More Claims of Multitasking in iPhone OS 4.0

[ChazUK]

I'm not generally one of the tin-foil-hat brigade, but this seems like a privacy nightmare to me. Even setting aside the risks of the nefarious and concentrating only on negligence and insecurity--at least if Apple or AT&T release my call logs to the public, I have a reasonable possibility of some sort of recompense. Some random programmer? Good luck.

You know what, I've never thought of it that way.

One rogue Android app and you could release a lot of information about yourself... Android will list what info and services the app uses and accesses but the danger is there.
Good post, thanks!

 

[Jay Marcase]

Necking in cars with girls.

I kid, I kid. But seriously, I was obviously pretty far out of it, because I didn't even know what "PDA market" meant until I googled it just now. Palm Pilots and stuff? Never showed up on my radar.

I had a Blackberry for a while, but it was just an email appliance. At the time I was working for a facility that bought into them. It worked okay, but it was a pain to have to carry it around in addition to my phone, and it was only for work-related email … which I didn't care about when I wasn't on the clock. So meh.

Well … yeah, actually. Kind of. I mean, you're really, really close to having me figured out. It's not that I want to stop "the natural progression." It's that I think "the natural progression" is something other than what you appear to think it is. I think devices should be simpler, smaller, more reliable than they are. I'm not one of those guys who thinks devices should be more and more capable just so we can go out of our way to find new ways to waste all that electricity or whatever.

I kind of didn't. Buy a "smartphone," that is. When the iPhone was announced I was using an old Sony Ericsson, and it was kinda cruddy. I was in the market to replace it, but I couldn't find anything that was simpler, easier to use, more reliable or better designed. Then I checked out the iPhone, and found it very much to my liking. I paid more for it than I ever, ever wanted to, but I've never had complaint one about it, which is more than I can say for the $99 piece of junk it replace.

I didn't, like, go out and try to find the absolute most powerful whatever. I just wanted a phone. I wanted it to be utterly trivial to use, and perfectly reliable. Right now, my iPhone has a couple apps on it: Shazam (which is like distilled magic, I swear) and Tweetie, and also AIM though I'm thinking of removing that one because I never use it. Oh, and Stanza, but again, it's not for me. I use Mail pretty often because I like not being tied to my room if I'm waiting for something to come in. I use Safari when I'm bored on line or when I just want to look something up quickly without having to go find a free computer. Oh, and obviously I use the address book and the calendar, and occasionally the maps. I twitter a bit because it's handy, and I make tons and tons of phone calls. That's me and my iPhone in a nutshell.

And while the plural of anecdote is not data, that's pretty much how everybody I know and work with uses theirs. Most of the interns and assistants do the Facebook thing, but I can't speak to that because it's not my thing. But apart from that one difference, I'd say I'm pretty darned typical.

Funny, I would have said the same to you. Except you bought a car, and you're complaining that it's not a boat. Different devices for different purposes, man.

Eventhough I don't agree I can now see and respect your point since this post didn't read like one from an arrogant pompous donkey, no offense. All I can say is this is Apple and I have the utmost faith that they can include multitasking without mucking up the flow of the OS. Look at how they handle Snow Leopard...this has arguably more features than Windows but it's not apparent because they don't let the features complicate the GUI. There's tons of things that are right in front of your face in OS X that you will never discover in OS X if you're not a power user. I would figure they would adopt these same ideologies with the iPhone...but I could be wrong.

 

[Justinf79]

Nice, hope this is true, at least for the iPad's sake.

 

[simulacra]

I just want ot start my IRC-app and let it sit there and be connected to the servers until I close it manually, while listening to spotify, I will be fully aware of the increased use of data and battery, that's my concern, not apple´s...

 

[goobot]

People will always complain about the battery life, not because people like complaining but because 9 hours using the phone as it was made to be used as is ridiculous.

the only way to fix this issue is make the battery easily removable like any other phone, then carry a spare. They are small.

that would just make the battery smaller with its life. already learned that from the macbook

 

[coleridge78]

I just want ot start my IRC-app and let it sit there and be connected to the servers until I close it manually, while listening to spotify, I will be fully aware of the increased use of data and battery, that's my concern, not apple´s...

Very few people want to care about that, or can make an informed decision.

Yes, yes, I know... "if they can't bother to lean about memory and processors they shouldn't use a phone"...

 

[Niko03]

I'm growing tired of playing guessing games. Maybe I would be a little more excited if after such long waits for releases, that the products actually included the things a majority of people want. The last two Apple releases, have honestly disappointed me greatly. Ipad is bringing a little tear to my eye, sheesh and not one of joy . .

