431824 - Reduce startup time (as perceived by the user) on N810 to <3 seconds

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox for Android Graveyard :: General, enhancement, P1)

Description

[Christian Sejersen]

Comment 3

[Oleg Romashin (:romaxa)]

time ./run-mozilla.sh ./xulrunner-bin fennec/application.ini about:blank
^C when fennec window appear.

Startup with existing profile = ~18 sec
Startup with empty profile = ~37 sec

Comment 4

[Oleg Romashin (:romaxa)]

Attachment: plain oprofile for startup with profile

Comment 5

[Oleg Romashin (:romaxa)]

Attachment: Plain oprofile for startup without existing profile directory

Comment 6

[Oleg Romashin (:romaxa)]

I have found that with the same xulrunner but fennec from http://svn.mozilla.org/projects/fennec/fennec/browser/

It starts ~7-8 seconds faster.

Comment 7

[Oleg Romashin (:romaxa)]

wget http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/tinderbox-builds/mobile-browser-linux-arm/fennec-1.0a2pre.en-US.linux-arm.tar.bz2

extract it

time run-standalone.sh ./run-mozilla.sh ./fennec about:blank
^C when fennec window appear.

Startup with existing profile = ~18-20 sec
Startup with empty profile and no libxul in cachec (fennec just extracted) = ~39-40 sec

TestGtkEmbed browser startup is much faster:
Cold ~10 sec
Hot ~3-5 sec

I think it is not ench. it is major problem.

Comment 9

[T3st3r]

> Startup with existing profile = ~18 sec
As for me, it is quite annoying to wait 18 seconds just to load browser. Regardless of.

Just to see how high bar is set:
* Built-in N800 browser in IT OS 2008 displays it's window in just 3 seconds after launching it, providing good visual feedback that app is really loading. I like it. At least I can be sure I hit shortcut properly, etc.
* After ~13-14 seconds it displays completely rendered start page and ready to go.

It is obvious that users will be happy with new browser only if it faster.

Actually, on my n800 Fennec Alpha 2 starts in comparable time. I observed 15 seconds startup, not bad! But goal is not achieved since it only outputs it's window after 8-9 seconds at very best. It is pretty annoying to wait 8-9 seconds without visual feedback. If window appears in 3 seconds, this gives user idea that operation is in progresses. If no feedback for a while, user is getting unsure if (s)he did a right thing and if app starting at all. This makes users to dislike apps which do not provide startup feedback in a timely fashion. Such apps are perceived as slow and bloated by users.

So actually, Nokia's own browser perceived slightly better than Fennec Alpha 2, even if actual difference in total startup time small enough.

Suggested actions are: improve time before visual feedback (i.e. browser window created) and if possible reduce startup times further. Otherwise people will still blame Mozilla's products for their heavy weight (which is especially noticeable on small devices).

Comment 10

[T3st3r]

Also I'm thinking first startup time matters. Either provide user with feedback that new profile is being created and this is one-time action or maybe install could also pre-copy default profile state so it do not have to be done by browser without good reasons? The thing is that first launch time is matters.

Usual scenario: user just installed app and gives it a try. And user expects to see good program which performs well. If user getting startup time as huge as 30 seconds or more instead, user will be dissatisfied with such overbloated program.

Comment 11

[(dormant account)]

Current Fennec(trunk) startup time is 6.5seconds. We spent weeks getting to that point and will continue improving it until Fennec ships. 

As an example, the first run scenario you are describing has been optimized for in bug 469076.

Comment 12

[Mark Finkle (:mfinkle) (use needinfo?)]

vote for not blocking1.0

Comment 13

[Matt Brubeck (:mbrubeck)]

We still need to improve this, but we should set a new target based on current hardware (since we are no longer running Talos on N810s).