5 ms·

Speed is still the differentiator on iPhones. After 10 years of Android I switched to iOS and it's like someone greased up the whole experience. I didn't realiz

by habosa 6y ago

Speed is still the differentiator on iPhones. After 10 years of Android I switched to iOS and it's like someone greased up the whole experience. I didn't realize how much waiting / stuttering I was taking for granted on Android. I can never go back to Android now. I'm sure if you studied the phones under a high speed camera we'd be talking about differences of only tens of ms but when you tap something 1000x a day it really adds up. It's just like how most programmers are hyper sensitive to text editor latency.

perryizgr8 6y ago
Which android phone were you using and which iphone did you switch to? Asking because I'm very skeptical that iphone and android have any significant difference in daily usage speeds.
- piperswe 6y ago
  Personally I experienced a similar thing switching from a Galaxy S10+ to an iPhone XS.
  - perryizgr8 6y ago
    Hmm, fair point since those are similar gen and both flagships. Personally I switched from an S10 to Iphone 11, and was absolutely repulsed by the horrible screen on the iphone. They both felt similar in terms of UI responsiveness. But due to the screen I went back to the S10.
- curist 6y ago
  Somewhat related: https://danluu.com/input-lag/ https://danluu.com/input-lag/
  - perryizgr8 6y ago
    Exactly, modern android flagships are at par or better than Iphone when it comes to touch latency. Most people who express the sentiment "OMG iphone is so smooth" went from $200 Moto G to $1000 Iphone X. Compare in the same class, and you will find that both OSes are comparable.
    - dntrkv 6y ago
      Not sure how you got that from the link. The iPhone devices have 20%+ lower latency.
      - perryizgr8 6y ago
        That link is old. There are similar measurements for modern devices available on many review websites. This link does identify the correct metric that people seem to respond to when they feel a phone is "faster".
- Guillaume86 6y ago
  Fair question, here's some 2019 benchs that found similar latencies between high end Samsung and Apple devices: https://blog.gamebench.net/touch-latency-benchmarks-iphone-xs-max-galaxy-note-10 https://blog.gamebench.net/touch-latency-benchmarks-iphone-x... so it seems some Android manufacturers did manage to catch up finally.
- habosa 6y ago
  I owned many Android phones over the years, beginning with the OG Droid. Had some Samsungs along the way, my last few were Pixels. My final Android phone was a Pixel 3, I switched to an iPhone SE 2020. Maybe the total time to complete a given task is about the same, but I can seriously say I have never seen the iPhone drop a single frame. The Pixel got choppy all the time. Every Android phone owner knows the feeling of "why is my phone suddenly hot? Oh some runaway background service" or "why is this thing running at 5fps? Oh an app is auto-updating in the background". iPhone just doesn't have these issues.
akrain 6y ago
As a counterpoint, I recently switched from an old iPhone SE to a Pixel 4a and the experience could not have been any better. I find the vanilla Android to be as snappy as iOS for daily tasks if not better. The problem lies with custom Android ROMs on low spec phones which do hamper the user experience quite a bit
- coldtea 6y ago
  >I find the vanilla Android to be as snappy as iOS for daily tasks if not better. "As snappy if not better" as an "old iPhone SE" though...
  - dividedbyzero 6y ago
    I've switched from an iPhone 7 to an iPhone 11 Pro last year and while the iPhone 7 never struggled as badly the Androids I had before that (where keypresses might take seconds to register at times in the end), it did struggle somewhat to keep up with me at times, whereas the 11 Pro felt (still feels) like a fast desktop computer, in that it never appears like the UI or everyday operations noticeably tax it at all, the UX in that regard is super smooth. I'd expect the SE to fare a bit worse than the 7, since it had an A9 vs. an A10 SoC.
  - 411111111111111 6y ago
    The issue with android phones is knowing which are optimized for speed. A Samsung Galaxy for example costs almost as much as an equivalent iphone and is significantly less responsive then some motorola phones with stock android
  - akrain 6y ago
    To be honest, it is much better overall. Didn't want to start a flame war here
floatboth 6y ago
Good Android phones these days feel great especially because of >60Hz displays. Software for the most part keeps up really well with high refresh rate. The only laggy thing I know of is the Play Store sidebar closing when tapping "my apps & games".
- neogodless 6y ago
  Using a OnePlus 7 Pro, and I tried this, and the sidebar closed instantly. How many apps and games do you have...? :) (But yeah, this phone is super fast, and the 90Hz screen is a joy. I literally cannot switch to iPhone until/unless they get faster screens, because of post-concussion syndrome and the migraines I get from 60Hz screens.)
CinematicStudio 6y ago
I feel you! I'm on Android, and can't believe the morons at google still don't get this! It's insanely slow all the time - I mean, I do have a quad core with 3GB of RAM, it's not top of the top, but still, at this speed, everything should be INSTANT
dagw 6y ago
I don't know. I have a Pixel 3a as my personal phone and an iPhone 8 as my work phone and have been using them side by side for years. I honestly cannot say that one is 'faster' or has lower latency than the other.
sullyj3 6y ago
Are you sure the perceived difference isn't from switching from a phone that you've been using for a while to a new one? In my experience, both android and iphones feel blazing fast when you pull them out of the box, and sluggish later on when you've been using them for a year or two and they're loaded up with all your junk.

