Why are the iPhone and Windows Phone 7 browsers smoother than the Android browser?

**green** · 12-02-2010, 12:19 PM

This site is smooth on my phone but go to pocketnow.com's full site on your phone (even with flash off) and it gets choppy/sluggish.

When I'm on my ipod touh which isn't even 1ghz, the scrolling and pinch to zoom are so smooth? How is this? The Android should be more responsive.

**green** · 12-02-2010, 12:32 PM

Anyone know?

**truslide** · 12-02-2010, 12:35 PM

well i know that in the reviews the iPhone had better(smoother) web browsing. I think it has something to do with their Retina screen. Maybe the windows 7 phone has a super amoled screen? I dunno, i'm taking a shot in the dark that maybe it's the screen+connection=smooth browsing. every phone is different...

**mclarryjr** · 12-02-2010, 01:26 PM

Just checked pocketnow using my DInc and Dolphin HD and it was a smooth as all the other sites I browse. You may just want to try a new browser and see if that helps.

**kinster02** · 12-02-2010, 02:44 PM

Originally Posted by green

This site is smooth on my phone but go to pocketnow.com's full site on your phone (even with flash off) and it gets choppy/sluggish.

When I'm on my ipod touh which isn't even 1ghz, the scrolling and pinch to zoom are so smooth? How is this? The Android should be more responsive.

I don't know, Why are the iPhone and Windows Phone 7 browsers smoother than the Android browser?

When you get the answer let us know because there's nothing wrong with my browsers smoothness.

Sfm Evo

**cloak.n.dagger** · 12-02-2010, 04:32 PM

I think the answer lies in the GPU. I know exactly what you are talking about, and it's not just smoothness in the browser, it's in scrolling as well. I know updates have removed the FPS cap but in every FPS demo I have seen the "smoothness" come from increased FPS. While the EVO has the horse power to match the iphone and other Windows phones, the GPU just isn't quite hitting the FPS to give that high quality smoothness you see in other devices.

**Paladin** · 12-02-2010, 04:37 PM

The iPhone suspends most tasks when you launch a new app. So when you launch its browser the phone is not as bogged down by background tasks so can devote more CPU etc.. to it.

Now that all sounds great until you consider that most of your background tasks are suspended and it does not multitask nearly as nice as Android does (In other words Android is still able to check your mail, stream radio, check on the networks status, update your calendar and check for UPS packages all the while updating the GPS as you still browse.

I know you don't always do all of that, my point is it is more like a PC in that it can run other apps and tasks while you browse.

My browser works really well for the most part and I hardly bog down (though it does happen and can be annoying) so I am unsure what program may be causing your issue if it does it all the time but I will take a small slow down over most of my processes being suspended any day.

Try a reboot, that may clear it up. Then note what programs you launch and if it acts up again it may be a bad program running.

**donald.aleshire** · 12-02-2010, 05:03 PM

I think it has something to do with the OS personally. I have heard a lot of things about "gingerbread" and one thing that keeps popping up is that it brings iPhone scrolling. Really smooth, no jitters.

Now I am not really knowledgeable about this type of stuff, but it sounds to me like a definite software issue. iOS I think is just more polished right now in this area but Android will be there soon. It took iOS a few years to get copy/paste and multitasking, while Android had that practically right out of the box. So if it takes Android until 2.3 to get the scrolling down right, then that sounds about equal.

But I do noticed a difference in iOS vs Android scrolling in webpages, apps, music, photos etc, but nothing to bug me.

**TrueDrooid** · 12-02-2010, 05:05 PM

I have noticed the iPhone having better scrolling overall maybe its the FPS limitations they put on the HTC evo, not sure.
Is your 4G turned on by chance?

**Jerzyiroc** · 12-02-2010, 05:18 PM

The Evo had the FPS limit removed as we all know, but as cloak said the GPU on the Evo isn't that great. With that said I honestly don't think the lack of smooth scrolling compared to other phones has anything to do with the Evo itself though. I really think a big part of it is htc's coding. Anyone here that's ever used Cyanogen on their Evo knows the Evo is capable of smooth zooming and scrolling and overall some insane performance. People would be very surprised if they know how much of a difference software can make. Hell, even on the VaelPak Nonsense (no Sense) rom I use scrolls and zooms better than the stock ROM. htc Sense is by far my favorite skin on Android, but they seriously need to learn how to code more efficiently. Between the ****ty camera/camcorder coding and crappy coding in other areas they really do a superb job at hindering the capabilities of the Evo. Perfect example is how on average 75% of the RAM is being used on the Evo even when just sitting if using a Sense based ROM... Meanwhile with Cyanogen only about 30% of the RAM is being used while sitting (with all the same apps installed of course). htc does an awful job at managing resources.

**myrcgarage** · 12-02-2010, 06:16 PM

it is related to how the OS was written. I heard either Gingerbread or Honeycomb will have Kinetic scrolling. Then, Android will have the same scrolling as iphone.

The most noticeable scrolling smoothness on the iphone is when you move your finger up or down on a screen - any screen. It is just smooth. However, it is jerky on Android. I am really looking forward to Kinetic scrolling in Gingerbread, hopefully.

**Flip** · 12-02-2010, 08:17 PM

My browsers seem fine so mayb something is wrong with yours

**Jerzyiroc** · 12-02-2010, 09:06 PM

Ahh... anothing thing to keep in mind: Browser text reflow. I noticed that the two browsers that offer the smoothest zooming is the AOSP browser and Miren. Both don't have text reflow... As you zoom in and out while using text reflow I think the system is reflowing it on the fly so when you finally stop zooming, it'll load faster. If that's the case then I'm sure that explains why broswers w/o text reflow (from what I've noticed at least) zoom faster, because it's just zooming in and out w/o having to process anything else in the background... I could of course be wrong. Just throwing a theory out there.

