Month: February 2013

What a week!

on February 28, 2013

This has been quite a week for the BenchmarkXPRT family. We kicked off the week by announcing a new benchmark: PhoneXPRT. PhoneXPRT is designed to test small form factor devices, such as smart phones. PhoneXPRT will initially run on Android. For more information, read the press release at http://www.prweb.com/releases/phoneXPRT/pt0213/prweb10461639.htm

There was more to come. Today we formally released TouchXPRT 2013 and WebXPRT 2013. The community and the media have been using these as community previews for weeks now. Now that we’ve released the benchmarks, anyone may freely use them. You can read the press release at http://www.prweb.com/releases/TouchXPRTWebXPRT/0213/prweb10474803.htm

We have also released the TouchXPRT 2013 source to the community. The instructions for building the benchmark are the same as for building the community preview. Remember that community members have access to the source, but it is not available to the general public.

As WebXPRT 2013 moves from being a community preview to a public release, people may have concerns about privacy. While anyone using WebXPRT 2013 agrees to share their results, the database does not store any identifying information.

Remember, the HDXPRT comment period is still open! Please send your comments in. If you’ve not read the RFC yet, you can find it at http://www.principledtechnologies.com/hdxprt/forum/hdxprt2013RFC.php.

Eric

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Posted in PhoneXPRT, TouchXPRT 2013 release, TouchXPRT 2013 source, WebXPRT 2013 release, WebXPRT 2013 results |

TouchXPRT and WebXPRT benchmarks now available!

By Eric Hale

on February 28, 2013

The BenchmarkXPRT Development Community, which Principled Technologies (PT) administers, is pleased to announce the release of the TouchXPRT 2013 and WebXPRT 2013 benchmarks.

TouchXPRT 2013 is a benchmark for evaluating the capabilities of Windows 8 and Windows RT devices. TouchXPRT runs tests based on five user scenarios (Beautify photo album, Prepare photos for sharing, Convert videos for sharing, Export podcast to MP3, and Create slideshow from photos) and produces results for each of the five test scenarios plus an overall score.

WebXPRT 2013 is a browser-based multi-platform benchmark that uses representative Web-user scenarios to compare the performance of almost any Web-enabled device. It contains four HTML5- and JavaScript-based workloads: Photo Effects, Face Detect, Stocks Dashboard, and Offline Notes. Because the workloads are all HMTL5 based, they run on a wide variety of devices and operating systems—from iPad tablets to Android phones to Windows computers. In addition to scores, WebXPRT 2013 gives a report on the HTML5 capabilities of a device.

The benchmarks are now available to all from http://www.TouchXPRT.com andhttp://www.WebXPRT.com. Prior to today’s public release, the benchmarks were available exclusively to members of the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community and were used in multiple media reviews to evaluate a wide range of devices.

Members of the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community significantly influenced the development of the benchmarks by providing feedback on the initial design specifications and participating in beta testing. To learn how you can participate in the development of future versions of our benchmarks and stay up to date on the latest information, visit our Web site or look for us on Facebook and Twitter.

About the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community
The BenchmarkXPRT Development Community is a forum through which interested parties can contribute to the ongoing evolution of the BenchmarkXPRT suite of benchmarks. Community members play a vital role in ensuring that benchmarks such as HDXPRT, TouchXPRT, and WebXPRT incorporate the latest in the field of user-experience benchmarking and meet the needs and interests of a range of individuals and organizations.

About Principled Technologies, Inc.
Principled Technologies, Inc. is a leading provider of fact-based marketing and technology assessment services. The founders, Mark Van Name and Bill Catchings, have worked together in technology assessment for over 25 years. As journalists, they published over a thousand articles on a wide array of technology subjects. They created and led the Ziff-Davis Benchmark Operation, which developed such industry-standard benchmarks as Ziff Davis Media’s Winstone and WebBench. They have also co-founded or led several other technology testing firms, including ZD Labs, eTesting Labs, and VeriTest.

Principled Technologies, Inc. is located in Durham, North Carolina, USA. For more information, please visit http://www.principledtechnologies.com.

