Database Users

Multi-tasking in Android 2.1

Is Multi-tasking currently supported in 2.1? I get this doubt because everytime I open a new application the previous goes hidden. This apparently takes up or keeps eating the resources in the background.
Instead, if 2.2 (froyo) comes up with something like the iPhone 4 handles it will be simply superb. I know even now there are add ins from the market, still they are not easy and friendly as iPhone 4 handles multi-tasking - where we can simply scroll through the application and open or close or minimise the different applications that are already open.
Please someone confirm this...or am I missing something until android 2.2 comes out.

Your right... whenever I am running an application and I press the menu button then start another application, I can see the old application running in the Services (or background).
When I quit the new application and go back to the former app, it shows me where I left off... Now, this is "technically" multi-tasking but of the sucky kind...

To minimize just press the homebutten. To switch between the last 6 task just press the homebuton for about 1 second.

In 2.1, you still long press the home key to show the most recently run applications. This is not necessary the running application. You could have manually closed an application but it will still be shown. Similarly, you could have application actually running and yet not shown there.
Another point to be aware is that although long press of home key brings up the most recently used application and allows you to jump to them, there is no facility to force close an application from there; unlike in iOS4, where on the multitasking application dock, you can force close it, as well as jumping to that application.
Another key difference between the two is that in Android 2.1, only the last 6 used applications are shown, although most of the time, I find 20+ applications running, often started by themselves mysteriously (that's another story though). So, for the running application not listed as one of the six, you can't jump to them via long pressing home. Instead, you have to go back to the desktop, find your application, and launch the application in order to switch to them.
So yah, 2.1 is a little "backward" still compared to iOS4. Hopefully 2.2 improves on this.

As far as I know the multitasking from android is better than the one in iOS4. Multitasking is not complete on iOS4, there are some applications that you are not available to use as multitasking application.
http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/04/multitasking-android-way.html
Here is the link to why and how the android multitasking works.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/199528/multitasking_with_ios_4_is_horrible_apple_blew_it.html
Here an article of PCWORLD giving negative feedback about iOS4 multitasking

eaglesteve said:
In 2.1, you still long press the home key to show the most recently run applications. This is not necessary the running application. You could have manually closed an application but it will still be shown. Similarly, you could have application actually running and yet not shown there.
Another point to be aware is that although long press of home key brings up the most recently used application and allows you to jump to them, there is no facility to force close an application from there; unlike in iOS4, where on the multitasking application dock, you can force close it, as well as jumping to that application.
Another key difference between the two is that in Android 2.1, only the last 6 used applications are shown, although most of the time, I find 20+ applications running, often started by themselves mysteriously (that's another story though). So, for the running application not listed as one of the six, you can't jump to them via long pressing home. Instead, you have to go back to the desktop, find your application, and launch the application in order to switch to them.
So yah, 2.1 is a little "backward" still compared to iOS4. Hopefully 2.2 improves on this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
..now that's one place where we look ancient than iOS4, are there any words that this will be improved in 2.2?
Instead it could have just been without multi-tasking so when we start a new app the previous one to get closed atleast that saves on the RAM. I hate iPhones but just this feature makes me disturbed why android hasn't dones this yet as this is so very basic.
I know the third part app in the adroid market does this but not as elegant as the iphone 4 handles this.

sany said:
..now that's one place where we look ancient than iOS4, are there any words that this will be improved in 2.2?
Instead it could have just been without multi-tasking so when we start a new app the previous one to get closed atleast that saves on the RAM. I hate iPhones but just this feature makes me disturbed why android hasn't dones this yet as this is so very basic.
I know the third part app in the adroid market does this but not as elegant as the iphone 4 handles this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, the way iOS4 handles it is not even half as elegant as the way jailbroken phones do it. It is even better to disable iOS4 task switcher and use Cydia task switchers (there are 5 or 6 different method, you pick the one that you like most). If I'm the developer at Google, I'd copy jailbroken iPhone's switcher called the Circuitous. With it, you can swipe the task bar left or right to go to the previous or next active application!!! You can also double press the home key for example to show a list of task actually running (rather than most recently launched applications). You press home key to truly quite the application, and long press to make it run in the background while in both case show the desktop.
I personally don't like the task switcher in iOS4. It does not let me force close the application with the same act of quiting it. Instead, one has to bring up the task list and remove it there in order to force close. This is not productive. Also, very often I toggle betwen two or three application, and I find swiping the taskbar to be a lot more fun and productive.

