So now that it's been announced that iPhone OS 4 will include multitasking...

[smacky]

Good reply smacky! I agree with you except for ONE thing. Given the choice between the Nexus/Droid, Droid Eris/HTC Hero, and 3GS I'd take the Droid/Nexus b/c the "openness" of Android is a HUGE deal for me and I'll put up with a little lag to have it (just as long as it isn't persistent/constant lag, which it isn't...my Droid RARELY lags and only does so when a ton of memory intensive apps are open).

Yeah, I realize that. I said I had never messed with a Droid or N1 for too long to really know how they would put up with my usage habits. What lags for me will not lag for others. Some can surf the web while listening to Pandora and have the phone calculate the meaning of life and still be fine. I could play a game of Air Control and have the thing lag on me. That irritates me.

But yes, my heart says the N1 and the Droid will be able to handle 2.1 flawlessly and therefore make them the better choice over the 3GS. I do not, however, see the Eris and 2.1 being a better choice over the 3GS and 4.0. I have experienced the latter, but not the former, so to avoid assuming things, I just used devices I was familiar with.

Hey Smacky, you at Auburn, AL?






<----

WDE

 

[baka]

i disagree.. in my car i listen to slacker, have gmail running, and using navigation all at the same time. i wouldn't call that pausing..

-=<> Aaron <>=-

like sooper pointed out below, jobs and others wouldnt consider that true multitasking. and, if thats your definition of multitasking, many phones do that. a lot run mail in the bg, while you can listen to music, talk, sms, etc. in fact, iphone does it now (the multitasking is for 3rd party apps).

i think true multitasking is closer to what we have on desktop/laptops. most phones dont do that.

Steve Jobs would argue that indeed that is multi-tasking. Slacker would be running the audio API, GMail would be running the push-notification API and navigation would be running the location API.

The question that the post you responded to raises is: How do OS multi-tasking activities accomplished? Or, in each case, how much of an app is actually running in the background. Apple calls it multi-tasking because the main functionality of the app is "running." But I'm not sure, short of WebOS (and truly, WinMo) has any OS found a way to allow an app to be fully running like on a desktop.

yes, android is a lot closer to the winmo variation of multitasking. i had a few winmos way back in the day and it could easily run mail, msn, winmedia, etc. the phone would just crap out (audiovox/htc candy bar phone). i'm interested in seeing what winmo7 has to offer tho. i love my zune (switched from iphone).

This is true, some what. Windows 6.5 is true, true multi-tasking. According to Jobs, "They blew it," because there is a task manager. Android isn't too far from that in the implementation of multi-tasking. It's not quite as elegant as WinPho7. I think the best mobile OS that handles multi-tasking is WebOS. The card view is pure genius.

Their multi-tasking must be hard-core because the 3G and 2G are left out in the dust. Even the oldest Android device can multi-task. Shoot, the Palm Pixi can multi-task. I love how Steve said, "There was no decision to make. The devices can't handle it." I was like, "Steve, you made a decision; you chose to opt them out of the experience!"

you're right about the multitasking being hardcore. even jobs said that the 2g/3g hardware cannot support it... lol. seriously??? one element that can be enabled by jailbreaking and it works fine... and apple builds something into the os that doesnt work on their earlier phones...??? right... its all about money to them. they say you cant multitask because they want you to upgrade. jobs is an arrogant bastard... plain and simple.

 

[baka]

Android certainly does.

I've used ConnectBot to SSH into a Linux machine and tail a log file at the same time I'm using the browser, listening to music and doing various other things on the phone.

Every time I'd switch back to ConnectBot, I would see that it had been constantly running and tailing the log file.

Android can certainly get laggy when too much stuff is running at once. I do see the benefit in doing it the way Apple & Microsoft are going for typical non-geeky users. They'll get the fastest response from their phones.

However, smartphones are just getting faster and more powerful every couple of months, so I think the full on multitasking of Android is the way to go.

how many other tasks were continuously running? ms and android are closer together with multitasking than apple. apple doesnt want you to know what your phone is doing... ms and android allow you to see and kill tasks.

i'm sure true multitasking will come about soon based on what you pointed out. and android has always stated you could multitask. i was going off of what i've read.

 

[CRPercodani]

My Pre Plus has better multi tasking then any other phone I've ever used. You can literally see apps running when you swipe through the cards.

 

[MicroNix]

Apple is in another league.

Apple makes OS. Check.
Apple makes phone. Check.

