One of the things i've noticed over the last couple of days, is that apps either have PUSH notifications, or need to be manually refreshed.For those that done know about PUSH notifications, it is a method of sending notifications to the phone, without the phone asking for them. Lets take an example made-up "Macebook" app.
The Macebook app with PUSH notifications will be told when it has a message for the user. The Macebook app with "automatic refresh" will be constantly asking the network if it has messages.
There are good things and bad things about this. If i had to guess, it would be that Apple has dis-allowed automatic refresh in apps. Apple has forced developers to use a PUSH service, or have the user manually refresh. The upside is, that there are significant battery savings with PUSH notifications, the downside is that users don't even have the option for an automatic refresh.
On my android phone, I have an app called PULSE. On my android OS, I have set the app to automatically check for NEW news every 15 minutes. Every 15 minutes the app contacts various news sources, and let me know if there there is something new via the notification bar.
On the iPhone, I have to manually open the app and press refresh to get NEW news. I often forget about the app since it does not remind me that it is there.
Like I said, I bet Apple has prohibited this to improve battery life, but shouldn't it be the users CHOICE whether they want automatic or manual updates? On a positive note, it has forced developers to use the PUSH notification system, which is a good thing! I doubt that PUSH servers are free, and developers might enjoy a little more freedom if Apple let them.
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