Apple iPhone OS 4.0 to introduce Multitasking, 100 other features
Due this summer, iPhone OS 4 will deliver multitasking as a way to run background apps that the user can quickly switch between.
The new feature was highlighted by Apple's chief executive Steve Jobs as one of the top 7 "tent pole" features of the new release, along with 100 other user features and hundreds of new features for developers to leverage in their apps.
"We weren't the first to this party," Jobs said of the new multitasking feature, "but we're going to be the best. Just like cut and paste."
"iPhone OS 4 provides multitasking to third party apps while preserving battery life and foreground app performance, which has until now proved elusive on mobile devices," Apple said in a press release.
The new feature enables users to launch multiple background apps, and then from any running app (or from the Home screen), call up a "multitasking tray" of the currently running apps, which the user can then immediately switch to.
Jobs demonstrated jumping back and forth between the iPhone's Safari browser and Mail, then jumped into a running game to continue from the previous game.
How Multitasking works in iPhone 4.0
Apple's Senior Vice President of iPhone software Scott Forstall appeared on stage to explain how the company had added multitasking without incurring a performance hit. iPhone 4 will add seven different multitasking services APIs for developers, he explained, each tuned to solve different multitasking scenarios.
Background Audio
One, demonstrated by Pandora's Internet radio streaming app, will allow apps like it to play music in the background, with playback controls available even at the lock screen.
Voice over IP
A second example involves VoIP, which enables apps like Skype to continue to receive calls even when the calling app is not the foreground app.
Background Location
A third mechanism is background location, which can be used by direction apps such as TomTom or social media apps like Loopt. Rather than constantly polling GPS (something that kills the battery rapidly) the new system calculates location from cellular sites
Push Notifications and Local Notifications
A fourth and fifth enhancement relates to Apple's existing push notification service and a new "local notifications" service that allows apps to post reminders or other events without using Apple's servers.
Task Completion
A sixth feature, task completion, will enable an app to start a job and continue working on it after the user leaves the app. And example given cited an app posting photos to Flicker, which continued working after the user left that app.
Fast App Switching
The seventh multitasking mechanism is fast app switching, which "allows you to restore the state of an app when you switch out and back," is the easiest to implement, essentially freezing the progress of an app such as a game while the user handles another task in another app.
iPhone and iPod touch model support
The iPhone 4 update will bring multitasking features to the existing 2009 iPhone 3GS and 3G iPod touch models with 32 and 64GB of storage. Earlier models from 2008 (iPhone 3G and the 2G iPod touch, as well as the low end 2009 models based on those designs) will be able to install the iPhone 4 update but will not be able to use multitasking because those devices lack the system RAM and processing power required.
The original iPhone and iPod touch models from 2007 will apparently not be supported by iPhone 4. At its release, they will be four years old.
Apple said "a version of iPhone OS 4 will be coming to iPad this Fall."
The new feature was highlighted by Apple's chief executive Steve Jobs as one of the top 7 "tent pole" features of the new release, along with 100 other user features and hundreds of new features for developers to leverage in their apps.
"We weren't the first to this party," Jobs said of the new multitasking feature, "but we're going to be the best. Just like cut and paste."
"iPhone OS 4 provides multitasking to third party apps while preserving battery life and foreground app performance, which has until now proved elusive on mobile devices," Apple said in a press release.
The new feature enables users to launch multiple background apps, and then from any running app (or from the Home screen), call up a "multitasking tray" of the currently running apps, which the user can then immediately switch to.
Jobs demonstrated jumping back and forth between the iPhone's Safari browser and Mail, then jumped into a running game to continue from the previous game.
How Multitasking works in iPhone 4.0
Apple's Senior Vice President of iPhone software Scott Forstall appeared on stage to explain how the company had added multitasking without incurring a performance hit. iPhone 4 will add seven different multitasking services APIs for developers, he explained, each tuned to solve different multitasking scenarios.
Background Audio
One, demonstrated by Pandora's Internet radio streaming app, will allow apps like it to play music in the background, with playback controls available even at the lock screen.
Voice over IP
A second example involves VoIP, which enables apps like Skype to continue to receive calls even when the calling app is not the foreground app.
Background Location
A third mechanism is background location, which can be used by direction apps such as TomTom or social media apps like Loopt. Rather than constantly polling GPS (something that kills the battery rapidly) the new system calculates location from cellular sites
Push Notifications and Local Notifications
A fourth and fifth enhancement relates to Apple's existing push notification service and a new "local notifications" service that allows apps to post reminders or other events without using Apple's servers.
Task Completion
A sixth feature, task completion, will enable an app to start a job and continue working on it after the user leaves the app. And example given cited an app posting photos to Flicker, which continued working after the user left that app.
