3G VOIP Phone Calls Allowed on iPad Too, Skype Imminent

[davidbrummy]

Multi Tasking is needed

Can you please quantify fact? Reason I am asking is that you state that 'many' are asking for multi tasking on the iPhone. What is many? As far as I see, many isn't that many... In fact, I can say, only a select few care. Why I come to that conclusion? Because Apple sells around 8 million iPhones a quarter. Currently has around 70 million sets sold and active. And I only see a few, the same few that bring it up in every discussion on every topic iPhone and iPad related. And unless you want to listen to Pandora while playing a game, there isn't even a real need. Much is made out of it without a lot of quantifications. And this is also fact, which is why I was asking...

No multi tasking kind of works for the phone because it is small and there is less of a need. It still would be nice though as most other phones offer it and the iPhone is behind the curve on this experience. Push is ok but no replacement for being able to switch between apps quickly. If you are looking for an example I walked home yesterday chatting on Skype and wanted to look at an email people where discussing. Complete pain.

For the iPad the issue is you now have a largish screen so people will want to use it like a computer more than they do the iPhone. For instance I am in the middle of a work Skype chat and looking as macrumours.

Most of the people who I know who have iPhones want multi tasking but do without it as the phone rocks. Those same people consider it a deal breaker at the moment for the iPad.

 

[DMann]

Do you just regurgitate everything you hear from your dear leader Steve Jobs.. or do you use your own thinking when coming up with this nonsense?

Have you ever used Android or WebOS phone recently? I have, and I guarantee you there is no "fragmenting of RAM, degraded performance or rapidly deteriorated battery life" happening on these platforms, which have supported multitasking from day-1.

There is simply no excuse to not implement basic background tasking functionality on a modern mobile OS, let alone the one driving a 10" screen device. It's funny because when Apple finally adds multitasking in v4.0 - you will be amongst the first gushing about how "revolutionary and groundbreaking" it is.

I've used Droid - it DOES slow down and lag in responsiveness when multiple apps are open, WTF are you talking about?

Battery life on the unit sucks, on top of that - good thing it has a removable battery option.

iPhone already multitasks, and when OS4 brings it to 3rd party apps, I probably won't even use it.

Guarantee? I have a bridge in Manhattan I'll sell you at wholesale - I guarantee.

 

[hitekalex]

I've used Droid - it DOES slow down and lag in responsiveness when multiple apps are open, WTF are you talking about?

Battery life on the unit sucks, on top of that - good thing it has a removable battery option.

iPhone already multitasks, and when OS4 brings it to 3rd party apps, I probably won't even use it.

The fact that Droid has poor battery life doesn't have much to do with multitasking. My brother in law has a Pre, which I have used extensively. No issues with running multiple apps whatsoever - the OS dynamically manages the memory prioritizing the recently accessed apps, and taking away resources from idle ones. You don't even think about it.

And since "iPhone already multitasks" (obviously only for a few Apple's stock apps) - what is your concern with enabling it for 3rd party apps? It's great that you won't take advantage of it, but I will and so will many others.

 

[DMann]

The fact that Droid has poor battery life doesn't have much to do with multitasking. My brother in law has a Pre, which I have used extensively. No issues with running multiple apps whatsoever - the OS dynamically manages the memory prioritizing the recently accessed apps, and taking away resources from idle ones. You don't even think about it.

And since "iPhone already multitasks" (obviously only for a few Apple's stock apps) - what is your concern with enabling it for 3rd party apps? It's great that you won't take advantage of it, but I will and so will many others.

I'm not against it.

I simply won't be, as you put it, "...gushing about how 'revolutionary and groundbreaking' it is."

 

[Eidorian]

I simply won't be, as you put it, "...gushing about how 'revolutionary and groundbreaking' it is."

I suspect Apple will be.

 

[DMann]

I suspect Apple will be.

This goes without saying.

 

[seedster2]

hahaha

the same users who tout the advantage of using both voice and data simultaneously when discussing why they wouldnt consider Verizon as a carrier are now bashing the need for multitasking on the iPad, a suuposedly bigger revolutionary netbook killer...

 

[hitekalex]

I'm not against it.

I simply won't be, as you put it, "...gushing about how 'revolutionary and groundbreaking' it is."

Fine, I didn't necessarily mean you personally.

The point I was making is that so many people on these forums keep defending Apple's calculated omission of basic features.. But once Apple decides to give it to them, it becomes the best thing since sliced bread. I remember the same debates going on about copy-and-paste or lack of 3G in the first iPhone.. "oh no one needs 3G on a phone - it just drains battery".. "copy/paste? who needs it on a cell phone".

 

[Arnia]

I suspect Apple will be.

They may be entitled to depending on how it is implemented if they do implement it. There are lots of ways to skin a cat. Not that I have an opinion either way about whether what they might do will be novel; just pointing out that it is premature to damn them.

