Anyone tempted to sell their iPad?

[Tinman]

Actually with the way iOS mutlitasking works you couldn't fill the ram if you opened every app on your device. It saves a very very small state file to the SSD (remember no moving parts on the memory so it loads instantly) so at any given time the only thing using actual ram is the OS and the current app...and if they current app is overflowing...well then it was written poorly and shouldn't have made it to the app store to begin with.

This is mostly true.

But apps can be written to run in the background. Indeed my iPhone 4 apps do exactly that, the ones updated for it of course. I have a radio streaming app for my i4 that I have been running on my iPad 4.2 beta 2 and it works very well. Interestingly, it continued to run when I played a youtube video embedded in a web page on safari. I could hear the video as well as the radio app.... don't think the iPhone will even do that (I think it would stop the radio app to play youtube).

Not just streaming apps can run in background either: dropbox for example, will download on my iPhone 4 after I leave the app. But it is not using the same RAM as when it is in the foreground: it uses just enough for the downloading/uploading task. Most iPhone apps that run in background seem to do likewise on my iPad running 4.2--as long as it is dedicated iPhone app. Apps that work on both iPad and iPhone don't seem coded for background operation on iPad yet.... but I am sure they will as 4.2 gets closer to release, or is released.

ReelDirector is even better on iOS4 on my i4: it will literally compile a movie in the background. And it doesn't seem to slow the whole system down either. When done it pops up a message letting me know it is complete. Very slick actually. Since ReelDirector works on both iPad and iPhone it won't run in background on iPad. Hope it does soon.


But you are correct of course in that most apps only need to save their state. And that doesn't tax the system at all.



Michael

 

[iPadCharlie]

What radio streaming app are you using?

With Pandora, YouTube takes control of the audio and you have to go back into Pandora and re-start your stream to get it to start playing again. As far as actual radio station streams, Pocket Tunes acts the same way, but it will immediately begin playing as soon as you re-start the app.

 

[Tinman]

I was using NPR News iPhone app. It continues to play with dedicated YouTube app and with YouTube videos embedded in a Safari page. Pretty slick.... but it might be a quirk of running iPhone app on iPad 4.2 beta 2.




Michael

 

[gentlefury]

Actually with the way iOS mutlitasking works you couldn't fill the ram if you opened every app on your device. It saves a very very small state file to the SSD (remember no moving parts on the memory so it loads instantly) so at any given time the only thing using actual ram is the OS and the current app...and if they current app is overflowing...well then it was written poorly and shouldn't have made it to the app store to begin with.

This is mostly true.

But apps can be written to run in the background. Indeed my iPhone 4 apps do exactly that, the ones updated for it of course. I have a radio streaming app for my i4 that I have been running on my iPad 4.2 beta 2 and it works very well. Interestingly, it continued to run when I played a youtube video embedded in a web page on safari. I could hear the video as well as the radio app.... don't think the iPhone will even do that (I think it would stop the radio app to play youtube).

Not just streaming apps can run in background either: dropbox for example, will download on my iPhone 4 after I leave the app. But it is not using the same RAM as when it is in the foreground: it uses just enough for the downloading/uploading task. Most iPhone apps that run in background seem to do likewise on my iPad running 4.2--as long as it is dedicated iPhone app. Apps that work on both iPad and iPhone don't seem coded for background operation on iPad yet.... but I am sure they will as 4.2 gets closer to release, or is released.

ReelDirector is even better on iOS4 on my i4: it will literally compile a movie in the background. And it doesn't seem to slow the whole system down either. When done it pops up a message letting me know it is complete. Very slick actually. Since ReelDirector works on both iPad and iPhone it won't run in background on iPad. Hope it does soon.


But you are correct of course in that most apps only need to save their state. And that doesn't tax the system at all.



