Browser speed comparison - N86, N97, iPhone 3G, T-Mobile G1 and more
Published by Steve Litchfield at 16:56 UTC, July 20th 2009
In this major feature, Rafe Blandford compares the relative performance of web browsers on various mobile devices, including the Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia E71, Nokia E75, Nokia N86 8MP, Nokia N97, Nokia 5800, T-Mobile G1, and Apple iPhone 3G. Which mobile device has the fastest browser? The results may surprise you - they did me.
"Accessing the Internet from a mobile device has been an important trend in mobile for the last 15 years. In the last few years this trend has accelerated such that acessing to the Internet from a mobile device is now one of its key functions. For some users it is even more important than voice calls, although for others it remains a secondary function.
In this feature I look at the key metric of page load time in a number of Nokia's 'S60 on Symbian' devices. To give some context with the rest of the market, I also compare the Apple iPhone 3G and the T-Mobile (Android) G1."
Categories: Software, Miscellaneous, Editorial Thoughts
Platforms: General, S60 3rd Edition, S60 5th Edition
News Discussion
RogerPodacter
My 5800 matches my android G1 and roommates iphone stride for stride wehn web browsing. i use the same router, all phones on wifi, 20Mbps connection. and the 5800 completes the page loading similar to the other phones. and you can scroll instantly as well. these people that say the s60 browser is slow are not based in reality. i'm not surprised by these results at all.
Unregistered
is the iphone 3g you used running OS 3.0??? you forgot to mention it
Unregistered
Which version of the OS was the iphone 3G using as 3.0 OS isn't the same browser as the 2.x
Unregistered
You actually showed also one of the main problems of Nokia's S60: Once the phones are sold the companies barely care about the phones or just keep bugfixing. The main advantage of the iPhone is that even the first 2G iPhones got the new firmware. And also Android seems to follow this "updates for all" model. Nokia cared only for its high-end phones (especially the N95 and all its incarnations), but forgot to update its mid range (e.g. N71) which is actually not that old. I am willing to pay for updates, if they exist in first place.
Unregistered
It was an Iphone 3G,right? No 3Gs?! Why? You are comparing new Nokia devices with an "old" Iphone 3G. Do the test again with the new Iphone 3Gs. Be fair-Play true. (I'm not an Iphone Fan!)
Unregistered
Is the browser from N86 (7.1) going to appear in future nokia phones i.e. the E72 ?
Unregistered
So, to help out here, I tested the Timesonline site on my iPhone 3GS (I pushed 'Go' when Rafe pressed the N86 button on the video). Remarkably, it took exactly the same amount to load as the N86. Even watching the progress bar was the same.
The main difference of course is that on the iPhone would see the whole web page, while on the N86 you see a small corner. But to be fair, in terms of speed, the N86 is definitely keeping up.
The main difference of course is that on the iPhone would see the whole web page, while on the N86 you see a small corner. But to be fair, in terms of speed, the N86 is definitely keeping up.
JohnnyN
I've just done the same test with my N86 vs a friends iphone 3GS as well, and while some results varied (one faster than the other at times) , both devices were very similar in speed. Not tested Opera yet :)
RogerPodacter
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Unregistered
It was an Iphone 3G,right? No 3Gs?! Why? You are comparing new Nokia devices with an "old" Iphone 3G. Do the test again with the new Iphone 3Gs. Be fair-Play true. (I'm not an Iphone Fan!)
|
My 5800 is actually slightly faster than even the n97. Very impressive! :-)
Unregistered
Interesting. I've often felt the browser on the Nokias to be faster, but less accurate than that of the iPhones.
However, the Nokias also have a decent caching algorithm, while the iPhone tends not to cache as aggressively. Did you clear the caches before testing?
However, the Nokias also have a decent caching algorithm, while the iPhone tends not to cache as aggressively. Did you clear the caches before testing?
Tenkom
my i8910 just spent about 1min 10 secs loading digg.com
And my n95 8gb is even slower. This was on 13mb wifi. None of them could keep up with my first generation ipod touch with version 2.0 software on the same wifi. It will take alot to make me buy another samsung phone.
And my n95 8gb is even slower. This was on 13mb wifi. None of them could keep up with my first generation ipod touch with version 2.0 software on the same wifi. It will take alot to make me buy another samsung phone.
Unregistered
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Unregistered
It was an Iphone 3G,right? No 3Gs?! Why? You are comparing new Nokia devices with an "old" Iphone 3G. Do the test again with the new Iphone 3Gs. Be fair-Play true. (I'm not an Iphone Fan!)
|
JohnnyN
Has you i8910 had it's operator software removed? Just wondering if that could make a difference?
argh
I haven't tried an S60 browser for a while now, but my N95 one was horribly slow compared to the competition at the time. I especially despised the 2-pass rendering where the page would load without CSS, then go blank again, then re-render with CSS.
It would also "exit unexpectedly" when browsing many nokia.com web pages, which was amusing.
I assume that neither of these issues is the case in the new versions?
I used to be very happy with Opera Mini, though, for 95% of the pages I wanted.
It would also "exit unexpectedly" when browsing many nokia.com web pages, which was amusing.
I assume that neither of these issues is the case in the new versions?
