Vlad Savov, explaining a feature of the new Sony Xperia Z Android phone:
What Sony does is as simple as it is effective: all background apps and data transfers are disabled when the screen is turned off, thereby eliminating the vampiric power draw of running processes you don’t need while the phone idles. You still receive phone calls and messages as usual, plus you can whitelist apps that you don’t want affected by Stamina mode, meaning that after a bit of tailoring you can run this as your phone’s default setting. Sony claims that enabling Stamina mode can quadruple the Xperia Z’s standby time, and my experience with the phone confirmed this feature is no gimmick. Leaving the phone to mostly idle for one day, I found it barely consumed 15 percent of its charge, and even that power consumption was primarily down to the few occasions when I turned it on and used it. Stamina mode will do little to help power users or avid mobile photographers, but for the vast majority of people — with whom the phone spends most of its time inactive — it can have a definite positive impact.
I really don’t want full-on, anything-goes multitasking to come to the iPhone. Props to Sony for this, but this seems like something the operating system should be able to do.
An “open” system gives users enough rope to hang themselves, I suppose.