How do I know if there's programs running in the background or not?
And how do I shut down programs where I can't find any Quit button (mostly of the programs I think is like this).

Chrilleee said:
How do I know if there's programs running in the background or not?
And how do I shut down programs where I can't find any Quit button (mostly of the programs I think is like this).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Samsung's stock widget will tell you if anything is "running" other things will be idling that the widget may or may not pick up on. You can pick up a 3rd party task killer to see more details.
3rd party task killers would be one way to quit the programs after closing. The way Android operates, if you hit the "back" button out of your program it quits running but will stay in memory if there is available room in your memory.

Actually the Android 'idea' is that you don't close applications. Android will keep applications around in case you want to go back, and only close them when memory is needed. Before closing them outright it will try to close secondary activities and recover memory elsewhere, so that closing an app is the last resort.
Android applications are explicitly organized in autonomous activities so that they can be stopped independently.
Keep in mind that the fact that an application is 'in background' does not mean that it is actually doing something, and empty memory does you no good unless it's actually needed, so it might as well be used to keep an application loaded.
Only applications that stay active in background have a quit button, like IM clients for example. The others don't have it because ideally you don't need to close them. Of course when the system does need to free memory you might experience some delay as applications are closed.
On the iPhone OS there is a similar model, with the difference that applications don't have 'activities' that can be independently closed. In case of memory starvation the OS first asks applications to free some memory, if possible, then starts killing them outright, but it has no means to force applications to free memory.
I stopped using task killers and found that they are not that needed unless you really can't stand small delays now and then. I didn't find the iPhone multitasking any friendlier at all...

eaglesteve said:
Actually, the way iOS4 handles it is not even half as elegant as the way jailbroken phones do it. It is even better to disable iOS4 task switcher and use Cydia task switchers (there are 5 or 6 different method, you pick the one that you like most). If I'm the developer at Google, I'd copy jailbroken iPhone's switcher called the Circuitous. With it, you can swipe the task bar left or right to go to the previous or next active application!!! You can also double press the home key for example to show a list of task actually running (rather than most recently launched applications). You press home key to truly quite the application, and long press to make it run in the background while in both case show the desktop.
I personally don't like the task switcher in iOS4. It does not let me force close the application with the same act of quiting it. Instead, one has to bring up the task list and remove it there in order to force close. This is not productive. Also, very often I toggle betwen two or three application, and I find swiping the taskbar to be a lot more fun and productive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there anything similar to Circuitous available in the market for use.
thanks
S

I really do not understand how people say that iOs 4 is better in multitasking than 2.1 android. I've used the "multitasking" feature of iPhone and it is for sure not multitasking. It behaves as it should only for native apps and I believe it will not finally work for every application of the appstore.
On the other hand, multitasking on android is better. Every app you choose to re-start comes at the state you left it. Not on the first screen. Of course there is a lot of room for development, but it actually is multitasking and not multitasking in quotes.
P.S. I kind of laugh with Jobs's enthusiasm for things that already exist in the market even for years (for example videocall). It is like they invented something revolutionary and actually there are many people who totally fall for all these...
Uneducated sheep...

darnap; said:
On the iPhone OS there is a similar model, with the difference that applications don't have 'activities' that can be independently closed. In case of memory starvation the OS first asks applications to free some memory, if possible, then starts killing them outright, but it has no means to force applications to free memory.
I stopped using task killers and found that they are not that needed unless you really can't stand small delays now and then. I didn't find the iPhone multitasking any friendlier at all...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damap,
In both iOS 4 and jailbroken iPhone running backgrounded, any activities other than the telephone application can be manually closed rather then left running in the background, in order to free up memory.
I don't know about the other Android phones but I find SGS unbearably slow, whether if I do not use task killer to manually kill off the application every now and then. Not sure how much of it is due to the way Android multitask though.

