http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/ Engadget Mobile Comments for iPhone SDK's seedy underbelly reveals painful limitations http://www.engadgetmobile.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadgetmobile.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/Mar 11th 2008 1:25AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/Mar 11th 2008 2:17AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
I know, it takes away a chance to go "lol engadget loves apple" but calm down.]]>Mar 11th 2008 2:35AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/Mar 11th 2008 5:16AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/Mar 11th 2008 9:11AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
]]>Mar 11th 2008 1:25AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/Mar 11th 2008 2:36AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/Applications must comply with the Human Interface Guidelines and other Documentation provided by Apple.
...........................

Circumvent the multitasking ban and then Apple does not release your app. Its not a free for all out there. You follow Apple's rules or you dont get to play.

]]>Mar 11th 2008 3:34AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/2. Write responsible code around the limitation(see Harley3k comment)

No one wants an app to run in the background, slow down your device and use battery power. If they did then EVERYONE would have a Windows based smartphone.

I believe Apple's intention here is to keep the device fast, power friendly and user friendly. No one wants to launch a task manager just to speed up their phone (again, hi Microsoft).

I believe this is a null issue and engadget is scraping to find topics to write about.
]]>Mar 11th 2008 2:06AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
Chris]]>Mar 11th 2008 2:09AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
Like I have on my BlackBerry right now, supposedly killing my battery life.]]>Mar 11th 2008 2:34AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
For example, i can listen to internet radio(3rd party app) while i browse the internet using opera. This can also be called "multitasking"

]]>Mar 11th 2008 2:53AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/Mar 11th 2008 5:09AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
Apple has the best HF in the business. Just because MS Mobile breaks all the established, research supported facts of usability and human interface, it doesn't mean the rules have changed.


Application persistance is a BIG BIG no no. ]]>Mar 11th 2008 8:23AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
Here is the real kicker though, I can sit on my under powered Q9 all day running IM and various other apps and I dont run out of space, I know how to use taskmanager and my phone never locks up. Apple IPhone cant do it. They can only get their battery life on the device by limiting what you can and cant do it. Fair enough but dont tell the consumer what they want, dont tell the developer how to develope, this is the kind of mindset that kept them with a sub 10% market share for 25 years in the computer world. Its a good thing that the IPod was killer, Steve Jobs was on his way out the door. The Iphone's sales is going to peak out this year or next year and then it will be another also ran device, it is just too subpar due to apple wanting to limit how it can be used.]]>Mar 11th 2008 12:43PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
Looks like you all were right, the iPhone jailbreaking community will be living on beyond SIM unlocking.]]>Mar 11th 2008 2:33AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/Mar 11th 2008 2:37AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
The "no background" rule is definitely a "we don't want to be a Windows Smartphone disaster" rule. I do hope Apple can find a happy medium. Such as, a maximum amount of resources that can be used per application in the background? Then still you run into the guy that just has to run 20 applications at once on his iPhone and complains about it constantly.]]>Mar 11th 2008 2:40AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
You can't remove the battery after all.

The NSA designed the device for Apple ;)]]>Mar 11th 2008 3:02AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
They can grasp the concept of multitouch, but not that of multitask.]]>Mar 11th 2008 2:54AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/Buy.com has an insane deal: N95-3 + Slingbox solo for $550.

Its like the Bizarro iPhone!]]>Mar 11th 2008 3:09AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
Way to go Engadget. Would not want to anger big brother Jobs now, would we?]]>Mar 11th 2008 3:41AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
And btw, if you mention having a task manager for managing applications, you're delusional. Task managers on phones really don't help once the phone's already locked up or crashed. And once again adds to the complicated nature of smartphones.

Realistically, there's only a few applications that would really be able to take advantage of true multitasking and I'm sure Apple will make exceptions on a case by case basis (like AIM).

Anyways, the SDK is has been out for less than a week and is only in beta, give it a break.]]>Mar 11th 2008 4:13AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/Mar 11th 2008 9:23PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/Mar 11th 2008 5:49PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
What the hell do you mean by equipment replacement? Apple is not going to replace anything on anyones iphone. They'll just sell new ones if they change something. Just like they do with their computers. You spent your money on what you bought, the only reason they don't charge us for updates is because every phone would be jailbroken and used on different services. And since you don't have to do that with an ipod touch, you have to pay for updates.

Furthermore, I doubt we will see a second generation iphone anytime soon. Certainly not on the scale that calls for a rename (iphone 2? no). Especially when all that will be added is an HSDPA radio, at the very most.

I didn't understand half of your babble anyways because you suck at punctuation and grammar. I doubt Jobs would let anybody with that little writing skill anywhere near a second gen iphone at this point. You should be banned from buying the first one, too.]]>Mar 11th 2008 6:43PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
I thought the iPhone was running OS X. If it does, why would you have to "simulate" task switching. Is this how the desktop version also behaves?
]]>Mar 11th 2008 6:39AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
Sounds like PalmOS 1.0, circa 1996. Quote from from Wikipedia:

"While this kernel [the one used in PalmOS 1.0] is technically capable of multitasking, the "terms and conditions of that license specifically state that Palm may not expose the API for creating/manipulating tasks within the OS." [9]."

