Apple iOS 5 trounces Windows Phone browser in speed test

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
An unofficial benchmarking video shows Microsoft's native Windows Phone 7.5 Mango browser lags behind Apple's Safari for iOS in various speed tests, with the Nokia Lumia 800 testbed even being outperformed by an iPhone 4 running iOS 4.3.



A video uploaded to Nokia blog My Nokia blog from YouTube user "359gsm" on Monday showed the new Windows Phone 7-based Nokia Lumia 800 coming in dead last against two iPhones in a battery of speed tests, mustering its best performance with a second-place finish in HTML 5 "speed reading."



According to the complete scores, the 800MHz dual-core iPhone 4S running Apple's latest version of iOS 5 handily took the top spot in all of the five browser benchmarks performed, being more than twice as fast as the single-core 1.4 GHz Nokia Lumia in most metrics. Results from the JavaScript-heavy Sunspider benchmark marked the greatest disparity between the two platforms, and saw the 4S more than triple the speed of its Windows Phone rival.



The last-generation iPhone 4 running iOS 4.3 also beat the Nokia in most cases save for the HTML5 Speed Reading benchmark, however an upgrade to iOS 5 brought the year-old 1GHz Apple handset within three frames per second of the newer Windows Phone's score.







The Lumia 800 is Nokia's top-of-the-line smartphone model, and the first handset released after the company abandoned its Symbian smartphone OS in favor of Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 in February 2011. Unlocked versions of the device are showing up on online retailers' sites and while an official U.S. release has yet to be announced, the Finnish phone maker is expected to debut a Windows Phone 7 handset at CES on Jan. 9.



Microsoft's newest smartphone OS has failed to gain traction and accounted for barely 5 percent of entire U.S. smartphone market at the end of November 2011.



Full scores are below:



Browsermark test (higher score is better):



iPhone 4S (iOS 5) - 86,702

iPhone 4 (iOS 4.3) - 37,503

Nokia Lumia 800 (WP7.5 Mango) - 30,452



Speed Reading test (higher FPS is better):



iPhone 4S (iOS 5) ? 60 fps

Nokia Lumia 800 (WP7.5 aka Mango) ? 40 fps

iPhone 4 (iOS 4.3) ? 2 fps (~37 fps with iOS 5 upgrade)



Sunspider test (lower time is better):



iPhone 4S (iOS 5) ? 2266 ms

iPhone 4 (iOS 4.3) ? 4018.2 ms

Nokia Lumia 800 (WP7.5 aka Mango) ? 7188.7 ms



HTML5 Test (higher score is better):



iPhone 4S (iOS 5) ? 296

iPhone 4 (iOS 4.3) ? 210

Nokia Lumia 800 (WP7.5 aka Mango) ? 141



Acid3 Test:

Three-way tie



iPhone 4S (iOS 5) ? 100/100

Nokia Lumia 800 (WP7.5 aka Mango) ? 100/100

iPhone 4 (iOS 4.3) ? 100/100

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 30
    andysolandysol Posts: 2,506member
    1st (because I'm on a 4S).
  • Reply 2 of 30
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Andysol View Post


    1st (because I'm on a 4S).



    Nice trouncing Andysol!
  • Reply 3 of 30
    Yes, Windows Phone web browser is awful awful.
  • Reply 4 of 30
    garamondgaramond Posts: 109member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacInsider2 View Post


    Yes, Windows Phone web browser is awful awful.



    Not just awful?
  • Reply 5 of 30
    begbeg Posts: 53member
    Microsoft over promising and under delivering on their software? Unpossible!!!
  • Reply 6 of 30
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,712member
    Wow and Microsoft have always been so good at browsers...cough cough ...
  • Reply 7 of 30
    cycomikocycomiko Posts: 716member
    Just remember, tests only mean something when you are the one winning them.
  • Reply 8 of 30
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    1) Nice list of tests. I would have liked to have seen many more phones, including a variety of Android-based devices to see how a particular model can really affect your Android browser performance.



    2) Right now browsers are all very fast along most tests. The most important feature for a browser today is what browser works best for your needs. Getting 50 points lower on SunSpider on ICS isn't going to make for a better user experience if your browser crashes, makes you jump through more hoops to do common tasks and your device lasts only a few hours before dying. Go with what you like, don't use these speeds as your reason for choosing.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Acid3 Test:

    Three-way tie



    iPhone 4S (iOS 5) ? 100/100

    Nokia Lumia 800 (WP7.5 aka Mango) ? 100/100

    iPhone 4 (iOS 4.3) ? 100/100



    1) The video cuts off before any of the Acid 3 tests can render so where can I see the results.