ivas75 said:
I really do not understand how people say that iOs 4 is better in multitasking than 2.1 android. I've used the "multitasking" feature of iPhone and it is for sure not multitasking. It behaves as it should only for native apps and I believe it will not finally work for every application of the appstore.
On the other hand, multitasking on android is better. Every app you choose to re-start comes at the state you left it. Not on the first screen. Of course there is a lot of room for development, but it actually is multitasking and not multitasking in quotes.
P.S. I kind of laugh with Jobs's enthusiasm for things that already exist in the market even for years (for example videocall). It is like they invented something revolutionary and actually there are many people who totally fall for all these...
Uneducated sheep...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is some important points to be aware of, and most iPhone users are not aware of these points:
- If you want "true" multitasking, you must jailbreak and use backgrounder. All third party applications could then multitask. However, even that will not have two applications with audio running simultaneously. So, you can't have radio and music playing at the same time. The one in the background must pause.
- To be eligible for multitasking under iOS4 third party applications must specifically enable so. If not, you can only multitask them with jail breaking.
- if an application has been enabled for multitasking under iOS4, then backgrounder application in a jailbroken phone offers the option of letting user select the method of multitasking. The choices are to either multitask this application the "true" way as it always did prior to iOS4, or the iOS4 way (which means you don't start your applications from the beginning, but when in background, only certain processes such as GPS, VOIP, downloading, audio are running), or to automatically select the method, which means that if the application has been enabled for iOS4 multitasking then that mode will be used, otherwise it will multitask the "true" way.

sany; said:
Is there anything similar to Circuitous available in the market for use.
thanks
S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry I'm not aware of such customization possibility yet. But i would like to request for such tools so that multitasking in Android can be more easily performed. One thing about using back button for quitting application is that I find it goes to a different screen of the same application rather than the previous application, so it can be confusing. Sometime back button merely get rid of a pop up message but does not seem to quit the application.

You can't really get more simple than the os doing everything for you though. The point with android is you don't think about things like multi-tasking and just use your phone. Can't get more simple and elegant than that.
There is no need for a task manager like ios as you just open the apps you want without worrying about closing apps, or what's open and what's not.
ios on the other hand uses sudo multi-tasking, the apps don't actually stay open. I'm sure this works well but it has it's limitations. So when you close an app in ios task manager, you are not actually closing the app as it is already closed, essentialy you are just removing the icon from the drawer.
Android's system is far better. Why have a task manager when you don't need one, and especially when you only use sudo multi-tasking so the apps in the task manager are not even open at all.
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bushbox browser said:
You can't really get more simple than the os doing everything for you though. The point with android is you don't think about things like multi-tasking and just use your phone. Can't get more simple and elegant than that.There is no need for a task manager like ios as you just open the apps you want without worrying about closing apps, or what's open and what's not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both Android and iOS4 are exactly the same in saying that nobody shoud have to manually close an application. Both advocates that you let the OS close it when resources are insufficient. For iOS4, most of the application merely save the state where you left off, so it is not actually active, but with some exceptions: GPS, VOIP, audio playing, downloading, etc.
However, I personally do not find it to my liking. If I've been using say TomTom navigation software and have just completed a trip, and know that I wont be using it again in the next few days, I would rather be able to long press the home key to completely stop it, instead of just pressing the home key to keep it running in the background.
bushbox browser said:
So when you close an app in ios task manager, you are not actually closing the app as it is already closed, essentialy you are just removing the icon from the drawer.
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Click to collapse
bushbox browser, this is not how it works, based on what I was told. If you have removed the icon from the multitasking dock, then come back to launch the application, it will start from the beginning rather than where you last left of. This was a question that I asked and was told the answer. Therefore, it is capable of stopping the task from running there, not merely removing the icon from the drawer.
Hope that helps to clear up the misconception.

eaglesteve said:
Both Android and iOS4 are exactly the same in saying that nobody shoud have to manually close an application. Both advocates that you let the OS close it when resources are insufficient. For iOS4, most of the application merely save the state where you left off, so it is not actually active, but with some exceptions: GPS, VOIP, audio playing, downloading, etc.
However, I personally do not find it to my liking. If I've been using say TomTom navigation software and have just completed a trip, and know that I wont be using it again in the next few days, I would rather be able to long press the home key to completely stop it, instead of just pressing the home key to keep it running in the background.
bushbox browser, this is not how it works, based on what I was told. If you have removed the icon from the multitasking dock, then come back to launch the application, it will start from the beginning rather than where you last left of. This was a question that I asked and was told the answer. Therefore, it is capable of stopping the task from running there, not merely removing the icon from the drawer.
Hope that helps to clear up the misconception.
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Click to collapse
thanks all, it is really comforting enough to see comments from knowledgeable people in the forum who are really researching with the apps and how they work.
My only concern is that nothing in the background should slowdown the performance by hogging the resource. As long as it is taken care off that is fine.