... with the difference that old Palms had replaceable AA batteries:)]]>Mar 11th 2008 6:38AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/Mar 11th 2008 6:53AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/Mar 11th 2008 8:18AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
I really want an iPhone. Truly Apple I DO. But you're not making it easy. Right now it doesn't sound like a good investment. And on top of that I can't my employee discount applied to the monthly phone plan...that SUCKS.]]>Mar 11th 2008 8:37AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/Mar 11th 2008 10:39AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/Mar 11th 2008 4:39PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
Apple has invented PalmOS !]]>Mar 11th 2008 11:28AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
I really LOVE the 90% of what the iPhone is, but that extra 10% (which would be easy for Apple to provide simply by loosening restrictions) is enough for me and likely a large proportion of power users to look elsewhere.]]>Mar 11th 2008 11:41AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
by the way apple, i can run opera 9, opera mini, pie, AND my im client at the same time on my tilt with no locking or slowing. just saying...]]>Mar 11th 2008 1:43PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
I'm sorry to say this to the rest of the nerds out there, but we don't constitute the majority. And the MAJORITY, doesn't care about most of the stuff that people on here complain about. Sorry, that's just the way it is. And I'm sure Apple would rather have a stable phone that works well for the 90% vs. feature bloat for the other 10% that care.

It's this reason that makes the iPhone as popular as it has been due to its simplicity and overall ease of use.]]>Mar 11th 2008 10:21PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
Let me throw one more scenario at you since you seem to be blind to the potential of background processing. Wouldn't you think it would be nice to have a GPS navigation application (assuming Apple sees fit to allow GPS receivers to connect via its sad excuse for a bluetooth stack) continue to track the progress of the route you are driving and provide voice navigation alerts while still allowing the iPhone to say, play music, take calls, etc.??]]>Mar 11th 2008 11:50PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
I'm NOT saying that having processes running in the background ISN'T useful. I mean clearly Apple's aware of this as Steve Jobs himself stood on stage and showed off playing music while browsing the web. But what I'm saying is... is that I haven't heard anybody give one good example of a program that really needs multitasking other than IM.

As for your GPS example, the SDK DOES provide access to the "corelocation" service that powers the "locate me" in Google Maps. Not the same, yes I know, but it doesn't really matter as there's no way to get GPS on to the iPhone...yet (and yes I do share your frustration on the horrible bluetooth stack).

But let's get honest here, you and I both know that Windows Mobile and to a lesser extent Palm are both known for their instabilities and for how slow they can get. Apple clearly doesn't want to become "just another smartphone OS" and wants to make sure that they can make the phone both secure and stable while being able to add functionality.

Here's my point, and really my only point. Yes it'd be nice to have 100% open access especially in regards to multi-tasking. But at the end of the day, let's be realistic. How many applications are REALLY gonna be able to take advantage of it? And are those applications REALLY gonna be apps that are gonna target the mainstream audience (other than IM)? I'm gonna say no, and like I said before. I'm sure Apple will allow exceptions on request...maybe...we'll see.

Bottom line: The SDK is STILL a beta and the iPhone is STILL less than a year old. I'm glad Apple isn't adding stuff just because they wanna put another notch on the old Feature List belt.

Oh and btw, as for my PDA OS history, I've had several Palm PDAs, the Samsung Blackjack, the Cing 8525, and a good bit of use with the E62. Don't make assumptions.]]>Mar 12th 2008 12:43AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
Thanks Apple, for nothing.]]>Mar 11th 2008 11:55AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
Employees at my work are pushing to get iphones instead of treo's, but until 2.0 comes out, that WILL NOT happen. I expect its the same way in most companies. They lose tons of functionality just to have a prettier phone.

And when 2.0 comes out, my boss is going to be the only one with an iPhone for a couple months at the very least. He has to determine if its worthwhile, which it probably won't be because it won't do anything better that a treo, except help our employees waste more time when they should be working. if anything we'll probably move to blackberry's by the end of the year.]]>Mar 11th 2008 4:37PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/Mar 11th 2008 4:43PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/Mar 11th 2008 11:11PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/Mar 12th 2008 1:58PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/11/iphone-sdks-seedy-underbelly-reveals-painful-limitations/
Apple's only has two things really going for them.

1. Their Marketing Team - Then can some how turn ignorant reach snobs into mindless ISheep drones willing to fork over ridiculous amount of cash for anything with a bitten apple on it.
2. Their GUI – It blows anything else on the market out of the water. The Iphone/ Itouch GUI has set the standard in mobile phones. They bring pretty to the masses but at a cost: Restrictive ecosystem, restrictive SDK, vendor restrictions, not to mention the cost.

I think this business practice is why they have a piece of half eaten fruit is there logo. If apple really wanted to rule get into the phone business they would allow other hardware vendors to license the Iphone os. They could still have very strict hardware guidelines to ensure top quality phones and at the same time provide people with choice. The phone needs to sell with more then one cell phone vendor. Why I can go to any major retail/online store and buy an Ipod. Why should the Iphone be any different?
]]>Mar 12th 2008 4:12PM