Video Showing How Apple's Unfinished Split Screen iPad Multitasking Works

[mazz0]

Then tell me where I can activate the mouse position indicator in iOS and how to connect a mouse. That is a fake video, even if there is code inside iOS 8 the video doesn't use it.

You may want to check your facts before posting like that - makes you sound both ignorant and arrogant. As has been pointed out, that's how the iOS device simulator works (which is still Apple's code - it comes with XCode).

Regarding the demo - that can't be how they're expecting it to work when implemented, apps use two-finger swiping internally.

Edit: Sorry ONH, I sounded kinda harsh there, I know tone isn't conveyed well on the internet so you probably didn't mean it like that.

 

[blackcrayon]

Not one iDevice has over 1 gig of Ram so I could only imagine what the performance would be like. Before I got the Note 3 I had an iPhone 5s and even that was crashing with memory errors. I don't know why Apple did not go with at least 2gig's of Ram in their flagship devices last year.

Depends on which apps you use, obviously. The vast majority of single apps can still run on 512 MB machines, which suggests the vast majority of apps can run "2 to a screen" on 1 GB machines. Not everything gobbles up as much RAM as a several web browser tabs. In Pages, scrolling around with a multi page document open uses around 150 MB of RAM. Tweetbot uses less than 50 MB. Should be no problem having those two apps on screen at once on a 1 GB device (for example).

That said, more RAM would be great, and I fully hope/expect the A8 machines to have 2 GB, and will be upgrading immediately

 

[Bubba Satori]

take that Microsoft

Take what?

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Why do we even need that?
What's all this multitasking craze?
If there's one thing that iPad does well is to let you focus and enjoy what you're doing, without any clutter around and behind it.
That's the beauty of it.
Why on earth would you want to create a stressful experience on a device meant to be enjoyed?
It's really sad.

Wow.

 

[macduke]

Crazy monotasking fanatics!

Quote of the month right here! I'm totally going to use this in conversation.

I don't get these people. If you don't like it, don't use it! Just like on the Mac, but kinda reversed: Multitasking by default, if you don't like that you can go into full screen to focus. I think the only people that have the right to be upset are developers, but I believe Apple has been developing newer tools such as Auto Layout to make this easier. It also helps that we've transitioned to flat design as things can reshuffle easier without looking wonky. It's like responsive design on the web, but for apps. I like it.

When I was a student, I bought the first generation iPad. It would have been very handy to have a website open next to a paper I was writing. Switching back and forth was very annoying, but that was the price to pay as an early adopter. I think we're all going to laugh out loud five years from now at the fact that at one point you couldn't multitask on the iPad.

 

[truettray]

When i opened up, on the left hand side, i had the AA website, that i could scroll up and down on, over the Mail app, which i could still see the later side (right hand side) of my mails.

Could be something different, but my iPad has gotten "stuck" in limbo between switching apps before. (Like the 4 finger scroll between the two apps?) and when that happened both apps were live. That sounds pretty similar to what you're describing!

 

[bpcookson]

Shouldn't the headline read "Video Showing How Apple's Split Screen iPad Multitasking Might Work"?

While we're being obtuse, let's just say that there is absolutely ZERO chance it might work this way; it doesn't even have a second app.

This is apples code, so it's how it works right now (internally at least)

arn

Agreed.

I don't agree. The headline says "multitasking" and i don't see that "working" at all right now. So i'd say this isn't how it "works." It's how it might work.

The headline includes the word "Unfinished," indicating that this is how a current work-in-progress currently works.

But if you insist on ignoring the word "Unfinished" in the headline, and further insist on being an annoying armchair critic, then at least make a reasonable suggestion such as using the word "Currently" instead of "Might." Either way, we're not adding any value to the Headline, the Article, or even this thread.

 

[Rocketman]

Typo?

Not 1/3, 1/2, 3/4 but 1/4, 1/2, 3/4?

 

[zipa]

Clearly, MS and Google caught wind that Apple was working on this and rushed to get their multi-tasking features out the door first.

Yes. Unfortunately they rushed so bad that they actually broke the space-time continuum and the release was somehow flung back three years to 2011 or so.

