Rumor: Apple to bring split-screen multitasking to iPad with iOS 8

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  • Reply 41 of 133
    wp7mangowp7mango Posts: 77member
    Just a quick correction to the article...

    Surface 2, Surface Pro, and any other Windows 8 tablet for that matter, can view 2 or 3 or more apps side by side. It's actually governed by the screen resolution, and an option in the Settings.

    For example, a 1920 x 1080 display can show either 2 or 3 apps side by side. Of course, if you have a second external monitor, then you can extend it over the second screen and have 6 apps side by side.

    The thing about split screen is that the apps must be designed to optimally display within the split view, which is why most correctly designed Windows 8 apps do precisely that by having special dynamic layouts. Apple will therefore have to do something similar in order to provide a good experience, otherwise you'll just end up either with a full size app running in a scrollable split-screen viewport, or simply a scaled-down view of the app. A dynamic adapting UI in apps is especially important if the split-screen view can be adjusted, like you can on Windows 8, so that apps can take up different portions of the screen and display the content appropriately.
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  • Reply 42 of 133
    pazuzupazuzu Posts: 1,728member
    Drumroll please-

    Introducing the iPad Maxi!
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  • Reply 43 of 133
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Originally Posted by KPOM View Post

    Not if they announce it at WWDC.


     

    Well… yeah.

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  • Reply 44 of 133
    Tab refreshes are a real killer, especially when you%u2019re trying to copy content from one tab to another, and the second tab refreshes while you%u2019re copying. Argh.
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  • Reply 45 of 133
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by kevt View Post



    Looks neat. I hope multi-user log in will be an iOS 8 feature.

     

    Let’s just turn it into a full blown PC while we’re at it. Beef up the battery to add weight, add mouse support, a file system, thunderbolt ports. Take us back to the days of monstrous, luggable ‘tablets’ that did everything. 

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  • Reply 46 of 133
    malaxmalax Posts: 1,598member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Chandra69 View Post

     

    This means... I have to change all my apps design and learn new APIs. :|


    Yeah, it almost certainly means that.

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  • Reply 47 of 133
    jupiteronejupiterone Posts: 1,564member
    wigby wrote: »
    Not sure if this is just a bad example or the entire concept is flawed but I'm struggling to see the benefits here. It takes so many taps and planning to run two apps concurrently that I don't see how it's better then jumping in and out of both apps independently. I suppose an open spreadsheet combined with an email might justify this multitasking but then again, I would simply jump to a laptop or desktop if I knew it would really require multitasking.

    I too struggle to see a real use case for side by side apps. If I needed to compare two documents where my eyes would scan back and forth between both documents, I can see how that would be beneficial. But how many times does that really happen? What other times do you need to be looking at two things at the same time for an extended period of time? I regularly copy/paste data between apps or look up something, and switching back and forth seems fine for those purposes. If you're reviewing a document with someone over Facetime, does that person really need to see your face reading a document? When are you actually doing 2 things at the exact same time and does that justify such a big change? I'm assuming side by side apps is not a trivial matter to design/code/test.
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  • Reply 48 of 133
    wigbywigby Posts: 692member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by JupiterOne View Post





    I too struggle to see a real use case for side by side apps. If I needed to compare two documents where my eyes would scan back and forth between both documents, I can see how that would be beneficial. But how many times does that really happen? What other times do you need to be looking at two things at the same time for an extended period of time? I regularly copy/paste data between apps or look up something, and switching back and forth seems fine for those purposes. If you're reviewing a document with someone over Facetime, does that person really need to see your face reading a document? When are you actually doing 2 things at the exact same time and does that justify such a big change? I'm assuming side by side apps is not a trivial matter to design/code/test.

    Exactly. thank you. The only time I can think of when I am doing 2 things at once involving my iPad is watching TV while playing with my iPad. But in that case I'm still not really doing both at once. I'm really using the iPad and listening to the TV until I hear something interesting to look up for.

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  • Reply 49 of 133
    aaronjaaronj Posts: 1,595member

    Personally, I can't see a valid use case scenario for this.  Maybe others do, I don't know.  Good for them.  But I can't think of a single time in all of my iPad use that I thought, "Oh, if only I could have two screens side by side!"

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  • Reply 50 of 133
    gwmacgwmac Posts: 1,830member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AaronJ View Post

     

    Personally, I can't see a valid use case scenario for this.  Maybe others do, I don't know.  Good for them.  But I can't think of a single time in all of my iPad use that I thought, "Oh, if only I could have two screens side by side!"


    How about playing team based games that rely on an external chat program for very fast coordination and orders. Team based games like Modern War, Kingdom Age, Clash of Clans, and many more are among the most popular apps and earn the most money of all apps for Apple. Most teams rely on apps like Palringo, Line, Kakao Talk, or Line to give battle orders or to communicate strategy. It is extremely irritating to close game and chat app back and forth 100 times or more during an event. If You could have a game open along with your chat app that would make all team based game players extremely happy. These games often rely on split second timing for some events and split screen would solve a very real problem now. Most people either use 2 devices or the chat program on their computer as a workaround but that won't work if all you have is your iPhone on the road. 

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  • Reply 51 of 133
    mac-daddymac-daddy Posts: 151member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by NolaMacGuy View Post

     

     

    apple had implemented multitasking decades before samsung ever made a computing device. durr. 


     

    On what iDevice? 

