Responsiveness

Living with Android every day, whenever I grab an iPad, I can't help admiring how responsive it is. It is not faster. But much more responsive. Whatever the iPad does (and yes, I still use the version 1), the reactions to user's actions are instant. There is no lag.

The iPad does not load nor renders web pages faster than Android. But while using the iPad, it feels like a physical object. The reason is simple. The software code responsible for processing the user input and rendering a visual reaction to that input runs at the highest priority. Every other task (and there are many) waits whenever the GUI has anything to do.

You can check that easily. Open a web page and just when it starts loading put your finger on the screen and keep moving it back and forth quickly. If you move the current page up and down quickly enough to keep the processor busy, the new page will never load. But the content on the screen will be following the movements of your finger without any lag.

Performing the same test on an Android tablet will result in the new page being loaded much faster, but the device will not be very responsive during the same process. On Android GUI runs at the same priority as other tasks. This was a fundamental design decision and I think it has paid off extremely well for Apple. This is about the feeling the software gives to the user. That it is fast. While it does not necessarily is.

Apple has always been faster. Faster than Windows. Windows has been slow. Faster than Android. Android has been slow. Really have both competitors been that much worse? Not at all. It is all about the feeling the devices give to users.

Software has to be designed to be invisible. Because people do not like software. Because software is slow. Computers have always been slow. The hourglass cursor has been with us since the first graphical BIOS introduced by probably AMI back in the early 90's. The hourglass has been the symbol of Windows, ruling the desktops for 20 years now. With the introduction of the first iPhone, Apple got rid of the hourglass. Designing responsiveness as their top most priority. And it has paid off big.

Today software is powering almost every device. Starting with a key-chain whistle and ending up with a double deck Airbus. And we prefer to treat all those devices as hardware - only, physical objects. Physical objects do not have lag. You press and it moves. Instantly. And so should all software code, handling human - machine interactions.