Benchmarks are the bread and butter not just of device reviews, but more importantly of fine-tuning and analyzing hardware performance to deliver the best user experience. It is no wonder, then, that device manufacturers are interested in creating benchmarking tools that will enable developers to more properly gauge the device and the platform, and to that end the MobileBench consortium was born.
In a meeting in Shenzhen, China, Samsung, Huawei, OPPO, Broadcom, and Spreadtrum have formed the new industry group that aims to develop and standardize better benchmarking tools to assist mobile device designers and developers in assessing system performance. Through unbiased tests and guidelines, MobileBench also wants to provide users with a better ruler to measure the overall user experience and, therefore, help them make informed purchases.
The MobileBench consortium will first focus on developers and platform designers and plans to release two professional tools soon. The MobileBench tool is targeted at engineers and system designers and will let them benchmark not only individual components but also perform more complex tasks. The MobileBench-UX benchmark tool, on the other hand, focuses more on the end-user side of the experience, measuring activities such as multi-tasking, video viewing and recording, and more. The group also plans to release a consumer version of the tools that will let users perform benchmarks on their own with more standardized results.
Curiously absent from the roster of members are Qualcomm and NVIDIA whose respective Snapdragon and TEGRA chips power a large majority of mobile devices in the world. The MobileBench consortium, however, is said to be still seeking new members, so it remains to be seen if the two system-on-chip giants will be jumping in to provide truly standardized and impartial benchmarking tools.
VIA: Engadget