Samsung recently pushed an update for Galaxy Note 10.1 bringing the OS version to Android 4.1.2. This version brings the exciting true multi-tasking/multi-window capabilities to Samsung's Android devices. Galaxy Note 10.1 users will now be able to run upto 16 'select' apps at the same time in multi-windows (same screen) - just the way you do it on your Linux system.
That doesn't mean you can run any app in multiple windows mode. The selected apps can be run in three different modes - full screen, dual view and cascade view, reports Information Week.
The bad news is this framework is not open source. Information Week writes:
Samsung added a multiwindow app framework to its proprietary Android "TouchWiz" user interface, and tweaked a range of Android apps to support the framework. There currently are 18 multiwindow-enabled apps, including browser, email, contacts, calendar, alarm, calculator, YouTube, video player, office suite, and other frequently-used functions. Presumably, the will grow over time.
Image courtesy: DeviceGuru
As 7 and 10 inch are becoming standard, there seems to be enough screen real estate to run apps in multiple windows. Google has been pushing Android to it's limits giving it an edge over competitors. Their Chrome OS received 'multiple' windows feature just a few months ago. Will Google introduce the multiple-window in Android? Is such a feature needed? If Android does get this support, will Android (with so many apps) be a better OS to run on touch-enabled netbooks than Windows 8.
Source:
Swapnil Bhartiya
A free software fund-a-mental-ist and Charles Bukowski fan, Swapnil also writes fiction and tries to find cracks in a proprietary company's 'paper armours'. He is a big movie buff and prefers listening to music at such high volumes that he's gone partially deaf when it comes to identifying anything positive about proprietary companies. You can follow him on Twitter, Google+ & Facebook. You can write to him on editor at muktware dot com
