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Mobile Browser: Android vs. iOS vs. WP7

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We got the chance to put three mobile browsers from three different phone OSes this afternoon. TJ suggested we compare how fast the browsers are.

In the left corner, we have Safari Mobile running on the iPhone 4 and IE Mobile running on the HTC 7 Trophy on the far right. In the middle is the native Android Browser on the HTC Desire.

We hooked up the phones to my local WiFi so all of them are using the same connection/bandwidth. We also launched YugaTech.com from a search results page (Google, Google, Bing) so it’s easier to launch them simultaneously.

The Safari browser on the iPhone 4 went ahead with a decisive lead, followed by IE on the HTC 7 Trophy with the Browser on the HTC Desire coming in at a close 3rd.

There’s a catch though — you will notice that the Android Browser on the HTC Desire loaded that skyscraper banner ad which is a Flash file. That was not loaded in Safari and IE since they don’t support Flash (IE will support it in a later update). That gave Safari on the iPhone 4 a good lead in terms of total amount of data downloaded and rendered by the browser.

Despite that advantage, you can still clearly see which one was rendering pages way faster in the first 10 seconds of load time. Note, however, that this is not a definitive test and there could be other factors that affected our crude test.

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Written by
Abe Olandres

Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

View all posts by Abe Olandres →

80 Comments

JH
Jhayzt · 16 years ago

Oh For the love of…Here, check this. Yahoo officially stomped the iPhone & WP7. Android is considered the best OS as of now. http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/111232/ways-android-beats-everything ..I myself bought an iPhone 4…but now, I feel sorry for it… You know why? I ignored one of this facts..

“”Popularity over Technology”” = Iphone <—
Technology over Popularity = Any Android Phone.
Still missing in action = WP7

But! WP7 is officially considered as the best Music phone as of now. Why you say? Zune. Just look at zune's interface…Ohhh…I just came..Simply epic interface. Now anyone who bashes this comment or simply ban me is neither a bloke or a sissy. I'm just saying the truth.

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JH
Jhay · 16 years ago

Just one question; what happened to Opera Mobile? :D

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P
P · 16 years ago

Cached? Clear everything first.

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JE
Jepoi · 16 years ago

reboot put it bluntly but i think he has a point. when both iOS and WinMo are able to load flash, then do a comparison.

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VA
Van · 16 years ago

Yup, I’m curious if you cleared the cache first on all three phones. I suspect this may be the reason why Safari was faster.

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BO
Bon · 16 years ago

Interesting results. Did you, by any chance, clear the cache and history of all 3 browsers before performing the test?

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MR
mr.bogus · 16 years ago

kulang din ng blackberry os… hmmm your right html5 is the future but still PENDING… di naman lahat ng flash ay advertisement…. then silverlight pa… kung iphone os using cloud browser or yung pending sa app store na skyfire browser, palagay ko may good fight yun…

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QW
qwertio · 16 years ago

u should have used skyfire browser on the iOS since it is somehow flash “capable”- skyfire servers convert flash to html5 for iOS support.

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RE
reboot · 16 years ago

what a dumb comparison! of course the one that loads less data will win. are you people really that stupid?

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RJ
RJ · 16 years ago

well, check this out. iOS versus froyo. http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/07/froyo-versus-ios-4-the-browser-showdown-video/
it showed here that Android wins. :D

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DK
dk · 16 years ago

eh? wala kasing flash angiphone kaya madali amg load!

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LE
Les · 16 years ago

@Jay I like viewing ads, as they are also sources for information. I don’t get annoyed with flash ads. kung bumabagal ang loading ng pages mo coz of them, baduy ang internet(ISP) mo.

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MA
manny · 16 years ago

talk about geeky fun, did anybody in the contest mentioned about comparing Op systems?

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MA
manny · 16 years ago

nice comparisons, but yes, nice to add in using Samsung Galaxy S, N8 and a Blackberry on an OS6.