sany said:
thanks all, it is really comforting enough to see comments from knowledgeable people in the forum who are really researching with the apps and how they work.
My only concern is that nothing in the background should slowdown the performance by hogging the resource. As long as it is taken care off that is fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My concern is the same as yours too. Unfortunately, I'm personally of the view that allowing so many applicaitons to be kept alive DO hog resources and slow things down. Therefore I'm using the task killer on my SGS to manage it. I'm using a task killer that also kill itself after killing off the unwanted task, so that itself would not be taking more resources (or at least that's how I hope would turn out).
Then the other aspect of multitasking is the user interface or how we effect:
- showing all live applications (not just most recent 6 applications), to swith there. As I said, I've notice that on my SGS, if left alone, typically have 20 to 30 applications live. The long press of the home button showing just 6 of them is not exactly a workable way to switch, is it?
- then, there is an issue of being given the freedom to truely quit an application rather than minimise it to the background, and here Android's as well as iOS4's design leaves much to be desired IMO. They both need to learn from jailbroken iPhone's backgrounder.
- finally, I believe Android as an OS could improve by having a true task manager showing applications which are truely alive, thus allowing switching to them, as well as allowing quitting of the listed applications. Yes, if user want to let the OS manage it they could just leave the list alone and not quit it, but freedom should be given to users to do so.
That's the reason I much prefer the jailbroken iPhone's method of multitasking (especially when using the Circuitous method of task switching) over iOS4 as well as Android's.

This is like a neverending story, when I had WM phone everybody was b*tching about the way he have to go to task manager and close apps and always look for tha apps that are running. Now I have android which is doing everything on its own, u dont have to care about running apps and now is everybody dreaming about iPhonish multitasking. Did I land on Mars here?

Why no exit

Ok a very general question but why is it so hard to exit an application with android!
This is my first android phone and I love it, I will never use another phone type.
My previous phones where windows mobile and closing an application was pretty simple.
With android it's easier to just turn the phone off each night and back on but I would really like to end an application when I want to.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

You need to read up on the subject a lot more.

In a nutshell, Android keeps programs in memory for quick retrieval. If a program goes unused, it eventually gets killed to make room for other executed programs.
Sent from my CELB ERIS using XDA App

jetpack101 said:
Ok a very general question but why is it so hard to exit an application with android!
This is my first android phone and I love it, I will never use another phone type.
My previous phones where windows mobile and closing an application was pretty simple.
With android it's easier to just turn the phone off each night and back on but I would really like to end an application when I want to.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this isnt windows mobile dude... read up on how android works..

jetpack101 said:
Ok a very general question but why is it so hard to exit an application with android!
This is my first android phone and I love it, I will never use another phone type.
My previous phones where windows mobile and closing an application was pretty simple.
With android it's easier to just turn the phone off each night and back on but I would really like to end an application when I want to.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as some of the other users have said, android isn't same as windows or iphone ... its based on linux and unlike windows, the memory management is much different in linux
whereas in windows, it is better to have extra free memory and this actually speeds up applications etc, in linux it is the exact opposite ... linux will take care of memory management itself and likes to keep things in memory for longer in case you ever decide to open the same application again.
so in a nutshell, as you're new to android stay away from 'app killer' apps, as your'e doing more harm than good ... it might look nice having 300megs of free memory, but you'll notice a considerable decrease in speed as every time you will doing anything, the OS has to load that app into memory ... whereas if you leave it alone, you will only notice decreased performance once in a blue moon when you open up some ridiculously big app that the linux OS has to remove more than normal amounts of stuff from memory to make room for this obnoxious app ...
anyways, to answer your main question ... this is the main reason why you can't really exit an app ... and that is why multitasking is awesome ...

Thanks for the advice. I have a much better understanding of it now.
I was looking at a task manager app but will avoid them now based on your explanation.
Sorry for the delay in getting back. Couldn't access xda.
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what about apps you dont want to use but are always active? like msn messenger or palringo ?

@Psycho
In this case you can use a taskmanager to kill a specific app, not all thing in the memory.
like a do.

