BlackBerry Forums Support Community

JasonSamfield · 03-17-2009, 03:34 PM

I have exhausted all of my search options in trying to find an application that can work as a Windows "Task Manager" equivalent, essentially giving me control of terminating processes running on my Blackberry operating system on my new Storm.

I am currently frustrated sometimes because I cannot view which processes are hogging the CPU resources and subsequently causing it to lag. I began to search for a task manager to help me figure out this problem, but to no avail.

Does anyone know of any such application or a Blackberry developer that could find the resources to create such an application to the OS since the OS itself is lacking such a user interface? Or am I mistaken that the OS is not lacking this resource?

Also, do you all know of a location of a much more detailed manual or overview of the operating system itself?

SteveO86 · 03-17-2009, 07:34 PM

The BlackBerry is completely different from a computer.

To see any current running applications hold Alt and hit the "Back" key.. Not sure how that works on the Storm though... The Application Switcher will display all currently running applications, you can assign the application switcher to one of the 2 convienence keys from Options -> Screen/Keyboard.

JasonSamfield · 04-02-2009, 02:50 PM

yes i know this about alt + back...on the storm you hold down the blackberry key...but this doesn't help me stop AIM from starting up every time i reset-restart my phone

no, the blackberry is a computer....it's the same thing...if you want me to explain the details to you i can, but it's the same thing...it has an operating system and i want better control over the elements running on my operating system....for instance, sometimes certain processes get caught in infinite loops or memory leaks occur...i want to kill those processes...how can i do that? can i get an app that will give me access to system calls of the OS that is essentially a CLI like cmd in windows? or has someone already done this and made an application that has task management features such as process kills or resource usage details such as memory hard faults and memory usage including delta changes and or the process ID numbers and or any other information that can help me determine the problem with my phone and why it is always going slow with only 4 or 5 things running at any given time....or how to solve the fact that my "application center" is apparently always running, but when i click to run it a second instance of the program (another duplicate process) is running that i can actually access versus the other one that is not possible to access or shutdown...

does any of this make sense?

i'm frustrated and i hope this doesn't sound like i'm angry at you...i'm just angry because i ask questions and i get simplistic answers that do not help...

people give solutions such as uninstall the program, or remove it, or pull your battery....but those are lame solutions if not even a solution...

like here is another question....how can you restart the blackberry without taking out the battery? and why would that feature not be included as a default in the phone even though the OS asks you to restart it occasionally when you reinstall a new program...

anyway, i came to this forum to find answers and all i get are responses that do not help...does anybody know where i can find someone to contact that works at RIM in the OS design and implementation department that i could actually have a conversation with and get some answers?

SteveO86 · 04-02-2009, 03:30 PM

Left Alt + Right Cap + Del .. That will restart your phone, without pulling the battery, you can find that by searching....

You must first contact your carrier and if they can not fix it they will pass it on to RIM.

Doesn't sound like a BB is for you.

jsconyers · 04-02-2009, 03:41 PM

Have you done any research prior to making your purchase?

Quote:

Originally Posted by JasonSamfield

yes i know this about alt + back...on the storm you hold down the blackberry key...but this doesn't help me stop AIM from starting up every time i reset-restart my phone

Do you have AIM set to Auto Sign-in?

Quote:

Originally Posted by JasonSamfield

no, the blackberry is a computer....it's the same thing...if you want me to explain the details to you i can, but it's the same thing...it has an operating system and i want better control over the elements running on my operating system

No, the BlackBerry is NOT a computer. It is a mobile device, a cell phone with email and browser capabilities. Yes, it has an operating system, but that hardly makes it a computer. You expect it to run like a Windows PC and it simply will not. Even dumb phones such as the Motorola RAZR have operating systems.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JasonSamfield

people give solutions such as uninstall the program, or remove it, or pull your battery....but those are lame solutions if not even a solution...

How are these lame solutions if they actually work? The battery pull is known to fix a lot of issues with BlackBerry devices. Take a look here :
1st step to take if device is having problems? - BlackBerryFAQ

Quote:

Originally Posted by JasonSamfield

like here is another question....how can you restart the blackberry without taking out the battery? and why would that feature not be included as a default in the phone even though the OS asks you to restart it occasionally when you reinstall a new program...

Alt + Caps + Del works on QWERTY devices, I am not sure if it works on the Storm or not. There are also 3rd party applications that accomplish this. If you search the Aftermarket section, you may find what you're looking for.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JasonSamfield

anyway, i came to this forum to find answers and all i get are responses that do not help...does anybody know where i can find someone to contact that works at RIM in the OS design and implementation department that i could actually have a conversation with and get some answers?

