iPad Understanding Multi-tasking on the iPad: What is it really?

[LDBoblo]

Truth is nobody knows how good the iPad will be with a stylus. It's all conjecture at this point.

Most likely, it'll be about equal in quality to what can be achieved on ebook devices (i.e. poor). There's a chance the accuracy will be high enough to allow basic writing, but we don't know yet.

As far as multitasking, there are lots of legitimate uses for it. Trying to call out one example and then decrying "but the mass market doesn't need to do that!" is nothing but rubbish fanboyism. It's unfortunate when consumers try to publicly dismiss legitimate flaws for no reason but to justify their own bias. It's a marketing strategist's dream though (and I speak from experience on that).

[kilron]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

As far as multitasking, there are lots of legitimate uses for it. Trying to call out one example and then decrying "but the mass market doesn't need to do that!" is nothing but rubbish fanboyism. It's unfortunate when consumers try to publicly dismiss legitimate flaws for no reason but to justify their own bias. It's a marketing strategist's dream though (and I speak from experience on that).

ok then. lets assume the mass market DOES want to multitask. what exactly would they be doing exactly? can you give me a really good example of multitasking that typical consumers would have to have multiple apps open at the same time for? ... still waiting...

ok. now give me a good example of true multitasking things you would do if you could do them on an iPad.

i'm looking at my computer right now. i've got a browser windows with about 20 tabs open, my email client, iTunes, 2 chat clients, calendar app and a notes app all open. at some point i'll probably open up a few more. but i'm hardly ever actually multi-tasking. do i have multiple things open? yes. but am i actually actively using more than one application at the same time? no.

so that got me to thinking... when do i actually "multitask". well, most often its when i'm doing some heavier computing, such as rendering video in the background while i continue to work on other things (although some folks recommend not doing anything while video is rendering, but i've not had any issues personally), or batching a bunch of photos in photoshop or lightroom for example while working on other things. so right there, i don't think i plan to do a lot of those things on something like an iPhone or iPad.

[kjk]

Very in-depth examination of multitasking as it relates to the iPhone/iPad here:

http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989

[nekokami]

Several people have indicated how they would use multitasking. I've mentioned, for example, that I'd like to be able to read a PDF and make notes in a note-taking app at the same time. While the hulu-watching crowd may not need to do this, nearly every student or teacher would probably like to do the same. And there are a lot of us, and we're a prime market for this device. I would also see this use case coming up a lot in business and the professions (e.g. doctors, lawyers). Another big market for this device.

I'm not assuming that the iPad won't support this function (yet).

I'd like to suggest that when we read a remark like "I need Feature X" we don't respond by saying "No you don't!" or "Well, I don't, so they shouldn't include it!" or even "You're in a tiny minority! They shouldn't include that feature!" What's the point of such an answer?

If you have information to offer, such as "I've checked, and that would add about $100 to the production cost" or "Device Y might be a better match for your needs," by all means, post. If you are honestly interested in how someone might use Feature X, that's a fair question, too, especially if you are asking so you might be able to help by offering alternatives.

I'm not trying to stifle opinions here. I'm just suggesting that we give a little thought toward whether what we are thinking of posting is actually going to be of any benefit to those who will read it.

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by kjk

Very in-depth examination of multitasking as it relates to the iPhone/iPad here:

http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989

Very nice. Thanks for posting this.

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by kilron

ok then. lets assume the mass market DOES want to multitask. what exactly would they be doing exactly? can you give me a really good example of multitasking that typical consumers would have to have multiple apps open at the same time for? ... still waiting...

ok. now give me a good example of true multitasking things you would do if you could do them on an iPad.

That is a futile exercise, since no one example in isolation can be valid to your perception of the "mass market" (and what is your marketing background besides being a passionate Apple customer?), and thus all such examples can be dismissed. The same fallacious method of dismissal applies equally well to a rather large percentage of built-in applications and functions.

To be honest, I'm not championing multitasking for the iPad, and have no intention to. Like a lot of people, I've come to expect very little functional capability from the iPad and would instead do almost everything that involves actual productivity on a PC or Mac.

Originally Posted by kjk

Very in-depth examination of multitasking as it relates to the iPhone/iPad here:

http://db.tidbits.com/article/10989

Simultaneous Execution: Side by Side Apps would definitely improve productivity, and is what I most miss in the way of "multitasking". I've not much faith it'll come about, but it'd be nice.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

Simultaneous Execution: Side by Side Apps would definitely improve productivity, and is what I most miss in the way of "multitasking". I've not much faith it'll come about, but it'd be nice.

Yes! that one caught my eye as well. I think the iPhone/Touch form factor really benefits from a single-tasking/one screen approach. But I agree with the author of that piece that the OS could definitely evolve for the bigger screens of new products, from the iPad and beyond.

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

Truth is nobody knows how good the iPad will be with a stylus. It's all conjecture at this point.

Most likely, it'll be about equal in quality to what can be achieved on ebook devices (i.e. poor). There's a chance the accuracy will be high enough to allow basic writing, but we don't know yet.

Agreed. I'll wait and see how it works with third party capacitive stylus, whether there are apps that let me mark up PDFs, word documents and books (highlighting, scribble notes on the page) like I do with printouts and paper books now.

But I'm not optimistic it will give the level of precision I need, with having very small and sloppy handwriting, and I'll probably need to wait for a good tablet with a wacom stylus screen that's built mainly for document markup/note taking to really get my ideal tablet.

As far as multitasking, there are lots of legitimate uses for it. Trying to call out one example and then decrying "but the mass market doesn't need to do that!" is nothing but rubbish fanboyism. It's unfortunate when consumers try to publicly dismiss legitimate flaws for no reason but to justify their own bias. It's a marketing strategist's dream though (and I speak from experience on that).

Agreed. As I just said to him/her in another thread. Most of us don't give a crap what the mass market/typical user needs. We only care about what we need.

Most of us don't care about how well a device sells etc., we care whether it does everything we need it to do in the way we want to do it, in a form factor we like etc.

[nekokami]

If you have an iPod Touch or iPhone already, you can try the Pogo Sketch capacitive stylus. That's the one I use, and it seems to deal quite well with my handwriting.

If you don't yet have an iP* device, you could take a gamble and order the Pogo Sketch, then go to an Apple store and ask to try it on one of their demo devices. But without an app that captures handwriting or at least sketching, it will be hard to tell how well it works.

The real issue is whether ink capture (with or without HWR) will be integrated at the OS level, so it will be available to all apps.

[kjk]

Interesting...Microsoft's impressive-looking new Windows 7 Phone OS seems to be taking the iPhone's approach towards multitasking:

http://gizmodo.com/5472240/is-there-...ike-the-iphone

"The core operating system is a modern multitasking operating system. If you play music for example, the music will play back as you navigate around the experience...if you're using email, we have great support for push email and that happens in the background.
For third party applications—we'll get into a lot more detail on this in MIX—but we have a few ways we're going to make sure that third parties can bring their value to the user even when the app is not running. Live tiles are an example. Data feeds in the hubs are another example for some apps."

And, oddly, will not include Flash, at least for v1.0..but they don't rule it out at a later date.