There's an easy fix for the guessing games - stop surfing the rumor sites.

And honestly, Apple has an excellent track record of giving out, and free to iPhone users, an annual major upgrade to the operating system.

It's kinda hard to regularly provide some world chAnging update every 12 months.

I would think the guessing game as to updates would be a lot worse for say, Nokia or Android, or Microsoft. iPhone users have it good by comparison!

 

[nycbhh]

Dude, I'm a reasonably bright guy with a lot of computer-type experience under my belt, and even my eyes glazed over a third of the way into your description.

Okay, maybe my description was a little more complicated than it needed to be for an app that basically just comes down to a touch and a flick, so I'll simplify it.

If you want to close an application, you touch the bottom of your screen. The open apps all pop up into view. You chose the app you want to close, and then flick it off the screen. Done.

If you don't want it to background, go into settings and flip the switch to off.

If that aint simple, I don't know what is. It's actually less complicated than the native mail and safari apps.

 

[Belly-laughs]

I believe Apple intends for the iPhone OS to be their mainstream OS of the future. For it to be a productive OS it needs multitasking, if not only for drag 'n drop, a necessity for productive touch workflow. Things take time to develop and evolve, and the marketplace demands a slow transition between interfaces. It's all about it being right when it's presented.

 

[Mcgargle]

If you want to close an application, you touch the bottom of your screen. The open apps all pop up into view. You chose the app you want to close, and then flick it off the screen. Done.

If you don't want it to background, go into settings and flip the switch to off.

If that aint simple, I don't know what is. It's actually less complicated than the native mail and safari apps.

Can you please take just a moment to explain to me how that's simpler than "press the one button on the device?"

I believe Apple intends for the iPhone OS to be their mainstream OS of the future.

Depends on what you mean by "mainstream OS." Twenty years ago we talked about a "computer market" as if it were a monolithic thing. That was only sort of true then, and it's definitely untrue now. When all the computery-type needs of 80 percent of people (totally made up number) can be satisfied by an iPad, "mainstream OS" ceases to be a meaningful phrase, because the vast majority of people will neither own nor regularly interact with anything that a person living in 2010 would call a "computer."

Apple's philosophy seems pretty clear: Computers are complicated, hard to use and unreliable, and that sucks. They're looking for ways to make the vast majority of tasks much simpler. Workstations will continue to exist, obviously, until something we have yet to imagine replaces them. But the idea of a personal computer as being a stripped-down workstations is one that may not be long for this world.

 

[Stella]

I agree with him, I don't see the point to multi-tasking, especially when the iPhone has problems handling RAM as it is. With push notifications I just don't see the need. And I thought copy and paste was a great feature to add--this not so much.

To you and other people who don't see the point of multi-tasking on iPhone ( or any phone ) - Ask yourself the question:

Q: Do you listen to iTunes on your iPhone whilst using other apps?
A: Yes?

There, you have multi-tasking!

Its good isn't it?

So... Why do you think its:

(a) not a good idea for third party apps to multitask
(b) find it not very useful for third party apps to multitask

...when Apple iPhone apps already do multi-task, and you've been enjoying that feature? It is such a concept leap to think that you won't be it useful to be able to multitask 3rd party applications?


In the most recent iPhone beta SDK there is now a long touch gesture. I wonder if this has something to do with controlling multi-tasking in the future - maybe not for iPhone 3.2 but the next major verison, i.e.,v4.

 

[aegisdesign]

This is a totally sincere question:

Can anybody give me a case for simultaneous running apps that doesn't revolve around Pandora? I don't use Pandora — tried it once, didn't care for it — but I can see the reasoning there. But I've literally never heard a single argument for it that didn't amount to "I wanna do other stuff while I run Pandora."

Can any of you guys help me out? It seems like there's this sound and well-fleshed-out business case for simultaneous running apps, but I didn't get the memo.

VoIP is a good example. In order to receive phone calls over the internet using VoIP, the protocol requires that the handset maintains registration with a server. You have to at least have a small task running in the background maintaining that registration and reconnecting if the registration drops.

3rd party applications like Skype, Gizmo, Fring etc need to be able to run in the background or otherwise use an OS framework to maintain registration - Symbian and Maemo do this in the OS - Nokia are the kings of VoIP on mobile handsets.

But part from that, and Pandora, doesn't it just get ****ing annoying closing and starting apps all the time, losing where you were in the previous app and starting again? Maybe not big deal on the iPhone but it'll be a massive issue getting anything done on the iPad.

