Posts Tagged ‘Dalvik’

Why Oracle was right to sue Google

The tech industry loves a good vendor slugfest, and the upcoming legal battle between Google and Oracle has all the makings of a truly spectacular one. At issue is Dalvik, the unique, Java-based runtime at the heart of Google’s Android smartphone OS. Oracle, which gained stewardship of the Java platform when it bought Sun Microsystems in 2009, claims Dalvik knowingly, willfully, and deliberately infringes on Java intellectual property. According to a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court in San Francisco last week, Oracle is seeking a halt to any further Android development, destruction of all infringing Android software, and for Google to pay damages, both actual and statutory. The tech industry loves a good vendor slugfest, and the upcoming legal battle between Google and Oracle has all the makings of a truly spectacular one. At issue is Dalvik, the unique, Java-based runtime at the heart of Google's Android smartphone OS. Oracle, which gained stewardship of the Java platform when it bought Sun Microsystems in 2009, claims Dalvik knowingly, willfully, and deliberately infringes on Java intellectual property. According to a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court in San Francisco last week, Oracle is seeking a halt to any further Android development, destruction of all infringing Android software, and for Google to pay damages, both actual and statutory.

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Android 2.2 + JIT Compiler = Fastest Android Yet?

If you’re drenched in the hacking and development scene, then you already know what JIT is or does. While I can’t put my finger on any specifics (because it’s stuff that – at my level of (non)expertise – goes way over my head) let’s just say that it gives you a tremendous boost of speed that Android’s never enjoyed before. Ian Douglas , a developer at Armor Games, got his hands on a Nexus One that appears to be equipped with Android 2.2 (courtesy of none other than Adobe) and he’s pretty confident that the build of Android he’s running is equipped with a pretty stable implementation of the just-in-time compiler. Normally, Linpack benchmarks (for which you can find an app on the market) would net him 6-7 MFLOPS on stock Android 2.1 (and a bit higher with CyanogenMod versions), but the beta release of Android 2.2 he’s running pushes him close to 40 MFLOPS with operations being executed in less than 2-tenths of a second. Astonishing, is all I can say. I use the Linpack benchmark myself on my rooted G1 with a JIT-enabled rom ( HTCClay’s latest CM5-based SuperBad , for those curious) and I can tell you that – along with improved benchmark scores – it does provide some awesome real world performance enhancements in my case. Normally my G1 would huff and puff at 1.8 MFLOPS on stock Android 1.6, and around 2.2 MFLOPS with an older non-JIT-based 1.6 rom. With HTCClay’s rom with JIT enabled, I am pushing 3.5 MFLOPS average, and getting bumped up to 4.5 after an overclock to 710mhz. Even before the overclock, my G1 is running Android 2.1 faster than it’s ever run 1.0, 1.1, 1.5, or 16. There’s no doubt that JIT does make a difference, and it appears Google’s embracing this (certain Google engineers are deeply rooted into the mod scene and bounces ideas off of developers like Cyanogen ) and is implementing a stable version of the compiler for the Dalvik virtual machine. None of this is confirmed yet, but there will be a session specifically for JIT with Android at next week’s Google I/O conference, and hopefully we can get 100% confirmation that JIT and Android 2.2 have been married for an insanely effective performance boost on any Android handset that will run it. [via Android And Me ]

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JIT compiler coming to Android sooner than you think?

All Android devices could be getting a noticeable performance boost later this year. We have seen companies like Myriad pushing their Dalvik Turbo compiler which they claim offers “3x faster applications, richer game graphics and better battery life to Android”. Myriad is working with carriers and handset makers to incorporate their software into their Android builds, but it looks Google might beat them to it. Google has assembled their own team of engineers that is working on a Dalvik JIT Compiler for Android. JITstands for “just in time” compilation, and allows software to run faster by “compiling bytecode into native machine code at runtime which substantially increases performance”. I’m not going to pretend that I’m an expert on JIT, so I’ll defer to Wikipedia if you want the full scoop. As some of you already know, JIT is in the Android repository and working right now. I’ve loaded the latest kernel that supports ( correction : JIT has nothing to do with the kernel version, but some custom roms include both) it on my Nexus One and saw my benchmark scores go up 250-300%. It was cool to play with, but it was major unstable and the phone would reboot after several hours of use. It looks like Google’s team might be close to releasing a stable version of the Dalvik JIT compiler. Two of them, Ben Cheng and Bill Buzbee, will be outlining their work at Google I/O in a session called “ A JIT Compiler for Android’s Dalvik VM “. In the session they will outline the design of a JIT Compiler designed for embedded Android devices. Topics of the session will include “an architectural overview, the rationale for design decisions and the special support for JIT verification, testing and tuning”. Hopefully we will see a stable JIT compiler released sometime around May (or at least available via XDA). Additional speaker info from Google I/O: Ben Cheng : Ben is a software engineer in the Android team working on Dalvik. His primary project is to develop a JIT compiler that improves the efficiency of the VM. He also spends time developing tools for performance tuning and code verification. Before Google, Ben worked at various companies on virtual machines, including Transmeta, Azul, and PeakStream. Ben got a PhD degree in Computer Science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Bill Buzbee : Bill is a software engineer on Google’s Android team, where he works on the Dalvik JIT Compiler. Prior to Google, Bill worked on dynamic compilation at Hewlett-Packard and Transmeta. [Image credit IBM Systems Mag ] Related Posts Myriad Dalvik Turbo boost Android performance 2-3x (Video) Episode 003: Another Wednesday, another podcast MWC: Hands on HTC Desire and HTC Legend Win a custom printed Android and Me card wallet from Lumi Co. AT&T Dell monster phone to ship with Android 2.1+ and include HDMI dock

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Dalvik Turbo: Android dreimal schneller

Mobile phone software experts Myriad take a shot at making Android faster, better and last longer

Myriad is a very interesting company - it's an amalgamation of a tonne of different companies that have had a hand in mobile technology over the years. In fact, there are so many different companies combined under the Myriad name that it has software running on over 2 billion handsets. To use a very Irish phrase: "it's only bleedin' massive!". It is also one of the founding members of the Open Handset Alliance , and has had a huge hand in the development of the Android operating system. And today, it is announcing an upgrade to one of the central elements of Android - the software that its applications run on.

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Myriad’s new Dalvik Turbo virtual machine increases Android application performance threefold

Dalvik Turbo increases Android application performance by three times

Myriad Group, one of the founding members of the Open Handset Alliance, announced the Dalvik Turbo virtual machine for Android , which will replace the Dalvik engine that currently powers applications on Android phones. According to Myriad, Dalvik Turbo can increase Android application execution speed by up to three times, without significantly increasing memory requirements. The new Dalvik Turbo virtual machine can also provide “substantial battery life improvements” and supports a variety of processors (based on ARM, Intel’s Atom or MIPS). Thanks to Dalvik Turbo, Android developers will reportedly be able to create new games (fully compatible with existing Android software) that feature complex models and advanced graphics. Myriad said that it would demonstrate Dalvik Turbo on Android devices during MWC 2010 – so we should expect Android phones with the new virtual machine to be available soon. Via Press release Similar Posts: Intel confirms plans for Atom-based iPhone-like mini-tablet? Run Android on HTC TyTN II, Touch Ericsson and Intel team up for HSPA on MIDs Android 1.5 on the way #CES 2010: Palm brings 3D games to webOS, opens developer program, promises Flash and video recording

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