happen with 300 mb ram, does anyone know the reason for this, I am currently running cm10.1.
Thanks!

ltkipras said:
Hey there, this problem might have been discussed before but I wasn't able to find it, so the problem is with ram usasage, I once went to the apps in settings and on the running apps I always see 250mb+ ram used by something, then I killed all the apps, but that just made a dliference of 50mb ram, It's real anoying because when I want to switch between apps it's slow and when I turn a browser back on after using aother app the page realoads which I guess wpuldn't happen with 300 mb ram, does anyone know the reason for this, I am currently running cm10.1.
Thanks!
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What ROM and Kernel are you using?

Mango Polo said:
What ROM and Kernel are you using?
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Click to collapse
ROM; cm10.1 nigtly 20130330 galaxysmtd Kernel: 3.0.70-g7b668b [email protected] #1

Free RAM is useless. It just sits there sucking up power and being available in case you need it. It's pretty much a waste to have 300 MB of RAM and then only use 100 MB. Instead you should try to keep your RAM full at all times with the things you are likely to need in the near future. For example, if your phone is currently only using 20% of your RAM but already caches the browser in case you'll use it soon it will be faster to load the browser. If you decide to use the music player on the other hand the cached browser can be overwritten with the music player without requiring any additional time, so no harm is done.
Modern systems don't have "free" and "in use" RAM, they have "free" (wasted space), "in use" and "cached". You shouldn't look at the amount of free RAM but rather the amount of actually used RAM is a better indicator.
The reason you only gain 50 MB when you kill all apps is because only 50 MB will be actually in use by apps and all remaining unused space is used for caching things. If your phone is slow, this is not the cause of it. You may just have a slow phone or the ROM might be slow for some (other) reason.

Marshian said:
Free RAM is useless. It just sits there sucking up power and being available in case you need it. It's pretty much a waste to have 300 MB of RAM and then only use 100 MB. Instead you should try to keep your RAM full at all times with the things you are likely to need in the near future. For example, if your phone is currently only using 20% of your RAM but already caches the browser in case you'll use it soon it will be faster to load the browser. If you decide to use the music player on the other hand the cached browser can be overwritten with the music player without requiring any additional time, so no harm is done.
Modern systems don't have "free" and "in use" RAM, they have "free" (wasted space), "in use" and "cached". You shouldn't look at the amount of free RAM but rather the amount of actually used RAM is a better indicator.
The reason you only gain 50 MB when you kill all apps is because only 50 MB will be actually in use by apps and all remaining unused space is used for caching things. If your phone is slow, this is not the cause of it. You may just have a slow phone or the ROM might be slow for some (other) reason.
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yeah only 50mb is used to keep the apps running, but it probably takes up a whole lot more when using the apps, and this is a problem for me that it is slow to change between apps, and when I do change between the for example if I wanna text some one back while using a browser, once i turn the browser back on it restarts the page, and that didn't happen in my zte blade, unless I had some more apps running.
I wanna know what is using those 250+mb of ram!

ltkipras said:
yeah only 50mb is used to keep the apps running, but it probably takes up a whole lot more when using the apps, and this is a problem for me that it is slow to change between apps, and when I do change between the for example if I wanna text some one back while using a browser, once i turn the browser back on it restarts the page, and that didn't happen in my zte blade, unless I had some more apps running.
I wanna know what is using those 250+mb of ram!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
see exchange service,any svn services n keep track of system usage. normally 100mb+ will be taken for ui, framework...etc.
but. eventhough u keep track of it,then slaughter it, it will come back to life n running, so i wouldnt recommend slaughtering system usage.
switching between app normally slow for full or stock rom. try find some debloated rom. it will be suitable for u if u wanna more free ram rather than liquidity.
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I also observed some sluggishness after some time of usage. Sometimes the phone got totally unresponsive, not catching any push events (from buttons or screen), so that I couldn't even wake it after the screen timeout. I had to wait even few minutes before it was alive again.
Google Chrome was the most ram-eating app as far as I know.
Sometimes the best method is just restart your phone from time to time or even make a wipe - this is normal for all low-end android phones as they get sluggish after some time.
Long story short: I ended up buying a new phone with 2gb of RAM

