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Comment by ddalex | Hacker News Reader

> top flagships from Samsung, Google, OnePlus all run Android without any stutter at stable 60fps too

This is true. The problem is that the FPS don't matter so much as latency touch-to-update does. And Apple keeps this latency about 1/2 of what Android can do.

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I actually find the touch latency thing to be really misleading. I have one iOS device (and iPad Pro 9.7"). The touch latency is definitely better than my Pixel 2 XL, but not enough for me to ever care about it in the best case for both devices.

The annoyances come when the responsiveness is below the standard for either device (eg, 1/4second to 1/2 second delays). I see some of those on both devices, tbh.

Have any evidence to back that claim up?

Even the $320 Pocophone F1 can perform at and above the iPhone XS Max performance in everyday tasks [1].

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emPiTZHdP88

Here’s a slightly older chart of touch latency tests: https://www.reddit.com/r/oneplus/comments/5fp160/les_numeriq...

I’d be interested to see if there are more recent tests.

Here’s Dan Luu’s tests on scrolling latency: https://danluu.com/input-lag/

These kinds of speed tests where they just open apps and "measure" how long they take to open are extremely unscientific and aren't good indicators of a phone's performance. There's so many variables they never control for except making sure there's no apps in the multitasking view. They're barely useful for anything other than knowing how many milliseconds you'll save opening an app.

That's why I said 'everyday tasks'. This wasn't really meant to be scientific or compare heavy workloads, but claiming iPhones have a giant advantage in total is a bit untrue.

Except opening communication and productivity apps is what people usually do when using their phones, not running CPU benchmarks. That Apple is so far behind and has been for years makes using iOS a laggy experience for anyone used to Android's speed.

Interesting. For reasons entirely separate from speed and benchmarks I left Android 18 months or so ago, and bought an iPhone SE knowing it was "last years tech". Despite having had mainly expensive, well specced, Android phones including a flagship or two I found iOS the most responsive, least laggy experience I've ever encountered on a smart phone.

I was actually quite shocked at just how impressed I was on iOS 10 after Android phones that had cost me twice as much and many decades learning every UI and UX experience will disappoint.

I have the opposite experience, but these are just anecdotes. Every YouTube video comparing non-Samsung Android to iOS seems to agree with my experience.

> iOS a laggy experience for anyone used to Android's speed

This is the first time I've heard this.

Most of the time it is complaints about Android being laggy.

I'm going to go with "in 2018, both Android and iPhone are perfectly usable and fast at everyday tasks".

Can the $320 Pocofone F1 let me watch Netflix in HD? I consider that to be an everyday task.

According to Netflix, yes you can.

https://help.netflix.com/en/node/23939

> In addition to the models listed above, you can stream Netflix in HD on devices powered by the following chipsets. Check with the manufacturer of your device to confirm hardware specifications:

[...]

Qualcomm Snapdragon 845

https://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_pocophone_f1-9293.php

> Chipset Qualcomm SDM845 Snapdragon 845 (10 nm)

No, you can’t. It doesn’t have Widevine L1.

https://m.gsmarena.com/the_pocophone_f1_cant_stream_hd_video...

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