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View Full Version : Idea: Device Caps & Lims Benchmark Program



WILL
05-04-2006, 10:50 PM
In times past when hardware was in such varience and chaos that programmers could not keep track of such things as a standard variable of available memory, video resolutions, features, etc... software such as UniVBE, GLIDE, VESA drivers, and eventually Plug-n-Play standards, etc were created to help.

Well I'm wondering if it would be possible and/or practical to create a 'benchmark' app that would read your portable device's capabilities and limitations and either display, save or send that back to a server to be collected. Then with that data create a master list of which devices have what hardware that supports what features and has such limitations.

This idea is akin to the Delphi3D GLInfo program that collects information about different video cards/devices.

Being as there are so many portable devices this might be a huge help to those that want to support the most devices possible. Or to find out what is most standard for all devices.

cairnswm
06-04-2006, 05:24 AM
This is done at www.jbenchmark.com and they have a great database of phones and their capabilities. When trying to decide what phone I want I use JBenchmark to help.

WILL
06-04-2006, 08:44 AM
Hmm... well thats good news. :)

However how versitile is this program? Sorry can't look at URL yet. Does it show chipset name/brands, etc?

I was thinking that there could be some kind of benifit to having a unit that allows you to look up such information if nothing else to allow your programs to restrict screen sizes and allows you to restrict play on screen sizes that are too small and to resize the game screen to allow for a bigger game area.

Do keep in mind that I have not done and MIDletPascal or portable device programming at this point. However I am considering it in the near future. I have a candidate already which would include the Night Stalker spin-off clone I am making. :) I think it would be the first cellphone game that uses neural nets. :P

cairnswm
06-04-2006, 10:26 AM
I think you should check the site yourself, I only use it to check phone processing abilities.

They have many 1000s of phones benchmarked using their test modules. They have (I think) 4 different tests - I typically compare phones using their Benchmark 2 test.

(One of their other tests is a full 3D compatability test).

WILL
06-04-2006, 11:01 AM
Ok. Have to check it when I get home then.