More New iPhone OS 4 Features: File Sharing, App Closing

[cdarlington1]

heh heh

The Aple haters heads are gonna explode. Paul Thurrott will launch himself off a bridge. (as his head explodes)

An even faster way to have all the apps close simultaneously is to have a Flash plugin running in them.

Funny😱

 

[Ninja Dom]

Hi guys, I've got some silly questions about the Multi-Tasking aspect of OS 4.0 that I haven't seen answers to.

1) Is there a limit to the amount of open apps you can have?

2) With Apple claiming that Multi-Tasking doesn't affect performance or battery life, why would you ever want to close an app?

3) Do apps now have to be written or re-written with the 4.0 SDK to allow multi-tasking? What happens to older apps?

 

[kas23]

'bout time I can use my iPod Touch/iPhone as a USB stick!

But, you still can't. This function is restricted to using file sharing via iTunes. If you wanted to bring a file to work to transfer it via USB, will work computers have iTunes installed on them?

 

[shervieux]

File Sharing - SWEET

Oh I will love when this feature comes. Would be nice to include some sort of "finder" on the device (particularly ipad is a must), so I could just open that, click on a document and it launches the app for it (as shared in itunes). But I like the screen shot in itunes, as some docs I will use pages; others I may use QuickWord - depends on my needs. Sure going to be a lot easier than using Air Sharing or some other app (Although I will keep MobileStudio since you can create new files from it - including recording audio). I have a problem with Air Sharing. takes for ever for it to allow me to open to my iphone from a browser, and it is not what I would call the best method - but since that is all we have for now (browser type apps) it does the job.

So does this mean, when we save a document in the app, it will automatically sync it back to the file sharing in itunes; then I can just drag it to my finder and work with it in heavier software (like full blown iWork, MS Office, photo editing [ie photoshop, iphoto, aperature])? One can hope.

 

[CoreyMac]

Still unsure if they've done enough to sway me away from the Evo 4G...... Especially if the Evo is $69.99 a month with unlimited everything....I'd save $20 a month.

 

[huntercr]

Is there a way to close an app without it going to the multitask pane? I have over a hundred apps and don't want them all on my multitask pane. This will kill the usefulness of the multitask pane if I have to scroll through a bunch of apps in order to get to the one I want to switch to. I might as well have to find it on the home page.

I may be misunderstanding your question, but the multi task pane will only show what apps are currently running... are you going to be running all 100 apps at a time?

 

[Small White Car]

Need wireless sync of the File Sharing. But moving in the right direction.

Apple shouldn't even by worried about file sharing through iTunes. They should give developers more controls over how apps share files with each other inside the phone.

If every developer could add a "save files to iPhone Dropbox App" then you'd have what you wanted and Apple wouldn't have to do a thing to make it happen. As new services like that appear, developers can add support for them whenever they want to.

 

[intel]

Wait, wait.

WHAT??

Apple is now listening to complaints and acting upon them??

Apple by the people, for the people. That will be the day.

 

[Shorties]

Palm's got so many problems as a company, but their muli-tasking with the card view is the best out there. Apple should just have you drag the icon down and off the screen to end it. That, to me, would be the quickest and most intuitive way.

I agree, my guess is that palm owns some sort of patent or something on it.

 

[Max Book]

Several people are complaining that the new iPhone OS handles the closing of apps differently than they expected. Specifically, they state that the app should be closed by dragging it off of the dock, like you do in OS X. While this is a good idea, technically the statement is incorrect. In OS X, you don't close an app by dragging it off the dock. You either hit Command-Q or just select Quit from the Menu. Trying to drag an open app off the dock will not work in OS X. Rather, dragging a closed app's shortcut from the dock simply removes the shortcut from the dock. Yes, it's a small point, but a valid one.

 

[kas23]

Apple shouldn't even by worried about file sharing through iTunes. They should give developers more controls over how apps share files with each other inside the phone.

File sharing between Apps is currently possible on the iPad. The developer just has to enable file sharing for their App. I don't know if this same function will be available for the iPhone. I hope so.

 

[Small White Car]

1) Is there a limit to the amount of open apps you can have?