I think it's been confirmed, that task killing applications aren't necessary--and infact, use more cpu/battery power; opening and closing an app is far more intensive, than reopening it from memory.
You're best bet is to just leave the phone the way it is, in regards to application/task management. My fascinate did however come stock with a task manager, to force close anything I don't want--I use it rarely.

psycho_maniac said:
what about apps you dont want to use but are always active? like msn messenger or palringo ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
even in this case, if the app was developed properly you can simply leave them alone. because the app would be running in 'background' mode it wouldn't be using negligible battery if any at all.
however, there is the rare case where the developers will act idiotic and force the app to run in 'foreground' mode even when its in the background, and in that case you can either use a task manager to only kill that specific app or go into the application settings and force close that app manually.
you can, on most occasions, figure out which app was developed with background and foreground running in mind when you check the battery usage. no one app should be higher than 1 or 2 percent over a long period of time, unless its an app that you're actually using exclusively for a long time, such as a game or maps app.
if you see any app that is higher than 5%, either simply get rid of it or use the task manager to kill it whenver you're done with it because thats a pretty good indicator that the developer didn't code it properly and is forcing the OS to keep the app running.
hope that helps

Beackman said:
@Psycho
In this case you can use a taskmanager to kill a specific app, not all thing in the memory.
like a do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just uninstall such apps. I understand that Titanium Backup can uninstall "system" applications. I just use a shell script. But then, I've been a UNIX junkie for 20 years.

sign out of messenger apps, don't kill them..
Should I Use a Task Killer?

@psycho.. and everybody else:
Check out an app in the market called autostarts. It's not an task killer, it's an task preventer. Once you set it up it just keeps the apps you specify from even running in the first place.
Android does a great job of managing the background but if I don't need an app but maybe once every week or two (gmaps) I'd prefer it didn't even start every time I boot my phone. Another example is that I love the photobucket app, but I don't actually need it to start up every time I take a picture.

I don't kill apps with a task killer, but I still think all apps should have an Exit option.
There are times when you know you're done with an app, don't want the state preserved for next time, and want to make damn sure all its resources are released.
If you want to preserve the state and come back later, back out or hit Home.
If you don't, then use Exit.
Nothing to do with task killers, just a simple app design decision.
I'm seeing maybe 20% of apps have this.

The OS does a pretty good job of deciding which apps should possess which recourses. If an app is particularly hungry for resources and is of the type that is should relinquish those resources when able, the developer should take that into account. A wise developer will know this and develop his or her app accordingly. A foolish developer assumes his or her app is the only app in the universe and doesn't give a damn about the user. In an open environment like the android platform, where the user gets to decide what is best, the wise developer wins.

[Q] multi-tasking question

hi, since I've been using honeycomb in my A500 and got to used the Xoom and Galaxy tab I noted that I can only have 5 apps on the multi-task buttom.
Is there a way that i can increase the number of apps on the multitasking buttom like Xoom and Glaxy Tab??

3.1 includes an update to show your last 18 apps in place of the 5 currently in 3.0

As far as I know, that button only shows recently opened apps, not running apps... but I too am looking forward to being able to see more.

To be honest, the whole multitasking concept on Android is an utter mess; I can never know if the application I just used is still running in the background or not unless the application itself places an icon in the systray, and there is no quick, logical way of seeing all running applications and switching between them. If you want to see all the running ones you have to jump through several hoops, and the recently opened - list doesn't indicate which ones are still running and which ones aren't.
I really hate it.

WereCatf said:
To be honest, the whole multitasking concept on Android is an utter mess; I can never know if the application I just used is still running in the background or not unless the application itself places an icon in the systray, and there is no quick, logical way of seeing all running applications and switching between them. If you want to see all the running ones you have to jump through several hoops, and the recently opened - list doesn't indicate which ones are still running and which ones aren't.
I really hate it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bump. Needs a built in logical easy to use task manager that clearly shows what is running and offers options to close/disable said app.
Not really the way android works, I find keeping a copy of atk around on my rooted device helps a lot - remove the crap that you don't use, keep an eye on running tasks and free ram.

It would be nice if they would put in a little icon to indicate which apps are open in the recent app menu, maybe even on the app icons themselves on the home screen or whatever. I don't think it'd be that hard to implement.

lord_voldemort666 said:
It would be nice if they would put in a little icon to indicate which apps are open in the recent app menu, maybe even on the app icons themselves on the home screen or whatever. I don't think it'd be that hard to implement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even something as simple as a small green sphere -- with 1px or 2px black edge around it for clarity -- next to the running applications' icons would already help. You'd still have to jump through hoops to shut them down though if they don't offer such a menu option themselves.
All in all, Android is terribly confusing and definitely isn't all that end-user-friendly. Like for example, there is no kind of help menu in any of the built-in apps, only a select few 3rd party apps offer such, meaning that it's tough for a Jane the Newcomer to figure out what's what. Then the aforementioned multitasking mess. Not to mention the fact that Android Market is a total mess itself too; Google doesn't have any kind of a validation system in place so there's all kinds of scam apps and crapware there, and apps are not even always in the correct category either. Inconsistency on controls is also a hindrance as I think Google should create very specific guidelines for basic UI management and controls. And don't get me started on topics about how things are under the hood..

