You heard that right, people --
iPhone OS 4 just brought multitasking to the platform! Apple says they've figured out how to implement third party multitasking without hurting performance or battery life, and they're demoing it now -- you just double click the home button and see a list of your apps, and you can just tap to switch between apps. The system actually runs the services apps need in the background -- the apps don't need to do them individually, so it's not a "true" multitasking system, but it seems plenty effective. There are seven services: background audio, which allows you to use the standard pop-over iPod controls, Voice over IP, which can receive calls in the background, location services for GPS and social networking (there's an indicator if any service is tracking you), updated push notifications with local notifications, task completion so you can finish things like uploads in the background, and fast app switching, which lets apps sleep and resume instantly. Notably missing? Anything for managing a conversation, like IM or Twitter, which is a big omission. Win some, lose some, we suppose.
Update: Here's a big "lose some" -- only the iPhone 3GS and 3rd generation (late 2009) iPod touch will support multitasking. The iPhone 3G and below won't -- Steve says the hardware doesn't support it. Sad face.
Developing...
Make sure to check out the
ongoing iPhone OS 4.0 liveblog!
posted April 8th 2010 2:05PM
@whySoSerious I haven't seen someone get bitch slapped that hard in a while. Thank you for the entertainment.
@whySoSerious
Command performance!
+46 Internets
@whySoSerious
I'm well aware it was a big omission from the OS, but if you think multitasking has been done well on other phones before, you have your head in the sand. I've used EVERY mobile OS since WinCE, and everytime you have more than one or two apps in memory, things go to hell... apps crash, the whole system slows down, and basic "phone stuff" (making and receiving calls) gets sloppy. Even backgrounder on my jailbroken iPhone is a pretty lousy solution. Now, I haven't used this implementation yet, so I don't know how well it will hold up, but just like copy and paste, it wasn't the first, but it will likely be the best and most stable implementation.
@JustinVincible
You mean the axim x30 from 2004 with no phone? Running winMo 2003 which slows to a crawl with 3 apps loaded? Great analogy. :rolling eyes:
@DTJ
Symbian does it fine. Next argument please.
@MarkAnderson
Yeah I used to run a GBA emulator and play music on my nokia N61, and before that native nokia 7710 apps and music + web...
But nonetheless this is good for the existing iPhone teens... I mean users ;)
@DTJ
Erm, Android handles multitasking like a champ, even on my lowly Hero.
@BoozeRob
Haha. You are so right! Back in 2000, something like an iPhone would have seemed like old news. We had tons of stuff just like it.
If it's that uninspiring and old, why did Android and WebOS come out after iPhone OS, and use capacitive, finger-friendly interfaces? The whole argument is so incredibly stupid. Anyone could have said "welcome to 2007" when Android finally got multi-touch in its browser this year, but that type of talk is reserved for stupid fanboys. Guess what you sound like?
Geez, they figure out how to finally run a background audio stream and some other stuff, and everyone wants to jump all over them. It's not a big deal anyway. My day to day use of my iPhone isn't even going to change, except that now I guess I can respond to a text without backing out of MLB At Bat or something. It's nice of course, but still not a big deal.
I'm happy about the things the iPhone has basically always had. The bar-none best performing touch screen, the excellent on-screen keyboard, the smoothly scrolling web browser, the always-been-there multi-touch gestures that perform flawlessly.
I love the fact that I am watching the Masters, live and lag free on their official app on my iPhone right now. If I ran around chasing feature lists, could I do that? Absolutely not. Or how about how I can watch live baseball games with MLB At Bat on the iPhone, where the official Android app (at least they have one) seems to lack that functionality? Some of you people are so pathetically clueless as to why many people prefer the iPhone platform over others.
Backgrounder has been multitasking for ages for the unlocked & jailbroken folks...
@IcyMike
Yeah, and it crashed backgrounding apps more times than I could count (ie, every time I opened maps while pandora or slacker was running in the background). This is a nice, elegant, first party solution.
@DTJ
you ran probably ran out of memory on that measly 128MB.
here's a news tip.
apple implementation won't work on any iDevice with less than 256MB.
If you claim to own a 3GS, then I call bullshit.
