iPhone SDK: Two steps forward, one huge step back
Posted by Stefan on Saturday, March 8th, 2008 at 9:05 pm under Apple
No doubt you've read about Apple's SDK Announcement, summary: iPhone 2.0 firmware will add a new icon called "App Store" which will be the only way a developer will get to sell their application and keep 70% of the profits. Now we're finding out that only one application will be allowed to run at once, a huge step in the wrong direction.
I regularly walk down the street listening to music, while browsing the internet, check my email and then proceed to take a picture of a poster plastered on a wall telling me when the next party will be in my town. If I get lost then I know I'll be able to launch Google Maps or Nokia Maps and still have all those applications running in the background.
Don't tell me that you'll run only one application at a time either, that isn't how you use your PC and it definitley will not be how you use your mobile phone. I don't care how beautiful AIM for the iPhone will be, if I can't read a movie recommendation, launch the web browser to read the IMDB score, watch the trailer with emTube or MobiTubia, and then call someone to see if they want to join me, then I don't want that device.
[Via: Tech Crunch]
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March 8th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
That could change I think. Or i'm sure there will be a work around. I mean it would be poinless to use Aim at all if it didn't stay on. There is still a long time till June so things may change…
March 8th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Corner #1
Will: Loves the iphone
Corner #2
Stefan: Loves Nokia, resents the iphone!
March 8th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
how ignorant is this post? do a little more reading and you'll find that although only ONE 3rd-party app can run at a time, no restrictions are imposed on iphone apps like music, mail, and safari. so you can listen to music and get your mail and open your imdb with no problems.
furthermore, quitting and restarting an app on the iphone is a lot faster than doing the same to a java app on other platforms. so for most intents and purposes, the experience will be the same as tabbing back and forth between apps. closed 3rd-party apps will likely reopen in a saved state, and look no different than when you last saw them before opening another app. it's not likely to be an issue for the majority of apps, but i'll give you IM as one possible problem.
March 9th, 2008 at 1:41 am
They just can't let the iphone run free, can they?
March 9th, 2008 at 1:41 am
We know that you hate the iphone, you said it yourself. But if your going to slam it like this, at least do your homework. tisk tisk.
March 9th, 2008 at 3:34 am
AIM will be part of the Multitasking elite, as I'm sure will many other 3rd party applications… clearly some apps are pointless without it… they'll probably have to be given runtime immunity by Apple HQ!
March 9th, 2008 at 5:04 am
"I regularly walk down the street listening to music, while browsing the internet, check my email and then proceed to take a picture of a poster plastered on a wall telling me when the next party will be in my town. If I get lost then I know I'll be able to launch Google Maps or Nokia Maps and still have all those applications running in the background."
If you added that you'd be sipping a low fat latte while doing all this, you would be have transformed yourself into the complete iPhone nemesis!
But seriously, you will still be able to run all the "Apple" applications simultaneously, just not the 3rd party apps.
March 9th, 2008 at 5:43 am
So no 3rd party apps in the background, and no VOIP on 3G. It means there will be no 'official' Skype client or call recorder. The iPhone is still a crippled piece of shit.
March 9th, 2008 at 7:27 am
Why should there be any restriction on multitasking at all??? 3rd party or not.
I agree with you Stefan.
Its a real step backwards.
This control everything you do culture isn't very fun at all, and it really make enjoying the phone all that difficult.
March 9th, 2008 at 7:28 am
Kula bácsi (aka sebhelyesfarku) — our kakistocratic, coprolallic Hungarian expert!
March 9th, 2008 at 8:19 am
As I understand it iPhone apps have to operate in a very small allocation of RAM - a lot of debugging is verifying that the memory allocation is not exceeded under any normal operation. If memory runs out OS X summarily terminates the app.
Now - if other apps are running in the background the ram left for my app is completely unknown - and I must code for an unknown amount of memory.
The same problem (to a lesser extent) applies to CPU cycles - if a background program is kicking in and using up CPU cycles then my foreground apps performance will be unpredictable and the user experience will suffer.
Since Apple is all about the user experience I think they have decided that one app at a time, with auto save and fast launch (this is flash memory remember) is better than multitasking multiple tasks with unpredictable results.
I tend to agree with Apple on this one, except for some obvious issues with long lived connections - everyone is saying AIM but what about an SSH session to a remote server? BTW my VT100 app on jailbroken iPhone gas the same behaviour - if I get a call the app closes and I am logged out.
March 9th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
For what it's worth, I can certainly listen to music as I surf the web and check my emails - I do that all the time at the gym (on the treadmill or between sets…I'm such a geek). Then when I feel like watching a music video, I quickly go back to my media library, pick a video and start it up.
The web-browser does not kill the connection when you move away from the browser. I can browse IntoMobile.com and switch tasks and fire out an email, start playing a new album, and when I go back to Safari, my page is still loaded and ready to go (in fact, chances are that multiple pages, or "tabs," will still be loaded and ready to serve my needs)
BUT, if I move away from Safari and fire up a third-party application, check some emails, and take a picture or two, and then watch a video, my Safari browser will reload all my pageS again (but Safari remembers which pages I was viewing and simply reloads the page(s) automatically). I think memory issues are the limit here - Safari will remain active with pages cached until its memory allocation runs out, at which point it dumps the data.
And, for what it's worth, developers could also just code their apps to include an auto-save or state-save function. When you close the app, it remembers what you were doing and when you start it back up (which happens really really quickly, by the way), the application will start where you left off - similar to the way Safari remembers which pages were being viewed before it dumped its webpage-data.
I agree with Stefan - it's a shame that Apple decided to let only ONE 3rd party application (remember, it's only third-party applications that are killed off when switching tasks - the TechCrunch article is a bit off-target on this one) run at the same time. But, on the other hand, we get apps that load super quick in addition to incredibly integrated (and satisfying, from a user experience standpoint) iPhone apps that can be multi-tasked.
March 10th, 2008 at 6:37 am
I love it when people post comments that actual sound knowledgeable. As if they actually did their research. You all made some excelent points.
March 10th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Regardless of the ability to run the original native apps simultaneously, running one 3rd party app at a time is NOT multitasking. That's like having a desktop that can open listen to music in WMP and browse multiple tabs in IE simultaneously, but you'll have to choose whether you want to edit those photos in CS3 or write that paper in Word, but not both.
Amazing how everyone tries to justify it too. "Oh, it'll be faster and satisfying than a phone with real 3rd party applications!" Even with the SDK, this is no better than web apps that can be run without a data connection.