Jocis said:
hi, since I've been using honeycomb in my A500 and got to used the Xoom and Galaxy tab I noted that I can only have 5 apps on the multi-task buttom.
Is there a way that i can increase the number of apps on the multitasking buttom like Xoom and Glaxy Tab??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Turn the tablet to the portrait orientation and you will see 7 apps.

WereCatf said:
To be honest, the whole multitasking concept on Android is an utter mess; I can never know if the application I just used is still running in the background or not unless the application itself places an icon in the systray, and there is no quick, logical way of seeing all running applications and switching between them. If you want to see all the running ones you have to jump through several hoops, and the recently opened - list doesn't indicate which ones are still running and which ones aren't.
I really hate it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's what i thought. Google have some big mess in all their android devices.
I didn't knew if it was right to call the recently open item a multitasking because it was somehow confusing and I think I read in the android developer page for honeycomb explains that as multitasking.
I hate the store in Puerto Rico, I'm using market enabler to get some apps because I can't see a full market and even download some apps for country limitations. I don't even have the Tablet section

Multitasking or lack of!

Im new to android i was using iphone before i got Galaxy S with gingerbread and i've noticed that if i don't use an app for a while, it gets automatically killed. For example i quit browser, or the music player, or basically any other app using the home button. Than if after a few minutes i try to return to them, but they have to load up again. This can get annoying, since almost every time i open a link in browser to view my twitter feed/resume music playback after a while/open a book/etc. the app has to load up everytime.this never happend on iOS i could open many and go back to them will be right where left of but why dosent this happen on my galaxy s? is something wrong with my phone or is just android.

+1
seems to me Android hasn't fully matured yet
But when I take my former 3GS in my hands, now my wife's, it feels sluggish and I'm missing things.

i was using 3gs before this and honestly even now using 3gs such amazing experience compared to android no lag or thing like that,but is there any mod or app that can fix the multitasking issues? evertime i close the browser to go play a song or watever n open the browser again it has to load the page all over again just like pretty mch all of the apps

There is nothing wrong with your phone or android. You said that you leave the phone for a while and then go back and you had to open the apps up again and they had to re-load. This is normal because when you press HOME to get out of them, they are kept in the memory for a short amount of time before your phone kills them off as it thinks you're not using them anymore.
If you were using say.. APP1 and then press the home button to go back to your homescreen and launch APP2, then press the home button again to go back to APP1, everything will still be the same.
But if you don't go back to APP1 for a long time, the OS kills it off to free up resources and stop background apps from eating your battery.
iOS doesn't have true multitasking, it simply freezes the current state of the app and you can pick it up again when you switch back to it. For example, in Android you can press the home button to switch away from MSN messenger, but it will still be running, you can still receive messages etc. However on iOS, if you press the home button to switch away from MSN messenger, it will momentarily sign you out and freeze the app state and then re-sign you back in when you go back to it.
I hope that helps

I have often heard this argument of "Android is true multitasking" vs "iPhone only freezes the current state of the app" and (even as a veteran Android user) I think iPhone's solution works better in practical terms.
Most of the time, with mobile computing, users switch between apps but don't really care if they are actually still "running" in the background or not - they just don't want to have to keep reloading applications from scratch everytime. For this, iOS is perfect as it almost seamlessly resumes an application the user last accessed several hours before exactly where they were at that time.
Because Android has to keep the whole application in memory, it quickly runs out (even with 512mb RAM) and then has to decide what application it will close. If switching between games (which often require >50mb each) then the memory manager will likely close game 1 as soon as I load game 2.
To add to this, with push notifications, applications don't really need to run all the time in the background (with regard to the example of MSN messenger above). The application can "freeze", allow push notifications to keep an eye out for incoming messages, then resume when I want to access it - perfect!
Of course, with the advent of 1gb phones (such as SGS II), perhaps there is an argument to be had for Android multitasking as there will be enough free memory to keep 10+ applications running at once. Who knows!