Already, a plus. Decisions are made by one company on two aspects of the phone. Only one aspect left.

Carrier. AT&T.


You catching my drift here?

However, as Android is working to close the gap on fragmentation (a whole slew of phones have 2.1 upgrade plans), Apple is going the opposite way with 4.0 and alienating and fragmenting their line by only allowing some features on the 3G and none on the original iPhone. So while Apple *was* doing a great job on keeping fragmentation down, it just did a reversal.

Some of the point here is that all platforms MUST fragment at some point to keep technology progressing. We have 3 months of 4 different OSs for Android phones and before any company can test 2.1 and implement it, all of a sudden article after article comes out on this horrible thing called fragmentation. The chance for the rest to jump up isn't even given. Sure some of the oldest models might not be able to run 2.1 or maybe use it but not all the features, but you can't expect Google to release 2.1 on their phones and then everyone else to implement on their phones that same day. Further, for those releasing new phones on older OS versions, the choice NOT to buy it also exists. If you don't care that the X10 doesn't have 2.1 and it fits your needs, buy it. If you are anal and have to have 2.1, don't buy it till Sony updates it. That will send the message loud and clear. Does anyone care what version of rom their microwaves run? No, because it does the job and that it what it was purchased for.

You catching my drift here?

 

[MicroNix]

Hi. You make some good points. Fragmentation is truly an issue with Android but I think they are realizing that and taking steps to remedy this issue in the future. Now that Android is up and running, I'm pretty sure hardware manufacturers will be careful to ensure that their devices are powerful enough to run the most current Android OS. So, in a word, I think this will be a non-issue in the future or, at the very least, a much smaller issue than it is now.

I'm not sure if all Android phone makers realized that making an Android phone was a long term commitment, not just a push it out the door and make your money. This appears to be realized now and will quickly filter out who will make your next Android phone. If someone ships a phone with 1.6 and leaves it at that, guess which company won't be getting repeat customers! I predict that in 2 years or so, fragmentation will be reduced to a minimum because as Android users upgrade, they will be factoring in which company supports the Android ecosystem the best.

 

[webeougher]

Listen, you guys (and gals) realize that by starting a new iPhone-related thread EVERY. SINGLE. DAY., it really makes you seem like jilted Verizon customers who only got the Droid because the iPhone wasn't available? That might very well be the case for a lot of you, but it makes the rest of us look bad. So let's call for a moratorium on iPhone topics for a while, eh?

 

[mmiles84]

To talk and and use the web just turn wifi on!!!!

 

[QrafTee]

To talk and and use the web just turn wifi on!!!!

If you're in a wi-fi hotspot.

 

[aaron19953]

If you're in a wi-fi hotspot.

yeah, cause they are sooooo hard to find <shakes head>

 

[PurpleSkyz]

yeah i saw that and thought... ridiculous. html5 is still growing and won't be main stream for A WHILE

dont be so sure about that

 

[riffdex]

If you're in a wi-fi hotspot.

yeah, cause they are sooooo hard to find

The only time ive had the need to go on the net while I was in a call, I have been away from home and without a wifi network. This is one thing the Droid does not that i really wish it did :/



Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

 

[bbrosen]

However, as Android is working to close the gap on fragmentation (a whole slew of phones have 2.1 upgrade plans), Apple is going the opposite way with 4.0 and alienating and fragmenting their line by only allowing some features on the 3G and none on the original iPhone. So while Apple *was* doing a great job on keeping fragmentation down, it just did a reversal.

Some of the point here is that all platforms MUST fragment at some point to keep technology progressing. We have 3 months of 4 different OSs for Android phones and before any company can test 2.1 and implement it, all of a sudden article after article comes out on this horrible thing called fragmentation. The chance for the rest to jump up isn't even given. Sure some of the oldest models might not be able to run 2.1 or maybe use it but not all the features, but you can't expect Google to release 2.1 on their phones and then everyone else to implement on their phones that same day. Further, for those releasing new phones on older OS versions, the choice NOT to buy it also exists. If you don't care that the X10 doesn't have 2.1 and it fits your needs, buy it. If you are anal and have to have 2.1, don't buy it till Sony updates it. That will send the message loud and clear. Does anyone care what version of rom their microwaves run? No, because it does the job and that it what it was purchased for.

You catching my drift here?

