The best compromise approach I've seen is the one taken by instant.page: start loading the content during the touch down event instead of waiting for the actual

The best compromise approach I've seen is the one taken by instant.page: start loading the content during the touch down event instead of waiting for the actual link click event to happen. This buys you 50-100ms, which is often enough to feel "instant" on the 5G iPhones that most modern webapps are designed for, without wasting bandwidth.