[General Topics] :
Amazing what a POS Firefox is...I did a big post and guess what, I come back and it's just not here...

Anyway, the reason that Apple can provide a GPU accelerated UI is because they have their own hardware with their own software, and in essence, with each generation of iOS products, they only need to code for one system architecture, as all their products pretty much use the same kit inside (iTouch, iPhone 4, iPad, all use A4, and iPad 2 and the next gen iTouch/iPhone will all use A5).

It's the same reason that WP7 is hardware accelerated; WP7 was conceived with 1G Snapdragon in mind, and as a result, all the WP7 devices you see have the same hardwar, the only difference being multiple manufacturers making the hardware.

So why isn't Android GPU accelerated natively? Because there are no set hardware requirements for Android (so there are many different SOCs being used), and Google

do not

provide the end-user experience. They provide the open-source foundations for the manufacturers to build upon, who then provide that experience. The bonus is that they also provide the infrastructure (under the skin, every Android device runs the same way, can use the Market, can use the same apps as a result, etc) to power their OS. It isn't their job to implement GPU acceleration for every architecture, as they aren't the ones making phones.

As a result, the manufacturer at the end only has to come up with a new GUI and a few apps, instead of coding the whole operating system.

So if the manufacturers only have to code extras, why don't they implement GPU acceleration? The answer is that each manufacturer's development teams are probably going to be the same size as Apple's, yet for Android alone, there are multiple devices with different hardware inside for each manufacturer. GPU acceleration coding for multiple devices, with hardware constantly changing and new products having to be introduced to be competitive with other devices running the same OS, and you realise that it gets busy. That said, the top end devices are GPU accelerated now (HTC are gradually doing it for a few devices, Samsung already have for the GS2, and I don't know, possibly some others, if not soon), so in terms of competition with other platforms, it is coming.

All that said, GPU acceleration isn't the end-all to interface performance. Optimised code is the most important thing. Look at Sense. Since the beginning, even when not GPU accelerated, performance

when the code has been good

has been absolutely fine. My DHD received GPU acceleration in its latest update a couple of days ago, and to be honest, I've not seen the difference. Sure, the lag when widgets are updating has been greatly reduced, but when it isn't doing that, the difference is...simply not there.

GPU acceleration is only really needed when the tasks really

demand

it. For instance, heavy webpages in browsers (scrolling/zooming/panning performance is the only place where I feel most Android devices really fall behind. The SGS2 has this in the bag, as does iOS). And even then, there's no point if it isn't optimised properly; it just becomes a battery drainer. If it is just basic graphics, you might as well keep it on the CPU if it can handle it, as this is better on the battery and there's no point wasting time to recode it.

To be honest, nobody can really complain about the lack of GPU acceleration in Android when it offers so much more behind the scenes for performance; absolutely incredible memory management (iOS as far as I'm concerned doesn't have any memory management whatsoever...). Use an iOS device after using an Android device for a week; if you are comfortable with Android and multitask a lot, you will find the speed of iOS hugely frustrating; the smooth UI transitions feel like a cover up for the lack in performance (as well as the delay before the transition kicks in). Couple that with manually having to close apps...I'd hate for Apple to produce engines with that logic, they'd have manual spark plugs...

Note, not a fanboy; I have owned countless iTouches (10 if you count warranty replacements...) and currently have a 4th gen, though that admittedly sees very little use from myself for the reasons that I stated above. Will be moving back to Macs soon as well after a four year hiatus (for non-biased reasons, just would prefer an all-in-one system with power).