If and when iOS's new notification system is overhauled?

[JD914]

Will Apple be so pompous as to say they do it better than anyone else?

They put their foot in their mouth with iOS's current "multi-tasking" which clearly lacks in so many ways and other platforms do better.

What say you?

 

[celticpride678]

Reports seem to point to iOS 5 for a revamped notifications system on iOS. As far as the whole Apple waiting to do something the best:

Take copy+paste for example - Apple was the last ones to integrate this, but without a doubt, it's the best integration for a mobile OS.

Multitasking might not be the best in iOS right now, but in further releases, Apple will expand on its ability as they always do.

 

[lsvtecjohn3]

Will Apple be so pompous as to say they do it better than anyone else?

They put their foot in their mouth with iOS's current "multi-tasking" which clearly lacks in so many ways and other platforms do better.

What say you?

I think it's going to happen in iOS 5. What is it that you don't like about iOS multitasking?

 

[superstrikertwo]

Will Apple be so pompous as to say they do it better than anyone else?

They put their foot in their mouth with iOS's current "multi-tasking" which clearly lacks in so many ways and other platforms do better.

What say you?

iOS 17 will have new notifications and "real multi-tasking".

 

[David-fr]

iOS 17 will have new notifications and "real multi-tasking".

I heard 17.2 and 17.2.1 will be a bug fix.

 

[Small White Car]

They put their foot in their mouth with iOS's current "multi-tasking" which clearly lacks in so many ways and other platforms do better.

What say you?

I say they didn't "put their foot in their mouth."

They came out on stage and said they came up with a system that prioritizes battery life. And then it was a system that prioritizes battery life.

Which part of all that was wrong/confusing to you?

 

[wordoflife]

You know what I think might be a good idea for notifications? Well you know how when you double tap the home button and pull up the multitasking bar it looks like this

Look at all that wasted space above the multitasking bar ... it can be used as a notification page.

 

[applefanDrew]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

I love multitasking the way it is. No need to manage every app. Use and when I'm done, hit home and don't worry about it. perfect.

 

[iCheddar]

I will admit this, the UI for multitasking isn't great. But the underlying architecture for multitasking is great. Android's multitasking UI is similar to Apples (long press on home shows 8 most recent apps), but the architecture was crap. Android apps run rampant and cause terrible system slowdowns, sometimes even requiring a battery pull to fix. With iOS, the apps multitask they way they should, and you see no effect on battery life. It's great.

That being said, notifications blow. Hopefully with their acquisition of the guy who did WebOS's notifications, things will be improve.

Either way, while Apple does have a habit of being behind the industry with software features, they generally end up doing it best. I sincerely believe they do cut copy & paste and multitasking best, and I think they'll end up doing notifications best as well.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

You know what I think might be a good idea for notifications? Well you know how when you double tap the home button and pull up the multitasking bar it looks like this

Look at all that wasted space above the multitasking bar ... it can be used as a notification page.

you know I have been debating (in my own head) how apple can use that space for a long time. I came up with popping up 4 "rows" of space instead of one, and placing settings in there like wifi, bluetooth, brightness, etc. if there is extra space then add 2 rows of apps instead of just the one.

but notifications could work also. or a combination of the two. add a couple rows to the bottom part for some settings, and then use the whole upper area for notifications?

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Will Apple be so pompous as to say they do it better than anyone else?

What say you?

I say, I don't care if they say it, so long as it's true.

 

[JD914]

I say, I don't care if they say it, so long as it's true.

Then they are proven liars.

 

[brock2621]

Then they are proven liars.

Oops! I think you got your forums mixed up.

http://www.androidcentral.com/

 

[Jack105]

I came from a blackberry and I liked the multitasking and going to the iphone I don't see much of a difference. The multitasking is essentially the same. I actually prefer the iOS. I feel iOS blows the blackberry platform away.

