Just...WOW...massive speed increase using ART cache

[bigmike09890]

If I understand the differences correctly it should run the whole application faster because it is no longer running the application in a Java VM and just running native code (not sure how low level it's actually compiled to) .

Posted via Android Central App

 

[indianajonze]

if you enable this, is it simple to disable and go back to dalvik? or is a factory reset required?

 

[Shilohcane]

I understand what you're saying, but how would that explain the IN-APP improvements I have seen in the gallery and Maps and Google Earth? It is having some kind of effect. They are definitely faster with ART. And not just start-up.

That is what the Android Police said here but I don't know how it does it.

"By removing the need to spin up a new virtual machine or run interpreted code, startup times can be cut down immensely and ongoing execution will become faster, as well."

WHAT IS ART?

This is the best part of that article;

How Much Better Is It?

For now, the potential gains in efficiency are difficult to gauge based on the version of ART currently shipping with KitKat, so it isn't representative of what will be possible once it has been extensively optimized. Thus far, estimates and some benchmarks suggest that the new runtime is already capable of cutting execution time in half for most applications. This means that long-running, processor-intensive tasks will be able to finish faster, allowing the system to idle more often and for longer. Regular applications will also benefit from smoother animations and more instantaneous responses to touch and other sensor data. Additionally, now that the typical device contains a quad-core (or greater) processor, many situations will call for activating fewer cores, and it may be possible to make even better use of the lower-powered cores in ARM's big.LITTLE architecture. How much this improves battery life and performance will vary quite a bit based on usage scenarios and hardware, but the results could be substantial.

 

[JeffDenver]

if you enable this, is it simple to disable and go back to dalvik? or is a factory reset required?

Enabling it requires a reboot and a 15 minute wait. I assume it would be the same for going back to Dalvik. It should not require a factor reset either way.

LOL...startup...is that how we measure performance now? What is this?....2008?

If someone gave you a new car, would you complain about the color? This is a significant speed boost for free. How can that be a bad thing?

 

[anon(522296)]

This had a amazing increase on battery life, was running at 7% an hour and now I'm consistently at 3% an hour. Also had a nice performance increase, much "snappier"

 

[yfan]

Google's apps are definitely snappier in ART. Other apps have a faster start time, but operations-wise, I'm not sure since the Nexus 5 is an incredibly fast device as is. But it also makes Vonage crash, as well as another VoIP app I have.

All in all, I'm going to keep this for a while at least.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Johnly]

I feel a good sized difference. Quicker for sure. Let's see how she runs for the week. :]

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[qnet]

This is great & exciting news for Android and I will be glad when Google fully implements Art into Android. I'm going to try this out. I'm still running stock non-rooted. I'm surprised this hasn't been covered in a lot of the reviews, but I guess it may be deemed too geeky for the average user.

 

[Joe the Insider]

This is legit. I can't believe how fast my apps are opening and loading.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Rule9]

This is legit. I can't believe how fast my apps are opening and loading.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Not seeing it here, I loaded about 20 3rd party apps on my phone after reading this and every single one of them opened instantly and I'm on 4.2. I'm not sure how you can improve "instantly" but I suppose it's nice for Google to not have to owe Oracle anything at least. I'm sure it'll make for enticing ads though

Sent from my Sony Xperia Z1

 

[Joe the Insider]

Not seeing it here, I loaded about 20 3rd party apps on my phone after reading this and every single one of them opened instantly and I'm on 4.2

Sent from my Sony Xperia Z1

I believe it's for devices running KitKat only

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[Rule9]

It is, what I'm saying is that my apps load instantly, as it, at least on my phone anyway. I don't know of anything faster than instant. I opened a bunch of them in succession too. Maybe Sony pimped their software I guess. Gotta love Japanese engineering

Sent from my Sony Xperia Z1

 

[EnigmaticPsychotic]

I just switched over.

 

[JeffDenver]

It is, what I'm saying is that my apps load instantly, as it, at least on my phone anyway. I don't know of anything faster than instant. I opened a bunch of them in succession too. Maybe Sony pimped their software I guess. Gotta love Japanese engineering

A lot of people are confused as to what we mean by "instant" I think.

We are not talking about the screen changing immediately. My phone did that before ART too. We mean the time it takes for the app to fully load, where you can completely see all content and use it. THAT is definitely much faster on ART.

I've used Galaxy phones and the One and Sony's phones... I've never seen any remotely this fast. On my phone it was a dramatic difference and it was already pretty fast before.

 

[jon_stewart]

no thanks. i'm sure the Gremlins will appear soon. but thanks for being our guinea pig. please report back later. enjoy.

Haven't seen any in 5 days and over 200 apps.

Must remove some apps (accidentally allowed Google to restore them all) but this excessive number doesn't appear to have diminished the phone's appetite for sheer speed and sharp responses.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[jon_stewart]

I assume it will let you convert back too. I am still seeing the Dalvik setting in developer options.

All it takes is select dalvik and restart when prompted, and the dalvik cache setup is recreated.

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[jon_stewart]

It would be interesting to see Quadrant scores before and after enabling ART. I know a lot of trash gets thrown at benchmarks, but I think they have relevance when comparing a change you make on your own phone as opposed to using them to compare your phone to others.

Not until the particular benchmark app has been optimised for Art and 4. 4.

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[jon_stewart]

My benchmark scores have not really changed. I ran Antutu and 3D mark.

Yes, but none of the benchmarking apps will be optimised for Art or 4.4 yet.

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[Rule9]

A lot of people are confused as to what we mean by "instant" I think.

We are not talking about the screen changing immediately. My phone did that before ART too. We mean the time it takes for the app to fully load, where you can completely see all content and use it. THAT is definitely much faster on ART.

I've used Galaxy phones and the One and Sony's phones... I've never seen any remotely this fast. On my phone it was a dramatic difference and it was already pretty fast before.

Thanks for clearing that up, that explains it much better. That's pretty good news for the future of Android, I've often heard the dalvik runtime mentioned in tech circles as something in need of change. Hopefully a lot of people report back on this so any tweaks that need to be made are taken care of before kitkat rolls out to other devices. I'll be keeping an eye on how it works on my N7. I also kept my N4 and a couple older phones so it'll be interesting to see how they live up to claims made about those running 4.4

Sent from my Sony Xperia Z1

 

[Shilohcane]

Check out Android Central talking about ART and Dalvik that starts at the 28:45 Mark...

Jerry thinks all people are seeing is cached performance after ART cleared out the old cache that will slow down.