Hands-On With iOS 9's New iPad Multitasking Feature

[Iconoclysm]

You're not paying attention. Surface has been doing well and can do true multi-tasking with actual split windows. They got that right. It's Apple that took too long to get split windows available for iOS when it should've been released earlier on.

And for the record, Surface is growing popular by working professionals, especially in digital and graphic arts field. Trust me. I KNOW what I'm talking bout. Wacom and Surface are two of the most popular methods of input for the creative professionals, not iOS.

And it appears to me that the multi-tasking sidebar is actually a revamped version of the old double-click home button method.

So golden lesson for you is arrogance will bite you in the a$$ and it will Apple. Where's your beloved revamped Apple TV? Not here. Where's Apple's foray into Augmented Reality? Not here yet and falling behind. How's your iTunes and Apple Music? Oh wait, what a mess isn't it? How did you like Cue's messy live performance with his lazy getup? Open. your. EYES. Apple. is. getting. LAZY.

The Surface that's doing well is essentially just a touchscreen laptop, even the newer versions of the non-RT Surface are just touchscreen laptops. No, I will not trust you because it's obvious you have an extreme bias.

His arrogance? Have you looked in a mirror lately? Apple has NEVER forayed into that many technologies at once, it's not their MO to simply throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. Your use of words like "beloved" show such extreme condescension that I'm pretty sure you are oblivious to what's really happening with the products you are referring to. This is how you sound: "HAHAHA, you arrogant idiots!!! How's Zune, I mean Xbox Music, I mean Windows Music, I mean subscription/no subscription doing?!!!?!?!?!" That's how you come off.

 

[Iconoclysm]

Is your point that it's very impressive that Apple could add a feature to their product that rapidly, that was previously only on a much more powerful device, running a full desktop OS, and coming in at double the price?

Surface RT was not really running a full desktop OS but it was extremely flawed - just the amount of space taken up by the "OS", nearly half the storage of the device, was embarrassing. Remember that MS and Apple have agreements in place, they can share virtually any of this UI stuff that they want. And yeah, MS is taking advantage of that recently as well.

 

[RedOrchestra]

iDevices have had multi-tasking for ages.

Apps running in background can hardly be considered multi-tasking.

 

[Joe Merriman]

This is probably a stupid question, but is iOS built using Xcode

 

[APlotdevice]

Apps running in background can hardly be considered multi-tasking.

Uh, yes it can. You are performing multiple tasks at once.

What this new functionality gives you is multi-window support. (something which actually came long before multitasking on the desktop)

 

[Tubamajuba]

Apps running in background can hardly be considered multi-tasking.

I suggest you read the definition of multitasking, as presented by Wikipedia:

"In computing, multitasking is a concept of performing multiple tasks (also known as processes) over a certain period of time by executing them concurrently. New tasks start and interrupt already started ones before they have reached completion, instead of executing the tasks sequentially so each started task needs to reach its end before a new one is started. As a result, a computer executes segments of multiple tasks in an interleaved manner, while the tasks share common processing resources such as central processing units (CPUs) and main memory."

That is exactly what iOS has done for years now. If you disagree with the definition I quoted, you are more than welcome to edit the Wikipedia article.

 

[M. Gustave]

I can run full Windows 8 on a 2009 HP netbook with 1GB of RAM, no problem, but I can't run two iOS apps split screen on anything less than a 2GB iPad Air 2? Why?

 

[derekamoss]

I'd say Surface by Microsoft is dead with these new iOS technologies, but Surface has never really been alive in the marketplace.

Totally different products first off. The surface pro 3 is "alive" and well actually. The Surface 3 is doing quite well too. Look I've longed loved apple but the surface just destroys the iPad in productivity and for the most part is almost equal in consumption. The iPad was never meant to be a production device. It is literally only a blown up iphone. The only thing that would compare is if apple put os x instead of ios on a tablet, which I don't understand why they haven't because I'm pretty sure it would sell like nuts even without making os x touch screen friendly.
The iPad is more like a adult toy then anything else. While the surface is actually a full PC in a tablet form.

 

[sracer]

Totally different products first off. The surface pro 3 is "alive" and well actually. The Surface 3 is doing quite well too. Look I've longed loved apple but the surface just destroys the iPad in productivity and for the most part is almost equal in consumption. The iPad was never meant to be a production device. It is literally only a blown up iphone. The only thing that would compare is if apple put os x instead of ios on a tablet, which I don't understand why they haven't because I'm pretty sure it would sell like nuts even without making os x touch screen friendly.
The iPad is more like a adult toy then anything else. While the surface is actually a full PC in a tablet form.