Yes, RAM. The OS will shut down the oldest things once it's forecd to.

2) With Apple claiming that Multi-Tasking doesn't affect performance or battery life, why would you ever want to close an app?

You won't have to. Most people will never use this so-called 'task manager' and they'll be fine.

3) Do apps now have to be written or re-written with the 4.0 SDK to allow multi-tasking? What happens to older apps?

Yes. Ones that aren't re-written won't run in the background. That's pretty much all there is to it.

 

[BaldiMac]

Hi guys, I've got some silly questions about the Multi-Tasking aspect of OS 4.0 that I haven't seen answers to.

1) Is there a limit to the amount of open apps you can have?

Open is not really the right word. The limit of apps that can be suspended in memory is only the amount of RAM. The system will automatically release the least recently used apps from memory as the resources are needed.

2) With Apple claiming that Multi-Tasking doesn't affect performance or battery life, why would you ever want to close an app?

OCD.

And it does affect performance and battery life. Apple's approach just minimizes the impact and prevents the effects from scaling indefinitely.

3) Do apps now have to be written or re-written with the 4.0 SDK to allow multi-tasking? What happens to older apps?

Yes, apps have to be written to support the multitasking APIs. Older apps just quit as they currently do.

 

[Small White Car]

Several people are complaining that the new iPhone OS handles the closing of apps differently than they expected. Specifically, they state that the app should be closed by dragging it off of the dock, like you do in OS X. While this is a good idea, technically the statement is incorrect. In OS X, you don't close an app by dragging it off the dock. You either hit Command-Q or just select Quit from the Menu. Trying to drag an open app off the dock will not work in OS X. Rather, dragging a closed app's shortcut from the dock simply removes the shortcut from the dock. Yes, it's a small point, but a valid one.

The biggest problem with their idea is that people are used to dragging apps to MOVE the icon. You move to and from the dock. You move from page to page. You just drag to move them around.

Suddenly, there will be this ONE place (and only one place) where dragging them doesn't move them, but causes them to go 'poof!'

Can you imagine how much confusion that would cause people? Drag to move icons...except right here!

 

[Nykwil]

Several people are complaining that the new iPhone OS handles the closing of apps differently than they expected. Specifically, they state that the app should be closed by dragging it off of the dock, like you do in OS X. While this is a good idea, technically the statement is incorrect. In OS X, you don't close an app by dragging it off the dock. You either hit Command-Q or just select Quit from the Menu. Trying to drag an open app off the dock will not work in OS X. Rather, dragging a closed app's shortcut from the dock simply removes the shortcut from the dock. Yes, it's a small point, but a valid one.

but the iPhone OS experience != the OS X experience...one is designed with fingers in mind, the other with keyboards in mind.

The multitask tray/dock to me seems more like a super simplified task manager than the dock in OS X.

In OS X it's easier to command+q an app, for the iphone, it would make sense and easier to tap, hold and flick than to tap, hold n tap, but that's just my opinion.

copy n paste on the iphone doesn't work the same way as it does in OS X, why should app quitting work the same way as well?

 

[Nykwil]

The biggest problem with their idea is that people are used to dragging apps to MOVE the icon. You move to and from the dock. You move from page to page. You just drag to move them around.

Suddenly, there will be this ONE place (and only one place) where dragging them doesn't move them, but causes them to go 'poof!'

Can you imagine how much confusion that would cause people? Drag to move icons...except right here!

ok, well that makes sense then. I see what you mean...keep the entire OS experience on the iphone the same throughout

 

[exscape]

Palm's got so many problems as a company, but their muli-tasking with the card view is the best out there. Apple should just have you drag the icon down and off the screen to end it. That, to me, would be the quickest and most intuitive way.

You can get the Palm Pre-style multitasking with ProSwitcher on a jailbroken device. 🙂

Needless to say, though, there will be pros and cons to Apple's solution, and I believe jailbreakers like myself will use both in the future.
Backgrounder (used by ProSwitcher, and every other multitasking addon there is) does exactly what the name says. If you background a game, it keeps running, and using most of your CPU. If you run two, well, good luck.

