ART vs DALVIK Runtime

[AntimonyER]

Nessthiss I'm having the same issue. Three times today it has frozen. Twice after I let it charge to full, and once right after I did a battery pull. Also had a wake lock. Going back to dalvik

 

[hilmar2k]

ART did not agree with my phone either. Freeze that only a battery pull solved and HUGE battery drain issue. The charger couldn't even keep up with the drain. Back to dalvik and all is fine again.

 

[whitehat]

ART did not agree with my phone either. Freeze that only a battery pull solved and HUGE battery drain issue. The charger couldn't even keep up with the drain. Back to dalvik and all is fine again.

I haven't picked up a G3 yet, but I was hoping someone would set up a poll to see if all the ART/Dalvik problems are with Verizon like I expect. The poll would be for the 4 US carriers with other as a 5th choice. The poll would be 'If you have had problems with ART and not Dalvik, please let us know your carrier.'

I really suspect VZW made a change that hosed ART.

 

[rushmore]

ART hoses itself. Not all apps or the firmware that is indigenous to all devices plays well with ART. Also, you need to multiply your current app space times 1.4 to see if apps will recompile correctly. You need on average 25% more storage and also another 2gb free for ART to have room to be stable. That is why ART to me sux. Small improvement for a big storage loss.

 

[whitehat]

ART hoses itself. Not all apps or the firmware that is indigenous to all devices plays well with ART. Also, you need to multiply your current app space times 1.4 to see if apps will recompile correctly. You need on average 25% more storage and also another 2gb free for ART to have room to be stable. That is why ART to me sux. Small improvement for a big storage loss.

That is probably true. What I would like to know is why the most, if not all, complaints of problems with ART that I have seen come from VZW users.

I only wish T-Mobile would get more towers in my area so I could get rid of Big Bad Red.

 

[rushmore]

Example: The G3 has about 23gb free, so 21gb for apps with ART to be stable (1gb free for (Dalvik).

This means the current apps with Dalvik can not be higher than about 17gb, since recompiling increases the app size 25% and 2gb is needed free for ART and the OS.

The 1.4 factor is considering that some apps increase 30% with ART and the needed free space.

As far as storage, ART is going the WRONG direction.

 

[hilmar2k]

ART hoses itself. Not all apps or the firmware that is indigenous to all devices plays well with ART. Also, you need to multiply your current app space times 1.4 to see if apps will recompile correctly. You need on average 25% more storage and also another 2gb free for ART to have room to be stable. That is why ART to me sux. Small improvement for a big storage loss.

That's not 100% correct. Not the entire app increases in size, only the executable. On some apps, that's only a small portion of the entire file size.

 

[Maine Coon]

I only wish T-Mobile would get more towers in my area so I could get rid of Big Bad Red.

may your wish come true

 

[rushmore]

That's not 100% correct. Not the entire app increases in size, only the executable. On some apps, that's only a small portion of the entire file size.

I did not say the whole app If that were the case, the size would nearly double. 25% more storage is needed and 2GB free instead of the usual 1GB. Seems a lot of sacrifice for a little milli second improvement. We are not talking seconds.

If L has a Dalvik option- I'm so there. Speaking of, I keep hearing people selectively reading the "36% more battery life with L". That was under very strict an controlled conditions and hardware, ie: Highly opportunistic and an outlier. Most of the weight of battery life is indigenous to the device and it's own firmware and hardware features.

Considering most of the weight on average is the display (well over half for that alone) and the chipset, plus radios, etc. It is highly misleading to tout 36% and highly out of touch with reality. That would be impossible with current devices, unless a Very light user that does not use the device much beyond calls, texting and occasional app use.

 

[Lorak]

I've been running ART since I got the phone and have no complaints at all.

But VERIZON owners be awear that ART doesn't work on your phones worth a crap. Do not run ART if you are on VERIZON. You will have slow downs, horrible battery life, random crashes, ect...

 

[AntimonyER]

Makes me wonder if it's one of their bloatware apps that is causing the problem.

 

[breadnatty08]

I've been running ART since I got the phone and have no complaints at all.

But VERIZON owners be awear that ART doesn't work on your phones worth a crap. Do not run ART if you are on VERIZON. You will have slow downs, horrible battery life, random crashes, ect...

Further info for others:
The Verizon LG G3 has problems with ART — think twice before switching runtimes | Android Central

 

[rushmore]

ART is EVIL!

 

[DerrikMo]

I haven't picked up a G3 yet, but I was hoping someone would set up a poll to see if all the ART/Dalvik problems are with Verizon like I expect. The poll would be for the 4 US carriers with other as a 5th choice. The poll would be 'If you have had problems with ART and not Dalvik, please let us know your carrier.'

