Google Utilizing Technique to Make Android Devices Quicker Than iPhones
The American technology giant Google improves the launch speed of applications on Android devices. The Google Play System Update to Android Runtime (ART) brings better performance, security fixes, and consistent core APIs to millions of devices, including Android 12+. The upcoming update will soon be available for the Go version as well.
For those unfamiliar with Android Runtime, it is the engine behind the Android operating system (OS). ART makes applications and operating system services more efficient. ART processes the Java and Kotlin code that makes the applications work. When it’s better, all apps get better, run faster, and become more efficient.
The speed at which applications launch is crucial in terms of how users feel about their devices. iPhones and iPads are known to be faster and smoother when opening and closing applications. Users complained about slow app launches, so Google decided to bring a new ART update to make the app launch 30 percent faster.
Google has improved its performance significantly with the ART 14 update. According to the blog post, this boost is expected to significantly improve the user experience, even faster than the iPhone.
The testing process for Android Runtime updates involves compiling over 18 million APKs and running app compatibility tests and benchmarks for startup, performance, and memory across multiple Android devices. After all this, updates will be rolled out gradually, the blog post said.
The US tech giant also notes the developers’ improvements with each update. They are making improvements to OpenJDK and code handling that help both Java and Kotlin.
With ART 13, Google introduced a new OpenJDK version for Android devices the fastest ever. ART 14 will be rolled out in the coming months with “new compilers and runtime optimizations that improve performance and reduce code size, as well as OpenJDK 17.
“Our goal is 100% API coverage and high coverage, especially for new APIs,” Google said.
