Mobile Safari received many updates in iOS 5, including new features like private browsing and an Instapaper-style reading list. Additionally, Safari now allows web apps to utilize the Nitro engine, which will improve web app optimization.

Now, there are reports that Apple has also improved Safari’s general speed in the new OS. WinRumors reports that the iOS 5 web browser is faster than the Internet Explorer 9 browser in Windows Phone Mango — using Microsoft’s own performance test.

The folks at The iPhone Download Blog confirmed the results in a test showing iOS 5 clocking 33 frames per second (FPS,) which puts the mobile browser ahead of similar Android and Microsoft devices. In April, similar testing was done showing that Safari was seriously lagging behind its top Android competition, like the Droid X2, but it looks like Apple’s software is back on top… sort of.

The Next Web, on the other hand, points out that while iOS 5 offers big gains in HTML5 performance, Microsoft is also improving Windows Phone 7. In fact, while Apple bested the previous scores posted by Microsoft, new tests show Windows Phone 7 getting scores as high as 45 frames per second.

So Mobile Safari in iOS 5 is much faster than in earlier versions of the OS… but it may not be king of the hill. On the other hand, iOS 5 and Windows Phone 7 Mango are both in pre-release testing. Both browsers could receive even more enhancements before they’re released to the public.

 

William

William Shaub is a performance major at Juilliard who balances a life in music with heavy doses of writing and tennis. He loves tech journalism, and spends an enormous amount of time on a smartphone. You...

One reply on “HTML5 testing on iOS 5 shows speed improvements in Safari”

Comments are closed.