iPod touch Any way to see what apps are running?

[sharoo]

I love my new Touch, but I can't BELIEVE how fast the battery goes down when I am playing with the apps! I think one reason might be that it is so difficult to actually close down an application in the Apple world - mostly you just exit them and they continue to run in the background. Unless I'm planning to return to that app soon I try to remember to hold down the button for 5-10 seconds when I leave, which I believe actually shuts down the app. But I don't always remember.

My question is... is there any way to see a list of the apps that are currently running in the background, similar to the Windows Task Manager? I'd pay for an app that did this, especially if it let me shut down apps from the display screen.

 

[pilotrtc]

My understanding is that the iPod Touch doesn't allow multiple applications running. In fact, memory management of an application is very important to Apple and there are very strict memory standards that a developer must follow when they are creating an application. You may have a defective battery.

Edit: Actually, I think that only music may play at the same time as any other application. The only way to stop a song from playing is to hit the "stop" button in the application.

 

[omnomnomno]

The only apps that keep running after you exit them are Music, Movies, Safari, and Mail. Everything else closes within five seconds of you exiting it.

 

[pilotrtc]

I think omnomnomno is correct. However, you can prevent a lot of background stuff from happening by changing the setting called "Fetch New Data" to Push "Manually" located in the general "Settings" app that came with your iPod. You can also turn down your brightness and turn on Auto-Brightness which will dim the brightness when you are in a low light situation.

 

[g2tegg]

Another great reason to jailbreak. Every app that runs in the background has a little circle beside it. In Sbsettings I can click on process and manually shut down what I want. I can turn off wifi, bluetooth, and any running app in a matter of seconds.

 

[sharoo]

Battery lasts about 2 hours of continuous use - normal?

I'm still in the honeymoon phase with my Touch, where I sit down with it and try one app after another, then go out to iTunes and download another app, try it out, delete it, play with Google Earth for a while, then settle in to play a game until my battery runs out. It takes about 2 hours for that to happen. Is this normal?

Yes, the brightness is set right in the middle and auto-brightness is enabled (that's the default setting, so I would imagine that very few people who complain about low battery life actually have the brightness turned up full).

I understand that I can save power by turning off Wi-Fi and so on. What I'm wondering is whether there is something wrong with my battery or if this is normal with the way I've been using it.

I must say that it charges up very readily. I think it takes about 20 minutes to get to full charge. At least that's what the display shows. Is it possible that the display is wrong and it really ISN'T fully charged when I disconnect it?

 

[pilotrtc]

Two hours could be right on target depending on the activities.

Is there some power left on the indicator after the 2 hours? Have you ever let it run out completely? Apple recommends (http://www.apple.com/batteries/ipods.html) keeping the electrons moving on a regular basis but if not, then let it die completely and keep it dead for 5 hours before recharging again and do that once a month.

Did you let it charge completely before using it the first time? I've had mine for some time so I don't really remember but doesn't it say to let it keep charging for a few hours after the indicator reads full?

If you've done everything right, it may be behaving correctly. You may be so in love that your honeymoon is disappointing.