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hi,
having a discussion with my friend about our phones and why hero is better than his.
I have a friend, he has iphone 3GS. Says that he can Multi-task on it. He can play music in the background, make a call on bluetooth, and surf the net; all at the same time.
This sounds like multi-tasking to me.
SO.. what am I missing? please enlighten me.
PS.. I love my hero!!!
You can do certain multitasking on an unjailbroken iPhone, but can't run multiple apps at once. ie. you can't have an RSS app running in the background looking for updates, a twitter client waiting for messages and something else in the foreground.
AFAIK. But if it's jailbroken then I believe you can multitask.
listening to music on the background is not multitasking if you ask me.
oh.. yes.. he is jailbroken...
Why would he want to listen to music while making a phone call?
I have a 3GS and use pro switcher. This is multitasking that causes me no
lag or battery drain. more here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9C0oFj40Ms&feature=related
rdgut said:
listening to music on the background is not multitasking if you ask me.
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Click to collapse
Having owned a 2g/3g/3gs and Android phones I can tell you for certain 3gs is not multitasking, although it makes up for it very well.
Its a bad example I know but the moment you press the home button on the iphone it will either quit the app completely, or suspend it. When its suspended the app cannot carry out other tasks, Tomtom passes a junction you should have turned at, you've missed it because the phone isnt multi tasking. Wheras your android phone tells you to "Please turn Left in 300yds"
A good example of iphone os's made up "multi tasking" is the ability for you to exit certain apps (the stock apps are best) and resume as if you were multitasking - Contacts for example, opening a contact then hitting home, openning your emails, hitting home again, then going back to contacts, and it maintains the same view, as if you've never left that screen. Its a simple thing but works really well.
Phones I've had in the last 12 months include the G1, HTC Diamond, HTC Touch, iPhone 2g, 3g, 3gs (all size variants), HD2 leo, + a few others that I cant remember, and soon a Hero so I've tried pretty much every smartphone available.
Oh.. and my 3gs is jailbroken for that very reason I need true multi tasking on a couple of apps rather than push notifications Backgrounder to the rescue
ldavies83 said:
A good example of iphone os's made up "multi tasking" is the ability for you to exit certain apps (the stock apps are best) and resume as if you were multitasking - Contacts for example, opening a contact then hitting home, openning your emails, hitting home again, then going back to contacts, and it maintains the same view, as if you've never left that screen. Its a simple thing but works really well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android does this too, as well as allowing true multi-tasking.
Regards,
Dave
Raptor-21 said:
Why would he want to listen to music while making a phone call?
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Hahahahahaha Nice one
Raptor-21 said:
Why would he want to listen to music while making a phone call?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
joking aside...
It was just an example...
anyways, can anyone..
give me a better way to show me and my friend, how to confirm that the iphone can not multi-task???
Dan330 said:
give me a better way to show me and my friend, how to confirm that the iphone can not multi-task???
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Click to collapse
Well, Spotify is a good example. Stream some music and then switch away from the app to do something else - the music will stop. This doesn't happen with the Android version.
Of course, if he's jailbroken and running Backgrounder, this won't apply, as he could use Backgrounder to stick Spotify into the background but it does highlight the issue for most iPhone users.
It should really be stressed though that the iPhones lack of multi-tasking is not a technical issue with the OS - the OS is perfectly capable of multi-tasking, and indeed many of Apples own apps are permitted to multi-task.
The issue is that Apple specifically disallow 3rd party apps from multi-tasking as they believe this "improves" the user experience. This may well be true for the vast majority of iPhone users, but personally I'd prefer the choice without having to resort to jailbreaking the phone.
I fully expect Apple to relent in the very near future, and a future OS version will allow apps to run in the background. This will be quite ironic if they do so, because apparently Windows Phone 7 is purported to disallow multi-tasking too!
Regards,
Dave
Dan330 said:
give me a better way to show me and my friend, how to confirm that the iphone can not multi-task???
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Click to collapse
I am a addict of moutain walk. I am use to record my tracks on google earth with my phone. Some applications in Android/Iphone OS do that)
With an iphone i cannot do anything else! With android i can listen webradio music, send a picture of the landscape by email to friends, look landscape infos and historical informations on the web, tweet, use google buzz, etc.. while always recording my tracks.