Michael

Well, it will only play one streaming media source at a time...and playing audio requires extremely low resources...and as for the other apps running in the background...they are limited to essential resources to complete their tasks...they are not however wasting resources on things like GUI or sounds....the multitasking system is well devised and once more apps are compatible it will be just fine with minimal ram allotment....Sure in a couple years they will update the CPU, GPU and ram and it will be a whole new system and the current one will seem slow in comparison.....but that is to be expected...I just don't see that happening within 24 months of the first one coming out tho. That would be bad business since out of the 6 million owners only a very small percentage would make that purchase again...especially since the build quality is so good and ahead of its time it will still seem like a new device next year.

 

[edsyoung]

I'm selling my 64GB Wi-Fi for anyone that's interested. I'm thinking $600 may be a good price. It was bought in April 2010 and has all the stuff that came in the box.

PM me if interested. Oh yeah, I upgraded to the 3G version. That's why I'm selling this one.

 

[Tinman]

Well, it will only play one streaming media source at a time...and playing audio requires extremely low resources...and as for the other apps running in the background...they are limited to essential resources to complete their tasks...they are not however wasting resources on things like GUI or sounds....the multitasking system is well devised and once more apps are compatible it will be just fine with minimal ram allotment....Sure in a couple years they will update the CPU, GPU and ram and it will be a whole new system and the current one will seem slow in comparison.....but that is to be expected...I just don't see that happening within 24 months of the first one coming out tho. That would be bad business since out of the 6 million owners only a very small percentage would make that purchase again...especially since the build quality is so good and ahead of its time it will still seem like a new device next year.

That was what I meant about ReelDirector: it is not doing anything in background other than rendering movie. However, that is indeed a CPU intensive process. But even with that, it works quite well... I was pleasantly surprised. Quite a few apps out there now that do real stuff in the background; but only what they need to do, no more. This is covered under the "task completion" category of iOS4 multitasking. That covers more ground than you might think at first glance, and is already being used creatively. That along with local notifications can do quite a lot.

But I often see people dismissing iOS multitasking as not being "real" multitasking--as if it there was no way to do anything in the background, only saved saved state. Of course that is not true and I happen to think it is actually better than just letting things run full-tilt in the background. And people often overlook that apps such as iPod, Mail, and Safari have been multitasking since the iPhone was released in 2007.

As far as audio streaming, I don't feel one stream is any big deal. I don't stream more than one thing on my full-blown PC. Doubt I would want to on my iPad or iPhone. What I would like though is auto-resume when a stream is interrupted... like the iPod app currently does.




Michael

 

[TJK]

Paradoxically, I'm more tempted to sell my iPhone than my iPad! Since getting the iPad my iPhone has really become, well, just a phone. My phone data usage has plummeted since getting the iPad and the iPad is getting used for more of what I used the iPhone for at first.

As someone said earlier- the current model won't stop working when a new one comes out and if it is useful today then it will still be useful tomorrow. If nothing else the current model will make a great remote control for Apple TV or from streaming / surfing content.

 

[iPadCharlie]

I still have my 1st generation iPod Touch even though the highest iOS for it is iOS 3.1.3. No, I can't do the really kewl stuff with it, so it is hooked to the sound system in the "man cave" and I use it all the time. Basically it has replaced my old analog radio tuner since this one streams HD stations.

 

[iPadster]

I will upgrade and pass mine down to one of my kids

 

[iPadCharlie]

i will upgrade and pass mine down to one of my kids

daddy!!!

 

[col.bris]

Lol that is soooooo funny

 

[RockyMtnGal]

Well my husband won one in a sales contest and I can say after all the problems and limitations, I would have NEVER shelled out $800 for this useless gadget! I would rather have a regular laptop for half the price! Thanks but no thanks.

 

[SweetPoison]

What problems was he having?

 

[Tinman]

Don't feed the trolls.



Michael

 

[G.P]

Well my husband won one in a sales contest and I can say after all the problems and limitations, I would have NEVER shelled out $800 for this useless gadget! I would rather have a regular laptop for half the price! Thanks but no thanks.

The entry point for this 'useless' gadget is $500. There's no decent laptop in existence for half that price.