I wonder how many who praise the Surface line have actually owned one. I've owned two, and currently own a hybrid Windows tablet/notebook.

The Surface (any windows hybrid devices) is the kind of device that sounds great on paper but not so great in actuality. The Surface makes a fine ultrabook, but a sub-par tablet. The Surface (both Pro and non-Pro) are competition for the Macbook Air and new Macbook, not the iPad. Using a Surface primarily as a touch device is not Microsoft's primary use case... they expect users to use it as a notebook. That is why they never produced an ad that didn't prominently feature the TypeCover and yet is an additional-cost accessory. And it is why Microsoft never shows ads of the Surface where people are getting things done just with touch... they don't even sell a cover for the Surface that doesn't have a keyboard.

There is still a significant lack of quantity of quality touch-optimized Modern UI apps for Windows 8.x. That has a direct impact on the Surface as a tablet. Using desktop mode on the Surface with touch is nothing more than "tablet computing circa 2000". Putting OSX on a tablet will not fare any better. Thankfully Apple realizes that and won't make that mistake.

The claim that the iPad is literally just a blown up iPhone is as old as the iPad itself... that claim was made on day-1. Nothing new there and yet many people have been using iPads (myself included) for more than media consumption. But for some there is this binary all-or-nothing approach to productivity... "in order for a device to be considered for productivity it must be able to do everything that a desktop/notebook can do." It's more involved than that. Yes, for some, "but it doesn't run full Photoshop" is the litmus test for "serious computing".

The new capabilities introduced with iOS9 like SplitView, are only the application software side of things. We have yet to see what Apple will do regarding hardware (and the underlying system additions to support the hardware). Perhaps an active digitizer, Bluetooth support for mice and pointing devices, etc. could significantly improve the "Pro-ness" of the iPad.

I've been using multiwindow and PIP on my Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 (and my older Galaxy Tabs before that). It is smooth and works extremely well. The only thing thing that it still has over an iPad 2 running iOS9 is support for pointing device.

Apple isn't leading in this regard. And they know it. They're playing it safe... waiting to see if what sells on other platforms is nothing more than a gimmick or fad. They waited it out on the 7" tablet, until it was proven that there is a sustainable demand. They've waited out the "extended capabilities" of tablets as well. They see that it isn't a fad and are starting to make moves.

Ironically, Microsoft has helped position the iPad to be a more "Pro" device by the introduction of MS Office for iPad. There still isn't a touch version of Office for their own platform. And if their recent decision (regarding eliminating the Modern UI version of Skype) is any indication, the iPad (and Android to a lesser extent) will be great mobile productivity/"pro" devices.

 

[Arndroid]

Do you guys know what you're writing about?

Split view has nothing to do with CPU power and everything to do with RAM capacity.

Do you know how computers work? To claim multitasking does not use additional cpu is to claim you don't understand computers.

 

[M. Gustave]

...Perhaps an active digitizer, Bluetooth support for mice and pointing devices, etc. could significantly improve the "Pro-ness" of the iPad.

+1

Not even just for "pro" use. It's a big limitation to any "iPad only" workflow. A lot of us prefer iOS to a desktop OS, and would prefer to go all in. And mouse input has been enabled on Android devices for years.

 

[derekamoss]

I wonder how many who praise the Surface line have actually owned one. I've owned two, and currently own a hybrid Windows tablet/notebook.

The Surface (any windows hybrid devices) is the kind of device that sounds great on paper but not so great in actuality. The Surface makes a fine ultrabook, but a sub-par tablet. The Surface (both Pro and non-Pro) are competition for the Macbook Air and new Macbook, not the iPad. Using a Surface primarily as a touch device is not Microsoft's primary use case... they expect users to use it as a notebook. That is why they never produced an ad that didn't prominently feature the TypeCover and yet is an additional-cost accessory. And it is why Microsoft never shows ads of the Surface where people are getting things done just with touch... they don't even sell a cover for the Surface that doesn't have a keyboard.

There is still a significant lack of quantity of quality touch-optimized Modern UI apps for Windows 8.x. That has a direct impact on the Surface as a tablet. Using desktop mode on the Surface with touch is nothing more than "tablet computing circa 2000". Putting OSX on a tablet will not fare any better. Thankfully Apple realizes that and won't make that mistake.