It's impossible to do that with an Iphone! I have to stop the recording that is really stupid!
Locale is the example I often use. Runs in the background and changes phone settings based on location, etc.
a simple test would be entering a url in the browser, hitting enter and immediately going back to the home screen. then wait a minute or so and go back to the browser.
on the iphone the browser will have stopped loading the page and will have to reload. on android the page will have loaded in the background and will be fully rendered.
although the iphone can support multitasking when jailbroken with apps like backgrounder, i find it a hassle i can happily live without on my hero
Locale would be my example as well -- love the app to death <3
As much as this pains me to say...
Palm Pre/Pixi = True Multitasking
klbjr said:
As much as this pains me to say...
Palm Pre/Pixi = True Multitasking
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Not sure what this is supposed to mean when Android supports "true multitasking".
Regards,
Dave
Full multitasking with every app's UI being constantly updated is a flawed concept, especially on restrictive environments such as smartphones. After all, we can only see one app at a time on these small screens of ours.
The key element here is background services. Android has support for background services, meaning anyone can write a music player and have it play music in background. iPhone does not allow that; only the stock music player can run a background service to play music.
The example applies no only to music players, but to IM apps, to email, etc. A prime example would be browsing the web with an IM app running in background. Impossible on iPhone, and done by many on Android.
iPhone tries to remedy the situation by offering push notifications, but they rely on external servers sending notifications to the phone, and we all know how pleasant it is to get a popup in our face while we're playing a game. Besides, push notifications don't address the problem of background services that do things other than sending notifications, such as the music player.
Android's multitasking model is a good example of how background services should work on phones. It separates the UI from the service, so that the UI can be suspended or even killed while the service still does its job.
On a sidenote, I'm quite sure Windows Phone 7 will have support for background services. Their main point is how most apps will be directly integrated into their UI, though. I like the concept.
foxmeister said:
Not sure what this is supposed to mean when Android supports "true multitasking".
Regards,
Dave
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Click to collapse
Well maybe I should have clarified. Yes the Hero allows for background apps to continue to run when you switch away from it to another app. It's the whole process of switching between the different apps that to me encompasses "true multitasking". The Pre/Pixi just handles the whole process much more smoothly and fluid. Better than any phone currently on the market. That is the only reason why I haven't gotten rid of mine as of yet. Even after having the TP2, Moment and now Hero, I still find myself using my Pre for most daily tasks. For me, I can do things twice as fast on my Pre than any other phone I have had and they are without question the Multitasking King/Queen of the market.
Hi guys,
I thought i share my thoughts and experience with people who have not decided which phone to buy. Maybe my input will make the decision easier (or maybe it will confuse you even more hehe).
Also I am hoping people with Android experience maybe can assist me with some of my negative bullets. I'm very new to Android so i apologies for my mistakes in my so called review/comparison.
And lastly i dont want to start any fanboy android vs iOS. This is just my personal view of the two phones/OS'es. Its maybe a bit unfair since i been using iPhone for the last 3 years and Android for only a week but still some of the bullets are independent of that. Any how lets dig into it, First i take the negative side of SGII and next the positive sides.
(maybe my topic is a bit misleading but below some of the items are compared against iPhone but i wont write all the plus/negative for iPhone since the SGII list is already pretty big and i want to focus on SGII which i hope can replace my iPhone)
- When i exit USB mode (where i can access the SD card) i cant find a way to reconnect it without cable unplug->plug. Is there a way i missed?
- Browser doesnt word wrap the text/column so good on table tab. I had a side by side comparison with my iPhone4. On iphone the whole article including images are resized and the text is fully readable. On Galaxy S2 images are not resized and text is readable but just barely. So the whole screen real-state is not fully utilized with the lower resolution and bad browser formatting.I have tested Opera also but the whole word wrapping experience left a very bad taste in my mouth. It was the worst experience ever, the article jump up and down every 5 sec or so, i think the browser got confused for some reason and couldnt decide how to format the page (this was when double tapping).
- Default browser crashes (go to qj.net where i usually visit to read about games).
- Text selection is a pain sometimes. First problem is that in every app it behaves differently. Second problem is that the process to select a text isnt so smooth.
