iPad really needs .... a max, min, close buttons

[USBill]

Well, that's not how the iPad works unfortunately. You only have one program available to you at any given time.

I guess that what you mean by available is visible on screen?

When I get an e-mail I double-tap the home button, and touch the e-mail app. It's always running and I hear the new mail beep when it arrives. When I want to switch back to Safari or the Kindle reader I'm right where I was when I left and the apps don't have to restart... they're still running. Likewise when I'm listening to Tune-In radio it continues to run while I'm working / reading / browsing. The only time it pauses the internet radio is when I click a video link in Safari and a video starts. When I switch back to the radio I can pick up where I left off.

The iPad has always been able to multitask, but the APIs were not available to programers outside of Apple until recently. Thats why you could always download from iTunes or listen to your music in the iPod app when when doing other things. Third party apps have to be updated to use the recently opened APIs before they can perform background actions.

 

[Superbike81]

Yes, the iPad will run a select few programs in the background, just not that many. Even many of my updated apps still don't save their last spot. Like my e-textbooks app.

 

[USBill]

That's not really the iPad's fault. It's the fault of the folks who wrote the app. The Notes app, and the Kindle reader (for example) would save your place even before iOS 4.

Is does this text book app require that you be online to use it?

 

[wrecklass]

There are a select few apps that do stay open in the background on iOS. The more apps that offer that background processing the more performance degredation we will see. Unless Apple decides to control which apps offer that functionality.

They do already. As more Apps are loaded older Apps are automatically unloaded to free up the small amount of memory available. You go back to those and discover they reload even if they were in the taskbar.

I do also think this is one Google got right. The back button is absurdly simple but extremely useful. Every iPad dev that tries to figure out where to put a menu icon would appreciate the menu button of Android.

Apples strict adherence to the single button mindset seems pretty silly at this point.