This is real multitasking!
 

When an iPhone user asks me why I've not bought an iPhone instead of my N900, my first answer is always "Because I need multitasking".

Now, there are two different types of people:
- Someone says "Ah, you do not need real multitasking, it's useless"
- Others say "iPhone has multitasking"
- Someone else, the most informed but still ignorant, says "iPhone, with appropriate applications, can get multitasking"

I wasn't able to continue the conversation with those people, because I'm usually not able to instantly show a convincing demonstration of what I mean by the word "multitasking" (convincing for the common iPhone user).

Until now :D

While I was waiting at a bus stop, I found myself (and my phone) in a real multitasking situation, so I decided to take a screenshot.
Next time someone asks me an example of what can an N900 do that an iPhone can't, I'll show him/her this:


Explaining him/her that I was connected to my bluetooth stereo headset and of course I was listening to my music with it, while reading my songs' lyrics on screen. Meantime, I was connected to the Internet and I was avaiable on Skype, I was sharing 9 images on my Ovi Share account, while I was tracking my position with GPS. And of course I was monitoring CPU and RAM activity with the applet, while I was taking screenshots.

All these things with excellent performances! :)

Do you have any screenshot of high-stress situation? Post them here!

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

Its interesting how quickly people forget all the background processes such as being online with skype etc as part of the mult-tasking experience. Good post.

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

I really like Maemo's implementation of window management. It makes me super productive. This is a more obvious example of multitasking than background tasks, and the seamless transition from browser to chat makes me actually use my phone.

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

haha nice gonna show this topic to the people at work :P

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

Right on brotha

http://media.share.ovi.com/m1/s/1712...3ff26a3705.jpg

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

now for me the weirdest thing is how someone can be happy with only 1 process on the "magic & revolutionary" net book killer from the fruit company

as msft revealed windows 7 starter which only allows 5 tasks to run simultaneously there was some outcry.

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

Haha, agreed, someones released a win 7 ipad competitor device though, IPADS got nothing on that,

N900 eats IPAD and netbook for tea in my opinion though, much better multi program management.

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

By the way, during that multitasking session I've discovered that the maximum number of icons in the statusbar is eight, because when I switched to silent mode the load applet icon disappeared and the silent icon appeared.

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

Here's one awesome demo to show your friends the power of N900.

Start playing a full xvid video using mplayer. (via SiB or kmplayer)
Then go to the task manager (ctrl+backspace).
You can see that the video remains playing in the background!!
Now while the video is running, browse the web, twitter etc.
Then go back to the video which is sill playing. =)

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

Korpiklaani!

That looks very much like my "multimedia" desktop, except I have the fm transmitter widget there too .. and a Finntroll background image :)

What is the top left icon in the status area, or whatever you call it?

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

I was up really late "one morning", and still needed to configure my SIP client. I have an 9 year old laptop that takes forever just to boot, but figured I had to use it if I wanted to "lay down", while setting up the 900. Then I remembered, I could do everything on the 900:


- Configure trunk in one web page
- Configure SIP account in another
- Check email for login credentials, for the newly created accounts, and then copy/paste credentials
- Manage my home router(s) via another web page to make WiFi adjustments
- Configure/test SIP client on the phone itself
- Have instance of Google open, in yet another web page, for finding instructions/troubleshooting
- Have Skype running to make test calls "to"
- .....and yes, all while listening to music ;)


http://home.comcast.net/~masterpiu/screenshot26.png

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

In order from left to right:

- Top line: Internet GPRS connection, Skype, GPS, Wlan Disabled
- Bottom line: Ovi Share sharing, Bluetooth, Stereo Headset plugged in, cpu and ram load monitoring

Nice to find another Korpiklaani fan! :)

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

Yeah, I've never bought this theory that people don't want multi-tasking.

Really? So, if you offered people the chance to listen to music, read their favourite website while having Skype on in the background in case anyone wants to contact them, they would say 'no'? C'mon.

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

People who dont want multitasking only say that coz there device dont multitask, if you tried to sell them a full desktop computer with no multitasking they would tell you to fook off, multitasking is a must, even if you just want web with msn etc in the background, its a must have, i could not live with no multitasking on my device, i use my n900 (and s60 devices) to do what i would on my pc so i wouldnt need to keep using my desktop machine, from maintaining my site, to having a good old chat via skype/msn to get latest news to put up on the net etc, people who say "i dont need multitasking" deserve the iphone.

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

You don't know you need it, untill you use it. Just like cellphones :D

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

Then once you use it, you never want to lose it lol

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

lets just say that n900 is a big leap with multitasking. e71 was already decent, n900 is extraordinary. Yes, I could live without it but don't want anymore.

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

And apple are trying to sell a 9.7" tablet computer without multitasking and no flash support . how could they call it a "computer" ? It's a itouch for Navi people . And Navi people don't like it because they have their own system of cummunication with their hair :p:p

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

ahh...kudos to you...
we love our n900s.....!!!!

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

Ok. That´s just stupid :| You miss video? And there is reason why you cant put it background from UIs button. The overlay of video can be seen on black parts of you background or menus.

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

Stupid? Nope. ALL of my friends are wowed by this the most.
It really showswhat this little sucker can do with its cpu/gpu.

eg. My friend was testing out my phone.