- Confused about task and background proceses that start magically! When using taskmanager i can see mostly 2-3 tasks there and this makes sense. Now using other task killers suddenly they show 10-15 tasks. I understand these are background task but its beyond me why some of them suddenly are there. Like Kies, this should never be started unless i am using Kies. I can see now why my battery goes dows so fast (well compared to iPhone again). Why is there so many tasks started and why cant i control them from vanila Android. This should be a must. I dont want to root my phone to do the basic settings.
- Pretty much all application is downloaded can only be installed on phone memory. Why doesnt Google enforce developers to adapt to new versions of Android is beyond me.
- I havent found a way to backup everything on the phone (including applications and their save data) to my pc/mac. Without this i dont like to experiment rooting and other shizzles.
- Apps are not as smooth and functional on GS2 compared to iPhone4. Ex: Tunein Radio, i cant skip to next song. Ex2: ign app (iphone) allow for daily videos while the Android version is very poorly done and dont have any videos. Feels like Everything works just a little better on iPhone compared to Android phones.This is something most people cant understand if they havent had iPhone for a long time i think.
- Slow battery charging. I usually start charing at around 20% battery left. In one hour GS2 reaches around 40-50% while iPhone goes to 80%
- Headset lacks volume + next/back track when playing music.
- Creating folder through Kies Air not possible. for ex in media make a folder called movies.
- Drag&Drop in Kies air missing.
- When uploading a file through Kies Air there should be a progress bar, now it just looks busy and you dont know if its uploading or it hangs.
Ok now to some good sides on the Galaxy S2:
+ Brilliant screen (even if i think resolution could be better)
+ Flexibility and open market for every sort of application. Much like windows here you can add more functionality and make the phone very personal.
+ Excellent codec support. It plays pretty much everything i through at it. Well done Samsung.
+ Very good camera (even better then iPhone i admit)
+ Very good video recording (also better then iPhone)
+ Very light
+ Feels pretty good in your hand (even though i’m afraid one day the backvocer will break, i had a Nokia N95 and one day the smal plastic edges broke when i was opening the cover. Same thing will happen ti GS2 i’m sure)
+ Expandibale uSD.
+ Very cool fearure called Kies Air where i can access most studd through browser. (this can also be added to minus since it doenst work perfectly everytime i tested but the potential is there)
+ Nice features like pinch effect for desktop + many nice widgets.
+ I think you can make proper call recording on SGII (CallRecorder) but havent confirmed myself yet.
Lastly i like to say SGII is a wonderful phone and i really really want to use it as my primary phone. The one thing i hope Samsung fixes that will make me more loyal to Android is the default browser. The text wrapping must be improved and the browser more stable. I like the smoothness of the default browser and this is the most used part of the phone and so far my iPhone is better but i hope 2.3.4 update maybe can improve this.
Any input, tips, tricks are welcome. I really appreciate your help.
Hopefully this will help you, at least in some areas (i numbered them in the order that you have used):
1) using developer mode at least (i prefer it as its faster and more compatible than samsung's stuff) you can mount/umount at will the card on the pc via the phone without unplugging
2) You may want to try Opera Mobile, it seems to do a very good job at this. I'd like to see this in the stock browser too, but hey, this is Android, you have the choice to change the browser if you like ;-)
3) Well, same thing I guess. 2.3.4 may improve stability but the rest, I don't know, I wouldn't bet on it. I like Firefox quite a bit as well, but text wrapping is odd on it.
4) Android issue =/
5) I wouldn't use any task killer. Check the active apps and uninstall any app that doesn't behave (keep only the ones you REALLY need that still do stuff in the background, like email etc, but not too many). Seems to work a zillion time better for battery life. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a decent way to enforce such a policy.
Regular background tasks are not necessarily ever active. It just means they're frozen in the background and do nothing. As long as they do nothing it's fine, it's just faster to start them again (instant, in fact). The issue is really when they're activating every XX minutes while in the background.
6)Doesn't matter, the recent samsung phones such as the SGS2 have a HUGE internal memory compared to other phones, you'll never have space issues for that imo.
7)Install a kernel with CWM and then, boot in recovery and run a nandroid backup. It will create the backups on your sdcard. Copy them to your PC. Also, copy /efs using tools or manually..
