iPhone 3GS pitted against Nexus One in 3D frame rate test (video)
By Darren Murph 
posted February 15th 2010 2:19AM
posted February 15th 2010 2:19AM
posted February 15th 2010 2:19AM
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I can't help using a Droid and iPhone... I'm waiting for that one super device... until then I love them both!
@alonapresley, The comparison between N1 and iPhone never dies. Here is one more comparison: http://goo.gl/aHXX
OR Click:
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/reviews/2010/01/nexus-one-review.ars/4
@mantrik00
Another comparison videos (Nexus 1 vs Acer Liquid vs Motorola Dext vs HTC Hero) running Neocore for benchmarking:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvzxZ8tOBcQ&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_d43qICTCA&feature=player_embedded
@Beatnik What these benchmarks do not take into account are the DIFFERENT RESOLUTIONS.
iPhone - 320x480 = 153K Pixels
Nexus One - 800x480 = 384K Pixels (2.5 times more)
For those that look at video/gaming benchmarks online, you notice a significant FPS difference when moving between resolutions. Apples to Oranges here.
@Accidental
But is the nexus actually pushing that many pixels, or does the benchmark use the same resolution on each phone? It seems ridiculous to me that a benchmark would test two different resolutions. Just because the screen has more pixels doesn't mean the program is rendering more, and that's what's important.
can anyone confirm?
@Levi: If it's using the (Dalvik) OpenGL API, it cannot use a resolution other than the native resolution. So it would always be 800x480, I don't think you can even upscale atm.
@Accidental
Ya, i'm hoping that the benchmark did in fact test at the same resolution otherwise this data is useless.
@mrsantovalentino
WTF??? So a 1 year old phone performs better than a brand-spanking-new phone? What's the final verdict on whether screen resolution has an impact on the test or not. I think I'm reading the test was exactly equal on both devices.
@Accidental Exactly...the resolution is quite different on the phones.
The nexus is also pushing a higher resolution.
@B3astofthe3ast
This. I just compiled a kernel for the Nexus (open source ftw?)
It is based off cyanogen's source code, so it has the extra ram enabled.
My tweak however, was overclocking it to 1.113ghz.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=633238
Enjoy :)
@B3astofthe3ast yep and you can clearly see better colors :)
@B3astofthe3ast You didn't read the article, son. That would have been an amateur mistake on their part.
"One of the most important differences between these two devices is the fact that the Nexus has a much higher resolution screen, which means that the GPU has to fill 2.5 times as many pixels on the Nexus than it does on the iPhone. OK, so let’s change the viewport on the Nexus to the same size as the iPhone just so we can compare the two equally. With just two characters on screen, switching the viewport size to 480×320 on the Nexus, give a frame-rate improvement from 30fps to 40fps but with 8 characters on screen there is no difference; with the frame-rate remaining the same at 21fps."
@B3astofthe3ast
Ya, so what's the point to use higher resolution ?
Consume more CPU and power ?
Lots of geek like to compare spec, instead of usability.
@B3astofthe3ast
Higher resolution is an understatement, it well past a 2:1 ratio. That being said, as the Nexus one does have considerably better hardware it would be nice if it could keep up, but give that device another 3-6 months of optimization (The iPhone 3GS is sitting at roughly 7 months of consumer use as of now) and this test should yield much closer results.
@B3astofthe3ast
That probably even makes it worse.
It's like having an even more beautiful video game, that you can't play.
@max1c
That could just be because the Nexus colors are more compatible with the camera chip. But I'm def. gonna compare it when to my iPhone when it becomes available in stores here :)
Both framerates are acceptable to me, and having 854x480, true black and Flash? Sold!
@(Unverified)
"Ya, so what's the point to use higher resolution ? "
Uhm I dunno, maybe so you can see more of a webpage/email/game/calendar month?
@B3astofthe3ast
mmm...so lemme get this straight, the nexus one is running exactly 2.5x as many pixels, and the iphone is running optimized arm neon floating point coding. how exactly is this a fair test? If anything, it'd be nice to see the palm pre/pre plus vs iphone and the nexusone vs the HD2
@Alexicov "Uhm I dunno, maybe so you can see more of a webpage/email/game/calendar month?"
Yeah because that would in reality be determined by a higher resolution - not a bigger screen size.
Fitting in more on the same size screen wouldn't mean it would be smaller and less usable at all, straight on.
@zetman
Enjoy playing your Wii on a janky old CRT.
@max1c Better colors?, that is rather subjective, Personally I think that the iPhones skin tones are more realistic and the Tatami mats also look more close to the color of the real thing... that to me says that the color on the iPhone is better, I am sure that the AMOLED display is brighter and easier to see on the Nexus One but I do think that the color is better on the iPhone.
@B3astofthe3ast Oh Nooos, waaah little princess iphone can't be faster. It's not possible, Nexus One is teh fastest phone. Uh um, it must be the higher resolution, it must be something that we're not thinking about, teh background apps, teh animated home screens, gravity? Wah, Nexus is so much faster than princess phone, something is wrong here. Doesn't everyone know by now that iphone is junk hardware in a nice case sold at rip-off prices? The benchmarks must prove this is the case otherwise they are phoney benchmarks.
