Specs vs performance...

palandri

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Nice. Do you do work that requires it?

I do 3D work, so I do need a fairly decent computer. I wish I could just get an all-in-one instead since I don't play PC games. But alas, I'm stuck.

I just built it for online PC gaming. I just went crazy on the specs. :D
 

a5cent

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Specifications. Greater hardware means more compatibility with ported Android and IOS apps.

a) Better Specifications don't mean greater hardware (see below) :(
b) Better specifications don't mean greater compatibility. More similar specifications might :(
c) Better cross platform app portability is primarily a software related problem, not hardware related. Better specifications are rather unimportant in that context. :(

Kinda a trick questions. Better specs normally lead to better performance.

This is a common misconception. Not because it is completely wrong, but because it is a far too simplistic view of computer technology.

An improved version would read: Better specs normally lead to better sales.

Example: The Tegra 3 SoC's CPU has five cores. The fifth core improves the spec-sheet, but is actually detrimental to performance. Why? Because the transistors comprising the fifth core would have benefited the consumer much more had they gone into making the other four cores more powerful. Instead, those transistors are wasted on a fifth core which deals solely with lightweight and low-power tasks. That exact same thing could easily have been achieved by under-clocking any one of the other four cores. nVidia claims the fifth core uses slightly less power than an under-clocked forth core, but the difference is negligible... it's all about the spec sheet.

Result: A compromised quad core CPU with a redundant fifth core in exchange for a flashier spec sheet (yay, five cores!). Unfortunately, nVidia had good reasons to prioritize spec-sheet optimization over actual hardware optimization. That is what we deserve for blindly following specs.

It is also important to understand that specs are only a theoretical representation of a devices performance potential. How close any device actually gets to achieving that potential is entirely dependent on software. Judging performance solely on the basis of hardware is like trying to judge a cars stability and traction based only on it's engine. Understandably, hardware manufacturers have no interest in helping consumers make more informed and better decisions (more work without any profit raising potential).

IMHO this is not a trick question.

The only thing that counts is the performance actually experienced by consumers in the apps they actually use.

That means we need to forget specs (almost worthless in my opinion) and focus on performance measurements made using actual apps and games (not benchmarking tools which are solely of academical interest).
 
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Scout_313

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Without performance, specs do not mean anything. Who cares if you have a turbo-charged, big block V8 in your car if it can't even make it to the corner without stalling?
 

GoodThings2Life

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It's not the hardware specs that determine if an app is laggy/buggy.

A crappy app is a crappy app. Period.

Cases in point:

AmazingWeather vs. AccuWeather ... AmazingWeather is very fast and doesn't lag; Accuweather does.

Slacker Radio lags (for Winterfang, at least) but I've really enjoyed iHeartRadio's app the handful of times I've used it (generally prefer my own Zune playlists). I've heard Last.fm is decent too.

IMDb is one of the prettiest and nicest apps I've used, and it's fast and stable.

The point is... if some apps work great and some apps work poorly on the same phone with the same OS version, guess where the problem is... THE APP.

Also, if you have an app that sucks, why continue to use it when there are plenty of alternatives?

I had a problem with the app "RemoteDesktop" performing terribly, so I switched to ConnectMe, and I'm happy as a pig in poop. I hated Weather Channel so I moved to a whole bunch of apps, and now I've settled on Amazing Weather.

And remember... if you have a problem with an app, rate and review it so the developer knows about it (and be specific, don't just say "it's slow and sucks").
 

1jaxstate1

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Windows phone 7 have specs. It started off with 1ghz processed and some others.
Care to elaborate why? Hardware standardization differs from spec-sheet based evaluation of technological progress (if hardware standardization is what you are referring to).


Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express
 

1jaxstate1

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And the reason why some high end games are not on wp7 is due to the fact that the specs won't allow it to perform properly. That'll change with WP8.

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express
 

GoodThings2Life

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And the reason why some high end games are not on wp7 is due to the fact that the specs won't allow it to perform properly. That'll change with WP8.

Well, it's more to do with API limitations and lack of Native Code and DirectX than the hardware specifications. But like you said, with WP8 all of those issues are overcome AND we gain hardware advances, so we should indeed see huge improvements on both sides of the equation.
 

Simon Tupper

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This poll makes no sense, because one does not work without the other... try to have a functional WP8 device on a low end device with 256Mb RAM...
 

a5cent

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This poll makes no sense, because one does not work without the other
Actually, it does make sense. I'm guessing you assume a high correlation exists between the numbers that are typically presented to us on spec-sheets and actual hardware performance. That assumption is not totally wrong, but it certainly isn't correct either (read my post #24 in this thread).
try to have a functional WP8 device on a low end device with 256Mb RAM...
That is entirely possible, although you probably wouldn't be able to keep more than one or two apps open at the same time. In this thread we are discussing computational performance, and the spec you mentioned (RAM capacity) is rather irrelevant in that regard. For example, WP7 devices with 1 GB of RAM perform no differently from those with 512 MB.
 

1jaxstate1

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Blah it may work, but it would be ****ty. Thus proving the point that specs matter. Is bumping the ram up to 512 would allow better operations and the addition of being able to add more apps, that's proving the point for us that say specs matter.

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express
 

Simon Tupper

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Actually, it does make sense. I'm guessing you assume a high correlation exists between the numbers that are typically presented to us on spec-sheets and actual hardware performance. That assumption is not totally wrong, but it certainly isn't correct either (read my post #24 in this thread).

That is entirely possible, although you probably wouldn't be able to keep more than one or two apps open at the same time. In this thread we are discussing computational performance, and the spec you mentioned (RAM capacity) is rather irrelevant in that regard. For example, WP7 devices with 1 GB of RAM perform no differently from those with 512 MB.
What if WP8 is not so great and apps keeps crashing? There is a lot of bashing towards Android, but with Ice Cream Sandwich, it became a very stable OS, WP7 was such a basic OS that if it had to crash all the time it would have been a shame...
 

Reflexx

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Blah it may work, but it would be ****ty. Thus proving the point that specs matter. Is bumping the ram up to 512 would allow better operations and the addition of being able to add more apps, that's proving the point for us that say specs matter.

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express

I don't think anyone is claiming that they don't matter AT ALL.

But when judging a phone, what is more important to look for?

Should you pick up the phone and see how it runs? Should you just look at the spec sheet?

If you have one phone that has great specs, and another phone that you know runs great, which matters more?
 

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