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CH
chris · 16 years ago

cool

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JA
Jay · 16 years ago

“ang boring mag browse or surf sa internet pag walang flash support”

@les
may be you’re entertained with ads noh? the future is HTML 5. We need vital information not pesky ads.

>Maliit na nga ang screen estate mo, kakainin pa ng malalaking FLASH banners and pop-ups.
>Pampabagal pa magload ng page pag peak hours on 3G.

Simply, flash isn’t a necessity on mobile devices.

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BL
blunano · 16 years ago

iOS rules. flash is a history, the future is html5.

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LE
Les · 16 years ago

opera on iOS… ang bilis

pero dun ako sa browser that supports flash!

ang boring mag browse or surf sa internet pag walang flash support

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PE
Pee · 16 years ago

For the sheer speed alone, Safari beat the competition.

But, I really miss ”text reflow” in Android’s webkit browser. Text reflow means that when you zoom the text, it will align itself for easier reading.

S^3 browser simply sucks. Even though it uses the same layout engine (Webkit), Safari and Android browser is miles ahead in terms of usability and speed. The browser is one of the criticism of N8.

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WA
watusi · 16 years ago

dont compare the OS !!!! coz they have different specs in HW…

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YI
yizhan · 16 years ago

you should also try skyfire on the iphone4 and desire to see the difference since it Load full desktop webpages including flash.

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CH
chacha · 16 years ago

here is a similar test on iphone4, this time versus ipodtouch 4th gen…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EweQuhNHv4

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FL
Fleeb · 16 years ago

Baliktarin naman. Load a website that relies on Flash. >:)

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TI
tic · 16 years ago

want to share my vid with iMovie
the pics and the vids are all taken from ipod touch 4th gen.
enjoy!
http://youtu.be/tt5_CQhhg8o
location: SM n. edsa and trinoma

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TI
tic · 16 years ago

cute! iMovie! hehehe!
biased sa iPhone much? lol
kaya pala mabilis din ung sa itouch4…

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IP
iPimp · 16 years ago

Without watching the video yet, I can say that usability trumps speed. That being said, I’m in favor of the iPhone being the fastest.

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LE
leemar · 16 years ago

ang dapat na ginamit nila to represent andoid is samsung galaxy S. that should be fair.

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JA
Jay · 16 years ago

haha symbian is dead.

sana kasama si Blackberry OS na browser.

hassle lang talaga ang flash, puro ads.. annoying ads.
90% of my PC browser (chrome & Firefox) are due to crashing and unresponsive Flash & Shockwave Plug-ins.

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RS
rsa1 · 16 years ago

pero i have to say this, yugatech site is very slow to load. maybe due to the number of ads being loaded before the actual site.

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AB
Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 16 years ago

TJ Manotoc forgot to bring out his Nokia N8 e. :D

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MO
Mon Makuto · 16 years ago

Why the hell did you rule out Symbian, lol

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MR
mr.bogus · 16 years ago

hot topic….!!!!

unfair no meego and symbian…!!!

anyway mabilis nga ang safari dahil walang flash…. di tama talaga kung icocompare… its just like apples and oranges!!!!!

mabilis nga di naman kumpleto yung na-iload.. useless!!!!

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NE
Negrita · 16 years ago

iPhone 4 simply pwned them all (with flash or not) -even the video was made using the iPhone’s iMovie Apps, im guessing iMovie app is Yugatech’s video editing choice as of now…

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E
E · 16 years ago

what about including the Symbian 3^ device on the web browsing test…

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TE
Teknisyan · 16 years ago

Of course there are still factors to consider like connection and data traffic of that web site. But yeah.. I think safari won this round

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SA
sam · 16 years ago

Dophin browser on the samsung wave beats ie and and android with flash being loaded.

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AL
Alexei Rivera · 16 years ago

I’m watching this on Desire’s inbuilt browser and flash 10.1 right now so that probably makes up for any speed problems.

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HA
Harley · 16 years ago

likie!

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JO
Jon · 16 years ago

You should have tried to disable the Flash plugin on the Desire to compare if flash affects the loading time.

I also wish you tested other sites as well. :P

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