urShadow's Blog: Application Resource Monitor 2.0 now available in BlackBerry World

For those using BlackBerry 7.1 smartphones, Application Resource Monitor 2.0 is now available in BlackBerry World. This handy app can help you maximize battery life on your smartphone by identifying and alerting you to apps that are draining resources or making your device slow to respond.

Here’s a quick overview of what’s new as well as information on how you can install the new version of Application Resource Monitor on a BlackBerry 7.1 smartphone.

Before we begin, if you are not familiar with the Application Resource Monitor app, check out our post Introducing Application Resource Monitor in BlackBerry 7.1 to learn more about other features, as well as information on how to customize Application Resource Monitor.

What’s new in Application Resource Monitor 2.0?

If we use the car analogy, ARM 1.0 could have been thought of as giving your car better fuel efficiency or a bigger gas tank so you can drive farther. With ARM 2.0, you can think of it as upgrading your suspension to help you have a smoother, longer drive.

Memory Fragmentation Monitoring – This new feature will monitor the percentage of flash memory no longer available for system use due to memory fragmentation. When smartphone memory becomes badly fragmented, it could lead to a degraded experience such as the dreaded spinning hourglass. This feature will automatically take preventative action at a pre-defined time, and contains several options such as changing the timing of detection, disabling detection, or disabling automatic recovery.

Low Memory Monitoring – This new feature will monitor the available free memory on your smartphone. When free memory gets low, this new feature will prompt you to either close the application that is consuming too much memory or restart your smartphone. You can optionally disable detection if you don’t want to use this feature as well.

Home Screen Icon – If you are upgrading from a preloaded version, a new icon for Application Resource Monitor 2.0 will appear on your Home screen allowing you quick access to the Application Resource Monitor settings. If desired, you can hide this icon and continue to access Application Resource Monitor settings via the Settings\Options menu on your smartphone.