surrealjam said:
I have often heard this argument of "Android is true multitasking" vs "iPhone only freezes the current state of the app" and (even as a veteran Android user) I think iPhone's solution works better in practical terms.
Most of the time, with mobile computing, users switch between apps but don't really care if they are actually still "running" in the background or not - they just don't want to have to keep reloading applications from scratch everytime. For this, iOS is perfect as it almost seamlessly resumes an application the user last accessed several hours before exactly where they were at that time.
Because Android has to keep the whole application in memory, it quickly runs out (even with 512mb RAM) and then has to decide what application it will close. If switching between games (which often require >50mb each) then the memory manager will likely close game 1 as soon as I load game 2.
To add to this, with push notifications, applications don't really need to run all the time in the background (with regard to the example of MSN messenger above). The application can "freeze", allow push notifications to keep an eye out for incoming messages, then resume when I want to access it - perfect!
Of course, with the advent of 1gb phones (such as SGS II), perhaps there is an argument to be had for Android multitasking as there will be enough free memory to keep 10+ applications running at once. Who knows!
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Never having used IOS can you tell me that if I am visiting friends and am talking to them in a call can I then pull up their contact details and use it to switch to navigation to get me there in the middle of which I get a SMS and read it without coming out of the call or losing my place in navigation?

Tehpriest said:
Never having used IOS can you tell me that if I am visiting friends and am talking to them in a call can I then pull up their contact details and use it to switch to navigation to get me there in the middle of which I get a SMS and read it without coming out of the call or losing my place in navigation?
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lolz.
But going back to the previous post about iphones being more practical, I do agree with this point. Most users of iphones are not really tech savvy and just want a phone that works. No tweaking no technical mumbo jumbo, this is where the iphone shines. This "freezing" and its ability to bring the app back to the user seamlessly does appear to more desireable than androids "true" multitasking.
Heres hoping that future generations of android phones really provide a good multitasking experience thats both functional and practical

Any chance the Atrix is exempt from this Android "feature"?

My single biggest gripe with the Android OS is the way it closes backgrounded applications without the user's permission, unrelated to available memory but rather amount of time the app is left idle. I can be editing a Word document in QuickOffice or Docs-to-Go, then get an incoming call, answer it and talk for ten minutes, only to find my Office application has been closed and all my changes have been lost.
I am wondering if perhaps by some small miracle, the Atrix has been programmed differently from other Android devices NOT to do this, because of its intended function as a desktop substitute via the Webtop environment. No one ever wants their desktop/laptop computer shutting down applications because they left to grab a coffee for ten minutes, so I'm hoping maybe the Moto devs took this into account and somehow turned off the "auto close backgrounded apps if left idle for X minutes" functionality of Android.
It's only a slim hope I'm holding out regarding this, but maybe someone can answer definitively one way or the other.. anyone know for sure?

No, it's still the same operating system. The Webtop is completely separate from Android.

Nope. I'm slightly annoyed every time adw ex is background killed just because I was reading my email, and it has to completely reload.
Not only that, but gingerbread took away the option to keep the launcher persistent
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If your app doesn't restore the previous state on restart, then the app developer is to blame, not android. Just saying

turl1 said:
If your app doesn't restore the previous state on restart, then the app developer is to blame, not android. Just saying
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Sorry, but Motorola's responsible for any killing of webtop. X isn't designed to be magically killed the way that Android kills things.

It is worth pointing out this is less of an issue on Atrix given the 1Gb of RAM... but yes, this is still Android and as such the memory management is ultimately the same.
I have had cases on the Atrix where I am playing Angry Birds, get distracted and browse the web, forget I was playing the game... then return to the game 1 hour later to find it's still running as I left it. This certainly would NOT have happened on my Galaxy S!

Sogarth said:
Sorry, but Motorola's responsible for any killing of webtop. X isn't designed to be magically killed the way that Android kills things.
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We were talking about android apps though

turl1 said:
If your app doesn't restore the previous state on restart, then the app developer is to blame, not android. Just saying
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Most apps do restore previous state.
They also take a while to do so.
On the other hand, my biggest gripe is resolved: cm7 has an built in option under he performance setting to keep the launcher persistant, so I don't really care anymore
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From my understanding of Android programming, it only closes Background tasks automatically, all apps are started as Background tasks by default, it's up to the app to tell Android that it's a Foreground app, and it can't be closed automatically.

Hmm, I've used QuickOffice and left it alone for a while (got distracted, went on the internet, checked emails, turned off the screen, etc) and it was still all there when I came back. Does it happen to you frequently?
As a test I just made a new word document and typed some random stuff into it. I'll leave it alone for a day in the background and see if it's still there tomorrow...

