madison

Microsoft killing off multitasking, Palm's webOS takes US crown

By | March 16, 2010, 4:53am PDT

Summary: One of the features of Windows Mobile that made it stand out from some others was the ability to multitask any application you wanted to. It looks like that capability is getting killed off in Windows Phone 7 Series as Microsoft may have went a bit too far in copying the iPhone OS.

One of the main reasons to keep using Windows Mobile devices has been the ability to multitask as much as you want with any applications you want to. However, according to the answers that Mary Jo received about Windows Phone 7 Series it looks like Microsoft is taking a huge step back and matching the iPhone more than Windows Mobile fans will appreciate. Apparently, you will not be able to multitask 3rd party applications and only run those from Microsoft in the background (sounds familiar doesn’t it?). Multitasking may be added back after Microsoft verifies things work well first. It looks to me like the new king of multitasking in the US will clearly be Palm and their webOS.

Google Android supports multitasking, but there is a severe limit on the number of applications you can load because they can only be installed into internal memory. The Apple iPhone currently only supports multitasking of their own apps, but there are rumors that iPhone OS 4.0 may support some kind of multitasking (ironic isn’t it Microsoft?). BlackBerry supports multitasking, but again apps can only be loaded into internal memory and the BB OS is getting quite dated. Symbian and Maemo both support multitasking and actually do it quite well, but they have no influence on the US market. Palm’s webOS supports multitasking with their slick “card” interface and with my Palm Pre Plus I have been able to listen to podcasts with Dr. Podder, check email, surf the web, play games, and more without any issues and multitasking is finally an enjoyable and easy experience.

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Matthew Miller started using a Pilot 1000 in 1997 and has been writing news, reviews, and opinion pieces ever since.

Disclosure

Matthew Miller

Matthew is a professional naval architect by day and a mobile gadget freak at all other times. He purchases his own devices and then sells them on eBay or Craigslist to buy more. Many other devices are sent for review on a 30-day loaner basis and then returned to the carrier or manufacturer. If any are provided as “long term loaner units” this will be clearly disclosed in his reviews.

Biography

Matthew Miller

Matthew Miller started using a mobile devices in 1997 and has been writing news, reviews, and opinion pieces ever since. He is a co-host with GigaOM's Kevin Tofel on the MobileTechRoundup podcast and an author of three Wiley Companion series books. Matthew started using mobile devices with a US Robotics Pilot 1000 and has owned over 125 different devices running Palm, Linux, Symbian, Newton, BlackBerry, iOS, Android, webOS, Windows Mobile, and Windows Phone operating systems. His current collection includes an HTC Radar 4G, Dell Venue Pro, Apple iPad 2, HTC Flyer, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Nokia N9, Apple iPhone 4S, MacBook Pro, and many more, along with tons of accessories and classic devices like the Apple Newton MessagePad 2100 and Sony CLIE UX50. Matthew can be found on various discussion forums under the user name of "palmsolo".

Talkback Most Recent of 57 Talkback(s)

  • android limit not "severe"
    I've installed so many apps on my Droid it's ludicrous (160 actually) and I still have memory to spare, so I'd say calling the app limit "severe" is a bit of an exaggeration.

    BTW How many people are really going to use more than a handful of the (mostly pointless) mobile apps anyway?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    eggmanbubbagee@...
    16th Mar 2010
  • Not installed but in use at one time
    I do not think the limits being referred to is how many apps you can install. It is saying how many you can run at one time.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    bobiroc
    16th Mar 2010
  • ZDNet Blogger

    Can't load Google Earth and games on my Nexus One
    I have about 35 3rd party apps on my Google Nexus
    One and in order to load up Google Earth or one of
    the newer trials of 3D games I have to uninstall
    applications and am always reaching the installed
    storage limit.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    palmsolo (aka Matthew Miller)
    16th Mar 2010
  • ZDNet Gravatar
    mrlinux
    16th Mar 2010
  • Why should I do that taking out the geek hat
    behave like a common user? How do you expect every common user to root their phone unless the user is a linuxer. That doesn't solve issue. I can JB my iPhone and run multitasking better than Android.
    --Ram--
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Rama.NET
    16th Mar 2010
  • RE: Microsoft killing off multitasking, Palm's webOS takes US crown
    Uh, excuse me Matt, but the Palm doesn't have expandable memory (SD) so your complaint about the BlackBerry or Android applies to the Palm devices also.

    Lets play fair, okay?!
    ZDNet Gravatar
    zeevid
    16th Mar 2010
  • ZDNet Blogger

    Palm lets you store on the full 8GB or 16B
    Big difference here is that you can install
    applications on the Palm into the internal
    expanded memory while on BB or Android devices
    there is a limited amount of internal memory to
    install applications.

    Placing media and other files on storage is a
    different story and I do think that having
    expandable memory with microSD cards is a very
    nice benefit that I prefer and wish Palm gave
    you internal and external capability.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    palmsolo (aka Matthew Miller)
    16th Mar 2010
  • I hate the fact you can not store apps on SD card..
    by default with Android, however @ least there is a way to do it, you can root your phone and install apps2sd.

    With Palm this will not be possible with the current model.

    NOTE: I think Android apps would improve in quality if there was more storage available for applications.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    mrlinux
    16th Mar 2010
  • Why would a common user root their phone
    and lose the benefits of support. Your point is moot for a common user and only works out for Linuxers.
    --Ram--
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Rama.NET
    16th Mar 2010
  • Why do you need an SD card?
    The Pre Plus has the same amount of memory as the
    iPhone, which also doesn't have an SD slot.

    I have the PrePlus, loaded with apps and Music,
    and I haven't come even close to filling it up.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Cantaffordit
    16th Mar 2010
  • Sales would indicate that the average consumers
    really aren't that worried about multitasking, otherwise phones that don't multitask wouldn't be selling all that well.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    John Zern
    16th Mar 2010
  • Not a valid argument
    With wide availability of 2 phones that are roughly equal but where one multitasks while one does not are a requirement for analysis. Sure people put up with limits when they have little choice. Examples throughout technological history prove the point.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    kdjkdj@...
    16th Mar 2010
  • I agree
    The sales argument never really proves anything. Kind of like: "Sales numbers would indicate most people and businesses don't really care about Apple's famed simplicity and quality." Weeeeell...not exactly!
    ZDNet Gravatar
    PookiePrancer
    16th Mar 2010
  • Not a Big Deal
    It would be handy to multi-task at times on my iPhone. But I do not consider it a deal breaker. And I don't think it will be for Windows Phone 7 either.

    As for the Palm OS, multi-tasking is worthless on it. The phone slows down so much when you do it that it almost makes it unusable in some cases. Not to mention the battery usage while doing so.

    In the future phones will be fast enough to handy it. For now, things are fine as they are.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Stuka
    16th Mar 2010
  • Does ANYONE have a good example of an app that MUST run in the background?
    I agree with Stuka that the cost of running background apps is that the app you are currently using suffers.

    Other than receiving notifications to handle some event that might require my involvement (e.g. email/TXT's arriving) and/or listening to music while I twitter, I am struggling to find examples of apps that I really do want to run in the background.

    Does anyone else have suggestions?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    de-void-21165590650301806002836337787023
    16th Mar 2010

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