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I like the way how Apple implemented that. Surely more user friendly than other competitor.

How is that more user friendly than the exact same implementation that MS has?

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Why do we even need that?

What's all this multitasking craze?

If there's one thing that iPad does well is to let you focus and enjoy what you're doing, without any clutter around and behind it.

That's the beauty of it.

Why on earth would you want to create a stressful experience on a device meant to be enjoyed?

It's really sad.

If, say, being able to actually read an article at the same time that you are writings a paper about it stresses you out, then you either don't know what stress is or need to severely increase your medication.

 

[Reason077]

This sounds like its a developer tool, not something that is intended to be a user-visible feature.

It looks like it's for simulating different screen resolutions, which would be useful to test how your app works in a split-screen environment, but also to test whether it works correctly with possible future iPads that have different screen resolutions.

 

[dec.]

So basically we see this in action:
Xcode 6 Allows Developers to Test Larger iPhone and iPad Screen Sizes

As mentioned by one or two before in this thread you can see in the modes »1/4« and »2/4« an iPhoney look, while at the modes »3/4« and »4/4« it looks more like Safari on an iPad. Maybe these are the flexible iPhone/flexible iPad layouts.

That's a good point, Z!

 

[jclardy]

Why do we even need that?
What's all this multitasking craze?
If there's one thing that iPad does well is to let you focus and enjoy what you're doing, without any clutter around and behind it.
That's the beauty of it.
Why on earth would you want to create a stressful experience on a device meant to be enjoyed?
It's really sad.

Using two things at once is stressful? I don't think I will use the feature a ton, but it would be nice to have. Simple example from recently - watching the WWDC keynote while also having my twitter stream open. Or typing a document and having a web site open for research without having to constantly four finger swipe back and forth.

I am a big fan of iOS's focusing on a single task mantra, but there are just times when using two apps at once could actually be beneficial to productivity.

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Then tell me where I can activate the mouse position indicator in iOS and how to connect a mouse. That is a fake video, even if there is code inside iOS 8 the video doesn't use it.

It is not fake. The developer Steven Troughton-Smith has been going through iOS betas for years finding hidden features and dead code that hasn't been activated. The code is being run on the iOS Simulator which runs on a mac and is the reason why there is a mouse cursor.

Essentially it is a feature Apple has been working on, but they don't feel it is ready for primetime yet (Or they just wanted to save something big for the next iPad event.)

 

[hayesk]

I know I'm going to get blasted for this, but my girlfriend switched from iPad to Surface simply because of the multitasking feature. She needs two apps running at once to be able to do her job. The Surface provides that solution for her.

What is her job and what are the two apps?

Regardless, this video is suspect. The gestures show two fingers. That's the standard gesture for moving back and forth between pages. Also, the iPad is resizable in the simulator - this could simply be a simulator bug.

You can record the screen of an actual hardware device now - he should have done that.

 

[darngooddesign]

Why do we even need that?
What's all this multitasking craze?
If there's one thing that iPad does well is to let you focus and enjoy what you're doing, without any clutter around and behind it.
That's the beauty of it.
Why on earth would you want to create a stressful experience on a device meant to be enjoyed?
It's really sad.

On my jailbroken iPad I never found watching Hulu while surfing to be stressful. But if I did find it stressful, I just wouldn't use that feature.

The beauty of having this as an option, instead of a requirement, is that you get to choose whether you want to use it.

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While we're being obtuse, let's just say that there is absolutely ZERO chance it might work this way; it doesn't even have a second app.

The final form will be different, but since its Apple's code that is exactly how it works right now.

 

[8281]

Why do we even need that?
What's all this multitasking craze?
If there's one thing that iPad does well is to let you focus and enjoy what you're doing, without any clutter around and behind it.
That's the beauty of it.
Why on earth would you want to create a stressful experience on a device meant to be enjoyed?
It's really sad.

Ummm...because it would be immensely useful for work. Then I don't have to frantically switch between mail and evernote. Apple's "multitasking" implementation is, what, five years old? It's time for a change.