Restoring to previous state works for some types of apps, but for others it's not a viable solution. For example streaming radio applications or chat programs like eBuddy, Fring, Skype etc. These need to be left running constantly in the background, not just restored to where they left off, because otherwise you're not available to be contacted through them while they're closed/offline. Some of those apps use the workaround of an ongoing notification to avoid being shut down, but that is really just a trick that developers shouldn't have to resort to.
I find that both QuickOffice and Documents-To-Go get shut down constantly when left idle in the background, even with nothing else running or using memory, and after only ten minutes or so of idle time. And I always lose all unsaved changes - the previous state is never restored.
What seems to happen is this: I can leave a document in the background for hours, and then come back to it okay, IF I don't do anything else in between. But if before returning to the open document, I launch ANY other app first, even a very small footprint one like a notepad, THAT is when the previously backgrounded apps like QuickOffice get closed by Android. It seems that Android's auto-close-after-idle activity is triggered by the next time the user launches something else. That's when the check is done and idle apps get shut down.
There are free app-switching utilities like AltTabApps and Smart Taskbar which allow you to easily see which windowed apps/tasks are still currently running. Using these I have tested and confirmed that I can actually leave quite a few things running idle in the background for a full day, and every time I keep checking, they are all still there and open, waiting to be switched back to. But then as soon as I open a new small app, and all those others have been sitting there idle and backgrounded for long enough, *POOF*, they all get closed instananeously the moment the new app is opened.
And like I said it's not related to memory, because I can see how much is free, and the app I end up opening is very small as well.
So if you're going to test, don't just leave it for a day and then try to come back to it. Before you go back to it, open something else that ISN'T already running (such as email or text messaging which are always quietly open already).. choose a brand new app to open and then try to go back to your Quickoffice document. On the three or four Android 2.2 devices on which I have tried this, I have never, ever been able to return to a document without losing all changes.
Sorry for the long message.. just important to point out the mechanism at work so as to avoid a false positive result, since there are cases when you can return to documents when you haven't opened anything else new in between.

Ok, I see what you mean now. Tried it the way you said and left it for a good while and it did indeed lose the stuff I had typed. I can see how that would get frustrating...
Have you tried using a task manager and telling it to keep QuickOffice alive (i.e. for the system to never kill it)? Although this will probably eat your battery, so I guess only do this if you really need it. I doubt there's a way to turn the functionality off entirely, as it's a pretty core part of making multi-tasking work on low power consumption devices.

Even with my devices rooted, no task manager I have ever seen or tried has successfully been able to override the core Android system to keep-alive any app that I've specified. These utilities seem only to be able to affect their OWN task-closing habits or aggressiveness levels, but not to prevent the OS from doing its own thing separate from their internal settings.
Not to get side-tracked into an OS comparison, but I have an HTC Leo HD2 running Windows Mobile 6.5, and it is able to keep a dozen applications open in the background indefinitely, without ever slowing down or draining the battery. I can leave Word Mobile, Coreplayer, Internet Explorer, Opera Mobile, Windows Messenger, and a large handful of others all open and still get a strong couple of days out of the battery. Surely if an older OS like WinMo (and even WebOS and Symbian) can do this, Android should be capable of it too. For this very reason unfortunately, I have had to stick to Android 2.1 or WM devices as I need my apps to stay open until I decide to close them. I am always hoping though that a new 2.3 or 2.4 device will come along that allows disabling of this functionality by the user.

paleozord said:
Even with my devices rooted, no task manager I have ever seen or tried has successfully been able to override the core Android system to keep-alive any app that I've specified. These utilities seem only to be able to affect their OWN task-closing habits or aggressiveness levels, but not to prevent the OS from doing its own thing separate from their internal settings.
Not to get side-tracked into an OS comparison, but I have an HTC Leo HD2 running Windows Mobile 6.5, and it is able to keep a dozen applications open in the background indefinitely, without ever slowing down or draining the battery. I can leave Word Mobile, Coreplayer, Internet Explorer, Opera Mobile, Windows Messenger, and a large handful of others all open and still get a strong couple of days out of the battery. Surely if an older OS like WinMo (and even WebOS and Symbian) can do this, Android should be capable of it too. For this very reason unfortunately, I have had to stick to Android 2.1 or WM devices as I need my apps to stay open until I decide to close them. I am always hoping though that a new 2.3 or 2.4 device will come along that allows disabling of this functionality by the user.
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The keep persitant value was depreciated from android alltogether in 2.3. However, if cm7 can be set to keep alive the launcher and the messenger app, then it stands to say there is still a way around this.
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