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Who has the best multitasking implementation?

Who's multitasking implementation do you like best?

  • Apple iOS

    Votes: 115 50.9%

  • Palm WebOS

    Votes: 82 36.3%

  • Google Android

    Votes: 29 12.8%
  • Total voters
    226
Apple...

Apple...

macrumors 68020
Original poster
May 6, 2010
2,148
0
The United States
I like Palm's. I think it's the closest thing to real multitasking, and I like the "deck of cards" feature. Flicking an application upward off the screen to close it is pretty innovative too. Apple gets a very close second. You?
 
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I was always happy with Blackberry's multitasking. It worked very well. Using an iPhone 3GS with iOS 4 now though and have been pleased with Apple's multitasking system. I haven't tried palm's or android's so I can't comment on those.
 
Palm, Android and Blackberry are light years ahead of Apples app standby or faux multi tasking. No one here can honestly say that Apples its the best.
 
I haven't used other OS's but iOS's multitasking seems pretty good to me, except that it has to be supported by the app itself as discussed above. But that will only be a temporary problem.

So what's the difference between iOS multitasking and what others do, especially with how others do it better? What does "full multitasking" do that iOS multitasking can't? I mean, you can't really have multiple apps fully running on a small screen at the same time, so limiting multitasking to background processes seems reasonable to me.
 
MassiveAttack said:
Palm, Android and Blackberry are light years ahead of Apples app standby or faux multi tasking. No one here can honestly say that Apples its the best.
Click to expand...

Just wonder, what kind of thing that you want to do using that 'real' multitasking on your phone?
 
I also haven't used any other OS's (iPhone 4 is my first smartphone) but I like the way Apple does it. It may be annoying if a developer isn't updating their apps, but it's nice that apps aren't using memory while multitaking.
 
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How Apple could possibly be in the lead with their half baked multitasking compared to Palm is beyond me. I am a dyed in the wool iPhone user and won't be getting a Palm any time soon, but you'd have to be blind not to see that their multitasking UI owns the iphone's.
 
I like Apple's. Sure the app have to be updated, but app fast switching is great. Phone is still snappy, and yet I can get right back into Angry Birds or Navigon. :D

WebOS is good, but my Pre was sloooooooooooooooow.
 
MassiveAttack said:
Palm, Android and Blackberry are light years ahead of Apples app standby or faux multi tasking. No one here can honestly say that Apples its the best.
Click to expand...

mcdj said:
How Apple could possibly be in the lead with their half baked multitasking compared to Palm is beyond me. I am a dyed in the wool iPhone user and won't be getting a Palm any time soon, but you'd have to be blind not to see that their multitasking UI owns the iphone's.
Click to expand...

I think that iOS and WebOS have two fundamentally different implementations. I don't think it's appropriate to say one is better than they other as they both have their strengths, although certainly a person may prefer one or the other.

In the classic approach to multitasking, users consciously open and close apps; only open apps are shown in the multitasking UI. The advantage of this system is that it has real power in organizing a user's train-of-thought, preserving work flow, and keeping context. When using an app, the user follows a particular train-of-thought of what they are doing in the app. They can "hold that thought" when switching to another app. The multitasking UI acts as a cue to their minds to resume the thought processes associated with each open app. When the user closes an app, that train-of-thought is complete and our mind no longer has to keep track of it.

Out of this system, WebOS is easily the best-in-class. The card system easily manages open applications in a way that leaves no ambiguity for the user as to what is open or not. Closing apps by flicking away the card works beautifully as well. Finally, there are no limitations because apps are fully functional in the background.

In Apple's multitasking, users do not consciously close apps; all recently used apps are shown in the multitasking UI. While it isn't perhaps as organized as the classic implementation, it makes up for it in speed and usability.

There's this "fire and forget" mentality without having to consciously close apps that makes jumping in and out of apps very quick. It requires less mental energy because the OS handles closing/opening (re-opening) apps, not the user. The fast app switching is essential and the snazzy animation completes the illusion. The most-recently used app multitasking bar is faster at switching apps than the card system of WebOS.

Finally, while background processing is limited to certain set of APIs on the iPhone, it is also flexible; Apple can add multitasking APIs to extend functionality.

I was one that was hoping that they would flat out rip-off the scheme from WebOS, but after using multitasking on the iPhone, I quite enjoy it. My only complaint so far is how the multitasking bar is a UI patch-job; it feels like more of an after-thought than really integrated into the OS. In principle, it's disappointing. In practice, however, its quick to summon, the animation is fluid, and it gets the job done.
 
If switching between backgrounded apps in WebOS was as fast as it is on the iPhone, WebOS wins hands down.

The "card" idea was just ingenious and if apple would only improve the execution of this method it could be really, really good. But as of right now, switching between apps is faster on the iPhone.

I still voted for WebOS though.
 
Eso said:
I think that iOS and WebOS have two fundamentally different implementations. I don't think it's appropriate to say one is better than they other as they both have their strengths, although certainly a person may prefer one or the other.

