Your thoughts after 30days (Multitasking)

[jetway1122]

Hey everyone! Been luckering here for a while and searching YouTube for videos like crazy (even my girlfriend is getting mad ). Im here asking how is your experience with the Droid been ? Im in Canada and we should be getting the Milestone shortly (fingers crossed with 2.0.1 or 2.1) and want to know how responsive your phones are under everday use.

I tired the Hero for 30days and just love the android os but did feel the hardware was really lacking (lost my iphone 3gs in the snow ) and the phone couldnt keep up. I really noticed this with the sms, I do realize the Hero had the Sense UI which added some more weight but it chugged around a lot. Even just playing an mp3 , browsing the web and once you would get a text it would take almost 6 seconds or so to load. I did try handcent sms and loved it but i heard its kinda slow on the droid sometimes ?

So long story short, how's the multitasking on the Droid ? The new processor kicks a big punch but is the android os keeping up? Lots of slow downs or is fairly smooth ? As mentioned Im coming from the 3gs and I do realize theres no multitasking on that phone but just interested on this comparison as the Hero was quite to slow for my liking.

 

[MNTNBKR]

I don't have any trouble multitasking with mine. I do get some laggy behavior once in a while, but I think that's because I'm running the Home++ home screen replacement app which has its share of glitches.

 

[AKValle26]

I don't have any trouble multitasking with mine. I do get some laggy behavior once in a while, but I think that's because I'm running the Home++ home screen replacement app which has its share of glitches.

I second everything he just said. The laggy behavior is, like he said, once in a while and hasn't ever bothered me too much

 

[imiller913]

I have no problems with multi-tasking. Or doing anything else with this beast of a device.

 

[jetway1122]

Awesome guys! This is the kind of info I wanted to get. So in the real world there is some slight delay or lag as was mentioned, now is it at random when doing something specific ?

 

[BuzWeaver]

Today I've used my Droid more than any day since I've had it and I'm finding a few things a little irritating. While on a call my fingers may inadvertently semi-swipe-tap the screen and I'll lose the Dial/Answer Screen. This is most irritating when I'm on a call that requires that I input numbers, like Voice Mail, calling the Bank or other Phone Tree Menu type menu system. I'm scrambling to get back to the Dial/Answer screen so I can then click the Numbers. This seems to happen when I'm driving, which isn't very safe.

Ironically if I'm Browsing the web for a number or directions I can't inadvertently or on purpose move that screen to then go to another screen (utilizing the other two home page areas) where I could input directions or a number that I may have pulled up on the concurrent Browser screen. Essentially it would be neat if you could utilize the three different home pages, browse for directions on one screen, swipe to another, pull up the Map so you can input the address you had on the previous Browser screen.

What would be really cool is if the Maps would accept Voice Directions in the Destination Field. Unless you know the address you're totally screwed, because you don't have the luxury of using another Home Page area to see a Browsed address, as mentioned above.

 

[bgreen82]

not that it had anything to do with the original post of "does your droid lag", but it would be sweet to have browser on one page and other screens open for swipe.

 

[darreno1]

To the OP: Your main issue is that you were using a Hero which isn't very powerful to begin with. I almost got one but once I witnessed the lag from a user who had multiple things open, I jumped ship(and carrier) to the Droid. Best move I've ever made. The Droid is definately quicker and handles multitasking much better, however, if you start loading up different home screens and other third party apps, there is a the potential for it to get laggy at times.

That's mainly because some of these other apps gobble way more memory than they should. So think of the Droid like you would a jailbroken iPhone, you can load tons of stuff on it but you run the risk of slowing things down a bit. As more of these apps get updated over time howver, they'll run much better.

 

[listenman20]

isn't that what the long hold on home does? brings up your last 6 used apps to switch between? but yeah i have no trouble with multitasking either.....love my Droid

 

[jetway1122]

To the OP: Your main issue is that you were using a Hero which isn't very powerful to begin with. I almost got one but once I witnessed the lag from a user who had multiple things open, I jumped ship(and carrier) to the Droid. Best move I've ever made. The Droid is definately quicker and handles multitasking much better, however, if you start loading up different home screens and other third party apps, there is a the potential for it to get laggy at times.

That's mainly because some of these other apps gobble way more memory than they should. So think of the Droid like you would a jailbroken iPhone, you can load tons of stuff on it but you run the risk of slowing things down a bit. As more of these apps get updated over time howver, they'll run much better.

For sure, the Hero CPU is a completely different architecture then the Droid and I knew that had a lot with the lag/delay in apps. Coming from the iphone (jailbroken) I know what you mean, the more you would load on it the slower it became. Widgets I suppose can take up a fair bit of the processing power and so would home replacements.

 

[tu3218]

isn't that what the long hold on home does? brings up your last 6 used apps to switch between? but yeah i have no trouble with multitasking either.....love my Droid

yeah thats my understanding. Its the apps that are still "active" where you if you click them they come up very quickly because they're still "active".

 

[bacalao]

Long press brings up the six most recently used apps. You may have more than six open though.

 

[640k]

isn't that what the long hold on home does? brings up your last 6 used apps to switch between? but yeah i have no trouble with multitasking either.....love my Droid

yeah thats my understanding. Its the apps that are still "active" where you if you click them they come up very quickly because they're still "active".

that list is REALLY only the last six apps that you've accessed and has nothing to do with if the apps are still open or not. like the post above this one says, if you have a bunch of really small, insignificant apps, they might all be running (10+ or more!!!).

the OS knows to close apps based on resources. although, running the ported ROM emulators, i have managed to lock up my phone running too many at a time, the OS handles everything.

 

[mitchb2]

I absolutely see slowdown as open apps pile up. Killing them with Task Killer gives instant relief.
I don't care what anyone says about open apps not affecting performance, because they do.

 

[640k]

of course they do, and of course killing them will free up resources, but the OS is SUPPOSED to handle this.

most posts regarding the use of task killers are in reference to killing apps to save battery life. the more processing your phone has to do, the more battery will be eaten up, but that's different than killing services because you don't want them to run.