Myriad Dalvik Turbo hands-on: Android apps just got fast
By Chris Ziegler 
posted February 17th 2010 3:39PM
posted February 17th 2010 3:39PM
Myriad has demonstrated the appropriately-named Dalvik Turbo engine for us here at MWC, claiming performance improvements of up to two or three times depending on the app -- and from the spinning 3D cube we saw running on a pair of Android Dev Phone 2s, we don't doubt it. Of course, the ADP2 is an ARM11-based phone, which means that the new runtime could effectively breathe new life into low- to midrange chipsets and let them enjoy some of the spoils usually reserved for high-end devices. Unfortunately, you won't be able to buy, download, and install Dalvik Pro yourself; Myriad is instead positioning it as a differentiator for carriers and manufacturers -- not unlike Sense or TouchWiz -- that would allow them to tout improved app performance across their Android lineup versus competitors'. The runtime is apparently 100 percent compatible with Google's stock Dalvik implementation, so you would be able to run any app... just a little faster than you'd otherwise be doing. We're told there's reason to believe we'll see this on production retail devices before the year's out, so these guys are definitely worth keeping an eye on.
Yay!!!
Is it just me or does this whole "positioning it as a differentiator for carriers and manufacturers" notion not seem a bit jerkish and contrary to the open development ethic of Android?
@DestrictoEnse I agree. Not to mention, the introduction of this on a few devices is going to further fragment the Android landscape. If this keeps up, soon we'll need a distrowatch for Android versions. If there's anything that Android should learn from desktop Linux its to avoid unnecessary fragmentation and duplication of effort.
@DestrictoEnse
I think they will be doing something similar to the Android 2.1 update. Remember how the Nexus One what the only phone to have the firmware? Well, that was a differentiator, as well as some carriers having the update for their phones before the others. This might eventually make its way to every Android device.
@DestrictoEnse It's the reason why I sometimes fear that Android will become the next WinMo.
Hmmm.
Just what we needed, a more constrained Android.
Bah.
@TheGZeus
Joking?
This makes android *less* constrained...
-Taylor
@TheGZeus
How does this make Android more constrained, exactly...?
@Taylor Yes Taylor Yes, because more non-free elements makes the platform more free.
Makes perfect sense.
@sfox8 It's proprietary software, as evidenced that it's a "differentiator", and they couldn't make a business model off of something that could be merged back into the original runtime.
To everyone that voted my comment down: Software Understanding Fail.
Leaked version on xda-developers in 3...2..
@MarcusMaximus
These seconds in countdowns always are longer :(
@Exbloder Actually, I spent about a week or so writing that comment, so the timing should be about right.
@MarcusMaximus
Yeah, I'll check the forums at xda in about 1/3rd of a week
@Exbloder
Oh nevermind, it's half a week.
Hopefully, thanks to this the calculator on my magic will work faster.
Really nice work :)
Is the iPhone able to run that 3D cube and make a phone call at the same time? Or listen to Pandora?
Because the Nexus One not only can run that 3D cube but it can set it as a home screen and run apps at the same time. That's what you call buttery smooth.;)
@Air Force One Correct me if I am wrong but I would rather have my apps running faster even if it is one at a time and render better than having 3D backgrounds gobbling up my processor.
@angermeans 3D backgrounds tend to be GPU intensive, not CPU intensive. Hence in general widgets and the like will tend to cause more stuttering and slowdowns than any of the live wallpapers.
@angermeans I prefer advancement. It's like Apple peddling by on a bike saying how smooth the ride is when Android is dropping big blocks in to cars. Yeah, there will be a little rumbling and shaking but I wouldn't go back to a bike.
There are like five of these 3D cubes in the market for the Nexus and they run great. It's up to the developer to write the app correctly.
@Air Force One
I dislike the iPhone, but, why would I care about a cube spinning that I can't see??
@TrumanHW The point is you can see it when you close the app, like any other wallpaper. You don't have close an app then open another just to see it. It's just there....running. It's an option and options are always a good thing.
@Air Force One Um, I think you have misinterpreted the purpose of the spinning cube. It is not there for aesthetic value or personal enjoyment. I'm pretty sure it's just for benchmarking.
@FallenArms3 Yeah a benchmark the iPhone couldn't pass, certainly not with more than simply the cube itself running.
@MarcusMaximus - N1 does not have a GPU, and most phones do not. there is a difference between a dedicated graphics processor and a GPU.
@POZ Just so you're educated, i'm going to link through to people who actually know what they're talking about.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=576627
look at the line here..
"Just for the record snapdragon too has dedicated GPU - AMD z430(now rebranded adreno 200) and their performance is similar."