The claim that the iPad is literally just a blown up iPhone is as old as the iPad itself... that claim was made on day-1. Nothing new there and yet many people have been using iPads (myself included) for more than media consumption. But for some there is this binary all-or-nothing approach to productivity... "in order for a device to be considered for productivity it must be able to do everything that a desktop/notebook can do." It's more involved than that. Yes, for some, "but it doesn't run full Photoshop" is the litmus test for "serious computing".

The new capabilities introduced with iOS9 like SplitView, are only the application software side of things. We have yet to see what Apple will do regarding hardware (and the underlying system additions to support the hardware). Perhaps an active digitizer, Bluetooth support for mice and pointing devices, etc. could significantly improve the "Pro-ness" of the iPad.

I've been using multiwindow and PIP on my Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 (and my older Galaxy Tabs before that). It is smooth and works extremely well. The only thing thing that it still has over an iPad 2 running iOS9 is support for pointing device.

Apple isn't leading in this regard. And they know it. They're playing it safe... waiting to see if what sells on other platforms is nothing more than a gimmick or fad. They waited it out on the 7" tablet, until it was proven that there is a sustainable demand. They've waited out the "extended capabilities" of tablets as well. They see that it isn't a fad and are starting to make moves.

Ironically, Microsoft has helped position the iPad to be a more "Pro" device by the introduction of MS Office for iPad. There still isn't a touch version of Office for their own platform. And if their recent decision (regarding eliminating the Modern UI version of Skype) is any indication, the iPad (and Android to a lesser extent) will be great mobile productivity/"pro" devices.

I have owned iPhones, iPods, iPads, iBooks, emacs, iMacs, PowerBooks, MacBook pros. I have also owned a bunch of PC's. I currently own a surface rt, surface pro 3, iMac and just bought the mom a surface 3. So yes I have owned them and many other things. The iPad was built as a consumption device. Yes people have figured how to be productive on it but its still a consumption device and falls short at a lot of things because of that. The surface was built as a productivity device. The whole time I had my surface rt I never had a keyboard or mouse attached and used it just like I did my iPad which it took the place of. Not once was there a bad tablet experience on it. I then bought a surface pro 3 and that has replaced almost everything. It can be a amazing tablet. It can be a decent notebook. But you know what the iPad can't do that both my surface and my iMac can? Play the games I like such as wow, half-life. Be able to pull up adobe Photoshop, Skype with somebody while browsing the web. Have a digitizer to take all my hand written notes in class and be able to search through it. I do however agree that the iPad is the best consumption tablet there is.

 

[MsQueen]

Another nice feature they should implement is opening an app in split view or slide over when you tap a notification.

I can see the jailbreak community taking care of that. Not sure if this applies to tapping notifications, but clicking a link that launch another app, places a back button which takes you back to the original app for added convenience.

 

[samcraig]

It's truly hard to believe it's taken Apple this long to implement any time of split screening on the iPad. And no - I don't believe it NEEDED (or needs) the current chip/ram to do so. Sure now that apps are more complex and use more memory, the additional memory is needed. However at the launch of the original iPad, apps weren't as complex or memory intensive and this feature could have been implemented.

My opinion of course. Glad it's coming to the iPad and hopefully will grow in its capabilities. Just "surprised" it took this long.

 

[mi7chy]

Does iOS 9 split view and picture in picture work at the same time similar to how Samsung does it since 2012? And, how smooth is the performance? Here's Samsung browser plus Google Maps split view with PiP for comparison.

 

[Carlanga]

Is your point that it's very impressive that Apple could add a feature to their product that rapidly, that was previously only on a much more powerful device, running a full desktop OS, and coming in at double the price?

nope too late imo, and i think even the non pro version could do split screen at that time which costed around the same as an ipad

 

[FightTheFuture]

Samsung's take on multi tasking/split screen is way better, and can be done on devices with 1GB ram, like the S3 which is around 3 to 4 years old.

Does iOS 9 split view and picture in picture work at the same time similar to how Samsung does it since 2012? And, how smooth is the performance? Here's Samsung browser plus Google Maps split view with PiP for comparison.

Just wondering - but do these features work in all apps or just Samsung OEM apps? I honestly don't know.

 

[TMRJIJ]

Does iOS 9 split view and picture in picture work at the same time similar to how Samsung does it since 2012? And, how smooth is the performance? Here's Samsung browser plus Google Maps split view with PiP for comparison.

Why would anyone do that? This screen is almost unusable.

 

[mi7chy]

Just wondering - but do these features work in all apps or just Samsung OEM apps? I honestly don't know.

