Known Android Myths

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kyokeun1234

Senior Member
Sep 25, 2011
2,809
632
Niagara Falls ON Canada
Hello I usually don't post stuff like this, but whenever I see someone answer something, they are not telling the fact, but the myth. These myths are well known "solutions", but never work, since they're myths :p So I'm here to tell most of the myths that people are spreading... If you have any other myths that you'll like to talk about or if one of my myth is false, feel free to post about it :). So without farther ado, lets get started

Task Killers: As much as this is obvious, people still uses it. So much, that it is annoying. Android handles apps and tasks well. However, there is an exception, and that is when the app constantly freezes or crashes and you need to restart it. If that's the case, there's a "Running Apps" section, where you can force close apps under system settings. So you won't need 3rd party Task Killers, EVER

Battery Calibration (Draining then fully charging): People thinks that this is good for your battery life, but it isn't. The only thing that this does is make the system read the battery percentage more accurate. Doing this once per month might help you improve read battery % better, but it isn't necessarily at all.

Wiping battery stat when the phone doesn't charge up to 100%: This myth is quite annoying. I dunno about other forums, but in Galaxy Nexus forum, quite a few people use this myth as a answer. Wiping battery stats DOES NOTHING to how system reads battery%.

Anti-Virus app: This is another myth that is obvious, but used by many people. You don't need anti-virus apps, unless you download a lot from untrusted source (4shared, because it is uploaded by people, not the company). If you know (And you SHOULD) what you're downloading, anti-virus is nothing.

Benchmark: People get so hyped about benchmark results... And I dunno why... It's just a number, I tell them. It wouldn't matter in daily usage, I tell them. But they do it anyways... Benchmarks are just numbers people. My Gnex can be as smooth and fast as GS3, but have a significant difference in benchmark tests.

Quad-core is faster than dual-core: While this isn't a myth, it isn't 100% correct either. You see, in daily usage, the phone only uses and needs a little bit of CPU power. For example, Facebook app doesn't use full 4 cores. That's just plain silly. However, when it comes to heavy gaming, yes, that 2-extra cores will help. But overall in daily usage, you're not gonna miss almost anything, because you have dual-core...

You need to clear cache and dalvik when updating/flashing a custom kernel: This is not true. I flash Franco kernel without clearing anything with NO problem.

You need to fix permission whenever you dirty flash: I don't hear that too often, but people still believes in it. Fixing permission isn't necessarily, unless you're experiencing random force close or crash.

Turn GPS off when not using: You do not need to do that at all. Phone only turns on the GPS when it needs to. For example, when you open map app, you'll see the GPS icon on the status bar, but when you exit out, you won't see it anymore. This means that the GPS radio is off. OFF. No need to waste your time turning it off and on.

Switch to 2G (Edge) when screen off to save battery: This is probably one of the biggest mistake people do to save battery. Yes, 2G does consume less battery than 3G, but constantly switching between them just burns the battery. It is just pointless if you ask me. Either stick with 3G, or stick with 2G. Constantly switching between them will be the worst choice.

Undervolt as much as you can to save battery: This is not true. Undervolting to a certain point can help you extend your battery life, but doing it too much will drain more battery instead of extending it. Also it makes the phone less stable, so make sure you know what you're doing and don't undervolt like crazy ;)

iOS apps are more optimized than Android, and is more stable: This is part true but mainly not. Yes, dev only needs to worry about 2-3 screen size when making apps, which means that apps can be optimized for the screen size, but that doesn't mean much anyways... Also did you know that iOS apps crash more than Android? Now you know

iOS is better than Android :p : Lol wut?

Hope that cleared few things up. Again, if you got a myth of your own, feel free to post it in the thread!
 
Last edited:

ArcticFish

Senior Member
Jun 3, 2012
944
236
Orlando
Hello I usually don't post stuff like this, but whenever I see someone answer something, they are not telling the fact, but the myth. These myths are well known "solutions", but never work, since they're myths :p So I'm here to tell most of the myths that people are spreading... If you have any other myths that you'll like to talk about or if one of my myth is false, feel free to post about it :). So without farther ado, lets get started

Task Killers: As much as this is obvious, people still uses it. So much, that it is annoying. Android handles apps and tasks well. However, there is an exception, and that is when the app constantly freezes or crashes and you need to restart it. If that's the case, there's a "Running Apps" section, where you can force close apps under system settings. So you won't need 3rd party Task Killers, EVER

Battery Calibration (Draining then fully charging): People thinks that this is good for your battery life, but it isn't. The only thing that this does is make the system read the battery percentage more accurate. Doing this once per month might help you improve read battery % better, but it isn't necessarily at all.

Wiping battery stat when the phone doesn't charge up to 100%: This myth is quite annoying. I dunno about other forums, but in Galaxy Nexus forum, quite a few people use this myth as a answer. Wiping battery stats DOES NOTHING to how system reads battery%.

Anti-Virus app: This is another myth that is obvious, but used by many people. You don't need anti-virus apps, unless you download a lot from untrusted source (4shared, because it is uploaded by people, not the company). If you know (And you SHOULD) what you're downloading, anti-virus is nothing.

