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iOS vs Android

N

nubs

Lurker
I Love Android. I have multiple android devices. I also have a few iOS devices including an iPod touch and an older iPhone.

But here is my question, why is it that iOS is smoother than Android? I'm not saying it's better or faster at applications... but the interface itself is undeniably smoother in terms of transitioning between screens, scrolling within apps (not the internet browser). I can't figure it out, the hardware for my Epic 4G is far superior to even the most recent iPod and yet even using the bare-bones vanilla launcher there are noticeable lags between opening certain apps and using certain parts of the OS.

Here is a perfect example, go into settings > applications > manage applications > third party

It's takes probably a good 10 seconds for the list to finish populating. When I exit and then go back in, it repopulates and takes another 10 seconds.

So why is it that iOS is noticeably smoother?
 
nubs said:
I Love Android. I have multiple android devices. I also have a few iOS devices including an iPod touch and an older iPhone.

But here is my question, why is it that iOS is smoother than Android? I'm not saying it's better or faster at applications... but the interface itself is undeniably smoother in terms of transitioning between screens, scrolling within apps (not the internet browser). I can't figure it out, the hardware for my Epic 4G is far superior to even the most recent iPod and yet even using the bare-bones vanilla launcher there are noticeable lags between opening certain apps and using certain parts of the OS.

Here is a perfect example, go into settings > applications > manage applications > third party

It's takes probably a good 10 seconds for the list to finish populating. When I exit and then go back in, it repopulates and takes another 10 seconds.

So why is it that iOS is noticeably smoother?
Click to expand...

Hardware acceleration. aOS is not accelerated except within specific apps (eg the browser which is why you're noticing it being so much smoother) or within manufacture UIs (Sense is actually the only one I know for sure is). If you put a newer model HTC phone with Sense on it, up against an Iphone and another type of aOS phone you would notice that the HTC phone is much smoother than the aOS phone (generally) and only slightly less so, if any at all, than the iOS device.
 
The way the two OS use memory is different, Andorid is a multitasking OS and will keep recently used apps open as long as the memory is not needed. IOS is not true multitasking so the app has full resources available to run the open app at any specific time.
 
I find Sense to be very un-smooth on my DHD. Im new to android and have just discovered Launcher Pro. I installed that, and its sooo smooth compared to Sense. Id say it was as smooth as my old 3GS. It fixed the one thing that I considered inferior to my old iphone.
 
As far as I know, HTC has indeed optimized Sense UI, so that it would run smooth.
And in general it does.

The lag in application management was present when I was on a stock ROM. However, since I'm on custom ROM using Gingerbread, that lag is gone for good.

Bottom line - there is a lot that can be done to optimize the OS/UI to run smoother, instead of pumping more processing power. Unfortunately, the vast range of different devices and manufacturer UI differences doesn't make this job very easy...
 
nubs said:
I wonder if Google will implement more buffering.
Click to expand...



Yes, please google please add more buffering and longer loading times! While you are at it if you could make the boot time about 90 seconds longer that would be great


[/Sarcasm]
 
As others have said, iOS has hardware accel across the board while Android only has HW accel in specific areas, such as the browser.

Honeycomb and Ice Cream will supposedly introduce unified API for hardware accel across the board.

On your Epic, which uses a slower filesystem (RFS) versus a much faster filesystem (ext4) that can be found in the Gingerbread ROM's. The slower filesystem may be the reason why you see the slowness in settings > applications > manage applications > third party.
 
Not only do we have hardware acceleration to consider, but also the fact that the OS is tailored towards a certain set of specs (hardware). Much easier to get exactly what you want when you write and tweak the OS for the hardware. All that said, it is something I miss, but I just need to remind myself that silky smooth does not mean more functional (and in fact I find iOS less functional).
 
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