Why is the iPhone smoother?

[movieman999]

A quick preliminary note; I am by no stretch of the imagination an Apple fan. I've been a fan of Android since the beginning. Anyway, on to the main point...

I have the new, gorgeous, amazing Galaxy Nexus and my brother has the iPhone 4 (we are exact opposites). I'm very pleased with it but one thing irks me...many things (scrolling, first and foremost) is silky smooth on iOS...always. There is NEVER glitchy or slow scrolling or transitions in general. However, many times on Android if the app isn't extremely well optimized scrolling may suffer.

Why? Is Android more difficult to code for, or harder to fully optimize? Is it because of the large variety of devices and hardware? I'll always be an Android fan, I'm just trying to understand why some apps are terribly slow and glitchy, when the iOS version of ANYTHING is perfect. Thanks fellow Droidians!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using DroidForums

 

[dezymond]

There was an article that was posted on this forum somewhere some time ago, can't find it.

Has to do with how the OS is written. One thing I do remember is that when loading a page and you scroll with the iphone, all the power goes to scrollin so the page stops loading. As for android, it does both at the same time. Same for anything else regarding smoothness of the phone, all in how the OS is written.

edit: Did a quick google search, found this: http://www.tipb.com/2011/12/06/android-ui-smooth-ios/
There's a bunch more if you google "why is iphone smoother than android"

 

[jkliving92]

IPhone prioritizes things differently. For example you're installing an application on an iPhone and you scroll through your home screens, the OS pauses the install until you lift your finger off the screen so it doesn't hinder your scrolling. Your finger has higher priority than the install. On android everything has equal priority so everything runs at the same time. With more advanced and faster phones this isn't an issue because there are enough resources to do this. Android uses the priority measures as a typical computer.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using DroidForums

 

[movieman999]

Really interesting, and exactly the kind of intellectual responses I was hoping for. Thanks guys.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using DroidForums

 

[LtKen]

Also, keep in mind that iOS is written for one device -- a uniform set of hardware. You can relate it to consoles vs PCs when it comes to gaming. Console games are written to utilize a single set of hardware in the most efficient way, while PC games are written to utilize as many types of hardware as they can.

If you have enough resources, then this difference shouldnt matter, but it does.

 

[pc747]

I dont know the galaxy nexus is just as smooth on 4.03, go to developer options and limit background processes to match that of the iphone (I did 1), check gpu rendering and its smooth as butter and I am not even o/c. By the way I am was an iphone fan.

 

[movieman999]

Also, keep in mind that iOS is written for one device -- a uniform set of hardware. You can relate it to consoles vs PCs when it comes to gaming. Console games are written to utilize a single set of hardware in the most efficient way, while PC games are written to utilize as many types of hardware as they can.

If you have enough resources, then this difference shouldnt matter, but it does.

Absolutely, and I realize that makes a big difference. I am running a Galaxy Nexus with stock Android 4.1, and noticed some apps would lag when scrolling (I'm looking at you, Netflix!), while others are silky smooth like iOS (I'm looking at you, DroidForums!). I suppose this has more to do with poor development of the app, among other things.

I found a semi-recent post by the same Ex-Google employee who originally explained briefly why the UI appears laggy compared to the iPhone's. It has some really in-depth explanation and was a great read.

If you're interested, here is the linky: https://plus.google.com/105051985738280261832/posts/XAZ4CeVP6DC

 

[dezymond]

I dont know the galaxy nexus is just as smooth on 4.03, go to developer options and limit background processes to match that of the iphone (I did 1), check gpu rendering and its smooth as butter and I am not even o/c. By the way I am was an iphone fan.

Wow those settings really did have a bit of a difference, and I'm on Android Revolution. I scrolled through engadget (the full site) and it was a bit smoother. Thanks for the tip PCDancingNexus

 

[movieman999]

I dont know the galaxy nexus is just as smooth on 4.03, go to developer options and limit background processes to match that of the iphone (I did 1), check gpu rendering and its smooth as butter and I am not even o/c. By the way I am was an iphone fan.

I noticed a HUGE difference in the Netflix app with scrolling when checking GPU rendering. Other than that, things seemed pretty much the same (Engadget was still choppy for me). Overall, the Galaxy Nexus is super snappy to begin with, though so it's kind of difficult to tell.

 

[pc747]

hmm i just went to engadget cuz I was curious what you was talking about. I am not having any of the choppiness at all.

 

[scott craft]

I've always wondered why the iPhone was smoother too. That's one of the reasons I moved away from android to a windows phone. I recently played with a galaxy nexus and thought it was pretty slick. Android definitely is moving in the right direction.
Sent from my Windows 7 Phone using Board Express

 

[dezymond]

hmm i just went to engadget cuz I was curious what you was talking about. I am not having any of the choppiness at all.

Stock settings, at least on Android Revolution, run the page nicely, but those changes I made with your settings suggestions and it runs just a tad smoother. That's about the only site I ever had choppiness with. As for apps, I use Rage Faces alot and it is still extremely laggy with both settings.

 

[movieman999]

I've always wondered why the iPhone was smoother too. That's one of the reasons I moved away from android to a windows phone. I recently played with a galaxy nexus and thought it was pretty slick. Android definitely is moving in the right direction.
Sent from my Windows 7 Phone using Board Express

Windows Phone 7 is extremely smooth, but it is also very simplistic. Android has animated wallpapers (though I never use them, WAY too much power consumption in the CPU / GPU to warrant pretty moving colors in the background), multiple home screen pages, an app drawer with a 3D transition and also other effects like tilting, fading, moving in and out...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking Windows Phone 7's interface; it's good at what it does. Live Tiles are pretty neat, and as we addressed the result is an extraordinarily smooth and elegant UI. So....it's give and take.

hmm i just went to engadget cuz I was curious what you was talking about. I am not having any of the choppiness at all.

For some reason in the Engadget app (not through the browser, that's perfectly smooth) I experience choppiness on the Galaxy Nexus. I didn't notice choppiness before on my X (at least, not as much as I'm getting now). Maybe it needs optimized for ICS? I am not experiencing this with any other apps, though. They either increased in fluidity or stayed exactly the same (i.e. Redbox app performance increased, Netflix has stayed the same). Engadget's app, ironically, is the only one that has slowed down. Enabling the GPU rendering has not helped in *that* app.

 

[JSM9872]

I dont know the galaxy nexus is just as smooth on 4.03, go to developer options and limit background processes to match that of the iphone (I did 1), check gpu rendering and its smooth as butter and I am not even o/c. By the way I am was an iphone fan.

Nice tip pc. Preliminary results are positive here from what I can see DancingNexus

 

[dezymond]

My guess would be optimization. Rage Face ran smooth on my Inc, but is almost impossible to navigate on my Nexus. It's some pretty bad lag.