 

[sniffies]

iOS 17 will have new notifications and "real multi-tasking".

C'mon, get real. iOS 17 is too optimistic an estimate. The problem is that y'all folks expect too much from Apple too soon. Give 'em a break.

 

[DDustiNN]

I don't understand why people complain about the multitasking in iOS. What exactly is wrong with it?? It works just fine, as long as the app implements it.

Coming from an Android phone, I find that the multitasking is much better on my iPhone because I don't have to worry about it. Also, it's a lot easier to "close" an app on my iPhone, because the list is so easily accessible. Have fun navigating all of the menus to get to that list in Android.

 

[briand05]

I don't understand why people complain about the multitasking in iOS. What exactly is wrong with it?? It works just fine, as long as the app implements it.

Coming from an Android phone, I find that the multitasking is much better on my iPhone because I don't have to worry about it. Also, it's a lot easier to "close" an app on my iPhone, because the list is so easily accessible. Have fun navigating all of the menus to get to that list in Android.

Yeah I don't get it either, iOS multitasking is truly the best for mobile devices. I wanted multitasking for years and switched to Android for a while in frustration then I came back and I've been more than satisfied. You can do what you NEED in the background and not have to worry random apps running the the background sucking up battery life. I'll give one example of why iOS multitasking is better...I remember on my Droid I was using Pandora and I paused it but I forgot to actually "quit" the app so it ran my battery down. On my iPhone 4 when Pandora is paused I do not have to worry about quitting it as it does not use up battery when it's paused. Android battery life is pathetic, every Android device I've used has terrible battery life. Theres a huge difference in standby battery life especially, the iPhone 4 hardly uses anything when in standby.

 

[DDustiNN]

Yeah I don't get it either, iOS multitasking is truly the best for mobile devices. I wanted multitasking for years and switched to Android for a while in frustration then I came back and I've been more than satisfied. You can do what you NEED in the background and not have to worry random apps running the the background sucking up battery life. I'll give one example of why iOS multitasking is better...I remember on my Droid I was using Pandora and I paused it but I forgot to actually "quit" the app so it ran my battery down. On my iPhone 4 when Pandora is paused I do not have to worry about quitting it as it does not use up battery when it's paused. Android battery life is pathetic, every Android device I've used has terrible battery life. Theres a huge difference in standby battery life especially, the iPhone 4 hardly uses anything when in standby.

Yep, that is exactly what I wanted to say. I honestly don't know what the complaints are. What exactly do these people need to be doing in the background that is not being done? You can use other apps while on a call, you can use other apps while playing/streaming music, you can switch back and forth between apps without losing where you were (in most cases - again, that's up to the individual app). And best of all, you don't have to worry about your battery.

So honestly, I would really like to hear some genuine complaints, because I'm really curious what the problem is.

 

[Krevnik]

Yep, that is exactly what I wanted to say. I honestly don't know what the complaints are. What exactly do these people need to be doing in the background that is not being done? You can use other apps while on a call, you can use other apps while playing/streaming music, you can switch back and forth between apps without losing where you were (in most cases - again, that's up to the individual app). And best of all, you don't have to worry about your battery.

So honestly, I would really like to hear some genuine complaints, because I'm really curious what the problem is.

If I had to take a whack, it'd be things like the following:

- Interface can be confusing to some people. It isn't exactly clear that the tray is a most recently used list, and people assume it is a running app list. Especially people who expect to manage their background apps manually can find this backwards.

- WebOS has a fairly slick interface for switching between apps. Some people would like to see iOS follow the lead on this one, because a tray of icons is bland versus a screenshot of what you were doing.

- It's still possible to write a battery guzzler, thanks to the location services API. Trapster was bad because it initially forced you to kill the app in order to stop it from using your GPS (I don't know how/if they fixed it). TomTom is annoying because you need to clear the route in order to turn off the background GPS (or turn off the option in the settings). In the case of TomTom, people are expecting a big "Stop Navigation" button like other apps/devices, which TomTom buries in the Route Options > Clear Route menu item in comparison.

