Android Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide, 2nd Edition

For the More Curious: AsyncTask vs. Threads

Now that you understand Handler and Looper, AsyncTask may not seem quite so magical. It is still less work than what you have done here. So why not use AsyncTask instead of a HandlerThread?

There are a few reasons. The most fundamental one is that AsyncTask is not designed for it. It is intended for work that is short lived and not repeated too often. Your code in the previous chapter is a place where AsyncTask shines. But if you are creating a lot of AsyncTasks or having them run for a long time, you are probably using the wrong class.

A more compelling technical reason is that in Android 3.2 AsyncTask changed its implementation in a significant way. Starting with Android 3.2, AsyncTask ...