Webkit improvements in iPhone OS 2.0 - Safari performance jumps with new iPhone OS

iPhone 3G upgraders and anyone having upgraded to the iPhone 2.0 OS on their first-generation iPhone will likely already know that the web-browsing experience, which was undeniably tops in the smartphone market, has been improved. Web pages load faster, regardless of whether 3G, EDGE, or WiFi is being used - overall web-surfing just seems that much speedier.

The web-browsing performance bump has nothing to do with new iPhone 3G hardware, but everything to do with the new Webkit build that the iPhone 2.0 OS utilizes.

We’ve been expecting as much, and now with a bit of graphical bar-graph help from Daring Fireball, we now have a visual representation of just how much faster the iPhone 2.0 OS’s Safari browser is - all thanks to improved Webkit performance.

To get an idea for just how much better web-browsing performance is with iPhone 2.0 OS Safari, compared to iPhone 1.1.4 OS Safari, check out the graph below. The graph basically shows Javascript benchmark performance using different iPhone firmware versions. Notice the huge jump between 1.0.1 and 1.1.4. The initial jump in Webkit’s Javascript performance is definitely more pronounced than the improvement from 1.1.4 to 2.0, but that’s not to say that Javascript on 2.0 is a significant improvement.

And, the good news doesn’t end there. Any browser used by iPhone applications like Twitterrific (the mini-browser makes for quick, Webkit-based webpage viewing without exiting the application), will benefit from ongoing Webkit improvements and streamlining.

Here’s to iPhone OS 2.0.4 bringing even more Javascript performance boosts - hopefully alongside some video-recording support and turn-by-turn GPS navigation for the iPhone 3G.

[Via: Daring Fireball]