Mangoes are apparently good for mobile web browsers – the Internet Explorer 9 that comes with the Mango update for Windows Phone 7 beat Mobile Safari and the Android Browser at a hardware-accelerated graphics rendering test, demonstrated at MIX11.
The test at hand is HTML5 Speed Reading – it uses a Canvas element to draw an animation. The Canvas element gives JavaScript a lot of flexibility when it comes to drawing and is often used in HTML5 games (ones that often claim to be as good as Flash but with no actual Flash required).
The test offers a frame rate counter, which reveals a startling difference. The test was run simultaneously on an HTC Trophy, Google Nexus S and an iPhone 4 (actually, the iPhone had a head start).
Here’s the video of the demo from Microsoft’s MIX11 conference:
The Windows Phone 7 browser goes at a breezy 20fps, the Android Browser manages 11fps or so, while Mobile Safari chugs along at just 2fps. Again, this test measures Canvas drawing performance, rather than general browsing speed, or JavaScript performance and such.
Even more interesting fact is its look at the new version of IE 9 for cell phones running on Redmond’s platform. Recent changes includes GPU acceleration and improved rendering, but there a drawback that this IE9 will not support any kind of Flash or its videos or even embedded HTML5 clips, which is mainly due to the Microsoft’s desire to keep upgrading the things. Read More on the Disadvantages Of Windows Phone | The Features That Windows Phone Is Missing
It is known that Internet Explorer 9 for Windows Phone will be much better in handling forms and caching compared to other explorers. And User Interface (UI) wise here the Microsoft has placed the Address bar at the bottom of the page and that too is appearing in the Landscaped Mode.
But still, its really a very impressive demo that shows Microsoft has put a lot of work into the Mango update. There’s also quite a bit of other new functionality coming to Windows Phone 7 with the Mango update.