You can restore using a CWM kernel later on and nandroid restore.
You can also use stuff like TitaniumBackup, but it's not nearly as thorough as nandroid backup (which is doing basically disk images, while Titanium and other such apps just copy app/settings)
8)Trollish subject. Some apps are superior on Android, some are superior on iOS. Heh SGS2's browser speed eats my IP4 for breakfast for example. If the same Android app doesnt have the feature of the iOS app, complain to the dev or find another app.
9) it's true it's like that, nothing you can do about it (technically, something could be done but that's probably not wise at all)
10) Use another music player, such as PowerAmp if you like. There's (many, many) other possibilities as well. It also let you boost the volume higher than the stock max volume (although I find stock to be loud enough)
11) Don't use KIES air to do that then ;-)
12) Likewise. There are apps like KIES air, you might want to try them btw. Make a little search, I dont have the name in mind, but they do exist, others will probably point them out
13) I do get a progress bar that moves, maybe a browser issue. Anyway, see point 12)
Cheers for the answers and help. I write the comments inline below.
bilboa1 said:
Hopefully this will help you, at least in some areas (i numbered them in the order that you have used):
1) using developer mode at least (i prefer it as its faster and more compatible than samsung's stuff) you can mount/umount at will the card on the pc via the phone without unplugging
A: i did test this mode but it asked me to unplug the cable also, same thing for MTP. Dont you get that?
2) You may want to try Opera Mobile, it seems to do a very good job at this. I'd like to see this in the stock browser too, but hey, this is Android, you have the choice to change the browser if you like ;-)
A: As mentioned i already tested this. Opera does some things better and some things worse. For instance visiting one of my favorite sites like Engadget.com the whole page jump up and down when i zoom in a little. To be honest the stock + Opera feel very bad compared to iPhones browser. I hope Opera or Samsung improve on this area. This is the most used feature for me.
3) Well, same thing I guess. 2.3.4 may improve stability but the rest, I don't know, I wouldn't bet on it. I like Firefox quite a bit as well, but text wrapping is odd on it.
A: Lets hope so
4) Android issue =/
A:
5) I wouldn't use any task killer. Check the active apps and uninstall any app that doesn't behave (keep only the ones you REALLY need that still do stuff in the background, like email etc, but not too many). Seems to work a zillion time better for battery life. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a decent way to enforce such a policy.
Regular background tasks are not necessarily ever active. It just means they're frozen in the background and do nothing. As long as they do nothing it's fine, it's just faster to start them again (instant, in fact). The issue is really when they're activating every XX minutes while in the background.
A: Yes true, i think Android just shows to much info for regular user. I have to see past the background tasks perhaps. Also some appz you can not remove like the hubs and such. Sure i can root and hack but i'm not so interested to do so just yet. Maybe when i'm a bit more user and understand Android better
6)Doesn't matter, the recent samsung phones such as the SGS2 have a HUGE internal memory compared to other phones, you'll never have space issues for that imo.
A: Actually i got over 12Gig of Appz on my iPhone so 16Gig (or actually 12Gig which is free) isnt all to much when you have navigator (3,5Gig) and games and blogs and such. But sure its enought for a time to come. The bottom line is Google must be tougher with the market otherwise the fragmentation will just grow.
7)Install a kernel with CWM and then, boot in recovery and run a nandroid backup. It will create the backups on your sdcard. Copy them to your PC. Also, copy /efs using tools or manually..
You can restore using a CWM kernel later on and nandroid restore.
You can also use stuff like TitaniumBackup, but it's not nearly as thorough as nandroid backup (which is doing basically disk images, while Titanium and other such apps just copy app/settings)
A: Thanks for the tips, i will write it down. As said i dont dare yet to mess with hacking but soon i was actually considering using the TitaniumB , hear its easy to use.
8)Trollish subject. Some apps are superior on Android, some are superior on iOS. Heh SGS2's browser speed eats my IP4 for breakfast for example. If the same Android app doesnt have the feature of the iOS app, complain to the dev or find another app.
A: I'm noob on what is there on the market so i'm sure there are many awesome apps on Android but when comparing the same app on Android vs iOS the Android was inferior. That was what i was comparing.
