Watchdog Task Manager Review

When I first bought my new Android device, I downloaded a task killer from the Android Market thinking it would do some wonders on battery life and performance. In actuality, it messed up my phone so bad that my 3G/4G connectivity would go in and out, eventually needing my phone to be replaced. I have written in a previous blog post on why Task Killers on Android phones operating Froyo and beyond are useless and a pain in the ass. Watchdog Task Manager on the other hand is a whole different animal.

The first and biggest difference is that the developers of Watchdog understand the Android OS and how this OS is supposed to work. It's okay if your RAM seems to be entirely in use, Android's built-in task manager keeps it that way to quickly relaunch an app.

As stated in my previous post, it's the processor that slows your phone down and drains the battery. Problems arise when your app goes rogue and takes up CPU power. That's where Watchdog steps in and takes over.

Watchdog allows you to set thresholds for processes and also lets you set time intervals between system checks. If an app goes above your allowed threshold, Watchdog will alert you and then permit you to decide on what to do. You can either WhiteList, Ignore or Kill the app in question.

Select WhiteList only when you know a certain app will spike over the threshold and you are okay with it. Putting an app in the WhiteList will allow Watchdog to ignore that app during future spikes. Ignore disregards the incident, and Kill of course shuts the app down. Remember, it won't kill certain processes that are built into the OS. (Note: Sometimes Watchdog thinks it's above the threshold, so it's a good idea to place the Watchdog app into the WhiteList.)

Watchdog works very well, brings a more sophisticated approach to task management as opposed to the technique other task killers use. Fortunately, Watchdog is not a battery hog. (Make sure your intervals aren't set too short, otherwise that will cost some battery life.)

It's nice to see a developer that knows how the Android OS was built, and how it works. I believe Watchdog is a must-have app for all Android based phones (Froyo and up).

Watchdog comes in two flavors, a free Lite version and a paid for version (WhiteList is only in the Paid version). The paid version is worth it, and the developers deserve getting paid for their work!

*[NOTE: If you have Watchdog Task Manager Lite installed on your device, please uninstall before installed the Paid version]*

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