Why MultiWindow was the Past, is the Present and will be the Future

* The following is  an individual opinion of editor ASyk and does not represent the official views of the company. 

On the newest Galaxy TabPRO and NotePRO, users can split the screen in four ways and customize the size of each screen. There are probably some people who think that four windows might be too many, or frown on the concept of Multi Window in general. At first glance, doubling or even quadrupling from a single window could be overwhelming and that is understandable. However, the expression “too many” indicates that we cannot or will not make use of them, and that is not the case. Whether you know it or not, you’ve been utilizing and familiar with the multiple windows feature for a long time. It was just matter of time until we took it to another dimension. The ‘multi’ phenomenon was and is inevitable and here is why.

You’ve known about MultiWindow for a long time

TV has the longest history for being a major tool for content viewing. Whenever we wanted to watch something, TV was the most prominent tool to go with, before high speed internet. Once high speed internet was widely accessible, we were able to watch quality images and videos on our computers. However, most of the time, you were either on the computer or TV for content viewing.

When laptops and WiFi became popular, we were allowed to have some mobility in terms of ‘where’ we can view contents. For example, as long as we have power on our laptop we could carry it around anywhere in the house to view content and most of the time that was on our couch, where we sit down to watch TV.

However, unless we have the couch to ourselves, since laptops were relatively big for the couch, we couldn’t really comfortably enjoy the contents from our laptops and TV simultaneously for a long time; we ended up committing to the TV. However, we realized that we had the urge to use multiple sources for contents.

Then about a half-decade ago, we got smartphones, a mobile device that was as powerful as the laptops we were used to.

Now, what is the one thing that we have next to us, if not all the time, when we sit in front of the TV, besides popcorn? Smartphones! How often do you peek at your smartphone for status updates, personal messages or emails while you are watching TV? What do you do when you verify or look into more information that you just heard on the TV? Here, you are already working with 2 screens: the screen of your TV and smartphone.

We’ve been doing this, multitasking, for a while now without missing out on any critical information. Judging from our experience, we are pretty good at multitasking. In fact, our desire to multitask might be even instinctual, because when we want to get more things done in a given time; be more efficient!

Of course, the situation above could be easily regarded as simply procrastinating, instead of being efficient. However, at least two things shouldn’t be disregarded: the fact that we have the tools to access unlimited information on demand and we are good at processing two or more different kinds of information simultaneously.

Now all we have to do at this point is use one device instead of two. You can either split the screen of you mobile device, such as Galaxy S5, Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy TabPRO or Galaxy NotePRO, and view two different windows, or split the screen of your Smart TV. Utilizing multiple screen/window is not an overwhelming concept at all.

MultiWindow vs MultiScreen

Just to clarify, MultiWindow and MultiScreenare two different concepts.

Last year, Samsung introduced a feature called the ‘SideSync’. SideSync is a program that allows your Samsung PC and smartphone to work together as one and it also automatically duplicates all new files and photos while your phone is recharging via the PC. This feature was just the beginning of the MultiScreen feature.

MultiScreen feature is when you can transfer or link/share content wirelessly to another device to view it. Samsung has been working hard to bring a complete experience of MultiScreen where content can be shared among TVs, PCs and mobile devices.

For example, Samsung introduced the various SDKs, such as Samsung Mobile SDK, Samsung MultiScreen SDK, and Samsung MultiScreen Gaming Platform, which all let users develop a software/app to seamlessly transfer contents between devices, such as web browsing, movies or gaming. At the upcoming Developers Day at MWC 2014, Samsung even plans to introduce an upgraded version of these SDKs.

MultiWindow

Have you ever seen or used two windows simultaneously on your desktop PC? Whether you are an application developer, a graphic designer or an analyst, you know that working with two windows side by side, makes you more of an efficient professional. This is because a lot of times, you need to aggregate various kinds of information to customize them for your own needs, as fast as you can. If this is you, you’ve already been using the MultiWindow feature.

As we mentioned before, the concept of utilizing two windows on a single monitor is pretty much the same as utilizing the MultiWindow function on your mobile smartphones or tablets. For example, you can watch a highlight video of your favorite sports team on one window and check the statistics from the most recent game on the other window on your mobile device.

The great part about Samsung MultiWindow feature is that it is easy and intuitive. You can switch between windows easily regardless of whether you use the device in landscape or portrait mode. Depending on your preference or the type of the information you are viewing, the size of each window is totally customizable as well. The UX of the feature is designed in a way that doesn’t require users to open up a manual and study the features; it just makes intuitive sense.

MultiWindow has been enabled in Samsung mobile devices since the Galaxy Note 2. With the release of the Galaxy Note 3, the MultiWindow feature has been tremendously improved and now with the software upgrade, users can enjoy the same quality on their Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S4 as well, simply with a software upgrade. However, on the latest Galaxy NotePRO and TabPRO has the most advance MultiWindow feature, thanks to its Quad View ability.

As we have already emphasized, MultiWindow feature will be very handy for people who need to process various information quickly and simultaneously. It is definitely exciting to see how people can creatively and effectively utilize the function and make multitasking on a mobile device into some kind of art form. Would it be too nerdy to want to see a viral video of a demonstration from someone who mastered the art of MultiWindow feature?

MultiWindow is the future. As technology develops, we have been able to access more information with less time. As an animal that evolves, we will adapt to this environment and eventually be able to not only access but also process more information with less time. To do that we need to have the different kinds of information we want to process in hand. And the solution to that is the MultiScreen or MultiWindow, at least for now.