5 ms·

Chrome for iOS doesn't use V8 or the Chromium fork of WebKit, just UIWebView. [0] Because it's using WebViews, it's about 3x slower than the OS's Safari browser

by bri3d 14y ago

Chrome for iOS doesn't use V8 or the Chromium fork of WebKit, just UIWebView. [0] Because it's using WebViews, it's about 3x slower than the OS's Safari browser [1], because WebViews in sandboxed apps don't get the "Nitro" JavaScript JIT from iOS 5 onwards (presumably for mark-executable security reasons). Unless the tab-sharing feature is crucial to more people than I thought, I don't think this app is going to be a runaway hit. 0: https://twitter.com/viviancromwell/status/218402587760795648 https://twitter.com/viviancromwell/status/218402587760795648 1: https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/218434462751539200 https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/21843446275153920...

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
jonny_eh 14y ago
Well that's a bummer. The UI in the Chrome app is really slick!
- wlesieutre 14y ago
  Don't worry too much about that, it's only slower for javascript execution. The other features, including Chrome sync, unlimited tabs, "Request desktop site", more than make up for it. The real stumbling block, IMO, is that without jailbreaking, links from other apps will always open in Safari.
  - dunham 14y ago
    That is something I really hope Apple fixes. They have a generic mechanism to send files to other apps, but not for URLs, making it painful to pass a URL to Twitter or an instant messaging app.
    - hboon 14y ago
      Are you not thinking of custom URL schemes, which you can switch to another app and optionally pass small bits of data to it?
      - dunham 14y ago
        I'm not sure what happens when multiple apps register for the same scheme. I'm looking for a generic mechanism to let the user choose an app and pass an 'http' url to that app. I don't think I can do that with custom schemes, because each app would have its own scheme. It could be accomplished via a custom file type if everybody standardized on it (say via a .url file of type text/x-url or maybe even text/plain). But I was hoping for something official. The current way people do this is via the pasteboard, but the switching and pasting process feels awkward to me. I suppose that may be the best solution for now. Maybe apps should just handle things better if they're awoken with a new URL on the pasteboard (i.e. offer to take an action with it). I'll think through my use cases some more.
        hboon 14y ago
        The first app or the last app (can't remember which) that registered for the custom URL scheme owns it. > Maybe apps should just handle things better if they're awoken with a new URL on the pasteboard (i.e. offer to take an action with it). This is almost how using custom URL schemes would work, but I think it's still superior to fiddling with the pasteboard though. But you are right. There isn't a standard way to do it now. Most apps that expose or utilize this form integration has to come up with something themselves. Also see http://handleopenurl.com/ http://handleopenurl.com/
  - pooriaazimi 14y ago
    > unlimited tabs Safari on iOS 6 (on iPad, at least) finally lets you open more than 9 tabs! The new max is 25, which is enough.
    - wlesieutre 14y ago
      Safari on the iPhone in iOS 5 only gets 8. I wonder if Chrome for iOS gets any sort of tab recovery on crashes. It doesn't happened frequently, but it's annoying when I have to quit and relaunch safari for whatever reason and lose everything I had open.
- hanapbuhay 14y ago
  At first glance, the UI feels pretty good. Here's some screenshots of Google Chrome on iOS: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAhkquN http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAhkquN
dbloom 14y ago
Only JS execution is 3x slower -- everything else (DOM, layout, repaint, parsing) is the same. Most web pages (and even web applications) are rarely bottlenecked by JS execution speed. (There are a few exceptions to this rule...for example, the JS GameBoy Color emulator probably won't work very well)
- bzbarsky 14y ago
  You mean the same as Mobile Safari, not the same as Chrome, right? Because "repaint" is not part of WebKit proper (it's implemented separately in Chrome and Safari, for example). And even "layout" is different code on iOS and in other WebKit ports...
  - dbloom 14y ago
    Yes, that's right: I'm comparing CriOS to Mobile Safari, not to Chrome for Android or PC/Mac. That's an interesting point about layout. I hadn't even considered how font size adjustment and such comes into play.
Killswitch 14y ago
Luckily for me, the main reasons I am using it is desktop to mobile and password syncing and stuff.
mtgx 14y ago
Only for Javascript stuff, though. If you're browsing mobile sites, it shouldn't affect you at all, as well as most websites on the web that aren't JS-heavy.
moe 14y ago
feature is crucial A crucial feature for me would be password-manager support (lastpass, 1passwd). The (lack of) password management on the iPad is driving me nuts. The half-baked external apps that let you copy/paste don't cut it for me. Nor the awfully slow and constantly crashing "LastPass browser". Does Chrome finally bring relief?
- pooriaazimi 14y ago
  Hmm... I never thought of that. Safari 6 added a new preferences panel for saved passwords. Unfortunately there's not an equivalent iPad setting (just checked on iPad 2, iOS 6 beta 1), but this might change between now and fall... Maybe you should file a bug report?
  - moe 14y ago
    I didn't have much success with the bugs that I filed at apple over the past years. They all went into a black hole, never received as much as a response. The thing is that I don't want the iPad to just save passwords. It already does that, although somewhat unreliably for me. I want it to use my existing, ginormous list of passwords stored in LastPass. I don't even try anymore to do anything that requires a login on the iPad, it's an exercise in frustration. Sometimes Safari remembers the password that I painfully transcribed for a site, usually it doesn't. It's such a blatant oversight for a device that is touted no least as "the internet in your hands" that I keep wondering why I so rarely see other people mention it.
    - damncabbage 14y ago
      It's such a blatant oversight for a device that is touted no least as "the internet in your hands" that I keep wondering why I so rarely see other people mention it. I was with you up until this last sentence. People who know what LastPass is (let alone use it) are in a tiny minority. Given how they treat the development community (hello Xcode nightmare), which I'd wager is a much larger group, I don't think it's entirely surprising that something like password manager support would be further down in the list of priorities.
- 14y ago
dakrisht 14y ago
Couldn't agree more. More like 1.5-2x slower but it certainly isn't a speed improvement over Safari. Didn't know about Nitro, but this app is a flop because it has to be on top of UIWebView. Not sure there's any other way to build this app, Google has some bright engineers.
gcp 14y ago
I don't think this app is going to be a runaway hit. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57463546-93/google-chrome-already-no-1-among-free-ios-apps/ http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57463546-93/google-chrome-a... Most popular free application for iOS. Marketing, better UI, sync features, herd mentality, who'll tell?