He started up SiB and started a normal xvid video file. (Music video)
Then press F to show top bar, then task switcher.
Thumbnail of the video still clearly shows that video is playing.
(Also, we can hear the music from the music video..)
While this, my friend launched Megagear Sega emulator. :eek:
Then he started playing a game. It was playable! Amazing.
(btw, the music video was still playing in the background)
Then he quit the emulator, task switcher still showing video thumbnail moving.
Then click on the video again. Voila, back to the video. Awesome.
(there were no hiccups. Video was still playing smooth.)

I'm not sure what other phone can do this. Impressive.

Oh, and I do not see any Overlay issue other than in Conky app.
Web browsing and various other apps all work fine while video is playing in background.

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

Other phones can't even imagine this :D

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

I like to start the secondary LXDE desktop in Easy Debian and then start Gimp (a photoshop clone) in there. I use the Maemo photo app to find the name of the photo I want to edit and then I switch back to Gimp to open the photo. I then do a white balance or whatever and save the photo with a new name. I can then go back to the photo app and flick back and forth between the before and after pics. When I like the results, I tag it and upload the picture to Flickr with sharing. (Example before and after pics)

I've noticed when doing some intensive tasks (editing a mask on a 10 megapixel picture from my DSLR or whatever) the N900 really becomes useless for other tasks... But I don't know any other handheld device that can run a photoshop-class application.

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

If people can get by without true multitasking, more power to them. :) To even discuss the point is kinda silly in this day and age.

When you're used to true multitasking (not just state-saving), anything less feels like a toy.

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

When all iPhone users asked me why I've not bought an iPhone instead of my N900 (or even when I was using N95), my first answer was always "I'm not going to downgrade my phone" :D

To further elaborate, I use my phones a lot doing snapshots and video recording and use MMS to upload pictures to facebook directly. Not unitl 3GS video recording is supported and it still has a sub-standard 3.2M camera.

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

Not the only one on here. I'm a big fan as well.

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

I'm listening to Tunewiki with lyrics, having just received and read a push email, Nim IM online and Sportstracker GPS running in the background, I have just taken a picture and attached it in an mms, whilst browsing and posting to this.thread. And all this on my Nokia 5800. I could start up a video but it would pause if I looked at one of the other open applications.

I'm not knocking the N900, I love.mine, but I've been multi-tasking for ages.

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

Seriously, all smartphones have been doing multi-tasking for ages, except the obvious...iPhone.
(and I hate that most Window Mobile apps do not have an exit function, you have to use task manager or some OEM provide their own UI to kill the running apps)

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

I remember my first experience with multitasking on a smartphone. It was with my N73: many iPhone users asked me how I had managed to send an mp3 with bluetooth while listening to that mp3 with the media player and browsing files with my file manager (I miss X-Plore :)).

BTW, that fact had been my first personal reason for not buying an iPhone.

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

Well, iPhone can do multitasking. As in, it can play a music in the background. To majority of iPhone users, that's all they need. =P
(Well, it can't even do that with all apps)

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

Do you have a job:)

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

Ahahah, of course not ;)

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

:p Iphone really sucks for Multitasking...:p

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

ipHone pretty much sucks at everything except UI and web browsing (give credit where credit is due!)

I simply couldn't survive without multitasking, my OLD OLD nokia 6630 had it, as did my 6680, N70, N80, N95 and now N95 8GB and N900.

Phone without multitasking is like a brick wall without any cement!

N900 is a behemoth when it comes to multitasking! I can do so much stuff at the same time without slowing it down too much! However it would be nice to have had 512MB of RAM rather than 256mb and 768mb swap.

The only TRUE replacement for my N95 8GB, once I get a decent sat nav on it.

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

I opened Micro B browser with youtube running, then opened Firefox 1.0.0 with iplayer running, then opened Music player after that every single application I have well I tried until I got bored

I managed to open over 44 apps and the music was still running!!!!!!

There was some slow down as I reached 40 apps.

On normal use I have browser with 3 tabs open. MSN, Notes, PDF, conversations(sms) and music player without any problems and sometimes take/make calls. Runs smoothly and I can also copy and paste between apps and browser/email.

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

I myself always have an xterm or two open, usually one with a recently completed apt-get dist-upgrade, one with a stale ssh session to one of my servers. :)

Also the mediaplayer (always listening to music with my bluetooth headphones), conversations, email, BatteryEye, and sometimes calendar.

I tend not to leave browser windows open as if they have any flash elements it'll drain the battery processing them.

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

Get flash blocker from the repo and ad-blocker, that way you only load flash when you want to and ads are blocked.

Flash really suck on linux - memory leaks everywhere. We need flash 10.1 with video acceleration.

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

I should probably not disturb you in your iPhone-bashing session, but of course the iPhone can multitask. At the core, it runs BSD unix, like all os X machines. It is just that Apple chose to pause background GUI applications to save power.

And not all applications, obviously. Of course, while you are busy checking google maps or so, it will monitor the phone and TCP/IP network, and play music in the background.

This doesn't make the N900 any less valuable, of course... :rolleyes:

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

MP3's maybe... do all that while listening to Pandora Radio, for example. And while a large web page loads.. swap over to type an SMS to a friend, and then back to a completed page (keeping Pandora running, mind you) ;).

Re: This is real multitasking!
 

Well... I can't listen to Pandora radio anyway, it is not available outside the US.

Indeed if you switch to type an SMS, the page won't load in the background. But trying to convince me is futile: I have an N900 and not an iPhone, remember?