Battle of the Browsers: Opera Mini vs Skyfire vs Default on Android 1.5
Today we did a quick test on 3 browsers for Android: Opera Mini 5, Skyfire 2.1 (beta) and the default Android browser in Android version 1.5.
Why 1.5 you ask? Well, we did the test on our generic Rockchip RK2808 7-inch MID, which unfortunately only runs Android version 1.5. We timed loading for a variety of sites, some image-heavy, some text-heavy, and the results are in line with the expected. Opera Mini 5 takes the cake, positively leaving Skyfire and the default browser in the dust. Carry on reading for a summary of the results and some other notes.
The Subjective Portion of This Test
- Opera Mini 5 browser took longer than both the default Android browser and Skyfire to load up.
- Skyfire took longer than the default Android browser, and was only marginally quicker loading than Opera Mini 5 browser.
- Opera Mini 5 had the smoothest on-screen kinetic scrolling of all the browsers, but only barely distinguishably so. In fact, the difference probably came from the on-demand loading of images.
Ok, now on to the numbers!
To start, the testing methodology was like so: each browser had cache cleared, history cleared, cookies cleared. The browser was started up after killing all running processes on a freshly booted RK2808 MID running Android 1.5. A stopwatch was used and we were connected via WiFi. The first trial was the initial loading of the site. The second and third trials are refreshes of the site. Understandably we expect those times to go down due to the caching of images.
Below is a rundown of the websites loaded and the times (in seconds) for each browser with three trials each. Bold numbers represent the quickest time for that particular trial between the browsers.
| M.CNET.COM
Opera Mini — 5 8.9, 4.6, 4.7 Skyfire 2.1 Beta — 14.5, 6.8, 4.5 Android Default — 14.9, 7.3, 6 |
WIKIPEDIA.COM
Opera Mini 5 — 6.5, 2.5, 2.1 Skyfire 2.1 Beta — 6.2, 5.0, 4.6 Android Default — 5.5, 4.5, 4.7 |
| TV.COM
Opera Mini 5 — 7.6, 7.7, 7.2 Skyfire 2.1 Beta — 38.1, 39.2, 36.2 Android Default — 38.3, 40.0, 39.2 |
MOBILE.TWITTER.COM
Opera Mini 5 — 2.7, 1.7, 1.5 Skyfire 2.1 Beta — 3.4, 2.0, 2.1 Android Default — 4.5, 4.0, 2.0 |
| M.YOUTUBE.COM
Opera Mini 5 — 4.0, 3.9, 3.8 Skyfire 2.1 Beta — 3.1, 3.3, 2.0 Android Default — 4.5, 3.0, 3.3 |
MP4NATION.NET
Opera Mini 5 — 21.2, 9.7, 9.1 Skyfire 2.1 Beta — 38.0, 31.6, 30 Android Default — 30.3, 29.8, 29.1 |
The results seemingly speak for themselves. Skyfire gets a rare moment of glory with across-the-board faster loading times for the mobile Youtube page, but otherwise Opera Mini 5 takes the cake, especially on the two image-heavy sites, TV.com and MP4Nation.net where the on-demand image loading really took the edge off the loading times.
All in all, a telling test, but you must remember that site loading times can vary for a variety of reasons. There could have been a hitch in the server or WiFi signal strength could have plummeted for just a split second. The best way to find out is the fastest is to try them all yourself, and see which one you prefer or how the findings shape up for you. This test is only meant as a guideline or pointer and is by no means conclusive, exhaustive or “fact”. They are simply the findings we found.
The good news is that Opera Mini 5, Skyfire 2.1 (beta) can both be found on the Android Marketplace for free.
Discuss these findings on our forums!
Categories: Android