- There is no specific or realistic limit to the number of most recently used apps. This means manual cleanup is annoying.

- There are always those who want full control over their device and information at a glance/fingertips, as power users. These are the folks that jailbreak/etc to get lock screen information, SBSettings (which is something I'd like to see Apple implement), and so on. These are the type of folks that want more concrete control over multitasking (and what is background vs not) than Apple allows.

That said, I'm fairly surprised at how well the multitasking in iOS4 actually works. After seeing the failure that was Windows Mobile's memory management, trying to kill background apps when memory was low, but never really doing it right... to see iOS handle it correctly is definitely an improvement. I was personally skeptical after the announcement for this very reason. Apple's whole model hinges on the ability to kick out apps from RAM when the current app needs more. If that fails for any reason, the experience becomes degraded.

 

[diamond.g]

I have noticed that by not closing apps often I run into low memory situations. You can tell because the phone pauses for even the simple things, like opening folders. In a device with 512 mb of ram I find it frustrating to only have 6 mb free (before running system to clear more up).

I truly hope the notification system gets fixed. It is annoying to not want to acknowledge a text message yet when closing one it removes the badge. It is still annoying that you have to do something with the notification before it will let you hang up a phone call.

If I had to take a whack, it'd be things like the following:

- Interface can be confusing to some people. It isn't exactly clear that the tray is a most recently used list, and people assume it is a running app list. Especially people who expect to manage their background apps manually can find this backwards.

- WebOS has a fairly slick interface for switching between apps. Some people would like to see iOS follow the lead on this one, because a tray of icons is bland versus a screenshot of what you were doing.

- It's still possible to write a battery guzzler, thanks to the location services API. Trapster was bad because it initially forced you to kill the app in order to stop it from using your GPS (I don't know how/if they fixed it). TomTom is annoying because you need to clear the route in order to turn off the background GPS (or turn off the option in the settings). In the case of TomTom, people are expecting a big "Stop Navigation" button like other apps/devices, which TomTom buries in the Route Options > Clear Route menu item in comparison.

- There is no specific or realistic limit to the number of most recently used apps. This means manual cleanup is annoying.

- There are always those who want full control over their device and information at a glance/fingertips, as power users. These are the folks that jailbreak/etc to get lock screen information, SBSettings (which is something I'd like to see Apple implement), and so on. These are the type of folks that want more concrete control over multitasking (and what is background vs not) than Apple allows.

That said, I'm fairly surprised at how well the multitasking in iOS4 actually works. After seeing the failure that was Windows Mobile's memory management, trying to kill background apps when memory was low, but never really doing it right... to see iOS handle it correctly is definitely an improvement. I was personally skeptical after the announcement for this very reason. Apple's whole model hinges on the ability to kick out apps from RAM when the current app needs more. If that fails for any reason, the experience becomes degraded.

 

[Krevnik]

I have noticed that by not closing apps often I run into low memory situations. You can tell because the phone pauses for even the simple things, like opening folders. In a device with 512 mb of ram I find it frustrating to only have 6 mb free (before running system to clear more up).

In any device, RAM is constantly powered. That means any RAM not in use is wasted battery. It makes sense to use that RAM as cache or for other purposes. 6MB free doesn't really mean anything, since inactive RAM is the same as free, but acts like a cache. If I have 6MB free and 56MB inactive, I really have 62MB available for any app to use at the drop of a hat. The fact that it isn't using that inactive RAM is a good sign, not a bad one. All running System winds up doing is kicking out that inactive memory (as it can't do anything about active or wired memory page), and forcing the machine to reload whatever apps those were from flash instead of RAM. Doing that too much actually makes the device slower and less power efficient.