by habosa 6y ago

perryizgr8 6y ago

Which android phone were you using and which iphone did you switch to? Asking because I'm very skeptical that iphone and android have any significant difference in daily usage speeds.

piperswe 6y ago
Personally I experienced a similar thing switching from a Galaxy S10+ to an iPhone XS.
- perryizgr8 6y ago
  Hmm, fair point since those are similar gen and both flagships. Personally I switched from an S10 to Iphone 11, and was absolutely repulsed by the horrible screen on the iphone. They both felt similar in terms of UI responsiveness. But due to the screen I went back to the S10.
curist 6y ago
Somewhat related: https://danluu.com/input-lag/ https://danluu.com/input-lag/
- perryizgr8 6y ago
  Exactly, modern android flagships are at par or better than Iphone when it comes to touch latency. Most people who express the sentiment "OMG iphone is so smooth" went from $200 Moto G to $1000 Iphone X. Compare in the same class, and you will find that both OSes are comparable.
  - dntrkv 6y ago
    Not sure how you got that from the link. The iPhone devices have 20%+ lower latency.
    - perryizgr8 6y ago
      That link is old. There are similar measurements for modern devices available on many review websites. This link does identify the correct metric that people seem to respond to when they feel a phone is "faster".
Guillaume86 6y ago
Fair question, here's some 2019 benchs that found similar latencies between high end Samsung and Apple devices: https://blog.gamebench.net/touch-latency-benchmarks-iphone-xs-max-galaxy-note-10 https://blog.gamebench.net/touch-latency-benchmarks-iphone-x... so it seems some Android manufacturers did manage to catch up finally.
habosa 6y ago
I owned many Android phones over the years, beginning with the OG Droid. Had some Samsungs along the way, my last few were Pixels. My final Android phone was a Pixel 3, I switched to an iPhone SE 2020. Maybe the total time to complete a given task is about the same, but I can seriously say I have never seen the iPhone drop a single frame. The Pixel got choppy all the time. Every Android phone owner knows the feeling of "why is my phone suddenly hot? Oh some runaway background service" or "why is this thing running at 5fps? Oh an app is auto-updating in the background". iPhone just doesn't have these issues.

akrain 6y ago

As a counterpoint, I recently switched from an old iPhone SE to a Pixel 4a and the experience could not have been any better. I find the vanilla Android to be as snappy as iOS for daily tasks if not better. The problem lies with custom Android ROMs on low spec phones which do hamper the user experience quite a bit

coldtea 6y ago
>I find the vanilla Android to be as snappy as iOS for daily tasks if not better. "As snappy if not better" as an "old iPhone SE" though...
- dividedbyzero 6y ago
  I've switched from an iPhone 7 to an iPhone 11 Pro last year and while the iPhone 7 never struggled as badly the Androids I had before that (where keypresses might take seconds to register at times in the end), it did struggle somewhat to keep up with me at times, whereas the 11 Pro felt (still feels) like a fast desktop computer, in that it never appears like the UI or everyday operations noticeably tax it at all, the UX in that regard is super smooth. I'd expect the SE to fare a bit worse than the 7, since it had an A9 vs. an A10 SoC.
- 411111111111111 6y ago
  The issue with android phones is knowing which are optimized for speed. A Samsung Galaxy for example costs almost as much as an equivalent iphone and is significantly less responsive then some motorola phones with stock android
- akrain 6y ago
  To be honest, it is much better overall. Didn't want to start a flame war here

floatboth 6y ago

Good Android phones these days feel great especially because of >60Hz displays. Software for the most part keeps up really well with high refresh rate. The only laggy thing I know of is the Play Store sidebar closing when tapping "my apps & games".

neogodless 6y ago
Using a OnePlus 7 Pro, and I tried this, and the sidebar closed instantly. How many apps and games do you have...? :) (But yeah, this phone is super fast, and the 90Hz screen is a joy. I literally cannot switch to iPhone until/unless they get faster screens, because of post-concussion syndrome and the migraines I get from 60Hz screens.)

CinematicStudio 6y ago

I feel you! I'm on Android, and can't believe the morons at google still don't get this! It's insanely slow all the time - I mean, I do have a quad core with 3GB of RAM, it's not top of the top, but still, at this speed, everything should be INSTANT

dagw 6y ago

I don't know. I have a Pixel 3a as my personal phone and an iPhone 8 as my work phone and have been using them side by side for years. I honestly cannot say that one is 'faster' or has lower latency than the other.

sullyj3 6y ago

Are you sure the perceived difference isn't from switching from a phone that you've been using for a while to a new one? In my experience, both android and iphones feel blazing fast when you pull them out of the box, and sluggish later on when you've been using them for a year or two and they're loaded up with all your junk.