@B3astofthe3ast
Spin how ever you want to make you feel better.
@B3astofthe3ast This is too funny. Lies that try to discredit anything positive about Apple's products get highly ranked and the rest downranked. Keep doing it guys so we can see how moronic the commenters round here really are. Maybe read the articles in future so you don't look like a bunch of desperate idiots posting FUD.
I dont care about FPS. I just want to see the two chicks wrestle in KY Jelly.
that's the most girls you'll ever see on engadget
@Alexicov Aren't you forgetting all the girls in those Samsung and LG press shots?
@Alexicov
I would get Olivia Munn (from Attack of the show) to be on Engadget Show, shes hot.
Does the current Nexus One kernel's inability to utilize only half of the phone's RAM play into this at all?
@uansari1 It's unable to use only half of the ram? Sounds like it's even more of a resource hog than Vista...I get the feeling that's not what you meant
Ok, I'm biased. I'm a Nexus One user and most of my family has the iPhone in some iteration, though I've never been impressed enough to jump ship from T-Mobile (ok, I've never been up to pay the contract cancellation fee, but I sometimes pretend to be loyal). Here's the thing with frame rates. 61 is amazing! and it would be even more amazing if our brain/eyeball abilities could distinguish between 35 fps and 61 fps. That's the reason 28 to 30 fps has been the standard for video. Any less than that and we can see the distinction between frames, but much more than that and we don't really notice a difference. Aside from the lack of faster than reality fps, the image quality and contrast ratio are what makes gaming on the N1 outstanding. Anyone try Radiant? Holy crap!
Whhhhhyyyyyyyyyy.
Why do people still say that the human eye can't see above xx FPS?
@gobeavs I'll agree that FPS isn't everything, but saying that your eyes can't tell the difference between 35 and 60 fps is bullshit. If you look at a game running on two different PCs, one at 30fps, and one at 60fps, you'll definitely be able to notice the difference. This has been debunked plenty of times, I don't know why people keep bringing it up.
@gobeavs
But the point here is that you can run more polygons, textures, etc before the system chokes on one platform than the other.
It just so happens that this demo runs at 60fps.
@gobeavs I like how everyone points to the NTSC 29.97 FPS specification like there's some sort of fundamental truth hidden inside.
The frequency of the response isn't linear across wavelength (color) either; it's easy to rig up a breadboard with red, blue, and green LEDs, and either a function generator or a timer IC you can change. Run the tests yourself.
The surprising thing is that response varies significantly from person to person...
@gobeavs As a gamer, I notice differences in frame rates. I can tell when the FPS goes above 30, 45, and 60. From 60 onwards it's a bit more difficult. The reason 24-30 FPS is the standard is because in film it's easier to manufacture film (fewer frames, obviously) and you get more bang for your buck when buying said film.
I have the Samsung 2233RZ monitor and an nVidia GTX 295 in my system. When I play Crysis in DirectX 10 mode, I get about 20 FPS. When I play in DX 9 mode, I get 60. My eyes can certainly see a difference.
@gobeavs
It's easy to tell the difference of frame rates.
Halo 3 runs at 640p at 30 fps, while Call of Duty 4 (and I'm assuming MW2 does as well) runs at 600p at 60 fps. While it's not hard to adjust between the different games, there is a noticeable difference going from one to the other. Although I agree I don't want to watch a movie that looks like a soap opera.
@gobeavs http://kimpix.net/2006/12/03/60fps-vs-24fps/
Do you just want to have an article that has 200 + comments Darrren?
maybe its just me, but i could care less about any game on any phone. who buys a phone for 3d gaming. its just not logical to me. now video playback sure, run the devices side by side, and show some h.264.
gaming on a phone makes me rofl
@Seryous
What's the top profit category in iTune App Store ? Games.
@Seryous
How much less could you care? I will go ahead and make the assumption that as of right now you care deeply about it.
@zetman its their loss not mine.
@Seryous
If by loss you mean massive profit then... well yes.
It's their 'loss.'
@Unveryfried wow, iw as talking about the consumer. you need to learn to read. i kno that apple is making a killing. no need to reming anyone, because everyone knows.
@Annoying Poster
You didn't read the article:
"OK, so let’s change the viewport on the Nexus to the same size as the iPhone just so we can compare the two equally. With just two characters on screen, switching the viewport size to 480×320 on the Nexus, give a frame-rate improvement from 30fps to 40fps but with 8 characters on screen there is no difference; with the frame-rate remaining the same at 21fps."
This reminds me of the console battle all over again, where PS3 and 360 fanboys were quoting how many teraflops and whatnot their respective consoles can produce. Yet which one is selling more? The Nintendo Wii. LOL.
@pika2000
And I'll say 90% of those wii's are sitting there collecting dust. Yes, i pulled that number out of my ass, but it's true :P
@Ellianth
Because made up statistics hold so much weight in internet arguments...