iPhone 5 Touch Screen Twice as Fast as Android Touch Screen

[marksman]

Please post a video of you doing this then we can time you.

You apparently have no ability to perceive time and/or move super slow, way below the average range for humans.

100 ms is 1/10 of a second. Pretty easy for a normal person to take an action in less time than that.

 

[croooow]

I felt embarrassed by this feature. When all that someone can come up with is screen (a) is so many "milliseconds" yes that's right "milliseconds" faster than screen (b) then you know the opposition is clutching at straws and is really worried.

It is features like this that make Apple look totally ridiculous and paranoid. If it was my company I would not want this type of comparison to be drawn. It makes one look like that's all you've got in your arsenal.

Please show me the video of anyone from Apple claiming that their touchscreen was faster.

• Apple did not put this out.
  
• This is not "all that Apple can come up with" (it is not something they even claim)
  
• They did spend a lot of time talking about the new processor, I think that is an important "feature"

 

[Xgm541]

Let's be real - we're not bias. It is just simply a fact that iPhone is a superior product compared to every other model mentioned in this study. Heck, considering that iOS is far more advanced than Android, I'd have iPhone 4S way ahead of SG4 and HTC one in terms of overall package.

What? In what way is iOS far more advanced than android? Putting the android vs iOS debate aside... each OS is very similar in what they do. You make it seem like you're comparing Windows 95 to Windows 8.

 

[MacDav]

These threads get more childish by the day. Talk about kindergarten, mine's better/faster than yours. I thought I'd left all this behind many many years ago.

P.S. I think jaymzuk has just about nailed it with little more that needs to be said. As someone with plenty of Apple kit I myself am embarrassed by this type of childish boasting.

You should be used to it by now. After all you joined MacRumors in 2011.

 

[pogoking]

I'm glad someone actually did a test on this. I sometimes feel like most people just don't care about or even notice lag. For me, it simply drives me crazy. If a mouse pointer, brush, or UI element lags, it really pisses me off and it makes everything feel annoying and slow. Your brain tries to evaluate your movements in real-time, and adjust your hand accordingly. If there's lag, you cannot adjust your movement as accurately.

Apple does a great job at reducing such lag and it makes their products feel far more responsive, even if the actual processing time for tasks is the same. Take for example scrolling on a Mac trackpad vs. scrolling on a Windows trackpad. The former feels like you're actually moving the content with your fingers, while the latter feels like you're constantly being punched in the face by Mike Tyson.

These things mean nothing to someone who simply isn't sensitive to it, which is why lots of people don't mind having laggy devices, and they will tell you that they don't notice any lag, while you can clearly tell the difference.

Exactly my thoughts. Most Windows based laptops support gestures nowadays, like scrolling or even four-fingers-swipe-up to reveal desktop, but there's just too much lag and using these gestures doesn't feel comfortable and natural at all. If you use your computer for 30 minutes a day to check Facebook or e-mail you probably won't even notice these small differences, but when your computer is your primary work machine these differences are a game changer. The trackpad is, in my opinion, the best thing in MacBooks. If I were to start using a clunky trackpad that most Windows based machines are equipped with I'd rather change my occupation for something that doesn't require a computer, although I love my job.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Interesting. When I repeat the "draw a squiggly line" test on my iPad 1, I get a MUCH faster response time than is shown in the Microsoft video. Definitely not 1 ms, but it certainly feels faster than "half the latency" would be. (i.e. it feels faster than 50ms.) I have to "squiggle" significantly faster than they show to get even half a cycle behind, much less the full cycle behind they show.

 

[HornetOSX]

I felt embarrassed by this feature. When all that someone can come up with is screen (a) is so many "milliseconds" yes that's right "milliseconds" faster than screen (b) then you know the opposition is clutching at straws and is really worried.

It is features like this that make Apple look totally ridiculous and paranoid. If it was my company I would not want this type of comparison to be drawn. It makes one look like that's all you've got in your arsenal.

apparently you don't get it ....