In the classic approach to multitasking, users consciously open and close apps; only open apps are shown in the multitasking UI. The advantage of this system is that it has real power in organizing a user's train-of-thought, preserving work flow, and keeping context. When using an app, the user follows a particular train-of-thought of what they are doing in the app. They can "hold that thought" when switching to another app. The multitasking UI acts as a cue to their minds to resume the thought processes associated with each open app. When the user closes an app, that train-of-thought is complete and our mind no longer has to keep track of it.

Out of this system, WebOS is easily the best-in-class. The card system easily manages open applications in a way that leaves no ambiguity for the user as to what is open or not. Closing apps by flicking away the card works beautifully as well. Finally, there are no limitations because apps are fully functional in the background.

In Apple's multitasking, users do not consciously close apps; all recently used apps are shown in the multitasking UI. While it isn't perhaps as organized as the classic implementation, it makes up for it in speed and usability.

There's this "fire and forget" mentality without having to consciously close apps that makes jumping in and out of apps very quick. It requires less mental energy because the OS handles closing/opening (re-opening) apps, not the user. The fast app switching is essential and the snazzy animation completes the illusion. The most-recently used app multitasking bar is faster at switching apps than the card system of WebOS.

Finally, while background processing is limited to certain set of APIs on the iPhone, it is also flexible; Apple can add multitasking APIs to extend functionality.

I was one that was hoping that they would flat out rip-off the scheme from WebOS, but after using multitasking on the iPhone, I quite enjoy it. My only complaint so far is how the multitasking bar is a UI patch-job; it feels like more of an after-thought than really integrated into the OS. In principle, it's disappointing. In practice, however, its quick to summon, the animation is fluid, and it gets the job done.
Click to expand...
+ 1. Best post of the day! :cool:

iUser4Lyfe said:
If switching between backgrounded apps in WebOS was as fast as it is on the iPhone, WebOS wins hands down.

The "card" idea was just ingenious and if apple would only improve the execution of this method it could be really, really good. But as of right now, switching between apps is faster on the iPhone.

I still voted for WebOS though.
Click to expand...
It's also interesting to know that former Apple employees created it. Most of Palm is, er... was, made entirely of ex-Apple engineers. :rolleyes:

P.S. I voted for WebOS as well. They still have the best multitasking method, only not by a long shot, as Apple comes in at a close second.
 
As of now, I would prefer Palms, however in 6 months when all of the apps have been updated to work properly with Apples, then I think I might prefer Apple's. It has a lot of potential but as of now its really not working without those app updates.
 
ARF900 said:
As of now, I would prefer Palms, however in 6 months when all of the apps have been updated to work properly with Apples, then I think I might prefer Apple's. It has a lot of potential but as of now its really not working without those app updates.
Click to expand...
Get going, developers! :D
 
Don't really like how cluttered and clashed the multi-tasking setup on iOS is, the tray is so tacky.
 
My vote goes to WebOS as well even though Apples implementation of multitasking does everything I need it to do. With WebOS, theres no question which apps are running. Not using a particular app anymore, flick it away and its closed and gone.
 
If you're going to put Apple in the list you need to include systems that implement multitasking in the same manner, such as Windows 3.0, Apple's OS pre-OS X and so on. not many of them survived the 90's. :D
 
WebOS, HANDS DOWN! if the palm pre didn't have such awful hardware and a lack of developers I would probably have that over the iPhone 4 :D
 
quotison said:
I haven't used other OS's but iOS's multitasking seems pretty good to me, except that it has to be supported by the app itself as discussed above. But that will only be a temporary problem.

So what's the difference between iOS multitasking and what others do, especially with how others do it better? What does "full multitasking" do that iOS multitasking can't? I mean, you can't really have multiple apps fully running on a small screen at the same time, so limiting multitasking to background processes seems reasonable to me.
Click to expand...

It's not really limiting it to "background processes", it's only enabling a few possible services to run in the background.

The "proper" Multitasking APIs are:

-Location
-Background Music
-VOIP
-Background completion

Now, you wouldn't really want Music AND VOIP to be running at the same time, so that effectively limits things to two tasks running on a continual basis.

Background Completion is good, but it should have been there from day one. Your phone being able to finish uploading a photo when you close an App isn't really that amazing.

The thing I miss is a proper IM client.

At the moment, you get a push notification. If you follow that notification, the IM client opens up, connects and then updates with the messages you've received. That's not very good.
 
lomafor said:
Just wonder, what kind of thing that you want to do using that 'real' multitasking on your phone?
Click to expand...

android 2.2 multitasking examples that I can think of right now:

apps can self-update with no user intervention

system monitoring

cloud to device messaging

widgets


50% of the people who voted in the poll said iOS has the best version of multitasking.... and the vast majority of times it doesnt even work!! talk about homerism /smh
 
WebOS positively mops the floor with every other mobile OS' implementation of multitasking. I love my iP4 overall, but there's absolutely no contest in this particular aspect.
 
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