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Flash Player Performance on Droid 2 Found to Be Hit-or-Miss at Best

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Apr 12, 2001
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LAPTOP has been evaluating the performance of Adobe's Flash Player 10.1 on a number of different mobile devices, specifically focusing on how the multimedia player handles various content sources on the new Droid 2. With Apple CEO Steve Jobs' open letter published in late April claiming that Adobe had yet to deliver a Flash Player running well on a mobile platform, there has been considerable interest now that Adobe's much-hyped Flash Player 10.1 is finally making its way to platforms such as Google's Android. Based on LAPTOP's experience on the Droid 2, however, much still seems to be lacking.
I'm the last person on earth who wanted to believe Steve Jobs when he told Walt Mossberg at D8 that "Flash has had its day." I took it as nothing more than showmanship when Jobs shared his thoughts on Flash and wrote that "Flash is closed and proprietary, has major technical drawbacks, and doesn't support touch based devices." After spending time playing with Flash Player 10.1 on the new Droid 2, the first Android 2.2 phone to come with the player pre-installed, I'm sad to admit that Steve Jobs was right. Adobe's offering seems like it's too little, too late.
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The report notes that some Flash content, particularly sites featured in Adobe's Flash showcase for mobile devices such as the Sony Pictures movie trailers site, does perform very well. But many others, including ABC.com and FOX.com, deliver jerky video and severe system lag and unresponsiveness.
The difference between the smooth Flash trailers on Sony.com, the jerky episode of CSI, and the system-stalling Flash video on Fox.com is that the smoother ones were optimized specifically for phone playback. But if content providers have to go back and optimize their videos for mobile platforms, one of the key benefits of mobile Flash - backward compatibility with millions of existing videos - is lost. If you're modifying your videos anyway, why not go the full monty and use an HTML 5 player instead of Flash?
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When it comes to Flash-based games, LAPTOP found that many of the games are still designed for non-touch input, requiring keyboard presses and other actions that are simply not possible in the Flash Player mobile experience as currently implemented. Furthermore, simply attempting to load websites with Flash content resulted in slower loading speeds and even hangs that would make high-profile sites like The New York Times refuse to load.

Over three years after the launch of the original iPhone, it appears that Adobe has yet to find a way to deliver a quality Flash experience on mobile platforms. While the partial functionality Flash Player is currently capable of offering might be of use to some, the numerous performance issues and incompatibilities are certainly unlikely to convince Apple to embrace the technology. And it seems reasonable to assume that the longer it takes Adobe to develop a smoothly-functioning Flash Player for mobile, the more sites will make the transition to HTML5 and other accessible standards, reducing demand for the player.

Article Link: Flash Player Performance on Droid 2 Found to Be Hit-or-Miss at Best
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2010/08/20/flash-player-performance-on-droid-2-found-to-be-hit-or-miss-at-best/
A negative article about Flash on Macrumors! Grab your popcorn or treat of choice folks, this'll be a good'un.

(not that anyone will care, but the NYT site loads perfectly well on my HTC desire and a bit faster than it does on my iPad in my less than scientific test)
 
I don’t think we need pages long articles proving that Flash is horrendous performance hog. On CPU and RAM.

Ever since version 8 it became unbearably slow.
 
Oh I do love a good red rag being waved.

Can't say I'm surprised by the notes though.
 
who gives a flying crap what the flash performance on a droid is. I come here for rumors about mac products.
 
well we just tested our site on an EVO - and all our flash sections loaded just fine and worked as designed so we very happy with the plug-in :D
 
DylanLikesPorn said:
who gives a flying crap what the flash performance on a droid is. I come here for rumors about mac products.
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Is there a thread you don't actually troll? It's a shame you don't take your sig more seriously (as stated by another poster once).

This is actually an article that tries to debunk this great myth that the Droid 2 is somehow better. Fanbois like you should love this type of thing.
 
jessica. said:
Is there a thread you don't actually troll? It's a shame you don't take your sig more seriously (as stated by another poster once).

This is actually an article that tries to debunk this great myth that the Droid 2 is somehow better. Fanbois like you should love this type of thing.
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Considering this is MACrumors.com, I'm really frustrated that people even care about other platforms on here. Seriously. Keep it relevant to the name of the site.
 
The crux of the matter is that android is choice first. While it may not be a perfect experience, android opts to offer its users any content that they may wish. With Apple, its experience first. If they can't dictate a fluid and (mostly) problem free experience, they don't want it impugning people's view of their devices.
 
It really helps Adobe to have Flash that doesn't work.

:p

Flash is dying, just as we all thought.
 
icarus81187 said:
Considering this is MACrumors.com, I'm really frustrated that people even care about other platforms on here. Seriously. Keep it relevant to the name of the site.
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Why? Discussing the failure of flash on another device directly correlates to the spirit of this site. People have continually bashed the iPhone for not handling flash. Now we find out another device on another widely used and appreciated platform is also a failure. Please, it doesn't get any more relevant.
 
Why would someone want to ruin their web experience on a mobile device by having crash prone battery hogging Flash running on it? When I see a mobile phone that offers Flash as a feature, I see it as a negative not a positive.

Even on laptops and desktops Flash is often not desired. I love my Chrome browser on my macbook pro much more than Safari but lately I've switch back to Safari because as good as Chrome is, it crashes way too often and it's always the flash player causing the crash. Even when it's not crashing, I often find my CPU usage running very high with the fans blasting because some tab I have open on some site has poorly implemented flash on their page. Or maybe it's just the combination of having so much flash running on every tab. Either way it kills my Chrome browsing experience and my battery life.

On Safari, I have "Click to Flash" installed so it doesn't have that problem. And I rarely find the need to have to enable the Flash.

For specific cases, Flash is fine but for general Web use its far more of a hindrance than a help.
 
Since web based mobile devices become more and more popular, web developers will be forced to adjust their content. And as they will get into adjusting they will choose the newer format (HTML5) than the popular but continuously outdated Flash. Plain and simple. Don't need Jobs to understand it...
 
icarus81187 said:
Considering this is MACrumors.com, I'm really frustrated that people even care about other platforms on here. Seriously. Keep it relevant to the name of the site.
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MACrumors.com? If you want to discuss eye shadow, lipstick and other cosmetics, you've come to the wrong place!
 
Flash is crap enough on my MacBook Air, 2.13ghz.

I can only imagine how slow it is on a phone.

Click2Flash on Safari works great and I rarely have to enable the flash, older youtube videos mainly.
 
It really doesn't matter who confirms it... the drive behind Flash lies with the developers. And all of us former Flash devs (and possibly some current ones) knew this since day one... before it was ever even a slight mention. :p Don't get me wrong though, I'm very glad someone stepped forward and confirmed the "speculation" on Apple's behalf. I'm simply saying it won't do any good for the same reasons Droid fanboys don't seem to think Apple should be allowed to have fanboys. lol It's absolutely ridiculous. The media may drive the consumer market plenty, but in the end when us devs opt for a more stable, better performing, more efficient, and open alternative, consumer choice won't make a bit of difference. ;)
 
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