    2) Passing all the tests isn't the only metric with Acid3. There is the number of attempts it takes to pass, the speed/framerate in which a test passes, and if the rendering is pixel perfect. iOS 5.x still only gets 100/100 score but fails all other criteria for passing.



    3) When is Acid 4 going to get worked on?





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacInsider2 View Post


    Yes, Windows Phone web browser is awful awful.



    It's actually really good. It's not WebKit level but it's still very good, and that's before you consider where MS was with IE just a year or two ago. There browser engine teams have done an amazing job.
  • Reply 9 of 30
    steven n.steven n. Posts: 1,229member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacInsider2 View Post


    Yes, Windows Phone web browser is awful awful.



    Actually it is not a bad browser and is pleasant to use. It is not quite as good as Mobile Safari but it is darn close and it feels lots better than the stock Android browser.



    All the mobile browsers have a ways to go yet.
  • Reply 10 of 30
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    What a disturbing video. The guy didn't do a dry run at all I guess.
  • Reply 11 of 30
    jonamacjonamac Posts: 388member
    I think it's probably fair to say that most of us here are Apple users. We'd not want to be called fanboys but we are fans of Apple's way of designing a product.



    What makes Apple's products so good is that specs and benchmarks aren't at the heart of what they make, the experience for the user is. I'd rather have a great browser that I could fly through the web with, with good bookmarking, multiple tabs and smooth pinch zooming etc. than one that wins a few tests.



    Right now, Apple probably win on the user experience front and the speed tests too, but the day will come when some Android monstrosity beats an iPhone in one of these tests and when it does we'll all say tests don't matter and it's all about the experience.



    I'll say it now, I don't care about this test, I care about the design of the browser.



    For there record, WP7 is truly excellent. Just because it's not made by Apple doesn't mean we have to pan it. It's the best thing Microsoft has made since XP (in its day, of course). Alas, I think it's a lame duck ecosystem once Windows 8 hits tablets with its metro UI that looks just like it but won't run the same apps (at least, if Windows 8 gains any traction at all, which is far from certain). Great software, incompetent governance.
  • Reply 12 of 30
    conradjoeconradjoe Posts: 1,887member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    An unofficial benchmarking video shows Microsoft's native Windows Phone 7.5 Mango browser lags behind Apple's Safari for iOS in various speed tests, with the Nokia Lumia 800 testbed even being outperformed by an iPhone 4 running iOS 4.3.








    We don't need speed tests to prove how awful those windows phones are. They are ugly. Microsoft has no taste. Never did.



    Anybody who would even think buying one of those must be a complete idiot. a fool. a moron. Or they hate Apple. No other possibilities.



    Nobody hardly buys that crap. Microsoft is irrelevant, and Windows phone is the LEAST relevant product that they have.



    A REAL apple fan would not consider buying one. There has to be something very wrong with anybody who would consider Windows phone.
  • Reply 13 of 30
    Quote:

    Apple iOS 5 trounces Windows Phone browser in speed tests



    I'd like to see people use the word "trounce" more often.
  • Reply 14 of 30
    Poe's Law aside, I'm glad Microsoft's at least trying to make something that works well. They get overlooked too often.
  • Reply 15 of 30
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Jonamac View Post


    I think it's probably fair to say that most of us here are Apple users. We'd not want to be called fanboys but we are fans of Apple's way of designing a product.



    What makes Apple's products so good is that specs and benchmarks aren't at the heart of what they make, the experience for the user is. I'd rather have a great browser that I could fly through the web with, with good bookmarking, multiple tabs and smooth pinch zooming etc. than one that wins a few tests.



    Right now, Apple probably win on the user experience front and the speed tests too, but the day will come when some Android monstrosity beats an iPhone in one of these tests and when it does we'll all say tests don't matter and it's all about the experience.



    I'll say it now, I don't care about this test, I care about the design of the browser.



    For there record, WP7 is truly excellent. Just because it's not made by Apple doesn't mean we have to pan it. It's the best thing Microsoft has made since XP (in its day, of course). Alas, I think it's a lame duck ecosystem once Windows 8 hits tablets with its metro UI that looks just like it but won't run the same apps (at least, if Windows 8 gains any traction at all, which is far from certain). Great software, incompetent governance.



