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The EVO Multitasks???

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sdezrilov

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Jun 9, 2010
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Has anyone else noticed that if you press and hold the home button you will see the last 6 programs you had used. I did some tests and noticed it will bring you back to unfinished txt's, email, browser sessions, etc... Way cool, yet another renewed love for the EVO. This is real handy for me! Just thought I would share, sorry if this is a known feature.
 
Has anyone else noticed that if you press and hold the home button you will see the last 6 programs you had used. I did some tests and noticed it will bring you back to unfinished txt's, email, browser sessions, etc... Way cool, yet another renewed love for the EVO. This is real handy for me! Just thought I would share, sorry if this is a known feature.

All android phones do this..... :eek:
 
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Absolutely, Android truly multitasks.

Long hold on the home key is a standard Android feature, so far as i know.

I'm glad you mentioned it - lots of folks are new to Android, so sharing these sort of tips is always in order on a user self-support forum such as this one.

Keep 'em coming, as far as I'm concerned.

The Tips & Tricks area at the top of the page is chock full of stuff, but sometimes daunting to wade through because of its size.

Either way - check it out if haven't already.

There's also some incredible stuff on the "Lets us peek at your Screens!" sticky thread - another treasure of these forums.

All just my opinion.
 
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well hasn't 2.1 always partial multi tasked?

That's news to me. May I ask you to elaborate?

So far as I know, the term partial multitasking comes straight from pundits trying to explain what Apple's latest iOS is doing.

It seems to be leading to confusing and unnecessary adjectives, such as full multitasking or true multitasking.

Multitasking has plenty of flavors, Android's rooted in Linux, let's see what they have to say:

Multitasking definition by The Linux Information Project (LINFO)

FWIW, I have a rooted Evo running the stock 2.1 rom - meaning I can access the running process list via the ps command. It's here if you're interested:

View attachment sample_of_stock_evo_processes.pdf

The main difference with Linux and Android task management is simply when and why it decides to shuffle an application into the background.

It won't timeslice/multitask the browser and a photo album - because the Android display can't display two things at once, unlike Linux with a big desktop to toss lots of windows up.

However - suppose I start my media player, leave it running playing music and then start my Tricorder? The hardware supports that. The unix command top (show top running multitasked processes and their CPU percentage) then shows this on my phone:

User 49%, System 14%, IOW 0%, IRQ 0%
User 152 + Nice 1 + Sys 44 + Idle 111 + IOW 0 + IRQ 0 + SIRQ 0 = 308

.PID..CPU% S #THR VSS RSS PCY UID ..............Name
15293..36% S......10 187344K...27484K fg app_85 org.hermit.tricorder
...94..13% S......62 349728K...46028K fg system system_server
.1952...9% R......23 197992K...32440K bg app_84 org.iii.romulus.meridian
.4197...3% S......12 .41212K....5224K fg media. /system/bin/mediaserver
1


Notice that the Meridian player that I see is now in the background - but there're services running so that I still hear music while checking out the sun.

Here's a pretty good round-up of the Android revisions:

Android (operating system) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here's one view of the two systems, Android and Apple:

davidquintana.com

Apple's definition of multitasking is unique.

Android's definition seems to follow known, standardized models.
 
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That's news to me. May I ask you to elaborate?

So far as I know, the term partial multitasking comes straight from pundits trying to explain what Apple's latest iOS is doing.

It seems to be leading to confusing and unnecessary adjectives, such as full multitasking or true multitasking.

Multitasking has plenty of flavors, Android's rooted in Linux, let's see what they have to say:

Multitasking definition by The Linux Information Project (LINFO)

FWIW, I have a rooted Evo running the stock 2.1 rom - meaning I can access the running process list via the ps command. It's here if you're interested:

View attachment 7718

The main difference with Linux and Android task management is simply when and why it decides to shuffle an application into the background.

It won't timeslice/multitask the browser and a photo album - because the Android display can't display two things at once, unlike Linux with a big desktop to toss lots of windows up.

