Why do games typically run slower on Android than iOS?

[dibblebill]

I think the main reason of slower game on the android is lower ram. Because these types of games required more ram to run smoothly.

Please tell me you don't seriously believe iPhone has more RAM than an Android flagship

 

[nickdalzell]

Please tell me you don't seriously believe iPhone has more RAM than an Android flagship

Perhaps he is several versions out of date? he could be one of the holdouts still on Android FroYo. a lot of pre-paid phones here are using it still...There is even a Samsung Galaxy phone that runs 2.2 and doing a pretty bad impression of TouchWiz Nature UX being sold on Net10.

 

[mikedt]

Perhaps he is several versions out of date? he could be one of the holdouts still on Android FroYo. a lot of pre-paid phones here are using it still...There is even a Samsung Galaxy phone that runs 2.2 and doing a pretty bad impression of TouchWiz Nature UX being sold on Net10.

Sure they're not old stock or something, like a Galaxy Ace possibly? Because AFAIK the even the most basic budget Samsung, Galaxy Fame, comes with 4.1 or 4.2 now. And if they are selling older phones, that's probably all they can do with them. They can't send them back to Samsung.

 

[nickdalzell]

not sure MikeDT but they are like going for $49 lately. i don't remember the name but it was a cheap little Galaxy (not the Precedent either) that had what appeared to be a 'lite' version of TouchWiz Nature UX (the icons and weather widget and a themed status bar to make it look like it was Gingerbread or higher, but the box said 'Android 2.2' on it)

it was in the more recent Net10 packaging though, but on sale at Dollar General Store.

An LG phone in the same store also wore similar clothes, with a 4.0 themed status bar, and a knockoff of the Optimus UX, but it at least had Android 2.3 listed on the packaging.

The 4.0/4.1 variants are called the Galaxy Centura.

In either case they're budget phones, and one could easily see how someone might be tempted to pick one up and have issues, then start comparing it to iOS, i mean i used to be exactly that way myself.

 

[rwatson99]

I dunno. My N10 runs Infinity Blade much more smoothly than my iPad 4.

 

[TODD2012]

Underlying architecture is different, everything around graphics in ios.

 

[Shocky]

It's like PCs really, Androids all different. I mean you're not going to be playing Asphalt 8 on a lowly Galaxy Ace, but on the other hand a Galaxy S4 or S5 should play it quite nicely. Same with PCs, just don't expect to be able to play Counterstrike on a cheap netbook.

Asphalt 8 runs like crap on the Galaxy S4, I've tested with FPS Meter and it's pretty bad 15-25 most of the time. Runs decent on the Galaxy S5 but still not perfect.

You would hope that's the worst it can get but they also made it available for devices using Mali 400 which includes Samsung and a lot of budget devices and it runs even worse on them.

Truth is they shouldn't be releasing games like that on older devices, the experience is horrible as the hardware can't cope, they're just being greedy.

I dunno. My N10 runs Infinity Blade much more smoothly than my iPad 4.

Infinity Blade isn't Available for Android.

 

[mikedt]

Asphalt 8 runs like crap on the Galaxy S4, I've tested with FPS Meter and it's pretty bad 15-25 most of the time. Runs decent on the Galaxy S5 but still not perfect.

You would hope that's the worst it can get but they also made it available for devices using Mali 400 which includes Samsung and a lot of budget devices and it runs even worse on them.

Truth is they shouldn't be releasing games like that on older devices, the experience is horrible as the hardware can't cope, they're just being greedy.

Asphalt 8 ran OK on my Oppo Find 7. Don't know what the FPS was but it seemed fine and it played OK. About greed I was quite shocked I saw the price of the in-app purchases in A8...

 

[Shocky]

Asphalt 8 ran OK on my Oppo Find 7. Don't know what the FPS was but it seemed fine and it played OK. About greed I was quite shocked I saw the price of the in-app purchases in A8...

 

[nickdalzell]

Worst offender is Real Racing 3. Looks beautiful on the iPad, but jaggy, laggy and downright hideous on even the most current, most expensive Android flagship.

Real Racing 2, while paid, looks great on both platforms though, although Play Store has a massive compatibility bug that thought all my tablets were incompatible with it. Found a workaround though but cannot mention it here.

 

[BitStern]

What about time attack games like Piano Tiles? They must run the same at both devices, I guess?

 

[mikedt]

What about time attack games like Piano Tiles? They must run the same at both devices, I guess?

Rhythm and music games, such as Piano Tiles and Perfect Piano are not particularly demanding, follow the falling notes or whatever, even the most basic device should play them fine. In fact with Perfect Piano it's having a large screen, rather than processor or graphics, that can give you the most advantage.

 

[mikedt]

Worst offender is Real Racing 3. Looks beautiful on the iPad, but jaggy, laggy and downright hideous on even the most current, most expensive Android flagship.

Real Racing 2, while paid, looks great on both platforms though, although Play Store has a massive compatibility bug that thought all my tablets were incompatible with it. Found a workaround though but cannot mention it here.

RR3 plays fine and looks good on my Oppo F7a, which was half the price of the Korean flagship phones(no carrier subsidy available). No lag, not jaggy, and looks just like the iPhone/iPad screenshots I've seen of the same game. I've not played it myself on an iOS device though to actually do a side by side comparison.

 

[Shocky]

RR3 plays fine and looks good on my Oppo F7a, which was half the price of the Korean flagship phones(no carrier subsidy available). No lag, not jaggy, and looks just like the iPhone/iPad screenshots I've seen of the same game. I've not played it myself on an iOS device though to actually do a side by side comparison.

Yeah, performance is fine but it should be because the graphics are not set as high as the iOS version.

 

[colleen88]

IOS is much faster than android, but android had more games to choose.

 

[Shocky]

IOS is much faster than android, but android had more games to choose.

I don't think either of these is true, there may be more free games for Android but there are more available for iOS, a lot of exclusives that are very high quality and some that are not.

Games properly optimized for an Android device will run just fine, it's not the OS that's limiting performance, it's hardware and developers failing to optimize.

That said porting a game onto an Android device with twice the display resolution and slightly less performance is always going to show, whether it's the visuals or performance.