**milominderbinde** · 12-02-2010, 11:49 PM

Try and . They are both smoother.

Then a couple things are still different in hardware and OS. The iPhone basically shuts everything down except the browser. What all are you leaving open in the Dinc?

**Johnly** · 12-03-2010, 12:21 AM

You know iOS and win 7 are smooth as butter. I give credit.

**Johnly** · 12-03-2010, 12:30 AM

My droid x with LP runs it smooth too. A lot of androids suck because of bloat/manufacture skins. The codec between the three can't even be compared, as the framework is different. I think the OP didn't get a good android experiance. US seasoned users know a few tricks, and what devices run tops from the box.

**Johnly** · 12-03-2010, 12:34 AM

Btw, OP? What device are you using? Seeing as we all are trying to help you, you are gone?

**Kevin O'Quinn** · 12-03-2010, 08:38 AM

I think this has just turned into a discussion about browser smoothness. It's hard to compare android to iOS and WP7 because they are coded completely different. Anybody ever wonder why the original Iphone was just as buttery smooth as the 3G or 3GS? It's because of the programming language. This was discussed in depth on the precentral forums (remember it Milo) because the Pre had the same exact processor as the 3GS but was nowhere near as smooth.

Apple and Microsoft has an advantage in this area because they have way more control over the OS environment than Google does with Android. This is a side affect of being an "open" operating system.

**jwebste9** · 12-03-2010, 08:47 AM

Having used both the iphone and windows mobile and blackberry for that matter. Android has a much smoother faster browser in my opinion.

**stsh0502** · 12-03-2010, 11:33 AM

there isn't hardware acceleration in the browser..... ios and windows phone 7 have hardware acceleration in the browser and the rest of the ui.... its not that evos gpu is poor its that the gpu isn't being used

dr · 12-03-2010, 11:41 AM

this isn't directly related to the browser, but does discuss some of the advantages of the iphone screen (pre-"retina") vs others. it's something i've definitely noticed having switched from apple to android.

IMO, because apple has such tight integration between hardware & software, only 1 phone model and Jobs is fanatical about user experience the touchscreen and scrolling capabilities (including double tap & pinch/zoom) are better on iOS than Android. Just my $0.02.

**tiggrev** · 12-03-2010, 02:34 PM

If ALL that mattered in a handheld device was smooth scrolling, then iOS might tempt me. But there are just FAR too many things about the "Apple Way" (design philosophy and cult status) which I find frustrating and limiting.

The EVO came along just in time. It does everything I need quite well and my history with pocketable devices goes way back (HP LX200 anyone?)

Absolutely love Android and my EVO.

**Bizzare** · 12-03-2010, 03:20 PM

Originally Posted by green

This site is smooth on my phone but go to pocketnow.com's full site on your phone (even with flash off) and it gets choppy/sluggish.

When I'm on my ipod touh which isn't even 1ghz, the scrolling and pinch to zoom are so smooth? How is this? The Android should be more responsive.

I read something about this a while back. It has nothing to do with the "retina display" or the CPU or The 1GHZ that the Evo caries, I have 2nd Gen. Ipod Touch and it is smoother than the Evo, It has to do with the way the OS was built. The iphone and Windows 7 have the similar build, in the Browsing area only of course. The iphone loads a page as a hole page and when you zoom in it is like taking a magnifier to the page. The Android OS in the other hand has something that in some peoples opinion is better, depending on the person, when the browser loads the page it does it as a hole but when you zoom in the Android OS compresses the page to view in zoom and to see more of the page and read more as you Zoom by doing this it slows down the browsing experience, but Android did this for a reason so people can do more viewing and less scrolling. In some cases it is better but again it depends on the person. I recently discovered that by being on a wifi network or 4G network it eliminates a lot of the lag. the way you can notice what I mean is next time your browsing zoom in on your android device and you'll see the letters move from its original location from when you were viewing the full page and when you zoom in on the iphone, ipod or windows 7 phone u will notice that the letters just focus and don't move that is because there is no compression being made, for people that don't know of this will say it's smoother on the iphone, but now that u know the reason do you think this enhances the experience on the Android OS or makes it worse? That is up to you to decide.

**Johnly** · 12-03-2010, 03:27 PM

Iamlilysdad said it well too. It comes down to OS build more than hardware, or browser tricks/enhancements. Apple and Windows control their OS while google releases the source code, and it gets rebuild every which way, some great, and some, not so much. It comes down to the frame work. I still think Android users that know how to truly capitalize on customizing OS, can get just as smooth an experience as windows or iOS. I run a stock LP over stock droid X. It is smooth and slick, just like the iPhone. I am running several widgets too (that can compromise androids with hardware limitations like some have mentioned) but generally, don't take enough resources to bog down devices with current hardware. It is companies like HTC/Motorola/Samsung I mean all of them tweak the crap out of google's code, for better or worse (generally worse, even sense is a hog of a skin though it runs as good as launcher pro, which isn't nearly the beast, allowing for a leaner operation than sense) This discussion can get quite complicated because there is way to many variable on top of the principal reason Android is not controlled by google. Just my opinion.

**Johnly** · 12-03-2010, 03:31 PM

Originally Posted by dr

this isn't directly related to the browser, but does discuss some of the advantages of the iphone screen (pre-"retina") vs others. it's something i've definitely noticed having switched from apple to android.

IMO, because apple has such tight integration between hardware & software, only 1 phone model and Jobs is fanatical about user experience the touchscreen and scrolling capabilities (including double tap & pinch/zoom) are better on iOS than Android. Just my $0.02.

I think that article is to old to fit the context of the current technology. Do you have something comparing current devices? Android has made vast improvements since the D1 days.