When do you actually need to DO that on a phone though? You can't view or interact with more than one app at a time anyway on those tiny screens. Also, having many apps running is a great way to simply run down your battery. Phones get good standby time because most of the time they don't actually DO anything. If the CPU's constantly working the battery can be sucked dry in a couple hours.
Is this really a problem? The kind of multitasking - call it fake if you will - you get in iOS, it really is enough for a phone. If you're a power user who wants to "power use" your phone - well, you're just using the wrong tool for the job then. Get a portable computer instead.
I see where you are coming from, but phones really are not phones anymore are they? 90% of your time on the device sure is not ringing people unless you use it for business.
Phones are really personal computers in your pocket, admittedly there are different wants and needs for everyone and people have different interpretations of what form it takes, iphone is one way, android is the complete opposite end of the spectrum, blackberry is for security and business. What I'm looking for wp8 to be is something smack bang in the middle, something for everyone...
Im the kind of user who docks his phone into a tv setup and powers everything from there, games,movies, 46 inch hd internet the lot...then pick it up and go.
Certainly an iphone then for me is a complete waste of time, blackberry is not really a media control device and lacks apps, wp7 is far too limited in what you can do and what you can download..although it's the most innovative, slick and resource friendly device out there...which I like.
In that setup I have mentioned some multitasking is appreciated, as at times you are using it almost as a notebook replacement.
I want the ability to switch between Apps on the go with out restarting the app all over again, I'm not sure how wp7 achieves this so I'm with holding judgement, but certainly wp8 seems to have made a better stab at it than apple.
So without wp8 I decided to pump for an android device..and went for the daddy out there.. galaxy s3....I'm very happy worth my decision as it is a major improvement in slickness, presentation and stability over previous androids.
But some things are really really annoying..it's a resource hog, seriously phantom processes running in the background you have no idea what they do and can't be stopped, data collecting apps, it is still not stutter proof despite a quad core processor and 1 gig of ram.
Upgrades and fragmentation..seriously this will finish off android if Google does not get some balls like apple and Microsoft and take control of it's operating system.
having the most powerfull phone on the world and not being able to run all of the best games is really annoying.
Worse than that is the upgrade process which has turned into a farce of the highest degree, using heavy ui overlays to slow down the upgrade process and try to force consumers into buying a new phone, only 8% odd androids run ics ...some 7 months after its introduction, with jellybean on the horizon that is just going to make the problem worse.
And ethos I s where my annoyance come in, £500 smartphone..outdated in a few months software wise with another long long wait and broken promises till I can hope to get am upgrade...even then it will arrive with last year's touch whizz...disgrace.
So far wp8 looks to be a game changer, it looks like everything I want in a phone, as long as it allows me to dock it to a tv, play all sorts of videos and games as well as switch seamlessly from one app to another..without restarting said apps.