On the other hand, this means you can background certain apps that you *do* want running continously but aren't supported by Apple's 7 multitasking APIs.

 

[drewc1138]

Yea, it doesn't seem very Apple-like way of closing applications even with this new update. It would be nice if by default applications closed, and there was the option to multitask them.

No, it should be the way it is. Or you should have the option to choose. Because if I'm in the middle of an app and I get a phone call, I want the app to stay open in multitasking. There's nothing more frustrating than being in Tweetdeck, getting a phone call, and having to go back into the app and trying to remember where I was in my feed.

 

[Small White Car]

ok, well that makes sense then. I see what you mean...keep the entire OS experience on the iphone the same throughout

Yeah. It's a neat idea but it'll never, ever happen because of the one reason I mentioned. No matter how many other "pro column" reasons there are, that one "con column" is enough to sink it.

 

[Small White Car]

There's nothing more frustrating than being in Tweetdeck, getting a phone call, and having to go back into the app and trying to remember where I was in my feed.

Well, Apple's new OS will help that sort of thing happen automatically, so that's good, but here in the current OS this is kind of Tweetdecks' fault.

Tweetie will remember where you are in that exact same situation. If they can do it then I'm sure Tweetdeck could too. They just didn't bother to make it work that way.

 

[Naj]

i hope they change that, and i hope they come up with a gesture for bringing up the switcher. at the moment none of it really seems all that "apple". even this new killing of apps. why not flick them off the switcher like removing stuff from the OSX dock?

Interesting updates! I like the idea of flicking items off the iPhone dock to close applications, would be cool. Having said that, once the buttons are 'jiggling' it may be faster to close each app in the way this new beta proposes.

 

[gnasher729]

3) Do apps now have to be written or re-written with the 4.0 SDK to allow multi-tasking? What happens to older apps?

Most applications have no need for multi-tasking. When you switch to another application, the previous one records what state it is in (what window is showing, what data is displayed and so on) and when you start it again, it reads that state and returns you right where you left.

Multi-tasking is for apps that for some reason _need_ to keep running while another application is used. Like a music player, you wouldn't want that to stop when you switch to another application (on the other hand, a video player _should_ stop because it is pointless to play a video in the background). A video game doesn't need multitasking, it should save where you are at right now, quit, and when you start it again take off right where you left. It doesn't need to use multitasking for that.

Yes, you need the 4.0 SDK for multi-tasking. And since Apple wants you to save battery life, I would think that any app doing multi-tasking will have stricter tests for acceptance in the app store than other apps.

No, it should be the way it is. Or you should have the option to choose. Because if I'm in the middle of an app and I get a phone call, I want the app to stay open in multitasking. There's nothing more frustrating than being in Tweetdeck, getting a phone call, and having to go back into the app and trying to remember where I was in my feed.

Just saying: You don't need multi-tasking for that. The application should _remember_ where you were instead of _you_ having to remember.

 

[Small White Car]

On the other hand, this means you can background certain apps that you *do* want running continously but aren't supported by Apple's 7 multitasking APIs.

That's a nice idea, but I'm having a hard time thinking of many examples.

Some kind of "Sims-like" game where your character sleeps and you want time to pass in the game while you're not there? That's about all I can come up with.

 

[thedommer]

3g?

anyone know if the screenlock works on 3G? I know the 3G doesnt even see the multitask screen so I'm presuming screenlock wont be there. Havent had a chance to instal the new beta yet to check for myself.

Also are these betas timed? Im still on beta 1 because I was to lazy to install the second. 3rd seems worth installing.

 

[Mac Eagle]

I may be misunderstanding your question, but the multi task pane will only show what apps are currently running... are you going to be running all 100 apps at a time?

Basically what I am asking is, is the default action of clicking the home button ALWAYS to send the app to the multitasking pane? If so, I generally open 20-30 different apps a day. I don't want them all on the multitask pane when I "close" them (at that point its not better than having multiple Home pages).

So, is there a way to distiguish between if you want to "close" an app, or to leave it "open" but for it to reside on the multitask pane. I wouldn't even mind a quick click on the Home button to "close" the app and a long click + hold to move it to the multitask pane and leave it "open".