Meet the iPad 2 - The iPad 2 - page 7

Press the Home button in the bezel at any time to exit an app and go to
the last Home screen you were viewing. If you press the button when
you're already on a Home screen, you're taken to the first screen. Or, if
you're currently viewing the first screen, pressing the button displays the
Spotlight search page; see “Search Using Spotlight,” later in this chapter.

Launch and run apps
Tap once on an app's icon to launch it. (That's it. No double-clicking,
pressing Command-O, or hitting Return and wondering if Windows is
actually opening the program.)

Unlike most desktop or laptop computers, the iPad displays one application
at a time, which takes over the entire screen; it's not possible, for example,
to have Mail on one side of the screen and Safari on the other. To switch to
a different app, press the Home button and then tap the other app's icon
from the Home screen.

For more information about customizing the Home screen and work-
ing with apps, see Chapter 2.

note

Switch quickly between apps
Even though only one app is visible at a time, the iPad runs several apps
at the same time (a feature known as multitasking ). When you exit one
app, it's effectively frozen until you return to it. Some apps can continue
to work in the background—Mail can send and receive messages, iPod
can play music, and so forth—but most apps wait until they're activated,
at which point they resume where they left off.

To view your most recent apps, press the Home button twice quickly. The
recents list appears at the bottom of the screen ( Figure 1.2 , next page).
Flick left on the list to view more apps, and tap the app you wish to open.