Category: Collaborative benchmark development

Winding down the year

on December 19, 2013

We have a few things we need to touch on before the year ends.

In TouchXPRT 2014, we described some of the changes to TouchXPRT. We had hoped to have the Consumer Preview out in December, but we need to do a little more work on it. However, the TouchXPRT 2014 CP is coming after first of the year, and it’s worth the wait!

For the first time ever, we found a situation that caused WebXPRT to fail. We got a report of an iPhone 5s failing. We found that the user was using the private browsing mode. The WebXPRT Offline Notes test uses HTML5 local storage to sync and store notes locally. Safari and iOS Safari don’t support setting the HTML 5 localStorage property when using private browsing mode. Not using private browsing fixes the problem.

Remember that we are in the comment period for the new battery test. Community members should definitely check out the battery test RFC.

As we mentioned before, Bill and Mark are going to CES. If you’d like to chat, send an e-mail to benchmarkxprtsupport@principledtechnologies.com.

This is the last blog of 2013. The next post will be on January 2.

It’s been a great year. Thank you all.

Happy holidays!

Eric

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Posted in Battery life, Collaborative benchmark development, TouchXPRT, WebXPRT |

The battery life test RFC is here

By Eric Hale

on December 12, 2013

As we’ve mentioned in recent blog posts, we’ve been investigating a battery life test. We’ve now done enough research that we feel comfortable making a proposal for the test. We released the RFC, or request for comments, for upcoming battery life test yesterday. Our major objective with the RFC is to get your feedback.

Given the amount of time and effort it took to develop the methodology, we had to lay a lot of code. While nothing is written in stone, things are pretty far along.

For the next four weeks, until January 8, we want to hear what you what you think about the approach, the results calculations, and anything else you think is worth discussing. Notably, we are still debating if this should be part of MobileXPRT or be its own benchmark.

Community members can download the RFC from here. If you’re not yet a member of the community, now’s a great time to join. Not only can you comment on the RFC, you’ll be able to see the community preview when it becomes available.

Since the benchmark does not have a name yet, we haven’t dedicated a forum to it yet. Please post your comments in the BenchmarkXPRT forum, or mail them to benchmarkxprtsupport@principledtechnologies.com.

Let us know what you think! We probably won’t be able to get everything done, but now is the time to dream.

Eric

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Posted in Battery life, BenchmarkXPRT, BenchmarkXPRT development community, Collaborative benchmark development |

Sounds easy, but…

By Eric Hale

on December 5, 2013

Sounds easy, but…

In Endurance, Bill said that we were going to be investigating battery life testing. He also discussed some of the issues that make battery testing difficult to do well. Finally, he explained why we were looking at MobileXPRT as the basis for the first version of the battery life test.

Over the last couple of months, we have been experimenting with a number of different approaches to battery testing. We now think that we have enough empirical data that we can make a proposal. We are working on that now. It should be available to community members in the next couple of weeks.

We hope you’ll look at the proposal and let us know what you think. Your input is an essential part of developing a really great test. If you’re not a member of the community, it’s easy to join.

In other news, we’re going to CES and would love to talk with you. If you’d like to chat, send an e-mail to benchmarkxprtsupport@principledtechnologies.com.

Eric

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Posted in Benchmarking, Collaborative benchmark development, MobileXPRT, What makes a good benchmark? |

Broadening our appeal

By Eric Hale

on October 31, 2013

As I mentioned last week, we’ve asked the PT design team to help improve the XPRT benchmarks. I’m learning a lot working with them. As someone who’s been involved with benchmarking a long time, it can be a shock to realize that there are people who think “ms” is a magazine, “geomean” has something to do with the environment, and “UX” sounds like it would be a great name for a band. But the fact is that most consumers don’t need to know any of these terms, so our benchmarks shouldn’t rely on them, either.

This collaboration already paying off. The PT design team rewrote the MobileXPRT FAQ, making it much more extensive, accessible, and fun to read. We think the new FAQ is greatly improved, and it’s certainly more informative. We’ll be upgrading the FAQs for the other benchmarks in the near future.

Our efforts are going far beyond FAQs. Data presentation, graphics, the basic UI design philosophy—everything is on the table. Let us know what you think by emailing benchmarkxprtsupport@principledtechnolgies.com or by posting on the forums.

Eric

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Posted in BenchmarkXPRT, BenchmarkXPRT development community, Collaborative benchmark development, Let us know your thoughts, MobileXPRT |

Sprucing things up

By Eric Hale

on October 17, 2013

A major goal of the BenchmarkXPRT benchmarks is to be useful to the people who buy consumer devices, most of whom do not have experience running benchmarks. As these people have started discovering the benchmarks, we’ve been learning a lot about how to make the benchmarks clearer and easier to use.

We’re working on a lot of things: making the data clearer and easier to understand, giving better feedback about what the benchmark is doing, making the controls clearer and easier to find, making the documentation more accessible, and more. We also need to make the UIs of the benchmarks more unified, so that the benchmarks appear to be the members of the same family.

Because we take this effort very seriously, we are involving the PT design team in a more integral way. These are the same people who spearheaded the Web site redesign and produced the BenchmarkXPRT videos. (See their most recent video here.)

We’ll keep you informed about the design process as we go. If you have complaints or suggestions, it’s not too late. Please post to the forums or send an email to benchmarkxprtsupport@principledtechnologies.com.

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Posted in BenchmarkXPRT, BenchmarkXPRT development community, Collaborative benchmark development, Principled Technologies |

Look how we’ve grown!

By Eric Hale

on October 10, 2013

We talk a lot about the community model, but perhaps not enough about the community itself. I was looking at our growth over the past few months, and struck by how far we have come this year. We don’t reveal our members’ personal information, but I would like to share some statistics with you.

The community has grown by over 40 percent in 2013. Members are affiliated with 49 organizations, representing chip makers, OEMs, software vendors, and the press. Some members work outside technology, in fields such as engineering, finance, and communications.

Back in April, we blogged about setting up a second WebXPRT host to help with download speeds in China, so it’s no surprise that the community has also spread across the world. Because we don’t require detailed information from community members, I don’t know how many countries are represented. However, the members with whom I’ve had personal contact come from at least four continents.

Thanks to all our community members for making it a great year so far. If you’ve not joined yet, now is a great time. Remember that members see the previews of the benchmarks, and the 2014 versions are coming.

Here’s looking forward to greater growth in the future.

Eric

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Posted in BenchmarkXPRT, BenchmarkXPRT development community, Collaborative benchmark development, WebXPRT |

Category: Collaborative benchmark development

Winding down the year

The battery life test RFC is here

Sounds easy, but…

Broadening our appeal

Sprucing things up

Look how we’ve grown!

Check out the other XPRTs: