The truth about iOS4's "multitasking"

[DeathChill]

Really? He can go post it in that 600 page thread where he already valiantly defends the evo.

He's so off-base about the iPhone, so I can't wait to hear how wrong he is about Android.

I mean, one of the main focuses of every multitasking demo done by Apple has been Pandora, an application that Apple DOESN'T make, but hey this mbell75 guy seems to have the inside info.

 

[stlredbird]

So I'll have to wait a month for all my apps to update and add multitasking. Big deal.

 

[DeathChill]

So I'll have to wait a month for all my apps to update and add multitasking. Big deal.

Unlikely as iOS 4 has been seeded for developers for testing since the iPhone OS 4 event several months ago. I'm sure almost every app that needs to implement multitasking will have already completed it at this point.

 

[sammich]

So the app developer updates the app and you install the update... this happens all the time when upgrading to a new desktop OS.

So if they don't care for MT, then take it away, then see if they really care. Just because they don't know what it is, doesn't mean that they don't care for it.

 

[topherg]

He's so off-base about the iPhone, so I can't wait to hear how wrong he is about Android.

I mean, one of the main focuses of every multitasking demo done by Apple has been Pandora, an application that Apple DOESN'T make, but hey this mbell75 guy seems to have the inside info.

Lol! You're right! Lets hear it! C'mon insider tell us!!!

 

[mbell75]

He's so off-base about the iPhone, so I can't wait to hear how wrong he is about Android.

I mean, one of the main focuses of every multitasking demo done by Apple has been Pandora, an application that Apple DOESN'T make, but hey this mbell75 guy seems to have the inside info.

The difference is I can multitask ANY app I wish on my phone, not the ones that only Steve Jobs tells me I can or the ones a developer decides he wants to update. Many devs are saying they are not even going to bother updating. I shouldnt have to do all the research for you, here is another article.

http://www.tuaw.com/2010/06/14/multitasking-in-ios4-is-not-a-magical-sparkle-pony/


With the upcoming iOS 4, Apple has announced a solution for some of those applications, but only a handful of specific kinds of applications: location data, voice over IP (VoIP), and audio. You will be able to stay on a Skype call even if Skype is in the background, once Skype adds support for it. You will be able to listen to Pandora Radio in the background once Pandora adds support for it. Your GPS app or other location-aware app will be able to keep tabs on your location in the background, once it is updated. In fact, Tom Tom has already announced that its navigation app will be background-ready, so your "At the end of the road, turn left" announcements will come through even if you're doing something else.

That's it, though. Background processing is extremely constrained to three specific areas, which Apple believes will cover most of the things that most people want to do most of the time. Since what iOS 4 is offering is not really unfettered multitasking, Instapaper can't program itself to automatically update itself every X hours or minutes. Neither can your RSS reader. Neither can Simplenote. Neither can 1Password. Neither can TextExpander. Neither can any other application

 

[DeathChill]

The difference is I can multitask ANY app I wish on my phone, not the ones that only Steve Jobs tells me I can or the ones a developer decides he wants to update. Many devs are saying they are not even going to bother updating. I shouldnt have to do all the research for you, here is another article.

http://www.tuaw.com/2010/06/14/multitasking-in-ios4-is-not-a-magical-sparkle-pony/


With the upcoming iOS 4, Apple has announced a solution for some of those applications, but only a handful of specific kinds of applications: location data, voice over IP (VoIP), and audio. You will be able to stay on a Skype call even if Skype is in the background, once Skype adds support for it. You will be able to listen to Pandora Radio in the background once Pandora adds support for it. Your GPS app or other location-aware app will be able to keep tabs on your location in the background, once it is updated. In fact, Tom Tom has already announced that its navigation app will be background-ready, so your "At the end of the road, turn left" announcements will come through even if you're doing something else.

That's it, though. Background processing is extremely constrained to three specific areas, which Apple believes will cover most of the things that most people want to do most of the time. Since what iOS 4 is offering is not really unfettered multitasking, Instapaper can't program itself to automatically update itself every X hours or minutes. Neither can your RSS reader. Neither can Simplenote. Neither can 1Password. Neither can TextExpander. Neither can any other application

You realize that only Android apps that have been designed to multitask can do it right? They have to be programmed to explicitly run in the background, otherwise they are just suspended (like the iPhone!).

So, where's the difference between the iPhone and Android in that respect?

I am also not a developer, so I can't specifically say that those things are possible/not possible with iOS 4. It certainly seems that local notifications, task completion and push notifications could be utilized to alleviate some issues discussed here, but I could be wrong.

Regardless, you don't understand how Android multitasks nor do you understand how the iPhone does it.