However - suppose I start my media player, leave it running playing music and then start my Tricorder? The hardware supports that. The unix command top (show top running multitasked processes and their CPU percentage) then shows this on my phone:

User 49%, System 14%, IOW 0%, IRQ 0%
User 152 + Nice 1 + Sys 44 + Idle 111 + IOW 0 + IRQ 0 + SIRQ 0 = 308

.PID..CPU% S #THR VSS RSS PCY UID ..............Name
15293..36% S......10 187344K...27484K fg app_85 org.hermit.tricorder
...94..13% S......62 349728K...46028K fg system system_server
.1952...9% R......23 197992K...32440K bg app_84 org.iii.romulus.meridian
.4197...3% S......12 .41212K....5224K fg media. /system/bin/mediaserver
1


Notice that the Meridian player that I see is now in the background - but there're services running so that I still hear music while checking out the sun.

Here's a pretty good round-up of the Android revisions:

Android (operating system) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here's one view of the two systems, Android and Apple:

davidquintana.com

Apple's definition of multitasking is unique.

Android's definition seems to follow known, standardized models.

And if people really want to get technical, "true" multitasking hasn't been achieved until multi-core processors were brought to market =P. Until then, multitasking was all an illusion... much like movies in the movies theater.. looks like a moving picture.. but it's not.

But yes, the Multitasking on Android isn't limited like on iOS4, and FWIH on the 3gs it sucks... bad. Lag city. Way to go apple. You just completely fragmented 75% of your phones in one fell swoop. And they say Android has fragmentation.
 
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And if people really want to get technical, "true" multitasking hasn't been achieved until multi-core processors were brought to market =P. Until then, multitasking was all an illusion... much like movies in the movies theater.. looks like a moving picture.. but it's not.

You could argue that with pipelining, you could possibly be executing instructions from different processes at the same time on a single core :)

But yes, the Multitasking on Android isn't limited like on iOS4, and FWIH on the 3gs it sucks... bad. Lag city. Way to go apple. You just completely fragmented 75% of your phones in one fell swoop. And they say Android has fragmentation.

It's worse than that. Not all devices can even run iOS4, and we're talking millions not just a handful. The original iPhone 2G, 3G, 3GS and 4G now all have differing enough capabilities that it's getting much harder to write an app that will run on them all. Throw in the iPad's variant, and you've got way worse fragmentation than Android.
 
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But yes, the Multitasking on Android isn't limited like on iOS4, and FWIH on the 3gs it sucks... bad. Lag city. Way to go apple. You just completely fragmented 75% of your phones in one fell swoop. And they say Android has fragmentation.

I disagree with that statement. As much as Apple bugs me, I have to admit my 3GS seems to handle their pseudo-multi-tasking pretty well. At least until you get a bunch of apps going at once, then it starts to stutter a bit.

Maybe I just got a good one, dunno.
 
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And if people really want to get technical, "true" multitasking hasn't been achieved until multi-core processors were brought to market =P. Until then, multitasking was all an illusion... much like movies in the movies theater.. looks like a moving picture.. but it's not.

Please - think of kittens that get sacrificed whenever an unnecessary modifier is put on the word multitasking. ;D

Cluster (computing) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

One could say that multiple core CPUs are much like a miniature cluster on a chip.

And before multiple cores - there were the vector processors.

Let's not let the unwashed pundits win - if there's a true mt, then there's a partial mt - and that validates marketing taking over our terms. :nono:

As for your comparison to moving pictures - that's very reasonable. If it looks like a duck...

It's worse than that. Not all devices can even run iOS4, and we're talking millions not just a handful.

That's not unique. My wife's Moment isn't going to run Android 2.2, and we can find other examples from mainframes to desktops. Often a new OS will mark the obsolescence of a CPU.
 
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Has anyone else noticed that if you press and hold the home button you will see the last 6 programs you had used. I did some tests and noticed it will bring you back to unfinished txt's, email, browser sessions, etc... Way cool, yet another renewed love for the EVO. This is real handy for me! Just thought I would share, sorry if this is a known feature.

