iOS 4.0 was so slow on our 3G, we promptly downgraded after updating. Earlier this week, Apple announced, among other things, that iOS 4.1 fixed performance on the iPhone 3G. We put their claim to the test.
Net Index is a free service that ranks and compares download and upload speeds, quality of broadband connections and internet service providers across the globe using data obtained from the popular Speedtest.net and Pingtest.net online tests.
Windows only: You’ve probably tested your internet connection speed (I’ve always preferred Speakeasy’s Speed Test) and have a pretty good idea of your broadband speed, but free Windows app LAN Speed Test measures the speed of data transfers on your home network.
We ran our own Mac-based performance tests last week with Firefox’s pre-beta release candidate, and found Firefox 4 an improvement, but not quite catching up to other browsers in raw speed.
Many readers have asked us to replicate our browser speed tests on a Mac, to see the difference in platforms and performance. So we snagged a new MacBook Pro when nobody was looking and tested the latest browsers on it.
Apple’s stepped up with Safari 5, Firefox has brought forth a more crash-proof 3.6 and Opera’s continuing to push forward in betas. Let’s break out the timer and testing software to see how the latest browsers run on real hardware.
One of the perennial challenges with 3G broadband is what kind of speed you’ll achieve. A study by comparison site Broadband Expert suggests that in the current market, Vodafone is the best performer.
Firefox 3.6 Beta 1, like every other browser, makes a claim to being “faster”. We took Firefox and all the other latest browsers, put them on Windows 7, and ran them through our human-measured speed tests to vet the bragging.