Benchmark: People get so hyped about benchmark results... And I dunno why... It's just a number, I tell them. It wouldn't matter in daily usage, I tell them. But they do it anyways... Benchmarks are just numbers people. My Gnex can be as smooth and fast as GS3, but have a significant difference in benchmark tests.

Quad-core is faster than duel-core: While this isn't a myth, it isn't 100% correct either. You see, in daily usage, the phone only uses and needs a little bit of CPU power. For example, Facebook app doesn't use full 4 cores. That's just plane silly. However, when it comes to heavy gaming, yes, that 2-extra cores will help. But overall in daily usage, you're not gonna miss almost anything, because you have duel-core...

You need to clear cache and dalvik when updating/flashing a custom kernel: This is not true. I flash Franco kernel without clearing anything with NO problem.

You need to fix permission whenever you dirty flash: I don't hear that too often, but people still believes in it. Fixing permission isn't necessarily, unless you're experiencing random force close or crash.

Hope that cleared few things up. Again, if you got a myth of your own, feel free to post it in the thread!

Some interesting stuff

Sent from my SGH-T989 with Cyanogenmod 10 Alpha Power.
 

thebobp

Senior Member
Feb 16, 2012
1,189
203
Quad core uses more battery than dual-core: this confusion comes from the intuition that "you'd need more power to run 4 of them". In fact, the results are closer to the opposite: on those rare occasions where multiple cores are used, they allow for faster processing (hence more sleep) and less intensive. Mostly, however, it just doesn't make a difference.

sent from my Galaxy Nexus "the most tweakable iPhone yet"
 
Last edited:

jaw2floor

Senior Member
Jan 8, 2012
211
43
Benchmark: People get so hyped about benchmark results... And I dunno why... It's just a number, I tell them. It wouldn't matter in daily usage, I tell them. But they do it anyways... Benchmarks are just numbers people. My Gnex can be as smooth and fast as GS3, but have a significant difference in benchmark tests.

Stop embarrassing yourself
 

mingolianbeef

Senior Member
Apr 14, 2011
2,401
1,502
A lot of ppl ask me for benchmarks in my roms lol, but I tell them this all the time

Sent from my PG86100 using xda app-developers app
 

Jrhoop

Senior Member
Dec 1, 2010
678
295
UK
Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus
I like it but the only one i disagree with is -

"Turn GPS off when not using"
I turn mine off when not using it for navigation because i dont want apps......yes that ive given permission to......to access my location.

Nothing to do with battery.

But good list!
 

mingolianbeef

Senior Member
Apr 14, 2011
2,401
1,502
I like it but the only one i disagree with is -

"Turn GPS off when not using"
I turn mine off when not using it for navigation because i dont want apps......yes that ive given permission to......to access my location.

Nothing to do with battery.

But good list!

GPS is a huge battery hog, I make roms, I run the tests, and my testers test, they experience a couple hours extension worth of battery life without it on

Sent from my PG86100 using xda app-developers app
 

cornelha

Senior Member
Dec 14, 2007
1,477
709
Cape Town
We should send these in to mytbusters so they can prove/disprove the facts. I personally use appkillers because the newer ones to make a difference on my underpowered P500. While these apps to start up, they consume less memory when started in the background and allows for faster start up once killed by the task manager.Android does have impressive memory management, but nothing is infallable.

Battery stats is just silly, if you keep charging till 90% then unplug, you can make it appear that your device can run for days on one charge, so that is very misleading.

Benchmarks are worth noting when it comes to gaming performance. On my device ICS definatly scores lower than gb, yet it runs smoother day to day. Playing games is tragic simply because the drivers are an issue on this device for ICS.

You dont need to clear the dalvik cache or normal cache to flash a kernel, the kernel modules are loaded at boot. The linux core behind android was designed this way. Clearing them when you flash to a different rom eg: AOKP to CM9 its a good idea to flash the cache since this could retain incompatible files between roms.

Myths arent annoying, people clinging to them for no reason is annoying.
 
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kyokeun1234

Senior Member
Sep 25, 2011
2,809
632
Niagara Falls ON Canada
We should send these in to mytbusters so they can prove/disprove the facts. I personally use appkillers because the newer ones to make a difference on my underpowered P500. While these apps to start up, they consume less memory when started in the background and allows for faster start up once killed by the task manager.Android does have impressive memory management, but nothing is infallable.

Battery stats is just silly, if you keep charging till 90% then unplug, you can make it appear that your device can run for days on one charge, so that is very misleading.

Benchmarks are worth noting when it comes to gaming performance. On my device ICS definatly scores lower than gb, yet it runs smoother day to day. Playing games is tragic simply because the drivers are an issue on this device for ICS.

You dont need to clear the dalvik cache or normal cache to flash a kernel, the kernel modules are loaded at boot. The linux core behind android was designed this way. Clearing them when you flash to a different rom eg: AOKP to CM9 its a good idea to flash the cache since this could retain incompatible files between roms.

