Multi-tasking limitations

[sleemie]

I read a review which stated that if you have the browser running you have to CLOSE it, not minimize, to make a phone call. I'm wondering what other multi-tasking type of limitations this phone, and Android, have. I was playing around with a Hero at Best Buy one day and while I had the browser open I couldn't get to one of the other screens. Not sure if it was just me or if you can't do that at all with Android. What good is it to have three windows and multi-tasking if you can't open a program in one screen and then leave it running and jump over to another screen.

So...I'm wondering if that's really true, and what other type of limitations it has. Such as, can I have the browser open while I'm using GPS? Can I open GPS and enter a route while I'm in the middle of a phone call?

 

[MarvinAndroid]

I think what they might be saying is that you cannot browse the Internet (as in send and receive data) at the exact time while you are talking on the phone. I think I heard that as well because it is some kind of hardware limitation? But that doesn't stop you from having the browser open then opening the dialer. For example, I can be in the browser with two web pages open at the same time... I get a phone call and answer the call. After the call is over I will be back to my two web pages exactly where I was before. Or in the same example but I want to make a call.. I would (on my G1) tap the call button to open the dial pad, then dial a number and talk to somebody. After I'm done talking (or even while I'm talking) I can hit the "back" button and it will flip right back to the web page I was just at. I can look at the page and read it.. but I can't browse to a new page or do anything which requires sending and receiving data (I get a message saying it will continue the operation when I finish my phone call). So my phone call is going on in the background.. I could put the call on speaker and open AK Notepad and take a note while I talk etc. As soon as I hang up I can go back to the browser (either by hitting the back button or going to the home page and opening the browswer again) and my webpage will still be open and it will navigate to that link I clicked while I was on the phone. And the second page I had in the background is still there as well. That AK Notepad note I opened is still there too.. I can hit the back button and bring it up right away.

Basically you can run a bunch of applications at the same time and they will be just where you left them when you go back to them. I've been using this thing for a year and I really haven't hit any kind of 'multi-tasking limitation' (and I would definitely consider myself a power user). It's one of the OS's greatest strengths I think.

 

[randydandy]

You can switch between up to 5 browser windows all running at the same time with the Droid. Even more applications than 5. It's not as easy to switch as say... the Droid Eris which you just swipe to the left or right like it's a pic. You actually have to hit the menu button and a screen comes up similiar to hitting control, shift, tab on a Vista PC.

This phone has the most multitasking capability of any phone I've ever seen although I have never gotten a VZW phone to be able to use the browser while I was on the phone. I have to assume that's a network limitation.

 

[darrinaltman]

CDMA phones cant do data and phone at the same time. Only GSM phones have that ability.

Also, I had a Sprint Hero and when you have an app open, say a radio streaming app, and you hit home to do something else, you still have the radio app open and it continues to stream in background. You cant just swipe to the right or left to get back to it like described above. You have to re tap on the app icon or long hold on the home key to see icons for the most recent apps used and click on the radio app from there. The only way to keep the app really active and easily accessible with a swipe is if you have a Palm Pre. Then the app is accessible with a swipe from one screen (they call it a card) to another.

The important fact is that multitasking on Android works great imo. I got tired real quickly of all of the swiping and gestures with the Palm web OS.

 

[randydandy]

The sense UI on the Eris sounds very similiar if not the exact same. It runs 1.6. It's only one touch less to move through running apps than the Droid.

 

[Kamilli0n]

Is it possible to browse the web over Wi-Fi while you are on a call since it's not using Verizon's data network?

 

[darrinaltman]

The sense UI on the Eris sounds very similiar if not the exact same. It runs 1.6. It's only one touch less to move through running apps than the Droid.

I believe the specs show the Eris will have 1.5 and the Sense UI should be, I assume, exactly the same as the Sprint Hero. I must have missed it since I had the Hero for almost three weeks and never saw a swipe feature to go to other open apps. I honestly don't think it does that.

 

[randydandy]

I believe the specs show the Eris will have 1.5 and the Sense UI should be, I assume, exactly the same as the Sprint Hero. I must have missed it since I had the Hero for almost three weeks and never saw a swipe feature to go to other open apps. I honestly don't think it does that.

It may be 1.5 but I thought I had read 1.6. Eris definitely has the swipe though. I toyed with it and the Droid for 4 hours at a training.