Operating System Design Issues

The primary technical difference between mobile device operating systems and operating systems used on laptop and desktop computers is that the mobile operating system is not a true multitasking system. On mobile devices, only one app can be active at a time. When another app is started, or the app is interrupted by another app (for example, a phone call), the app that was running gets put in the background. It remains in the background until the user specifically accesses it again. If it remains in the background too long, or if available memory gets too low, the operating system may kill it. This back-and-forth between different states is called the app’s life cycle. Both Android and iOS apps have a life cycle. ...

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