Another thing i dont really experience is the speed. To be honest i dont see such a huge speed difference when using my Wlan at home. But maybe you are right
9) it's true it's like that, nothing you can do about it (technically, something could be done but that's probably not wise at all)
A: I guess your right. On the other hand it could be possible a fw update could adjust some values for the current input, this could be a software limitation also i think. Lets hope
10) Use another music player, such as PowerAmp if you like. There's (many, many) other possibilities as well. It also let you boost the volume higher than the stock max volume (although I find stock to be loud enough)
A:Thanks for the tips will test this. Actually this is same thing as the copy/paste issue. I expect the behaviour to be the same no matter application (coming from iOS) but here it seems its application to application. This offer more freedom to developers for sure but it will also generate crapy software and result in a bad user experience. It would be so much better if there were a set of rules that all developers should follow on certain areas (this one is one such area).
11) Don't use KIES air to do that then ;-)
A: hehe true but this is the official way so i thought it should have been well tested and all
12) Likewise. There are apps like KIES air, you might want to try them btw.
Make a little search, I dont have the name in mind, but they do exist, others will probably point them out
A: Will do.
13) I do get a progress bar that moves, maybe a browser issue. Anyway, see point 12)
A: Strange, have to test again on IE which i hate, i use Firefox only. Also tested Safari on my mac.
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Click to collapse
Thanks again for your input mate. Back to play more with my GSII
Applications can also be installed on the external sd card.
Applications and I also believe their user data are backed up on google server. So if you factory reset the phone and sync with google, it will download all previous apps.
About the slow charging - are you on old firmware version or do you charge over USB?
Creating a folder through kies air is not possible, that is correct. To be honest I am happy that there is even an app which allows to copy media etc. over wifi, you know there are phones which don't have that, for example the iPhone.
All apps I am using are working fine. If an app is not stable it's developer's fault, not the phone.
Ios is from 2007.. android 09.. 1-2 years between them. just think how far android have gone the last year.. give it 2 years and then compare it to iphone 4 in it current state.. well yes i know android is older.. but the initial realse was around 08-09 and IOS june - 07.
and yes.. so far iphone fits those who just want it to work better.. that means ppl not that used to computers etc.
and currently i dont own an iphone but i got a first generation ipod touch.. and yes even that stoneage IOS thing does alot of things better then my S2..
bah but this iphone vs android is getting old its a subject that can go on forever and ever..
well ill stick with my laggy android.. well i've been told by my iphony friends that its laggy.. i just dont see it
vampyren said:
Hi guys,
Any input, tips, tricks are welcome. I really appreciate your help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice overview.
IMO S2 is the best phone on the market now. But due to appl's hype, n matter what hardware specs they release, the iphone will always be superior to ANY phone. They could release an iphone with 1st gen hardware, and it will still make more sales than sgs2.
But, slowly more and more ppl are moving towards androi, and apple are losing sales. they even copied bb and android in ios 5..
Also coming from an iPhone 4 to the GS2 I can safely say that I don't miss the iPhone at all which I thought I would.
Having owned a Nexus S in the past and feeling a bit bewildered as there was a lot of stuff within the OS which felt unpolished and unfinished and now 2.3.3 is like night and day for that and it feels much more like a complete OS to me.
@OP give it time there will be a lot of things you can do with your new phone which would require rooting on your iPhone 4
The world of apps and widgets and customization is at your finger tips so jump right in and enjoy
My phone is running ADW Launcher EX with 90% icon dock size, 5x5 grid for homescreen, transparent drawer and miui weather
The only thing you might miss is the app store and iTunes integration (if you use it), other than that the Galaxy S II has it beaten quite comfortably.
@zxz0O0:
OOH that is cool , i think some option about it but didnt think it was what i thought it was nice to have it confirmed. Then this is pretty much what Apple is adding into iOS now with the cloud thing. Pretty cool Android has it already. By the way why do people use program like TitaniumBackup when there is google sync ? is there any limitation to the cloud backup? will all games data, programs data, settings be backed up or just Android OS stuff?
About FW i use the latest i think KE7 i think its called but i read there is a new one coming out next week so hoping for better battery life.
