iPhone OS 4.0 - Multitasking! Whhaaaaa?

[Barnes]

Yup. Looks like Apple has addressed the complex user experience problems and have come up with a way to allow for multitasking of 3rd party applications.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...g_support.html

There are a number of ways Apple can address these needs. First is by allowing third parties to launch apps that actually run all the time in the background, just like the bundled Mail, SMS, iPod, or Voice Memos.

This isn't a technical problem for the multitasking iPhone OS, but does introduce new issues for users. Because the iPhone OS doesn't present a conventional windowing user interface, launching multiple apps requires the addition of a new interface mechanism that allows users to intuitively switch between apps without introducing too much new complexity.

The iPhone OS is intended to create mobile devices that are easy to use, not just small versions of the complex PC model of the 1990s. Apple mocked the unfriendly and complex Task Manager of Windows Mobile at the launch of iPhone 2.0. Today's Android users similarly find themselves diddling with resource and memory management to optimize battery life and performance.

[BlackEleven]

Finally!

Wonder if this was driven by the introduction of the iPad...

[mykalberta]

Before I believe this. How solid was apple insiders information about the ipad as a comparison for thier legitimacy.

There are perfectly legit reasons why they wouldnt want to allow multitasking on those devices.

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

Before I believe this. How solid was apple insiders information about the ipad as a comparison for thier legitimacy.

There are perfectly legit reasons why they wouldnt want to allow multitasking on those devices.

They were bang on with their iPad stuff. They don't make crazy claims and are a credible source.

[Russic]

This rumor seems more plausible as the timing with the iPad makes sense and lately the Apple rumor mill has been surprisingly accurate. There have also been many reports that Apple leaks info like this on purpose.

I'd like to see this feature implemented as an option to toggle on and off. I am going to be buying my parents an iPad, and the fact that it won't bog down like a computer is one of the biggest selling points for them. They don't have the know-how to go into a task manager and kill applications that are eating up memory. If I could just have a switch that I could flip so they wouldn't be able to have apps running in the background it would be ideal.

[Incogneto]

YESssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

[Russic]

I downloaded a little app on my jailbroken phone called SBSettings. Brilliant little task manager. Just swipe the very top bar on the screen and a little dropdown menu appears and you can toggle/change certain settings (brightness, 3g, wifi). What's really nice is you can see what apps are running in the background and kill them.

I'd really like to see something like this implemented as it's very handy and makes the background processes much easier to deal with.