What “multitasking” really means on smartphones

As we all know, multitasking is one feature of a computer that has quitely crept into our smartphones. A smartphone on its own, is a mini computer that has been re-engineered to fit our pockets and hence the name smartphone. So what really does multitasking means on smartphones.

Multitasking is the ability to switch between applications while leaving some to run in the background and while your current app is in the foreground. While that is possible on a smartphone, it is done in a minimalistic way since your smartphone can’t afford the luxury of a 20-inch display and enough processing power and battery life to go with it. Just one

simple truth,not all smartphones can multitask!

I will be writing from an android point of view.
On android devices, all running apps fall under one of these 3 categories:
1. Running
2. Suspended (sleeping)
3. Closed
Assume am browsing with Chrome and i was playing a game before i switched tabs, and at the same time, my music is playing in the background. Chrome will be determined as the running app, while if the game isn’t consuming much RAM, it will be suspended. But if it is a heavy game that eats deep into your RAM, then the app will be classified under closed. So once you re-open the app, it loads from the very start and not where you left off.
Android does this because it has to rationalise its RAM among other apps that are taking up process in the background.

It is safe to say that older versions of Android prior to Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 only brought up a list of recently opened apps and couldn’t multitask as we taught. With growth comes absolutely great responsibilty and we have been seeing that in recent versions of Android and it has been successfully redefined into the lollipop OS we have been savouring for a while now.

Multitasking has been taken to another level if you are using a more recent phablet like Samsung galaxy note 3, Note 4 etc. This gadgets with the use of their Stylus (S-pen) lets you maximize the gigantic 5.7-inch screen to the fullest by letting you crop different running applications to a smaller window size while you drag it all on your screen and continue doing something else simulataneously.

Its starting to get to that time whereby a smartphone will soon accomplish everything a computer can do. By the way, why would a smartphone be called smart if it isn’t smart enough to take over the world.

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