[skech]

I find it silly to show such a popup on a professional-grade tablet.
To me, it would be better if unused apps were silently removed off the RAM and however, the app thumbnail stayed in the task manager, instead of showing random warnings like those.

I hope they remove that message by time final OS is released to the public on 19th.

OS itself takes up 650MB of RAM? WAHHHHH!!! SERIOUSLY?

[TheMarco]

**** no I wouldn't want apps to get closed without my explicit permission.
This behavior is completely normal on a device with true multitasking. WebOS does it as well but in a different way. It does it when you try to start a new app while the memory can't handle it anymore. It tells you there's too many cards and you have to close some first.

Completely normal. Nothing unprofessional about it. No matter how much RAM the device has, on a true multitasking OS the user can always fill it up. They could also have resorted to swapping to disk but that would bring everything down to a crawl so not really an option IMHO.

[howarmat]

That still shouldn't happen though. Several reviews mention it happening. What's the point of all the multitasking if it can only handle 6 or so apps?

[TheMarco]

That still shouldn't happen though. Several reviews mention it happening. What's the point of all the multitasking if it can only handle 6 or so apps?

The fact that you can run 6 simultaneous apps instead of just one at the time?

[anon(728548)]

The fact that you can run 6 simultaneous apps instead of just one at the time?

hmm he brings up a point. matt, you gotta agree i don't think most people will be running 6+ apps at a time. i probably will have 3 or less haha. 6 app "limit" is plenty to me. better than one

[Chronos88]

I really don't have a problem with this. Actually, I'm glad it lets me know while still being able to ignore it if I so desire. If you're opening a bunch of apps and you see this warning but keep going and the tablet crashes, you can't say it didn't warn you.

[TheMarco]

My MacBook Pro tends to get bogged down as well when I run more than 3 apps from Adobe Master Collection simultaneously. It would honestly probably be better if it warned me like the PlayBook does. So yeah, nothing new here

[rjshahan]

That still shouldn't happen though. Several reviews mention it happening. What's the point of all the multitasking if it can only handle 6 or so apps?

I think most reviewers mention it because multi-tasking is a much hyped feature and they are trying to see how much they can push out of it. The fact that it is surprising is because they have got used to opening apps and forgetting about them to the point they have 6-7 open before a low memory warning appears.

The low memory warning is an artefact of pushing the platform to see what it can deliver...and it goes pretty far with 6 apps open simultaneously.

[infamyx]

That still shouldn't happen though. Several reviews mention it happening. What's the point of all the multitasking if it can only handle 6 or so apps?

Or one or two apps and a couple of tabs open...its a shame because this is one of the most hyped features and it seems like 1 gig of RAM might not be enough for "true multitasking".

Users shouldnt have to evict programs themselves, Apple and Google both realized this.

[howarmat]

A bb can run more than 6 at a time! I have more than that runing on my android phones at all times too. Just have to saint and get more actual time on the device. But seeing that error is just not cool

[anon(728548)]

Or one or two apps and a couple of tabs open...its a shame because this is one of the most hyped features and it seems like 1 gig of RAM might not be enough for "true multitasking".

Users shouldnt have to evict programs themselves, Apple and Google both realized this.

I love when people who aren't even considering buying the PlayBook troll the forums sprinkling Apple's magical we're better dust all over the place. You will have to accept there is a tablet out there that can be considered better than the ipod touc.... i mean ipad.

[greatwiseone]

Yeah, I saw this notification when I tested the playbook at Futureshop on the weekend. I was surprised cause I've never seen that notification before. I really hope RIM would fix it. I was expecting to be able to run quite a few apps without this memory issue. This type of memory problem was very troubling back in my Windows Mobile days on my Axim x50v...

[infamyx]

I love when people who aren't even considering buying the PlayBook troll the forums sprinkling Apple's magical we're better dust all over the place. You will have to accept there is a tablet out there that can be considered better than the ipod touc.... i mean ipad.

You seem really mad right now, must be future buyers remorse? Or is it that a lowly giant sized iPod Touch is better? You mad lol



Yeah that magical Apple dust seems to be working pretty good, considering i have a 4 tabs open and can switch between any of the 9 apps (three you dont see) instantly and not lose anything, or have a notification about low memory.

