Multitasking on a smartphone has never been better, but it still has some ways to go to compete with a desktop experience. Samsung hopes to change that with a new multitasking view on the Galaxy S9, which allows the user to open notifications in a new, smaller window on top of the app they are currently using.
This action, according to Samsung, was designed to reduce interruptions that notifications and multitasking can cause users, especially when watching movies or TV. In the past, users either had a limited view of the app they were responding to, or would need to keep a persistent floating window on-screen at all times, the latter of which especially gets in the way of watching a video.
With this new view, users simply drag down on a new heads up-style notification popup, which then opens a smaller window on top of their active application. Users can interact with the notification in question — Samsung uses a new message as an example — with the previous application waiting patiently underneath.
Once the user is done viewing or interacting with the notification, they can easily close the mini-window with a tap. The S9 then returns focus to the app the user was using before, which is an improvement over having to swap between apps as is currently the norm.
If the demo is to be believed, this multitasking view pauses the video you are watching. While it’s nice you won’t miss any of that content while responding to a notification, we hope Samsung includes an option to continue playing during multitasking. Some might prefer to allow the video to play while interacting with a notification, instead of having to resume playback every time.
We won’t know until we get our hands on the S9, of course, so stay tuned for more on the S9’s improved multitasking.
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