Increased lag in the human-machine interface leads to increased lag EVERYWHERE.

yes for 1 click it is "just some milliseconds"

But for every click that is 50 milli seconds behind it means the processing of said click is automatically 50 mils behind.

this adds up to a slower feeling interface at some point. just watch the microsoft video.. you can see in the 8x slow down how the line drawn gets more and more behind the finger.

Besides.. if a few milliseconds don't matter.....


why does everyone want faster processors.. they only increase the speed a few milliseconds here and there....

 

[croooow]

Let's be real - we're not bias. It is just simply a fact that iPhone is a superior product compared to every other model mentioned in this study. Heck, considering that iOS is far more advanced than Android, I'd have iPhone 4S way ahead of SG4 and HTC one in terms of overall package.

This was very true a few years ago but the other companies have caught up pretty fast.

You could argue that iPhone and iOS is still ahead of the competition overall, but there are many aspects of Android that beat iOS. There are aspects of other Smart Phones that beat iPhone.

I still think iPhone is still the best (overall) but I can easily see why someone in 2013 would say another phone is better.

 

[msandersen]

...Apple does a great job at reducing such lag and it makes their products feel far more responsive, even if the actual processing time for tasks is the same. Take for example scrolling on a Mac trackpad vs. scrolling on a Windows trackpad. The former feels like you're actually moving the content with your fingers, while the latter feels like you're constantly being punched in the face by Mike Tyson.

Lol, maybe not literally, but it made me laugh Given a choice, I'd still choose Windows scrolling, as I have no desire whatsoever of being punched in the face by Mike.

 

[errant]

iPhone 5? How timely.

 

[croooow]

...then you know the opposition is clutching at straws and is really worried...

Apple is not clutching at straws but they should be worried (It is not 2007 anymore, the competition has done very well playing catch up, they need to do something if they want their enormous lead back)

 

[kdarling]

See what happens when you design your own hardware and software together?
BOOM.

People repeat this a lot, but ironically, it's been pointed out that Apple segregates their hardware and software teams, in order to keep projects secrect. For example, iPhone hardware engineers were not allowed to see any iOS work.

It was recently revealed that breaking down such internal walls was one of Jon Ive's desires.

--

As for other major phone manufacturers, they usually have a team dedicated to optimizing drivers for their particular hardware, so the saying applies to a lot of companies, even if using shared main code.

--

The upshot is, it'd be nice to know what this test is really supposed to show. There are multiple touchscreen controller chips available, for example, some with very high read rates, and others not so much. So that part is hardware dependent.

The number of touch lines on the screen is also a variable. Perhaps the screen has better touch resolution, but is thereby slower to read fast movement. Etc.

Is this testing the code they wrote, or the OS? Even they noted that the code was a factor.

 

[Rootus]

The iPhone's keyboard is so responsive, I don't understand why people desire a 3rd party keyboard so badly.

Try it sometime. With swiftkey I can write sentences much, much faster than using hunt and peck on ios. Between swype, hold-and-press for quick access to symbols/numbers/etc, and the word prediction, it's a huge improvement. I'm still getting a 5s because it'll fit my particular needs better than the N4, but I'll cry a little every time I have to use the stone age keyboard

 

[lazard]

You apparently have no ability to perceive time and/or move super slow, way below the average range for humans.

100 ms is 1/10 of a second. Pretty easy for a normal person to take an action in less time than that.

Super slow? It takes a person on average 300-400 ms to blink. So 59 ms, you're talking about 5-6x faster than the blink of an eye.

 

[radiohead14]

The iPhone's keyboard is so responsive, I don't understand why people desire a 3rd party keyboard so badly.

ever use Swype? as someone who sucks at texting.. it's such a convenience

 

[Thescoot]

Microsoft labs shows why this is so important t

Need to get to 10ms for stylus to actually feel right. But it is good to see they are getting so close.

 

[notabadname]

. . . . Apple may be able to take shortcuts here though, since they can optimize their software directly for specific hardware down to the displays themselves, unlike Google who can't make assumptions about which display some Android phone will use.