It's not restricted to just Samsung apps. Theoretically any app will work but Samsung white lists the ones that make sense since some apps are only designed to run full screen. Majority of the apps I have installed are white listed and available. If your device has root access you can expand the white list even further to include any app you want with MultiWindow Commander paid app.

 

[sracer]

It's not restricted to just Samsung apps. Theoretically any app will work but Samsung white lists the ones that make sense since some apps are only designed to run full screen. Majority of the apps I have installed are white listed and available. If your device has root access you can expand the white list even further to include any app you want with MultiWindow Commander paid app.

I use MultiWindow Commander on my GTab Pro 8.4. Works extremely well.

 

[SSD-GUY]

Just wondering - but do these features work in all apps or just Samsung OEM apps? I honestly don't know.

Pretty much all apps as far as I can remember. I don't install a lot of third party apps however I do remember there even being hacks in the early days where all apps could be used in the split screen mode, however now I think it's done natively.

 

[mazz0]

I really don't see the point in Slide Over - seems to offer no advantage over switching to another app and back again. I'd like to be able to turn it off so sliding out instantly starts split view, save me a tap.

 

[subjonas]

I really don't see the point in Slide Over - seems to offer no advantage over switching to another app and back again. I'd like to be able to turn it off so sliding out instantly starts split view, save me a tap.

I think it's about keeping visual context. When you completely lose sight of an app, your mind starts to forget about it. The longer you spend in the second app the longer it takes for your mind to reorient itself when you switch back to the first app. Spend long enough time in the second app and you may completely forget what you were doing before. Even keeping the first app partially in view keeps what you were/are doing in mind. And you would only Slide Over an app that you need to use or refer to quickly (like taking a quick note, referring to a calendar date, responding to a text) then carry on with what you were doing. Think of it like when you recieve an iOS notification banner. Some types of notifications you can respond to in the banner, then dismiss it, all without leaving the app you're in. It's helpful because it's less disruptive. It's like a more robust version of that.

 

[mazz0]

I think it's about keeping visual context. When you completely lose sight of an app, your mind starts to forget about it. The longer you spend in the second app the longer it takes for your mind to reorient itself when you switch back to the first app. Spend long enough time in the second app and you may completely forget what you were doing before. Even keeping the first app partially in view keeps what you were/are doing in mind. And you would only Slide Over an app that you need to use or refer to quickly (like taking a quick note, referring to a calendar date, responding to a text) then carry on with what you were doing. Think of it like when you recieve an iOS notification banner. Some types of notifications you can respond to in the banner, then dismiss it, all without leaving the app you're in. It's helpful because it's less disruptive. It's like a more robust version of that.

Yeah, you're right there. I'd still like the option though, selecting split view on my iPad Air 2 is so fast there's really no downside.

 

[paisleypaper]

In iOS 9, the iPad is gaining a feature that will completely change the way a lot of us use our tablets, introducing functionality that will make it much easier to use the iPad as a serious computer replacement. That feature, which has been much-desired for several years now, is multitasking.

We went hands-on with iOS 9 to check out the multitasking feature on an iPad Air 2, and made a quick video to share what the new features look and feel like.

There are three different aspects to multitasking on the iPad: Slide Over, Split View, and Picture in Picture. Slide Over can be activated in any supported app. Pull over from the right side of the screen to the left to open up a second window, which takes up 1/3 of the screen.

This isn't true multitasking because it pauses the background window, but it's a way to quickly send an email or answer an incoming email without having to stop what you're doing. You can change the app shown in the Slide Over by swiping down from the top of the screen.

On an iPad Air 2, if you pull the Slide Over window further to the left, it'll enter Split View. Split View shows two apps at once and is a true multitasking feature. You can use both apps independently of one another and both are fully functional, with each taking up half the screen.

The third new multitasking feature is Picture in Picture, which works similarly to the picture-in-picture function on televisions. When watching a video or participating in a FaceTime call, the video window can be minimized to one corner of the iPad so you can continue to use other apps while you watch (or chat).

For now, all of these features are compatible only with Apple's apps, but third-party apps will also be compatible with multitasking with developer support. Slide Over and Picture in Picture work on the iPad Air, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 2, and iPad mini 3, but Split View feature is limited to the iPad Air 2, which has a more powerful A8X processor and 2GB RAM.

Multitasking is built into iOS 9, which is currently only available to developers. Apple plans to release a public beta of iOS 9 in July, with the official public launch coming in the fall

For more on what's new in iOS 9, make sure to check out our detailed iOS 9 roundup.

Article Link: Hands-On With iOS 9's New iPad Multitasking Feature