Thanks! This is like ALT Tab for windows...works well!
 
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As much as Apple bugs me, I have to admit my 3GS seems to handle their pseudo-multi-tasking pretty well.

Makes me apologize for using the word "definition" when I responded earlier.

I wish now I'd said "approach" instead - Apple's approach to multitasking is unique, whereas Android follows a more mature model.

If it quacks like a duck...

A phone that really runs one process at a time among multiple processes is a feature phone. A phone that somehow, by any means necessary, appears to run more processes as a time is a smartphone. (And all iPhones are smartphones.) Anything appearing to run multiple processes at once is multitasking.

If it looks like a moving picture...

There are plenty of different multitasking schemes. Have a look -

Computer multitasking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The easiest way to sum up whether Android's approach to multitasking is superior:

Does iOS multitask like OS X? No. Which is superior? OS X.

Do iOS and Android both multitask? Yes.

How do we know that Android's multitasking is better than iOS?

Android and Linux and Apple OS X use the same multitasking model.
 
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What's the point of multi-tasking if when you open 3 apps it stutters?

The same point it was when Windows 95 was task-limited in Microsoft's earliest approach.

Even 2 tasks/apps are better than 1.

I seem to recall a lot of people liking Win95. I would think of the earlier iOS as more like that.

Too soon to say on the new iOS how well it will really perform in the real world.

iOS may lack the technology to match Android's multitasking - but if the new one is an improvement over the earlier attempt (and it is) and proves sufficient for what iPhone users want, then the argument is moot.

Multitasking means to run more than one task at once. If you're at 2 - you're in the club. Junior member - but still in.
 
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I still dont think its full mulittasking like the palm pre add. if i play a game or certain apps when i go to do a text or something when i come back to the game its still on but i have to start all over at the beginning. with the pre it would come right back to the spot i was at.

Sorry, which is less like the pre - iOS or Android?

In any case - handling of an interrupted task is very important to people, as you note.

But we tend to define that as a different feature from multitasking.

On Android, if I'm browsing or reading or texting or something (can't speak for games), and I hit the home key, do something else and go back to that task, it's still in the state I left it.

Apple says this will be true for its new iOS.
 
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Seen it before didn't realize what it was, if only I could close the task there.

I been wondering if this is possible too..Without a task manager that is. Sometimes I want to toggle between screens and close some of the ones out that are open. Is there a workaround for this without having to go into settings>applications>manage applications and etc.

Dont want to revisit whether having a task managers right or wrong.. But when I see "the Evo" doesnt need one, "lets its do its job"m I'm wondering how do you do so without the slow route. Anyone feel free to chime in. Again I'm looking to do so without downloading a task manager
 
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On a related note... is there a way to easily kill a running app from the list of 6 most recently used apps? For that matter can you tell if any of the 6 most recent are loaded/resident in core?

If not it would be nice if there was a replacement task manager that would show you that info and allow to swipe off the screen to kill a resident task.
 
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Sometimes I want to toggle between screens and close some of the ones out that are open. Is there a workaround for this without having to go into settings>applications>manage applications and etc.

I put this on the app developers - many apps actually have a nice Exit option in their menu - many more do not.

Some apps may actually exit when you use the back button - some don't.

This needs improving.

If I'm in my music player and I use the Menu button, I can access other apps and the music still plays - it does the same thing if I use the back button.

In my opinion - that's a failure in interface design - two hard keys performing the same action.

I'm not an Android app developer, so there may be more to it than that.

But from a user perspective - fail.
 
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I still dont think its full mulittasking like the palm pre add. if i play a game or certain apps when i go to do a text or something when i come back to the game its still on but i have to start all over at the beginning. with the pre it would come right back to the spot i was at.

Well it depends.... What are you doing to go do that text? Are you pressing Home and then going into messaging or back and then going into messaging? If you back out of games and apps usually that closes them. Pressing Home usually leaves them running. Of course this depends on how the developer designed the app.
 
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