IE 10 in WP8 is slow compared to IE9 in WP7.5/7.8...why?

[roaspiras]

Don't get me wrong but I have a Lumia 710 and a Lumia 620. I love my Lumia 620 and I use it as a daily driver. I gave my Lumia 710 to my wife as a backup phone and recently I fiddled with it again and noticed that IE9 in WP7.5 rocks. I mean if I switch to another tab the switching is very fast unlike on my Lumia 620 where the page always reload --- what gives? I recently upgraded my Lumia 710 to WP7.8 and it seems to be better and more stable than WP8. Even the people hub loads picture much faster in WP7.5/7.8 than in WP8. Are you guys having the same experience? I was about to sell my Lumia 710 but I decided to keep it for good. Hope Microsoft sorts this problem asap.

Let me know what you think.

 

[Knight018]

Haven't seen the tab reloading when I switch tabs on the 8X or 920. Everything is fast. I haven't had any issues. Maybe it's a specific website you're going to?

 

[broar94]

Yeah I also note that the switching of tabs on my Nokia 620 is very slow. Pathetic browsing experience.

 

[Sanjay Chandra]

On my 820 , its fast

 

[realwarder]

Probably 512MB RAM - likely swaps out unused tabs more than those with 1GB RAM.

 

[AngryNil]

If the tab is reloading, it means the phone unloaded the page because it was running out of memory (RAM).

I really wish Microsoft mandated 1GB of RAM.

 

[broar94]

If the tab is reloading, it means the phone unloaded the page because it was running out of memory (RAM).

I really wish Microsoft mandated 1GB of RAM.

Hmm! How hard is it for Nokia to provide all devices with 1GB of RAM?? My LG Optimus One used to load several pages at one stretch and even after mutlitasking, the pages hardly reload!!

Thank you for your post, this was very helpful.. I may go back to Android :|

 

[AngryNil]

Hmm! How hard is it for Nokia to provide all devices with 1GB of RAM?? My LG Optimus One used to load several pages at one stretch and even after mutlitasking, the pages hardly reload!!

Android obviously has a different memory management model, so it's hard to directly compare. Windows Phone is pretty proactive in clearing out applications frozen in the background, to free up more memory for the foreground app. Android also does this, and I remember complaints last year that HTC's One X had rather severe issues with background apps being closed.

I can't imagine going to 1GB of RAM would be very hard, it's not a large or expensive component. I'm under the impression that RAM is being used by Nokia as a differentiator between their higher and lower end devices, which I do not like since 512MB is proving to be too little. Should've been 2GB for the higher end and 1GB for the lower end.

 

[LanunReviews]

Keep in mind that the devices that you're talking about are low-end phones. You can't expect them to load them up with 1GB ram like Android flagships or mid-tier phones. At that price point, even Android phones only use 512mb ram themselves (ie.- the latest Sony Xperia SP which costs roughly $400, comparable to the L720).

 

[freestaterocker]

I do agree that 512mb phones shouldn't exist on WP8, and I felt the same way about 256mb phones on WP7. I feel there are maybe better ways to deliver a low cost device.

 

[rockstarzzz]

I do agree that 512mb phones shouldn't exist on WP8, and I felt the same way about 256mb phones on WP7. I feel there are maybe better ways to deliver a low cost device.

Those serve as an entry level phone for those who used a feature phone and dont want to spend too much money to get their first smart phone. If you are a real smartphone enthusiast, I don't see any reason why you would even think of buying 256mb on WP7 or 512mb on WP8. Generally smartphone loves go for flagships if they want full blown experience i.e. GSG3 or Nexus, iPhone 5, BB10, Lumia 920 or HTC 8X or Ativ S

 

[freestaterocker]

Those serve as an entry level phone for those who used a feature phone and dont want to spend too much money to get their first smart phone. If you are a real smartphone enthusiast, I don't see any reason why you would even think of buying 256mb on WP7 or 512mb on WP8. Generally smartphone loves go for flagships if they want full blown experience i.e. GSG3 or Nexus, iPhone 5, BB10, Lumia 920 or HTC 8X or Ativ S

I understand why they are there, but for the cost savings I don't feel like the sacrifice is worth it. I don't know the price difference between 512mb and 1g , but in the volume an OEM like Nokia buys, the price difference between 256mb of RAM (ie the Lumia 610) and 512mb for the "high end" WP7 devices is about $5 USD.

 

[Jazmac]

You've bumped into the limits of both 7.5 and 7.8, nothing more, nothing less. This version of WP OS will run the app, but because of its design, won't run newer apps with any kind of "speed" or efficiency for that matter. There is NO getting around it.

 

[realwarder]

I understand why they are there, but for the cost savings I don't feel like the sacrifice is worth it. I don't know the price difference between 512mb and 1g , but in the volume an OEM like Nokia buys, the price difference between 256mb of RAM (ie the Lumia 610) and 512mb for the "high end" WP7 devices is about $5 USD.

That may sound small $, but when you're selling a phone all in for $150, that $5 is a large part of the picture.

 

[freestaterocker]

That may sound small $, but when you're selling a phone all in for $150, that $5 is a large part of the picture.

Ok but making the device $160 isn't going to cost you any sales. There are still feature phones selling for that price in some markets...

 

[AngryNil]

That may sound small $, but when you're selling a phone all in for $150, that $5 is a large part of the picture.