EDIT: Read the article by Instapaper's developer. I think Apple should implement his idea IF some sort of combination of notifications + task completion cannot accomplish this. I am no developer though!

 

[GfPQqmcRKUvP]

The difference is I can multitask ANY app I wish on my phone, not the ones that only Steve Jobs tells me I can or the ones a developer decides he wants to update.

Really? I just tried playing a YouTube clip (where I wanted to hear the audio) on my N1 and then pressed the home button. It turned off!

http://www.tuaw.com/2010/06/14/multitasking-in-ios4-is-not-a-magical-sparkle-pony/

That article reiterates what Steve Jobs already said. Devs need to update their apps? OH NO!!!! You see, unlike the Android Market, there's actually money/reputation on the line for developers. They'll make sure their apps work.

 

[thelatinist]

The difference is I can multitask ANY app I wish on my phone, not the ones that only Steve Jobs tells me I can or the ones a developer decides he wants to update. Many devs are saying they are not even going to bother updating. I shouldnt have to do all the research for you, here is another article.

mbell75, we already know how iPhone multitasking works. We are aware that it is limited to 7 APIs and that applications will have to be rewritten to take advantage of those APIs. We also know what it can't do. How do we know this? Because Apple announced it clearly several months ago and has never made any claim about it that wasn't completely accurate.

You know what else we know? We know that the vast majority of what everyone has been saying they wanted to do with multitasking can be accomplished with these 7 APIs while consuming fewer resources and preserving battery life. That's why we're okay with it. We're not okay with it because we're ignorant or we've been hoodwinked by Apple or because we worship Steve Jobs.

Please take your agenda somewhere else where it will be welcome.

 

[sushi]

This doesn't say anything that Jobs didn't already say when he introduced multitasking earlier this year.

Next.

Agree.

OP, I must be missing something. What is different from what SJ put out during the Keynote?

 

[dccorona]

It doesn't bother me in the least.... I'm looking forward to a big jump in performance from my 3g, along with a great feature set.

However, the 3G won't be getting multitasking...you do know that, right?

Really? Did Jobs say only Apple's built in programs would be able to truly multitask? I think not. They are making it sound like EVERY app will be able to, and thats simply not true. The 3rd party apps will be limited to that "fast app switching" which is a pause state, resume function. Its not true multitasking.

they aren't limited to that...they aren't completely running, but most don't need to be. I don't need Pandora to be rendering an interface and displaying cover art when I'm just listening to it, while browsing the web. So only the audio continues, and no system resources are wasted on graphics I'm not seeing anyways.
GPS apps will run in the background completely (so I've read)
Apps can remain open to finish a task, and then close when that task is complete. I leave facebook open to finish a photo upload. But once that upload is done, it closes. Its no longer wasting system resources.

I, as the user, get the same functionality of "multitasking" as other OSes, but I don't have to deal with management of running apps, and so my battery life doesn't suffer as other phones do.

 

[skyehill]

As far as multitasking goes, this is awful. I thought Apple only did something when it could do it the best. This is terrible. Android owns it.

 

[GfPQqmcRKUvP]

As far as multitasking goes, this is awful. I thought Apple only did something when it could do it the best. This is terrible. Android owns it.

Every one of your posts has been insulting Apple and praising Android. We get it, you like Android. By the way, as a Nexus One owner, I can't wait to go back to iPhone, "limited" multi-tasking and all.

 

[skyehill]

Every one of your posts has been insulting Apple and praising Android. We get it, you like Android. By the way, as a Nexus One owner, I can't wait to go back to iPhone, "limited" multi-tasking and all.

Im not a fanboy. I recognize whats great and awful about both platforms. This multitasking isnt multitasking. Its awful. Android has great things and bad things as well.

 

[Juan007]

I have been trying an Android phone (EVO) for the past few weeks and I have to say it's a pain managing all the tasks. There is no reliable way to kill apps other than running a 3rd party task manager app. When I hit the back arrow some apps will kill themselves, others will stay around. Frankly that's crap, there needs to be a uniform way to kill apps built into the OS.

I'm eager to check out Apple's approach. Hopefully it won't be limiting.

 

[DeathChill]

Im not a fanboy. I recognize whats great and awful about both platforms. This multitasking isnt multitasking. Its awful. Android has great things and bad things as well.

I'm curious what makes it "awful" on the iPhone.

 

[rtabdo]

The biggest thing people wanted with "multi-tasking" was Pandora and Skype, both which will be there. I really (personally) wouldn't use backgrounding for anything else.

Quick switching between my apps and being able to run VOIP and Music in the background is probably what 99% of people need.

