Madbat
Android Expert
There are a lot interesting ideas regarding this topic but there's a huge point that is disregarded. Without ART, android apps even some system apps are available as interpreted code rather than compiled code. Interpreted code is compiled at runtime and is being interpreted on the fly hence JIT. This affects the performance throughout the app lifecycle and not only during launch time. Scrolling, transistions, fluid motions, etc are all affected. This explains why iOS or WP run apps faster even on slower hardware. This is because they run native machine code and not interpreted code like Android. WP and iOS has no middle ground between apps and machine. Google on the other hand had to tackle issue of multiple hardware configurations for each device. Knowing that, interpreted code was the obvious solution. Now with ART, interpreted code will be compiled upon installation making the app on android native to the system. Apps won't run on a virtual machine anymore. This will save CPU power, that will impact positively and dramatically on the battery life, which in the end will make applications run way faster. Think about ART as a compiler for interpreted code. The more optimized the compiler, the faster and more optimized the application will be. ART is still in early stages, I already see a good improvement in fluidity and smoothness of transitions whether it's in launchers or apps especially chrome, Facebook, and Facebook messenger. (No its not placebo as I tried both environments on a factory reset nexus 4. Facebook messenger chat head never lagged once on ART but clearly lags when its popped on Dalvik VM. Don't get me started on Chrome ). Hope this helps clearing out some ideas regarding ART.
Edit: Today
Edit: Today