Originally Posted by Tinman

<sigh>

Exactly what do you want to multitask? If you took the time to understand how it works you would see it does multi-task for apps that can do something useful in the background. There is no benefit to running something like Angry Birds in the background, or for that matter the majority of applications. But returning to where you left is often helpful--though not always.

As someone who used to work for Microsoft's Embedded Devices devision (think... Windows CE) the comment about Microsoft was funny. It's been FOURTEEN years since Windows CE first came out. Most of that time it sucked and often because it kept things in memory for no benefit. So now fourteen years later Windows Phone 7 comes out and you think Apple should learn from it? Pray tell what??? Wait till 2021 before making iOS relevant? lol

At least complain about a specific app that you want to run in the background. If there is one that could use it, that would be a legitimate complaint.

I am Asking for a very basic thing. I want to go to the browser get a movie to start downloading from YouTube, and while waiting - to read and/or reply to mail. Once I hear in the background that the movie started, I'll switch back to the browser, and watch the movie.

Another Example. I want to be able to open at the same time 5 sites on my browser. While the system is loading them I will use the time to write some memo. The sites will load in the background ( Internet might be sloaw - so it takes time...).

More:
I watch a movie. I am getting to a boring part , I want it to run in the background while I am into my mail. Geting back when the good part starts...
And a lot of other examples for real true multitasking.

Originally Posted by peled

I am Asking for a very basic thing. I want to go to the browser get a movie to start downloading from YouTube, and while waiting - to read and/or reply to mail. Once I hear in the background that the movie started, I'll switch back to the browser, and watch the movie.

That sounds like a reach. If the youtube app wanted to, or the hook into Safari, it could do that. But why? I don't "wait" for youtube vids to start--not long enough to do anything else anyway. And I would prolly wanna see it anyway.

Regardless, you have so far listed an app example.... not a limitation of the OS.

Another Example. I want to be able to open at the same time 5 sites on my browser. While the system is loading them I will use the time to write some memo. The sites will load in the background ( Internet might be sloaw - so it takes time...).

iOS has always done that. I have done that on my iPhone since 2007. Not a new feature.

I watch a movie. I am getting to a boring part , I want it to run in the background while I am into my mail. Geting back when the good part starts...
And a lot of other examples for real true multitasking.

That is kind of a lame example. For one thing, I am thinking that many people want to actually watch a movie while it is playing. Regardless, a sound stream could play if it was desired. For me it is not something I would want.

Moreoever.... look at what you just wrote. Here is what I would do if I encountered a boring part: skip over it. Why would I want to keep it playing if I can just skip it?

Regardless, it most certainly is possible in the OS.




Michael

I think that's the slim sliver if truth behind them marketing it as multitasking lol an app can run a background service if it needs to.

I still get annoyed when people say look, it can multitask cause pandora can play in the background.... When you pull up the multitask bar, you see the iPod icon replaced by whatever app is playing audio, meaning that all they did was let it take the place of the iPod running in the background. True multitasking would let me run iPod AND pandora in the background lol

Originally Posted by DaveSt

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Those are very good points. I hadn't thought about background processes as all.

Originally Posted by peled

Now they call that storage place where they freeze various programs a Multi task program.. And people still believe it is.
It should be called Temp Storage.

I agree it's not true multi-tasking, but honestly, I didn't ask for multi-tasking in the first place, so no biggie for me. On the up-side, I get to play Rhapsody in the background while I work, which is nice. (I've got 400+ songs in Rhapsody and only 6 in iTunes.) Now, if Amazon comes out with a way for me to stream Video on Demand on the iPad (I've got 20+ tv seasons and 100+ movies there), I'll be riding a gravy train with biscuit wheels.

Yea to be honest simply giving me the ability to switch apps quickly is a big big advantage. I hated hitting the home button to check mail, then slapping my head when I realized I had to restart an app when I was done. Having my browser instantly ready with the pages I was looking at before switching has already saved me a bunch of time.

Its not quite as good as Androids options, but it is much more useful than iOS 3.x was.

