Not trying to sound noobish...

[Intervenient]

But how is multitasking on Android more "true" than multitasking on iOS 4. I've heard this numerous times, and really don't see the difference.

 

[mulveyr]

But how is multitasking on Android more "true" than multitasking on iOS 4. I've heard this numerous times, and really don't see the difference.

Because on Android you can have multiple apps running at the same time.

For example, I can start NewsRob and have it start to download a few thousand articles from my Google Reader RSS feed. Then, I switch to GMail and have it start syncing a bunch of articles. Then I start up a game and play for a few minutes while NewsRob and GMail finish their thing, and then go back to them where I left off.

You can't do that on iOS. The "multitasking" supports only a very limited number of functions; Some audio playback, allowing some VOIP apps like Skype to wait for incoming calls, etc. It doesn't permit general-purpose apps to operate while not front-and-center on the screen.

As a long-time software engineer who writes true multi-tasking applications in a corporate environment, it's laughable that Apple gets away with claiming iOS is multi-tasking. And this is from someone who also owns an iPhone.

 

[lunatic59]

YouTube - iOS 4.0 on 3G iPhone (parody)

 

[ballisticn8]

downloading a torrent file on my phone while listening to pandora or slacker or mp3's while downloading rss news feeds and checking my email...