multitasking apps and button function inherently wrong

[yosteve]

I'm starting to notice things I would like slightly different.

But then I noticed that the multitasking button has to reload your browser or app when you go back to it.

From a data standpoint having to re-load your browser eats more data (for those who don't have unlimited).

From a time standpoint, it takes longer.

Example:

You're on the net, android forums. then you decide to play angry birds. Play a little while and use the multitask button to click back on your browser. In this situation the browser has to re-load and resend its data then take you back to where you were. This is a definite wtf moment.

Then after you browse again, you want to go back to your game. So you click the multitask button and click back on angry birds, which too now has to reload. Another wtf moment.

So you're thinking, well, you're just used to windows on your pc. Until, I went on my brothers experia play android phone and his does it seamlessly.

Or your thinking, this would bog down the phone, but that's what more power is for, for better multitasking.

Granted it'll probably be fixed, but why even have this problem to begin with. You made that new button and then decided it wasn't gonna keep your apps up. It takes up cpu yet it isn't even really there? Talk about double negative.

Anyway, patiently waiting for a fix. Not good, not good at all. I don't want to have have a custom rom to do basic phone functioning.

 

[hyperdude]

I'm starting to notice things I would like slightly different.

But then I noticed that the multitasking button has to reload your browser or app when you go back to it.

From a data standpoint having to re-load your browser eats more data (for those who don't have unlimited).

From a time standpoint, it takes longer.

Example:

You're on the net, android forums. then you decide to play angry birds. Play a little while and use the multitask button to click back on your browser. In this situation the browser has to re-load and resend its data then take you back to where you were. This is a definite wtf moment.

Then after you browse again, you want to go back to your game. So you click the multitask button and click back on angry birds, which too now has to reload. Another wtf moment.

So you're thinking, well, you're just used to windows on your pc. Until, I went on my brothers experia play android phone and his does it seamlessly.

Or your thinking, this would bog down the phone, but that's what more power is for, for better multitasking.

Granted it'll probably be fixed, but why even have this problem to begin with. You made that new button and then decided it wasn't gonna keep your apps up. It takes up cpu yet it isn't even really there? Talk about double negative.

Anyway, patiently waiting for a fix. Not good, not good at all. I don't want to have have a custom rom to do basic phone functioning.

Apps reloading data when you go into them is not the fault of the multitasking switcher - it's the app's fault. Angry Birds for example probably doesn't have the right code in it to resume the previous state when you switch around with the switcher. Do you have the same issues when you just hit the Home button to leave the app and go back in from the homescreen icon? If so, then it's an issue with how the app is written.

 

[yapkuen]

I notice that a lot with the stock Browser on CM7 on my Incredible, actually. If I leave the Browser for an extended period of time and go back, it always reloads the page I was last on. I still have unlimited data so I've never really thought much of it, but I can see how that would become problematic on more limited data plans.

 

[yosteve]

Apps reloading data when you go into them is not the fault of the multitasking switcher - it's the app's fault. Angry Birds for example probably doesn't have the right code in it to resume the previous state when you switch around with the switcher. Do you have the same issues when you just hit the Home button to leave the app and go back in from the homescreen icon? If so, then it's an issue with how the app is written.

I've tried it both ways, with and without the home button.

It's not the apps because again, I was on another droid with the same apps (opera browser and angry birds) trying to do the same thing and it worker perfectly.


I'm using both native browser and opera.


It doesn't bother you and you didn't notice it?

 

[Tust]

I don't think the multitask button functions the way we think it does. I'm fairly sure it's not showing all open apps, just a history of the apps you've used. So just because you use it to switch to the browser, does not mean the browser is actually still open when you do it.

Conversely, if you swipe something off the list, it's not closing it, it's just removing it from your history.

You can see this by opening an app task manager and see that most of the programs in the multitask button are not running.

 

[yosteve]

I don't think the multitask button functions the way we think it does. I'm fairly sure it's not showing all open apps, just a history of the apps you've used. So just because you use it to switch to the browser, does not mean the browser is actually still open when you do it.

Conversely, if you swipe something off the list, it's not closing it, it's just removing it from your history.

You can see this by opening an app task manager and see that most of the programs in the multitask button are not running.

meaning it is then inherently wrong


what I'm saying is, it works on another android phone. So what we got swapped out was an added feature with seemingly more convenience yet less ability? On the other phone I can click the back button (while the program is running) and then click on the icon again (because there is no multitask button) and you can pick up where you left off.

This is a big problem to have less ability than other android phones considering we're running the latest and greatest.

The only other possible explanation is, it's part of a skin on the other phone.

 

[hyperdude]

meaning it is then inherently wrong


what I'm saying is, it works on another android phone. So what we got swapped out was an added feature with seemingly more convenience yet less ability? On the other phone I can click the back button (while the program is running) and then click on the icon again (because there is no multitask button) and you can pick up where you left off.