There is a TON of useful knowledge and knowledgeable people on this forum. Just because the answers are not that you want to hear does not make them incorrect answers. A little research before purchasing a BlackBerry would have saved you a lot of grief. You seem to want a laptop more than a BlackBerry.

JasonSamfield · 04-02-2009, 03:44 PM

Left Alt + Right Cap + Del does not exist on the Storm

i have two programs that will restart my phone, but for some reason when certain databases are being accesses such as my message list or my todo events, it does not let me restart using those programs...it throws a java exception....like that stagnant Application Center program that won't shutdown

what i want is the instruction code that pops up when you install a new program that says "restart now"....why in the hell can that not be an easily accessible feature....geez RIM...cmon

but thanks for the shortcut...it does work on my old blackberry, but on the storm there are not keys, so you cannot press 3 keys at the same time...i wonder if they have a shortcut that replaces that shortcut

JasonSamfield · 04-02-2009, 03:56 PM

yes i did lots of research...i've had a blackberry since 2007....

aim is not set to auto-sign in....

yes the blackberry storm is a computer and so are all the mobile devices...they all have microprocessors and operating systems and memory...some have secondary storage devices...but they all have their own assembly language and the OS's are all designed using layers...they all use time slicing and they all execute one instruction at a time...they are all von neumann computing machines....and yes it will run like a windows PC....it has a 600+ mhz processor and is a multiprogrammed operating system that allows multiple processes to run simultaneously...

the battery pull is an unnecessary option...it should be a software button....it's very easy to implement....they already have the code there when you install a new program...why not just put that as an option called "restart phone"...that doesn't bother me as much as it used to on my old blackberry because removing the battery was very difficult because the back part of the case was hard to remove...but it's like having a computer that to restart you have to unplug it from the wall....or how about a laptop that you have to take the battery out to restart it....it's the same type of analogy...i don't understand why removing the battery is the only method of restarting the phone that is considered a viable option for restarting the phone....the shortcut is also, but it doesn't exist on the storm yet as far as i know...

have two 3rd party apps...neither works and throws java exceptions....

yes i have read lots of it....i never said it is incorrect per se, but it's incorrect design to solve a problem by pulling the battery or a solution i saw on another thread was just to remove the application causing the problem...i want the application, i do not want to uninstall it...i want to fix the problem being caused by the OS and application interchange...that's what i meant...it's like people who tell me that to fix a windows problem you must format and reinstall...that's a very lame method of solving problems...start from scratch instead of fixing the problem...it's almost as bad as people who fix symptoms but do not fix the underlying problem...

i have a laptop...don't need it because i have a blackberry...and i have a bluetooth keyboard that turns my blackberry into a laptop...i'm limited only by the speed of the processor of the blackberry and the lack of multiple cores...but also i'm limited by applications...

and why is it bad to want my blackberry to perform like i want it? am i asking too much? this is the 21st century...these problems should be solved

JasonSamfield · 04-02-2009, 04:04 PM

actually i am quite mistaken...the BlackBerry Storm IS a multicore computer...

very intersting...

Quote:

The Storm utilizes the MSM7600 from Qualcomm[10] a dual core CPU with ARM11 400 Mhz and ARM9 274 Mhz.

and to clarify about the definition of it being a computer is that it is a general purpose computing machine that has some specific computing components....it does not have expandable hardware options minus the secondary storage media expansions, but everything else about the operating system is general purpose and as long as the applications are sanctioned by RIM's API, then they are doable...

daphne · 04-02-2009, 08:46 PM

Quote:

and why is it bad to want my blackberry to perform like i want it? am i asking too much? this is the 21st century...these problems should be solved

There is an email address to send suggestions to RIM. I don't recall it at this moment, but it's posted here in some threads. Also you could try the official RIM support forum.

jsconyers · 04-02-2009, 09:03 PM

NJBlackBerry · 04-03-2009, 02:07 AM

or even

And perhaps the BlackBerry Storm isn't the right device for you.

jsconyers · 04-03-2009, 02:08 AM

Good catch NJ!