    Wow. That was almost unbelievably balanced. I wish we could "thumbs up" posts here.
  • Reply 16 of 30
    Slightly off-topic, but I think Nokia dropped the ball big time by not including a front-facing camera on the Lumia 800. For such a loaded phone, I think that is a pretty glaring ommission.
  • Reply 17 of 30
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by BestKeptSecret View Post


    Slightly off-topic, but I think Nokia dropped the ball big time by not including a front-facing camera on the Lumia 800. For such a loaded phone, I think that is a pretty glaring ommission.



    Nokia were caught between a rock and a hard place.



    They only had a certain amount of time, so their two options where to not release anything at all in 2011, or release something that wasn't fully featured (no NFC, Front-facing camera etc).
  • Reply 18 of 30
    mr. hmr. h Posts: 4,870member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Jonamac View Post


    I think it's probably fair to say that most of us here are Apple users. We'd not want to be called fanboys but we are fans of Apple's way of designing a product.



    What makes Apple's products so good is that specs and benchmarks aren't at the heart of what they make, the experience for the user is. I'd rather have a great browser that I could fly through the web with, with good bookmarking, multiple tabs and smooth pinch zooming etc. than one that wins a few tests.



    Right now, Apple probably win on the user experience front and the speed tests too, but the day will come when some Android monstrosity beats an iPhone in one of these tests and when it does we'll all say tests don't matter and it's all about the experience.



    I'll say it now, I don't care about this test, I care about the design of the browser.



    For there record, WP7 is truly excellent. Just because it's not made by Apple doesn't mean we have to pan it. It's the best thing Microsoft has made since XP (in its day, of course). Alas, I think it's a lame duck ecosystem once Windows 8 hits tablets with its metro UI that looks just like it but won't run the same apps (at least, if Windows 8 gains any traction at all, which is far from certain). Great software, incompetent governance.



    Well said. You even know how to use an apostrophe properly!



    I think to a certain extent, you are right that benchmarks don't matter. However, if a browser gets a particularly poor score (e.g. iOS 4.3 on that "speed reading" test), that may indicate that the user experience will be poor on certain websites. So benchmarks can be useful for developers to make sure there aren't any glaring performance issues with their code.
  • Reply 19 of 30
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by BestKeptSecret View Post


    Slightly off-topic, but I think Nokia dropped the ball big time by not including a front-facing camera on the Lumia 800. For such a loaded phone, I think that is a pretty glaring ommission.



    Then again, it shouldn't be a show stopper. The iPhone didn't have a few 'basic' things with version 1, yet it sold well.



    I wrote about the lumia 800 before:

    For me, not so good. A friend of mine got the Lumia 800 and asked me to set it up, sync it with his Outlook on his Dell desktop etcetera.



    The box design is crap; I dropped the phone simply by opening the box. Nothing broke, so that's a +. Grabbed the phone, apparently pressed a button on the side and the flash light turned on. And stayed on. Stayed on after I shut down the phone. Stayed on after doing a reset (in software, on the phone). Stayed on after a cold boot reset. Now where's the battery latch when you need it? Thought everyone didn't like the iPods' non-removable battery. And later the iPhone, hmmpf.



    Tried to sync it with Outlook, couldn't do that. Only way was to have a Hotmail or Live account, sync Outlook with that and then back to your phone. Why on earth the same company that creates Outlook and the phone software do not talk to each other, even with a cable, is beyond my comprehension. I love the cloud, but it has to be thought-out and implemented well, like Apple does.



    And even if you sync it with Microsoft in the cloud, it still doesn't sync Outlook tasks, only Mail, Calendar and Contacts.



    I dislike the text being cut-off, but didn't try the phone out long enough as it was getting a bit warm with that flash light on. Returned the same day. Yes Nokia, my unit was faulty. Yes Microsoft, would like to try out WP7, but if basic things are cumbersome or not possible I can only imagine that my basic request is in the minority. Or something; I cannot understand why it is so crap. At least, for me.



    Anyone has better experience with this phone? Sol, did you get it from Finland?
  • Reply 20 of 30
    jd_in_sbjd_in_sb Posts: 1,600member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by BestKeptSecret View Post


    Slightly off-topic, but I think Nokia dropped the ball big time by not including a front-facing camera on the Lumia 800. For such a loaded phone, I think that is a pretty glaring ommission.



    That seems odd. Microsoft buys Skype for $8 billion then releases their first Nokia phone that can't make video Skype calls.



    If Android gets seriously damaged by IP lawsuits from Apple & Oracle, Microsoft has a good chance of being big player here.
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