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18
Aug

Android Guide: 3 Must Have Apps When Rooted

Written by Rachid Otsmane-Elhaou. Posted in Android Guides

If someone asks me if they should root, I always give them the same answer. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve had your phone, how many apps you may install or how “PC Literate” you are. My answer is always a resounding YES! Why you may ask? Well, there is simply no better way to ensure you have a clean and optimised android phone, than when you are rooted. I have compiled a small list of must have apps to help you achieve these results.

happy_android

1: AutoKiller

This app allows you to tune android’s inner memory manager to keep your device fast and to lower battery consumption. Android puts its apps into one of 6 states, beginning with Empty App all the way to Foreground App. An empty app is a dead process, basically it is doing nothing at all, where as a foreground app is currently runnign in the foreground (well duh!) . Now android has some pre-determined memory values set for each of these 6 states. When the memory level is reached on the system, android begins to kill off apps in that state.

e.g. By default the memory level for an empty app is 24mb. So when your memory remaining hits 24mb, android starts to kill apps that are currently in the state of empty.

Now, 24mb is a bit low for the top end phones, that may be running with ~200mb free at any one time. So this app allows us to increase the memory levels at which android will start automatically killing apps. It makes for a speedier phone as you always have a decent amount of memory free, and don’t have to install a task killer (or as i like to call them, a virus).

autokiller

The app kindly gives you some preset values for these settings, and I highly recommend you stick to these, and do not attempt to set your own unless you know exactly what you are doing. I recommend you use the Strict preset if you have a snapdragon phone or above, and optimum if you have a lower end phone (such as a HTC Hero, or HTC Legend)

2: Autostarts

There are many types of events in the android system, an example of an event may be a phone call, an sms being received, a change in volume, etc. Apps listen to events that may be of interest to them, and perform some action when an even they are interested in occurs. For example, handcent sms will listen for a new sms being sent to your phone, when it hears that event occuring it will performa an action, such as making a popup alert appear. However, poorly coded apps may also listen and react on events that they should have no interest in. This is where autostarts comes into play.

This app lets you see every type of event in the android ecosystem, and which apps will automatically start when those events happen. For instance, why would a music app start up when you receive an sms? The answer is because it’s poorly coded. This app lets you block apps from opening when they shouldn’t be.

autostarts

Be careful though. Use your common sense as to why an app would react to a certain event. Stopping apps that should be listenting and reacting may cause that app to not function correctly. And please, do not block a system application, even if it looks out of place.

3: SetCPU

SetCPU allows you to change the CPU clock (capable of overclock, underclock, and tweaking) on various rooted devices to improve performance and/or save battery. The app is very powerful, and can dynamically underclock the cpu depending on the amount of processing power required to do a task at the time that task runs. For example, you don’t need much cpu to send an sms, so this app will underclock when doing that. Less power == less battery.

You can also force it to mega underclock when the screen is off. What happens when screen is off? apps and widgets may update, when your not using the phone, they don’t have to happen in an instant. Big battery saver again.

setcpu

To set the dynamic underclocking, open the app and do the following:

  1. Change Scaling to ondemand
  2. Tick Set on boot

Yes it really is that easy! To go one step further and force the phone to underclock when the screen is off do:

  1. Click on the profiles tab
  2. Click add profile
  3. Use the following:
  4. Condition: Screen Off
  5. Max: Set to lowest value (If the phone is laggy as soon as you turn screen on, think about increasing this slightly)
  6. Min: The lowest possible
  7. Governor: ondemand
  8. Now also tick enable

 

And thats that, enjoy your new battery efficient, smooth and streamlined phone!

Rachid Otsmane-Elhaou

Rachid Otsmane-Elhaou (26) is a Business Analyst by day, but his real passion is technology, and in particular android (how can you not love the little green guy?). Rachid runs the Droid-Den website, that came about with a mission to help and inform android users about the great device(s) they have in their grasp.

Find me on Twitter (Le3ky) and Google+.

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  • http://twitter.com/KarlPoe Karl Poe

    Cheers for AutoKiller explanation! All apps that have a word “killer” in the title get automatically sh*tlisted in my head, so I never paid any attention to this one either. But now that I know what it is, I’m definitely using it.

    By the way, why only 3 apps? There are way more useful root apps like: AdFree, CacheMate, ClockSync, CPUStatusLED, MarketEnabler, Quick Boot, Remote Wipe, etc.

  • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

    Hey thanks for your reply. I agree there are other useful apps for rooted users. But i can’t agree that those you listed are more useful than the 3 in the article i provided (or at least do not fit into this article very well)!!

    I’ll try and explain why:

    AdFree: I don’t even agree with this app tbh. Free apps depend on ads as a source of income. Devs have to eat too you know! In any case, its not as useful as those 3 above.

    CacheMate: useful, but again not as useful. Rooted users tend to have A2SD+, and clearing cache then becomes less of an issue, if at all.

