How Data Storage Cripples Mobile Apps: the storage in your phone has a bigger effect on your apps than you might think

February 21, 12 by David Goldstein

The latest smart phones and tablets at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month came with an emphasis on faster processors and compatibility with faster wireless networks. But new research shows that the biggest performance bottleneck with popular smart-phone apps such as Facebook and Google Maps is, in fact, the speed with they can read and write a device’s data storage. The results suggest that without changing how mobile gadgets store data, the benefits of new networks and processors will be limited.

“We spend a lot of time of our lives using these apps, but a large part of that is spent waiting — for a Web page to load or a [user interface] to refresh,” said Nitin Agrawal, a researcher in the labs of electronics manufacturer NEC, presenting at the Usenix File and Storage Technology conference in San Jose, California, last week. “We found that storage is the key bottleneck for mobile devices,” said Agrawal. “The storage systems on mobile devices require a fresh look.”

To read this MIT Technology Review report in full, see: www.technologyreview.com/computing/39764/

  • Date Tuesday, 21 Feb 12 at 9:46 am
  • Under Industry News
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