Fear and loathing on Google Play: An in-depth look at today’s battery saving and cleaning apps

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Avast Battery Saver quickly and easily helps you to save your Android’s battery life

Mobile devices are currently evolving at an exceptional rate. Processor speed, display quality and connectivity options have changed dramatically over the past few years. However, battery capacity still seems to be struggling to keep up with the evolving capacity needed to power the enormous amount of new processors and displays.

According to a recent survey answered by 20, 000 people, 60% of Android owners are not satisfied with their device’s battery life.

There are a huge amount of Android applications trying to solve that problem, yet most of them fail to do so. When examining the features available on these apps, it becomes easy to see why many of them haven’t achieved complete success.

Task-killing

Task-killing is the most popular feature available not only within many battery saving apps, but also within cleaners and phone boosters. It most likely originated in Windows’ desktop operating system. Since users had first become accustomed to closing programs on Windows when their PCs began to slow down, this behavior transferred over to mobile devices when the users began to use Android.

However, Android’s system works differently. Android aims to keep RAM full in order to switch between applications more quickly. If there is no free RAM left, Android kills less recent applications. Thus, there is no need for the user to shut down the apps manually. Furthermore, task-killing actually slows down devices because each time an app is shut down, its data must be loaded to RAM again.

Try it yourself

Here’s a small test that you can try: install a task-killer, RAM booster or battery saving app that “cleans” RAM. Click the main button (it’s usually called “Optimize” or “Boost”). You’ll see several apps killed. Then, wait for a few seconds and try it again. Nothing will happen, as you’ve just killed everything.

Now, uninstall or clear the data in the tested app. After you click the “Optimize” button again, almost all of the apps you’ve just killed are shown to be killed again. Looks strange, huh? It might appear that the “Optimize” button doesn’t do anything. In reality, it does kill applications. The trick is that many apps start directly after being killed using Android’s WakeLock feature. Apps with an “Optimize” button have a timer which prevents users from seeing that killed apps are running again after a few seconds. Because of this, there is no sense in using “Optimize”.

More info about task-killing can be found here:

1. http://www.howtogeek.com/127388/htg-explains-why-you-shouldnt-use-a-task-killer-on-android/

2. http://lifehacker.com/5650894/android-task-killers-explained-what-they-do-and-why-you-shouldnt-use-them

How can I actually save my device’s battery life?

A couple main factors that contribute to saving battery is turning off certain features of your device including Wi-Fi and mobile data and limiting display brightness and timeout.

Avast now brings you Avast Battery Saver, an application which saves power without hassle. It optimizes phone settings such as Internet connectivity, screen brightness, and timeout according to your needs. Smart power profiles are activated automatically based on time, location, and battery level without sacrificing the activities you love most.

Avast Battery Saver also contains a powerful tool to solve the issue of apps draining your battery’s lifespan while not being used. You have the ability to see how much battery every app is draining and force stop any that you’re not currently using. Unlike task-killing, force-stopping is Android’s native solution to prevent apps from unnecessarily running in the background. Once force-stopped, an app will not run again until it’s next manually opened.

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Ready to save? Download Avast Battery Saver for free on Google Play.

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