Quadrant Benchmarks & Droid X

[kwest12]

I thought I'd just take a quick moment to address the quadrant benchmarks. Most of you are familiar with them: they're the bar charts you've seen popping up with a number of different Android phones graphed. Like this ---> Motorola Shadow Benchmarked, Looking Pretty Zippy | Android Phone Fans

Here is a brief definition/explanation taken directly from the quadrant site (Aurora Softworks)

"Quadrant is a benchmark for mobile devices, capable of measuring CPU, memory, I/O and 3D graphics performance."

Apparently, only the free version of quadrant is currently available. What does that mean? Well apparently it runs tests on all of the areas mentioned in the quote above and then groups all the data into a single comprehensive score. Those scores are what shows up in the bar charts. (The Pro version will allow the user to separate the different areas tested into separate components, but like I said, that version isn't yet available.)

Hypothetically, this could mean that a phone could perform very well on a single section of the test, and that section would inflate the overall score (for those of you familiar with stats, this would be similar to an outlier skewing results). Now before you start yelling at me, please understand that I'm not saying this has happened with the Shadow (Droid X). However, I must admit that I'm still puzzled as to how the Shadow (Droid X) score so high.....

Again, before you start yelling at me, please note that I am not a person who about GHz/Mhz labels, Megapixel counts, etc. Why am I raising my eyebrow at the Shadow (Droid X) benchmarks then? Well, all the information I've read seems to say that the OMAP processor in the Shadow is just a version of the Droid's processor: it has a slightly higher clock speed and a smaller architecture. People who know waaaaay more than me also have pointed out that a smaller architecture shouldn't necessarily result in a massive performance increase. Also, the GPU being utilized by the Shadow (Droid X) is apparently the same one that is present in the Droid. Now I know that there are people saying that for some reason the GPU has an 80% increase in performance with this particular processor, but personally I can't wrap my head around that. How can the same exact chip suddenly perform 80% better? <--- I'm not being sarcastic, that is an honest question.

If you made it to this line, I applaud and thank you for staying with me. I want to say that I honestly expect the Shadow to wow us all....... I'm just very curious and a little skeptical of the quadrant benchmark results. If anyone has any more info about this, please explain it. Thanks!

 

[jreed2560]

this not the same chip at a higher clock speed.

YouTube - Texas Instruments 65nm OMAP3430 vs 45nm OMAP3630

 

[theineffablebob]

Guy who used the phone says it's running at 1 GHz...?
Motorola Droid Xtreme MB810 (Shadow) Pre-Release Thread Part 2 - Information Only

 

[tranceFusion]

Guy who used the phone also claimed it was smoother and more responsive than the Incredible.. which is really what matters, right? End user experience?

 

[kwest12]

Here's another thing that I saw someone point out: this device is said to have HDMI output correct? Well if you go right to the OMAP36x page you will notice that towards the bottom, it only lists composite and S-Video TV output. (OMAP&#8482; 3 Processors - OMAP36x)

Guy who used the phone also claimed it was smoother and more responsive than the Incredible.. which is really what matters, right? End user experience?

100% right. That's why I mentioned that I expect it to 'wow' us all.

 

[dima]

Here's another thing that I saw someone point out: this device is said to have HDMI output correct? Well if you go right to the OMAP36x page you will notice that towards the bottom, it only lists composite and S-Video TV output. (OMAP

 

[TankRizzo]

That is very interesting... Perhaps that is just a listing of what the processor can natively do with hardware only, and Motorola has some sort of software solution to make HDMI out work? I really have no idea how any of that works...

I don't claim to be an expert on anything phone related either, but would a GPU make any difference?

 

[albiewan]

Does anyone know the width of the screen? I understand it's 4.1" high but will it be similar to the Evo in respect to a wider and taller screen? I like my DI but a little more width would be desirable. Probably has something to do with aspect ratio, dunno...

 

[Eazail70x7]

I think this phone is slimmer than the Evo but Taller. Still 4.3inches diagonal

 

[matty032]

Actually its 4.4 inches.

 

[ubck]

That is very interesting... Perhaps that is just a listing of what the processor can natively do with hardware only, and Motorola has some sort of software solution to make HDMI out work? I really have no idea how any of that works...

HDMI is an expansion to the display subsystem and not really a part of the processor. The OMAPZoom is a board which uses the OMAP; check out this link.