We got the chance to put three mobile browsers from three different phone OSes this afternoon. TJ suggested we compare how fast the browsers are.
In the left corner, we have Safari Mobile running on the iPhone 4 and IE Mobile running on the HTC 7 Trophy on the far right. In the middle is the native Android Browser on the HTC Desire.
We hooked up the phones to my local WiFi so all of them are using the same connection/bandwidth. We also launched YugaTech.com from a search results page (Google, Google, Bing) so it’s easier to launch them simultaneously.
The Safari browser on the iPhone 4 went ahead with a decisive lead, followed by IE on the HTC 7 Trophy with the Browser on the HTC Desire coming in at a close 3rd.
There’s a catch though — you will notice that the Android Browser on the HTC Desire loaded that skyscraper banner ad which is a Flash file. That was not loaded in Safari and IE since they don’t support Flash (IE will support it in a later update). That gave Safari on the iPhone 4 a good lead in terms of total amount of data downloaded and rendered by the browser.
Despite that advantage, you can still clearly see which one was rendering pages way faster in the first 10 seconds of load time. Note, however, that this is not a definitive test and there could be other factors that affected our crude test.
Jhayzt says:
Oh For the love of…Here, check this. Yahoo officially stomped the iPhone & WP7. Android is considered the best OS as of now. http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/111232/ways-android-beats-everything ..I myself bought an iPhone 4…but now, I feel sorry for it… You know why? I ignored one of this facts..
“”Popularity over Technology”” = Iphone <—
Technology over Popularity = Any Android Phone.
Still missing in action = WP7
But! WP7 is officially considered as the best Music phone as of now. Why you say? Zune. Just look at zune's interface…Ohhh…I just came..Simply epic interface. Now anyone who bashes this comment or simply ban me is neither a bloke or a sissy. I'm just saying the truth.
Jhay says:
Just one question; what happened to Opera Mobile? :D
P says:
Cached? Clear everything first.
Jepoi says:
reboot put it bluntly but i think he has a point. when both iOS and WinMo are able to load flash, then do a comparison.
Van says:
Yup, I’m curious if you cleared the cache first on all three phones. I suspect this may be the reason why Safari was faster.
Bon says:
Interesting results. Did you, by any chance, clear the cache and history of all 3 browsers before performing the test?
mr.bogus says:
kulang din ng blackberry os… hmmm your right html5 is the future but still PENDING… di naman lahat ng flash ay advertisement…. then silverlight pa… kung iphone os using cloud browser or yung pending sa app store na skyfire browser, palagay ko may good fight yun…
qwertio says:
u should have used skyfire browser on the iOS since it is somehow flash “capable”- skyfire servers convert flash to html5 for iOS support.
reboot says:
what a dumb comparison! of course the one that loads less data will win. are you people really that stupid?
RJ says:
well, check this out. iOS versus froyo. http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/07/froyo-versus-ios-4-the-browser-showdown-video/
it showed here that Android wins. :D
dk says:
eh? wala kasing flash angiphone kaya madali amg load!
Les says:
@Jay I like viewing ads, as they are also sources for information. I don’t get annoyed with flash ads. kung bumabagal ang loading ng pages mo coz of them, baduy ang internet(ISP) mo.
manny says:
talk about geeky fun, did anybody in the contest mentioned about comparing Op systems?
manny says:
nice comparisons, but yes, nice to add in using Samsung Galaxy S, N8 and a Blackberry on an OS6.
chris says:
cool
Jay says:
“ang boring mag browse or surf sa internet pag walang flash support”
@les
may be you’re entertained with ads noh? the future is HTML 5. We need vital information not pesky ads.
>Maliit na nga ang screen estate mo, kakainin pa ng malalaking FLASH banners and pop-ups.
>Pampabagal pa magload ng page pag peak hours on 3G.
Simply, flash isn’t a necessity on mobile devices.
blunano says:
iOS rules. flash is a history, the future is html5.
Les says:
opera on iOS… ang bilis
pero dun ako sa browser that supports flash!
ang boring mag browse or surf sa internet pag walang flash support
Pee says:
For the sheer speed alone, Safari beat the competition.
But, I really miss ”text reflow” in Android’s webkit browser. Text reflow means that when you zoom the text, it will align itself for easier reading.
S^3 browser simply sucks. Even though it uses the same layout engine (Webkit), Safari and Android browser is miles ahead in terms of usability and speed. The browser is one of the criticism of N8.
watusi says:
dont compare the OS !!!! coz they have different specs in HW…
yizhan says:
you should also try skyfire on the iphone4 and desire to see the difference since it Load full desktop webpages including flash.
chacha says:
here is a similar test on iphone4, this time versus ipodtouch 4th gen…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EweQuhNHv4
Fleeb says:
Baliktarin naman. Load a website that relies on Flash. >:)
tic says:
want to share my vid with iMovie
the pics and the vids are all taken from ipod touch 4th gen.
enjoy!
http://youtu.be/tt5_CQhhg8o
location: SM n. edsa and trinoma
tic says:
cute! iMovie! hehehe!
biased sa iPhone much? lol
kaya pala mabilis din ung sa itouch4…
iPimp says:
Without watching the video yet, I can say that usability trumps speed. That being said, I’m in favor of the iPhone being the fastest.
leemar says:
ang dapat na ginamit nila to represent andoid is samsung galaxy S. that should be fair.
Jay says:
haha symbian is dead.
sana kasama si Blackberry OS na browser.
hassle lang talaga ang flash, puro ads.. annoying ads.
90% of my PC browser (chrome & Firefox) are due to crashing and unresponsive Flash & Shockwave Plug-ins.
rsa1 says:
pero i have to say this, yugatech site is very slow to load. maybe due to the number of ads being loaded before the actual site.
Abe Olandres says:
TJ Manotoc forgot to bring out his Nokia N8 e. :D
Mon Makuto says:
Why the hell did you rule out Symbian, lol
mr.bogus says:
hot topic….!!!!
unfair no meego and symbian…!!!
anyway mabilis nga ang safari dahil walang flash…. di tama talaga kung icocompare… its just like apples and oranges!!!!!
mabilis nga di naman kumpleto yung na-iload.. useless!!!!
Negrita says:
iPhone 4 simply pwned them all (with flash or not) -even the video was made using the iPhone’s iMovie Apps, im guessing iMovie app is Yugatech’s video editing choice as of now…
E says:
what about including the Symbian 3^ device on the web browsing test…
Teknisyan says:
Of course there are still factors to consider like connection and data traffic of that web site. But yeah.. I think safari won this round
sam says:
Dophin browser on the samsung wave beats ie and and android with flash being loaded.
Alexei Rivera says:
I’m watching this on Desire’s inbuilt browser and flash 10.1 right now so that probably makes up for any speed problems.
Harley says:
likie!
Jon says:
You should have tried to disable the Flash plugin on the Desire to compare if flash affects the loading time.
I also wish you tested other sites as well. :P