Fast App Switching
The seventh multitasking mechanism is fast app switching, which "allows you to restore the state of an app when you switch out and back," is the easiest to implement, essentially freezing the progress of an app such as a game while the user handles another task in another app.
iPhone and iPod touch model support
The iPhone 4 update will bring multitasking features to the existing 2009 iPhone 3GS and 3G iPod touch models with 32 and 64GB of storage. Earlier models from 2008 (iPhone 3G and the 2G iPod touch, as well as the low end 2009 models based on those designs) will be able to install the iPhone 4 update but will not be able to use multitasking because those devices lack the system RAM and processing power required.
The original iPhone and iPod touch models from 2007 will apparently not be supported by iPhone 4. At its release, they will be four years old.
Apple said "a version of iPhone OS 4 will be coming to iPad this Fall."
Comments
10:15AM "Now we weren't the first to this party, but we're gonna be the best. Just like cut and paste."
But Apple innovates, is always original, and never gets features from others!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! /s
Straight from Jobs' mouth. Double tap to see all running programs in a "dock". Hmm, wonder where we've seen that before? Absolutely 100% from Android.
Now everyone say it with me: Thanks Google!
[Edit]: Local Notifications, Task Completion, Fast App Switching, and now Folders -- wow, this is starting to look like a total ripoff of Android, except they don't have cutesy names for them. It's just there.
I don't care how the whole 'iAds' thing is spun, they're annoying to the vast majority of users.
The only ones any more annoyed by iAds than the current ads will be Google. Everyone else, less so.
I don't care how the whole 'iAds' thing is spun, they're annoying to the vast majority of users.
?We weren?t the first to this party but we?re going to be the best, just like cut and paste,? said Apple CEO Steve Jobs, alluding to the fact that cut-and-paste hadn?t been available until a year after the first iPhone launched. ?It?s really easy to implement multitasking in a way that drains battery life. If you don?t do it just right your phone?s going to feel sluggish and your battery life is going to go way down. We?ve figured out how to implement multitasking of third-party apps and avoid those things.?
There is such a load of pretentious bullshit in this statement. Steve Jobs is SUCH a douche.
Copy and paste in iphone isn't better, it's just different. While playing the ipad I played with the copy and paste feature and I did not like it.
As far as multitasking goes, I've already shown numerous people on many occasions how my battery life is NOT effected while running up to 10 apps (all doing some kind of function in the background.)
I know people would rather take every word this guy says as truth than to actually listen to someone like me, but he's honestly selling you bullshit. He's no better than Glenn Beck.
From what they are demoing the ads are of much higher quality that what is available now on iPhone apps and they provide information on the product and how to purchase it.
It's certainly an interesting 'twist', but I certainly don't want any semblance of them in my paid apps, for free apps it's not that much of an issue - IMO
There is such a load of pretentious bullshit in this statement. Steve Jobs is SUCH a douche.
It's certainly an interesting 'twist', but I certainly don't want any semblance of them in my paid apps, for free apps it's not that much of an issue - IMO
Before the sarcasm begins: what Apple has done to make this different from every other phones multitasking, is to provide API's that allow the app to only use the resources that it requires. So that app doesn't hog up more than it needs.
I always believed they were waiting to do it right. The others all rushed it just to be seen to have a better feature than iPhone. Few are lucky enough to own a magic phone like Chronster who can run ten apps on his multi-tasking phone with zero increase in power consumption.
/COUGHFRAGMENTATIONCOUGHCOUGH
It's certainly an interesting 'twist', but I certainly don't want any semblance of them in my paid apps, for free apps it's not that much of an issue - IMO
They look more fun than many free apps
We currently have 2 in the house, and my 64gb/3g is due at the end of the month, and we all find that there's just too much emptiness between icons on the device.
We'll see if they address this...
Ads are ads. There is no such thing as 'more or less' annoying. Anyone with a brain should see them for the intrusion they are. If anything, the idea behind these ads is more evil than usual, since they'll be unavoidable, and better able to lull the user into thinking that something malevolent and coercive is actually personal and helpful.
Exactly. Just because Apple is behind it doesn't make it better. Dog s**t is still dog s**t! I don't want ads on my 3.5" screen no matter who's behind it.
Ads are ads. There is no such thing as 'more or less' annoying. Anyone with a brain should see them for the intrusion they are. If anything, the idea behind these ads is more evil than usual, since they'll be unavoidable, and better able to lull the user into thinking that something malevolent and coercive is actually personal and helpful.
If you try a free app or even keep using one why should you be angry that the developer gets to eat?