The mobile browser speed wars continue, and the latest fray comes courtesy of website optimization firm Blaze with claims that Android is 52-percent faster than iPhone, and quicker – in real-world testing – on 84-percent of sites. That’s despite Apple’s much-vaunted Nitro JavaScript engine, new to iOS 4.3 on the iPhone and iPad 2. We spoke to Blaze to find out more about the testing process, and in what ways the company was interpreting the results.
Apple has been accused of undermining web app performance in an attempt to pressure developers into coding for its App Store, selectively enabling JavaScript engines in and out of the mobile Safari browser so that web apps launched from the homescreen are penalized. Web apps run in Safari, The Register discovered, are 2-2.5x faster than those run from the homescreen, as they get to use the new Nitro JavaScript engine included in iOS 4.3.
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The iPad shaped the consumer tablet market. Now, just as Android 3.0 Honeycomb slates are rising to the challenge, the iPad 2 is here to move Apple’s game on even further. Squeezing a faster processor, boosted graphics and twin cameras into a 33-percent thinner design, yet keeping the same 10hr battery and – perhaps most importantly – the same price, the iPad 2 promises to refine what rivals were still struggling to beat. Is the Apple iPad 2 the best tablet today? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.
So like everyone else in the Apple universe, we had to download the iOS 4.3 update today AS FAST as POSSIBLE, and you know good and well what the next step is: benchmarks! Thustly we whipped out our SunSpider Browser Benchmarking webpages and our cool Geekbench apps and we're ready and more than excited to bring you the results. Would you like to know more?
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The “post-PC” world. Sounds great, doesn’t it. No more malware headaches, none of that awful association with dull cubicle work. Steve Jobs sits in a comfy chair and pages happily through his latest productivity-slash-entertainment apps; we imagine ourselves soaking up the WiFi in our local coffee shop, whiling our days shooting 720p video, editing it and uploading it all in one fell swoop. Dump your desk chairs, throw away your mouse mats. The iPad 2 has saved us from our shackles and shown us the light.
Disney has snapped up game engine developer Rocket Pack, whose plugin-free browser-based HTML5 system allows for easy coding with just JavaScript and CSS. According to TechCrunch the terms of the deal have not been made public, though Rocket Pack are believed to have been scooped for between $10m and $20m; Disney's interest likely stems from the potential flexibility in creating cross-platform, install-free games that don't need App Store approval to be distributed.
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Apple has officially announced iOS 4.3, which will ship pre-loaded on the iPad 2 and be available as a free download for existing iPad, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 (GSM) and 3rd/4th-Gen iPod touch owners from Friday, March 11. The new version includes the Nitro Javascript engine from the OS X version of Safari for faster web-browsing, along with an updated version of iTunes Home Sharing that allows you to stream music from iTunes on the desktop to your iOS device.
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Scott Forstall stood on stage after Steve Jobs introduced the first official look at the iPad 2 as we sat in the audience and looked upon the new icon with a gigantic 4.3 emblazoned upon it. This is definitely been in the cannon for a little while, its release being timed perfectly with the release of iPad 2. Safari performance has been improved with the Nitro JavaScript engine (exciting!) iTunes home sharing is introduced, allowing you to get all of your content directly over a Wifi connection. AirPlay has been improved, with a single tap on the AirPlay icon popping up a window that shows your Apple TV if it’s in range (or whichever other device will play nice with it, we suppose!)
After the iMac and Mac Pro hardware updates yesterday, Apple has turned its attentions to software today with a new version of their Safari browser. Safari 5.0.1 has activated Safari Extensions, basically HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript coded add-ons and plug-ins, which can be installed from the Safari Extensions Gallery.
Safari 5 made its debut in June, boasting a 30-percent speed boost over v.4 of the browser and twice the speed of Firefox 3.6. Users also get a new Reader mode, which basically strips out all the extraneous ads, images and content from a webpage, leaving only the text behind in an easy-to-consume format.
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Now here's a surprise. After filling the WWDC 2010 keynote with naught but iPhone 4 goodness, Apple has slipped out Safari 5, the latest version of their desktop browser. Packing a claimed 30-percent performance boost over Safari 4, the new version is also apparently three percent faster than Chrome 5.0 and over twice as fast as Firefox 3.6. Of course, it's still a free download, and is available both for Mac and Windows machines.
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Apple have launched Safari 4, the latest version of their browser for OS X and Windows. Claimed to run JavaScript over four times faster than Safari 3 and thirty times faster than IE7, thanks to the new Nitro engine, there's also a number of new features including Cover Flow, to browse through history and bookmarks, and Top Sites, which gives a visual overview of frequently visited pages.
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