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ART or Dalvik?



Google introduced ART - a Dalvik replacement in Android 4.4 and they promised that it will greatly enhance performance of Android Apps, make your device faster and your battery last longer.  An experimental version of ART is included with Android 4.4 and can be enabled in Settings > Developer Options > Select Runtime.
 


Most of the apps in the Play use the Dalvik VM (Virtual Machine) to compile and run it. This process utilizes a concept called just-in-time, or JIT. When you open an app Android pulls all the uncompiled data together, compiles it, and loads the app into memory. As long as the app is in memory, after the initial load time, it’s very speedy. But if you use any task killer apps to stop the application then opening the app again will start the whole process again. So it takes a lot of time.

Android 4.4 KitKat includes a new runtime called “Android runtime”, ART.  ART works on a concept called Ahead-Of-Time (AOT) compilation. When you download and install an app, ART automatically pre-compiles it turning them into truly native apps. In this way startup times can be cut down immensely and ongoing execution will become faster. But this takes up more space on your device and takes longer to initially install when compared to Dalvik. And since less time is required to run apps,  processor doesn’t get worked much and as a result your battery life will improve. ART’s compiled code should also perform more consistently than Dalvik, thus reducing UI latency and stuttering. Computationally intensive apps like Video editors will largely benefit from ART.

Keep in mind that ART is currently experimental. Still most of the apps aren't optimised to run on ART. I have noticed that Nova Launcher, Xposed Framework don't work while using ART as a runtime so had to switch back to Dalvik.  While some of the apps like Titanium Backup, Greenify have been updated to work with it, apps not optimised to run on ART will crash or force close when launched. Hopefully developers will work to make thier apps compatible with ART soon.

For the list of apps working and not working on ART visit (http://www.androidruntime.com/list).

Try out ART if your device is running Android 4.4 Kitkat. Let me know which apps don't work with it. Did you notice any changes in webpage scrolling , battery life and performance?? Let me know in the comments below.


Stay High on Android. Peace!!!

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