Friday, April 14, 2006
Palm's Treo 700w Reviewed: Part 2 (Software, Performance, Conclusions)
Posted by Janak Parekh in "HARDWARE" @ 06:00 AM
Treo 700w Performance: Spb Benchmark
Before I present the results, it's worth mentioning that Spb Benchmark hasn't yet been refreshed for WM5, so while the test runs, it doesn't necessarily provide a fair comparison, especially against PPC2002 and WM2003 devices. To try and make the playing field more level, I've only compared the results against other WM5 devices: the i-mate JasJar, Dell's X51v, the Audiovox/UTStarcom PPC-6700 and the E-TEN M600 (thanks to fellow PPCT editor Jon, who had all of this comparison data handy). I also removed my SD card, made sure the device was freshly hard-reset, and turned off the phone module. Here we go!
Figure 65: Spb Benchmark CPU index. The JasJar has a 520MHz processor, the PPC-6700 has a 400MHz processor, and the 700w has a 312MHz processor. It's not surprising the Treo is dead last, but it is surprising that the PPC-6700 is only slightly faster.
Figure 66: Spb Benchmark file system index. The Treo scores dead last, by far. 8O
Figure 67: Spb Benchmark graphics index. Here, the Treo fares much better. Is it because of the 240x240 screen, or is it because it has a decent graphics bus? Your guess is as good as mine.
Figure 68: Platform index. Again, the Treo fares poorly here; I'm guessing this is a cascading effect from the file system performance.
Figure 69: Overall Spb Benchmark index. Based on the previous benchmarks, this one is right in line.
So much for the "feels snappy" aspect: this device benchmarks really slow, so it must be slow. Or is it? Very often, raw benchmarks don't tell the full story. I've used the 700w, the JasJar, and lots of PPC2002 and WM2003 units in the past, and the 700w really does feel faster than the other devices I've mentioned. Maybe it's because Spb Benchmark stresses free RAM, or maybe Palm has done various behind-the-scenes tricks in speeding up common tasks. In either case, I'm happy with the performance, especially considering the presence of EVDO. Of course, your mileage may vary, but I will be curious to see how the 700w benchmarks in a truly WM5-designed version of Spb benchmark.
Before I present the results, it's worth mentioning that Spb Benchmark hasn't yet been refreshed for WM5, so while the test runs, it doesn't necessarily provide a fair comparison, especially against PPC2002 and WM2003 devices. To try and make the playing field more level, I've only compared the results against other WM5 devices: the i-mate JasJar, Dell's X51v, the Audiovox/UTStarcom PPC-6700 and the E-TEN M600 (thanks to fellow PPCT editor Jon, who had all of this comparison data handy). I also removed my SD card, made sure the device was freshly hard-reset, and turned off the phone module. Here we go!
Figure 65: Spb Benchmark CPU index. The JasJar has a 520MHz processor, the PPC-6700 has a 400MHz processor, and the 700w has a 312MHz processor. It's not surprising the Treo is dead last, but it is surprising that the PPC-6700 is only slightly faster.
Figure 66: Spb Benchmark file system index. The Treo scores dead last, by far. 8O
Figure 67: Spb Benchmark graphics index. Here, the Treo fares much better. Is it because of the 240x240 screen, or is it because it has a decent graphics bus? Your guess is as good as mine.
Figure 68: Platform index. Again, the Treo fares poorly here; I'm guessing this is a cascading effect from the file system performance.
Figure 69: Overall Spb Benchmark index. Based on the previous benchmarks, this one is right in line.
So much for the "feels snappy" aspect: this device benchmarks really slow, so it must be slow. Or is it? Very often, raw benchmarks don't tell the full story. I've used the 700w, the JasJar, and lots of PPC2002 and WM2003 units in the past, and the 700w really does feel faster than the other devices I've mentioned. Maybe it's because Spb Benchmark stresses free RAM, or maybe Palm has done various behind-the-scenes tricks in speeding up common tasks. In either case, I'm happy with the performance, especially considering the presence of EVDO. Of course, your mileage may vary, but I will be curious to see how the 700w benchmarks in a truly WM5-designed version of Spb benchmark.
