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Category: Collaborative benchmark development

The name game

In Something shiny, we discussed the leading contender in our search for new benchmark ideas, a benchmark tailored especially for the Chrome OS, and we’ve been looking at what workloads would make sense.

As we said, the ability to measure battery life would be useful. That’s not easy in the Chrome environment. We think we may be able to do it, but the Chromebook may have to be in developer mode. Even so, we can leverage what we’ve learned from BatteryXPRT to get a reliable estimate of battery life in less than a working day.

Measuring performance, however, is a must. We’ve been looking at the existing WebXPRT workloads as well as other applications, such as education apps, online games, HD video playback, music playback, and more. We’re also looking for areas where using native client execution makes sense, such as higher-resolution photo editing.

In addition, we’re thinking about what we might call this benchmark. ChromeXPRT would be obvious, but probably wouldn’t pass Google’s naming restrictions.

Do you have ideas for the benchmark’s name? Are there Chrome-based benchmark workloads you’d love to see? Let us know at BenchmarkXPRTsupport@principledtechnologies.com!

Eric

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Stronger, faster, and definitely better

This week we released HDXPRT 2014 Community Preview 1 (CP1) to BenchmarkXPRT Development Community members. For those community members who’ve been around since the beginning, you’ll notice how much HDXPRT has changed. We’ve trimmed down HDXPRT without reducing the value of the test. While HDXPRT 2012 required multiple installation DVDs, HDXPRT 2014 CP1 is available for download in the member’s area. In addition, it took HDXPRT 2012 at least five hours to complete the recommended three test iterations. HDXPRT 2014 is much faster – the total time required for install and three test iterations is less than two hours!

Like all versions of HDXPRT, CP1 uses real-world media applications such as Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 12, Apple® iTunes®11.1, CyberLink MediaEspresso 6.7, and others to perform common consumer tasks like editing photos, converting videos, and editing music files.

If you’re a community member, give CP1 a try. If you have questions about HDXPRT 2014 or any of the XPRTs, please contact us at BenchmarkXPRTsupport@principledtechnologies.com. If you’d like to be a part of future XPRT development and community previews, now’s a great time to join!

Eric

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BatteryXPRT 2014 for Android and TouchXPRT 2014 source codes are now available.

As we mentioned in the BatteryXPRT 2014 and TouchXPRT 2014 release announcements, we are making the sources available to community members.

Download the BatteryXPRT 2014 source here.

Download the TouchXPRT 2014 source here.

We’re also posting BatteryXPRT build instructions and TouchXPRT build instructions in the Members Area. If you want more information, please contact BenchmarkXPRTsupport@principledtechnologies.com.

We look forward to your feedback!

Eric

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Something shiny

As I mentioned in Looking for the next big thing, we’ve received some ideas for benchmarks recently. While there were several good ideas, the one that rose to the top of the list was a benchmark for Chrome-based devices.

For the past year or so, Chromebooks have been the fastest-growing segment of the PC market, so there’s a lot of interest. Given the rising profile of Chromebooks, a Chrome OS benchmark seems like a good fit with the existing XPRTs.

We’ve just started batting around ideas about what a Chrome OS benchmark might look like. Because the browser is the interface, WebXPRT is the natural place to start. However, WebXPRT runs on all platforms. We would like a Chrome benchmark to consider Chrome‑specific technologies like Google Native Client. If possible, it would also be great to get the battery life as well as performance.

Those are a few of our ideas. Do you have ideas about what you would like to see in a Chrome OS benchmark? If so, what would you consider most important for it to include? Let us know at benchmarkxprtsupport@principledtechnologies.com!

And remember, we’re always looking for new ideas. If there’s a benchmark you’d love to see, let us know.

Eric

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Looking for the next big thing

We recently introduced a new Web form in the members’ area to make it easier for you to submit new benchmark ideas. We’ve already received some interesting suggestions:

  • A benchmark to assess performance, battery life, and Chrome-specific technologies on Chromebooks
  • 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

Are you interesting in seeing any of these? Or do you have an idea no one has mentioned yet? We know there’s more out there! We like finding new things to measure and new ways to measure them, so please don’t hesitate to share your ideas!

Also, remember that the comment period for BatteryXPRT 2014 for Android CP2 ends on Monday, April 21. CP2 is the first XPRT to feature a Simplified Chinese UI. Please send in your comments. We’ll be aiming for a BatteryXPRT general release soon.

By the way, if you have a language you’d like to see and you’re willing to help with the translation, we’d love to talk to you!

Let us know what you think about potential new benchmarks, language options, or anything else on your mind at BenchmarkXPRTSupport@principledtechnologies.com.

Eric

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BatteryXPRT 2014 for Android Community Preview 2 is available to community members!

As promised in Something new, we’re releasing the BatteryXPRT 2014 for Android Community Preview 2 (CP2) to demonstrate BatteryXPRT’s Simplified Chinese UI. See Community Preview 2 is available! for the details (login required).

The general release is coming soon, so this will be a really quick Community Preview. The comment period will last for a week, through Monday, April 21. Assuming there are no significant issues, we hope to release the final version shortly thereafter. Please let us know if you see any problems.

If you are not a community member, it’s easy to join!

Eric

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