Company Contact
Eric Hale
Principled Technologies, Inc.
1007 Slater Road
Suite 300
Durham, NC 27703
ehale@principledtechnologies.com
www.principledtechnologies.com

Posted in BenchmarkXPRT Press Releases, Press Releases, TouchXPRT Press Releases, WebXPRT Press Releases |

New benchmark to evaluate smartphone performance

By Eric Hale

on February 25, 2013

Principled Technologies (PT) and the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community, which PT administers, are pleased to announce a new a benchmark, PhoneXPRT 2013.

This benchmark, which the community will be developing, will evaluate the capabilities of small form-factor devices. “We’re excited to be announcing this exciting new initiative during Mobile World Congress 2013,” said Bill Catchings, Chief Technology Officer of PT. “As popular as smartphones already are, the market is still developing, and today’s offerings differ widely in performance and responsiveness. The new benchmark will provide a fair and consistent basis for comparing the growing range of smartphones on the market.”

Community feedback will shape the new benchmark. Like all the BenchmarkXPRT benchmarks, PhoneXPRT 2013 will be based on real-world user scenarios and provide user-relevant metrics and results. The first operating system it will support is Android, but the intent is to support additional operating systems in the future.

“We invite all interested parties to participate in the creation, evaluation, and testing of this new benchmark,” Catchings said. Anyone can participate in the Development program by registering as a member of the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community. Community members have the opportunity to help shape future versions of the benchmarks. To register for the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community and begin participating in the creation process of the new benchmark, go to http://www.benchmarkxprt.com and follow the instructions in the ‘Join us’ section of the right-hand navigation menu.

To see the latest information on the benchmark’s development, visit http://www.phonexprt.com.

About Principled Technologies, Inc.
Principled Technologies, Inc. is a leading provider of fact-based marketing and technology assessment services. The founders, Mark Van Name and Bill Catchings, have worked together in technology assessment for over 25 years. As journalists, they published over a thousand articles on a wide array of technology subjects. They created and led the Ziff-Davis Benchmark Operation, which developed such industry-standard benchmarks as Ziff Davis Media’s Winstone and WebBench. They have also co-founded or led several other technology firms including ZD Labs, eTesting Labs, and VeriTest.

Principled Technologies, Inc. is located in Durham, North Carolina, USA. For more information, please visit http://www.principledtechnologies.com.

Company Contact
Eric Hale
Principled Technologies, Inc.
1007 Slater Road
Suite 300
Durham, NC 27703
ehale@principledtechnologies.com
www.principledtechnologies.com

Posted in BenchmarkXPRT Press Releases, MobileXPRT Press Releases, Press Releases |

Going Live

By Bill Catchings

on February 21, 2013

As you may know, the Mobile World Congress (MWC) starts Monday in Barcelona. I really hate that I can’t go to this show and not only because I love Barcelona!

However, MWC seems like a good time to release TouchXPRT 2013 and WebXPRT 2013. We’re testing the final builds now, and plan to make them available to the public next week. If you’re not a community member and want to see what all the fuss is about before then, please join the community and check them out.

As we discussed in the Webinar back in January, we have been able to verify that the results from both benchmarks are in line with those of the community previews. That means that we don’t anticipate any problems comparing results from the CP1 versions with those from the release versions.

While TouchXPRT 2013 CP1 did not have a total score, based on your feedback, we added one in final version of TouchXPRT 2013.

I’ve included some comparison results from WebXPRT 2013 at the end of this post. As always, we would love to have any results you can share for either benchmark.

We’ve also been thinking about where to go next. We’re not ready to talk yet, but expect big news next week!

Bill

Device	WebXPRT 2013 Overall score
Nexus 7	201
Kindle Fire	95
iPad 2	52
iPad 4	181
Samsung Galaxy SIII	168
iPhone 5	167
iPad Mini	110

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Posted in TouchXPRT 2013 release, Trade Shows, WebXPRT 2013 release, Windows 8 |

The HDXPRT 2013 RFC is here

By Eric Hale

on February 14, 2013

We released the RFC, or request for comments, for HDXPRT 2013 yesterday. Our major objective with the RFC is to get your feedback. Your feedback played an important part in developing HDXPRT 2012, and we are hoping it plays an even larger role in developing HDXPRT 2013.

