Sense 4.0 multitasking - hands on impressions?

[crxssi]

HTC has said that this is how they want multi-tasking to work across all Sense devices.

This has to be a mistake. If I can't even use two stock apps at the same time, there is essentially no multitasking at all. It is doing "halt and reload"!

 

[crxssi]

Another example: Tonight I launch speedtest.net app to perform some tests, run several tests, then open "recently used" for Settings, make a setting change, then open "recently used" to return to speedtest.net. Did this many times. More than half of the times I did this, the speedtest.net app essentially was suspended and restarted from scratch.

This is *NOT* multitasking. It is suspend and resume, like under the old PalmOS. Anyone who doesn't think this is broken behavior is just whacked. HTC has either totally screwed this up, or the phone is so starved for memory that it can't even handle these two simple apps at the same time, and they should have put 1.5 GB in the handset.

 

[bigrey81]

OK, I have the phone now. Multitasking is most certainly "broken". One of the first things I did was go into marketplace and download an app. After it started a VERY slow download, I decided to test the camera while it was working on that. Went to the camera app, took a few pictures. Went back to Google Play and it was as if I had never been there before. It apparently totally aborted my download, even.

I am *NOT* impressed. I can't even use just TWO APPS at the same time now?

Mine has allowed me to be able to switch between apps while completing the task...that is interesting

 

[crxssi]

Mine has allowed me to be able to switch between apps while completing the task...that is interesting

I find it is extraordinarily inconsistent. One moment I can switch live, other times it halts and resumes/restarts. I have used a lot of different Android devices (including ICS), and this is the first device I have ever seen halt-and-resume/restart when just going back and forth between two applications.

 

[limitproof]

Lately, I have to sign in every time I open tapatalk. Wtf

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

[Dreamliner330]

HTC has said that this is how they want multi-tasking to work across all Sense devices. Looks like your options are install a ROM or get a different phone.

I really like HTC hardware but Sense is beyond annoying and I prefer to not use ROMs. Hopefully Google will get Motorola steered in the right direction and we can see stock Android on high quality hardware.

This. I love the screen on the EVO LTE, but everything else seems to be business as usual for HTC...messed up software tinkering, light leakage, etc.

I really hope Motorola releases a phone with a quality screen like the EVO, or I may jump ship to Apple in the fall.

I think it's a combination of poor hardware quality / choices and the direction of the OS itself that is pushing me towards Apple.

 

[bigrey81]

OK, I have the phone now. Multitasking is most certainly "broken". One of the first things I did was go into marketplace and download an app. After it started a VERY slow download, I decided to test the camera while it was working on that. Went to the camera app, took a few pictures. Went back to Google Play and it was as if I had never been there before. It apparently totally aborted my download, even.

I am *NOT* impressed. I can't even use just TWO APPS at the same time now?

Mine has allowed me to be able to switch between apps while completing the task...that is interesting

 

[TraderGary]

I love to play Scrabble and usually have several games going simultaneously. This was never a problem with my original EVO 4G or my EVO 3D. My EVO 4G LTE aborts and restarts every single game I leave running, attempt another task, and then come back to. I love everything about this phone but it absolutely does NOT multitask. HTC needs to address this problem ASAP!

 

[kbp08tls]

I find it to be incredibly inconsistent. Sometimes I can bounce back and forth between a game and texting without anything reloading, but the majority of the time I can't. It's getting to be really annoying. I like a lot of what Sense is trying to achieve, but I'll be ditching it as soon as the devs come out with some good stable ROMs that address this particular issue.

 

[couragedragon]

I'm having the same issues as well. All was fine early on, but now that I'm running Avast Security, LBE Privacy Control, Tasker, Gentle Alarm, Swipepad, and Llama -I get Sense reboots and apps self closing all the time.

Seems to be less when I use Nova Launchers though

Sent from my EVO LTE w/ TapaTalk 2

 

[crxssi]

I'm having the same issues as well. All was fine early on, but now that I'm running Avast Security, LBE Privacy Control, Tasker, Gentle Alarm, Swipepad, and Llama -I get Sense reboots and apps self closing all the time.

