Introducing the new Android Runtime - ART

[breadnatty08]

Funky, be really careful. Most guides I've read say not to move to ART if you're on a custom ROM. It screwed up my Gnex when I tried it (was on Shiny's 4.4 ROM). Everything FC's on you and I have to nandroid back.
If you do decide to give it a shot, know that it can take a LONG time. I don't have too many apps on my Gnex and it took around 25min to convert.
Good luck, just be sure to have a backup on your device if you give it a try.

 

[funkylogik]

Thanx Dan. Im always backed up and not even gona do it till the kk roms are more established mate.
Tbh im mega impressed by the speed and battery life im getting now on a 4.3.1 rom lol.
I just play with kk sometimes when im bored justnow :beer:

 

[nebler]

Is the battery performance improved using ART or just placibo?

 

[johnnyolivares]

I can't wait to try this out.

I just "unlocked" the developer options by messing around 😁

 

[funkylogik]

Wow.

Ok i know benchmarks are a bit meh but this is the difference after fresh reboot from a cm based unofficial build running quadrant

Then i changed to ART and it took like 10mins to boot and got this
Cant really argue with that tbh n i can feel it while multitasking.
im gonna call this a Plus One for Kitkat :thumbup:

 

[SiempreTuna]

Dalvik only does a little bit of optimization ahead of time though - most is done at run time, and that optimization gets stored in RAM instead of the persistent Dalvik cache

Sounds like it's tokenising i.e. optimising for the java interpretter. You have to wonder why they didn't go the whole hog and simply compile to create an executable

 

[breadnatty08]

Grrr. Now have KK on my G2. Should I take the plunge?

Edit: Nevermind. This ROM is deodexed which isn't compatible with ART.

 

[funkylogik]

Grrr. Now have KK on my G2. Should I take the plunge?

Yeaaah

Try n get some before benchmarks. Wish id done more than quadrant. Can feel it though, keyboard feels faster than my thumbs and scrolling down a list is beautiful. Maybe its placebo lol idk

 

[funkylogik]

Something ive noticed is that .gifs are instantly loaded and playing as i scroll through my g+ news feed (with horrible 3g data). I used to have to open them and watch that circle spin for at least 10secs

 

[dibblebill]

Funky, be really careful. Most guides I've read say not to move to ART if you're on a custom ROM. It screwed up my Gnex when I tried it (was on Shiny's 4.4 ROM). Everything FC's on you and I have to nandroid back.
If you do decide to give it a shot, know that it can take a LONG time. I don't have too many apps on my Gnex and it took around 25min to convert.
Good luck, just be sure to have a backup on your device if you give it a try.

So far, ART works decently with OmniROM builds. I just don't use it since half my apps are incompatible.

 

[funkylogik]

Can you name a few popular apps that arent compatible plz bro?
Titanium doesnt seem to be working for me but that could be other factors lol :beer:

 

[davoid]

Would a Titanium backup of ART re-compiled apps be incompatible with a rom set to dalvic?

I'm just thinking that switching between the two frequently for testing would be incompatible with backing up recent updates to apps, as you would end up with a mix of ART- and dalvic-compatible apps in your titanium backup folder, meaning that at any one time, you would never have all your apps compatible depending on whether you were set to ART or dalvik.

 

[EarlyMon]

Please see http://www.xda-developers.com/android/android-4-4-kitkats-art-and-app-compatibility/ and follow the links at the end.

Titanium Backup is NOT compatible at this time.

XDA said in a previous news story that this had nothing to do with FlexyCore.

I don't know if they had information or if that was an opinion. If opinion, I'll stand by mine fwiw.

 

[nickdalzell]

I hope this means they are finally getting the fluid and stutter-free experience that iOS has had since day one, it only took them what? 4 years? has always been one of the most annoying things about Android which makes it feel half put-together. i just switched to ART and waiting for the 'android is upgrading' part to finish. just started using GE and it feels a bit like Facebook Home a bit, kinda surprised it's not all cards and WebOS clonies. like how they optimized the notification area (no more redundant icons for 'this app has successfully installed' taking up the status bar, hate clutter). not sure what exactly to think of it just yet as i'm still restoring ~200+ apps and games. i DO however like that they finally made voice control automatic, all i need is to say 'ok google' and there it goes. that's one step above the iPhone (no hitting home button) and no need to load Google Now first.

 

[funkylogik]

You just had to throw in a rant mate didnt you lol. So how are you finding it with ART?

 

[nickdalzell]

really nice with ART. apps launch almost instantly, phone never random reboots when i got Play Music backgrounded, and no 'micro stutter' when launching games or scrolling. BlueTooth works too, it thought it died as it ceased to function entirely in Carbon recently. Play Music used to stop playing music on the road and gave triangle warnings saying 'can't play the stream requested' until reboot. that no longer happens.

 

[funkylogik]

Nice one. So google got something right?
What rom u on btw?

 

[nickdalzell]

KitKat ROM based on CM 11. had to flash a different recovery via ROM Manager as it stated specifically that it won't flash with other recoveries. i think it's a nightly.

[UNOFFICAL] [CM11] [4.4] d2kat - xda-developers

Comes with Google Experience, and a few others.

As for the Google UI, they've refined it a bit. gone is the huge oversized cards and they've toned down the color, and the colors are a bit lighter and easier to look at, no more bright bleach white, more a tan, with the font a proper black vs. grey. let's say they've De-Jony-Ive'd the look a bit. or perhaps iOS 7 was so damn ugly that Google's looks that much nicer most recent Play Store fits screen better. before it felt like i was using a CGA interface on an already-small screen.

 

[funkylogik]

Do you have the dark gapps? Thats something i miss. Do you use a theme?

Just found out Xposed Framework has been updated to work with 4.4 but not with ART :banghead::banghead: im sticking with ART though.
Also Titanium wont work with ART but Root Toolbox does (luckily i own both)

 

[nickdalzell]

Nope. i'm using it stock as-is. the only thing i did do was rearrange icons and add in my deer wallpaper. you can see a screencap of my home screen on G+. the Gapps are optimized for ART. not inverted. they just scaled it to a point that the new UI works on more than one fixed size, aka, it is smaller on smaller screens and larger on tablets. it also seems optimized for tablets (example: Nexus 10 in landscape). they toned down the colors too, not so much whitespace and they got a nicer choice of colors (no more pastel colors on the Play apps).

I'm still not as much a fan of the flat UI but it appears to be everywhere now (it's on my smart TV, smart remote, Mac, etc) so i am going to have to get used to it. there's one thing going for it, speed. it is fast. animations are pretty but i'm still not so into the flatness. i keep thinking 'well, there goes the progression of higher PPI screens!'

 

[funkylogik]

I like Gunmetal Cobalt theme. It doesnt change too much but gets rid of those lil sky blue CM Trimmings leaving everything bascly black n white

 

[Digital Controller]

Well man funky, can't really argue with those results, might have to take the plunge

(*gulp*)

 

[funkylogik]

Go for it. Just be sure to restore your titanium before going ART mate :beer:

 

[Digital Controller]

Go for it. Just be sure to restore your titanium before going ART mate :beer:

Don't worry I have enough backups to restore to save 100 Gnex's

Seriously though

 

[bjacks12]

Nope. i'm using it stock as-is. the only thing i did do was rearrange icons and add in my deer wallpaper. you can see a screencap of my home screen on G+. the Gapps are optimized for ART. not inverted. they just scaled it to a point that the new UI works on more than one fixed size, aka, it is smaller on smaller screens and larger on tablets. it also seems optimized for tablets (example: Nexus 10 in landscape). they toned down the colors too, not so much whitespace and they got a nicer choice of colors (no more pastel colors on the Play apps).

I'm still not as much a fan of the flat UI but it appears to be everywhere now (it's on my smart TV, smart remote, Mac, etc) so i am going to have to get used to it. there's one thing going for it, speed. it is fast. animations are pretty but i'm still not so into the flatness. i keep thinking 'well, there goes the progression of higher PPI screens!'

hell just froze over.