pawci0 said:
I also observed some sluggishness after some time of usage. Sometimes the phone got totally unresponsive, not catching any push events (from buttons or screen), so that I couldn't even wake it after the screen timeout. I had to wait even few minutes before it was alive again.
Google Chrome was the most ram-eating app as far as I know.
Sometimes the best method is just restart your phone from time to time or even make a wipe - this is normal for all low-end android phones as they get sluggish after some time.
Long story short: I ended up buying a new phone with 2gb of RAM
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well...good luck on ur new fone
wish i had extra money to buy one......
but, bigger ram doesnt solve anything as far as i know.stock gapps n app from firmware will be da 'pacman' here. unless ur obtain 'god mode' for ur fone.
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I have the same issue
I'm using CM10.1 RC5, kernel 3.0.76-gc0a8d45 [email protected] #1
I have same symptoms pawci0 and ltkipras mentioned.
But I don't want to buy a new phone...
The lack of memory is noticeable when I run Waze or maps . It just opens for a couple of minutes and closes by itself or rather hangs the entire device.
What should I do? Go for the CM10.1 stable, try a different ROM (i.e. Slim). Change kernels?

nope, waze doesnt use that much ram, try to fix permission first n clear cache in recovery
n try to use other kernel, mine ok with multitask, rather heavy with online games n hearing mp3 n receiving whatsapp, line n we chat at da same time
n try greenify app to control app thats always running.
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Just try a other rom or kernel you would be amazed how lets say a change of kernel can speed things up. The point is everyone uses their phone differently different apps and things so you need to find the rom that suits you mostly.
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[Request] Process manager/Task manager

I am wondering if we have a task manager/process explorer app for Nexus 4? Currently I am using AirDroid v2 that includes a task manager, but I am looking for one with more options.
I travel a lot & would like to kill as much unwanted applications running in the background as possible to conserve battery.

There is no more need to use task killer to manage android systems any more. You will be doing more harm than good, in fact there is no good in killing tssks manually.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium

Point noted.
But when I use Airdroid task manager, I see a process when the corresponding app is not running the background.
To mention a few; Cut the rope free, stocks & Hill climb racing.
Few system process like picasa uploader, chrome etc.
As you said andoird may optimize most of them, but I would like some control when running thin on battery.

mohan_168 said:
I am wondering if we have a task manager/process explorer app for Nexus 4? Currently I am using AirDroid v2 that includes a task manager, but I am looking for one with more options.
I travel a lot & would like to kill as much unwanted applications running in the background as possible to conserve battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
use greenify https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.oasisfeng.greenify&hl=en to hibernate any persisting apps/processes (except system). apps relaunch when you open them.

Killing apps and then having to reload them actually uses more battery than them being dormant in the background and already loaded when called upon. The problem is when you have misbehaving apps that stay in the foreground eating up cpu, instead of going dormant into the background. And this does happen. I use an app called Watchdog that alerts me when this happens. It allows you to kill the app when this happens. It also allows you to whitelist and blacklist apps and processes.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

main phone setting, apps, running.. default task/process manager. in the top right will be an option to show cached process as well.

simms22 said:
main phone setting, apps, running.. default task/process manager. in the top right will be an option to show cached process as well.
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We all know that is there. The op mentioned wanting more options, mainly monitoring and kill options.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

mohan_168 said:
I am wondering if we have a task manager/process explorer app for Nexus 4? Currently I am using AirDroid v2 that includes a task manager, but I am looking for one with more options.
I travel a lot & would like to kill as much unwanted applications running in the background as possible to conserve battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
fernandezhjr said:
We all know that is there. The op mentioned wanting more options, mainly monitoring and kill options.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
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Click to collapse
fast reboot(free), but the paid version i like better https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.greatbytes.fastreboot&hl=en

rayiskon, I will try greenify & let you know how that helps.
fernandezhjr, I agree restarting app is not an optimal way, but I require to squeeze battery to atleast make phone calls when I am away from charging options.
simms22, fast reboot looks promising. I'll try the free one for now and take it from there.

It's kind of already been said, but I want to clarify as much as possible.
Apps running dormant in the background (using RAM) use no more power than if it weren't running. This is because all of the memory you have is being refreshed all the time, the controller has no idea whether there is actually data there, it still refreshes the entire space of memory.
Apps running "dormant" but using CPU do use more power than if it weren't running. I assume OP is wanting some sort of monitoring app that shows which apps are using CPU, in which case is fine. If OP is wanting to kill all apps that he isn't using at the time to conserve battery, then he would actually be doing the opposite of what he wants, as it requires to CPU to spin back up to restart it later. Again, the difference here is RAM vs CPU, one doesn't use battery (or rather, uses the same amount of battery, no matter how much of it is being utilized), and one can use more or less battery depending on how much it's used.

