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Thats not entirely true. Any device running applications in the background AKA "freezing" them uses RAM. When too much RAM is being used the performance will suffer extremely.
There is an iPhone 4 Thread talking about this exactly. When too many things are opened and too much ram is being used the device slows down quite a bit. On average my iphone 4 has 350MB of RAM available. I open 3 games, Message application and Safari/Mail I drop over 200MB. Continue to open more things it drops into the double and sometimes single digits. I close all my applications at night before I go to bed.
Also, with my experience, having less application "frozen" reduces RAM usage, which speeds up performance, which reduces battery consumption.
Apps don't no. the Apple internal stuff like music and the time, wifi ect are all multitasking.
I really don't know how Apple are getting away legally with advertising Multitasking as it's not according to all understandings of the term.
Surely you don't need to close all apps as the way Apple multitasks doesn't have any running processes.
Apps don't multitask anyway, they're multithreaded at most 
But that besides the point...
Runt888 is still right, you shouldn't have to close all those apps by yourself. Apps get closed automatically when the next app you open up demands more RAM and does so the in a correct manner.
Your iPhone/iPod/iPad can still feel more sluggish though after opening up more apps because some apps aren't neatly suspended when you 'multi-task' into another app and keep hogging CPU. You can prevent that by closing up apps yourself, but the point is still valid, you shouldn't have to do this yourself. And by not even giving you the possibility, Apple hopes developers make apps as efficient as possible. Though I'm sure lots of you won't agree with that approach.
But that besides the point...Runt888 is still right, you shouldn't have to close all those apps by yourself. Apps get closed automatically when the next app you open up demands more RAM and does so the in a correct manner.
Your iPhone/iPod/iPad can still feel more sluggish though after opening up more apps because some apps aren't neatly suspended when you 'multi-task' into another app and keep hogging CPU. You can prevent that by closing up apps yourself, but the point is still valid, you shouldn't have to do this yourself. And by not even giving you the possibility, Apple hopes developers make apps as efficient as possible. Though I'm sure lots of you won't agree with that approach.
Unused RAM is wasted RAM. If the app you're currently using needs more RAM, the OS will close background apps. This happens automatically, there's no reason for you to do it.
See above...
No, you had 60 apps in your tray, and those are comprised of frozen and recent apps.
So what is the point of that tray then?
Seems like it was Apple's way to look like they are multi-tasking when they really aren't. And if iOS automatically closes an application when not being used, it should not show up in this dock.
This is very annoying. It's untidy and defeats the purpose of this being a 'fast app switcher' if you have to scroll through several pages. Might as well just find the app on your home screen.
The apps should 'time out' and disappear after a set period of inactivity (1hr, 24hrs, whatever)
It should only contain one page of the most recent apps. If an app is actually running, it should stay on the page.
In answer to you both. No, I don't really use it.
I find it just as easy to press the home button once to get out of the running app, and tap the icon of the app I wish to run, just like I always do.
It's easier that side scrolling through a load of frozen icons.
I think they really need to rethink this.
Personally I feel there should be one way to freeze an app, so it gets stuck onto this quick launch bar, and another way to just close the app down as you won't need to re-run it for the foreseeable future.
The only ones you would really want on there, as in Windows or on the Mac would be your regularly used programs.
that makes more sense doesn't it?
I find it just as easy to press the home button once to get out of the running app, and tap the icon of the app I wish to run, just like I always do.
It's easier that side scrolling through a load of frozen icons.
I think they really need to rethink this.
Personally I feel there should be one way to freeze an app, so it gets stuck onto this quick launch bar, and another way to just close the app down as you won't need to re-run it for the foreseeable future.
The only ones you would really want on there, as in Windows or on the Mac would be your regularly used programs.
that makes more sense doesn't it?
That's what the dock is for though, surely? I have no problem with the 'multi-tasking bar' containing recently used apps, I just wish it would tidy up after itself! It really isn't very house trained
Don't get too attached to the Home button. It's going to start failing one of these days.
Hear, hear. That single mechanical point of failure has always worried me.
Hopefully, they'll quickly figure out how to make the four/five fingered "Home" gesture work, rendering the button obsolete.
That's what the dock is for though, surely? I have no problem with the 'multi-tasking bar' containing recently used apps, I just wish it would tidy up after itself! It really isn't very house trained
I agree. After one or two swipes, it's pointless scanning through a practically random sequence of icons.
Makes you wonder what they were thinking? Unless it's going to be developed in future such that it does have a practical use? Not sure what that would be, though.
From the vids that I've seen, it looks like it works just fine. Seems like a very natural gesture.
That's what the dock is for though, surely? I have no problem with the 'multi-tasking bar' containing recently used apps, I just wish it would tidy up after itself! It really isn't very house trained
This isn't a multitasking tray - it's a history tray. It's just a list of your apps in the order that they've been used. Launching an app from this tray is identical to launching it from your home screen, and isn't related to multitasking in anyway.
One of the main reasons Apple designed its multitasking system they way they did is so users don't have to care about what's running.
Oh, and what are all understandings of the term? One understanding might be the ability to run certain, multiple tasks at the same time, say, for example, listening to music while surfing the web. Is that not multi-tasking?
I don't think this is entirely true. Certain apps - possibly ones which don't "multitask" properly? - launch differently depending if they're on the "tray" or not. Example - some apps resume where they left off when you launch them from the tray. But if you delete them from the tray and launch them from the home screen they will start from the splash screen rather than resuming. So there is a difference (sometimes)
.Hmm....I feel a little bit left out, here.
For some strange reason, I can't get it out of my head that any app in that Tray is "running" in one way or another, and taking just a bit of my precious RAM or CPU. For this reason, every time I close out of an App, unless I am specifically planning on going right back to it, I always close them in my tray. I rarely have more than 2 or 3 apps in the tray, and it never gets over 5.
I realize it doesn't actually matter, but I guess it's just the same way I use a computer. If I am not using a program, I always close it (<cmd> + Q) because I don't like the idea of it running when not being used.
I guess I'm alone in this thought process?
For some strange reason, I can't get it out of my head that any app in that Tray is "running" in one way or another, and taking just a bit of my precious RAM or CPU. For this reason, every time I close out of an App, unless I am specifically planning on going right back to it, I always close them in my tray. I rarely have more than 2 or 3 apps in the tray, and it never gets over 5.
I realize it doesn't actually matter, but I guess it's just the same way I use a computer. If I am not using a program, I always close it (<cmd> + Q) because I don't like the idea of it running when not being used.
I guess I'm alone in this thought process?
Indeed it is. As many have said, Apples core stuff like the OS, the music playback, notifications ect are multitasking, no-one questions that.
What's incorrect though is Apple saying the Task Freezing and the app saving it's state so that when it's next run it can restore itself, hopefully, at the point it was when you left it, is multitasking, when it obviously is not.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_multitasking
3rd party apps on the "Multitasking which isn't - Bar" are not running, they are just a history of what you have been using for quick future selection.
It just seems very naughty and blatantly wrong that Apple try and mislead the non technical customers that's this is actually multitasking.