HTC Diamond v iPhone 3G Safari browser speed comparison

Not a completely fair comparison given how close this was. The HSDPA connection on the HTC machine was off wheras the iphone was connected!

If you look closely at the HTC machine you will notice that the data connection is OFF at the start of the test. Right after he clicks the button, you see the icon in the taskbar showing it logging into the HSDPA network (which takes a few seconds). The iphone gets a DNS response immediately.

Safari on iPhone rocks, no doubt a much nicer experience then the late beta I tried on my Tytn of Opera 9.5

You simply can't beat the pinching, stretching of the multitouch in Safari.

iPhone is not perfect but I will live with things I thing is missing like copy/paste, a2dp, lack of proper turn by turn navigation etc. before I go back to windows mobile. Hopefully most of the missing parts will arrive soon for the iPhone.

There's a nice entry on a Microsoft employee's blog ( http://tinyurl.com/57gmj5 ) that explains the Windows Mobile / CE model. The paragraph with the heading "Who owns what?" explains the general process that either ends with a firmware update (or no update at all). It is an interesting explanation.

The difference in the update scheme between Apple and MS is that Apple needs to provide people with lots of "little" things that other smartphones already have (ie. A2DP, Cut/Paste, MMS, Voice Dialing, etc). Where MS has all these things built into the OS (or provided via an app) and is expected to deliver a whole new UI, core structure (for stablility) and performance, and a whole new browser (less pressure now that 3rd parties like Opera and NetFront are filling in).

It should be noted that I have read already read articles (and experienced) instability of applications with Apple 2.0. So, that being said, Apple will have to work on stabilizing the once "rock solid" OS (maybe it wasn't so rock solid after all). Let's see how long it will take them to improve the situation.

I agree with interstink: competition is bringing great things, mobile phone browsers being just one example. I've used various incarnations of PIE, mini and mobile Opera, and now Safari. The crash in the video didn't bother me; I've had the latest versions of Opera crash as well. It's just another example of Dilbert's "Demon of Demonstrations" at work.

The lack of flash support on the iPhone doesn't bother me either; we all know it's comming:

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/iphone/iphone-adobe-flash-support-coming-275317.php

I also agree with interstink's criticism of Microsoft. They really need to up their game with the next version of WM, which brings up the obvious point:

iPhone owners know that they'll be getting neat new features, at least for the iPhone, like flash in regular updates to the OS. Can owner's of phones based on WM make the same claim with any certainty? In my experience it's been a hit or miss proposition.

Actually, when you think about it objectively, you reallize that it simply does not make sense to have a browser that brings in the content from a desktop version of a website into a mobile device that is running on EDGE speeds or less. Now that 3G is comming out it makes more sense to have browsers that bring more of the desktop experience to the mobile platforms. Subsequently, now is when all of the browser companies are doing just that. Nobody is following Safari, and if they were they would be crashing as much as Safari does too. Did anyone happen to notice which browser crashed in the video? Oh, did I mention Safari still does not do Flash while Opera does have that capacity?

IF YOU CANT BEAT THEM - JOIN (COPY) THEM
Looks like Opera is doing great things to imitate the most often used mobile browser, very smart move!

I think its great Windows Mobile devices are finally getting a good browsing experience. It is amusing it has to come from a 3rd party - SHAME on you M$.

No matter which device you enjoy using most, the competition is great for all of us.

Why wait until the pro, the Omnia should be pretty quick too!

Ahh, now I see what all the comotion is about. Someone finally made a comparison with a newer version of a WM device and suddenly everyone's bent. lol

Wait 'till Pro is out and the comparisons are made then.

Dave,

On the Diamond, the default browser IS opera. And, if you install the beta of Opera on any other device, it automatically becomes the default browser.

I think the point was that both browsers support new paging and rendering schemes and are being compared. Obviously, the speed at which information is displayed is affected by the connection and other factors. However, one the page is loaded, how the browser reacts in real-world use is good to see.

I agree, nice find Chris.

I do not see any information on this article other than the caption.

BUT the standard windows mobile browser is not Opera! Its Pocket I.E... So honestly this test shows nothing to me quite honestly.. Alot of factors we do not know.

Good find Chris!

Lifehacker just reported on using the iPhone 3G as a proxy-server in a WiFi network:

http://lifehacker.com/398961/get-your-computer-online-using-your-iphones-data-connection

They reported that a computer tethered to the iPhone rendered web pages faster than the iPhone itself. This would seem to indicate that the bottleneck is the iPhone and not the 3G connection, probably ditto for the Diamond/Opera combo. Also remember that the Diamond has more (though harder to see due to the small screen size) pixels to render.