I used to be very happy with Opera Mini, though, for 95% of the pages I wanted.
Unregistered
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Unregistered
You actually showed also one of the main problems of Nokia's S60: Once the phones are sold the companies barely care about the phones or just keep bugfixing. The main advantage of the iPhone is that even the first 2G iPhones got the new firmware. .
|
So what are you suggesting?
bheetebrij
I second a question asked by someone else:
Does this version 7.1 ship on future models of Nokia E and N series phones? Specifically, I am eyeing up the Nokia E72... which has a 600Mhz processer I just read on Forum Nokia. That + version 7.1 of the browser + optical navikey should make for a very decent browser experience...
What do you guys think?
Rafe... fantastic article!
Does this version 7.1 ship on future models of Nokia E and N series phones? Specifically, I am eyeing up the Nokia E72... which has a 600Mhz processer I just read on Forum Nokia. That + version 7.1 of the browser + optical navikey should make for a very decent browser experience...
What do you guys think?
Rafe... fantastic article!
KokStukIniPhone
This article is obviously a complete fake. Everyone knows that Symbian S60 is slow and clunky and the iPhone is lightning fast and takes 1 microsecond to browse the entire cyberspace.
junchao8
Be great if i8910 was added to the list...
predicaments
For what it's worth my iPhone 3GS is much faster at rendering pages than my Nokia E71 AND my wife's Nokia 5800. One thing I find immensely frustrating on the Nokia devices is how slow it is to move around a page - the iPhone 3GS is much much faster than the previous iPhone, there's almost no comparison really.
However what is bizarre is that because there are many 'Apps' to serve my online needs on the iPhone 3GS I very rarely actually use the browser. I have to say though that the experience on the 3GS is MUCH improved over previous iPhone incarnations. For example the cut and paste makes now switching between MAIL and SAFARI easy (i.e. to enter passwords to forums, purchasing and so on).
However what is bizarre is that because there are many 'Apps' to serve my online needs on the iPhone 3GS I very rarely actually use the browser. I have to say though that the experience on the 3GS is MUCH improved over previous iPhone incarnations. For example the cut and paste makes now switching between MAIL and SAFARI easy (i.e. to enter passwords to forums, purchasing and so on).
RogerPodacter
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by bheetebrij
I second a question asked by someone else:
Does this version 7.1 ship on future models of Nokia E and N series phones? Specifically, I am eyeing up the Nokia E72... which has a 600Mhz processer I just read on Forum Nokia. That + version 7.1 of the browser + optical navikey should make for a very decent browser experience... What do you guys think? Rafe... fantastic article! |
Unregistered
The thing is, with the iphone you can start panning around the page shortly after some of the elements have loaded. Has 7.1 fixed this on the n86?
On my E71, if you tried to go to overview mode and pan around the page, it'd often freeze while the remaining elements loaded, including pictures that weren't essential to the browsing experience.
Full page load times aren't as relevant as the real world experience for the end user - I hope the newer browser matches Apple's work on that front more than anything.
On my E71, if you tried to go to overview mode and pan around the page, it'd often freeze while the remaining elements loaded, including pictures that weren't essential to the browsing experience.
Full page load times aren't as relevant as the real world experience for the end user - I hope the newer browser matches Apple's work on that front more than anything.
Unregistered
I seem to be able to start scrolling around before the progress indicator at the top says the loading is complete. (5800)
Huschke2go
These result are only true on devices where all the 3rd party apps are installed on the device memory. If you install a couple of apps on the memory card, the OS and especially the web browser becomes very very very unresponsive over time.
That behaviour is not only true on my 5800. It was also true on my N95, which I used for quite some time. Because of that I have all my apps installed on my device memory, and the browser still works like a charm.
@AAS: Do you guys have any idea as to why this is? It's not only me, a couple of my geek friends noticed this too on their Nokia handsets.
That behaviour is not only true on my 5800. It was also true on my N95, which I used for quite some time. Because of that I have all my apps installed on my device memory, and the browser still works like a charm.
@AAS: Do you guys have any idea as to why this is? It's not only me, a couple of my geek friends noticed this too on their Nokia handsets.
Unregistered
I'm a big symbian fan, and even i have too admit that this test sucks. You're comparing new symbian devices against an outdate iPhone and android phone.
Rewrite the article an test it the devices again with an iPhones 3GS and an HTC Magic/Hero. Thats a fair test.
Rewrite the article an test it the devices again with an iPhones 3GS and an HTC Magic/Hero. Thats a fair test.
Unregistered
In our Tests, iPhone 3GS was three times faster than iPhone 3G with OS 2.x in site loading (9 seconds to 30 seconds). After updating to OS 3.0, the iPhone 3G would load web pages twice as fast as with os 2.x (around 20 seconds). So the comparison really is not fair. N97 was much slower than iphone 3gs (i do not have the exact number here, thought about the same as iPhone 3G with OS 3.0). The iPhone 3GS has the fastet internet browser on any mobile phone, period. Opera Mini is quite fast once it is working. But sometimes it pauses while the page is fetched and processed via the proxy.
By the way: We did all the tests via wireless lan, so the 3g network speed did not matter.
By the way: We did all the tests via wireless lan, so the 3g network speed did not matter.