The RFC includes our thoughts and ideas for the design of HDXPRT 2013 based on the many conversations we’ve had over the six months since the current version of HDXPRT debuted. Indeed, during the last few weeks, we shared some of the feedback we received during and after the Webinar in January.

At this point, nothing is written in stone. Now is the time to let us know where you agree and where you disagree. For example, the current proposal drops support for Windows 7. Do you have an opinion about this? Let us know.

The RFC is available for Development Community members at http://www.principledtechnologies.com/hdxprt/forum/hdxprt2013RFC.php. Our goal is to get your feedback by March 6. We’d like as much of the feedback as possible to appear on the forums to help stimulate discussion. However, if you prefer to send in your comments via email, please send them to BenchmarkXPRTsupport@hdxprt.com.

Of course, you can send comments to us any time, and you don’t have to limit yourself to HDXPRT! Do you have thoughts about TouchXPRT or WebXPRT? They are both moving rapidly toward their official releases. Do you have thoughts about other benchmarks we should consider developing? Send those, too!

Eric

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Posted in Collaborative benchmark development, HDXPRT 2013, HDXPRT 2013 RFC, HDXPRT Development Community benefits, HDXPRT development process |

BenchmarkXPRT Development Community Releases Source Code for HDXPRT 2012

By Eric Hale

on February 7, 2013

The BenchmarkXPRT Development Community, which Principled Technologies (PT) administers, is pleased to announce the availability of the source code for the HDXPRT 2012 performance test tool.

HDXPRT 2012 is a benchmark for evaluating the capabilities of PCs in performing a wide variety of common consumer digital media tasks. Members of the development community have significantly influenced this version of the benchmark by helping to prepare its design specification and by beta-testing release candidates.

The release of the source code for a widely available application-based benchmark such as HDXPRT marks a milestone in the benchmark ecosystem. By opening the benchmark’s source code to its members, the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community is hoping to increase the transparency of the benchmarking process and to stimulate the participation of industry players and the public in the definition, development, understanding, and auditing of the benchmark.

Community members can download the benchmark’s source code directly from the official benchmark Web site, http://www.hdxprt.com. Any non-members who would like the source code can join the community for a very modest fee by going to http://www.benchmarkxprt.com.

In addition to downloading the source code of the current version of the tool, BenchmarkXPRT Development Community members can influence the design of future versions of HDXPRT and other benchmarks. They can even participate in the coding and development of these benchmarks. Membership in the community also keeps you up to date on the latest information. To learn more, visit the official BenchmarkXPRT Development Community Web site,http://www.benchmarkxprt.com, and look for the community’s presence on Facebook and Twitter.

About HDXPRT
HDXPRT, the High Definition Experience & Performance Ratings Test, is a software tool for evaluating the capabilities of PCs at handling real-world digital media scenarios involving common consumer applications. It
includes tests for popular consumer usage models such as high-definition video transcoding, and high dynamic range
(HDR) photo manipulation.

About the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community BenchmarkXPRT Development Community is a forum through which interested parties can contribute to the ongoing evolution of the BenchmarkXPRT suite of benchmarks. Community members play a vital role in ensuring that benchmarks such as HDXPRT, TouchXPRT, and WebXPRT incorporate the latest in the field of user-experience benchmarking and meet the needs and interests of a range of individuals and organizations.

Principled Technologies, Inc. is located in Durham, North Carolina, USA. For more information, please visit http://www.principledtechnologies.com.

Company Contact
Eric Hale
Principled Technologies, Inc.
1007 Slater Road
Suite 300
Durham, NC 27703
ehale@principledtechnologies.com
www.principledtechnologies.com

Posted in BenchmarkXPRT Press Releases, HDXPRT Press Releases, Press Releases |

Month: February 2013

What a week!

TouchXPRT and WebXPRT benchmarks now available!

New benchmark to evaluate smartphone performance

Going Live

The HDXPRT 2013 RFC is here

BenchmarkXPRT Development Community Releases Source Code for HDXPRT 2012

The BenchmarkXPRT Development Community, which Principled Technologies (PT) administers, is pleased to announce the availability of the source code for the HDXPRT 2012 performance test tool.

Check out the other XPRTs: