The system is smooth, and Jobs' last legacy has also been ruined. Android's closed source will solve the problem of lag once and for all

With the development of science and technology, people have entered the information age, and mobile phones are the product of the information age. In recent years, mobile phones have developed rapidly, and people have entered the era of smart phones from the era of feature phones. As witnesses of the progress of the times, we have also personally experienced the update and iteration of mobile phone systems.

Nowadays, the mobile phone system is divided into three parts: iOS represented by Apple, Android represented by Google, and WP represented by Microsoft. Of course, WP only occupies a small part of the market, while Android and iOS are the main players.

Historical legacy: system openness

Users who have used iPhone and Android phones may know that iPhone phones are always very smooth no matter how they are used, while Android phones become very slow after a while. Many people attribute the reason why Android phones become slower and slower to poor system optimization, but this is not the case.

I won’t introduce Unix and Linux in detail here, but I will just say that Unix is ​​more closed than Linux. iOS and Android are based on two different systems, which means iOS is more closed than Android, which also means that the system is more stringent. The relatively open Android system causes the problem of system resources being used at will, causing the phone to become more and more stuck.

But in fact, openness is also an important reason for the rapid development of Android. The free verification of hardware manufacturers and the open source of software manufacturers have made Android successful, giving companies entering the Android smart ecosystem ample profit space, which is the main reason for the wild growth of the Android ecosystem. However, openness has given Android vitality, but it has also ruined the user experience of Android.

Software mix: illegal listing

Open means looseness. The same application has different ways to be listed on the iOS store and the Android store. As shown in the figure above, listing on the iOS app store must follow strict rules, otherwise it will not be allowed. Due to the openness of the Android system, if an application wants to be listed, it can be listed on the Android market even if it does not meet the rules. Even if it cannot be listed on Google Play, it can be listed and downloaded in various other software markets.

I believe that many users will also encounter this situation. They originally wanted to install only one software, but ended up installing a "whole package", especially when there are advertisements in the APP and they start downloading the software without paying attention. This is due to the open mechanism of Android. Although many mobile phone manufacturers have made optimizations for these phenomena, such as prohibiting joint startup and blocking advertisements, the effect is not very significant.

JAVA virtual machine operation: slow startup and lots of garbage

The smoothness of Android is difficult to guarantee, which is determined by the system mechanism. Android programs are all run on the JAVA virtual machine, not directly on the operating system like the iPhone. The virtual machine is like a garbage generator and a memory hog, which will rapidly consume mobile phone resources and produce a lot of garbage. The more programs are installed on the Android platform, the greater the CPU energy consumption, and the slower it will become.

This is why the startup speed of an Android phone is not as fast as that of an iPhone for the same software. Even with a better processor and higher RAM, it cannot compete with an iPhone. Moreover, the phone's memory will become smaller and smaller over time, and there will be many unknown files in the file manager, which are difficult to clean up.

Mobile phone tuning: treating symptoms but not the root cause

In response to the phenomenon that Android phones are becoming increasingly laggy, many software and mobile phone manufacturers have also optimized the Android system, which is the so-called phone tuning.

In the plan after Android 4.4, Android changed the application running mode from Dalvik to ART. The principle is simply the "pre-compilation" effect, that is, when an application is installed on Android for the first time, its bytecode has been compiled into local machine code, reducing the startup and execution time of subsequent running of the application.

According to the results published by Google itself, in different performance test apps, ART's speed is improved by an average of 80% compared to Dalvik. In some projects, ART's speed improvement is even more than 1.5 times, which is a very gratifying result. However, this mode also has a disadvantage, that is, "pre-compilation" will increase the installation time, and will cause the program data to increase exponentially after installation, further increasing the pressure on the phone's memory.

Another aspect of tuning is the tuning of the system UI. The main optimization work of ROM manufacturers is to modify Linux and apply various patches to make its underlying language better adapted to various mobile terminals. However, this method is also insufficient and has no substantial effect. What users really experience is that the mobile phone ROM is becoming more and more bloated and the response is becoming more and more slow.

After changing the application's running mode from Dalvik to ART, it actually has a certain effect on the native Android, and has no significant impact on the domestic deeply customized UI. Because the domestic UI is too bloated, and many localized functions are introduced, even if the ART mode has been improved, it should have been submerged in the bloat of the customized UI. The fluency of the native Android system is far better than that of the customized UI system.

Android closed source

In fact, the most effective way is to close the source of Android, which means that the unified mechanism of the Android mobile phone market will be more perfect. All software will strictly follow the routines set by Google, which will first solve the mixed situation of the Android market. If various software follow the rules, then Android phones will not lag when opening more software during use.

Since Android 6.0, Google has strengthened the management of permissions, and some basic permission codes are no longer open. And from the compatibility documents released by Google in Android 7.0, the requirements for hardware and software specifications have become more stringent. For example: not supporting various fast charging protocols, uniformly adopting the USB organization solution, not accepting calls to the Vulkan API application interface, split-screen multitasking must comply with AOSP specifications, must support call blocking, strongly recommends adding screen resolution adjustment, and standardizes voice headset operation specifications, etc.

Therefore, looking at the entire development history of Android, it is impossible to solve the problem of Android phones becoming slower and slower in the near future. In order to fundamentally solve the problem, Google has to force the closed source. Google can also fundamentally change the operating mechanism of Android, but this seems too cumbersome, and there is no guarantee that many manufacturers will cooperate. If it is forced to close the source, whether any manufacturer will follow up is unknown.

Although Google is slowly taking back the authority, it may take more than a decade for Android to completely control the closed source. At present, the best way is to start with APP developers. If every software consciously follows the Android operating system and actively responds to Google's version updates, then the phenomenon of Android phones becoming slower and slower with use will definitely be improved.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.