I'm not a big fan of Android, but I still see it as a major step up from what was the norm for smartphones before the iPhone. I see the advantages over the iPhone in the perceived "freedom of choice" that it has.
However, with the different OS revisions that will always be in the wild, and the different hardware, is this really a good thing? I'm asking a serious question here.
I see the iPhone as successful because it is more of an appliance like device, like a console. Other then storage size (which has no affect on actual performance), all "current" iPhones are the same.
It's not necessarily the amount of power that your hardware has, its about what the developers are forced to deal with. Give a developer a single device with specific specification and they will (assuming they are good) build the best product they can for that device, or at least try to. This has worked well for consoles. For the most part, an Xbox 360 is an Xbox 360... the PS3 is a PS3, and the Wii is a Wii. There might be some changes as revisions increase but for the most part they are the same. When you buy a game for a PS3 you don't have to see if you have a PS3 or a PS3 Galaxy Incredible.
Now, if developers build apps for the lowest end device, then everyone can be assured the app will run well. Of course, then why have a more powerful device? If apps will only run well on a faster cpu or better memory, then how do you deal with those that have a slightly lower end model?
Of course this really only matters in real world use. If all the devices have different components, and the benchmarks tell you that one does X points better then the other, it only really matters if that translates to real world use (which benchmarks don't always do).
These are just some thoughts. None of this may matter, and the Android market may just automatically deal with it. Everyone I know with an Android phone pretty much treats it like any other phone with great web browsing capabilities and a couple games. So the difference in specs might turn out to really be a non-issue. (In which case, does it just add to confusion as to which device to get when it doesn't really matter? I don't know).
If you think that all 1GHz Android smartphones are equally quick, think again. ZDNet Germany’s Christoph H Hochstätter shows that the performance of CPUs, RAM, flash and GPUs varies widely.
The basic specification of all high-end smartphones is pretty standard: a 1GHz ARM processor; a 3.5in. to 4in. display with a resolution of about 480 by 800 pixels; 3D graphics acceleration; and around 512MB of RAM.
Internal flash memory varies widely though, from 512MB up to 32GB in Apple’s iPhone 4. Android devices from HTC currently have 512MB of internal flash, while Samsung goes up to 16GB. Expansion via external SD cards is generally available for Android phones.
Another distinguishing feature is the camera: some smartphones have a front-facing camera (for making video calls) as well as the usual rear-mounted unit. An LED flash may or may not be present. All this adds up to big differences in picture quality.
What’s not evident from the smartphone manufacturers’ specifications is the fact that there are significant performance differences. Fortunately, these are clearly measurable.
ZDNet Germany uses Aurora Softworks’ Quadrant Professional test suite for Android smartphones. In addition, we use Rightware’s Browsermark, a browser benchmark specifically designed for Javascript-enabled smartphones.
