Verizon has sent a memo to each of their stores to advise DROID owners to download and install Advanced Task Killer. This program performs the same function as the Task Manager in Windows, allowing the user to see and kill processes or programs that are running on the device. The reason why Verizon is pushing this program is due to reports from DROID users about poor batter life.
This is very interesting, given that one of the supposed advantages of the Android platform is support for multi-tasking. However, on a device with relatively limited resources, pushing the resource management task onto the user may not be such a good idea, especially for the layman user.
The iPhone does not support arbitrary multi-tasking and Apple was loudly criticized for making that choice. An item that many pundits overlook is that the iPhone can multi-task, but only allows some of the Apple developed apps (mail, calendar, iPod) to do so.
Apple’s model is sufficient for most people, which includes the technically challenged as well as various experts. Google’s
Here’s a copy of the memo:
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