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Application Resource Monitor
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RIM adding Application Resource Monitor to BlackBerry OS 7.1

By Adam Zeis on 1 Jun 2012 10:04 am
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RIM has announced that they are adding an Application Resource Monitor to OS 7.1. Much like other system features that are integrated into the OS, the new monitor keeps track of "system resource abuse" that could negatively influence battery life and automatically shut them down.

BlackBerry Application Resource Monitor monitors applications when they are in the background (with the screen on or off) and when in the foreground when the screen is off. When the app is in one of these two states, it looks for excessive background wakeups (any sort of timers firing including rapid/constant repaints) and high CPU utilization. 

Overall a pretty cool feature that should help lots of users pick up some extra battery life. You can read more about the features of the Application Resource Monitor over at the BlackBerry Developer Blog. Look for it in upcoming releases of OS 7.1.

Topics: OS 7.1 Application Resource Monitor News & Rumors BlackBerry OS

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Adam Zeis Adam Zeis 3038 (articles) 2792 (forum posts)
25 comments

sk8er_tor

Great to see OS7 keep getting better and better.

newcollector

Looking forward to this feature on future updates. Love BlackBerry Device Analyzer and it looks like this is just another step in the progression of 7.1!

SuperionMaximus

Now we're talking! This is a fantastic little feature that should have been there all the way back to at least OS 5. Half the reason people think BlackBerry OS is not competitive is that every now and then if they have to many apps installed, thanks to genuine multitasking, the system gets a little bogged down.

Another sign that Thorsten is focusing the company on the things that matter, not that this will help sales, but still an extremely welcome addition.

shemaree09

Its about time!!

I hate having to battery pull because I cant close a frozen app.

BGK

Agreed! I am also starting to have to yank my battery due to my 9900 freezing. (It's getting worse than my 9700 with OS 6 installed) the big question is WHEN will we get this ?

FrankIAm

Or you could just access the engineering screen and kill the process.

bbfan1040

The main complaint with 9900 was battery life. Sounds like a solution! OS 7 hasn't been abandoned! It will be supported for years. Unfortunately for employees, less manpower is needed for support. Sounds like RIMM is being managed much more efficiently. The focus changes as needed now. Quite an improvement.

Techno-Emigre

Excellent move. This painlessly takes care of business in an intuitive way. One of the problems with BB devices has been the learning curve for those not that interested or familiar with technology. That is why iDevices are so popular. You can just pick it up and magical things start happening with very little skill development.

This will also quickly shape app development. My guess is a lot of the garbage will start to fall away.

Yet another sign RIM really is going to rock this. All the messages and concerns have been heard loud and clear. Information like this prevents compassion fatigue in the CrackBerry Nation and encourages us to hang in there.

omekaac

I'm glad that more recently, we teamblackberry are being informed of the new development in rim and BB. Such information are necessary for us to educate those that are quick to kick at any given opportunity.

Coach Bill

I'm on Verizon. At the rate they provide updates, I'll never see this feature unless I load a leaked version!

DJM626

I totally agree with you on that. Verizon is always the last to provide updates, yet they love taking your money. I dont download leaked O/S because I am on a mac, and I have said this before, with the amount of time it takes Verizon to push an update to the phone, and all of the testing they do, they always fall short, and things that are vital and should be fixed are always the ones that are overlooked, and the phones still perform mediocre if you ask me

Rootbrian

I wouldn't say mediocre, I think you need to install boot camp or virtualbox and borrow a windows disc, then install blackberry desktop manager and the latest OS which is 7.1.0.4xx and from there, load 'er up! ;)

Trust me, don't let carriers put you behind! Your macintosh has more potential and can run third-party operating systems too!

infinus

it would be more better if they can solve all the defects in OS7.x and make it more stable...

Blackberry_boffin

Stable? You my friend have a rogue app too.

terminatorx

According to all the smart people who were speculating that RIM layoffs are targeted to the staff working on the "legacy Java OS", I guess we shouldn't be seeing feature improvements like this. If all the pre-BB10 developers are laid off like everyone was going on about, this must be illusion I guess ;)

Mikey_T

So will it alert you what apps it's shutting down or just kill them quietly? Will this lead to problems for apps that require background processes (think Whatsapp)? and will there be a way to identify the Resource Monitor as the cause?

Will we be able to exempt specific apps from closure?

Sounds like a great feature as long as it includes some room for users to adjust how it's applied.

yvpan1

I think (IMHO) what it does is similar to the advanced task killer on androids (dunno for WPs), this app just controls any apps which are running in the background BUT once it detects any of the apps which are starting to yank the memory or.. even the battery for their own purposes, then this thing will kick out its weapon to minimize the effect. I don't see this App Resource Monitor has the ability to eventually kill the app, there must be few layers before it comes to an eventual execution.

However, I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS FOR A LONG LONG TIME, BRING IT ON RIM, BRING IT ON! however, yeah.. make sure next OS 7.1 builds are packed nicely (don't create a bigger build file size, eating more app memory, that's useless!) & stability is improved.

the brother

Sounds like more os bloatware and will cause battery DRAIN faster than actually supporting the cause.

I'm not sold.

DJM626

I think I am going to side with you on that one. What happens if you shut down apps when you are finished like I do, and like a lot of others do? How are we going to benefit from this? I constantly check my running apps and shut them down when I am finished, and I still get the spinning hour glass, the ever so quick battery drain, and the constant memory loss. I sure hope that BB10 takes care of these issues once and for all. This should be one of their main focuses. They need to get O/S 7 as close to perfect as they can, if they expect to turn a lot of new people onto the next BB 10's and pull people using Androids and Apple. The improvements need to start now, and continue, otherwise all of this is still going to leave a bad taste in peoples mouths!

Rootbrian

Think playbook OS, but much better. :D

Rootbrian

Think playbook OS, but much better. :D

all3n7

My goodness, been looking for a great app that can sustain this kind feature. Heck! I am so looking forward for this update. I'm bb addict, I text a lot, email a lot, and switch from here and there. That sometimes I forget to close some open apps, like browser. I would only noticed it when my bold 9930 heats. This update is a +++ must have.

DJM626

And it's going to be released to carriers a day before BB 10 hits probably

avniel

Hi,

I have bold 9900 and I have 7.1.0.284 and I can't find this new feature.

Can you some help in this matter?

Nir

LudwigvonKast

I am checking on it.
After several days wondering what was the issue with Blackberry Messenger Chat that showed I was not connected to WiFi (when in reality I was!). I opted to uninstall the Resource Monitor and my cell phone came back to "normal" again, showing me the WiFi connection to the BB Messenger all the time. I am re-installing it again because of all the other "benefits" I see in this program, but I wonder if I will see the same disconnecting issue again! I wonder why I cannot tell this program which of the functions (or programs) I don't want it to automatically disconnect!