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iOS 7 - True multitasking?
- Thread starter iCole
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iOS 7 will allow apps to run in the background on a schedule depending on use, wifi, and power or through push notifications to process updates.
Which is the kind of argument that strains all credibility.
(And when did plopping the word "true" into a term cause it to mean "whatever made up definition that justifies my POV that I can't really put into words because if I do than it would be obvious that I was wrong.")
The GS4 has an 80% larger capacity battery than the iPhone 4S. That's not in any way a measure of the efficiency of the software.
But it's a silly argument anyway. There is no question that running apps in the background uses more power than not.
The trade-offs for unlimited background processing are battery life, performance, security and process management. All areas where iOS has an advantage over Android.
my note ii can run 2 things at once. so what? ive never used it accept to try it. i have no desire to try to watch a video and check facebook. we can pay 100% attention to anything as it is
Those were my opinions and thoughts to the other poster. I wasn't making "arguments" and I wasn't trying to defend a particular OS and finally, I really wan't looking for third party commentary.
You seem a little too uptight about anyone being critical of ios 7s version of "multi-tasking".
And that was my reply to your post in a public forum. I also wasn't trying to defend a particular OS. I was taking part in a discussion of multitasking capabilities in iOS 7 by responding to what I felt were weak and factually incorrect arguments against the iOS 7 multitasking model.
Tell me what is incorrect about dropbox camera uploads not working in ios7 automatically? Is there a background process that is going to be allowed that when I take a picture it immediately and automatically gets updated to dropbox, without having to open the App?
Tell me what is incorrect about downcast shutting off after 10 minutes. Will ios7 allow downloads to continue after 10 minutes before shutting the app down?
Tell me what is incorrect about the poster who wants to use two running apps at the same time, will ios7 allow him to do that?
Tell what is factually incorrect about the GS4 I used for two weeks getting better battery life than my 4s. I don't give one iota about "software efficiency"; I only care my battery makes it through the day.
As I said, they can happen automatically on a schedule depending on use, wifi, battery life, and power or via push notification. You don't "have to manually open the dropbox app every time I want to upload pictures to dropbox."
Nope. But you just added this part.
That's correct as far as I know. But it will now be able to update in the background before you even open it. Preferably while plugged in on wifi to save you battery life and data.
Nothing. I was one of the posters who posted in favor of that feature.
Nothing. It was just irrelevant to the point.
Yep. Which was a big problem for Android 3 years ago. Now that battery capacity has increased to the point that it's not a problem, Apple is expanding their multitasking model. Coincidence?
Thank you.
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Skype, Tunein radio, any GPS app that stays active.
Actually, with iOS 7, they now have a service apps can hand off background downloads to, so they've solved the "app only has 10 minutes to download a big file" problem.
With background fetch, apps can apply to be opened periodically, so to use your example, Dropbox could register to be opened to check for new photos to be uploaded and then hand those uploads off to the background transfer service to be uploaded and quickly go back to sleep.
With background fetch, apps can apply to be opened periodically, so to use your example, Dropbox could register to be opened to check for new photos to be uploaded and then hand those uploads off to the background transfer service to be uploaded and quickly go back to sleep.
So that I'm straight on this; ios7:
- Can't automatically and immediately (I thought that was implied) upload pictures to dropbox. It will do it on the schedule it thinks best.
- You think, but are not sure, ios7 will allow downloads to continue past 10 minutes, for example downcast downloading podcasts will no longer have to stop downloading after the ridiculous 10 minute time limit.
- Cannot run two apps, (ie the running apps described by the other poster) at the same time
Is that correct?
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Good info. How often would dropbox be allowed to check for new photos. Could it be instant?
Unless it is open.
Or on the schedule that the developer thinks best. I assume that a developer could even let a user schedule background time through notifications.
No. I thought the 10 minute time limit is still there. DarkJaye claims there is a new service that will deal with this specific issue.
Correct.
I'd argue it is coincidence. Apple's multitasking model turns every type of "background task" into an interface they have to put effort into implementing. That means work for them that they have to prioritize with all the other work on their plate. They got the big background tasks done, and then focused more on other features.
The tweaks in iOS 7's background processing model are there based on feedback and attacking specific issues with the platform (why can't I download a file in the background more reliably? why can't my RSS reader app update regularly? why can't my third-party e-mail client update without creating a Man-in-the-middle?). And note that the background updating feature comes in at roughly the same time OS X is getting features to help make background updates that apps do cost less battery. I wouldn't be surprised if iOS 7 is relying on similar tech to keep background fetch from causing too many problems.
You can actually do more than one thing at a time. With the exception of listen to videos, they took that away in iOS6. Quite odd.
iOS 7 - True multitasking
Multitasking has always been a smart way to switch between apps. Now its even smarter. Because iOS 7 learns when you like to use your apps and can update your content before you launch them.
Multitasking has always been a smart way to switch between apps. Now its even smarter. Because iOS 7 learns when you like to use your apps and can update your content before you launch them.
I asked because...well what do you expect?
If you leave an App running, what do you expect it to to? Use no power?
If you look at the proccess listing on the phone using Xcode, you'll see that your phone runs a full kernel that is fully capable of running lots of processes. There's all kinds of internal deamons running.
Apple just limited the user intercation to one foreground app at a time and in addition created API's to limit the ability to run your own code in the background. (background task for downloads only, limited by hard deadlines)
The OS itself is absolutely capable of full multitasking.
It was a design decision to get the best user experience.
Consider just running one CPU hogging background task by some stupid App, this would immediately affect things like scrolling, loading images, etc. of the foreground app.
Even though task switching is widely understood and quite easy to implement, it's easy to abuse, especailly on mobile devices.
Battery life is the new CPU MHz.
Apple just limited the user intercation to one foreground app at a time and in addition created API's to limit the ability to run your own code in the background. (background task for downloads only, limited by hard deadlines)
The OS itself is absolutely capable of full multitasking.
It was a design decision to get the best user experience.
Consider just running one CPU hogging background task by some stupid App, this would immediately affect things like scrolling, loading images, etc. of the foreground app.
Even though task switching is widely understood and quite easy to implement, it's easy to abuse, especailly on mobile devices.
Battery life is the new CPU MHz.
Exactly, and you know what else surprises me? It's how few people knew that you could do that in iOS 5, and how handy it was.
I'm still on iOS 5 and it's really awesome when going to bed to open up Safari, go to YouTube, start a Carl Sagan documentary or some other interesting video, background it, make it play while browsing the web in Chrome.
That's multitasking. And Android cannot do that either.
Wow. Certain apps still do that, but there's been a definite degradation with YouTube apps in the past year. Soundcloud does it. Pandora does it. And some YouTube apps do it.
Yea, you could do that in Safari or Chrome, or any other browser for that matter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwPXIUlAKAo
I understand this. It was my original point.
I like Apple's implementation of MT because apps that are fully active DO use power in the background. It is my impression that this would result in a lot of user management in an environment like Android
...but again, surely that's obvious?
If you tell an App to do something in the background, you should expect it to use battery.
The principle that Apple seems to work on is that people don't understand what they're doing with their phones.