Thats not fragmentation..It's hardware not keeping up with the software, which is a natural cycle of upgradeable electronics. Also, there is still only 1 version of software, not 4. Windows 98 hardware cannot run vista right? Any new handsets and ipod touches released now will be compatible with the new software upgrade as well as quite a few more releases thereafter. The hero i have now, is only 5 months old, with 1.5 and can barely multitask with the power it has. No you won't see these problems with apple.

So many people do not understand that Apple may not invent a lot, but they do perfect a lot. I miss the smoothness, lightning speed of my iphone, it was very fluid. The hero is slow, stutters, lags, freezes and makes for a horrible user experience. Yes, it is functional, but thats about it, clunky is a better term.

Android is great because it allows one to tinker, apple is great because it does not. They each have trade offs, a closed ecosystem makes for tighter integration, better compatibility and user experience. But of course one loses freedoms to customize. It is not for tinkerers.

Android is for the geeks, the easily bored, and fickle who do not mind clearing caches, resets, task killers, and app incompatibilities here and there causing problems as well as limited memory.

I am stuck with android for awhile for now, so i am rooting for it, it just can't grow up fast enough for me. i am sure it will get better, but I am not a patient person as most here. It kills me 2.1 will not be with my carrier until end of june, if there are no problems..then probably no more updates after that for this carrier. they are not so sure they want to continue with the software update headaches. People are complaining they cannot root, cannot get apps friends have, etc etc and when it comes to tech support, they are woefully inadequet and cannot help most users.

I inquired if they would be getting tv broadcast like sprint has, because the same company that does it for sprint approached my company, and I was told there was an app for live tv already in the market, called tv.com i could watch cnn, fox news abc nbc etc etc, live, for free already.

These are the people selling these handsets and services. You do not get that kind of tech support from apple.

 

[riffdex]

However, as Android is working to close the gap on fragmentation (a whole slew of phones have 2.1 upgrade plans), Apple is going the opposite way with

Thats not fragmentation..It's hardware not keeping up with the software, which is a natural cycle of upgradeable electronics. Also, there is still only 1 version of software, not 4. Windows 98 hardware cannot run vista right? Any new handsets and ipod touches released now will be compatible with the new software upgrade as well as quite a few more releases thereafter. The hero i have now, is only 5 months old, with 1.5 and can barely multitask with the power it has. No you won't see these problems with apple.

So many people do not understand that Apple may not invent a lot, but they do perfect a lot. I miss the smoothness, lightning speed of my iphone, it was very fluid. The hero is slow, stutters, lags, freezes and makes for a horrible user experience. Yes, it is functional, but thats about it, clunky is a better term.

Android is great because it allows one to tinker, apple is great because it does not. They each have trade offs, a closed ecosystem makes for tighter integration, better compatibility and user experience. But of course one loses freedoms to customize. It is not for tinkerers.

Android is for the geeks, the easily bored, and fickle who do not mind clearing caches, resets, task killers, and app incompatibilities here and there causing problems as well as limited memory.

I am stuck with android for awhile for now, so i am rooting for it, it just can't grow up fast enough for me. i am sure it will get better, but I am not a patient person as most here. It kills me 2.1 will not be with my carrier until end of june, if there are no problems..then probably no more updates after that for this carrier. they are not so sure they want to continue with the software update headaches. People are complaining they cannot root, cannot get apps friends have, etc etc and when it comes to tech support, they are woefully inadequet and cannot help most users.

I inquired if they would be getting tv broadcast like sprint has, because the same company that does it for sprint approached my company, and I was told there was an app for live tv already in the market, called tv.com i could watch cnn, fox news abc nbc etc etc, live, for free already.

These are the people selling these handsets and services. You do not get that kind of tech support from apple.

Do you know the meaning of fragmentation? Its still fragmentation, despite the reason being harware...



Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

 

[Mikooster]

I don't know why no one has brought this up yet in this thread (maybe I missed it) but IMO a huge downside to the iPhone is the App Store rules.

At this point, I wouldn't buy a phone that isn't compatible with Google Voice. Apple loves to point out the fact that bad stuff can be found in the Market, like PORN APPS!! Think of the children!!

But the fact of the matter isn't that Apple is anti-porn or anti-malware - they are anti-whatever Steve Jobs doesn't like or whatever competes with them, even if it's better.

The worst part is that devs keep bending over and taking it from Apple when they should focus on platforms that don't risk rejecting their months of programming for no actual reason.

