Android Phones
Do you really care about a phone’s frame rate? [POLL]
June 15, 2010 | by Andrew Kameka
HTC
There’s a story going around that the HTC EVO frame rate is “capped” at 30 fps. There’s even talk that the Nexus One suffers the same fate.
Who cares?
Settle down, power users. I’m sure you’re part of the vocal contingent of hardcore gamers who can discern between the optimal and “good enough” settings. But the majority of EVO and Nexus One users never would notice unless you tell them or show a side-by-side comparison with a device at a higher frame rate. We saw the same issues pop up when the Nexus One was said to be inferior to the Droid in graphics or multitouch sensors, yet I doubt more than 10% of Nexus One users care enough to switch to a Droid.
Don’t get me wrong; everyone wants to believe that their expensive equipment packs the best possible performance to warrant the purchase. However, if most videos are filmed at 24 fps, 3D games play without issue, and the scrolling renders normally, most people won’t care. If multitouch works well enough to respond to games, what difference does it make to a N1 user if the Droid is slightly better? All the benchmark tests going around are great for comparison and helping users decide which device is right for them, but I doubt the average person considers this a dealbreaker.
Think I’m wrong? I’d be glad to hear it. Answer this poll and expound in the comments if you wish.
[poll id="6"]
I don't think anyone but the most shallowly obsessed gadget nerds care about frame rate per se. What most people (including me) care about is how well the phone functions. And to be honest, going to the Evo from a iPhone 3GS, yeah, it feels like it stutters just a bit every now and again. I know Apple worked to get it so their transitions looked smooth while actually creating a delay to get software to load, but still, scrolling, zooming, moving around always felt buttery smooth. On the Evo, at least partly due to the frame rate limitation/problem/bug/whatever, there's just that little bit of lag. Enough to make me think that I'm using something beta, rough around the edges, instead of an insanely powerful 1GHz smartphone that can actually do more than a top-of-the-line PC a decade ago.
You have a problem with the poll software; it tells me I’ve already voted (which I haven’t): “You Had Already Voted For This Poll. Poll ID #5″. But no, framerate is a non-issue to me. At 30fps I doubt any stuttering or lag is due to the framerate either; the problem would likely be due to the software not updating the scroll synschonously with the screen rather than the rate itself.
Well… the poll system does not seem to work; it won't count my vote… Anyway, the capped rate -if it's really a fact- is not an issue for me, I don't even notice it when watching TV (Live soccer WC coverage on Univision, for example). Didn't notice any problems with movies stored on my SD card either, as those are encoded using the standard 29.97fps rate. The HTC EVO 4G rocks, and I'm certainly not going back to my PalmPre, which was a fine (and yet very fragile) phone – but it's no comparison to the EVO; with or without a 30fps cap!
I dont actually notice it but certainly we always want the best performance for our gadgets, besides its none issue to us because were android users but it was an Iphone probably different story, ahihihihi