IOS 4.0 on iphone 3GS

[Rottie]

Glad someone understood that.

There are versions of the 3G and 2G ISPW files that have multitasking built in.

I don't think Rottie is a native English speaker. I have a hard time figuring out many of his/her posts.

 

[Spineshank]

English?

 

[TheWart]

The 3GS will get multitasking and the unified inbox. The 3G will get the latter, but no multitasking. Both will also get folders.

 

[Spineshank]

Glad someone understood that.

There are versions of the 3G and 2G ISPW files that have multitasking built in.

 

[gorcorps]

Glad someone understood that.

There are versions of the 3G and 2G ISPW files that have multitasking built in.

I don't think Rottie is a native English speaker. I have a hard time figuring out many of his/her posts.

 

[Spineshank]

Gotcha.

 

[sourceninja]

I really wish apple would have came up with a more honest term for their 'multitasking'

Maybe calling it 'background services'.

 

[Patranus]

I really wish apple would have came up with a more honest term for their 'multitasking'

Maybe calling it 'background services'.

Have you used it?

Some stuff runs, some stuff pauses, some stuff stops.

 

[sourceninja]

Have you used it?

Some stuff runs, some stuff pauses, some stuff stops.

Exactly, not multitasking. The only stuff that runs is the stuff on their approved background api's (which means just voip and some other stuff)

That means no background chat, twitter, etc. Not multitasking. Single tasking (pausing, etc) with a few background services running on a very sparse selection of api's.

I was 'this' close to upgrading my 3gs to a 4. I'm back to waiting for android phones to mature and using my jailbreak real multi tasking on my 3gs.

 

[Spineshank]

Exactly, not multitasking. The only stuff that runs is the stuff on their approved background api's (which means just voip and some other stuff)

That means no background chat, twitter, etc. Not multitasking. Single tasking (pausing, etc) with a few background services running on a very sparse selection of api's.

I was 'this' close to upgrading my 3gs to a 4. I'm back to waiting for android phones to mature and using my jailbreak real multi tasking on my 3gs.

Programs need to be written to support the feature. Obviously with it not being out yet officially you cant expect apps to be updated yet.

 

[sourceninja]

I don't think you get it.

Apple's multitasking in no way allows twitter to ever run in the background or google talk, or msn messenger. Only a handful of specific kinds of applications can run in the background with apple's 'multitasking': location data, VoIP, and audio. Nothing else can be written to run in the background. It quite simply is not multitasking. All other applications will need to either close or pause.

Calling it multitasking imho is being un-truthful.

I mean who would want to get twitter updates in the background anyway....

 

[Patranus]

I don't think you get it.

Apple's multitasking in no way allows twitter to ever run in the background or google talk, or msn messenger. Only a handful of specific kinds of applications can run in the background with apple's 'multitasking': location data, VoIP, and audio. Nothing else can be written to run in the background. It quite simply is not multitasking. All other applications will need to either close or pause.

Calling it multitasking imho is being un-truthful.

I mean who would want to get twitter updates in the background anyway....

I don't understand why you want from the application like google talk or MSN that would require a different setup from what Apple is offering.

Lets talk Google Voice. What do you think the Google Voice App should be doing in the background that it will not be able to accomplish through Apples guidelines?

Message notification? Have that.
Incoming Calls? Have that.
Outgoing Calls? Have that.

What specifically?

 

[sourceninja]

Did I mention google voice? No I said google talk. But would it be so bad if they even freaking allowed us to have a google voice app?

Google talk is a instant messaging application. I would like to be logged into google voice and get my chat messages. I'd also like to get my chat messages the moment they are sent to me, not when some push notification server decides to send them to me. I would also like my twitter updates to be checked on my schedule (say every 5 minutes) and to be notified about updates. I don't want to wait again on some half assed push server to check and notify me so I can open up an application and wait for it to sync.

My workflow now with either IM+ or beejiveIM is that I open the app, I login, I close the app. Someone sends me a message. If I am lucky I'll get that message, then I can open the app, wait for it to re-sign in again, then wait for the message to pop up. Then I can reply and repeat the whole process the next time I get a message. Why the hell can't it run in the background?

Hell the whole barrier to entry for developers sucks because of push notifications. I want to write a twitter client. I can do that just fine, but if I want my twitter client to check for new messages on a schedule set by the user I need to build an entire server and pay for monthly hosting of that server. Then that server needs to have their information and check their twitter accounts (putting a higher cost on me to cover the bandwidth) and then send them push notifications (that if I'm lucky they will get). This is stupidly over complicated. Why can't my app register a small service with the phone's cron job system to check for new tweets every x number of minutes. Then use some kind of notification api to update the badge/play a sound/make a popup. For that matter why can't the whole damn thing run in the background while I go checkout a safari page referenced in a tweet. Why can't my password storage application simply go check for itself every few hours if I added any new passwords to my desktop. My RSS reader can't go out and see if there are any updates. Think how stupid it is that for my RSS app to get updates I would need to run a push service that checks every users RSS feeds for updates (and tracks what they have already received) then send them a push notification so they can go out and do the same damn thing again on their application.