Not sure I would call controlling the hardware and software, and therefore properly optimizing the user interface, a "shortcut". An Advantage, yes.

 

[samcraig]

Definitely a nice bragging point. However - since I type way faster with SwiftKey Flow then I ever did on the iPhone - I don't think this is a selling point to me personally.

I think it really depends on your use case whether or not this speed really makes a difference or not.

----------

People repeat this a lot, but ironically, it's been pointed out that Apple segregates their hardware and software teams, in order to keep projects secrect. For example, iPhone hardware engineers were not allowed to see any iOS work.

It was recently revealed that breaking down such internal walls was one of Jon Ive's desires.

--

As for other major phone manufacturers, they usually have a team dedicated to optimizing drivers for their particular hardware, so the saying applies to a lot of companies, even if using shared main code.

--

The upshot is, it'd be nice to know what this test is really supposed to show. There are multiple touchscreen controller chips available, for example, some with very high read rates, and others not so much. So that part is hardware dependent.

The number of touch lines on the screen is also a variable. Perhaps the screen has better touch resolution, but is thereby slower to read fast movement. Etc.

Is this testing the code they wrote, or the OS? Even they noted that the code was a factor.

Deaf ears (blind eyes) will never see your post... Sad.

 

[Pieira]

it's a phone, do people really care about this?

frame rate and ui usability is what I care about my nexus 4 scrolls just about as smoothly as my ipad 3. I can't see any difference in touchscreen latency.

the keyboard on android is just better ui with swype. going back to ios keyboard feels so clunky and the lag in iOS 7 feels even worse but I assume this will be fixed soon.


I can't wait for 1ms latency touchscreen because I find drawing apps almost unuseable at the moment. but I won't be using them on a 4" phone.

----------

I have noticeable lag even on my iPhone, so I suppose people are not equally receptive to the lag. I play online games, I can even notice 30ms lag, let alone 100ms, which is quite a long time in the world of games.

What games are you playing on your phone? How do you know you can notice 30ms lag when the iPhone 5 is supposedly the quickest at 55ms?

 

[zipa]

wow, thought all capacitive touch screens were essentially the same. i guess apple does have an edge

Uhh... When Microsoft shows how touchscreens should actually work, that makes you think that Apple has an edge?

 

[YeahBuddy]

Try it sometime. With swiftkey I can write sentences much, much faster than using hunt and peck on ios. Between swype, hold-and-press for quick access to symbols/numbers/etc, and the word prediction, it's a huge improvement. I'm still getting a 5s because it'll fit my particular needs better than the N4, but I'll cry a little every time I have to use the stone age keyboard

ever use Swype? as someone who sucks at texting.. it's such a convenience

Oh no, I've used it before. It's a really cool and innovative way to type. I just don't find it faster or easier than the iPhone's keyboard with autocorrect. But, I guess that's why people want 3rd party options. I just don't see the need for myself personally.,

 

[Parasprite]

I didn't know Android made touchscreens, I'll have to download one and see how they compare.

 

[Pieira]

I have a Nexus 7 which is 100% pure Google with zero bloat, and it still feels like crap compared to iOS devices. Funny part is they advertise the 1080p screen on the Nexus 7 as a major selling point, but the thing can't even play a frickin Netflix video without stuttering. It's truly pathetic. Luckily I primarily bought it to be a textbook e-reader and nothing more. I occasionally do some light browsing and words with friends on it but that's it.

Playing a Netflix video has nothing to do with touchscreen latency.

 

[Parasprite]

Oh no, I've used it before. It's a really cool and innovative way to type. I just don't find it faster or easier than the iPhone's keyboard with autocorrect. But, I guess that's why people want 3rd party options. I just don't see the need for myself personally.,

Personally, I type too much code and obscure/medical words for Swype to work even close to consistently. It's a really neat alternative way to type though all things considered.

 

[gotluck]

Whats the point of having all those suppose high end specs if the experience is less than mediocre.

You haven't used a good android device then. Your bias smells.