iPhone 3G vs. BlackBerry Storm Browser Speed Test

After I cleared security at LaGuardia and made my way to the gate, I realized, WOW...if I want to put the iPhone 3G and BlackBerry Storm head to head for a browser speed comparison I had better do it RIGHT NOW while I have each running on their native networks. I threw down my laptop bag on the floor as an adhock table, yanked out my video camera and got it done. See the video, details and results after the jump!

Real World iPhone 3G vs. BlackBerry Storm Web Browser Speed Test

You'll want to take this video for what it's worth. If you think back to my BlackBerry Bold vs. Iphone 3G Web Browser Speed Comparison you'll remember I was all about the scientific process. Not the case here. I had less than twenty minutes to get this done before I had to board the plane, so it was quick and dirty. Consider it a Real World test.

I had time to visit four sites: NYtimes.com, WSJ.com, CrackBerry.com and ArsTechnica.com. It turned out the guy sitting next to me works for Ars Technica and was flying home, so suffice to say he was pretty interested in this little smartphone battle that was being recorded for all to see.

Default Settings: It is important to note that the iPhone 3G by default has JavaScript Support enabled, while the BlackBerry Storm ships with Javascript support disabled (you can go into your browser options and choose to enable it). RIM is still working on optimizing their web browser Javascript support and isn't quite with where they want to be just yet, hence why this setting is disabled for the time being. For day to day normal website browsing, leaving JS support disabled doesn't seem to negatively impact web browsing (the sites I tend to visit anyways).

Test Testings: In the first site visited in the video, NYTimes.com, I have JavaScript support enabled on BOTH phones. For the next three sites visited, I disabled JS on the BlackBerry Storm, back to the default setting. Most people don't even monkey around with their settings, so I figured the best Real World test would be use those default settings.

The Results: 

  • NYTimes.com - iPhone 3G wins, Storm does not bad... but definitely chokes on the Javascript a bit
  • WSJ.com - BlackBerry Storm wins, iPhone 3G loads slower then crashes
  • CrackBerry.com - BlackBerry Storm wins, iPhone 3G loads slower then crashes
  • ArsTechnica - BlackBerry Storm wins 

Conclusions: It's hard to conclude much in 20 minutes, but there are some takeaways here:

1. With default settings, the BlackBerry Storm browser is a bit quicker than the iPhone 3G.

2. If you put the iPhone 3G and BlackBerry Storm head-to-head with the identical settings (either Javascript Support on or off on both), then the iPhone 3G will likely be a bit quicker...

3. that is assuming the iPhone 3G's browser doesn't crash and burn! Seriously, I don't get what was up with the iPhone 3G's browser in this test, but after it crashed on WSJ.com I restarted the device, and it crashed again on CrackBerry.com. Not sure if this was an AT&T network thing, or 2.1 software thing or what, but the Storm's browser proved to be much more reliable during this head-to-head test.

I'm sure we'll see a lot more of these tests in the days and weeks ahead... so stay tuned for Round 2!

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