posted on 4. 04. 2010 by Lori in Apple 

On Multitasking on the iPad

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On Multitasking on the iPad

One of the major negatives raised against Apple’s newly release iPad is the lack of multitasking on the device. While it is a frustrating proposition that a device squarely aimed to compete with netbooks is not capable of running multiple apps simultaneously is understandable, there are a few things that make this omission understandable.

I think it’s wrong to consider the iPad a computer in a traditional sense. While it can, in theory, do anything your computer can, I think a much more apt comparison is to look at the iPad like a console.

As it stands, all if not most apps on the iPad are developed with no multitasking or resource sharing in mind. While it is frustrating, and to some, straight up odd that you can not have a Skype call running in the background while you are surfing the web, consider the following: If, say, “Modern Warfare 2” were to display lower framerates and performance issues if you were running a voice-chat in the background, you would probably throw either your console or the game out into the trash-can without a second though. This would simply be unacceptable, as every developer knows what background processes can run on a console simultaneously. Were the iPad to introduce multitasking, this would simply not be the case.

Apple is selling more than a device, it is selling an experience, that, by some, has been described as “blazingly fast”. You expect Safari to render pages and pan around in a speedy fashion, if you launch “ZenBound”, you don’t want to deal with framerate drops and sluggishness. If Apple were to allow multitasking, the experience you would have with the device in terms of snappiness could and probably would change dramatically. Even if Apple were to implement multitasking on the iPad, it would be a smoke and mirrors approach where some parts of the application would run in the background yet others would simply have to be re-loaded if you were to switch to said application. Some apps like Facebook or AIM have found way (on the iPhone, at least) to get around this limitation utilizing Push technology and notifications, some apps do not have that luxury: A Skype call will always bog down the processor to some extent, severely limiting the available resources for other apps. This doesn’t seem to be a trade Apple is willing to make to appease some critics.

Another major drawback of allowing multitasking on the iPad would require adding things users have to keep track of while using the device, taking away much of the uncomplicated and “magical” feel Apple is touting, making consumers worry about things such as resource management; and most likely laying waste to Apple’s claim that the battery on the iPad lasts for 10 hours (and more, according to David Pogue and others).

If multitasking is something that you simply can not live without, you’re either not getting it, or the iPad is most likely not for you — and all of the bitching in the world is not going to change that. If you are ready to embrace the limitations the iPad imposes on your computing, I think you will be very happy with the experience Apple has cooked up. If you are just looking for excuses to hate a device, you should probably go outside more.

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