I guess Google has the same kinda fairy dust as well.

[Witmen]

You seem really mad right now, must be future buyers remorse? Or is it that a lowly giant sized iPod Touch is better? You mad lol



Yeah that magical Apple dust seems to be working pretty good, considering i have a 4 tabs open and can switch between any of the 9 apps (three you dont see) instantly and not lose anything, or have a notification about low memory.

I guess Google has the same kinda fairy dust as well.

Magical

Edit: I just noticed it looks like 2 of your "apps" are just websites.



Less Magical

[howarmat]

The engadget icon is an app

[Witmen]

Why would you need an app for engadget though? Do they just neglect the site to put the good stuff in the app? I mean if it's the same content why use an app if you have an internet browser?

I'm hoping the PlayBook can do all of that. Like why download the Pandora app if you can just go to the site straight from your browser? Actually someone should try that. I'm curious to see how the PB browser handles Pandroa now.

[infamyx]

Magical

Edit: I just noticed it looks like 2 of your "apps" are just websites.



Less Magical

They're all apps in the bottom bar lol, the only one i cant switch back into without it reseting is the WatchESPN app (not pictured but was open) since it has to connect to espn to pull the live stream.

[howarmat]

You can always access the actual website but sometimes places make apps just for tablets. They can enhance the experience even more than a website. The pb will hopefully see some apps like this too. The xoom has a couple of these too.

[Witmen]

I know they are apps. But why do you need apps for a website?

I don't own an iPad I have no clue how they work. I assume they have the internet correct? If so why do you need an app to go to a website? Is there something special about the apps? I know the PlayBook can go to Engadget fine, It also displays it fine. The PlayBook can post pictures to Facebook as was captured in a video, so I assume it could do the same with Photobucket.

[infamyx]

Why would you need an app for engadget though? Do they just neglect the site to put the good stuff in the app? I mean if it's the same content why use an app if you have an internet browser?

I'm hoping the PlayBook can do all of that. Like why download the Pandora app if you can just go to the site straight from your browser? Actually someone should try that. I'm curious to see how the PB browser handles Pandroa now.

Engadget renders fine in the browser, zero issues. I like the app because its much cleaner and zero ads and much much more streamlined. The interface is also nicer as well.

Pandora doesnt work on iOS without the app (flash/el Jobs hates adobe)


If the image is blurry blame photobucket

[TheMarco]

I'm sure the PlayBook can run a gazillion of those 'website apps'. They are not really apps. They're merely a fancy framed RSS reader for a single site. They probably don't use a lot of resources so you can run tons of them. You can't compare them to 'playing a HD video' or 'running a CPU intensive game' etc.

[sivan]

This behavior is completely normal on a device with true multitasking. WebOS does it as well but in a different way. It does it when you try to start a new app while the memory can't handle it anymore. It tells you there's too many cards and you have to close some first.

webOS is a really bad example. You'd get that message even without any apps running! Turns out it was because all apps were running in the same instance of webKit and were leaking memory. Even after they shut down, memory was still taken up and the device couldn't launch more apps.

The PlayBook is a complicated beast. Remember that it runs all kinds of apps, each in its own runtime and particular quirks and bugs. This stuff is hard, Palm thought it could slap some quick HTML apps in webKit and failed miserably.

[Witmen]

You can always access the actual website but sometimes places make apps just for tablets. They can enhance the experience even more than a website. The pb will hopefully see some apps like this too. The xoom has a couple of these too.

Oh ok I gotcha, thanks. I still think I would just set a bookmark and do it all from the browser personally. Unless these apps really really add to the experience compared to the website.

[howarmat]

Like mentioned....no ads :-)

It just provides a optimzed experience....hard to explain with seing it'in action

[JRSCCivic98]

Why would you need an app for engadget though? Do they just neglect the site to put the good stuff in the app? I mean if it's the same content why use an app if you have an internet browser?

I'm hoping the PlayBook can do all of that. Like why download the Pandora app if you can just go to the site straight from your browser? Actually someone should try that. I'm curious to see how the PB browser handles Pandroa now.

Well, guess what? With you keeping a few tabs open in the browser to do Pandora and whatever other site you need, now you've limited yourself to how many other apps you can run in the background it seems, until you close something out.