And in case your too lazy or don't believe them. Here is a link to Qualcom's actual site:
http://www.qualcomm.com/products_services/chipsets/snapdragon.html
Look under "Technical Features"
"High-performance 3D graphics – up to 22M triangles/sec and 133M 3D pixels/sec"
As a software engineer it kills as to how many people, bloggers included, comment on technical stuff and have no clue what they're talking about.
_Marlon_
@Air Force One To be honest my Magic has problems even picking up a phone call when I do too much multitasking (depending on the apps of course, but Google Maps Navigation + last.fm and it's getting close). Given enough CPU power and RAM Android does rock though.
@Air Force One There's no replacement for displacement.
@POZ
So, would you enlighten us as to what the difference between a dedicated graphics processor and a graphics processing unit is?
@avinash240 I'd just like to comment that, damn... POZ got owned hard.
This isn't voodoo, it's probably "just" JIT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgi4O5ix3lU&feature=player_embedded
:) 2.5x performance gains right around the corner :D
@vman81
Actually, JIT's usually the thing that slows apps down. Whenever a call is made, the JIT engine has to compile it in to native code before it can even be executed at all.
One way to make .Net apps run faster is to use ngen, which compiles the whole executable in to native code (after all, it knows how to do it because that's what JIT does on-the-fly). I'm sure something similar is available for Java.
The issue is that it makes apps less portable. However, if you compile it on (or for) the architecture you're using (such as could happen on a phone, and it could run a cached native version), you've got nothing to worry about. Besides, if you compile for the G1's ARM instruction set, you'll be fine with just about all mobile android devices (even if it won't be optimal on all, it'll be better than JIT).
@vman81 Actually, that video was about overclocking. Maybe we're not talking about the same "JIT". My JIT stands for Just-In-Time compiling, and is used by CPU/OS-independent platforms such as Java and .Net as a way to run on any CPU/OS for which there is a runtime.
For example, .Net apps can run on Linux using MONO and Java apps can run on OSX, Windows and Linux.
@vman81 For anyone reading this, Karl is talking absolute rubbish.
@Timmmmmm I agree. Once again this is a case of non a non-engineer speaking garbage. He's speaking garbage.
Dalvik Turbo seems to be Dalvik with JIT.
JIT is in the Android repository and working right now, it's just a memory hog and causes some major instability.
By the way, those are probably 32A HTC Magics, not ADP2s. There's a huge difference in hardware (RAM-wise) between the two.
@coolbho3000 - you are correct, and glad to see someone else is paying attention besides coughENGADGETcough.
@coolbho3000 Good call, I was thinking the same thing.
@coolbho3000 Also, how can you trade performance for a small processor footprint? They're the same thing!
@coolbho3000
Yes, 100% Agreed.
@Google:
Well Google you better buy that Dalvik Turbo or build from scratch something better!
Why doesn't google just implement something better than Dalvik if it doesn't run as fast as Apple? They should spend more time making a good product (Android) a great product so they can better compete rather than trying to introduce 100 different phones each year featuring Android?
@angermeans Because the point of Android is to write an open source platform that runs on hundreds of phones and is scalable across several architectures?
@angermeans Google arent the ones introducing the phones. The OS is free so phone manufactures throw it on their phone and google helps fine tune where they can if need be.
@angermeans There's also the native development kit, which allows you to sidestep the virtual machine completely.
@coolbho3000 And what does that mean, sidestep completely? Run apps faster, or not? Is that practical for an everyday user?
@coolbho3000 Oh I didn't know. I am really looking into Android I think it has a lot of potential and the screens on the N1 and Droid look gorgeous
@adykhu55 It's something built into the apps. It's fully possible to do all the processing from within native code(it's code that doesn't require the dalvik vm or any other one, it runs straight on the processor) and just have the java dalvik app be a wrapper that calls the native functions. It's not something the end user "runs", the developer of the app has to write it in. Also, dalvik is fairly well optimized, so running code natively only improves performance on a fairly low amount of operations. Contrary to what engadget suggests here, most apps run perfectly smooth, especially on the Nexus One.
@MarcusMaximus exactly, and the folks at engadget would understand how silly they sound with this stuff if anyone on their staff actually used anything other than an iPhone. They are in their own little bubble, while the tech passes them by.
srsly?
cmon google! buy it and bake it into your next release!
@b0rndead EXACTLY MAN! They buy up a crap load of other companies, I dont see why they dont partner up with these guys and work this into the actually OS. Happier users and that closer to shutting up Iphone fanboys who dont know how to shut up about their damn phone lol.