Category: Android

WebXPRT 2015

on May 7, 2015

Tomorrow we’ll be releasing WebXPRT 2015, with mirror site in Singapore to follow soon. We’ve been talking about it for a while and we’re delighted to finally make it available to the public.

As we’ve discussed over the past few weeks, the new WebXPRT is a big improvement over WebXPRT 2013. Some of the changes are

An improved UI. In addition to a cleaner, sleeker look, the UI now has a progress indicator and on-screen test descriptions. There is also a Simplified Chinese version of the UI.
Test automation. WebXPRT 2015 lets you automate testing, giving labs more flexibility and making it easier to test lots of devices.
New and improved tests. In addition to enhancing the existing tests, WebXPRT 2015 adds two new tests, Explore DNA Sequencing and Sales Graphs.

If you haven’t checked out the new WebXPRT, now is the time!

And remember the design document for the next generation of MobileXPRT should be out by the end of the month. If there are things you would like to see, it’s a great time to let us know.

Eric

Posted in Android, Automation, BenchmarkXPRT development community, Collaborative benchmark development, Future of performance evaluation, MobileXPRT, WebXPRT |

Mobile World Congress 2015 (MWC) has been happening this week in Barcelona. There have been lots of cool phones and tablets, of course, but also there has also been a lot of other cool stuff. From smart watches, foldable keyboards, and 200 GB SD cards to “privacy glasses,” electric bicycles, and even furniture from IKEA, this has definitely been a show to watch.

As you know, Bill is our man in Barcelona. If you read Bill’s blog, you know he lives for this sort of stuff. He’s also been meeting with vendors and having great conversations about the XPRTs.

Last week I mentioned that Bill took a great-looking handout to MWC with him. For those who have been wondering what a megaphone had to do with anything, here’s what the front and back look like.

Even though MWC hasn’t ended yet, we’re already deep into preparations for Intel Developer Forum 2015 – Shenzhen. We’ll have more to say about that in the weeks to come.

In other news, we released a new build of BatteryXPRT 2014, v103. The build fixes a problem reported by a reviewer testing the LG G3. Scores from this build are comparable with previous BatteryXPRT scores. Click here for more details.

Eric

Posted in Android, Battery life, BatteryXPRT 2014 for Android, BenchmarkXPRT development community, Mobile World Congress, Trade Shows |

An updated BatteryXPRT 2014 build is available

By Eric Hale

on March 4, 2015

Today we’re releasing a new build of BatteryXPRT 2014 (v103) at BatteryXPRT.com and the Google Play store. The build fixes a problem reported by a reviewer testing the LG G3. The device was going to sleep during the performance test, and causing BatteryXPRT to crash after waking up. We’ve seen this problem only on the LG G3, but it may occur on other devices as well.

The new BatteryXPRT build prevents the device from entering a sleep state. Scores from this build are comparable with previous BatteryXPRT scores.

Click here to download the new BatteryXPRT installer (318 MB) directly from our site.

For users who have limited bandwidth or trouble accessing the Google Play store, downloading the APK files (16.9 MB total) may make installation easier.

Download the updated BatteryXPRT APK (2.7 MB) directly from our site.

Download the updated BatteryXPRT Tests APK (14.2 MB) directly from our site.

If you have any questions about the update or any other XPRT-related topic, feel free to contact us at BenchmarkXPRTsupport@principledtechnologies.com.

Posted in Android, Battery life, BatteryXPRT 2014 for Android, Performance testing on tablets |

An updated MobileXPRT 2013 build is available

By Eric Hale

on February 20, 2015

Today we’re releasing a new build of MobileXPRT 2013 (b93) at MobileXPRT.com and the Google Play store. The build fixes a problem reported by a reviewer testing the LG G3. The device was going to sleep during the performance test, and causing MobileXPRT to crash after waking up. We’ve seen this problem only on the LG G3, but it may occur on other devices as well.

The new MobileXPRT build keeps the screen active during the run. Scores from this build are comparable with previous MobileXPRT scores.

Click here to download the new MobileXPRT installer (250 MB) directly from our site.

For users who have limited bandwidth or trouble accessing the Google Play store, downloading the APK files (16.9 MB total) may make installation easier.

Download the updated MobileXPRT APK (10.3 MB) directly from our site.

Download the updated MobileXPRT UX Tests APK (7.6 MB) directly from our site.

If you have any questions about the update or any other XPRT-related topic, feel free to contact us at BenchmarkXPRTsupport@principledtechnologies.com.

Posted in Android, BenchmarkXPRT development community, MobileXPRT, Performance benchmarking, Performance testing on tablets |

Staying Awake

By Eric Hale

on February 19, 2015

Here in the Eastern US, we’re in a deep freeze. Wherever you are, I hope you’re comfortable and safe.

Tomorrow, we’ll be releasing a patch to MobileXPRT. This patch fixes a problem first reported in a Tom’s Hardware review of the LG G3. The reviewer was not able to get MobileXPRT to run to completion on that device. We looked at the problem and found that the LG G3 was going to sleep during the performance test, and that when the device woke up, MobileXPRT caught an exception and crashed. This problem appeared to be specific to the LG G3, but could occur on other devices as well.

When we changed MobileXPRT to keep the screen active during the run of the app, the benchmark ran on LG G3 without any issues. We’ve tested this fix on our entire test bed and found that it works well. As always, the results remain comparable with previous versions.

We’ve made the same change in BatteryXPRT and are testing it now. Testing BatteryXPRT takes more time than testing MobileXPRT, but we hope to release the patch soon.

In other news, Bill is going to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, March 2-4, and he would love to meet you. If you are also planning to go, let us know.

Eric

Posted in Android, Battery life, BatteryXPRT 2014 for Android, Mobile World Congress, MobileXPRT |

A guest blog from Wilson Cheng at Acer Inc.

By Wilson Cheng

on February 12, 2015

Two years ago, I got a job to evaluate cross-platform benchmarks for comparing Windows and Android.

Usually, Web-based benchmarks focus on only Java-script and HTML5 functionality. I found WebXPRT is easy to use and includes the tasks that you do every day. It reliably tests the user experience and gives a simple score for comparison. I suggested to our manager that we use it to evaluate our platform and he agreed.

Recently, Chromebooks have become very popular. Testing the battery life of Chromebooks has been difficult because you have needed to use the power_LoadTest image from the Chromium project or the test image from the Chrome OS Partners Web site to do power load testing. Without reimaging the system, you couldn’t test battery life. Because CrXPRT is designed to test battery life as well as performance on ChromeOS, this extra step is no longer needed. We can run CrXPRT without updating the test image, which is very useful in our battery life testing.

The advantage of XPRT benchmarks is that they are easy to use and give real-world results. The disadvantage is that they are not yet popular on review sites.

Posted in Android, BenchmarkXPRT, Chrome OS, Chromebooks, CrXPRT, Google Chrome, WebXPRT, What makes a good benchmark? |

Category: Android

WebXPRT 2015

It’s been a show to watch!

An updated BatteryXPRT 2014 build is available

An updated MobileXPRT 2013 build is available

Staying Awake

A guest blog from Wilson Cheng at Acer Inc.

Check out the other XPRTs: