Why is there lag with Android phones, and not the iphone?

[dfuser312553]

...The proportions and speed of scrolling is different so I don't even really know how there could be such an in depth comparison.

You might get sued for having speeds & bounce too similar to iPhones. People wouldn't know the difference.

I keed I keed. Couldn't help think of the Apple v Samsung*

 

[b-jammin21]

I think it goes back to the post about how we should define lag. Do we define lag in the czerdrill type of lag that it absolutely does exist no matter what, even if we don't notice it at all? Or is lag something that can be defined by the user experience as they see it?

I understand the software/hardware fragmentation and all that, but I think it can also be boiled down to user experience. If the user is not really experiencing any kind of lag, which several posters have attested to (and its somewhat uncalled for to call them all liars and in denial), then does it really exist (although, let me cover my bases here, it "absolutely does exist" when we think about it technically)?

 

[SquireSCA]

I think the lag issue is like this...

You have one PC that comes installed with the latest updated drivers for your NVidia card. So your PC flies through games and things like it should.

Then you have the Droid PC that comes with generic VESA drivers because they didn't know what video card you might have installed, so they just put the generic drivers in, so it works, but when you try to watch a movie full screen or play a game, it looks like a slide show...

Granted, the Android performance is not that bad, this is just an analogy to illustrate the difference of one machine with the proper drivers optimized for that GPU, and the other machine running generic drivers that are not.

Precisely. No one is arguing that Android is some lag filled crap filled OS thats barely usable. But the lag exists and that's simply because of the way android is distributed across several hardware configurations. You can't optimize android for all the different components and hardware that exists on these devices.

I see lag on my phone from time to time. Scrolling through a screen and there is a split second stutter. It doesn't keep me from getting where I need to go, or even cause a delay, but it is there enough that my eye catches it.

I will say that I see it a lot less with GB. But lag is part of every thing unless painstaking lengths were gone through to eliminate it.

Does my quad-core 6GB RAM gaming PC have lag? Sure, there are times when it is doing something and there is a slight delay or a screen that is transitioning from one thing to another has a split-second stutter.

It happens.

On the iPhone, there is one set of hardware, and they went to great lengths to optimize every part of the OS, and they go over every app with a fine tooth comb before it is released. I am sure there is still lag there somewhere, but they have done a good job of making it so minimal that you really never notice it.

My DX runs very fast and I am very happy and wouldn't trade it for an iPhone 4 if you paid me, but I can't lie to people(or myself) and say that there is never lag. And I know that overclocking it won't get rid of it. In fact, just as with the PC, overclocking can sometimes increase lag by creating computational errors that cause something to halt or have to be redone or whatever.

 

[SquireSCA]

I can definitely say that I don't have any lag either, but of course I'm overclocked.

You do, and overclocking doesn't get rid of it.

You just don't recognize it because you are used to it, that's all.

Wow what a weird way of telling someone their eyes don't work. So far we've got denial & too stupid to understand what we're talking about... How typical.

I'll just leave it to the devices I've owned & exclude the ones I've tinkered with for friends or in passing as it is a mixed bag where I don't know everything that is going on.

Stock non-rooted D1 = oh lawd yes.
Stock non-rooted Dinc = no

I never said that his eyes don't work. But when you are used to something, you may not even know what you are looking for...

 

[czerdrill]

I can definitely say that I don't have any lag either, but of course I'm overclocked.

You do, and overclocking doesn't get rid of it.

You just don't recognize it because you are used to it, that's all.

Wow what a weird way of telling someone their eyes don't work. So far we've got denial & too stupid to understand what we're talking about... How typical.

I'll just leave it to the devices I've owned & exclude the ones I've tinkered with for friends or in passing as it is a mixed bag where I don't know everything that is going on.

Stock non-rooted D1 = oh lawd yes.
Stock non-rooted Dinc = no

I have to own a device to see that it lags? That's pretty awesome. You must return a lot of purchased goods at your house since viewing it at the store before purchase couldnt possibly tell the entire story...And I assume by "where I don't know everything that is going on" you mean "I haven't had a chance to root, overclock it and clear its cache so it'll perform correctly", right? Or did you mean something else? If so, I'd love to know what...

So far we've got "hardware/software interaction doesn't matter, my phone does not lag" and "you can't tell if a phone lags without owning it"...how t̶y̶p̶i̶c̶a̶l̶...bizarre.

 

[pc747]

I have no lag what so ever with my tbolt. Battery life without my extended battry is horrible, but htc runs much smoother than motorola droid running blur. Gingerblur on the motorola droid is smoother than blur but htc sense is still better.

 

[dfuser312553]

...If there was no lag people wouldn't be overclocking, clearing cache, wiping dalvik and rebooting their phones every other day....

I do none of those (on purpose) to my Dinc.

 

[czerdrill]

I think the lag issue is like this...

You have one PC that comes installed with the latest updated drivers for your NVidia card. So your PC flies through games and things like it should.

Then you have the Droid PC that comes with generic VESA drivers because they didn't know what video card you might have installed, so they just put the generic drivers in, so it works, but when you try to watch a movie full screen or play a game, it looks like a slide show...

Granted, the Android performance is not that bad, this is just an analogy to illustrate the difference of one machine with the proper drivers optimized for that GPU, and the other machine running generic drivers that are not.

Precisely. No one is arguing that Android is some lag filled crap filled OS thats barely usable. But the lag exists and that's simply because of the way android is distributed across several hardware configurations. You can't optimize android for all the different components and hardware that exists on these devices.

I see lag on my phone from time to time. Scrolling through a screen and there is a split second stutter. It doesn't keep me from getting where I need to go, or even cause a delay, but it is there enough that my eye catches it.

I will say that I see it a lot less with GB. But lag is part of every thing unless painstaking lengths were gone through to eliminate it.

Does my quad-core 6GB RAM gaming PC have lag? Sure, there are times when it is doing something and there is a slight delay or a screen that is transitioning from one thing to another has a split-second stutter.

It happens.

On the iPhone, there is one set of hardware, and they went to great lengths to optimize every part of the OS, and they go over every app with a fine tooth comb before it is released. I am sure there is still lag there somewhere, but they have done a good job of making it so minimal that you really never notice it.

My DX runs very fast and I am very happy and wouldn't trade it for an iPhone 4 if you paid me, but I can't lie to people(or myself) and say that there is never lag. And I know that overclocking it won't get rid of it. In fact, just as with the PC, overclocking can sometimes increase lag by creating computational errors that cause something to halt or have to be redone or whatever.

I've even seen the iPhone lag, and that phone's software is specifically optimized for its hardware. So when people say that android phones do not lag, clearly I'm not going to just buy that hook, line and sinker.

Compared to the iphone, android has more lag. That's not to say it's unusable, or that lag doesn't exist on the iphone. It is to say that there's a reason it does exist on android, and the reason is software that is not optimized for the hardware.

 

[czerdrill]

...If there was no lag people wouldn't be overclocking, clearing cache, wiping dalvik and rebooting their phones every other day....

I do none of those (on purpose) to my Dinc.

you know you might be the luckiest consumer on the planet? your android phones don't lag, your PCs don't require antivirus and you get twice the download speeds when you use the throttle mod. I can't argue with you, man. I have no reason to accuse you of lying, let's just say I'm skeptical. I don't think I've ever seen you once concede that anything could possibly be wrong with android haha...when a quick google search shows that plenty of people have complaints. Do you shop at a special store where they only stock 100% working, no chance of any issues, merchandise?

 

[illmatic636]

There has to be a OS set up specific for, lets say the D1. What are the optimization would there need to be in these roms? Why has it not been done already? These Roms are device specific. I believe I read that apple has a custom processor that is optimized for the software.

