Quote:
Originally Posted by
NasserAE 
With iOS 4 apps don't actually run in the background but certain processes do. The reason it shows recent apps is because all apps compiled using iOS SDK 4.x should be able to take advantage of at least
one form of multitasking. The simplest one is "Saved State" feature, which requires no coding by the developer whatsoever. Beside, the recent app dock main function is to make it faster to move between apps without the need to go back to the Home screen.
Thanks for the clarification and of course you are correct, but that doesn't really change my opinion.
There are often 20 or 30 apps in that list on the switcher, but very very few of them are capable of being switched to without basically restarting the app. I'm not talking about obscure stuff either. I have a couple of expensive EA games that don't even save their state, and with the memory constraints, anything but the last two apps you were using have almost always been switched out of memory by the time you select them also.
I'm not trying to overly criticise the setup they have, it's a good way to get effective multi-tasking. I just don't like the fact that this long, long, list get's populated and that it's essentially a meaningless list.
Meaningless stuff bothers me, and stuff not under my control bothers me. This list of apps is a double-whammy in that respect.
None of those apps (past the first one or two) are really available to switch to. There is no reason in my mind why they should be there, since they perform no function other than showing that yes, you ran that program last week or whatever. In that respect the only concrete effect of them being there is to provide a (small, minor) security hole in the UI as any "recently used" list does.
13h15