 

[QrafTee]

yeah, cause they are sooooo hard to find <shakes head>

Yeah, they kinda are. Like while you're in a car for instance, no wifi. Believe it or not, but not all cities have a citywide wi-fi network.

 

[jmdwifi]

I wish my Eris could bookmark my place in audiobooks and such. As a media player, the Ipod kicks ass. I sold my ipod because the eris does almost everything it did plus makes phone calls but finding my place in a book or podcast when I play a different song is a pain.

 

[AGWednesday]

Apple is in another league.

Apple makes OS. Check.
Apple makes phone. Check.

Already, a plus. Decisions are made by one company on two aspects of the phone.

First, I don't much care for fanboyism either, and I don't really want to choose sides here, but I find a lot of what you have to say suspect at best.

For example, above you give a plus to Apple for taking charge of both the OS and the hardware, but I could just as easily have given Android the advantage here. Allowing different companies to take charge of the hardware allows for a variety Apple can't provide. If I want a physical keyboard, I can get one that runs Android. If I want a phone with a huge screen and front-facing camera, Android wins there too.

Only one aspect left.

Carrier. AT&T.

Android. Reason for fragmentation?
1. Hardware specs
2. Manufacturer of phone has little to do with release of OS update. Carrier does.

Carriers that carry Android phones (in the US):Five.
Carriers that carry iPhones: One.

Same argument here. I'm not sure how appearing on one carrier is better than appearing on five.

Unless you're trying to say that keeping the user's choices limited is a good thing. If that's the case, Apple is definitely for you.

That's not a dig, by the way. I know a few very computer-savvy people who like Apple's very "one standard" approach. However, that line of thinking is not for everyone, and many here won't write it off as an advantage.

As a side note: can anyone tell me why fragmentation is considered a bad thing? It's a serious question, since I can't wrap my mind around the idea. Technically, MS Windows is fragmented, but the OSes themselves and the individual user experiences don't suffer.

 

[slick_old]

Listen, you guys (and gals) realize that by starting a new iPhone-related thread EVERY. SINGLE. DAY., it really makes you seem like jilted Verizon customers who only got the Droid because the iPhone wasn't available? That might very well be the case for a lot of you, but it makes the rest of us look bad. So let's call for a moratorium on iPhone topics for a while, eh?

First of all, I don't think there's an iPhone thread started EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. Second of all, why must one assume that Droid/Android owners are people who couldn't get an iPhone for whatever reason. Why don't people assume that Android was our FIRST choice. I mean, I was with Cingular/AT&T for TEN YEARS and I could have had an iPhone at ANY TIME during the past few years.

However, the iPhone never really appealed to me in a visceral way. I thought it was a very cool device but I wasn't blown away like most people were and I knew that the innovations iPhone popularized would be improved upon by other phone makers and I decided to wait for something that was more my speed. Android is more my speed. I've only been with Verizon since Nov.09 and the Droid caught my attention in a way that the iPhone didn't so I bought it and I love it.

People who are displeased by iPhone threads might as well get used to it because, like it or not, the iPhone is the benchmark by which all smartphones are judged. Hopefully, with such great devices coming out, this will change soon. Maybe the Evo 4G will become the new benchmark. For now, iPhone is the benchmark and it is natural for smartphone owners to judge their purchase based on that perspective. Admittedly, it makes folks feel better about their purchase when they know that their device is just-as-good-as or better-than the benchmark. It's human nature. For me, Droid/Android is better than the "benchmark" (iPhone) but for others, the iPhone is still the leader of the pack and both sides will continue to have a healthy debate on the subject.

 

[IOWA]

All I'm going to say is this. Besides dropping phone calls, lets try and name ONE thing iPhone can do, that Android is not capable of, and (most likely) better at it.

'Nuff Said.

EDIT:

Also, as someone briefly mentioned, and I will expand upon, since when is one carrier one model better for consumers than choice in general?

 

[gwlaw99]

The only thing the iphone has that the droid doesn't is better apps especially games.

 

[IOWA]

The only thing the iphone has that the droid doesn't is better apps especially games.

Better apps? Like what?

And with the new OpenGL standard, Games will be much better on Android, not that anyone should really depend on iphone for GAMING. And actually, My current Samsung Moment would provide a much better gaming experience due to its high GPU and hardware controls.