The point is that this push is stupid from a developer point of view, it is stupid from a cost point of view (you really think it is financially sustainable to keep a push server running once sales have become stale?) and it sticks apple right in the middle of everything you do (if APNS is down, push is down). Not to mention push is only one way. My app isn't running, so it can't tell the server anything new. This means no feedback to see if my push was delivered. This means there is no "send a push and if it isn't received in X minutes fire off an email" type functionality. All of these problems could be fixed by allowing things to run in the background (real multitasking).

Calling it multitasking is a sham. It's 3 or 4 api calls that allow a few approved services to run. It should be called a service api or something. They are disillusioning the public into thinking they have control over what apps they keep open. Unless you really carefully read their marketing them make it seem like you can just switch apps and whatever you are doing keeps on doing it. That is not the case at all. It's a poor substitute.

 

[Kmax82]

Just getting clarification here, because I simply don't know... So the "pause" functionality won't keep you logged in when you suspend the app? What it really needs is a background network API (Marco Arment of Instapaper) proposed this. I think it'd be perfect for this situation. Then it could "push" updates to you without needing a server, it could just make a call and then grab that data and throw a notification up. Still doesn't solve the IM issue, but I'm sure there will be more multitasking abilities in 5.0 .. ugh.. I hate how they only update once a year.

 

[sourceninja]

Right, the pause functionality is just that. They suspend the application completely until you come back to it.

This is why it has no effect on your phone's performance. It simply isn't running.

 

[Ns1]

i'll finally be able to run pandora + anything else at the same time

that's good enough for me!

 

[RedRooster]

i'll finally be able to run pandora + anything else at the same time

that's good enough for me!

Son of a....lucky! I'm stuck with Shoutcast, will still make me happy as well though.

 

[Kmax82]

Right, the pause functionality is just that. They suspend the application completely until you come back to it.

This is why it has no effect on your phone's performance. It simply isn't running.

I guess I see it, but I figured this was different than what it does now, which is exit out of the app completely. So at least you're where you left off in the app. I'd think that there'd be some way to maintain something in the app to keep long "sync" loads from happening when you go back to the app after switching.

Eh.. well I'll find out when it's released next week, and like you, I'll probably be going back to Backgroundr.

 

[Qbah]

sourceninja hit it spot on. The biggest issue is IMs. Every time I receive a push notification (and that's not always, mind you, it does happen that stuff doesn't arrive), I have to launch the IM app (BeejiveIM in my case), it loads (1-2s), logs into their servers (depends, 1-5s) and only then do the messages arrive (another 1-2s delay). Meaning it's a royal pain in the ass. And is frustrating.

Luckily, I am Jailbreaking my phone. With Backgrounder this is a non issue, as the IM app runs fully in the background. Same for Twitter. Together with Reminder I get an icon on the status bar, when I get a new message. Battery penalty is really not noticeable (phone runs the whole day with plenty of % remaining when I decide to put it in the dock for the night). Could probably run 2 days without charging. The only problem I am encountering is that when in the IM app I am inside the chat window and switch to some other app (like the browser or a game). Since the app thinks I'm running it (as technically there shouldn't be any multitasking on the iPhone and also I'm directly inside the chat window so the message arrives and is not in "ready to view" or something), no badge or icon on the status bar. Easily avoidable though, I just go back to my friends list before switching to another app. A nice notification on the status bar and a red badge with the number or messages received shows up fine then.

This is a major flaw of the new iOS. It's not really multitasking and it's a really bad solution. It is an improvement for GPS and streaming music and VoIP. But this is just a workaround, a lame hack job. I will continue to Jailbreak my phone and run awesome apps like Backgrounder and Pro Switcher to have a great experience. As far as usability, this area on a stock iPhone is laughable.

 

[Rottie]

I don't think Rottie is a native English speaker. I have a hard time figuring out many of his/her posts.

you are right I look at 3,837 posts I made since 2001 are not very good english.... *sigh*
I wish I shouldnt have posted a new topic knowing no one will be able to understand me...

Where is NEW TOPIC DELETE button???

 

[Emulex]

the only reason to go ios4 is to keep getting IPA's when folks stop making 3.x compatible ones. and i think i speak with alot of SPIRIT when i speak for others here.

i own an original iphone for the kid :sigh: will share my ipad 3g more now..