Flash on Android Froyo Slows Down Internet Browsing & Scrolling [Android 2.2 Froyo Browser Significantly Faster Than Competitors When Flash 10.1 Beta Is Disabled]

Posted on TFTS by Chris Smith on Monday, 24. May 2010 under: Internet Highlights, Mobile/Cell Phones

It looks like I’ll be the bearer of some good or bad news, depending on who’s actually reading this particular post. If you’re an Apple fan then you’ll probably get an “I told you so!” look on your face when hearing that Flash 10.1 beta slows down mobile Internet browsing. If you’re an Android fan, then you’ll probably accuse me that I am taking Apple’s side, which I am not, by showing you this comparison video below.

In it you’ll see exactly how the Google Nexus One, the iPhone and the HTC HD2 compete against each other when it comes to web browsing. Yes, the Google Nexus One running on Android 2.2 Froyo is faster when it comes to loading web pages than the iPhone or the HTC HD2 and there’s no doubt about it. But that’s a valid statement for Flash-less web pages.

The video shows that not only Flash 10.1 beta slows down the browser but it also slows down scrolling and zooming, not to mention that it also requires extra resources.

On the other hand it’s clear that Flash integration is definitely something very useful when it comes to web browsing as it will let you take advantage of lots of games and videos that would otherwise be unavailable to mobile devices.

Sure, you will say that Flash 10.1 is just in beta right now and things will be even smoother down the road. We can certainly hope that’s true and that Adobe will have an even better Flash version for Android and other devices in the near future. In the mean time, with WWDC 2010 coming in two weeks from now, Apple will have new material to use against Google and Adobe.

So let’s hear it from you, Apple lovers and haters, what do you think of these first Flash mobile experiences. Have you tried Flash 10.1 beta on your smartphone yet?

Source

noname
The “slow” screen rotation is a feature, i hated how my iphone kept switching landscape/portrait when I was laying down, very annoying! And also I was on apple’s payroll with my techblog (assuming just like you?) and I made shit up all the time that was false and misleading.
charles
I do agree with what your statements in the video. Android browser slows down when loading flash content, which is actually unavoidable. The reason why your phone showed low phone memory is because loading the flash content increases the amount of data stored in the cache. That is why the amount of RAM used by the browser significantly increased. This is perfectly normal.
On a computer, you have a larger cache capacity as opposed to a phone. To solve this problem, i think google will have to enable storing the cache contents on the SD card instead of the phone memory. Dolphin browser already has that option.
So, the problem is not really with adobe, but also with the limited capacity of the phone memory as well as the App to SD Card unavailability (Until google enables App2SD for the browser).

Chris Smith
@charles, I do agree with the video too, but it’s not a video made by us. Just making sure we’re on the same page, and giving credit to the actual creators of the comparison video.
Otherwise you have some valid points too. Although I still believe Adobe should somehow make an above and beyond effort to make Flash on mobile devices run as smooth as possible.

daniel
I’m sick of people bringing up the Flash 10.1 thing. First of all you can turn it off if you want to. ITS AN OPTION! HELLO! Or you can switch it to On Demand. WOW ANOTHER OPTION. That slows down the phone crap is the weakest argument against flash there is, right next to the video can be choppy. It’s a damn phone geniuses.