they are prolly using "quadrant standard edition". thats the one everyone uses for some reason(i personally think antutu is a better app). i downloaded it for sh*ts and giggles and ran it on tazz's AOSP gingerbread and for a 289,then a 316. the benchmark scores from any app are not real accurate or reliable. just run it a few times and pick your best score to brag about
quadrant scores are basically meaningless to me. how my phone feels is of more importance,personally,as there are tricks to get your scores up
i had an ally when they came out and sent it back. lgs skin and bloatware caused constant force closing,and it was extremely laggy. im sure the 2.2 update helped,and im sure rooting it helps just as it does with the eris.
at any rate,im not sure why you posted on an eris forum wanting "unbiased info on wich is better". naturally we know this phone so youre not likely to get the opinions of someone who has used both,and picked the ally over the eris here. just as the opposite happens when you post this same question on the ally forum
i thot about getting another(this time used) ally to root,since i enjoy rooting and roming. after looking at your rom selections, i decided not to. not that the roms you have arent functional,fast,etc.,im sure they are great roms and you have some good developers. you just dont have very many
if you can get an eris from a family member,id prolly get it and give it a shot. if you dont like it,no biggie,go back to your ally. but hey,thats just me.
EDIT:
and heres why benchmark scores are pointless. i just ran a test using this app:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.antutu.ABenchMark&feature=search_result
and got an 851 same rom,same settings
the breakdown for anyone interested:
memory: 98
cpu integer: 222
cpu float:18
2d graphics: 149
3d graphics: 93
database io:65
sd card write: (5.0 mb/s) 50
sd card read: (15.6 mb/s)156
if you care about more than just a big overall number,run a test with this app and see how individual things compare. again, you can run it several times and get different numbers,but it will give you an idea which phone is better at what.