[xxxxpradaxxxx]

Why do people insist on saying that the iPhone doesn't handle "real" multitasking?

Why is my multitasking "unreal"? LOL

Especially when compared to a BlackBerry?

[crackvegas78]

As much as I love my iPhone I can see why people say that the iPhone does not have "true" muti-tasking. For example, at this point in time there is still no way that I know of to have a a Twitter client checking your timeline while it is not open. I know that push takes care of some of this but not all Twitter clients support it and I do not think that the average non user really knows what Boxcar is. I still think it would be better to have the ability to have apps that run in bg and could then use local push to update the user.

[Username00089]

In something unrelated, instead of using Boxcar, try Notifo for Twitter push. Works
pretty good for me.

[crackvegas78]

In something unrelated, instead of using Boxcar, try Notifo for Twitter push. Works
pretty good for me.

Boxcar works great for me. But I wil give those a look. Thanks for the tip.

[BrindawithanI]

Echofon also has push. *Free only pushes other's WITH Echofon, where the paid version ($5) pushes ALL mentions and DM's. It has a really great interface and keeps better track of friends and lists IMO. The ONLY thing it lacks it twitlonger. =/

[Username00089]

I found Echofon push to not be that good at all. Twitbit has way better push than Echofon.

[NorrisCell]

When people (Including myself) say it's not "real" multitasking, it's because the iphone does not allow more than one application to run simultaneously. In most cases, it suspends the other applications, essentially freezing the state when you switch applications. Some applications have processes that can run in the background, but not all. Compared most often to Android, where any application can be left running full scale in the background, the iphone's multitasking is not the same as other smartphones.

[thebeags]

Depends on your definition of Multitasking I guess.

Personally, multitasking to me is doing more than one thing at a time. I am able to use the phone, and at the same time email, SMS, play a game, or browse.

I can also listen to the iPod, or anything else that is streaming, as well as browse, email, etc etc etc.

So, for those that say more than one app cant run at the same time, what is using the phone and using the browser simultaneously doing? What is using the ipod and sending an email at the same time doing? That couldnt possibly be running 2 apps at the same time could it?

[scorpiodsu]

The major difference is that iOS4 multitasking often leaves apps in a suspended mode. So you can pick up where you left off but it's not live like on other platforms. Not a big deal to me but that's the difference. Which is why they call it "fast app switching" because all your processes that are open are not all live (as the system suspends them based on memory usage)even though you can pick up where you left off.

Personally, I still use backgrounder because I like my apps running live in the background especially with the great battery life.

As the above poster says it depends on what you call multitasking and ultimately your needs. FYI, All native apps been had multitasking ability.

[NorrisCell]

Depends on your definition of Multitasking I guess.

Personally, multitasking to me is doing more than one thing at a time. I am able to use the phone, and at the same time email, SMS, play a game, or browse.

I can also listen to the iPod, or anything else that is streaming, as well as browse, email, etc etc etc.

So, for those that say more than one app cant run at the same time, what is using the phone and using the browser simultaneously doing? What is using the ipod and sending an email at the same time doing? That couldnt possibly be running 2 apps at the same time could it?

As I said above, some applications have processes that can run in the background. The browser and music player can multitask, and have been able to do so long before iOS 4. Those are exceptions though. Most applications do not run, they suspend. As the above person mentioned, backgrounder will do the trick on jailbroken phones, and it does it very well. Once again though, the aftermarket community is picking up Apple's slack. Compare this to phones that do it natively, for all applications, and once again Apple is behind.