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Comment by jan_g | Hacker News Reader

>It appears to me that this article is trying a little bit too hard to paper over the poor UI performance of Android compared to iOS or WP7, and making up excuses for less than optimal drawing performance.

I'm surprised that many people are still bashing UI responsiveness/performance. I've held and played with many devices (including, but not limited to, iphone 3 and 4) and I can't really say what's bothering so many people. For me, every android device that I've used in the last 2 years feels fast and responsive. I'll just go out and say that it's a non-issue for mainstream user.

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"I'll just go out and say that it's a non-issue for mainstream user."

Might also be why the "mainstream" is primarily using Apple iPads/iPods/iPhones vs the myriad of Android devices available.

What bothers people is that when you swipe from screen 1 to screen 2, there can be a > .5 second delay. It doesn't feel remotely "natural" for something that you're physically touching and supposedly interacting with.

>Might also be why the "mainstream" is primarily using Apple iPads/iPods/iPhones

I don't believe the reason for that is UI responsiveness (also, I don't agree with your 'primarily' assessment, but let's not chew on that). In my opinion, the differences are so small that UI performance just isn't an issue. There are other areas where iDevices are noticeably better compared to every competing device.

>What bothers people is that when you swipe from screen 1 to screen 2, there can be a > .5 second delay

Hm, I don't remember that ever happening to me in the last ~2 years with two devices that I've used most: nexus one and motorola defy. But ok, I grant you that it can happen. So what? I've also seen an iPhone freeze completely.

For me, the UI performance is the single biggest reason why I don't use Android as my primary phone. No matter how fast the underlying action is, the jumpiness and occasional lagginess makes it feel slow to me.

It frustrates me - there's so much I like about the OS that so many good things can be erased by leaving the visible perception of being slow.

This has got to be mostly a perception problem, because it's all I ever notice when using any Android device. Swipe/scroll lag has always been noticeable for me. And yes, iPhones do crash/break/jitter, but it's by far a very small percentage of the time compared to how often they're used.

As for a "reason" for people using Android: most of the people I know who use Android-based devices have "It's not Apple" as one of the top few reasons for using it.

Hm, I don't remember that ever happening to me in the last ~2 years with two devices that I've used most: nexus one and motorola defy. But ok, I grant you that it can happen. So what? I've also seen an iPhone freeze completely.

That's funny. I use a Nexus S on a daily basis, and compared to my primary phones I've used over the last 3 years (iPhone 3GS, 4, and now 4S), the touch screen is awful.

The incontrovertible truth is that every mainstream Android device on the market, including the newest SGS2's, have this annoying 500ms/20 pixel touchscreen 'slop'. And it's annoying as hell. It makes the touchscreen and all the widgets feel slippery. It ruins the built-in android keyboard (I can type at 40+ words per minute on the ios5 touchscreen keyboard, and I need swiftkey if I want to type that fast on android).

Ignore this all you like. Those of us who want something better know where to get it.

But you're forgetting the other big screen criteria people have: "not from Apple". Once you factor that in, the Android platforms all fare much better. :)

Or rather, not from a monopolistic company bent on calling users criminals for accessing their own devices.

But yeah, if you agree that that describes Apple to a T, or maybe a P, then "Not Apple, (or Microsoft, or ...)".

>Might also be why the "mainstream" is primarily using Apple iPads/iPods/iPhones vs the myriad of Android devices available.

Which mainstream? Last time I looked Android market share was substantially higher than iOS.

Look again, because iOS has greater market share than Android does. But it's a moot point anyways, because one OS is limited to a few devices that sell at high price points and the other is used by tens of manufacturers and hit low, medium, and high price points. Actually, because of that, it makes iOS's market share even more impressive.

What did I say that was wrong? The guy had the idea that Android has greater market share than iOS, I stated my belief that he was wrong, and then I got downvoted. Some of you guys are too trigger happy with your downvoting buttons. If you're going to downvote, at least explain why so everyone is wiser in the end.

I think people probably want you to cite some sources for what you're saying. Because pretty much every article I've read says that Android has a significantly larger market share:

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-11-15/tech/30400455...

Ahh, that's a good point. I usually like to leave others to google it up, but I guess it really is stupid for me to not put a source down since then I could just be making things up.

I may be mistaken for what these stats show, since things are very confusing with Android vs iOS. Some places claim one way and other places claim the other. I think the ones that claim iOS have a larger share are counting iPhones, iPod Touches, and iPads. Here's two sources that show iOS having greater share:

http://www.bgr.com/2011/11/01/ios-market-share-balloons-in-o...

http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_os-ww-monthly-201011-20111...

The second one (not sure about the first) is getting their stats from web hits, so how accurate it is, I do not know. I think aside from Apple and Google, no one really knows the real market share.

I found a better source arguing that iOS is ahead (at least in February of 2011):

http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/4/A...

This is now 3 sources claiming iOS has greater share than Android, and even if they are a bit outdated, it's proof that the 60% share vs 15% share cited in many articles refers only to the phone wars (most articles I've seen eventually mentions the words "smartphone").

There is no real confusion, except what you seem to be trying to create.

The BRG report is using one companies analytics product (which is embedded in apps). Plainly that is more popular on iOS than Android, but we've seen that before - most people on Android use Google Analytics, so 3rd party analytics aren't reliable when comparing them.

Those Comscore stats are nearly a year old. A more recent one shows Android at ~46%, iOS at 28%: http://www.bgr.com/2011/12/02/android-steals-blackberry-shar...

The Statcounter stats clearly show Android and iOS are within a couple of percent (note how Android was above iOS a month or two ago). Given that the iPAd is the most popular tablet on the market (and people browse the web on tablets a lot more than on phones) this makes it even more likely that Android is ahead in units.

Your stats refer to smartphones only whereas mine specifically says iPod touches, ipads, and iPhones. Given that the company doing the research is the same in both, but the labels are different, this difference could hold significance. Furthermore, if your table actually means what it's supposed to, it would mean android went from 10% share in February to 42% share in June.

Also, there are many factors at play as any Stats student knows. Simply making assertions that android users are misrepresented could be dangerous.

The mainstream who shop at stores where every single appliance/device has "works with your iPod/iPhone!". The mainstream who go to hotels that have iPod docking stations in the room alarm clocks. The mainstream who go to fitness gyms that have iPod/iPhone docking stations in the workout equipment.

Ah, but you are conflating UI performance with something else. My point is, that UI performance is not an issue (at least hasn't been for a while). Other things, like high quality apps, ubiquitous docking stations in cars/hotels/..., on the other hand are quite important. That is, for vast majority of users, geeks who type 40+ words/minute on miniature screens don't count.

I don't think so.

My position is that "mainstream" users - the type of people who care about the apps, docking stations, ubiquity of the platform, etc - also care about UI fluidity.

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