Android 2.2 (Froyo) versus iOS 4: the browser showdown (video)
By Richard Lai 
posted July 7th 2010 1:56PM
posted July 7th 2010 1:56PM
Update: for those who were concerned about the battery affecting the Nexus One's performance, we did use Android System Info to verify that the CPU was still clocked at 1GHz. We were also able to reproduce the same results with a full battery. Either way, it's still a win for Android.
Our test candidates were a 16GB iPhone 4 (with a shameless color mod) and a Nexus One rocking the official OTA 2.2 update and Flash 10.1. Naturally, we cleared out the cache files on both devices prior to each trial. Out of the five desktop-version websites that we tested for load time, three of them -- BBC News, gdgt and The Onion -- repeatedly produced a tie between the two phones, whereas the iPhone 4 consistently loaded Engadget about two to three seconds faster, and the Nexus One about one to two seconds faster with New York Times. Here's our video of one of the trials:
At this point we thought: would things load quicker with Flash uninstalled? Turns out it's a small yes -- this time the Nexus One consistently loaded Engadget, New York Times, gdgt and The Onion a tad quicker than the iPhone 4, whereas BBC News produced a tie. Still, this is far from the massive performance jump that Ars Technica's benchmarks suggest (not that we're saying the site did it wrong; these every-day sites just don't rely heavily on JavaScript), but considering Froyo running Flash still matches iOS 4's Safari loading speed, Android's just about won this two-man race. Apple, your move next.
you have to remember that froyo has to load the flash content as well
Which phone can make a call holding it on left hand
What you also gotta remember is that the iPhone 4 is a new phone, the nexus one is a year old! Try the 3GS running iOS4 vs the Nexus One running Froyo (a bit more fair, dont you think?)
Android is beating iOS4 by a good margin at www.theversusdebate.com.
I think Android may have more long-run potential than iOS, but right now the regulated nature of iOS seems to lend itself to a more polished and higher quality user experience.
@jonlong
And yet we know for a fact that Apple is selling more iPhones than anybody is selling Android devices combined. So what is that site really telling you?
It's telling you that people who go to that site have a bad case of nerd rage and just want to see Apple lose at something. It doesn't reflect reality at all.
@jonlong
what a lot of androids don't understand is that people make investments. sometimes these investments are in technology. call it what you will but i'm not going to abandon the platform for a spec sheet that really isn't that different. all my apps [including tomtom], the interface in my car, in my house, my alarm clock... i know it's frustrating that anything proprietary would ever be made, but it happens. these are the strategies for brand loyalty, and they work. i am wrong often, but the way i see it: android is trendy now and will fade, you know like betamax or laserdiscs, or hdDVD. i mean it's just another os like symbian. ios is attached to a piece of hardware though, and in marketing that makes it very different.
@movies
I do believe Andriod will be the choice of most phone makers when switching dumb phones and feature phones to smart(er) phones. Considering that iPhone is only a fairly small percentage of the whole phone market, I do see Andriod win out in terms of devices shipped fairly soon - perhaps as soon as next year.
That is not saying Andriod will become a better or most widely used smart phone soon - iphone should hold that crown for the foreseeable years to come. Yet if what Apple does good is limiting choices to provide better experiences - there are tons of people that don't need everything iPhone provides. A low cost Andriod phone with the best functions of iphone and other smartphone would probably be sufficient for most people. Not everyone needs the whole AppStore.
I'm no expert on software, but I'm just wondering if there would be a difference in how much battery Android uses to achieve its browser loading speed compared to iOS4?
Terrible article.
You could have simply titled the article "Real-World Browser Tests" and made a quick mention to the Ars Javascript article, rather than discrediting their tests completely.
Learn what Javascript is. A clue: web-page loading speeds are NOT 100% Javascript.
More Apple FAIL!
Ha, I watched the videos on my Nexus One with Flash 10.
Just wait until Firefox hits Android.
I would like to see Froyo on one of Samsungs Divices running the hummingbird processor. I was looking at a comparison of the Vibrant vs the Iphone 4 and even with the existing 2.1 it held its own
Need 2.2 for Evo NOW!
So the say froyo is faster but unless I read wrong they said that they tested 5 sites on both phone 3 were a tie and 1 went to iPhone and the last one went to nexus one.... Don't see to conclusion that froyo is faster! And I'm not saying it's not but there review makes no sense in my opinion!!!
So its clear that the iPhone wont be getting Flash until the end of the world
NexusOne loads more stuff