Android - Run in background - Service vs. standard java class

Question

In Android, if I want to do some background work, what is the difference between

Creating a Service to do the work, and having the Activity start the Service VS. Creating a standard java class to do the work, and having the Activity create an object of the class and invoke methods, to do the work in separate thread.

Answer 1

Doing your own threads is overkill, there are solutions for this, so you don't have to worry about the hard parts of concurrency. Have a look at AsyncTask or IntentService. If you go for a service please keep in mind that your service can be killed at any time.