background processes possibility?

[keenan wolf]

what if when the iphone was being charged, you could run background processes? the issue with background processes is battery life so why would it matter while its being charged?

i think this would be good in the car so you could use tom tom or a similar gps app and talk on the phone (through speaker phone of course ) and still get turn by turn directions.

 

[bmms8]

what if when the iphone was being charged, you could run background processes? the issue with background processes is battery life so why would it matter while its being charged?

i think this would be good in the car so you could use tom tom or a similar gps app and talk on the phone (through speaker phone of course ) and still get turn by turn directions.

the issue really isnt battery life. the issue is the amount of ram. you can jailbreak and run processes in the background. on the 3g it wasnt bad, but on the 3gs it works great. i havent had any apps crash yet. good luck.

 

[Slugg]

the issue really isnt battery life. the issue is the amount of ram. you can jailbreak and run processes in the background. on the 3g it wasnt bad, but on the 3gs it works great. i havent had any apps crash yet. good luck.

To be more specific, the app he's talking about is called "Backgrounder", which you can find in Cydia or Icy if you jailbreak your iPhone

 

[keenan wolf]

the issue really isnt battery life. the issue is the amount of ram. you can jailbreak and run processes in the background. on the 3g it wasnt bad, but on the 3gs it works great. i havent had any apps crash yet. good luck.

okay then why does the iphone 3G S not have background processes? it could have been another selling point for the 3G S over the 3G

 

[patrickdunn]

okay then why does the iphone 3G S not have background processes? it could have been another selling point for the 3G S over the 3G

Probably because they would argue that it would make it more unstable and prone to crashes on top of battery issues.

 

[Small White Car]

okay then why does the iphone 3G S not have background processes? it could have been another selling point for the 3G S over the 3G

Because one of the strengths of Apple is that things are simple.

"Can I run programs in the background?"
"No"

That's simple. It's not..."Yes, but only if you have a 3GS and it's plugged in."

Is that a good choice on their part? Well, not if you're a nerd, but for 90% of Apple's customers, being simple is WHY they buy Apple products. So that's why they do stuff like that. It's what most of their users want.

So what does this mean? I suspect they'll enable background processes on the 3rd gen phone and the 4th gen phone WHEN the 4th gen phone comes out. Then, you get this:

"Can I run programs in the background?"
"Yes, if you have one of the last 2 models."

So there's an "if" in there, but it's a much smaller, less important "if."

That's how Apple works. Wait for the "if" to become small and unimportant. Then they'll make their move.

EDIT: This is the same reason they killed the iPod Mini when the iPod Nano came out. The Mini still sold well, but it added confusion over which one to buy, so it had to go. Same principle here.

 

[keenan wolf]

i just think its dumb that it can not run tom tom and phone at the same time.

 

[Small White Car]

i just think its dumb that it can not run tom tom and phone at the same time.

What happens if you try? I can be on the phone and run any of the apps that I have.

What happens when you go back to Tom Tom while on a phone call? It just doesn't load?

 

[keenan wolf]

What happens if you try? I can be on the phone and run any of the apps that I have.

What happens when you go back to Tom Tom while on a phone call? It just doesn't load?

im not sure, im not gonna buy the app until i know that it will work properly lol. but i wasnt just talking about the phone, also messages and email. stuff like that. maybe even like a radio app.

 

[Small White Car]

im not sure, im not gonna buy the app until i know that it will work properly lol. but i wasnt just talking about the phone, also messages and email. stuff like that. maybe even like a radio app.

Mail and text messages receive messages while they're closed.

What else would you want them to do 'in the background' besides that?

The radio is a good point, but I'm not clear on what you want from all your other examples.

 

[TSX]

the issue with background processes is battery life so why would it matter while its being charged?

There's more to it than battery life, I think it has something with the data part. When i use backgrounder and then say i download an app, then i go to safari the page wont load until the other app is finished with the data usage.

 

[keenan wolf]

There's more to it than battery life, I think it has something with the data part. When i use backgrounder and then say i download an app, then i go to safari the page wont load until the other app is finished with the data usage.

okay, but tom tom doesnt use data right? (im not sure) the tom tom app uses built in maps and the car kit has a dedicated gps chip that is better than iphones so then being on the phone/internet/ using data would be fine. i think it should be possible even if it is just with gps applications.

 

[TSX]

okay, but tom tom doesnt use data right? (im not sure) the tom tom app uses built in maps and the car kit has a dedicated gps chip that is better than iphones so then being on the phone/internet/ using data would be fine. i think it should be possible even if it is just with gps applications.

Backgrounder works fine on my navigation apps and everything else, but if both apps running require data then it will wait for one to be finished before the other one runs properly. So we basicly need wifi/edge/3g to multitask its self.

 

[nparmelee]

Having had many, many lockups on Windoze mobile type phones over the years, the sandboxing of apps is fine by me. Nothing more annoying than realizing your phone has been locked up in some state for hours and having missed something important because of it.