And your last point is something we can debate about for a long time but my view is that if you dont have strict rules developers do what ever they want and can let their app go without update. On the other hand if Google enforce some guideline like having option to install to SD card developers must go by that or their application is removed from market. In the end users will benefit and the platform will grow. But this is my view alone.
@olyloh6696:
I dont think its just hype really. I mean we are comparing a year old phone to SGII here and they are pretty much head to head in most scenarios i tested. But i see your point and i do agree that Android has a charm about it. I love the moving background, i love the whole flexibility to do what you want with the interface. Specially SGII's support for codecs so i dont have to spend 2 day re-encoding all my movies etc. So there are definatley benefits with Android but iOS has the benefit to be easy and working perfectly with the functions it offers from the get go. I think its a matter of preference and more advanced users will move to Android (a bit like me).
@daleski75:
Yupp i think i just need to play with it more and get used to the eco system
I think i will harass Opera developers to fix the formatting thing on the webpages now
Thanks for your input guys, gonna go out and take a walk now, later.
There are also many other good browsers, xscope, miren and dolphin hd to name a few, they all have their own way to format the page and all are pretty good many have different options too for formatting and text wrapping (I believe the default samsung browser also has some options)
also I believe google sync doesnt save all app data (eg angry birds progress is not saved)
That is correct...Google Sync doesn't backup app data (like your Angry Birds scores). This is where Titanium Backup (commonly abbreviated to as TiBu) comes in. It "sort of" does cloud backup (via Dropbox), but its strength really shows when you start installing/changing/updating custom ROMs. Typically, it's used to backup your apps and their data to a folder on your SD card. I can also do some pretty advanced stuff that you probably wouldn't use much (if at all). In my view, the strength is it's ability to deal with batch jobs. For example, before installing a new ROM, I backup all user installed applications (non-protected ones, anyway) with only a couple clicks. Restoring is just as easy, provided you have the paid version (it allows for hands-off batch restore of your apps). Another cool feature it has is "freezing" apps. Say you root your phone and may want to clean some carrier crapware off of it, but aren't *totally* sure. You can freeze those apps...they stay installed and can be defrosted at any time, but they won't be available for use until you do.
Also, I agree with you that a lot of iOS apps are much better than their Android counterparts. I believe this is the case for one main reason: there are tons of people using Android and tons of people on iPhones...you can essentially count on one hand the number of iOS phones Apple has to support, and they are all sold by Apple. Now, look at the number of Android phones and devices and their individual specifications...that makes developing apps for Android pretty complicated. Devs have to take into account different CPUs, memory limitations, and the biggie--SCREEN DIFFERENCES! However, I like being able to run an app developed for a phone on my Honeycomb tablet. Yeah, it may be ugly (not necessarily), but it almost always works! I have a network tool I use that only shows up on about 1/6th the screen of my tab, but I don't care...it still does the job.
Don't forget another important aspect of the Android vs. Apple thing...Apple has control of their devices and their operating systems, and the cell phone carriers don't have control over when Apple releases an update. On the Android side, you have some manufacturers that are prompt with getting an update ready, and those who abandon their devices after they leave the store shelf. Not only that, but those who do release updates, and most do, have to deal with the likes of AT&T and Verizon and everyone else here in the US. Each company wants a ROM customized only for them, and sometimes the manufacturers actually have to pay the cell companies to push out updates. This is what causes the splintering of Android, but openness is what gives it its strengths.
As a general rule, I find that the more "techy" people like the Android OS, since you can customize it and tweak it like crazy. Those who aren't quite as savvy will probably like iOS more (there's less to screw up and they all look the same). Please don't flame me for saying that...it's just a general observation that has many exceptions.
Well that's my two cents. Maybe it will be helpful in some way? <*schrugs*>
Brad
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA Premium App
There is no practical comparison possible between the mentioned phones.
Appreciate the explanation brad, TB is a nice tool indeed
Just one point, In regard to customization i can pretty do anything also when i jailbreak the iphone which is even simpler then rooting Android and what all techies do anyway with their Android phones
But i agree Android has its charm with the more open eco system.
The 2 area i wish to have before it gets perfect is the browsing and more resolution for the big ass screen (4.3)
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.
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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??
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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.
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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
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
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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