I really suspect VZW made a change that hosed ART.

I'm on VZW and have severe battery and freeze issues with ART. Battery discharge much worse and 3 complete freeze issues so far that could only be cured with a battery pull. Changing back now.

 

[rushmore]

ART really needs the framework and apps to be compliant. It is a crap shoot with KitKat, depending on the apps and what junk is running in the background. Since Verizon is infamous for being the bloat kings, not surprising there are issues

Seriously though, the actual improvements in relation to stability and storage space being used is NOT worth it with ART. Folks with only about 4GB free right now on their devices will have a rude awakening when L is released.

ART needs a LOT of room to behave. If a lighter app user, no harm no foul. If a gamer, you will probably be pi$$ed at the tradeoff of storage for nominal improvements.

Folks could be best served to step back and consider the actual weight of what uses the battery on their device. Most of the weight is the display, chipset and radios. The actual improvement of a few hundred less Mghz of process time for running apps intermittently is NOMINAL in relation to the total battery usage weight of a device.

Folks seeing "amazing" battery life or "super speedy" response are respectfully potential candidates for placebo studies

Yep, depending on what apps you use, how you use them and other settings on your device, you could see some improvement, but neither significant or profound. Sometimes the actual improvement noticed is temporary, since part of the normal recompile process is system level cache cleaning as well.

Same thing as resetting to stock and the device is super speedy. Until you start actually doing stuff on the device for a few days

 

[sic0048]

I don't like the question because it isn't just about speed. It's also about compatibility. For me, Dalvik is a much better choice right now because I can use the XPOSED framework to tweak my device.

ART might be faster, but the tradeoff isn't worth it at this time IMHO. The G3 certainly is not slow or laggy for me (bloat frozen, Nova launcher, tweaked with G3 Tweaksbox and Greenify exposed modules).

I voted Dalvik

 

[jroyjohnson]

I tried ART after a week of using Dalvik. I would say I only saw mild improvements in performance. I already had switched to Nova Launcher Pro which ran smoother than the native UI. With ART the most significant performance I saw was when opening apps. The stock calculator seems to take several seconds to load when I'm on dalvik, but opens almost instantly on ART.

After a few days on ART I switched back, however, as my battery life actually decreased slightly. Most noticably it seemed to drain quicker when the screen was on. Since going back to Dalvik my battery life has returned to normal thankfully.

To me, the slight bump in performance wasn't worth the decrease in battery life.

 

[Steven58]

Art killed my Galaxy Nexus in 4 days. I'm back on dalvik.

 

[UBRocked]

Wait for Android L to release before running ART. That's just my 2 cents on the matter. I saw a video that MKBHD did where he said he always switched to ART as soon as he got a phone. Without proper OS support and proper app support...it's just for developers at this point IMO.

 

[hilmar2k]

Wait for Android L to release before running ART. That's just my 2 cents on the matter. I saw a video that MKBHD did where he said he always switched to ART as soon as he got a phone. Without proper OS support and proper app support...it's just for developers at this point IMO.

Not really an opinion, since the option to switch it is in a hidden developer menu.

 

[UBRocked]

Not really an opinion, since the option to switch it is in a hidden developer menu.

I thought everyone who unlocked the developer mode was a developer though? The phone told me so when I clickity clicked 5 times

I get that people want to try it but I just don't recommend using it right now. Believe me...I'm all about bleeding edge but there is nothing to be gained by switching at this point...more hassle than it's worth.

 

[hilmar2k]

I thought everyone who unlocked the developer mode was a developer though? The phone told me so when I clickity clicked 5 times

I get that people want to try it but I just don't recommend using it right now. Believe me...I'm all about bleeding edge but there is nothing to be gained by switching at this point...more hassle than it's worth.

I was agreeing with you. Since they hide the option in a hidden (sort of) developer menu, it's obvious they don't think it's ready for prime time just yet.

 

[UBRocked]

I was agreeing with you. Since they hide the option in a hidden (sort of) developer menu, it's obvious they don't think it's ready for prime time just yet.

We're on the same page. My comments were just for anyone who wanted to listen to my rationale for not using ART

It's not ready and not really designed for any available version of Android. I'm pretty sure the devs at Google have publically said that as well. I do want it though. Faster load times and smoother performance...those are always welcomed changes!

 

[grdh20]

Art was intriguing until the second half of this thread. Now it is just a dim memory of what might have been . . .

 

[UBRocked]

Art was intriguing until the second half of this thread. Now it is just a dim memory of what might have been . . .

Eh...it's a promise of what's to come. ART is replacing Dalvik...that is happening and it's a good thing. It's just not primetime yet ;-)