4 ms·

I've been an Android user and developer for 10 years. THIS is the thing. Smoothness. Android claims it's equal between an iPhone and a flagship Android devic

by habosa 7y ago

I've been an Android user and developer for 10 years. THIS is the thing. Smoothness. Android claims it's equal between an iPhone and a flagship Android device but it's not even close. It seems Android just is not willing/able to admit this is a huge gap and address it.

kccqzy 7y ago
While I agree with your premise I think Google does want to address it. As early as 2012 there were efforts like Project Butter[0]. Whether or not these efforts are continued, is another question. [0]: https://www.androidpolice.com/2012/07/12/getting-to-know-android-4-1-part-3-project-butter-how-it-works-and-what-it-added/ https://www.androidpolice.com/2012/07/12/getting-to-know-and...
skohan 7y ago
I remember how bad this was in the early days. The first time I started working on an Android app after a half a year of iOS development, it almost seemed like a joke. If I'm not mistaken back then GC pauses were even a big factor in UI performance, which led to unpredictable hitches in responsiveness. I agree it's something Android should prioritize, but it also shouldn't be understated how big of a task this will be. Apple has invested a huge amount in this specific competency since the advent of OSX (and just look at the difference between mac os 10.0 and comparable versions of windows in terms of UI smoothness). Ask a game developer: making computer graphics workloads perform predictably is a very difficult task which requires art as well as science. Building a UI stack which enables that, as well as having a nice front-end to work with for developers, and integrating well with arbitrary application logic is more than just optimizing some systems here and there.
pjmlp 7y ago
It would also help if many made proper use of UI render threads as well, which I admit following best practices on Android is a task on itself given how often they change.

by habosa 7y ago

kccqzy 7y ago

While I agree with your premise I think Google does want to address it. As early as 2012 there were efforts like Project Butter[0]. Whether or not these efforts are continued, is another question. [0]: https://www.androidpolice.com/2012/07/12/getting-to-know-android-4-1-part-3-project-butter-how-it-works-and-what-it-added/ https://www.androidpolice.com/2012/07/12/getting-to-know-and...

skohan 7y ago

I remember how bad this was in the early days. The first time I started working on an Android app after a half a year of iOS development, it almost seemed like a joke. If I'm not mistaken back then GC pauses were even a big factor in UI performance, which led to unpredictable hitches in responsiveness. I agree it's something Android should prioritize, but it also shouldn't be understated how big of a task this will be. Apple has invested a huge amount in this specific competency since the advent of OSX (and just look at the difference between mac os 10.0 and comparable versions of windows in terms of UI smoothness). Ask a game developer: making computer graphics workloads perform predictably is a very difficult task which requires art as well as science. Building a UI stack which enables that, as well as having a nice front-end to work with for developers, and integrating well with arbitrary application logic is more than just optimizing some systems here and there.

pjmlp 7y ago

It would also help if many made proper use of UI render threads as well, which I admit following best practices on Android is a task on itself given how often they change.