Earlier today a study that compared the iPhone to Android for Web browsing speed was found to be flawed. The company doing the test didn’t realize the embedded browser didn’t have the faster Nitro JavaScript engine, which was recently released as part Mobile Safari. Daring Fireball’s Jon Gruber has a look at why. This is where Gruber excels — a great read.

Web apps that are saved to the home screen do not run within Mobile Safari. They’re effectively saved as discrete apps — thin wrappers around the UIWebView control. (That’s why they show up individually in the task bar, just like apps from the App Store.) Home screen apps may well eventually get access to the Nitro JavaScript engine — Apple simply hasn’t yet done (or perhaps finished?) the security work to allow it. It is not an oversight or a bug, or the result of a single person at Apple wishing to hinder the performance of web apps.

Why the Nitro JavaScript Engine Isn’t Available to Apps Outside Mobile Safari in iOS 4.3 [Daring Fireball]