TouchXPRT 2014 FAQ

We use our devices every day to consume and create media, from podcasts to photos, and faster is always better. But with so many Windows touch-capable devices out there, how can you know which is fastest?

TouchXPRT can help. TouchXPRT is a free tool that gives you objective information about how well a touch-capable Windows 8/8.1 or Windows RT laptop or tablet handles common media tasks. By clicking a button, you can run a set of tests and get a single-number score that makes it easy to compare your device against others on the TouchXPRT website. You can also just check out results from a variety of Windows laptops and tablets at TouchXPRT.com.

TouchXPRT is one of the BenchmarkXPRT apps, or the XPRTs, a set of tools that help you learn how all kinds of devices perform. In the tech biz, many people refer to these tools as “benchmarks.” That means they’re designed to test a wide range of devices on a level playing field. When you rely on results from XPRTs, you can be sure you’re getting unbiased, fair product comparisons.

It tells you how well a touch-capable device running Windows 8/8.1 or Windows RT handles common media tasks. To do this, TouchXPRT runs five tests that simulate the kinds of photo, video, and MP3 tasks you do on your device every day. It measures how long your device takes to complete each of those tasks and gives you an overall score that you can use to compare your device against others at TouchXPRT.com.

Technology manufacturers, developers, and sellers; tech-review websites, and consumers like you. TouchXPRT is a great resource for anyone who wants to compare two or more touch-capable Windows 8/8.1 or Windows RT devices against each other.

Simply download TouchXPRT from the Windows App Store. (If that doesn’t work for you, you can also download it at TouchXPRT.com.) Installing it should take about fifteen minutes. The first time you launch TouchXPRT, it will prompt you to download the content for the tests. (We host those externally so the app takes less time to download.) Go ahead and follow the instructions; you’ll have to do this only once.

Before you start, do the following:

1. Reboot your device.
2. Quit all the other apps you have running.
3. Go to your device’s Settings menu.
4. Set your device to stay awake for at least 30 minutes.

These steps will help you get the most accurate results. Now, you’re ready to test!

When you click the Start Test button, it may seem as if something is taking over your device, but don’t worry – this is how it’s supposed to look! Running all the tests should take about twenty minutes. (This can vary widely by device, however, so don’t worry if the tests take more or less time.)

Follow these three important rules to get accurate results:

• Do not let the device fall asleep.
• Do not use other apps while the test is running.
• Do not try to interrupt or stop the tests before they finish.

None of these actions will harm the app or your device, but your results may not be reliable if you don’t follow these rules.

After you run the tests, TouchXPRT will show you its overall score, which you can compare to others by going to the TouchXPRT website and clicking View Results. There, you’ll find scores from a wide range of other Windows devices.

You can also run only one test by tapping an individual tile, but you won’t be able to get an overall score without tapping Start Test. If you run only one test, you will see only the results for that test. To see individual test results, click the link under the Source column on the Results page.

It runs these five scenarios:

1. Beautify Photos
   Applies three effects (Sharpen, Spotlight, and Emboss) to each photo in a photo album.
2. Blend Photos
   Creates collages of pictures and adds a watermark. It also merges a burst of photos to remove a moving object and performs an HDR operation on a group of photos.
3. Convert Videos for Sharing
   Reduces the resolution of a video so it’s ready to share.
4. Create Music Podcast
   Mixes five audio files, adds watermarks to the mixed file, and converts it to MP3 so it’s ready to share.
5. Create Slideshow from Photos
   Creates a slideshow video using an album of photos.

The most important thing to remember is the overall score in the upper right-hand corner, which you can use to compare your device to others on TouchXPRT.com.

TouchXPRT also gives you information about each individual test. Here’s the breakdown:

• Colorful lines: Like a lie detector or a seismograph, these timelines represent how the device is doing as TouchXPRT puts it through its paces. Basically, it’s how fast the device is going at any given instant.
• Photos/sec: This tells you how many photos the device processed per second in a task. A higher score is better.
• #X: This is the ratio of the length of the song or video to the time the test took to run. A higher score is better.
• Seconds: The time in seconds is the time TouchXPRT spent working on that test. Because finishing a task in less time is preferable, a lower score is better here. If you watch the clock, you’ll notice that this time is less than the time the test took to complete. This is because TouchXPRT realistically simulates the way people work, and people pause. However, the pauses are the same on all systems, so they don’t affect the final score. For this reason, TouchXPRT excludes them from the total test time.
• Source and Output: These TouchXPRT constants indicate the quantity and quality of the audio and visual media the test uses. They will be the same on all devices. If your device were a car, it would be like saying that the mileage test took place on a 40-mile track.

To compare these individual scores with others, click the link under the Source column on the Results page.

Click the View Results button to see the results of past runs. To submit a result, click the Submit button associated with that result. Enter your contact information, the amount of RAM in the system, and click Submit.

Go to TouchXPRT.com and click View Results.

Absolutely! Just go to TouchXPRT.com and click View Results, where you’ll find scores from many different Windows 8/8.1 and Windows RT devices.

The BenchmarkXPRT Development Community is a forum where registered members can contribute to the process of creating and improving the XPRTs, including TouchXPRT. If you are not currently a community member, we encourage you to join! (And yes, that means you – our community is open to everyone, from software developers to interested consumers.) Not only will you get early releases of future versions of TouchXPRT, you’ll also be able to download the source code (available to members only) and influence the future of the app. Register now, or for more information, see the BenchmarkXPRT FAQ.

Go to TouchXPRT.com or follow us on Twitter and Facebook. We announce breaking news on the BenchmarkXPRT blog (available to everyone) and the BenchmarkXPRT forums (available to members only).