Originally Posted by peled

I am Asking for a very basic thing. I want to go to the browser get a movie to start downloading from YouTube, and while waiting - to read and/or reply to mail. Once I hear in the background that the movie started, I'll switch back to the browser, and watch the movie.

Another Example. I want to be able to open at the same time 5 sites on my browser. While the system is loading them I will use the time to write some memo. The sites will load in the background ( Internet might be sloaw - so it takes time...).

More:
I watch a movie. I am getting to a boring part , I want it to run in the background while I am into my mail. Geting back when the good part starts...
And a lot of other examples for real true multitasking.

here's my take on it.....

"multitasking" can be interpreted/implemented on deff levels. Apple's implementation is perfect for iOS devices, mainly because it saves precious battery time. I read somewhere that depending on how the app was made, it can complete several tasks in the background for some period of time before going on some sort of sleep mode. Although gimped compared to a full OS's multitasking ability, this becomes a strong point when considering the device was built for mobility and saving as much battery life as possible is key.

Also consider the iPad was never meant to completely replace a computer/laptop in every aspect. For the casual user full multitasking abilities is not really all that important.

-----
As pointed out earlier in your examples, the youtube app might need an update to be able to multitask, but that makes it clearly a non OS problem.

I prefer browsing on Atomic browser because of the availability of tabbed browsing, again a shortcoming of the app itself.

Finally if you have the movie playing already, why not scrub to the good parts and skip the bad ones altogether?
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If there's anything I wanted as far as multitasking goes was to have multiple screens to show the apps running. But then again this isn't a full OS we're talking about, and as far as mobile OS's go, this is definitely 2-3steps ahead of everyone else.

Does iOS 4.2 allow you to play some music while also playing a game like Angry Birds with sounds?

How about buffer a slow loading youtube video while you are browsing in safari?

Does it allow you to leave a video without it stopping automatically? That was/is real annoying on 3.2. Sometimes a video isn't visually stimulating but you want to listen to the audio while doing something else. Or maybe you want to just jump into a different application real quick while it continues to play.

And then comes the biggest point of all. To even use any of the features of the multitasking, individual developers have to add the functionality to their apps. So some apps may multitask fine while others dont. This seems to go against the entire vision of Apple and is very confusing.

If there's anything I wanted as far as multitasking goes was to have multiple screens to show the apps running. But then again this isn't a full OS we're talking about, and as far as mobile OS's go, this is definitely 2-3steps ahead of everyone else.

Lets slow down there. 2-3 steps ahead of everyone else? Strip away the app store and anything not included stock by Apple and iOS is 2-3 steps behind stock Android. As far as mobile OS's go, Apple has allowed theirs to lag behind. Their massive appeal is the gigantic awesome app store. Get back to me when they include voice search, turn by turn navigation, WIDGETS and the ability to customize your device past changing the wallpaper.

It does multi-task - you can play music in the background while checking your email - two tasks running concurrently therefore multi-tasking.
Apple have limited what can run in the background and for me that makes perfect sense - I used Pocket PCs for years and while it had a form of memory management, it wasn't ideal and you could easily floor the device. Modern PCs have the horsepower and memory not to mention screen real estate to run multiple applications in a usable fashion. Smaller device simply don't have this capability and the fact that the iPad does what it does so well is credit to Apple.
Just because the way Apple handle multi-tasking on their device does not meet some people's expectations, it doesn't mean it isn't multi-tasking.

Heh you have to laugh at some of these comments.

It's a small gadget with a small chip and limited ram but some expectations and demands far out strip it's capabilities.

Enjoy it for what it can do now as it will be superceded next year by something better........but then we'll no doubt moan about it's limitations in turn.
For some the glass is always empty.

Originally Posted by IpadOne

Guy’s no need to reply at this bashing…. he can go to exchange or ask refund … so many million people happy how one can talk like this right ???

maybe is women refuse some game yesterday night so this morning it’s Apple is ennemy

Let him have it Marie and other female members!!!!!!!