@Vinnie, there are things that WM does bad at, but multitasking is actually done pretty well. The crashes don’t occur that often, and they are due to the programs themselves, not a problem with WM’s multitasking. WM offers freedom, something that iPhone, though being enjoyable lacks, even with JB.

just pointing out some obvious irony, dont take it too seriously..(let the iTROLLING begin!)

@ Michael, I do carry my laptop most places but it’d be nice to do most of what I need to do throughout the day from my phone. If implemented correctly, I don’t see how this affects you? Why does the iPhone have to keep being “what it is”? Apple has been able to continually innovate or at least refine existing ideas. Their products always evolve and stay competitive. Why stop now? Clearly there are many ways to enhance areas the iPhone is lacking in while maintaining ease of usability. You can see them in other mobile operating systems such as android, webos, and even apps for JB iPhones.

I dunnot if you were an iPhone user when the 3G first came out but Apple reeeeaaally screwed up the 2.0 firmware.

“abstracting”

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

The iPhone “abstracted away” task managers in the same way decapitation cures acne.

http://www.diverse-group.com/menu/blog.html

Correction – “Most people don’t even know what ‘multitasking’ is” – Correct. However most people do understand that they can’t play their Internet streaming radio/music while checking their email.

The Nexus One got all of this hype and in cell phone years, which is almost month to month. The Nexus is “ahead” of the iPhone. When in reality the screen and the graphics processor have been compared in testing to the 3G[S] and have still come up short. And for the person complaining about the camera. The current iPhone has one of the best cameras on the market. Besting phones with twice the Megapixels.

Well if the rumor is true, someone at Apple disagrees with your definition of what an iPhone is or should be. All modern smartphone OS’es support some variation of multitasking. While the iPhone OS does supper it now, it needs to be opened up to 3rd party apps for reasons stated above.

The key is, as I mentioned above, is the implementation of task management. I firmly believ Apple will knock it out of the park, as it did with cut/paste.

And your comment about using a PC, more people use mobile devices to access the web than PC’s which says that more and more people are using mobile devices in lieu of a PC type device. The more people use these devices, the more powerful they need to become. Being able to run concurrent processes (apps) becomes much more than just reading your mail client and listening to music. Heck a low end Nokia s40 device can do that.

Still, while I don’t think full on multi-tasking is necessary on a resource constrained device such as a mobile phone, it would be nice if audio apps like Pandora could slip into the background while playing and have the same controls as the iPod app, and GPS navigation apps kept announcing turns over a phone call, and if VOIP apps could be backgrounded during a call in the same way as the built-in phone app.

In fact if these are common use cases then Apple could open some of their APIs to certain classes of apps (namely audio, GPS, and VOIP) to allow a minimal part of the app to slip into the background automatically and behave in the same way as the native apps do. That way it should be easy for users to manage and with clear audio and visual cues that something is running in the background there should be no complaints of unexpected battery life drops or slowdowns (well in theory!)

I disagree with the comment “Apple will screw it up”. Quite the opposite, Apple will wait until they know they got it right before releasing it to the public. Even though Cut/paste was late and the whole smartphone world had it since whenever, you would be hard pressed to find a nicer implementation of the functionality. Smartphones since then have “copied” Apple’s implementation. I used WM for a long time prior to the iPhone and there is a difference.

I find it most useful when I’m on a call and have to open up my calendar or contacts to make a new appointment or update information. Of course, listening to online radio while browsing the web is great too!

that’s why if anyone wants to give Android a shot, should grab Nexus One. Nothing else. It offers the experience Google intended for their OS.

For me it will be race between Nexus One entering Canada and Apple releasing 4.0 with wow factor to keep me aboard (although Apple didn’t wow me in 2-3 years).

I mean damn 4.0 for such a feature? While other platforms have it at 1.0?

And of course Apple will manage to screw it in the beginning and we have to wait even longer for a proper fix!!!

As for the comment about Android, that platform is experiencing a major cross road problem that could affect it very similarly to what happend to Windows Mobile – segmentation. While Android’s popularity is increasing, it has not become the “smartphone for all of us”, due to it’s varying user interface inconsistencies (OEM shells aka Sense UI), lack and timing of common OS updates (for devices that are customized), and applications that run on one version of the OS and not on another. People who like to tinker and customize will find the Android platform appealing. I was once like that, owning and customizing WM devices for years. I grew tired of that and now I am enjoying the consistency, ease-of-use, and stablity that the iPhone OS offers.

The challenge that Apple faces is how to offer multitasking management in a way that does not degrade the user experience and offer it in a way that does not destroy battery life.

With great power comes great responsibility.

A lot of people are going to be surprised how rarely these use it when they finally have it.

So, a big “meh” to this.

Right now I do it for multitasking, tethering, 5 icon dock, and SBSettings (and a little bit of winterboarding).