This is a big problem to have less ability than other android phones considering we're running the latest and greatest.

The only other possible explanation is, it's part of a skin on the other phone.

Most likely it's a change the other phone has. Hitting Back to get out of an app and then reopening it with the icon almost always restarts an app/makes it reload (except for cases where the app is designed to save the state). I remember with my OG Droid, if I left the browser by hitting Back and then reopened it, it would have to reload. Makes perfect sense. Hitting Home and then going back is a different story (since you're just pausing the app, not backing out of it)

 

[yosteve]

Most likely it's a change the other phone has. Hitting Back to get out of an app and then reopening it with the icon almost always restarts an app/makes it reload (except for cases where the app is designed to save the state). I remember with my OG Droid, if I left the browser by hitting Back and then reopened it, it would have to reload. Makes perfect sense. Hitting Home and then going back is a different story (since you're just pausing the app, not backing out of it)

worry re-evaluate, I meant hitting home sorry. I get back can close.

but are you confirming on your OG that hitting home and then going back to it didn't cause you to have to reload?

 

[hyperdude]

worry re-evaluate, I meant hitting home sorry. I get back can close.

but are you confirming on your OG that hitting home and then going back to it didn't cause you to have to reload?

I remember it being the case. I used my OG long enough to know things like that.

Since I can confirm on my GN that if I leave the browser (by hitting Home or using the switcher) and then soon after go back into the browser via the switcher the page doesn't need to reload, I'd guess that what's happening in your case is that playing Angry Birds for a while takes up enough resources for the OS to cut the browser's resources to the point where it needs to reload the page when you go back in. If you leave an app untouched for a while and the OS needs to free up memory it starts cutting memory from the apps you haven't used in the longest time.

 

[Daniel0418]

The OP is right and this is super annoying. On the Gakaxy S2, the HTC Tbunderbolt, the Nexus S, and even the Nexus One, you couod switch apps and do other things all day and come back to the browser and the browser page was still open. The Galacy Nexus is the firsr Android phone i have had that forces the browser to refresh upon returning. This was one of the reasons i hated iOS4/5 because that damn browser reloads. Now this one does too and its really uosetting.

 

[Jdm4292]

Does anyone have any idea why when you set the max number of apps to run in developer options it doesn't help? I set max as 4 yet when I hit the multitasking button it shows half a million apps still open.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

 

[Revolutionary]

If this is the way it is supposed to work, its a step backward -- like the half-assed "fast app switching" (i.e., "multitasking lite") they had on the iPhone for a while. I'm hoping that most apps just need to be updated to save state properly in 4.0. I think that might be the case, because I notice that with the stock apps, the switcher takes me right back to where I was (meaning all the Google apps, the email client, etc).

Also, the browser for me does NOT always reload the page. I don't know why my experience is different.

 

[kjhee43]

If this is the way it is supposed to work, its a step backward -- like the half-assed "fast app switching" (i.e., "multitasking lite") they had on the iPhone for a while. I'm hoping that most apps just need to be updated to save state properly in 4.0. I think that might be the case, because I notice that with the stock apps, the switcher takes me right back to where I was (meaning all the Google apps, the email client, etc).

Also, the browser for me does NOT always reload the page. I don't know why my experience is different.

I agree that it depends on the app. I think there is some kind of timeout in the stock browser that if you are "gone" too long, it reloads, because it doesn't always do it. But it is annoying....

For example: I was playing FL commando yesterday when the phone vibrated that i got a text. So i paused the game, switched over to messaging, replied, then tried to use the switcher to go back to FLC. My state was completely lost and the game had to reload. Doesn't seem right, especially because the "snapshot view" of the app shown in the switcher still shows the last state. Does the app just need to be updated to work on ICS properly?

 

[Mastaking]

I just tested this out.

I went to Browser, loaded up this forum and clicked into a topic.

From there I clicked home, went to doodle jump and then pressed the multitask key and went to browser and I was where I left off, switched back to doodle jump and was again where I left off.

I love the functionality of the button and dont have any problems with it, maybe its because you arent using the stock browser?

Edit: I clicked on Google Wallet all the way up the list and it quickly reloaded, then I clicked on Market all the way up the list and it quickly reloaded. The truth is I dont want my phone to keep everything running and loaded up to where it was, that would cause problems with battery life, heating, lag, etc.

I am a happy Nexus owner

 

[CynicX]

Apps don't reload in honeycomb unless system resources get low. For example if I open angry birds then go back here the page is still loaded my text is still here and the keyboard is still up. However if instead of angry birds I'm playing a PlayStation game in an emulator the browser will reload....

So my guess would be just some bugs that need to be worked out in the browser and/or os. Or low system resources...