Speed Test

iPhone 5 Will Likely Take Samsung Galaxy S II’s Fastest GPU Trophy

Cody Lee ∙ September 12, 2011

In the ever-changing world of Android handsets, there has been one device that has consistently stood out among the crowd — The Samsung Galaxy S II. The phone has been dominating European sales charts for several months, and has recently landed stateside.

Nearly 4 times as fast as the iPhone 4, the Galaxy S II's processor/GPU combo is the fastest in the industry according to Anandtech. But how will the speediest smartphone in the business stack up against Apple's yet-to-be-announced iPhone 5?

HTML5 Tests Show Mobile Safari Much Faster in iOS 5

Cody Lee ∙ Updated February 18, 2018

Mobile Safari has received some major updates in iOS 5. We've seen new features added like private browsing and Reading List. On top of that, the mobile browser now allows web apps to utilize the Nitro engine, which greatly improves the web app experience.

Multiple sites are reporting that Apple has also improved Mobile Safari's overall performance in the new firmware. We confirm the speculation by running an HTML5 speed test with an iPad on iOS 5. Just how fast is Apple's mobile browser?

Web App Performance in iOS 5 Greatly Improved

Alex Heath ∙ Updated June 13, 2016

Web app performance in iOS 4 has been disappointing. It's been speculated that Apple has been intentionally handicapping web app performance in iOS 4. When websites are launched from the iPhone's homescreen, loading times become much longer than when a site is opened straight from the Mobile Safari app.

In iOS 5, it's been discovered that fullscreen web apps from the homescreen can access the Nitro Javascript engine that sped up Mobile Safari in iOS 4.3. These "dynamic-codesigning" privileges allow for a much faster web app experience in iOS 5.

Speed Test: iOS 5 vs iOS 4.3.3

IDB Staff ∙ June 9, 2011

So I've been playing with iOS 5 beta 1 on my iPhone 3GS for a couple of days now and my first impression is that it looks really good. Good enough to make me consider giving up my jailbreak and unlock to install iOS 5 on my iPhone 4 - don't worry, I won't.

One thing I've noticed about Apple's latest beta is that it is a little sluggish. I know an iPhone 3GS isn't the ideal device to test a new OS on, so I thought I'd put it to the test against the same device, but on the current iOS 4.3.3...

AT&T Shows off LTE Speeds Expected to Appear in iPhones Next Year

Cody Lee ∙ May 20, 2011

Stacey Higginbotham got a tour of AT&T's Foundry space in Plano, Texas on Wednesday. Not only did the GigaOM author get to rub elbows with the carrier's SVP of application and service infrastructure John Summers, she also got to witness their LTE in action.

LTE stands for Long Term Evolution and has been a popular choice for 4th generation technology among wireless carriers. Verizon deployed their LTE service late last year, and other than a few hiccups, the service has been widely popular. So how will AT&T stack up?

T-Mobile Challenges iPhone Users in Seattle Area, Offers $1000 Prize

Guest Author ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

Want to win $1000? Well, you can if you live in the Seattle area and your iPhone bandwidth speeds are faster than T-Mobile's new flagship Android smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S 4G.

T-Mobile is publicly challenging all iPhone owners (Verizon and AT&T) in the Seattle area to a speed test against the T-Mobile Galaxy S 4G. T-Mobile states that if any iPhone user in that area is able to beat the Galaxy S 4G in a speed test, they will reward them with a $1,000 cash prize.

AT&T iPhone 4 Beats Android 4G in Upload Test

Cody Lee ∙ March 9, 2011

4G Android handset users are pretty upset over their not so 4G upload speeds. This past month, AT&T rolled out their first pair of 4G phones which operate on the carrier's 4G HSPA+ network. Even though AT&T has upgraded their entire network to HSPA+, it is only available in areas that have the new backhaul to support it.

How fast are these 4G devices? AT&T is claiming that in areas where 4G is lit up, they are seeing download speeds of up to 6 Mbps. There is no mention of upload speed. But Android users are flocking to web forums, claiming their 4G phones are losing to 3G iPhones in data speed tests....

AT&T iPhone Beats Verizon’s in Data Speed Tests

Cody Lee ∙ March 7, 2011

Verizon might win the coverage war, but AT&T takes the crown for the fastest data download speeds. That is, of course, according to Metrico Wireless. An independent mobile device performance evaluation company out of Maryland, Metrico has been advising companies on launch readiness of their wireless products and services for years.

According to their latest report, which includes thousands of field tests between 5 U.S. cities, AT&T clearly has the faster data. Metrico ran more than 10,000 web page downloads in Dallas, New York City, Seattle, Chicago, and Baltimore. They also ran more than 2,000 data download and upload tests, as well as over 4,000 voice calls...

iOS 4.3 vs iOS 4.2.1 Safari Web Browsing Speed Comparison

Guest Author ∙ March 5, 2011

At Apple's iPad 2 Event earlier this week, one of the major improvements in iOS 4.3 was Mobile Safari performance.

Steve Jobs claimed that Apple has included the new Nitro JavaScript engine in iOS 4.3 which now powers Safari. According to Apple, the new Nitro JavaScript engine, not only improves web browsing responsiveness, but also runs JavaScript up to twice as fast as iOS 4.2.1, resulting in web pages and interactive features loading faster than ever before.