Johmama said:
It's kind of already been said, but I want to clarify as much as possible.
Apps running dormant in the background (using RAM) use no more power than if it weren't running. This is because all of the memory you have is being refreshed all the time, the controller has no idea whether there is actually data there, it still refreshes the entire space of memory.
Apps running "dormant" but using CPU do use more power than if it weren't running. I assume OP is wanting some sort of monitoring app that shows which apps are using CPU, in which case is fine. If OP is wanting to kill all apps that he isn't using at the time to conserve battery, then he would actually be doing the opposite of what he wants, as it requires to CPU to spin back up to restart it later. Again, the difference here is RAM vs CPU, one doesn't use battery (or rather, uses the same amount of battery, no matter how much of it is being utilized), and one can use more or less battery depending on how much it's used.
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Thanks for the detailed explanation. I understand killing process, shutting down cached process or apps & later restarting them is only going to fire up the CPU usage which completely defeats the purpose of conserving battery.
Though not a daily ask, at times I am stuck in situation where a phone call or SMS is all I need to keep me going.

Device Maintenance- some questions

Once I read on XDA that "free ram is wasted ram" (or something like that).
every time we closing apps we clear the ram, and every time we re-opened apps the phone use more CPU and battery. So should we add all apps to "Unmonitored apps"? Should we not adding any app to "Always sleepping apps"? Shouls we never "Clear now" to clear the ram?
Hopping someone could explain it.
Thanks.

soilentgreen said:
Once I read on XDA that "free ram is wasted ram" (or something like that).
every time we closing apps we clear the ram, and every time we re-opened apps the phone use more CPU and battery. So should we add all apps to "Unmonitored apps"? Should we not adding any app to "Always sleepping apps"? Shouls we never "Clear now" to clear the ram?
Hopping someone could explain it.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Making an app sleep is not the same thing as keeping/clearing it from ram. You are right though that free ram doesn't generally do you a lot of good, and constantly clearing it will just make your phone work more the next time you load that particular app.

A 'Sleeping App' is useful for conserving battery. Apps like Email or Facebook are always awake and connected to the internet checking for new messages, notifications, comments, etc. and this consumes more battery. The downside to putting an app to sleep however, is that it won't show notifications and alert you of new messages, comments, likes, etc. until you manually open the app itself and all notifications will come flooding in at once.
An App kept in RAM simply allows it to be opened and resumed from the last point it was used. This saves a little CPU and Battery but not much difference in our modern and high powered devices.
If you have maximum amount of Apps in RAM, than the phone automatically closes the oldest opened app to make room for the new one. So this option is simply a personal preference without much impact on CPU and Battery.

sefrcoko said:
Making an app sleep is not the same thing as keeping/clearing it from ram. You are right though that free ram doesn't generally do you a lot of good, and constantly clearing it will just make your phone work more the next time you load that particular app.
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Click to collapse
Does Device maintenance app close automatic the apps that added to "Always slepping apps" after a while?
If so, the apps need re-open every time. If it dosn't the app need to be close so it "enter" to sleeping mode. In both cases the app will close and it'll need to re-open.
If android knows to manage the apps, why in the first plase need to add apps to sleep?
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soilentgreen said:
Does Device maintenance app close automatic the apps that added to "Always slepping apps" after a while?
If so, the apps need re-open every time. If it dosn't the app need to be close so it "enter" to sleeping mode. In both cases the app will close and it'll need to re-open.
If android knows to manage the apps, why in the first plase need to add apps to sleep?
Sent from my SM-N950F using XDA Labs
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Yes, but sleep also involves restricting background processes which could otherwise be running and draining battery. That's a different consideration compared to whether an app is stored in ram or not, which is why I said they are not quite the same thing.

Well I close apps cause some apps draw a lot more power then others. I installed a audio recorder on my pixel o wanted to record audio at a concert. It drained the battery on my phone which had a full charge before I had a chance to use it so less apps the better. I guess it's all the matter what app are runnonf

Thank you all for the answers
What about greenify? What the difference between hibernation mode and sleep mode?
If app greenify it should add to "Unmonitored apps" in Device maintenance?
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