Android; fully exit cordova app instead of pausing it on background

Question

So without altering the Java activity code (as many posts here suggest), is it possible to fully exit (kill) an app instead of just putting it on hold in the background?

With Cordova 3 & Android, if we want to "pause" an app we call;

navigator.app.exitApp();

But as said, this is just pausing it.

Tha java solutions proposed to edit the main activity and set;

super.setBooleanProperty("keepRunning", false);

But again, this prevents your app from going to background all the time (not when you want to).

Some even suggested driving your app to crash thus force exit!

Another issue, Android discourages killing apps. The same thing with Apple iOS and their iOS Human Interface Guidelines stating; Never quit an iOS app programmatically. People tend to interpret this as a crash.

So again; How to peacefully kill my app to free space/reset?