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Windows Phone browser goes up against iPhone 4 and Android ... and wins

Summary: This is interesting ... Joe Belfiore, Director of the Windows Phone program, put Internet Explorer 9 mobile up against the iPhone 4 and Google's Samsung Nexus S Android device at the MIX11 - and IE9 mobile won.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

By for Hardware 2.0 |

This is interesting ... Joe Belfiore, Director of the Windows Phone program, put Internet Explorer 9 mobile up against the iPhone 4 and Google's Samsung Nexus S Android device at the MIX11 - and IE9 mobile won.

The test carried out was Microsoft's own HTML5 speed reading test that forms part of the informal suite over on ietestdrive.com.

The Windows Phone “Mango” handset managed some 20FPS (frames per second), with the Samsung Nexus S managing only 11FPS, while the iPhone 4 trailed far behind on 2FPS.

Couple of points worth noting:

  • This is done purely using a Microsoft test platform.
  • The iPhone 4 is running iOS 4.2 and not the faster iOS 4.3 (in my informal testing using iOS4.3 the browser hobbled on at around 5FPS ... a little better but not much)

It's really great to see Microsoft pushing the turbo boost button on web browsing both on the desktop and mobile platforms. Good work!

Topics: Telcos, Android, Software, Operating Systems, Mobility, Microsoft, iPhone, Google, Browser, Windows

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61 comments
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  • RE: Windows Phone browser goes up against iPhone 4 and Android ... and wins

    *pinches himself* Am I dreaming ? Wake me up !!!! Good words for MS from AKH !!!!
    1773
    Reply Vote

    • I'm sure the ABM's will refute this test

      @1773
      tell us all the ways "M$ cheated" :)
      Will Farrell
      Reply Vote

      • Well, the test *was* selected by Microsoft

        @Will Farrell
        If some test exists in which iPhone or Nexus comes out faster than WP7, do you believe that they would have shown that on stage?

        You cannot take away from MS and WP7 that they were considerably faster in *this* test. Question is, is this a general pattern?
        honeymonster
        Reply Vote

      • WF might load from cache

        @Will Farrell: (yes, despite the figures are supposedly to be drawn dynamically).<br><br>But it is not very likely.<br><br>It is just MS test site for IE. <b>And iPhone 4 got resolution 960x640, unlike competitors.</b>
        DDERSSS
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Windows Phone browser goes up against iPhone 4 and Android ... and wins

        @1773 Once in a while he does this smoke screen. Afterward he shows his true Apple colors for weeks and when he someone calls his B.S., he points out to these smoke screens to try to deny his Apple bias.
        nomorebs
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Windows Phone browser goes up against iPhone 4 and Android ... and wins

        @Will Farrell I find it interesting that they used the very latest version of WP7's IE browser - one not available in the wild yet - vs an older iOS Safari browser (the one from iOS 4.2 NOT the currently released to the wild and much faster version with iOS 4.3) as a comparison. A truer comparison would be current version vs current version.
        athynz
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Windows Phone browser goes up against iPhone 4 and Android ... and wins

        @Will Farrell

        This line right here: "?This is done purely using a Microsoft test platform."

        I'm sure there is absolutely no bias in using your own test platform; the reliability of these results are pretty much guaranteed.
        NetAdmin1178
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Windows Phone browser goes up against iPhone 4 and Android ... and wins

        @Will Farrell

        Are we to believe everything out of the Apple camp?
        Rob.sharp
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Windows Phone browser goes up against iPhone 4 and Android ... and wins

        @Will Farrell
        What I see, right under the video, is the line "The test carried out was Microsoft?s own HTML5 speed reading test"
        Enough said.

        However, just as someone else mentioned, this was performed with a WP7 browser that is NOT in anyone's hands right now, against an out-of-date version of iOS's Safari--certainly not demonstrative of what is in consumers' hands at the moment.
        lelandhendrix@...
        Reply Vote

    • Totally agree

      @1773 Totally agree
      saif365
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Windows Phone browser goes up against iPhone 4 and Android ... and wins

      @1773 totally agree
      saif365
      Reply Vote

  • Did you try the same test on your desktop?

    I got 4fps using Firefox 3.6, 60fps using IE9, and Chrome couldn't even load it.
    http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/Performance/SpeedReading/Default.html
    AdamzP
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Windows Phone browser goes up against iPhone 4 and Android ... and wins

      @AdamzP

      Safari does the test @ 1267x680 window size, Chrome is @ 1056x674, Firefox 1280x666, Opera doesn't even open it.

      Then my iPhone as I posted below 980x10... (cut off) in portrait, 980x42... (cut off) in landscape.

      WHY IS THE TEST RUNNING AT DIFFERENT WINDOW SIZES BASED ON IDENTIFICATION OF THE BROWSER?
      alsobannedfromzdnet
      Reply Vote

    • This is Windows phone browser against the WORLD! ;-)

      @AdamzP
      And my Core 2 Duo laptop (2 x 2GHz, T7300) scores 10 FPS with the latest Chrome on 64-bit Ubuntu. :-) :-) :-)

      Gimme a break! :-) :-) :-)
      Solid Water
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Windows Phone browser goes up against iPhone 4 and Android ... and wins

        @Solid Water

        well here is the deal IE9 uses DirectX 9,10,11 which are all lightspeed ahead of the that dinosaur openGL which if you compare the openGL version in ubuntu has the same level of functionality that DirectX 8 had...
        Viper589
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Windows Phone browser goes up against iPhone 4 and Android ... and wins

        @Solid Water

        And forgive me if i am wrong but chrome docent support hardware acceleration yet!?
        Viper589
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Windows Phone browser goes up against iPhone 4 and Android ... and wins

        @knix You really don't have a clue, don't you... OpenGL performs every bit as well as DirectX when implemented properly. Portal on Mac using a GeForce 8600 runs better than Portal on Windows using a GeForce 8600, at least in my experience. Also see PS3 vs 360 when it comes to graphics (XBox has a Radeon 2000-series comparable chip where PS3 uses a rebranded GeForce 7000 series chip).
        Champ_Kind
        Reply Vote

    • Firefox 3.6 is the Microsoft test champion! ;-)

      @AdamzP
      Same laptop (Core 2 Duo T7300@2GHz).
      Test window 1680x827 (was 1680x912 for Chrome).

      FPS for Mozilla 3.6 was... 26 FPS! :-)

      I reran the test for Chrome - 9 FPS.

      People! You are on the wrong browser! Everybody should be back to Firefox 3.6! ;-)
      Solid Water
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Windows Phone browser goes up against iPhone 4 and Android ... and wins

        @Solid Water
        What are you talking about, It's time for Firefox 4.
        asdacap
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Windows Phone browser goes up against iPhone 4 and Android ... and wins

        @Solid Water Actually IE9 scored 60 fps according to AdamzP in a prior entry. So you are are running the wrong browser (if you want to go by 1 test). ;)
        rmark@...
        Reply Vote
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