The Sprint HTC EVO 4G Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on June 28, 2010 6:04 PM ESTTask Switching - The Android Way
Android is, at least by today’s definition, a multitasking smartphone OS. Unless you force an app closed (or run out of memory) everything you open on the phone remains resident in memory until you restart the phone.
Switching between apps on Android is done very well. Just hold down the home button and you’ll see a window of the 6 most recently used apps. Tap the app you want to switch to and boom, you’re there. This process ends up being faster than on an iPhone because there’s no double tapping of any physical buttons before selecting your app; just press once and hold, then press one more time. It’s nice and quick.
Unfortunately there’s no way to close an app from the task switcher although there are many options in the Android market if you want something a bit more robust. Taskpanel for example is a task manager app that you can configure to kill all non-whitelisted background apps each time your phone is put to sleep. Ah the joys of Android.
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Belard - Monday, June 28, 2010 - link
I'm not on Sprint... but a friend has this phone and its very nice.... and huge.If they come out with an unlocked version, I may consider it... but the size is both plus and minus. Yeah, the kick stand is handy. And doing TEXTING by voice without actually using keys is handy... he says it freaks people out because his responses are so fast :)
But with this being a "google" phone, the OS feature set should be the same on any other.
Belard - Monday, June 28, 2010 - link
needed to add...Using the keyboard in LANDSCAPE mode is very easy, plenty of room... I never understood why the Apple iPhone didn't include this ability considering it knows how its orientated.
I was a bit shocked how well I can work with some webpages without having to ZOOM in (but more scrolling) while in landscape.
kmmatney - Monday, June 28, 2010 - link
The iPhone has a landscape keyboard - I'm using it to type this post...Belard - Tuesday, June 29, 2010 - link
When the iPhones first came out, it didn't.It was an after thought... common sense would be Landscape.
henrybravo - Tuesday, June 29, 2010 - link
You'll have to change/clarify your comment one more time. The original iPhone had a landscape keyboard in Safari.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_ZToHMUb7k
I suppose now you'll say "The original iPhone didn't have a landscape keyboard in everything else except Safari", which would be accurate. But 3 years later it's kind of a moot point. Not sure what you're getting at.
Acanthus - Monday, June 28, 2010 - link
I would hope for some kind of FroYo revisit to the EVO.Google claims 200-500% increases in performance.
chriscusano - Monday, June 28, 2010 - link
Yes, please! maybe this can help the scrolling problem?Also, what if you kill all those apps running? Does it improve any? (personally I'm more of a kill the app when done using it type guy anyway)
strikeback03 - Tuesday, June 29, 2010 - link
That would require rooting, which they may or may not want to get into as plenty of users wouldn't. Plus the performance increases are in 3rd party programs that run in the VM, so I doubt the basic interface would see the kind of performance gains mentioned.chriscusano - Monday, June 28, 2010 - link
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Spring $69.99 + $10 4G for unlimited everything?(see: http://anymobileanytime.sprint.com/?id9=SEM_Google...
DigitalFreak - Monday, June 28, 2010 - link
No. It's unlimited calling to any mobile user, but you only get 450 minutes for land-line, roaming, etc.