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  • Reply 52 of 133
    wigbywigby Posts: 692member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by gwmac View Post

     

    How about playing team based games that rely on an external chat program for very fast coordination and orders. Team based games like Modern War, Kingdom Age, Clash of Clans, and many more are among the most popular apps and earn the most money of all apps for Apple. Most teams rely on apps like Palringo, Line, Kakao Talk, or Line to give battle orders or to communicate strategy. It is extremely irritating to close game and chat app back and forth 100 times or more during an event. If You could have a game open along with your chat app that would make all team based game players extremely happy. These games often rely on split second timing for some events and split screen would solve a very real problem now. Most people either use 2 devices or the chat program on their computer as a workaround but that won't work if all you have is your iPhone on the road. 


    You just described about .01% of iPad users. Apple doesn't spend time on updates and features unless they are sure it will benefit at least 50% of their user base (visually impaired or handicapped being the only exception of that I can think of). I'm sure others can come up with 100 more multi-tasking examples too but I'm also sure that virtually no one would even use split screen multitasking the same way no one uses it on Samsung tablets. Samsung adds many features for marketing and competition's sake. Apple doesn't play that game.

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  • Reply 53 of 133
    theothergeofftheothergeoff Posts: 2,081member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by kevt View Post



    Looks neat. I hope multi-user log in will be an iOS 8 feature.

    piling on...  I think the only way this works is with a major 'app/data' split and/or icloudish ('network profiles' ala Windows) storage of key information.   But you're forking the thread with absolutely no regard to the parent article.

     

    My guess is that this rumor (multiple apps displayed on same screen) is more in alignment with 'one person owning many devices all linked by iCloud' than 'shared personal iDevices' [yes, sharing is contradictory to the basic premise of the iDevice ecosystem ie: you want sharing... buy a macbook air.]

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  • Reply 54 of 133
    my best friend's step-aunt makes $86 /hour on the internet . She has been without a job for 5 months but last month her pay check was $18699 just working on the internet for a few hours. you can look here ..............
    www.jobs333.com
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  • Reply 55 of 133
    theothergeofftheothergeoff Posts: 2,081member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by wigby View Post

     

    You just described about .01% of iPad users. Apple doesn't spend time on updates and features unless they are sure it will benefit at least 50% of their user base (visually impaired or handicapped being the only exception of that I can think of). I'm sure others can come up with 100 more multi-tasking examples too but I'm also sure that virtually no one would even use split screen multitasking the same way no one uses it on Samsung tablets. Samsung adds many features for marketing and competition's sake. Apple doesn't play that game.


    I do think the 'select/drag/drop' action is something that 100% of the people grok (click on a picture in an email, drag it into a photo album.... select a paragraph from a iBooks document, and [properly attributed] drag it into a pages document.

     

    The biggest use I see is when taking a MOOC class, watching a video/youtube, or even reading an iBook, and wanting to type notes without  totally shifting context.     From an educational context (get them while their young), this is a BIG WIN, and while it cannibalized the MBA, it fits in nicely with the 50 something who just wants to watch a video on how to make a pie, and type in the recipe notes as Dr Oz' guest discusses it on the show.   

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  • Reply 56 of 133
    theothergeofftheothergeoff Posts: 2,081member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AaronJ View Post

     

    Personally, I can't see a valid use case scenario for this.  Maybe others do, I don't know.  Good for them.  But I can't think of a single time in all of my iPad use that I thought, "Oh, if only I could have two screens side by side!"


    Watching a video of a lecture and typing in your notes at the same time.  (or , if you're like me, typing my paper due in 40 minutes, while watching my prof lecture in this (distance learning) class;-} ).

     

    Like I said, if Apple wants to maintain 92% capture of the classroom, this is a deal closer.  Surface and Android need not apply.   

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  • Reply 57 of 133
    theothergeofftheothergeoff Posts: 2,081member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by gwmac View Post

     

    You would be surprised just how many single users would also like multi-user accounts. One for your secret emails and hook up apps and one for your wife/husband/partner etc...to view without fear. Or just allow the ability to have a secret vault where these apps are hidden from prying eyes.


    private browsing.

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  • Reply 58 of 133
    wigbywigby Posts: 692member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TheOtherGeoff View Post

     

    I do think the 'select/drag/drop' action is something that 100% of the people grok (click on a picture in an email, drag it into a photo album.... select a paragraph from a iBooks document, and [properly attributed] drag it into a pages document.

     

    The biggest use I see is when taking a MOOC class, watching a video/youtube, or even reading an iBook, and wanting to type notes without  totally shifting context.     From an educational context (get them while their young), this is a BIG WIN, and while it cannibalized the MBA, it fits in nicely with the 50 something who just wants to watch a video on how to make a pie, and type in the recipe notes as Dr Oz' guest discusses it on the show.   


    Good point. I haven't been a student in decades but can imagine students desiring true multitasking during class (for better or worse). That might be enough users for Apple to implement new multitasking features for all users.

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  • Reply 59 of 133
    darklitedarklite Posts: 229member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sog35 View Post

     



    if thats the case something is wrong with that website.  Harmful scripts, bad programing, who knows.


    If a website can crash Safari, there's something wrong with the browser.

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  • Reply 60 of 133
    d4njvrzfd4njvrzf Posts: 797member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post





    Aren't those all already running with the first user?

    Not all of them. Each user has his own ~/Library/LaunchDaemons directory for user-specific background services (like dropbox or google drive). When you log in, take a look at Activity Monitor or run the Unix command "ps aux | grep [your username]" to see just how many user-specific services there are.

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