More suggestions of multitasking in iPhone OS 4.0

as an iPhone developer I would have no problem with the restriction on multitasking if only the push notifications were guaranteed to arrive.

The main reason you want to multitask is so that the user can get some notification when something happens. So you make a server and just send messages to the iphone when something happens. Trouble is, you don't know if they've arrived or not, and you don't want to send them again, because they'd get irritating.

I think that if Apple does add multitasking, it will be begrudgingly.

It feels like Apple's philosophy is to remove any abstractions they can, and remembering to quit applications isn't what they seemed to want in their touch devices.

You do something, and then you do something else.

If programs save their state when they quit, and launching another application is a button press and tap away, it might be fast enough "multitasking" that they won't take that one bit of simplicity away – of not having to go back to an old application and shut it down so it doesn't use memory.

I just hope that I don't need to buy a new iphone to enjoy this feature.

IMHO there are only a few instances where full app multitasking is needed. Many apps could get by with spinning off lightweight tasks that run in the background.

Apple could also implement pooled connection requests on some sort of timer to keep each and every app from firing up the GPS or WiFi/3G radios whenever they please.

They could also let some applications behave somewhat like the existing phone app, where they push the current application into the background until the "modal" app is finished. That and timed tasks would make most IM and SMS-type applications feasible.

Put on your thinking caps people. There are many ways to get most of the benefits while reducing the disadvantages and while maintaining a decent battery life.

Am I the only one that doesn't see the point of multitasking on such a small device.

I can already listen to music while browsing the web or checking email, what more do you want?

I can close Safari, open another app, then reopen Safari and it is exactly where I left it... What is the difference between that and minimising it on a PC? There just isn't the screen space to do two things at once.

Adding multitasking will just make the iPhone slower and less stable.

The iPad is a slightly different matter as the larger screen gives you the possibility of running two apps side by side, but I could certainly live without it... BTW this is coming from someone who works on large dual screen monitors with a minimum of 5 apps and about 30 browser tabs open at one time. The difference is, I'm not planning on trying to develop websites or design magazines on my iPad, that isn't what it's for.

JB Clipboard support was out several months before Apple FINALLY did anything about it. I think multitasking may fall into that category and you can bet when they do it, it will be unlike anything in the JB scene.

I agree with the flakey excuse of battery life comments. iPhone battery life already sucks and many professionals have switched back to Nokia or others because of it.

Multitasking may never see the light of day because of Apple's KISS approach to products; especially the iPad.

Proswitcher is really good! Multitasking on a jailbroken iphone works really well! Memory is defintely an issue on the 3g version of the iphone. I'm seeing only about 40MBs free without any apps open. If you open up Safari, and the Ipod, it goes down to 5-8MB..randomly the phone and mail apps open on their own, consuming memory.

I've heard the 3gs has double the RAM and I'm sure newer versions will have even more so bring on the multitasking!

Thanks, I'll try proswitcher. Now if Apple will only implement what they can learn from this.

Actually, IMHO, they have made some good task switchers for the jailbroken phone. Check out Proswitcher (A very obvious rip of Palm's card application, but it works well, none the less).

Using the jailbreak app Backgrounder, multitasking works pretty well already. Of course the solution is a kludge as it offers no good task switching or management. Really, all I ask is to multitask 1-2 apps at a time, particularly running the Sirus XM app in the background while I go on to web surf or do other things.
Memory hasn't been an issue.
Battery life would be an issue. Leave something running and it'll run down the battery. I say educate the customer. It works on other phones.