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AT&T demos speedy LTE, calls 28.8Mbps downloads realistic for real people
GigaOM got to peek inside AT&T's Foundry innovation center in Texas this week, and the tour came with a special treat -- a first glimpse at how AT&T's upcoming LTE network might perform when the carrier flips the switch later this year. Where Verizon's existing network promises download speeds of between 5 and 12 megabits per second (though we've gotten far better and worse in practice), the publication witnessed a connection with 28.87Mbps download and 10.4Mbps upload speeds, using a MIMO antenna passing bits through both 700MHz and AWS frequencies. "But," you protest, "isn't LTE capable of more?" Sure, but an AT&T executive told the publication that these were meant to be real-world numbers. Still, considering all the factors and where the test was held, it's probably best to break out the table salt for now.
iPad 2 and iOS 4.3 JavaScript benchmarks show big performance gains
Some of the first speed tests coming in show that hardware and software improvements in the iPad 2 are giving it decent performance gains over its predecessor -- and over rival devices. CNET UK decided to spend its brief hands-on time with the iPad 2 by running the SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark, which CNET calls "an increasingly important indication of overall performance. The better a phone or tablet is at dealing with JavaScript, the faster more complicated websites such as Facebook will run, which means your whole experience with the device will feel faster." CNET found initially that the iPad 2 is up to four times faster than the original iPad, but not all this speed improvement is down to the upgraded hardware. The speed advantage dropped to a 1.5x boost when CNET updated the original iPad's OS to a beta version of iOS 4.3 that it happened to have lying around. This could be good news for anyone who wants an original iPad just for web surfing. Heavy discounting to clear stock means you can pick one up for $100 less than this time last week, a bargain if you don't want the cameras and other goodies that the iPad 2 brings. The other good news is the boasting rights this will give you over owners of rival Android hardware; iPad 2 cleaned the clocks of the Galaxy Tab (3x faster) and the Google Nexus S smartphone (also 3x faster). Since it will also be getting the iOS 4.3 update, the iPhone 4 will be 2.5x faster. Thanks Nik!
BlackBerry PlayBook and iPad go head-to-head in a browsing showdown
We've only ever seen brief glimpses of the BlackBerry PlayBook in action so far, but a new video posted up by RIM comparing its tablet's web browsing performance to the iPad certainly has us hungry for more. Seriously -- PlayBook pretty much run laps around the iPad while loading pages, and even its Flash performance seems decent, which is a first for a mobile device in our experience. Of course, the video was made by RIM and we're sure the specific pages were picked to make the PlayBook look as good as possible, but that's fair enough -- now if we could just get our hands on one to verify these claims for ourselves, we'd be happy as clams. Video after the break.
Six Android browsers enter the ring, only one reigns supreme
Choice is a good thing, and Android users certainly have a lot of choices. Default launcher or Launcher Pro? Fancy animated live wallpaper or static picture of adorable puppies? Stock browser or alternative? It's that last question that has plagued so many, and to offer some guidance PC World pitted six of the Market's top choices against each other. The 2.1 and 2.2 stock browsers entered, along with Skyfire 2.0, Opera Mini, Dolphin HD, and Mozilla Fennec (the pre-beta release of what could bring Firefox to your phone). The winner? Well, you can see the ultimate speed results above, with SkyFire surprisingly trumping Opera Mini, though that one seemingly has 'em beat when it comes to repeat-visits. However, the full story when it comes to things like page rendering and Flash compatibility is naturally a good bit more complex. For those details you'll need to click on through. [Thanks, Tim]
Found Footage: Browsing speed compared on the iPhone 4 and 3GS
Thanks to Obama Pacman, here's a neat (audio muted) video comparison of web browsing speed over 3G on an iPhone 4 (shown on the left) and an iPhone 3GS (shown on the right). The test was done using only mobile 3G with Wi-Fi turned off, and it shows a variety of sites using Safari in a head to head comparison. In almost all the tests, the iPhone 4 was much faster in Web browsing. When you look under the hood at the iPhone 4's 3G performance, the improved browsing speed is not much of a surprise; CNET benchmarked the 4 against the 3G (not the 3GS) and found dramatic improvement across the board. Even against the more recent 3GS, the iPhone 4 delivered stronger download performance in Andy Ihnatko and John Gruber's tests. The processor is obviously kicked up a notch as well. MacRumors, running benchmark tests, found the iPhone 4 processor to be 31% faster than the 3GS using Geekbench 2.1. The iPhone 4 came in with a 2.514 score across routine tests like memory allocation and view drawing, easily besting the 3GS at 2.298. Both were tested under iOS 4. Benchmark tests are not really analogous to real life usage, of course, but they do give a basic indication for comparison purposes. So although it probably takes more muscle to paint the screen using the iPhone 4's high-resolution Retina Display, the faster A4 chip combined with the improved network throughput (when you've got all your bars, that is) seems more than up to the task.