    ClockSync: Network provided values are perfectly fine in 99.9% of cases..!

    CPUStatusLED: I wouldn’t say this is useful to the typical user. Certainly not as useful as setCPU.

    MarketEnabler: Great app, but not really suitable for this article. Agree its a must for users who have no access to paid apps.

    Quick Boot: I’d say RomManager is preferable to this. But even so it didn’t fit into this article. And like I said, I’d probably mention RomManager over this tbh.

    Remote Wipe: I know it’s paid for, but WaveSecure is much preferable over this. It gives you the opportunity to get your phone back.

    They are good apps, but not as important in my view than the 3 I listed :p

  • http://twitter.com/KarlPoe Karl Poe

    I wasn’t trying to prove that the apps I listed are more important. Just sharing what’s on my phone.

    P.S. thanks for such a complete answer.

  • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

    Oh I misread sorry! When you said more useful I thought you meant better,not there are more that are useful. Sorry :pMaybe I should change the title to memory management for rooted users..hmm

  • http://www.facebook.com/tadej.danev Tadej Danev

    how to setcpu 125mhz, lowest on eclair 2.1 is 245mhz?

  • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

    It won’t let you set it that low, also 245mhz is the lowest safe speed you should underclock too, you really don’t need anything less than that.

  • http://twitter.com/sbsxaid Zaid Amer

    I thought you said we should stop such app as they over control android devices which have been designed to stop running apps and services to free your phone, how come we need such apps now?! :)

  • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

    Which app are you talking about? None of the 3 apps I mentioned are task killers!

  • Tempestkeep

    Wait a second, are you telling me that if I root, and get MarketEnabler, I can download paid apps on my Desire, when I otherwise can’t?! :P

  • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

    Yes!

    Paid apps are only available in the following countries at the moment: Australia AustriaBelgiumCanadaFranceGermanyItaly JapanSouth Korea NetherlandsNew ZealandSpainSwitzerlandUnited KingdomUnited StatesSo if you do not live in one of those countries, market enabler is the only way to buy paid apps, atm.

  • Tempestkeep

    This is so annoying. I was gonna wait until HTC stops supporting the Desire with new Android versions and then root it, but I kinda wanna do it now :P

  • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

    Best to do it asap! The more updates HTC give to your phone, the harder it will be to root that updated version. So you may not even be able to root in the future!!

  • Tempestkeep

    I didn’t realise they updated the bootloader with the updates. I’m on 0.92 so I’m in the clear for now :P

  • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

    yeah it’s very sneaky of them. Each new update is harder and harder to root!

  • http://twitter.com/Ricker666 Richard Devine

    Got all these, although i must say the only one that isn’t underused is the setCPU app. Absolute lifesaver! Battery now lasts over a day depending on how bored i am at work!

  • RandaMcPanda

    How do I root? I want the full use of my phone, although I’m still learning. I will have my phone for 4-7 more months before I have to switch to the HTC Aria-an AT&T phone. Is it still worth it to root? I have quite a bit on my phone already but it’s sluggish and sometimes freezes or the screen goes blank-not like it’s off but as if the phone’s screen is black. HTC Hero

  • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

    I think, maybe you can root although i don’t have a guide for the hero at this moment. Use the systempanel app to see if you have any apps that are leaking memory as described in the task killer article.

  • Blaszta

    I have an app called CoolS (I think it’s installed when I rooted my Spice using SamDroid). Is it work the same way as SetCPU? In the app

  • Blaszta

    I have an app called CoolS (I think it’s installed when I rooted my Spice using SamDroid). Is it work the same way as SetCPU? In the app all I can see is = CPU Governor: conservative.

    PS: Please delete my previous comment, I click post button too fast :)

  • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

    yes, but not as many options as setcpu. It’s not quite as good

  • http://www.droid-den.com Rachid

    yes, but not as many options as setcpu. It’s not quite as good

    If you want to use that set cpu governer to ondemand or interactve

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OVXGWK733TDSVODCP55M5A5SDQ Icersman

    Pardon the noob interruption, but I have a question about the image listed with each app. I know that they’re bar codes of sorts — but how in heck do I get my Captivate to recognize/use them?

  • Blaszta

    It called QR Code, and you need Bar Code Scanner or Shopify app to scan it. Launch the app, and point your phone camera to it, and wait until the scan stop, then you’ll be redirected to the market where you can download the app.

  • http://wave-france.blogspot.com Supercopter

    Hi Rachid, thanks for this article.
    I was already using SetCPU and Autostarts but you made me discover AutoKiller. Thanks again !

    I’m just wondering why you consider Task Killers as viruses… Could you explain or post a link to help me understand that ? I was using Auto Task Manager for some time and was quite happy with it (it’s hard to be sure but I had the feeling it improved my battery life).

    Thanks in advance.

  • antigenx

    Or Google Goggles