 

[aegisdesign]

I believe Apple intends for the iPhone OS to be their mainstream OS of the future. For it to be a productive OS it needs multitasking, if not only for drag 'n drop, a necessity for productive touch workflow. Things take time to develop and evolve, and the marketplace demands a slow transition between interfaces. It's all about it being right when it's presented.

You can't drag and drop when your app takes over the whole screen. Problem solved.

 

[MacFly123]

It was only a matter of time. 3 years to be specific.

The first year didn't matter at all since there were no 3rd party apps!

Glad I skipped the 3GS. Can't wait for the new iPhone!

Ditto! (Only glad from a contract perspective, not that it wouldn't have been nice).

One approach looked at (according to my subcontractor friend) is that active apps would have a small indicator on their respective icon, but that there would also be a set of pages reserved solely for apps that are active so that you don't have to search. This set of pages would be accessed by flicking up or down to go to the "active app" set of pages.

My guess is some type of active indicator like the dock in OS X combined with a pinch out to 'Spaces' (4 squares, one is always home screen plus a limit of 3 multi-tasking apps in the other 3 squares). Something like that, it makes more sense than cover flow or expose when you think about actual interaction and functionality!

I hope they get it right, because battery life sucks as it is already.

Should be good upgrade from 3G!

I'm sure it will have the new Apple A4 chip and much better battery life!

Bah. Never missed multi-tasking, probably won't use it when it arrives.

Honestly me too. I'm fine with having it, but I probably won't use it much. I don't listen to radio (hence the reason I got an iPod lol), and I don't do IM which they are already all push anyway. So, eh!

 

[Mcgargle]

In order to receive phone calls over the internet using VoIP, the protocol requires that the handset maintains registration with a server.

How is this not addressed by push notification? I'm asking because I legitimately don't know, and it's reasonable to assume that I legitimately don't know because I've never heard of VOIP outside the context of those big, expensive systems they put in offices.

But part from that, and Pandora, doesn't it just get ****ing annoying closing and starting apps all the time, losing where you were in the previous app and starting again?

As I've said numerous times before in this forum, it certainly would be annoying, but the apps I use don't work that way. When I touch the button for one, it takes me right back where it was. Clearly this is something the OS supports, so the onus should be on app developers to do it right.

 

[Niko03]

i wonder what the iphone/ipad haters will move on to as their primary complaint if this is true?

That's easy.....Flash.

 

[justinfreid]

Glad I skipped the 3GS. Can't wait for the new iPhone!

The 3GS is simply a much better device than its predecessors, the 3G was merely a minor update to the first generation iPhone. I think the best purchase cycle to have gotten on was to buy the first gen phone after the price break and then the 3GS when eligible for an upgrade.

 

[justinfreid]

It's getting a little tiresome to use Backgrounder and a "Recent Apps" folder added to a five item dock to approximate traditional multitasking, but even the 3GS hardware can easily handle a GPS app, an internet radio app, Mail.app, and an IM app simultaneously.

 

[Marvin1379]

Does any cell phone have true Caller ID though?

I just want a one-tap way to Google a phone number from the Recents list. And if Apple isn't playing with Google, some other search engine. Hell, Apple is building the uber data center in North Carolina, so why not implement the uber-reverse number search thing for iPhone customers who pay a lot of money every month but STILL don't have real caller ID on their phones.

Oh, one more thing, an OLED 17" Macbook Pro would be nice too.

 

[Compile 'em all]

But part from that, and Pandora, doesn't it just get ****ing annoying closing and starting apps all the time, losing where you were in the previous app and starting again?

This is already part of the current iPhone sdk and has been since the dawn of time. It is up to the developer to restore the state of app when it is reopened. Tweetie 2.0 restores the full view stack when you open it.

Your complaint has nothing to do with multitasking since even when you can run apps in the background you need to exit one app to open the other.

 

[aegisdesign]

How is this not addressed by push notification? I'm asking because I legitimately don't know, and it's reasonable to assume that I legitimately don't know because I've never heard of VOIP outside the context of those big, expensive systems they put in offices.

Push notification would require a custom VoIP setup such that someone phoning you would get routed to a server which then instead of directly connecting you would send a message to Apple's server which then sent a message to your iPhone. The latency is such that your caller might have to wait a long time to connect to you and you're at the mercy of Apple's servers to deliver the push notification. I'm not sure if you could push to multiple handsets either (I use the same VoIP number on three handsets simultaneously). Good luck with that setup as a commercial venture - totally reliant on Apple's push service..

