My thought on this is that Google alternative for a page file functionality is ultimately better than a page file, especially on older phone with slow storage.
But with newer phone and much faster storage, maybe Google should rethink about using a page file (swap?).
Fyi, I have used swap on 128RAM and 768MB phone. In general, the phone felt slower. On the upside, apps didn't get killed easily.
years ago i think i also enabled swap and it do allow more app to run. But it was in low-ram device. Now im on 1GB RAM and only can run 1 app lol.
Or it's a trade-off versus battery life.
App on background does not necessary means battery drain. Google Keep did not eat cpu, operamini eat CPU on BG, opera classic did not...
Here's my note 3 multitasking. (Although it seems like it's a Samsung addition (Multi-window) so may not be on all android devices)
This isn't counting the several apps all running in the background.
Years ago you wouldn't have been 'multi-tasking' on a windows PC, you would've been time-sharing, proper multi tasking is fairly new to Windows, maybe introduced with Windows 7 I cannot remember exactly which version.
i mean multitasking with app on background without the important app getting killed haphazardly.
Multitasking on portable devices just tend to kill the battery quickly, IME...
Being able to switch quickly and easily between apps isn't (necessarily) multitasking, though, heh.
From what i understand, Windows Phone support this "fake" multitasking really well while android are dumb. Android behave like windows where all apps are running (not "frozen") but it need enormous RAM to do it. So when working with a web browser and typing on a notes, windows phone will works fine. While android will forget the web browser, need to load the whole page again.
Is this about running 2 apps on top or preventing background apps from being killed? The first one is doable but undesirable. Even Windows phone don't do that. The 2nd one is technically doable on Android but Google choose pursue different path.
the annoying thing is, on my phone, background apps almost never get killed. but foreground app get killed easily. The worse thing is when my phone killed the Keyboard app while im typing. seriously...
basically i cant do something like looking the web for reference then write some stuff. or writing something on web then a phone call comes. bye-bye long sentences, by the time the call ended, the web will need reload. Or when i do GPS with google maps then a phone call come, or when i need to google stuff a bit. Bam, android killed the google maps.
hmm, im not so sure to call my android phone smartphone or dumbphone :/
Symbian phone with 4MB of RAM is much better at multitasking.
EDIT:
lol its even more faster than my android