Category: Collaborative benchmark development

An update for BatteryXPRT 2014 for Android

on December 1, 2014

For those of you in the US, I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving.

A couple of weeks ago, we updated MobileXPRT so that it would run correctly on Android 5 (Android L) devices. Later this week, we will be updating BatteryXPRT as well. The current BatteryXPRT build doesn’t work with Android 5 due to failures of the Create Slideshow workload. This is the same workload failure we fixed with an updated MobileXPRT build.

The new build greatly improves things. We successfully tested the new build on an array of Android 5 and 4.4 devices with no failures. However, we have seen the new build of BatteryXPRT return intermittent errors during the Create Photo Collage and Apply Photo Effects workloads when testing on the Nexus 9.

Because the error on the Nexus 9 is intermittent, it’s possible to get results from some runs. These results are still valid.

We haven’t seen this failure on any device other than the Nexus 9, but cannot guarantee that there aren’t others. If you see any other failures, or have any questions, please contact us.

We’re currently working on a solution for this problem. We will, as always, keep you informed.

Eric

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Posted in Android, Battery life, BatteryXPRT 2014 for Android, Collaborative benchmark development, MobileXPRT |

A new model

By Eric Hale

on November 20, 2014

Today we released a new community preview for CrXPRT (CP2). It contains several enhancements and UI changes. It also fixes the problem we discussed in last week’s blog, so CP2 will now correctly execute a rundown test on a system using Chinese language settings.

The most exciting enhancement is that CP2 will let you test battery life without having to put the device into developer mode. The new Battery Status API, which became available with Chrome 38, makes this possible.

Another enhancement is that results submission is now integrated into the benchmark UI. CrXPRT follows the WebXPRT model, with you having opt-in control over whether the results are published on the PT Web site. However, CrXPRT goes further by allowing you the option to upload more extensive disclosure information, and the option to download results as a text file.

These and other enhancements are covered in more detail in the CrXPRT forum and the user manual. Because this is a community preview, you have to be a community member to download it. However, joining is very easy.

We hope you like the new features in CrXPRT. Let us know what you think!

Eric

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Posted in Chrome OS, Collaborative benchmark development, Community Preview, CrXPRT |

News about MobileXPRT 2013 and WebXPRT 2015

By Eric Hale

on November 14, 2014

Today, we’re releasing a new build (v92) of MobileXPRT 2013 at MobileXPRT.com and the Google Play store. This build addresses issues encountered when testing MobileXPRT on Android 5 devices. The tests have not changed, so new scores are comparable with previous MobileXPRT 2013 scores.

Click here to download the new MobileXPRT build directly from our site.

Alternatively, you can download the MobileXPRT 2013 APKs directly. The APKs are small (17.9 MB total) and allow you to download the test content during installation. For users who have trouble accessing the Google Play store, these APKs may make it easier to download the benchmark.

Download the MobileXPRT APK here.
Download the MobileXPRT UX Tests APK here.

Also, today we’re publishing the WebXPRT 2015 Design Overview document for community members. You can find the document on the WebXPRT tab in the Members’ Area. We look forward to your feedback!

If you have any questions or concerns about these or any other XPRT-related topics, feel free to contact us at BenchmarkXPRTsupport@principledtechnologies.com.

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Posted in Android, Collaborative benchmark development, MobileXPRT, WebXPRT, WebXPRT 2015 |

Upcoming experiments

By Eric Hale

on November 6, 2014

Next week, we’ll be releasing the design overview for WebXPRT 2015. WebXPRT 2013 has been an enormous success, having been run tens of thousands of times.

One of the big improvements we are considering for WebXPRT 2015 is adding experimental tests. A big reason for WebXPRT’s success is that it runs on almost every Web-enabled device. We consider it essential to preserve this broad compatibility. However, there are interesting Web technologies that simply are not available on all devices.

Our proposal is to add experimental tests to WebXPRT. These tests would be optional and would not be included in the Overall score, so WebXPRT would still be able to compare the performance of widely different devices. We are looking at technologies such as Web Workers, WebGL, and pre-compiled JavaScript (asm.js).

In addition to adding experimental tests, we are looking at ways to improve the UI, add automation, add new tests, update old tests, and more!

If you are a community member, you’ll get a notice when the overview is available. We will definitely want to know what you think! If you are not a member, it’s a great time to join.

If you have any thoughts on these ideas, or have ideas of your own, please let us know!

Eric

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Posted in BenchmarkXPRT development community, Collaborative benchmark development, Performance benchmarking, WebXPRT, WebXPRT 2015, What makes a good benchmark? |

Time to get creative

By Justin Greene

on September 4, 2014

The CrXPRT Community Preview is right around the corner, and there’s no sign of things slowing down. We’re exploring new opportunities on a number of fronts, and we’d love to hear what you think! We’re considering possible changes to WebXPRT and MobileXPRT, and since the mobile device market is changing all the time, we’re looking for the next great benchmark opportunity. In both cases, the development community is a rich source of ideas, so we’d like to tap into it one more time.

A while back, we added a new Web form in the members’ area for submitting benchmark ideas. Some of the ideas we have so far include:

A benchmark to evaluate camera features and photo quality on phones and tablets
A benchmark for measuring the performance of cloud services
A benchmark for measuring the performance and battery life of iOS-based devices

So, what would you like to see? Any of these, or do you have ideas we haven’t mentioned? Also, we’d love to hear your feedback on ways we can improve, both with the XPRTs themselves and with community life. Either way, send a message to BenchmarkXPRTSupport@principledtechnologies.com and let us know what you think!

Justin

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Posted in BenchmarkXPRT development community, Collaborative benchmark development, Community Preview, CrXPRT, MobileXPRT, WebXPRT, What makes a good benchmark? |

HDXPRT 2014 source code coming soon

By Justin Greene

on August 28, 2014

We’ve really been enjoying the smaller size and quicker install and runtimes of HDXPRT 2014, and we encourage you to give the benchmark a try if you haven’t already! Within the next week or so, we’ll make the HDXPRT 2014 source code available to BenchmarkXPRT Development Community members. Part of what makes the XPRT community work is the feedback we get from members, whether it comes in the form of new benchmark ideas, suggestions for improvement, or questions raised during community preview testing. Having members comb through the code is another aspect of that community model. We welcome any members with programming skills to comment on our code and submit their own code for review.

If you decide to submit code, please read the XPRT commenting conventions, which are simply brief descriptions of a few practices that will make it easier for us to read your code.

We’ll also post detailed build instructions for HDXPRT 2014 in the Members Area. When the source code is available, check it out and let us know what you think. If you have code to share, please post on the forums or send us a message. If you haven’t yet joined the community, we’d love for you to join now.

Justin

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Posted in BenchmarkXPRT development community, Collaborative benchmark development, Community Preview, HDXPRT, HDXPRT 2014, HDXPRT source code, Source code |

Category: Collaborative benchmark development

An update for BatteryXPRT 2014 for Android

A new model

News about MobileXPRT 2013 and WebXPRT 2015

Upcoming experiments

Time to get creative

HDXPRT 2014 source code coming soon

Check out the other XPRTs: