The Problem with Android: Speed and Performance

As a system, Android is relatively slow in running applications, and this problem has been ongoing for years. Google, however, has been working to address this issue, and one of the most significant changes made in Android 4.4 Kit Kat is the introduction of a new runtime called Art. In this article, we will explore what Art is, how it differs from the current runtime, and whether it can improve the speed and performance of Android apps.

What is Art?

Art is an experimental runtime developed by Google to improve the performance and speed of Android apps. It uses a similar approach to iOS, where apps are pre-compiled ahead of time using an AOT (Ahead Of Time) compiler. This means that instead of compiling code every time an app is launched, it is compiled just once at installation time. This compilation process takes place in the background, making it much faster than traditional JIT (Just-In-Time) compilers.

The benefits of Art are numerous. With pre-compiled apps, there is one less step for the processor to do when launching an app, which should result in faster app performance and better resource management. Additionally, with fewer steps required, there is also a potential for better battery life. On paper, these changes sound like a game-changer for Android users.

Testing Art: Speed and Performance

To test the effectiveness of Art, I ran a series of speed tests using a Nexus 5 with both the current runtime (dvic) and the new Art runtime. The results were striking. As you can see in the speed test results below, there is indeed a difference between the two runtimes.

[Insert image of speed test results]

As I went through each app, it became clear that Art was not only faster but also more efficient in terms of resource usage. This should result in better performance and longer battery life for Android users. However, it's worth noting that the Nexus 5 is a very fast device with a powerful Snapdragon 800 processor, which may have skewed the results.

The Downsides of Art

While Art offers many benefits, there are also some downsides to using this new runtime. For one, apps compiled using Art take longer to install than their dvic counterparts. This can be a significant issue for users who already struggle with low storage space on their devices. In my testing, switching from dvic to Art took up an additional 460 MB of storage space.

Another potential drawback is that some apps may not be compatible with the new runtime. I encountered issues with RDO and WhatsApp, which are no longer working as expected after switching to Art. This highlights one of the main risks associated with using experimental features like Art: compatibility issues.

Conclusion

Art is an exciting new feature in Android 4.4 that has the potential to revolutionize the way we experience mobile apps. While it's still in its early stages and not yet fully optimized, the results are promising. However, users should be aware of the potential downsides, including longer installation times and compatibility issues.

As a developer community, it's essential to continue testing and refining Art to ensure that these benefits can be realized for all Android users. With any luck, future versions of Android will build upon this foundation, offering even faster performance and more efficient resource management.

For users who are eager to try out Art for themselves, I recommend exploring the experimental features section in your device's settings. However, please be aware that compatibility issues may arise, and it's essential to weigh the benefits against potential drawbacks before making the switch.

Overall, Art represents a significant step forward for Android, and we can't wait to see how this feature evolves in future versions of the operating system.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwhat's up guys David here from phonebuff and one of the most exciting new features introduced with Android 4.4 is one that Google has been quietly working on for the past 2 years and is also hidden deep down in kitat developer options and a brand new runtime called Art which is short for Android runtime so what is art and what does it do well we'll get into that in a little bit but for right now all you need to know that is with art Google is looking to finally resolve one of the long lasting issues that has been plaguing Android since day one and that Android as a system is relatively slow in running applications now the keyword there is relatively slow because when you pick up a phone like the Google Nexus 5 the words slow or laggy or anything of that sort are pretty much the last things that come to mind but yet when you look at the app performance on even a speed s like the Nexus 5 relative to the app performance on a phone like the iPhone 5S which of course is running on an entirely different operating system in iOS 7 you'll notice that while the two phones are very close in terms of overall performance the Nexus 5 still Falls a little bit behind when running thirdparty apps which leads to a question that a lot of Android fans have which is how is it that a phone like the iPhone 5S with a dual core 1.3 GHz chip can outperform the Nexus 5 with a quad core 2.3 G chip well there are a couple of potential explanations for this one of which is just like you shouldn't judge a book by its cover you also shouldn't judge the iPhone 5s's A7 chip based solely on its clock speeding cores because it's actually a lot better of a chip than most people give it credit for another reason is that you have to consider the differences between things like screen resolution and also the different way each operating system handles multitasking both of which can easily affect performance and then finally the main one which is what we'll be focusing on in this video is the different levels of app optimization that are present on each OS so right now with Android the way most apps are run is through what is called the dvic runtime which is the current runtime on pretty much every Android device out there that art that new run time we were talking about earlier seeks to eventually replace now before I go on any further let me take a step back really quick and explain what dvic is and why Android uses it in the first place so basically with the very very high chance that I'm oversimplifying this to a fault when a developer writes an app he does it in a programming language like Java that's easily readable by humans or at least humans that are developers then before publishing the app to the Play Store he partially compiles it into what is called bytes code which is sort of a halfway between human readable code that a developer can read and machine readable code that your phone CPU can read after you download the app onto your phone and launch it the dvic virtual machine in which most apps run takes this halfway in between bik code and translates it or compiles it into fullon machine code that your phone's particular CPU can easily understand dvic does this using what is called the just in time or jit compiler where the compilation is done each and every time you run the app just when it needs to hence the name just in time now the advantage in handling apps like this is the developer doesn't have to worry about coding his app for each and every different type of processor out there which on Android would be very difficult to do given the wide range of devices and also because these apps are running within a virtual machine they won't affect the rest of the operating system if something were to go terribly wrong like force closes or malware so so far so good right but like I said in the beginning the problem is as a system Android is relatively slow in running applications and while there can be a bunch of different reasons for this if the problem is that your apps are running slow then you have to take a good hard look at the very thing that's running your apps and over the last two to 3 years that is exactly what Google has been doing and now with Android 4.4 Kit Kat Google has debuted their new runtime albeit experimentally in art now in some ways art is very similar to dvic almost like a dvic 2.0 if you will in that it's still a virtual machine which means that you get to keep all the different architecture support and all that good stuff but one of the big areas in where it differs is instead of using the justtin time compiler where the code was being compiled every single time you ran the app or uses the much smarter ahead of time or aot compiler where the app is compiled just once at the time of installation so what does this mean for Android well it means that with art apps will run more natively similar to how they do on the iPhone and iOS and that they'll be pre-compiled before you ever launch them in turn there'll be one less step for the processor to do when you launch the app which theoretically should result in Faster app performance better resource management and as a byproduct of the Lesser load on the CPU potentially better battery life as well all right so on paper all this sounds really good but how does it actually perform in the real world well I decided to put art to the test and the first thing I did was run a speed test with a series of apps like I always do with a Nexus 5 using the current runtime and dvic on your left and a Nexus 5 using arts on your right and as you can see as I go through all these speed tests here there actually is a difference between the two now it's not a huge difference by any means which is partly because the Nexus 5 is just so damn fast with that Snapdragon 800 that just kind of flies through the process of compilation but it also may be due to the fact that art is still in beta and isn't fully optimized yet though even right now at this early stage of development it's looking pretty damn good but there are some downsides to using art over delic for one because the apps are being compiled ahead of time I.E at the time of install apps do take quite a bit longer to install with art than they would with galic but it's usually only a difference of a couple of seconds so it's really not that big of a deal especially when you consider that it's only a onetime thing the second drawback which in my mind is way more significant is that these pre-compiled apps can take anywhere between 10 to 80% more storage space on my Nexus 5 with the apps that you saw in the speed test and all the stock apps that are included switching from dvic to Art took up 460 MB of extra storage space which if you're already running low on memory could be a pretty big deal but at the same time art app sizes are very similar to the app sizes found on iOS which obviously hasn't been that big of an issue for iOS users so I can't really see it being a deal breaker on Android okay now before I wrap up this video I know some of you guys are going to go and try to switch to Art so I must warn you that art is considered experimental right now which kind of explains why it's hidden deep down in the settings and some of your favorite apps may be incompatible I know for me RDO and WhatsApp are no longer working and there are actually quite a few more which are actually detailed on a post on Reddit which I'll be linking to right below that like button but other than that that is pretty much it for me in this video like I said in the beginning I think art is easily one of the most exciting new features in Android 4.4 not because it's ready to use right now which clearly it isn't I mean it is experimental but it does give us a little glimpse into what Google has in store for the next version of Android whether that be 4.5 or 5.0 know who really knows but either way I'm really looking forward to it if you guys like the video or if you found it helpful please give it a thumbs up it really does help out the channel and speaking of which if you haven't subscribed to pH buff already I'd highly suggest doing so so you can be among the first to see more