Adobe has taken a great leap forward into the mobile space with the release of Flash 10.1.
Indeed, the mobile-friendly version of the platform allows Android 2.2-powered smartphones and tablets to properly render Internet Flash content.
Unsurprisingly, 19 of the 20 largest handset manufacturers – including Motorola, HTC, LG Electronics and Samsung – have already committed to marketing Flash 10.1-enabled devices.
However, Nvidia spokesperson Bill Henry told BusinessWeek that Flash would have to “run on the right processor” to achieve optimal performance.
“How quickly and how much power it uses is something that’s still up for debate,” said Henry.
“We believe there will be a battery life issue if Flash isn’t running on the right processor.”
Still, despite Henry’s concerns, Priya Ganapati of Wiredreported that Flash was not a “battery hog” and did not “chew away” at a phone’s resources.
“Apple’s biggest beef with Adobe Flash is that the technology hogs battery life and is a drain on system resources. [But] I surfed a number of Flash-heavy websites, played movie trailers and little video clips on and off for about two hours. The battery level on my phone was [only] down to about 61 percent from a [full charge],” wrote Ganapati.
“[Yet], it’s not a flawless experience either. Flash content — especially video — can take up to a minute to load, which is more frustrating on a phone than it is on a desktop. And it sucks bandwidth. Our corporate Wi-Fi connection just didn’t seem good enough and most Flash-heavy sites took a while to load.”
Meanwhile, Lars Bastholm, chief creative officer for Ogilvy North America, told Bloomberg that Apple’s continued refusal to allow Flash on the iPad or iPhone “made it harder” for design professionals to work.
“Flash is used by just about every creative agency out there,” said Bastholm.
“Not having Flash on an iPhone or an iPad is a huge issue for advertisers, because all of a sudden their ads don’t run. And that’s forcing us to reconsider which development process we use.”