JasonSamfield · 04-03-2009, 09:30 AM

i will try those emails

i was thinking that there would be a web form to submit feedback as that's generally how most companies do it, but we'll see if i get a response

but to go back to the original reason i created this thread, does anybody know of a way to control startup applications and processes and services? it would be a program that has the same function as the msconfig utility in Windows

i want to stop AIM from starting up every time my blackberry restarts

well the BlackBerry is the device for me, but it has lots of bugs and memory leaks and lacks some key features that would help alleviate the problems such as a task manager that could show me the CPU loads per processes so i could have a better chance of reverse engineering a solution to my problems

if you think that the device isn't for me, please let me know why you think this and what device you would suggest for me?

a laptop - too big and not necessary because i have a desktop computer that is much faster and more capable than any laptop could provide....

another phone like the iphone - maybe, but the iPhone does not allow more than one program to run at a time....i do not like that feature, but that is partly why it has no problems whereas the storm has problems because the storm is a much more complicated feat of engineering....it is not constrained by the SRS (software requirements specification) that the iPhone is using that says only one app at a time

a non-smart phone - not what i want...i want the apps, browser, and fast processor etc....

my personal opinion on the troubles i'm having with my phone is that BlackBerry is starting to get their operating system closer to a full blown desktop computer operating system in the case of functionality and capabilities....the performance part of that equation is being sacrificed as well as lack of testing and maintenance...i still have yet to get a wireless upgrade on the OS since i purchased it....

all the while that they are creating this massive operating system, they are constrained by trying to conserve battery life in memory operations and access to flash memory and CPU usage because of battery life and also the size and speed of the processor itself....while also trying to create amazing graphics and lots of functionality and keeping the size of the OS to a minimum to meet specs for the hardware....they are also competing against a company with a huge head start in the smart phone genre AND a REALLY HUGE head start in the operating system development department....Apple just had to resize their OS for the phone....whereas, BlackBerry is building an OS for a phone from the ground up....Apple already solved many of the OS related problems in their desktop OS, so when they ported it to the iPhone and iPods, they just had to make minor tweaks and even chose to constrain certain features such as simultaneous multiple applications to save face on any problems that might occur as well as provide the speed and efficiency demanded in the mobile phone market

in the end, i think BlackBerry has done a fine job overall, but i think that they need to address some key issues that are lacking for more technical users....i think that if they address these issues, they will remain a very competitive force in the near future and could have just swept the market share away if their phone blew the minds of the public...but instead they were looking to the short term and working to appease their investors and stunted their growth and potential with a phone that was not 100% ready to be released...

maybe i'm completely, wrong, but i'd like to see some evidence that the phone was not pre-released and doesn't contain a number of bugs that have yet to be addressed...i'd also like to see a mapping of bugs and features and complexity in comparison to other mobile phone operating systems such as Symbian, Palm OS, Windows Mobile v6, Android, and the infamous iPhone OS v2 and now the new v3 that is supposed to arrive soon...

JSanders · 04-03-2009, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JasonSamfield

i'm frustrated and i hope this doesn't sound like i'm angry at you...i'm just angry because i ask questions and i get simplistic answers that do not help...

people give solutions such as uninstall the program, or remove it, or pull your battery....but those are lame solutions if not even a solution...

like here is another question....how can you restart the blackberry without taking out the battery? and why would that feature not be included as a default in the phone even though the OS asks you to restart it occasionally when you reinstall a new program...

anyway, i came to this forum to find answers and all i get are responses that do not help...does anybody know where i can find someone to contact that works at RIM in the OS design and implementation department that i could actually have a conversation with and get some answers?

Why why why.

You don't want help with your device, it is clear from those statements. You want to redesign the OS. RIM has very clearly published phone numbers and contacts on their website.

We are not an official RIM forum. I think we have been all the help we can be to you on the help side of things. If you just are here for debate, please state so, and we'll continue on in that vein.

dc/dc · 04-03-2009, 02:43 PM

It will be interesting to see how RIM responds to someone with such poor grammar and spelling. My guess is that your e-mail probably will be deleted after the first "paragraph".

jsconyers · 04-03-2009, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JasonSamfield

if you think that the device isn't for me, please let me know why you think this and what device you would suggest for me?.

From reading your posts, I'd recommend a Windows Mobile device.

NJBlackBerry · 04-03-2009, 03:00 PM

That doesn't meet the stability requirements

From what I've read (or tried to read), he has the following requirements.

. smaller than a laptop, but with the same capabilities
. best pieces of Symbian (but faster), Windows Mobile (more stable), iPhone (with multi tasking) and Palm OS (RIP)
. can't be too big or too small. Just Right.
. likely Linux based so that "more technical users" can reverse engineer it (and hack, like Palm OS)

I'm sure there are more requirements.

SteveO86 · 04-03-2009, 09:43 PM

NetBook.

JasonSamfield · 04-04-2009, 04:27 PM

it's gotta fit in my pocket

JasonSamfield · 04-04-2009, 04:31 PM

and i didn't misspell anything....and i typed in slang and without correct punctuation because this is an informal forum...i guess i should adhere to my normal ways of writing because i take serious offense to that remark considering how i feel about poor grammar and spelling on the Internet....

BlackBerry Forums Support Community

Task Manager and msconfig equivalent