If you don't like the feature, don't use it.

 

[Bare]

Why do we even need that?
What's all this multitasking craze?
If there's one thing that iPad does well is to let you focus and enjoy what you're doing, without any clutter around and behind it.
That's the beauty of it.
Why on earth would you want to create a stressful experience on a device meant to be enjoyed?
It's really sad.

I'm fortunate enough to have both a Retina Mini and an Air, and that's currently the only way I can, for example, be watching a video and doing work/surfing the web/playing a game at the same time with iPad(s). This is the most trivial of uses for split-screen multitasking, but even this is important to a lot of people.

Other "more useful" situations include being able to look at and relay information from Safari and incorporate it into an e-mail without having to switch apps, copy, switch apps, and paste.

If you want to keep all your apps full screen all the time, go ahead. Nothing about adding in the ability to split-screen multitask will change your ability to keep using your iPad as you always have. The rest of us can have a new feature to take advantage of.

 

[Cyborg21]

Why do we even need that?
What's all this multitasking craze?
If there's one thing that iPad does well is to let you focus and enjoy what you're doing, without any clutter around and behind it.
That's the beauty of it.
Why on earth would you want to create a stressful experience on a device meant to be enjoyed?
It's really sad.

Oh, I am not the only one. iOS should be as simple as possible. Simplicity makes doing work a lot easier and it's the whole point of iPhone and iPad. Seeing things like this, makes me a little bit sad because all those powerful chips (which are only used for checking Facebook, playing games etc.), multitasking, bigger screens are just gimmicks. There is simply no innovation in gadget world now, just gimmicks.

 

[576316]

Definitely looks like a half finished feature, which is obviously is. Do you think we'll be waiting until iOS 9 for this or do you think it'll be 'activated' with an incremental update? Of course, Apple could get it working in time for developers to test it out before the fall release.

 

[rahhb.riley]

Mark Gurman posted this on 9to5Mac so according to his logic Apple will for sure be redesigning this.

Haha good one! He's been a real tool lately.

 

[2IS]

Why do we even need that?
What's all this multitasking craze?
If there's one thing that iPad does well is to let you focus and enjoy what you're doing, without any clutter around and behind it.
That's the beauty of it.
Why on earth would you want to create a stressful experience on a device meant to be enjoyed?
It's really sad.

I'm going to introduce, what is apparently, a foreign concept to you...

If you don't need (or want) this, don't use it. You will still be able to open one app at a time if you so wish. I'm quite certain, Apple isn't going to force you to open a 2nd app before closing the first one.

Take as much time as you need to think about what I just said. I wouldn't want you to stress yourself out.

 

[AZREOSpecialist]

There is nothing compelling in this video. How stupid.

 

[elev8d]

It looks like the scalable windows don't work quite as intended yet because the assets don't scale with changes in width. If they can't have the Apple homepage look right with changing the width of the panels, i'm not exactly sure if they would want to implement it. I think Apple would want users to have a very clean experience and this doesn't provide it at the moment. I think iOS 9 might be a possibility, but definitely not until the kinks are fully worked out.

 

[Brittany246]

Delete

 

[MarkCollette]

Pretty ingenious to leverage the iPhone and iPad optimized layouts/UI.

I agree, whoever thought of that is pretty smart.

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/19102401/

 

[joejoejoe]

I'm already quite fond of the way the iPad handles task-switching or multi-tasking.

I like using the four-finger swipe to switch between full screen apps. It's fast and simple.

But the idea of having two apps side-by-side in super-skinny narrow columns doesn't appeal to me at all.

YMMV

Having a note, email, list, grid of photos in a thin column to the side of whatever larger document/presentation/email/etc I'm working on actually sounds magnificent.

I enjoy full screen apps but too often when composing an email i'm jumping in between full screen apps feel like i'm spending as much time in the switcher as the apps themselves.

 

[macfacts]

I for one, would love to sit in an airport bored out of my skull and watch my Tivo from home while at the same time sending an email or surfing a web site.

Browsing macrumors while watching tmnt from my nas

(The pink line is nothing. I drew on my screenshot by mistake)