 

[WugFresh]

I think stock to stock the iPhone might win the less lag comparison when faced with the DX, however with sysctl.conf tweaks, increased dalvik.vm.heapsize, plus basic performance increases due to the elimination of bloatware... I would say that the devices are near identical.... but out of the box, this android device really isn't too good; these are some of the reasons which ultimately lead me to root.

{{ WugFresh }}

 

[illmatic636]

I have no lag what so ever with my tbolt. Battery life without my extended battry is horrible, but htc runs much smoother than motorola droid running blur. Gingerblur on the motorola droid is smoother than blur but htc sense is still better.

Are you referring to a Gingerbread D1 rom?

 

[SquireSCA]

I look at it like this...

I know a lot of guys that throw a slipon exhaust onto their motorcycles. They feel that it runs great and doesn't need to be tuned or anything. And it probably doesn't, I am sure that it will run fine and won't cause any problems even if there are some flat spots in the power curve where it is running a bit lean from increasing the exhaust flow but not adding the appropriate amount of fuel to keep the air-fuel-ratio optimal.

I mean, combustion will occur so long as the AFR is between 10 and 20, but it is not optimal unless it is near the 13.4 ratio...

Will they notice that something is off? Many times they don't. It just runs how it runs and it feels strong so they insist all is fine.

And then my buddy Huey throws the bike on the dyno and you can see the flat spots, and he can tune the motor to get it optimal and on the ride home you cannot believe how much smoother it runs, how much sharper the throttle response is, etc...

The point of that story is that sometimes you don't know what you don't know.

 

[czerdrill]

I think stock to stock the iPhone might win the less lag comparison when faced with the DX, however with sysctl.conf tweaks, increased dalvik.vm.heapsize, plus basic performance increases due to the elimination of bloatware... I would say that the devices are near identical.... but out of the box, this android device really isn't too good; these are some of the reasons which ultimately lead me to root.

{{ WugFresh }}

Well yeah, if you hack the crap out of it you can make it very close to the iPhone. Heck, I would argue that my D1 overclocked and custom ROM'd has very very very minimal lag (although I do have to clear cache and reboot often). I believe the OP was talking stock to stock and there is undeniable lag android stock to ios stock (well maybe not undeniable since people are denying it haha, but you know what i mean).

 

[pc747]

...If there was no lag people wouldn't be overclocking, clearing cache, wiping dalvik and rebooting their phones every other day....

I do none of those (on purpose) to my Dinc.

you know you might be the luckiest consumer on the planet? your android phones don't lag, your PCs don't require antivirus and you get twice the download speeds when you use the throttle mod. I can't argue with you, man. I have no reason to accuse you of lying, let's just say I'm skeptical. I don't think I've ever seen you once concede that anything could possibly be wrong with android haha...when a quick google search shows that plenty of people have complaints. Do you shop at a special store where they only stock 100% working, no chance of any issues, merchandise?

My tbolt do not lag either. And lets not treat apple like the made the greatest device in the world. There are chinks in the apple armor. I think apple makes the best hardware and because they have one design and one os going through them they can test and ensure their os works great with their product. But I also saw the ipad 2 show checkerboards when loading up a page over and over again. My tbolt with single core does not checkerboard, even my d1 do not checkerboard but a dual core ipad does. Look this do not take anything away from the ipad because in reality whi cares, just wait an extra second for the page to load up. I really do not see the point in the constant back and forth between apple and android. They both make great products. Sto trying to make one seem inferior to the other. Unless you are drawing a check from google or apple I do not see the need to be on any forum wasting time saying why one product is better than the other. There are things android does better than ios and vice versa. If you want an iphone get one and enjoy it, if you want android get it and enjoy it. Buy the device YOU want and enjoy it. If you looking over at the next device trying to find what it does not do to make you feel good about your purchase then you probably should not have bought the product in the first place because you will always find something that one device does better than the other. I can find something that a free flip phone does better than iphone and android. So lets move on.