HTML5 speed test finds IE9, Firefox 3.7 lead the pack in Windows, Chrome a distant last
Curious to see how the latest preview release of Internet Explorer 9 stacks up against the competition when it comes to HTML5 performance in Windows? So was Download Squad, and it's now revealed its findings in some vivid, if not entirely scientific tests. The end result is that Internet Explorer 9 and Firefox 3.7 were well ahead of the pack in the 1,000-fish stress test (with Firefox about 5 or 10 percent ahead of IE), while Opera was stuck somewhere in the middle, and Chrome placed a distant last (and maxed out the CPU) -- all with hardware acceleration enabled, of course, although that had to be done via command line switches in the case of Chrome. Head on past the break to check out the four-way showdown for yourself, as well as an earlier test with just IE9 and Chrome.
Opera parodies Google's Chrome speed tests mercilessly (video)
This, dear friends, is the height of comedy. Opera's pair of Scandinavian browser testers are back, this time applying some extremely high-tech speed tests to determine whether the Norwegian browser is faster than boiling a potato. Seriously, if you're not laughing at this, you either work for Google or you have a funny bone missing. In more concrete news, the acceptance of Opera Mini to the iPhone has accounted for a cool 70 percent of the Mini's growth over the month of April, with 2.6 million Apple users downloading the software worldwide. But that's not what you're here for, you're here to see the epic video, which awaits after the break along with Google's original. [Thanks, Ian G.]
PCWorld ranks AT&T tops in 3G performance test
We all have something of a need, a need for speed, and while most won't have an opportunity to go all Maverick on some MIG-28s somewhere over the Indian Ocean, we can do our best to get the quickest wireless on offer. Last summer, when we stacked the top four mobile broadband cards against each other, we found that AT&T came out on tops for peak performance, and now nearly a year on PCWorld has come to the same conclusion, finding that Ma Bell offers upload and download speeds that are twice some of the competition. The seven page test splits everything out by city and goes into more details than we'll tire you with here, but do note that all this testing was done in urban areas, so don't forget to double-check the coverage map before you sign the next 24 months of your life away. [Thanks, A. Dewan]
TeliaSonera's new LTE network astounds with 43Mbps downloads
Egads, you see that? 42.78Mbps over a wireless data card! Not just any card, mind you, it's presumably the new Samsung 4G card running on TeliaSonera in Sweden and Norway, the world's first commercial LTE network launched on Monday. TeliaSonera bundles the 4G service with 30GB of data for just 599kr (85$) per month. That 5.3Mbps upload and 37ms ping aren't too shabby either. Not exactly the theoretical 100Mbps down / 50Mbps up provided by the LTE spec, but not AT&T either.
Windows 7 versus Snow Leopard on a MacBook Pro: big cat's faster, 7 is better for games
CNET have taken the 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and Snow Leopard for a spin around a 2008 MacBook Pro, and produced a decent first peek at comparative performance. Of course, there are significant provisos to get through first -- it's only one machine, running on Apple's drivers, testing mostly Apple applications, and the two systems default to different versions of QuickTime -- but we can still glean some indication of where the two heavyweights are relative to one another. Snow Leopard appeared consistently quicker in time-based tests, with faster bootups, shutdowns and MP3 encoding, but Windows 7 showed its muscle in producing better frame rates in games and a significant advantage in Cinebench rendering. Battery life was found to be distinctly better under Snow Leopard, but we'd put that down to the underlying hardware being optimized for OS X. Hit the read link for the full testing procedures and more of those old school bar charts -- it should get you well prepped for the forthcoming flood of similar head-to-heads once WIndows 7 officially ships next week. [Via Apple Insider]
New iPod touch gets a speed test, zips right on by
The new generation of the iPod touch, we've been told, is roughly 50 percent faster than the previous iteration. Well, the fine folks over at the iPhone Blog have done a bit of information collecting on just that topic -- to see if Apple's latest is actually that much faster. Macworld did testing which showed a reduction in boot times from 31 to 19 seconds, web page loading (using the New York Times) went from 34 to 15 seconds, while app launching saw time reductions across the board. So -- in essence -- yes, the newest iPod touch is about 50 percent faster than the previous model in terms of performance. Hit the read link to hear even more tantalizing details.