 

[smiddlehurst]

That's it, though. Background processing is extremely constrained to three specific areas, which Apple believes will cover most of the things that most people want to do most of the time.

Bzzt, wrong. Sorry but there's seven background processes not three, this is something that the TUAW article screwed up and has been widely corrected since. The full list is:

Background Audio
Background VOIP
Background Location Data
Task Completion
Fast App Switching
Push Notifications
Local Notifications

Whether the OP likes it or not all software design is a compromise. Full app multi-tasking is fine for geeks who think nothing of riding a task manager all day and don't mind going hunting for the app that's killing their battery life / performance in exchange for the last degree of flexibility in how they use their device. For the VAST majority of people however this really isn't a good solution and they don't need that flexibility anyway. Hell, I'm a geek and I certainly don't need it. For those people a system that lets common tasks run in background and preserves states in apps that aren't actively running (on a screen, let us not forget, that only allows you to see one app at a time anyway) is a better solution, especially if it means they never have to actively manage running tasks.

About the only thing Apple should probably be looking to add is some form of scheduler / background updater which would receive new content for apps like Instapaper, store it, then update the app when it's run (maybe along with a local notification).

 

[rookie1082]

Full app multi-tasking is fine for geeks who think nothing of riding a task manager all day and don't mind going hunting for the app that's killing their battery life / performance in exchange for the last degree of flexibility in how they use their device.

With my Nexus, i've never had to go and "search" for an app that's killing my battery life. Why? Because Android handles all that for me. If something IS killing my battery life, I don't see it as I regularly get 1.5 days of battery before needing a charge.

Besides, you make it seem like a task manager is rocket science and SUCH a tedious task. Have you ever used a task manager? Are you just spewing nonsense that you have no knowledge about -- only "knowledge" that is forced into your head by SJ?

Wonderful thing about Android is, that if someone DOES need to kill tasks, it's literally as easy as hitting a widget on your homescreen and done. Less time than it would take to bring up the task switcher on iPhone and scroll left and right searching for the app you want to switch to.

 

[smiddlehurst]

With my Nexus, i've never had to go and "search" for an app that's killing my battery life. Why? Because Android handles all that for me. If something IS killing my battery life, I don't see it as I regularly get 1.5 days of battery before needing a charge.

Besides, you make it seem like a task manager is rocket science and SUCH a tedious task. Have you ever used a task manager? Are you just spewing nonsense that you have no knowledge about -- only "knowledge" that is forced into your head by SJ?

Wonderful thing about Android is, that if someone DOES need to kill tasks, it's literally as easy as hitting a widget on your homescreen and done. Less time than it would take to bring up the task switcher on iPhone and scroll left and right searching for the app you want to switch to.

Oh for gods sake... I really really REALLY hate fanboys. Did I mention Android even once in my reply? This is a discussion about OS design concepts not a 'mine's better than yours so NEH' contest.

First up: I've been using smartphones since the very early days of Windows CE. Had the Orange SPV, SPV E200 (still got that actually now that I think about it), the HTC Universal and a few others. I've worked on portable devices for the last seven years in one form or another, have tried Android and webOS devices and this will be my first iPhone. I've seen first hand the mess people get into when you have an OS that gives them that nth degree of flexibility when they either don't want it or need it as well as seeing the grief rouge apps can cause. I don't give a damn what the software is just so long as it works for those people that invest in the device so leave your fanboy leanings at the door, m'kay?

With that said and with all due respect, have you ever seen someone who's not interested in technology try to use a task manager? It's not a concept that's particularly easy to grasp and most people will a) ignore it and b) complain when performance suffers. Sorry but that's the truth of it and something that we've seen over and over again both in the mobile space and the desktop market. Normal regular people don't want to have to manage the device or software but to have the device do that for them. When it doesn't work they blame the device and it can be a real pain working out whats wrong. Heck, look at the issues with the HTC EVO 4 recently, wander over to the comments of Tech Crunch and you'll find a lot of EVO owners recommending good task managers and trying to figure out what's caused the problem. Note, that's not aimed at Android, it's just the most current one I've seen. Other examples could be both the Palm Pre and jailbroken iDevices suffering reduced battery life and/or performance when multitasking or the horror that was Windows Mobile's task manager *shudder*.

As I said above, geeks will be better served with a full on task-managed multitasking OS because not only do they not mind putting in the extra effort to manage it but will actually use the flexibility it offers. The vast majority of people however won't even notice anything's missing in iOS4's implementation (at least, once the bulk of app developers implement fast app switching) and will benefit from the lack of maintenance required under that model. Not to say that those same people couldn't ever use an OS like Android, just that the majority of them will never exploit that functionality and thus incur the downsides without the benefits.

Clear now oh Fanboy?