I don't feel a $5 price hike is a huge ask in exchange for full app compatibility and enhanced multitasking. If this was some relatively niche feature like super sensitive touch, then I'd agree with you. But ordinary consumers will benefit from being able to play the best games on WP8 and not having their tabs unloaded frequently.

If I'm not wrong, RAM would play a big part in the limited number of background tasks you can enable at once on your device. Down the road, I also see more background tasking scenarios which will have to be restricted on 512MB devices.

 

[eric12341]

I have absolutely no problems whatsoever with browsing speed on my 8X even after weeks of uptime, night and day difference from my HD7. That being said I occasionally see some tabs being unloaded/reloaded but this is usually after a week of uptime when I see it and it doesn't happen often, just on poorly coded sites like meetme.com.

 

[rockstarzzz]

I understand why they are there, but for the cost savings I don't feel like the sacrifice is worth it. I don't know the price difference between 512mb and 1g , but in the volume an OEM like Nokia buys, the price difference between 256mb of RAM (ie the Lumia 610) and 512mb for the "high end" WP7 devices is about $5 USD.

That may sound small $, but when you're selling a phone all in for $150, that $5 is a large part of the picture.

Ok but making the device $160 isn't going to cost you any sales. There are still feature phones selling for that price in some markets...

I don't feel a $5 price hike is a huge ask in exchange for full app compatibility and enhanced multitasking. If this was some relatively niche feature like super sensitive touch, then I'd agree with you. But ordinary consumers will benefit from being able to play the best games on WP8 and not having their tabs unloaded frequently.

If I'm not wrong, RAM would play a big part in the limited number of background tasks you can enable at once on your device. Down the road, I also see more background tasking scenarios which will have to be restricted on 512MB devices.

Simple economics - $5 difference on each components probably defines entry level phones v/s flagships. If they let go of this $5 each time, they are basically harming their own sales of flagship. Also if I was coming from feature phone to an entry level smartphone, I am probably used to 5mb of RAM, I have no idea about multitasking on phones, so with whatever restrictions a ?99 smartphone is miles ahead of my polyphonic ringtones features phone. If the end user doesn't know/care about RAM differences or screen differences or processor differences, why let go of $5 and hurt my sales of my flagship phone?

 

[AngryNil]

Simple economics - $5 difference on each components probably defines entry level phones v/s flagships. If they let go of this $5 each time, they are basically harming their own sales of flagship.

"I'm under the impression that RAM is being used by Nokia as a differentiator between their higher and lower end devices, which I do not like since 512MB is proving to be too little. Should've been 2GB for the higher end and 1GB for the lower end."

If the end user doesn't know/care about RAM differences or screen differences or processor differences, why let go of $5 and hurt my sales of my flagship phone?

Getting the purchase is only half the equation. You also need users to like their device after months of use, so they will purchase again and perhaps even evangelise. If their phone doesn't run all these cool games that their friends are playing, that can be enough to be ruin a sale. If they are finding it doing weird things like unloading tabs all the time, same deal. Nokia could have saved a few bucks by excluding super sensitive touch, which has limited benefit for most users. Internals will affect every single user. Hence my point:
"…ordinary consumers will benefit from being able to play the best games on WP8 and not having their tabs unloaded frequently."

Also, the Lumia 720 isn't cheap. Engadget agrees that the internals simply aren't up to scratch. Of course, this is a great example of your first point: it's far more attractive than the 820 in pretty much every aspect except for internals. I'm of the opinion that purposely downgrading an experience simply to preserve your more expensive products is a bad move. If Apple made the iPad laggy or expensive, it might have obtained more Mac sales, but the iPad wouldn't be the smash hit that it is.

 

[rockstarzzz]

"I'm under the impression that RAM is being used by Nokia as a differentiator between their higher and lower end devices, which I do not like since 512MB is proving to be too little. Should've been 2GB for the higher end and 1GB for the lower end."


Getting the purchase is only half the equation. You also need users to like their device after months of use, so they will purchase again and perhaps even evangelise. If their phone doesn't run all these cool games that their friends are playing, that can be enough to be ruin a sale. If they are finding it doing weird things like unloading tabs all the time, same deal. Nokia could have saved a few bucks by excluding super sensitive touch, which has limited benefit for most users. Internals will affect every single user. Hence my point:
"…ordinary consumers will benefit from being able to play the best games on WP8 and not having their tabs unloaded frequently."

Also, the Lumia 720 isn't cheap. Engadget agrees that the internals simply aren't up to scratch. Of course, this is a great example of your first point: it's far more attractive than the 820 in pretty much every aspect except for internals. I'm of the opinion that purposely downgrading an experience simply to preserve your more expensive products is a bad move. If Apple made the iPad laggy or expensive, it might have obtained more Mac sales, but the iPad wouldn't be the smash hit that it is.

Compare ZTE branded Android low-end with Nokia Lumia low-end : That is a comparison.
Comparing iPhone 5 with Samsung S2 - isn't a comparison.

In the same fashion, comparing low end Lumia with high end Lumia or any other high-end experience isn't a comparison.

What is the target market for low-end device users? Ordinary consumers who were given such an experience with Android low end devices are the ones who today cannot argue or reject my statement : "If you want a real Android experience don't buy cheap low end stuff, buy a Nexus or a GSG3". That comes after years of low end Androids that were exactly like you described - being able to play the best games, but the user experience was beyond awful! Why would anyone want WP to be known for laggy games?