Meaning of "multitasking" on iPhone, iPad, etc
in [UK Mac]
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From: Jochem Huhmann on 28 Jan 2010 18:02 Nancy <metoo(a)privacy.net> writes: >> Every other phone os can multitask at the applications level, it >> wouldn't be beyond the wit of Apple to introduce some gesture-based >> tasking,or maybe pressing the home button twice shows all running apps >> or something. It's a daft omission. >> >> >> Cheers, >> Ian >> > > Agreed. Can you imagine not being able to, say, do something like > listen to music on your iPad while browsing the web? But you can. As long as you use the Music app, which does run in the background (as well as Safari and Mail). This thing *does* multitasking. It's just that Apple figured that for 99% of the apps it makes absolutely no difference to the user if the things keep running in the background or shut down, safe their state and relaunch if you return to them. After all you can see and use only one app at a time anyway. But the battery and the RAM *will* see the difference. And I'm not sure if Apple is totally wrong here. If you look at the home screen as a combined launcher and task switcher (very much like the Dock in OS X) and try to not think about what technically is going on, it makes indeed hardly a difference most of the time. There are only a few apps that suffer from that: Third-party music streaming apps, IM apps cutting the connection if you switch to another app. But these are exceptions. For most apps you can just pretend that the home screen works like the Dock: Go to it from some app, tap another app, go back to the homescreen, tap the first app. OK, it takes a moment (since the apps actually quit and relaunch) but on the other hand every app has all RAM and there's nothing running in the background eating up CPU time and battery. Jochem -- "A designer knows he has arrived at perfection not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
From: James Taylor on 28 Jan 2010 18:10 Chris Ridd wrote: > That reminds me: I must ask everyone I know with netbooks when > they last used them. I use an EeePC 1005HA as my main non-work computer and find it very comfortable for that purpose. -- James Taylor
From: Ian McCall on 29 Jan 2010 04:41 On 2010-01-28 23:02:56 +0000, Jochem Huhmann <joh(a)gmx.net> said: > Nancy <metoo(a)privacy.net> writes: >> Agreed. Can you imagine not being able to, say, do something like >> listen to music on your iPad while browsing the web? > > But you can. As long as you use the Music app, which does run in the > background (as well as Safari and Mail). ....which I don't. I want to run Spotify or SomaFM/some other net radio app. > After all you can see and use only one > app at a time anyway. See - yes. Use? No - see the two use cases above. Anything playing audio is a use case. Anything doing instant messaging is a use case (I see you note these in your post too). Anything monitoring GPS in the background is a use case (I'd like to use my GPS trails tracker when on the bike, but still switch to the camera app for example). There's loads of use cases. The single-tasking vs multi-tasking argument was answered with the introduction of System 6's multifinder. It was a conclusive win, and all subsequent Apple OSs have multitasked until now. > But the battery and the RAM *will* see the > difference. And I'm not sure if Apple is totally wrong here. I am, and it's my phone. They can give me the choice via a preferences setting that's defaulting to off if they like, but I want to use it. Battery isn't that relevant to me as I keep the phone in a dock a lot. RAM - well yes, but this is the use I have for the phone so it's just something Apple will have to accommodate. Android phones have the same limitations, but they allow multitasking. Am not getting into Android vs iPhone here, just pointing out another device with similar hardware can do this kind of thing fine. > There are only a few apps that suffer from that: Third-party music > streaming apps, IM apps cutting the connection if you switch to another > app. But these are exceptions. They're also my primary use of third-party apps. Oh, and you can add note-taking to that too. I want to switch in and out of Notes without quitting the other app, and if my other app happens to be on page 5 of my app list but Notes is on page 1 then it becomes annoying to switch between them. For games too - for example The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain, an iPhone version of ye olde Fighting Fantasy choose-your-own-adventure book, quits when you press the home key and then goes through