 

[Eidorian]

They may be entitled to depending on how it is implemented if they do implement it. There are lots of ways to skin a cat. Not that I have an opinion either way about whether what they might do will be novel; just pointing out that it is premature to damn them.

Stop making me think about it. I just got into Cocoa Touch HIG.

 

[KurtangleTN]

I own a Droid and although it certainly gets a bit less snappy when I have multiple things going on it's not slow to a crawl and still very usable. I'll take the multitasking over a bit of snap.

Also I've had no problems with battery life, even with heavy use I don't get less then I do out of my iPhone 3G.

 

[iphones4evry1]

AT&T needs to make an adjustment to how they charge customers.

The voice plan needs to decrease from 39.99 to 34.99 per month, and the data plan needs to increase from 30 to 35 per month. The total will remain the same. But AT&T needs to start shifting these ratios now because in five years from now, data will dominate in usage over voice. Sure, people still make phone calls, but data is being used more and more and more compared to voice.

 

[MythicFrost]

I'm curious, will the Skype application have to update to support 3G, or will the next iPhone OS have to come out before I can use Skype over 3G?
I'm guessing the former... Thanks.

 

[Lara F]

I realize most of the people here are power users and it is difficult to get your head around the fact that 90% of the population aren't. If you are using photoshop, video editing software or other high end software, this device is not aimed at you. I find it hard to believe that people are upset that this isn't a multitouch high end macbook pro.

I'm not upset it's not a multitouch full OSX, because I actually agree that wouldn't work well.

What does upset me is Apple's apparent notion that wanting to listen to Pandora in the background, not to mention play Farmville or watch Hulu somehow makes me a power user geek who's not the target market. Sorry, but those are *basic* requirements IMO for a device devoted to internet browsing and I'd rather not see Apple succeed at being this restrictive. That's where a lot of the uproar is coming from.

 

[MythicFrost]

What does upset me is Apple's apparent notion that wanting to listen to Pandora in the background, not to mention play Farmville or watch Hulu somehow makes me a power user geek who's not the target market. Sorry, but those are *basic* requirements IMO for a device devoted to internet browsing and I'd rather not see Apple succeed at being this restrictive. That's where a lot of the uproar is coming from.

Fortunately that might be an issue Apple addresses for the iPad, multi-tasking, playing flash games will probably always be out of the question. Seeing YouTube is using HTML5, how hard can it be for sites like Hulu and others to switch over?

 

[LePigeonBleu]

Has anyone heard from or about Skype releasing an official app that works on the 3G network?

It's been a few days now and as big as Skype is, you'd think it would have been released already- especially for them saying they have an app ready to work on 3G for VOIP.

m

 

[aegisdesign]

The fact that Droid has poor battery life doesn't have much to do with multitasking. My brother in law has a Pre, which I have used extensively. No issues with running multiple apps whatsoever - the OS dynamically manages the memory prioritizing the recently accessed apps, and taking away resources from idle ones. You don't even think about it.

I'm not convinced the Pre does much multitasking at all. Most of the 'apps' are web pages and javascript 'apps' running in the Pre's built in browser based OS so there's only 1 task. It's like running Safari on OSX with multiple tabs open. Does that count as multi-tasking?

 

[aegisdesign]

Why?

If i receive a notification that someone is talking to me, then in a single 'click' I'm instantly in that application, with what I was currently doing in the background then that's all I need. When the conversation is finished, one click, and I return to what I was doing.

Not quite. Behind the scenes the OS is telling the app to save it's state and quit which not every app does or can do so to you it might seem serene on the surface but underneath the OS and apps are doing a lot of work.

The 'pad isn't big enough to show two usable windows side by side, and only has the one keyboard, so I can't physically interact with two apps at once.

The screen is 1024x768. About a fifth of visitors to the websites I've been looking after lately have been that resolution on their desktop/laptop screens. You may not be able to use two keyboards at once but why can't you say type/browse in one app whilst talking into another?

Furthermore, I can keep my music playing in the background, so between running the OS, running the music app and typing on skype, I think that's pretty much multitasking.

True but you'd have to have skype in the foreground to do all three and the music app would have to be Apple's built in app and not Pandora, Last.fm, Spotify or another music player.

Sounds like people are complaining about the way in which apple are controlling drain on the processor rather than a lack of 'multitasking', which this device and the iPhone clearly have.

The iPad has a 10 hour battery when playing video solidly apparently according to Jobs. 'drain on the processor' is not really a complaint for the iPad when it's more than likely not going to be used for 10 hours solid without being close to a power supply. Lack of 3rd party app multitasking to so that Apple can control power requirements when the usage of the device is highly unlikely to need that tight a control is a valid complaint.

Furthermore, why not let the user decide if they want multitasking or very long battery life? It's plain condescending to suggest we're so dumb that Apple needs to make that decision for us.

 

[Jesica]

it will seem very awkward to put a 10 inch screen by my ear to make a phone call

It would certainly require a headset, otherwise it would indeed be a funny picture.