iPhone 3G S is crazy fast at 3D compared to iPhone 3G
They didn't just slap an S on the back and call it a day, you know. Apple has improved the 3D performance on the 3G S by including a more powerful graphics processor. According to John Casasanta, the speed increase is up to four times that of the 3G. But don't take his word or these OpenGL ES speed tests as proof -- check out the video and see for yourself.On a related note, we hear that Apple has done "even more" than we can publicly disclose around speed improvements on the device. That could mean there are further software updates that may make the 3G S even faster. That's the kind of thing Apple loves to do, isn't it? Just look at the Snow Leopard marketing around it being lighter and more efficient. I've usually had (often temporary) system speed increases with updates as well, so here's hoping there's some unused horsepower under the hood just waiting to be unleashed.
iPhone 3G S and Pre head-to-head benchmarks: iPhone wins
Now that we know the iPhone 3G S and the Palm Pre share extremely similar 65nm ARM Cortex A8-based internals, it's time to break out the stopwatches and see how these blood brothers stack up. Anandtech has the first head-to-head tests we've seen, and it seems like the 3G S has the slight edge, loading a series of web pages 11 percent faster and a whopping 54 percent faster than the iPhone 3G. Not too shabby, but not exactly a thorough drubbing either -- especially when you consider webOS is still 1.0 and there's likely some optimizations to come. Full results at the read link.Update: Anandtech had some uncharacteristically bad math going on -- the 3G S is actually 21 percent faster than the Pre, which is quite notable considering the similar hardware and WebKit-based browsers.
iPhone 3GS and Pre head-to-head benchmarks: iPhone wins
Now that we know the iPhone 3G S and the Palm Pre share extremely similar 65nm ARM Cortex A8-based internals, it's time to break out the stopwatches and see how these blood brothers stack up. Anandtech has the first head-to-head tests we've seen, and it seems like the 3G S has the slight edge, loading a series of web pages 11 percent faster and a whopping 54 percent faster than the iPhone 3G. Not too shabby, but not exactly a thorough drubbing either -- especially when you consider webOS is still 1.0 and there's likely some optimizations to come. Full results at the read link.Update: Anandtech had some uncharacteristically bad math going on -- the 3G S is actually 21 percent faster than the Pre, which is quite notable considering the similar hardware and WebKit-based browsers.
XOHM roundup: WiMAX-enabled Aspire One, speed testing
Yesterday was a pretty big day for Sprint (along with a number of laptop manufacturers), as America's had its first major glimpse at widespread WiMAX. A few other tidbits lingering from the mayhem were the obligatory speed tests -- which were decidedly average -- and what's believed to be a prototype Aspire One with inbuilt WiMAX capabilities. Said netbook was residing within an Intel-branded van, and while it wasn't made clear if Acer had any plans of bringing such a beast to the commercial realm, the folks at Laptop found the WiMAX surfing to be respectable, but not mind-blowing, as the New York Times homepage took around 15 seconds to load completely. Mr. Dave Zatz was able to pull down around 4,600kbps (and 1,519kbps up) in an impromptu speed test, while Kevin over at jkOnTheRun only managed 3,435kbps down / 1,555kbps up. As always, YMMV.Read - Hands-on with WiMAX-enabled Aspire One Read - XOHM Speed Test IRead - XOHM Speed Test II
NetNewsWire vs. Vienna
var digg_url = 'http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/10/netnewswire-vs-vienna/'; RSS (or Really Simple Syndication) is becoming an ever more popular way to read online content quickly and without having to visit individual websites. As RSS feeds becomes more popular, so do the RSS readers that allow you to access the feeds. In my opinion, the two best RSS readers on the Mac are NetNewsWire and Vienna. Now that NetNewsWire costs the same as Vienna (i.e. nothing), what better time to take a look at what each has to offer?
"Danger hiptop 2.0" burns rubber in speed tests
Call it wild speculation -- because that's exactly what it is -- but when you see a bunch of "Danger hiptop 2.0"-class browsers hauling butt at speeds approaching 2.0Mbps (according to dslreports.com's speed test, anyway), it's bound to raise a few eyebrows. Said browsers are coming from the dngr.net domain; we suspect it's possible that the speeds are actually indicative of what's being seen between the dslreports.com server and Danger's proxy, but instead we'd like to dream of a WCDMA-enabled Sidekick being prepped for T-Mobile's 3G launch later this year. Seems plausible enough, right?[Thanks, teeratt]