Apart from that, you're then not free to choose any standard SIP based VoIP provider - only the ones Apple approves - or to integrate it with your corporate SIP PBX/Asterisk server.

As I've said numerous times before in this forum, it certainly would be annoying, but the apps I use don't work that way. When I touch the button for one, it takes me right back where it was. Clearly this is something the OS supports, so the onus should be on app developers to do it right.

I would guess you're mostly using Apple's apps which DO multitask or apps that do not require a constant network connection to continuously update data.

There's a few classes of apps where it's not possible at all to restore state. For instance a terminal application which has to maintain a constant connection. Switching away from it, it closing down and then switching back would require a new login. eg. On my Mac I usually have 6-7 terminal sessions open and a few VNC sessions. If, when I switched to read a manual, it closed my session, I couldn't go back to that running copy of vi running on my server to continue editing the code I was looking something up for.

How about a 3rd party navigation app? Today I was in the car with Ovi Maps running on my phone giving me directions and someone rang me. I answered the call, had a conversation and in the background Ovi Maps was still guiding me. I continued to also get email.

That's all fine though. I get it. Apple doesn't make devices for Pros anymore. They're going for the lowest common denominator and don't want to frighten them with features.

It's a bit silly that a $250 SIM Free Nokia does VoIP, multitasks, tethers, syncs wirelessly with my Mac and lets me do my job maintaining servers and Macs remotely but a mega-expensive iPhone doesn't. And the battery lasts about twice as long too.

I've just checked my phone for what it's running now...

Homescreen - like a dashboard showing latest email/messages/calls/calendar/todo

Text messaging

Email

Contacts

Calendar

Location Tracker - provides geo tagging services to any app

SafeWallet - like Keychain

Google - mobile front end to all the google apps

Ovi Maps - Sat Nav with turn by turn.

S60 Web browser - open with a couple of sites.

Gravity - Twitter/Google Reader app

It's connected to 3G permanently, Wifi now and registered to two SIP networks as well as my carrier.

My phone is consuming 0.35W with the screen on. 0.13W with it off. The battery is 1500mAh so that's between 14 and 28 hours use. The battery is a little bigger than the iPhone though, even if the phone is smaller. The iPhone's screen is the biggest power sucker, not multitasking.

Multitasking is not a battery hog and it opens up whole classes of apps the iPhone can't do. It makes things simpler for developers and simpler for users. It's essential for power users. The irony at the moment is that Nokia are pushing Symbian down market into phones that Engadget has problems calling 'smartphones' because they cost 135 Euros unlocked yet they're smarter than the iPhone by far.

 

[aegisdesign]

This is already part of the current iPhone sdk and has been since the dawn of time. It is up to the developer to restore the state of app when it is reopened. Tweetie 2.0 restores the full view stack when you open it.

And it's way, way slower than just leaving Gravity running on my Nokia which continues to pull tweets in the background so that when I next switch to it, the tweets are already there.

Or having to relaunch a big navigation app, instead of leaving it running.

Or having GPS reacquire the satellites rather than having them locked in in the background.

Your complaint has nothing to do with multitasking since even when you can run apps in the background you need to exit one app to open the other.

No I don't. Clues in the name = 'multitasking'

 

[aegisdesign]

Very few people want to care about that, or can make an informed decision.

Yes, yes, I know... "if they can't bother to lean about memory and processors they shouldn't use a phone"...

I wonder if they'll not soon make an uninformed decision.

They don't need to know how the iPhone works or doesn't to realise that it's annoying when you can't go back to where you left off watching a TV program in iPlayer or that Spotify stops working when you check your email.

Luckily for Apple, those annoyances pale by comparison to the annoyances on other platforms but the balance is shifting.

 

[applesupergeek]

How come most interesting articles here are lifts off of appleinsider... I seldom see macrumors reports in appleinsider articles, once in a blue moon, but it's very regular here. I am not saying spreading the word around is necessarily bad but a little "original research" would be appreciated. This is not wikipedia.

 

[cmaier]

I wonder if they'll not soon make an uninformed decision.

They don't need to know how the iPhone works or doesn't to realise that it's annoying when you can't go back to where you left off watching a TV program in iPlayer or that Spotify stops working when you check your email.

Luckily for Apple, those annoyances pale by comparison to the annoyances on other platforms but the balance is shifting.

Maybe apple can spend a little less time on morality policing the appstore and a little more time enforcing the guidelines that say apps are supposed to save and restore their state where appropriate.