Java only? Is this a performance problem?

[xaozon]

At least in Symbian phones applications written in Symbian are faster and offer better performance than those written in Java. I'm no developer so i was wondering if this is a limitation in Android since you can't write in C/C++ for it?

[SerfVisionary]

is it on java only?

you can write in linux correct? must it be java as well?

[Kunikos]

I was under the impression that the handsets would have a chip/CPU that's able to run Java byte-code natively, and the Java would be compiled to byte-code prior to loading it onto the handset. This way it runs about as fast as, say, C++ type code. But I have no idea for sure.