http://www.tidbits.com/ A common complaint about the iPhone OS is that it doesn't allow multitasking. But the situation isn't that simple, since the iPhone OS does have some forms of multitasking, and even the term "multitasking" has many different meanings. Adam explores all the possibilities, and the likelihood of seeing support for them in the future. en-us Copyright 2010 TidBITS Publishing Inc. Wed, 07 Apr 2010 07:26:28 PDT Wed, 07 Apr 2010 07:26:28 PDT editors@tidbits.com (TidBITS Editors) editors@tidbits.com (TidBITS Editors) http://www.tidbits.com/images/tb_logo_152x55.png http://www.tidbits.com/ 55 152 TidBITS badge http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3959 Wed, 07 Apr 2010 07:22:24 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3959 I am using it (since the beginning) and it's (for me) a "must".
An example: I read an e-book. I have an unknown word, I send the e-reader in the background, I launch the dictionary, I found the word, then I switch back. If you are talking about one word, it might not worth it, but if your needs are frequent, then backgrounder is a MUST!]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3901 Tue, 06 Apr 2010 08:33:23 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3901 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3893 Tue, 06 Apr 2010 06:53:56 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3893 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3875 Tue, 06 Apr 2010 05:41:45 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3875 I have been reading complaints about the iPad acting similarly with keynote and pages. I assume the email/alias problem is the same on the iPad. I am glad I have not purchased an iPad only to have the same problems with it as I do on the iPhone.]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3871 Tue, 06 Apr 2010 03:31:08 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3871 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3376 Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:18:46 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3376 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3370 Fri, 05 Mar 2010 07:25:26 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3370 - notifications are often too slow (In my experience, ~50% of them arrive with a delay of at least 30 seconds and sometimes as much as several minutes)
- even when notifications come in promptly, the app takes some 5-10 seconds to launch after clicking the notification

So it's (almost) impossible to answer an incoming call via notifications before the caller goes away or to voicemail. I've done it once or twice, but rarely.]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3313 Tue, 02 Mar 2010 07:29:31 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3313 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3312 Tue, 02 Mar 2010 07:29:11 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3312
What Apple is saying with the iPad is that the Mac can't be shrunk any further than the MacBook Air without making the mouse/keyboard interface too clumsy to use, like all other netbooks out there (where the keyboards really do stink).

But it's very important to realize that this first iPad is NOT meant to replace a Mac; it's seen as an adjunct, a peripheral that will do some thing much better. The extent to which is succeeds at that won't be clear for a few months yet.]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3308 Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:52:06 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3308
If I want to send someone a photo that's on my Mac, I have to launch Settings on my iPhone to turn on wifi, navigate to Pastebot and launch it, copy the photo on the Mac, copy the photo in Pastebot, navigate to Mail and launch it, paste in the photo, navigate to Settings and launch it, turn off wifi, navigate back to mail and launch it, and then finally continue on with my email. Does this sound like a blazingly fast process? And yet I do things like this multi-app switching example all the time.

As a phone it's amazing, as a portable pocket-sized computer, though, I could really use a bit of true multi-tasking. ]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3306 Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:31:20 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3306
Anyone remember System 6 where you could choose to run either Finder or MultiFinder? :-)

Also, I think everyone's forgetting PalmOS. The one thing I miss from my Palm days, aside from a great version of Sorry, is that apps remembered their state. There was no backgrounding at all but it felt like there was, especially if you used one of the app switching hacks. While I love my iPhone, I definitely miss being able to drag from one of the soft buttons into the graffiti area to go back to my last app, and dragging upwards to show a popup menu of my last 10 apps. It *felt* like instantaneous app switching, even if it wasn't really doing that, mostly because the apps were able to remember what they were doing when you left.]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3303 Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:15:29 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3303 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3302 Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:13:58 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3302 device that's more of a toy at this point.)

Truth is I have become too used to "just using" a Mac (since System 7) to be bothered with some really seriously dumbing down to get the same things done. And for what upside?

Consequently, I'm beginning to wish even harder that Apple just comes out with a smaller line MacBook / MacBookAir / MacBook Pro, say with 9 or 10 inch diagonal screens. as there is much to be said for light and portable power. Further, if I am going to have to deal with a new OS anyway, I might as well get a netbook.
]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3295 Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:45:25 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3295 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3292 Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:28:47 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3292
Music is one place where I really want background activity to be allowed. I want to listen to Pandora, for example, when I'm doing other thing, just like I can with the iPhone's iPod function. It should also be able to return to playing music after a phone call.

While we're at it, app management, while better than before, is still mediocre. It's only going to get worse on the iPad. I have about 90 apps on my iPhone, most used very infrequently. We need something like Overflow for the iPhone, where we can categorize apps and find them quickly, rather than searching from screen to screen.]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3288 Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:20:13 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3288 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3208 Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:39:14 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3208 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3207 Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:36:34 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3207
So these examples may not be compelling, but they're the kind of thing that's fast and easy on the Mac, with multiple active applications, but clumsy and hard on the iPhone thanks to the small screen and one-app-at-a-time limitation. They are possible, but difficult and entirely unforgiving of mistakes or memory lapses that don't occur on the Mac because everything is running and visible.]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3074 Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:31:47 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3074 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3206 Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:31:04 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3206
The needs of the geeks simply can't ever outweigh the needs of the normal users.]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3205 Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:29:22 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3205 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3204 Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:27:09 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3204 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3041 Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:25:46 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3041 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3203 Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:25:09 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3203 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3023 Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:24:14 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3023
Accordingly, Apple seems to have solved the problem of how to run a third party app in the background. It simply doesn't allow it in most circumstances, for good or ill.

Perhaps Apple considers this a user interface issue, like with copy-and-paste. How would you indicate to an iPhone that you want to switch apps? A gesture? Morse code with the buttons? Apple took a long time to solve copy and paste, despite all the clamor and "duh, Apple, what gives?" comments. Maybe that is the situation with multitasking.]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3066 Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:23:43 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3066
If that isn't enough multitasking for you, then replace the slide viewing with Google Wave.]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3202 Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:23:27 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3202 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3021 Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:20:39 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3021
* They are working hard to get the interface right! Gestures, yes!

And this is hard work, just watch how many people work on their computers in full-screen mode only. As someone mentioned, the iPad OS is perfect "for the rest of us" (read: not "us," but our parents/grandparents) to get the tasks done that are offered on the device.]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3168 Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:06:19 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3168 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989?rss#comments_3147 Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:59:50 PDT http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989#comments_3147
I'm using Skype, Mail, Safari and Music and none of them is shutting down when I switch from one to the other one.

My battery is operating normally.

I'm also using my iPod Touch as a regular phone, in my car, at restaurants and everywhere, using the MiFi 2372, permitting me to connect up to 5 WiFi devices at the same time.]]>