The argument against this feature is
also tired (IMO). Phones have great processors, screens, and input methods these days. They are increasingly becoming more of a pocket computer in people's lives as opposed to being strictly a communication device. While I do prefer full screen app use, I still often need 2 open at the same time, and enjoy the freedom of being able to do that.
Regarding use cases,
@Delgibbons had a great example and one I run into often, including last afternoon while at the Airport. Being able to have an Email open on one half of the screen, while updating my local site calendar (datacenter in a different state) made it so I could quickly do a complex multi-day calendar change while I referenced his email in split screen. In my case, I was also watching (granted mostly listening) a Netflix show that was in PIP (Picture in picture) mode the entire time.
My main multitasking uses
- Web Browsing + Calendar updates (Looking at a race schedule on their website and updating my calendar at the same time)
- Web browsing / fact checking + spreadsheet or word processor application (Grabbing facts or data I want to use in my document)
- Web browsing + Notepad application (simple note taking while fact checking on the web)
- Photo application + Word processor or Email (browsing photos to inject into my document or articles)
- Moderating MacRumors (Have a post report in one window, while I work on the issue in another window)
- PIP Video + doing almost anything. (While clearly not a cinematic experience, I enjoy having a video playing in the background while I work on other things)
All of the reasons above contributed to why I purchased an iPad Pro, and I slowly discovered my Android phones could do this as well. I like the way Apple does Multitasking far better than Android, however they cripple the phones to prevent that functionality.
Apple has plenty of HP to let us do PIP video form the TV App, YouTube, Netflix, or any other video content while we do other work. This is the biggest reason I lean in the direction of using my Android phones while I travel. It is trivial, but being able to have a casual game open while I watch a show is a great feature. Apple only allows us to listen to audio from
some of these sources in the background, but you will
ALWAYS have to manually resume playback from control center when you switch away from these video sources.
View attachment 798714
Browsing the web while working on an invoice, and playing one of my favorite podcasts in the background.
(Pixel 2)