Myths arent annoying, people clinging to them for no reason is annoying.

I also had P500 and app killers did almost nothing at all... Maybe it's just me?

That's not what I've meant when I said about battery stat.. Some people's phone just doesn't simply charge all the way up to 100%. And others just tell them to clear battery stat, which does nothing...

Benchmarks ARE pointless in my opinion. I personally don't think that noting Benchmark scores are needed... Also they are not very accurate either. What I mean by that? Well, in real life (including gaming), even if you overclock, the performance isn't so huge. But in Benchmark scores, little overclock increases the score a lot.

I know myth itself isn't annoying, but people spread them. Like crazy. And that's what irks me :)
 

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    Hello I usually don't post stuff like this, but whenever I see someone answer something, they are not telling the fact, but the myth. These myths are well known "solutions", but never work, since they're myths :p So I'm here to tell most of the myths that people are spreading... If you have any other myths that you'll like to talk about or if one of my myth is false, feel free to post about it :). So without farther ado, lets get started

    Task Killers: As much as this is obvious, people still uses it. So much, that it is annoying. Android handles apps and tasks well. However, there is an exception, and that is when the app constantly freezes or crashes and you need to restart it. If that's the case, there's a "Running Apps" section, where you can force close apps under system settings. So you won't need 3rd party Task Killers, EVER

    Battery Calibration (Draining then fully charging): People thinks that this is good for your battery life, but it isn't. The only thing that this does is make the system read the battery percentage more accurate. Doing this once per month might help you improve read battery % better, but it isn't necessarily at all.

    Wiping battery stat when the phone doesn't charge up to 100%: This myth is quite annoying. I dunno about other forums, but in Galaxy Nexus forum, quite a few people use this myth as a answer. Wiping battery stats DOES NOTHING to how system reads battery%.

    Anti-Virus app: This is another myth that is obvious, but used by many people. You don't need anti-virus apps, unless you download a lot from untrusted source (4shared, because it is uploaded by people, not the company). If you know (And you SHOULD) what you're downloading, anti-virus is nothing.

    Benchmark: People get so hyped about benchmark results... And I dunno why... It's just a number, I tell them. It wouldn't matter in daily usage, I tell them. But they do it anyways... Benchmarks are just numbers people. My Gnex can be as smooth and fast as GS3, but have a significant difference in benchmark tests.

    Quad-core is faster than dual-core: While this isn't a myth, it isn't 100% correct either. You see, in daily usage, the phone only uses and needs a little bit of CPU power. For example, Facebook app doesn't use full 4 cores. That's just plain silly. However, when it comes to heavy gaming, yes, that 2-extra cores will help. But overall in daily usage, you're not gonna miss almost anything, because you have dual-core...

    You need to clear cache and dalvik when updating/flashing a custom kernel: This is not true. I flash Franco kernel without clearing anything with NO problem.

    You need to fix permission whenever you dirty flash: I don't hear that too often, but people still believes in it. Fixing permission isn't necessarily, unless you're experiencing random force close or crash.

    Turn GPS off when not using: You do not need to do that at all. Phone only turns on the GPS when it needs to. For example, when you open map app, you'll see the GPS icon on the status bar, but when you exit out, you won't see it anymore. This means that the GPS radio is off. OFF. No need to waste your time turning it off and on.

    Switch to 2G (Edge) when screen off to save battery: This is probably one of the biggest mistake people do to save battery. Yes, 2G does consume less battery than 3G, but constantly switching between them just burns the battery. It is just pointless if you ask me. Either stick with 3G, or stick with 2G. Constantly switching between them will be the worst choice.

    Undervolt as much as you can to save battery: This is not true. Undervolting to a certain point can help you extend your battery life, but doing it too much will drain more battery instead of extending it. Also it makes the phone less stable, so make sure you know what you're doing and don't undervolt like crazy ;)

    iOS apps are more optimized than Android, and is more stable: This is part true but mainly not. Yes, dev only needs to worry about 2-3 screen size when making apps, which means that apps can be optimized for the screen size, but that doesn't mean much anyways... Also did you know that iOS apps crash more than Android? Now you know

    iOS is better than Android :p : Lol wut?

    Hope that cleared few things up. Again, if you got a myth of your own, feel free to post it in the thread!
    2
    Quad core uses more battery than dual-core: this confusion comes from the intuition that "you'd need more power to run 4 of them". In fact, the results are closer to the opposite: on those rare occasions where multiple cores are used, they allow for faster processing (hence more sleep) and less intensive. Mostly, however, it just doesn't make a difference.

    sent from my Galaxy Nexus "the most tweakable iPhone yet"
    1
    Interesting and fun facts!!!!! dual core lol.....

    LOL just noticed that :laugh: silly me. Editing right now. Sorry, English is my second language :p
    1
    A myth by many people. Here, it is.
    iOs is better than Android XD :D

    Sent from Hell!!
    1
    Lol. I posted just for giggles :p

    Swyped on my Galaxy Nexus running AOKP with Franco Kernel, overclocked to 1.4GHz
    Giggles but truth xD

    Sent from Hell!!