Standard Function Performance
There’s nothing more frustrating than trying to scroll through a web page or zoom in to click a link and having the browser stutter. It’s just as bad to change your smartphone’s orientation from portrait to landscape and have to wait for the web page to reflow – or worse, have to reload the page to fix reflow errors. These three basic functions and their performance are key.
Function Performance | Scrolling | Zooming | Landscape/Portrait Reflow |
---|---|---|---|
Default | Sometimes Clunky | Sometimes Clunky | Responsive/Accurate |
Dolphin HD | Smooth Once Loaded | Smooth Once Loaded | Jumpy, but Effective |
Opera Mobile | Mostly Smooth | Mostly Smooth | Responsive/Accurate |
Firefox | Very Smooth | Smooth but Slow to Reflow | Responsive but Slow to Reflow |
Dolphin Mini | Smooth Once Loaded | Smooth Once Loaded | Jumpy, but Effective |
Opera Mini | Very Smooth | Very Smooth | Responsive/Accurate |
Skyfire | Sometimes Clunky | Sometimes Clunky | Jumpy, Slow to Reflow |
The default browser is by far the worst in this category, constantly balking when navigating through complex web pages, or even pages with just a few handfuls of photos. Its ability to change orientation is amazingly snappy, though.
The Dolphin browsers clearly use the same engine to poke through a web page. As long as the page isn’t still loading, things function smoothly.
Opera and Firefox are clear leaders here. They each have a few minor quirks, but are very effective overall.