If iOS is kicking apps out of RAM, however, two things will happen:
1) The app is allowed to do final processing. This means it can actually hog the CPU for a short period of time. Apps shouldn't be doing a lot of work here, but some take the easy way out and do it here rather than when the user is switching away from the app and the processing is expected.
2) The memory will be switched to inactive rather than free. I believe some becomes free, while others like 'text' pages become inactive. All the inactive pages for an app usually become free once one of them gets reallocated to another process which the OS tries to avoid.

If you relaunch an app which has all its inactive pages intact, then the app loads from RAM instead, saving quite a bit of time and power.

 

[Che Castro]

you can always jailbreak

and get notified pro or lockinfo

 

[diamond.g]

I actually noticed using system to free memory doesn't have a lasting effect on ram usage and speed. Rebooting the device seems to be the best fix. So after 40 days of up time I finally rebooted. I understand inactive versus active ram. When I get home I will see if I can post excerpts from a low memory log. It appears that the device tries using free ram first then frees up inactive ram if enough isn't available.

Using sysstatsmonitor seems to show the bulk of my ram as other. Inactive doesnt appear to be greater that 70 mb at any given point and time (for my usage pattern).

In any device, RAM is constantly powered. That means any RAM not in use is wasted battery. It makes sense to use that RAM as cache or for other purposes. 6MB free doesn't really mean anything, since inactive RAM is the same as free, but acts like a cache. If I have 6MB free and 56MB inactive, I really have 62MB available for any app to use at the drop of a hat. The fact that it isn't using that inactive RAM is a good sign, not a bad one. All running System winds up doing is kicking out that inactive memory (as it can't do anything about active or wired memory page), and forcing the machine to reload whatever apps those were from flash instead of RAM. Doing that too much actually makes the device slower and less power efficient.

If iOS is kicking apps out of RAM, however, two things will happen:
1) The app is allowed to do final processing. This means it can actually hog the CPU for a short period of time. Apps shouldn't be doing a lot of work here, but some take the easy way out and do it here rather than when the user is switching away from the app and the processing is expected.
2) The memory will be switched to inactive rather than free. I believe some becomes free, while others like 'text' pages become inactive. All the inactive pages for an app usually become free once one of them gets reallocated to another process which the OS tries to avoid.

If you relaunch an app which has all its inactive pages intact, then the app loads from RAM instead, saving quite a bit of time and power.

 

[camfunction]

I don't understand why so many people hate on iOS multitasking

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

I don't understand why so many people hate on iOS multitasking

Krevnik hit it pretty good above.

If I had to take a whack, it'd be things like the following:

- Interface can be confusing to some people. It isn't exactly clear that the tray is a most recently used list, and people assume it is a running app list. Especially people who expect to manage their background apps manually can find this backwards.

- WebOS has a fairly slick interface for switching between apps. Some people would like to see iOS follow the lead on this one, because a tray of icons is bland versus a screenshot of what you were doing.

- It's still possible to write a battery guzzler, thanks to the location services API. Trapster was bad because it initially forced you to kill the app in order to stop it from using your GPS (I don't know how/if they fixed it). TomTom is annoying because you need to clear the route in order to turn off the background GPS (or turn off the option in the settings). In the case of TomTom, people are expecting a big "Stop Navigation" button like other apps/devices, which TomTom buries in the Route Options > Clear Route menu item in comparison.

- There is no specific or realistic limit to the number of most recently used apps. This means manual cleanup is annoying.

- There are always those who want full control over their device and information at a glance/fingertips, as power users. These are the folks that jailbreak/etc to get lock screen information, SBSettings (which is something I'd like to see Apple implement), and so on. These are the type of folks that want more concrete control over multitasking (and what is background vs not) than Apple allows.

I think it really comes down to the interface. Just look at how WebOS handles multitasking and tell you you don't want that... Now I'm not hating too much on it's version of multitasking, but you have to admit that it is a crippled system to prevent battery drain, which as pointed out above, can still occur!!