App Task Killer? Why you don't need one!!!

[TXN@<3]

Android

The Android model is perhaps the most interesting, a hybrid system that's fairly open about allowing stuff running in the background, but at the same time aims to be completely invisible to you, the end user, so that you don't have to actively manage whether an app is open or closed. It's a little complicated so we talked to an Android engineer about what's going on inside.
What happens when I switch to another app?
The app you switched from doesn't stop—the process stays open. At least, as long as it can. When Android detects it's running low on memory, then it kills processes to free up resources. It asks apps to save their state when you switch, so that any can be killed at any point, then reopen like it was never killed when you return to it.

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What can apps do in the background?
Android has two basic facilities for third-party multitasking—broadcast receivers and services. With a broadcast receiver, an app that goes into the background is basically asking to be told about an event, like if you move 500 meters, or your battery level hits a certain percentage. (That's how Google's apps that use push, like Gmail work—instead of pinging the server for mail constantly, it waits to receive a notification that mail has arrived.) That way the app can go away, and not use resources, but restart when something happens that it needs to act on.
Services are what you'd consider more traditional background processes, with apps running to play music, or do turn-by-turn navigation—they're essentially a request from the app to say it needs to run for X amount of time.
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What can't apps do in the background?
Remember Android's garbage battery life when it first came out? That's because there really were no restrictions on what kind of resources an app could consume in the background. Since Android 1.5, apps running in the background are capped at using 5-10 percent of the CPU altogether—which is the only major restriction placed on apps in the background. The other is that it's not easy for app to push itself to the foreground—they're supposed to the window shade notifications system.

FOR MORE INFO, CHECK THIS OUT, VERY INFORMATIVE
Android Developers Blog: Multitasking the Android Way


Hopefully this helps. I know I was really curious so I just had to find some more information besides people telling me that I didn't need an App Task Killer. I just had to find out for myself. I did believe yall, I just needed some concrete evidence, and well, here it is.

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[ender242]

i understand that this helps with processor usage, but what about battery? as we all know, this thing has piss poor battery life. is the app killer still effective in saving battery life?

[Squintz82]

I hear this debate in every Incredible forum, and everyone always relates Task Killers to processor usage, not battery life. I need to see a comparison on battery life before I stop using one.

[beezer1519]

i noticed my battery life was extended a bit enough to make it worth the effort of using i don't have it on auto kill tho i use it when i am putting my phone down and not going to play with it for a little bit

[MiXoLoGiSt]

Ok guys i have said may times how it affects battery life. Do a search and you will find your answer.

[Squintz82]

Ok guys i have said may times how it affects battery life. Do a search and you will find your answer.

Mind pointing me to one of your posts? I just tried searching, and had trouble finding one of your posts regarding this issue.

Thanks

[Alexpeegs]

The only thing I use it for is to kill the process after I lock my phone and in a total of 8 hours my battery only went down 5%

[MiXoLoGiSt]

Mind pointing me to one of your posts? I just tried searching, and had trouble finding one of your posts regarding this issue.

Thanks

You can find a big discussion about task killers if you go to HTC Incredible General Discussion and look for 3rd tip of the day.

[RPA-DROID]

I tried to click the link but it's broken... pardon the ignorance on Droid phones as I am coming from a BB world where you were constantly (at least I was) worried about apps running when they didn't need to be any longer. So, again pardon the ignorance, you are saying that I don't need to worry that all the items I was "playing" with are still running after I back out of them? If the phone takes care of that then that is wonderful!

[MiXoLoGiSt]

I tried to click the link but it's broken... pardon the ignorance on Droid phones as I am coming from a BB world where you were constantly (at least I was) worried about apps running when they didn't need to be any longer. So, again pardon the ignorance, you are saying that I don't need to worry that all the items I was "playing" with are still running after I back out of them? If the phone takes care of that then that is wonderful!

The phone pretty much takes care of it. Anything you need to kill can be done so by going to Settings -> Applications -> Running Services. No task killer needed.