a startup sequence/asks if you want a new game or continue. What I actually want to do is map my progress using the Notes app, but it's made extremely long-winded and annoying so I don't do it. > For most apps you can just pretend that > the home screen works like the Dock: -if- the app is on the same page. Otherwise it's just annoying to flip between them. - > Go to it from some app, tap > another app, go back to the homescreen, tap the first app. OK, it takes > a moment (since the apps actually quit and relaunch) but on the other > hand every app has all RAM and there's nothing running in the background > eating up CPU time and battery. Again, these are similar to arguments made around the System 6 switch. Battery life is irrelevant to a device sitting in the dock. CPU time and RAM is a matter of good programming, exactly as it is on any other OS. It's all an argument that's been seen before and the world conclusively picked multitasking. I really don't want to jailbreak the phone for a variety of reasons, but must admit that getting multitasking onto it is sorely tempting me. Cheers, Ian
From: Geoff Berrow on 29 Jan 2010 05:00 On Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:41:47 +0000, Ian McCall <ian(a)eruvia.org> wrote: >> After all you can see and use only one >> app at a time anyway. > >See - yes. Use? No - see the two use cases above. Anything playing >audio is a use case. Anything doing instant messaging is a use case (I >see you note these in your post too). Anything monitoring GPS in the >background is a use case (I'd like to use my GPS trails tracker when on >the bike, but still switch to the camera app for example). Some apps get round that by building in the multi tasking. Motion X GPS for example will allow you to run playlists and take photographs. Heck of a drain on the battery though. But this isn't the end of time and if other phones are significantly better than the iPhone then the market will decide. I like my iPhone. I like the way it looks, feels, and works. But I am annoyed I can't get at my files and that it doesn't multi-task. But knowing that battery takes a hammering I accept that limitation. Later on, with a model with more battery and resources, I'd be less happy. -- Geoff Berrow (Put thecat out to email) It's only Usenet, no one dies. My opinions, not the committee's, mine. Simple RFDs www.ckdog.co.uk/rfdmaker
From: Jaimie Vandenbergh on 29 Jan 2010 05:19
On Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:00:07 +0000, Geoff Berrow <blthecat(a)ckdog.co.uk> wrote: >On Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:41:47 +0000, Ian McCall <ian(a)eruvia.org> wrote: > >>> After all you can see and use only one >>> app at a time anyway. >> >>See - yes. Use? No - see the two use cases above. Anything playing >>audio is a use case. Anything doing instant messaging is a use case (I >>see you note these in your post too). Anything monitoring GPS in the >>background is a use case (I'd like to use my GPS trails tracker when on >>the bike, but still switch to the camera app for example). > >Some apps get round that by building in the multi tasking. Motion X >GPS for example will allow you to run playlists and take photographs. >Heck of a drain on the battery though. The battery drain is entirely down to using the GPS, not the multitasking. Any continuous-use GPS app brings battery life down to under 4 hours on my 3GS - tomtom, MotionX, Trails, GPS Kit all do it. Some of those have options to modify the sample rate, and that makes a huge difference to the drain. >I like my iPhone. I like the way it looks, feels, and works. But I >am annoyed I can't get at my files and that it doesn't multi-task. But >knowing that battery takes a hammering I accept that limitation. Then jailbreak, and you can. Backgrounder+Kirikae for multitasking, iFile and/or netatalk for filesystem browsing. The pain to the battery is relatively low, no more than you'd expect. I'm using a 3GS which has twice the RAM (256meg vs 128) of the older models, so I don't get hit by RAM problems. What does seem to be a problem is sharing resources other than RAM. Two music apps - the new one wins. Two GPS apps - the new one wins. And when I did it just now to experiment, the user session crashed taking all my active apps down with it. Hurrah. Since it's forbidden, Apple seem to not be providing hardware resource sharing like this. Cheers - Jaimie -- "Hey T-Rex! This ice cream cake is delicious!" "Thanks! You don't think it tastes like... *philosophical compromise*?" "Only a little! -- http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1093 |