Multitasking gripes... Is there a better way?

[johnnybiggles]

Coming from the webOS on the Palm Pre, understanding multitasking and/or using it on the GS3 is kind of a pain. On the Pre, you swipe up, the app "minimizes", then swipe the open apps left or right and tap the app that you need (should be open), then you can copy/paste/type/whatever and go back to your original app and paste/continue/whatever with ease. If you want to close something, you simply swipe it up (minimize) and then swipe up again on it to close it. When the app closes (if you don't see it), it stops running. DONE.

On the GS3 - I don't know what's still running or closed... if only switching between apps was as easy as it is to switch between web browser tabs!..... switching between apps so far from what I know, you must press the home button for a few seconds before being presented with a list of open/running apps, where THEN you can swipe them away to close them. In some cases, nothing was on that list but something was open, or, vice versa - something was still open after swiping it away... OR, a settings menu is there... Why? Is that an app that needs to be running all the time until I officially close it?? Sometimes, only certain apps are on the top menu that you swipe down to open. I have trouble closing the music player and you can't close that or some other programs from that swipe-down menu, so the music still plays and you might have 2 GPS apps open all at the same time since completely closing apps is not an easy task either. You think it's closed, but it's actually just running in the background. Sometimes checking the task manager inside the list of running apps doesn't show anything... but once, I still saw the Pandora "P" in the swipe down menu at the top...? What makes all this more annoying is, if the screen goes off, now I have to turn it back on and put the code in again to continue fumbling around with all this! This is not driving friendly!! (Neither is 'S Voice' by the way!) Grrrrr...

Is there some app or fix that allows switching and closing apps to be much more simple?? Thank goodness I was stuck in crawling traffic for so long because if I were driving normally, I may have killed someone trying to fumble around with these apps trying to get a decent combination of them running for the drive home. The big screen and big buttons helped, but still. [Let's say you open Pandora, but would rather listen to your own music in the music player - all while your GPS is running and you want to periodically check traffic or alternate routes. This should not take 10 minutes to finally get and they ALL should not all be running simultaneouly!!

Any suggestions? Help an Android newbie out...

 

[Darth Pooh#CB]

take a look at Wave Launcher in the Play Market, it's a highly customizable Wave Bar that you can set to open the recently used apps much quicker. that being said, nothing will replace cards unless Duarte finally brings it to Android. don't hold your breath

 

[jk175d]

Coming from the webOS on the Palm Pre, understanding multitasking and/or using it on the GS3 is kind of a pain. .......
{snip}
This should not take 10 minutes to finally get and they ALL should not all be running simultaneouly!!

Any suggestions? Help an Android newbie out...

Wow, you held on to your Pre a long time! I loved the Pre and WebOS, I switched to Android when the original Epic 4G came out. As long as you were using WebOS it is understandable you'll have a bit of a transition to make. But once you get the hang of Android and the unbelievably bada$$ S3 you won't look back. After you've played around with it for a while it will take you 10 seconds not 10 minutes to do all that stuff. It becomes very intuitive and easy once you get used to it.

 

[Tampaguy75]

My heart sank when I read your post, Johnnybiggles. I have been a WebOS user since launch day in 2009. The GS3 is the first phone that I have come across that actually offered so much advancement that I was willing to jump ship to a different operating system. I pre-ordered the GS3 from Verizon and expect to see it in a couple of weeks.

The way you described multitasking with the card views and the simplicity and elegance of the UI with WebOS made me realize what kind of adjustment it will be for me going to Android. I have played with Android a little here and there and have had the same frustrations with trying to understand what apps were really open and what apps were truly no longer running. Also, being able to copy information from one card in WebOS and paste it into another card was something I did all the time. (Or, just having two cards open so I could refer to both of them interchangeably was very helpful.)

Since WebOS will probably never see the light of day, again, I would hope that future updates of Android will incorporate the elegance of multitasking like I have come to love in WebOS.