So the iPhone can multitask and the iPad can't? That's odd. But I'd like to add HAHAHA @ Microsoft's WinPho7 which will be the only system that can't multitask, their system will fail officially now
@budice4ever
Dude, I'm sure this will come to the iPad too. Very similar OS. And a free upgrade to 4.x for iPad buyers.
@budice4ever
Ummm, you might want to wait until it is actually released until you label it as a failure eh? Just sayin'...
Background VoIP is the greatest thing to come out of this press conference, woot!
i hope google/android sues for the double clicking of the home button, it's like the long press on android that references the last 6 programs you used.
@deel give me a break.
@deel Yes, because pressing a button twice is EXACTLY like pressing a button once and holding it. In fact, I'm gonna sue apple, HTC, google, sagem, british telecom and the power button of my laptop for copying my doorbell, the bastards.
@deel
Dear god you sound pathetic.
ebgolfin is gay for brian fantana. fucking pathetic
the reason why the second iphone will have a larger screen is ti support the icons having to be at the bottom and to allow for the viewing of content to be the same. You notice in the pics too the iphone is longer.
Great! Now they just need desktop widgets, 100x better notification system, and non-draconian app approval process, and they will actually be able to compete against Android :)
@schammy good for you.. stick to android. I'll stick to my iPhone for life.
@deepen03 kinda like a life sentence..:D
Notifications suck.
Now the iHaters can only complain about Flash. But that is dying so who gives a crap. LOL.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
"fast app switching. It's what allows applications to save its state and stop running, and then restart instantly where you left it."
It sucks that Windows Phone 7 didnt come out first.
man this is incredible. Apple finally delivered something great. Multitasking will change everythng. And it looks like home screen backgrounds are in too. some of the pics show a different background on them like the iPad. waiting to see what the other 100 features are.
Congratulations Apple. You finally joined the rest of the smartphone world. The sad thing is that all of a sudden multitasking is going to be a big deal, like nobody had ever done it before. Apple could make a friggin toilet that doesn't have a toilet seat and people would be talking about how great it is to take a dump now.
You want the best implementation of multitasking? Get an N900. One click, and you're shown every single thing you're running.
@LessThanDug
Sorry,
resistive touchscreen is not my thing.
not saying its bad per-se, just not my cup of joe.
@logicbombde
Its indeed the best multitasking out there. Web OS comes second.
I think if steve jobs made a tv from the 90s and claimed that it was better than HD people would buy it. Then once he made version 4 that included HD people would hail him for doing it the best.
@supraped69 haha yes
Took 'em freaking long enough.
Few months from now would be a reasonable time for me to get an iphone.
2000 applications on one device?! Holy hell.
iPhone 4 + June upgrade eligibility = Happy me.
@Motlee Same here. While I think it's lame the 3G iPhone won't get multitasking, I was planning on upgrading this Summer anyway.
@groberts1980
Same here.
But in all reality, multitasking with the 3G's measly 128MB ram would suck.
You apps would be getting killed left and right due to memory hogs like Safari and Maps
@Motlee
Yea, my 3G is JB and it has a hard time handling one app before the memory runs out. There are many times I feel like throwing it out the window it gets so unresponsive. I'll either be upgrading to the 4th gen or going EVO.
But you still can't even edit the theme, the hell?
seriously people? all so excited about multitasking? you make it sound like it will change the world?
but then again. its apple. they could convince some of you that dog shit wrapped in tin foil with fishhooks is a revolutionized must-have type of earrings.
I'm no apple fanboy, and only own an iPod...but this is exciting.
NOOOOOO::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
everything so far is just apple catching up with everyone else. Which is great, but everyone else has been busy working on new tech. Give it a couple months and apple will be behind again
Hey iPhone 4.0 see Android 1.5
feels a little like backgrounder from the jailbreak app store
Have they fixed the way you get notifications like a text message?
Does this mean a skype chat will run in the background and continue to receive messages, or will it pause, show me offline, and resume and show me online again when I bring it back up?
@captaind172
RTFA
Ehhh don't kill me but isn't this basically a closed version of android? I'm not for or against either of them it just seems the same, just with a dedicated app switching button. Not really impressed or amazed just meh, if it was like web os's multitasking without battery or performance drain then id be impressed.
OMG, A revolutionary feature! Thanks for inventing Multitasking, Apple!