The smartphone is a sort of Swiss Army knife that often needs to be capable of performing multiple functions simultaneously. For today's post I will take a closer look at how Microsoft is handling multitasking in .

Multitasking is one of those features that in Windows Phone 7 at launch. Microsoft , though--implementing some basic multitasking for core Windows Phone 7 functionality, but leaving most apps out of the party. With "Mango" Microsoft is opening the APIs to let developers take advantage of the multitasking capabilities as well.

Not True Multitasking

I'll just state right off the bat that the multitasking in "Mango" is not really true multitasking. For most apps, it is more like app switching with apps that retain their state--like a sort of hibernation or temporary suspended animation. That is different than the multitasking I'm used to on my Windows 7 PC where programs continue to execute even when in the background.

The pseudo-multitasking in "Mango" is very similar to the way Apple has addressed the issue of multitasking in iOS. Some apps, like music playing apps, can continue to run in the background. But, most apps will actually be idle in the background, but ready to resume right where I left it when I switch back to it. Apps in the background can still on the Start Screen, or receive push notifications.