 

[johnnybiggles]

Yeah I did have it a long time but I tend to go with stuff that will last for a good while. It's actually my 4th unit, but I never had to pay for any replacements. While the hardware may have been cheap, the software was excellent and got the job done. It just recently started to seem slowwww after seeing and using things that put it to shame because of the speed only. Now... the usability of it was so simple and intuitive, and you would think that because of MS Windows history & popularity and with ideas like the WebOS multitasking, a huge OS like Android might have that nailed down by now which is what I was hoping for.... but it seems complicated so far and hard to grasp. This system is good for those people you see who have 20 different windows open on their desktop computers and rarely reboot their machines, then complain that it's running slow and locks up... and I am not one of them. I'm an IT guy and although I multitask, I'm a minimalist conservative (not a political reference). When I'm done with something, I close it to keep things organized, clear and smooth.

Another example, is the web browser. I have my homepage set to XYZ.com, but everytime I open the browser, even if I had 1. clicked the home button, then 2. long-pressed it for the running apps menu, then 3. swiped "Internet" away which I would assume closes the app, it would still open the last page I had open minutes or hours ago. This is convenient in some ways but can be very bad in others: Let's say I want to open up the browser to show someone something or they grab it to look something up (with your permission of course) and you forget you were looking at something thatz none of their business or just personal (a surprise gift for her birthday, facebook, or, lets be honest, porn or whatever...lol)... this will be the first page they see.... so what exactly is the purpose of setting the homepage? You have to close all tabs first before closing out?? Again, I'm used to just double swiping, so this is cumbersome to me and a concern because I don't want apps draining my battery, especially if I'm done using them. Yeah it's convenient to go back to where you left off, but in most cases if I've closed a program, I want it to start fresh from the beginning the next time. Sorry, I love this phone but this is kind of hard to adjust to... and this is not quite as horrible as it may seem...lol, but i'd still like some kind of improvement.

 

[mc_gusto]

i am a recovering webos junkie too. This is my first android phone as well. I did have an android tablet, so its not too bad for me.

One thing i did to alleviate the pain just a wee bit was i installed Nova Launcher and it has a button to bring up "recent apps" which brings up the card view. If you swipe it if its in your launcher it almost feels like the real thing. Not quite but almost.

Still doesn't help solve the other quirks of ics multitasking.

One thing that really bothers me, is the current app doesn't go into a "card view" that you can swipe away. You can only do that in the home screen. If they could solve that, i would be much much happier.

 

[Tkbredx]

I feel you pain bro! I left my Pre for the GSM3 as well. Multitasking for me is somewhat fine because the galaxy's speed makes up for the missing web's cards. I am dying of not having the *wait for it* keyboard (lol. When you have a Pre for 3 years and a Centro for one year you can type at about 70+ wpm. Atleast I did). And last but not least. The greatest thing about WebOS gestures. I find myself trying to swipe to go back assigns forward between apps and I occasionally swipe the GS3s menu button instead of pressing the back button. Lol

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Android Central Forums

 

[scorpeo88]

wow... lots of pre users made the jump. i was a 3yr pre user as well. as ^^^ said, i have the same issues... multitasking, gestures, and keyboard.

in terms of the keyboard, we were kind of forced into making that jump, so it is what it is.

gestures arent thaaaat bad, its not webos incredible, obviously, but i can get used to that (the back button on the S3 is where we had it on the pre, i swipe back rather than tap the button, makes me feel a lil more at home.) i find myself swiping up wayy to much haha- just a matter of getting used to.

mutlitasking- yeah, huge problem. dont even get me started on that.

interesting thought tho--- S3 uses snapdragon just like the touchpad... soo it seems possible to be able to port open webos 1.0 when the time comes. if the touch buttons at the bottom dont light up... we have ourselves a pre minus the keyboard and we continue to use it like pre-style gestures- it could work, my friends.

 

[dames117]

I also just jumped to the GS3 from a launch day Palm Pre-. I only had to get one replacement due to a broken power button! I loved the keyboard and the fact that I could just start typing to find anything I wanted. I did see this app that simulated multitasking a la WebOS, though it's no longer available unfortunately.

Itching Thumb Brings webOS-Like, Gesture-Based Task Management to Android