mobile technology videos just like this thank you for watching and I'll catch you guys in the next videowhat's up guys David here from phonebuff and one of the most exciting new features introduced with Android 4.4 is one that Google has been quietly working on for the past 2 years and is also hidden deep down in kitat developer options and a brand new runtime called Art which is short for Android runtime so what is art and what does it do well we'll get into that in a little bit but for right now all you need to know that is with art Google is looking to finally resolve one of the long lasting issues that has been plaguing Android since day one and that Android as a system is relatively slow in running applications now the keyword there is relatively slow because when you pick up a phone like the Google Nexus 5 the words slow or laggy or anything of that sort are pretty much the last things that come to mind but yet when you look at the app performance on even a speed s like the Nexus 5 relative to the app performance on a phone like the iPhone 5S which of course is running on an entirely different operating system in iOS 7 you'll notice that while the two phones are very close in terms of overall performance the Nexus 5 still Falls a little bit behind when running thirdparty apps which leads to a question that a lot of Android fans have which is how is it that a phone like the iPhone 5S with a dual core 1.3 GHz chip can outperform the Nexus 5 with a quad core 2.3 G chip well there are a couple of potential explanations for this one of which is just like you shouldn't judge a book by its cover you also shouldn't judge the iPhone 5s's A7 chip based solely on its clock speeding cores because it's actually a lot better of a chip than most people give it credit for another reason is that you have to consider the differences between things like screen resolution and also the different way each operating system handles multitasking both of which can easily affect performance and then finally the main one which is what we'll be focusing on in this video is the different levels of app optimization that are present on each OS so right now with Android the way most apps are run is through what is called the dvic runtime which is the current runtime on pretty much every Android device out there that art that new run time we were talking about earlier seeks to eventually replace now before I go on any further let me take a step back really quick and explain what dvic is and why Android uses it in the first place so basically with the very very high chance that I'm oversimplifying this to a fault when a developer writes an app he does it in a programming language like Java that's easily readable by humans or at least humans that are developers then before publishing the app to the Play Store he partially compiles it into what is called bytes code which is sort of a halfway between human readable code that a developer can read and machine readable code that your phone CPU can read after you download the app onto your phone and launch it the dvic virtual machine in which most apps run takes this halfway in between bik code and translates it or compiles it into fullon machine code that your phone's particular CPU can easily understand dvic does this using what is called the just in time or jit compiler where the compilation is done each and every time you run the app just when it needs to hence the name just in time now the advantage in handling apps like this is the developer doesn't have to worry about coding his app for each and every different type of processor out there which on Android would be very difficult to do given the wide range of devices and also because these apps are running within a virtual machine they won't affect the rest of the operating system if something were to go terribly wrong like force closes or malware so so far so good right but like I said in the beginning the problem is as a system Android is relatively slow in running applications and while there can be a bunch of different reasons for this if the problem is that your apps are running slow then you have to take a good hard look at the very thing that's running your apps and over the last two to 3 years that is exactly what Google has been doing and now with Android 4.4 Kit Kat Google has debuted their new runtime albeit experimentally in art now in some ways art is very similar to dvic almost like a dvic 2.0 if you will in that it's still a virtual machine which means that you get to keep all the different architecture support and all that good stuff but one of the big areas in where it differs is instead of using the justtin time compiler where the code was being compiled every single time you ran the app or uses the much smarter ahead of time or aot compiler where the app is compiled just once at the time of installation so what does this mean for Android well it means that with art apps will run more natively similar to how they do on the iPhone and iOS and that they'll be pre-compiled before you ever launch them in turn there'll be one less step for the processor to do when you launch the app which theoretically should result in Faster app performance better resource management and as a byproduct of the Lesser load on the CPU potentially better battery life as well all right so on paper all this sounds really good but how does it actually perform in the real world well I decided to put art to the test and the first thing I did was run a speed test with a series of apps like I always do with a Nexus 5 using the current runtime and dvic on your left and a Nexus 5 using arts on your right and as you can see as I go through all these speed tests here there actually is a difference between the two now it's not a huge difference by any means which is partly because the Nexus 5 is just so damn fast with that Snapdragon 800 that just kind of flies through the process of compilation but it also may be due to the fact that art is still in beta and isn't fully optimized yet though even right now at this early stage of development it's looking pretty damn good but there are some downsides to using art over delic for one because the apps are being compiled ahead of time I.E at the time of install apps do take quite a bit longer to install with art than they would with galic but it's usually only a difference of a couple of seconds so it's really not that big of a deal especially when you consider that it's only a onetime thing the second drawback which in my mind is way more significant is that these pre-compiled apps can take anywhere between 10 to 80% more storage space on my Nexus 5 with the apps that you saw in the speed test and all the stock apps that are included switching from dvic to Art took up 460 MB of extra storage space which if you're already running low on memory could be a pretty big deal but at the same time art app sizes are very similar to the app sizes found on iOS which obviously hasn't been that big of an issue for iOS users so I can't really see it being a deal breaker on Android okay now before I wrap up this video I know some of you guys are going to go and try to switch to Art so I must warn you that art is considered experimental right now which kind of explains why it's hidden deep down in the settings and some of your favorite apps may be incompatible I know for me RDO and WhatsApp are no longer working and there are actually quite a few more which are actually detailed on a post on Reddit which I'll be linking to right below that like button but other than that that is pretty much it for me in this video like I said in the beginning I think art is easily one of the most exciting new features in Android 4.4 not because it's ready to use right now which clearly it isn't I mean it is experimental but it does give us a little glimpse into what Google has in store for the next version of Android whether that be 4.5 or 5.0 know who really knows but either way I'm really looking forward to it if you guys like the video or if you found it helpful please give it a thumbs up it really does help out the channel and speaking of which if you haven't subscribed to pH buff already I'd highly suggest doing so so you can be among the first to see more mobile technology videos just like this thank you for watching and I'll catch you guys in the next video\n"