by bri3d 14y ago

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

jonny_eh 14y ago

Well that's a bummer. The UI in the Chrome app is really slick!

wlesieutre 14y ago
Don't worry too much about that, it's only slower for javascript execution. The other features, including Chrome sync, unlimited tabs, "Request desktop site", more than make up for it. The real stumbling block, IMO, is that without jailbreaking, links from other apps will always open in Safari.
- dunham 14y ago
  That is something I really hope Apple fixes. They have a generic mechanism to send files to other apps, but not for URLs, making it painful to pass a URL to Twitter or an instant messaging app.
  - hboon 14y ago
    Are you not thinking of custom URL schemes, which you can switch to another app and optionally pass small bits of data to it?
    - dunham 14y ago
      I'm not sure what happens when multiple apps register for the same scheme. I'm looking for a generic mechanism to let the user choose an app and pass an 'http' url to that app. I don't think I can do that with custom schemes, because each app would have its own scheme. It could be accomplished via a custom file type if everybody standardized on it (say via a .url file of type text/x-url or maybe even text/plain). But I was hoping for something official. The current way people do this is via the pasteboard, but the switching and pasting process feels awkward to me. I suppose that may be the best solution for now. Maybe apps should just handle things better if they're awoken with a new URL on the pasteboard (i.e. offer to take an action with it). I'll think through my use cases some more.
      - hboon 14y ago
        The first app or the last app (can't remember which) that registered for the custom URL scheme owns it. > Maybe apps should just handle things better if they're awoken with a new URL on the pasteboard (i.e. offer to take an action with it). This is almost how using custom URL schemes would work, but I think it's still superior to fiddling with the pasteboard though. But you are right. There isn't a standard way to do it now. Most apps that expose or utilize this form integration has to come up with something themselves. Also see http://handleopenurl.com/ http://handleopenurl.com/
- pooriaazimi 14y ago
  > unlimited tabs Safari on iOS 6 (on iPad, at least) finally lets you open more than 9 tabs! The new max is 25, which is enough.
  - wlesieutre 14y ago
    Safari on the iPhone in iOS 5 only gets 8. I wonder if Chrome for iOS gets any sort of tab recovery on crashes. It doesn't happened frequently, but it's annoying when I have to quit and relaunch safari for whatever reason and lose everything I had open.
hanapbuhay 14y ago
At first glance, the UI feels pretty good. Here's some screenshots of Google Chrome on iOS: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAhkquN http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAhkquN

dbloom 14y ago

Only JS execution is 3x slower -- everything else (DOM, layout, repaint, parsing) is the same. Most web pages (and even web applications) are rarely bottlenecked by JS execution speed. (There are a few exceptions to this rule...for example, the JS GameBoy Color emulator probably won't work very well)

bzbarsky 14y ago
You mean the same as Mobile Safari, not the same as Chrome, right? Because "repaint" is not part of WebKit proper (it's implemented separately in Chrome and Safari, for example). And even "layout" is different code on iOS and in other WebKit ports...
- dbloom 14y ago
  Yes, that's right: I'm comparing CriOS to Mobile Safari, not to Chrome for Android or PC/Mac. That's an interesting point about layout. I hadn't even considered how font size adjustment and such comes into play.

Killswitch 14y ago

Luckily for me, the main reasons I am using it is desktop to mobile and password syncing and stuff.

mtgx 14y ago

Only for Javascript stuff, though. If you're browsing mobile sites, it shouldn't affect you at all, as well as most websites on the web that aren't JS-heavy.

moe 14y ago

feature is crucial A crucial feature for me would be password-manager support (lastpass, 1passwd). The (lack of) password management on the iPad is driving me nuts. The half-baked external apps that let you copy/paste don't cut it for me. Nor the awfully slow and constantly crashing "LastPass browser". Does Chrome finally bring relief?

pooriaazimi 14y ago
Hmm... I never thought of that. Safari 6 added a new preferences panel for saved passwords. Unfortunately there's not an equivalent iPad setting (just checked on iPad 2, iOS 6 beta 1), but this might change between now and fall... Maybe you should file a bug report?
- moe 14y ago
  I didn't have much success with the bugs that I filed at apple over the past years. They all went into a black hole, never received as much as a response. The thing is that I don't want the iPad to just save passwords. It already does that, although somewhat unreliably for me. I want it to use my existing, ginormous list of passwords stored in LastPass. I don't even try anymore to do anything that requires a login on the iPad, it's an exercise in frustration. Sometimes Safari remembers the password that I painfully transcribed for a site, usually it doesn't. It's such a blatant oversight for a device that is touted no least as "the internet in your hands" that I keep wondering why I so rarely see other people mention it.
  - damncabbage 14y ago
    It's such a blatant oversight for a device that is touted no least as "the internet in your hands" that I keep wondering why I so rarely see other people mention it. I was with you up until this last sentence. People who know what LastPass is (let alone use it) are in a tiny minority. Given how they treat the development community (hello Xcode nightmare), which I'd wager is a much larger group, I don't think it's entirely surprising that something like password manager support would be further down in the list of priorities.
14y ago

dakrisht 14y ago

Couldn't agree more. More like 1.5-2x slower but it certainly isn't a speed improvement over Safari. Didn't know about Nitro, but this app is a flop because it has to be on top of UIWebView. Not sure there's any other way to build this app, Google has some bright engineers.

gcp 14y ago

I don't think this app is going to be a runaway hit. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57463546-93/google-chrome-already-no-1-among-free-ios-apps/ http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57463546-93/google-chrome-a... Most popular free application for iOS. Marketing, better UI, sync features, herd mentality, who'll tell?