 

[webeougher]

First of all, I don't think there's an iPhone thread started EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. Second of all, why must one assume that Droid/Android owners are people who couldn't get an iPhone for whatever reason. Why don't people assume that Android was our FIRST choice. I mean, I was with Cingular/AT&T for TEN YEARS and I could have had an iPhone at ANY TIME during the past few years.

However, the iPhone never really appealed to me in a visceral way. I thought it was a very cool device but I wasn't blown away like most people were and I knew that the innovations iPhone popularized would be improved upon by other phone makers and I decided to wait for something that was more my speed. Android is more my speed. I've only been with Verizon since Nov.09 and the Droid caught my attention in a way that the iPhone didn't so I bought it and I love it.

People who are displeased by iPhone threads might as well get used to it because, like it or not, the iPhone is the benchmark by which all smartphones are judged. Hopefully, with such great devices coming out, this will change soon. Maybe the Evo 4G will become the new benchmark. For now, iPhone is the benchmark and it is natural for smartphone owners to judge their purchase based on that perspective. Admittedly, it makes folks feel better about their purchase when they know that their device is just-as-good-as or better-than the benchmark. It's human nature. For me, Droid/Android is better than the "benchmark" (iPhone) but for others, the iPhone is still the leader of the pack and both sides will continue to have a healthy debate on the subject.

If you go back through the past few weeks, there's a new post almost every day that says "Phone X is coming to Verizon - will you be jumping?" or something along those lines (I've seen it for the N1, I've seen it for the iPhone, among others). Add to that the "Well, phone X will be doing this on network Y - will you be jumping" (Evo 4G, among others), and it's a near-constant deluge of people who seem unhappy with the phone they have. I can see posting it in a general discussion forum or a phone-specific forum for the phone in question (N1, Evo 4G, Incredible, etc), but when it's posted on the forum of a phone that's already been released and widely purchased, it just makes it seem like very few people who visit this particular forum are all that happy with their phones. I will admit that I'm considering making the jump to the Incredible, but that's only because I've been having issues with dust getting into the slider mechanism of my Droid (I work in environmental remediation, so I'm outside a lot, and the work I oversee tends to generate a lot of dust) and I think a one-piece phone would be better suited to keeping dust out. However, this is the first time I've even mentioned the Incredible outside of the Incredible forum, and that was a very specific question about HTC's overall camera quality (one of the few things I actually dislike about my Droid is how subpar its pictures appear when compared with the ones I was able to take with my Omnia).

I, too, was with Cingular/AT&T (only for four years) when the iPhone was released, and, like you, it wasn't my cup of tea. I didn't have any issues with the design or the restrictive OS (at the time I had a Motorola KRZR, so I was completely new to the world of smartphones), it was simply that the AT&T salesman was honest enough to tell me that if I dropped the iPhone (something I do often), it would almost certainly break and I'd be out $400 with no recourse whatsoever. I switched back to Verizon in July of 2008, and I had an LG Voyager from July until December, when I bought an Omnia. I had just about convinced myself through custom ROMs and the like that I did like my Omnia, and then the Droid was released and I realized that it did everything I wanted my Omnia to right out of the box. I had intended to wait for the Nexus 1 to hit Verizon before getting rid of the Omnia, but fate intervened and I fell into the Delaware River, something that's apparently not amenable to the Omnia. It died, I bought the Droid, and I haven't looked back. But the same reason I didn't buy an iPhone is the same reason that I'll probably end up keeping my Droid (and investing in stock for a compressed air company), because I know it can take a pretty substantial drop and come out no worse for the wear. The Incredible looks like it might be too iPhone-esque in that regard, where if I drop it, it's going to break.

So I apologize if you felt I was lumping you in with the iPhone lovers, but that is certainly how it makes the people who start these threads (and the ones who post affirmatively in it) seem - like they bought a Droid only because they couldn't get the iPhone. I do realize that is not the case for everyone, but my initial point remains - threads like these reflect poorly on those of us who do own the Droid, who are (largely) happy with the Droid, and who aren't in the market for another phone.

 

[QrafTee]

Better apps? Like what?

And with the new OpenGL standard, Games will be much better on Android, not that anyone should really depend on iphone for GAMING. And actually, My current Samsung Moment would provide a much better gaming experience due to its high GPU and hardware controls.

Well until someone develops a game that takes advantage of those "high GPU and hardware controls", your argument is moot.

 

[IOWA]

Well until someone develops a game that takes advantage of those "high GPU and hardware controls", your argument is moot.

Depending on your phone as a gaming platform is also moot. So whats the point?