And I would expect that if you load those types of resident-always + service type apps, you will see it happen more often (because you have more things always wanting memory). I could probably even accept that. But in my case, I am running none of that stuff, stock launcher, stock keyboard, almost no services (just Easy Reminder), and it still can't seem to handle more than two apps many times.

 

[craigrn16]

This. I love the screen on the EVO LTE, but everything else seems to be business as usual for HTC...messed up software tinkering, light leakage, etc.

I really hope Motorola releases a phone with a quality screen like the EVO, or I may jump ship to Apple in the fall.

I think it's a combination of poor hardware quality / choices and the direction of the OS itself that is pushing me towards Apple.

Just to let you know the iPhone multitask the same way

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums

 

[Mikey47]

Just to let you know the iPhone multitask the same way

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums

Very inconsistent. Phil has said it is "operating as designed". That may be true, but then the design is flawed.

I wish we had more control. I would gladly sacrifice a little screen lag to be able to keep 5 or 6 apps running in the background.

 

[Mercury81]

One week and multitasking is awesome. Lovng this Evo4GLTE phone.:beer::thumbup:

sent from my Evo4LTE

 

[crxssi]

Just to let you know the iPhone multitask the same way

Well that doesn't mean much. Not like there is or has been anything all that "advanced" about iOS; at least, not when compared to Android.

 

[Mikey47]

One week and multitasking is awesome. Lovng this Evo4GLTE phone.:beer::thumbup:

sent from my Evo4LTE

Would love to know how you've used it that think it is awesome?

 

[wesleymarin]

i think its an issue of how much ram sense must take up. I can restart my phone and the most free ram i can get is 200mb, but its normally around 130mb. But my hp touchpad with cm will have over 500mb free ram when i restart, and normally has above 400mb normally. Both devices are running ics and both have 1gb ram plus comparable screen resolutions, i think it must be sense taking up all that extra ram

 

[crxssi]

i think its an issue of how much ram sense must take up. I can restart my phone and the most free ram i can get is 200mb, but its normally around 130mb. But my hp touchpad with cm will have over 500mb free ram when i restart, and normally has above 400mb normally. Both devices are running ics and both have 1gb ram plus comparable screen resolutions, i think it must be sense taking up all that extra ram

You are right that it is all about memory (RAM). But you can't compare "free" memory from one device to another. Android will dynamically close apps when it wants more free memory, so to get a picture of memory usage, you have to know how much memory is available, how much is being used by apps, how much is being used by the operating system, and then how much is free. Android (like Linux) will also cache applications in memory, making it even harder to tell what is going on

 

[ericj12]

call me crazy but this multitasking "issue" is totally a non-issue for me. i guess i just dont need to be running 6 apps at once. maybe it's just me. ive found no problem switching back and forth between 2 apps. the funny thing is i remember when android first came out people complained about all the apps running in the background and everyone with an android device was mashing the task killer button every time they closed something. now when the phone does it for you all of a sudden people freak about that. i can guarantee that if htc makes a patch for sense that allows tons of apps to run at the same time people will start complaining about that. poor battery life will undoubtedly be one of the new complaints...

 

[strudel#AC]

Apps that put an icon in the notification bar do not get killed as easily. So if the app allows it, enable that option.

(ex: tasker, system panel, avast)

That does help but those apps can still get killed from my experience. Today I was taking the dogs for a walk, running My Tracks to log my route and listening to Google Music. During the walk I also responded to text messages and emails.

I noticed that System Panel was killed off quickly. It was easy to tell because it is always logging battery/CPU usage and there is a large gap where no readings were taken.

My previous phone, a Samsung Epic 4G which had half the ram of my EVO, never killed apps in the notification bar. The phone would reboot instead, which admittedly was very rare the last year or so of owning the phone.