Dalvik does indeed use a different VM/bytecode. Your Java Android app is compiled JVM bytecode which is translated into Dalvik. The point is/was that the progr

Dalvik does indeed use a different VM/bytecode. Your Java Android app is compiled JVM bytecode which is translated into Dalvik. The point is/was that the program you write in Java may run faster or slower depending on your target platform and that if your target platform is Android you are taking an additional penalty vs. e.g. using the NDK... (EDIT: Yeah, you're right, the name JVM should only be used to refer to the specific type of VM that runs specific bytecode and not to other VMs. As Android shows Java does not have to run on the JVM. Thanks for the correction.) "In 2012, academic benchmarks confirmed the factor of 3 between HotSpot and Dalvik on the same Android board, also noting that Dalvik code was not smaller than Hotspot" (from Wikipedia)