Android 2.2 Beats Apple iOS 4 in Benchmark Tests

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The Nexus One pulls ahead of Apple's latest wonder phone.

Now that the two latest generation of smartphone OSes are on the market, which one is superior? Google claims that Android 2.2, also known as Froyo, is many times faster than 2.1 – but is it faster than Apple's iOS 4, running on the fastest iPhone yet? If benchmarks are the authority, then yes, it is.

Ars Technica ran JavaScript benchmarks on the iOS 4 on the iPhone 4 against Android 2.2 on the Nexus One. It was a showdown of the best in class, and the software from Google took the commanding lead.

Check out the comparison chart below from Ars:

The benchmark score disparity doesn't fully reflect real world use, however. Engadget put the two mobile browsers against each other and, while the Android 2.2 Nexus One was still faster in almost all cases, the iPhone 4 wasn't far behind at all. Then again, the Nexus One was running Flash. With Flash disabled on the Android browser, the Nexus One was even faster.

Those running Android phones that will be getting 2.2 soon should look forward to some free performance gains.

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Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
57 Comments Comment from the forums
  • house70
    That means the latest and greatest hardware is nothing without the software to match it.
    Duh!...
    Reply
  • back_by_demand
    In the red corner!!!
    Apple fanbois leaping to the defence of their crappy iPhone!!!
    In the blue corner!!!
    Android owners laughing their asses off!!!

    Let's get ready to rumble!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Reply
  • awood28211
    Proven time and time again. Toms benches hardware everyday... Showing 6 cores mean nothing with software that doesn't utilize it.
    Reply
  • officeguy
    Who cares, they are phones, not PC's or gaming consoles? I fail to see the point of this!!
    Reply
  • plasmastorm
    There's a surprise, another story taken from engadget.com
    Don't Toms staff have any other sources?
    Reply
  • dargon_supreme
    It doesn´t need to be the fastest one. It only needs to be fast enough. So the questions is: Are iPhone OS4 and Android fast enough?. If the answer is 'yes', it is useless to compare them.
    Reply
  • Phoenixkatera
    Cool! I'm ready to dump AT&T for Verizon when the Droid X comes out. I wonder how "new hardware" with Android 2.2 would perform in comparison to Apples' iPhone 4

    There's a surprise, another story taken from engadget.com
    Don't Toms staff have any other sources?

    If it's old news to you then why click on the article? I happen to not explore every tech site on the web and like to see the news even if someone else's post I'll never see got it out first.

    Thanks Toms!
    Reply
  • Regulas
    I would like to see battery life comparisons, something that is important to a cell phone. I know both platforms have had problems in this area.
    Reply
  • burnley14
    Ha ha, suck it iPhone
    Reply
  • bourgeoisdude
    Phoenixkatera...If it's old news to you then why click on the article? I happen to not explore every tech site on the web and like to see the news even if someone else's post I'll never see got it out first.Thanks Toms!
    Same. I don't have to check 400 tech sites a day because Tom's usually gets it all.
    Reply