|
|
|
| Tue Jan 18, 2000 - 6:38 PM EST - By James Hromadka | |
|
|
|
OS Speed
So by now everyone is singing the virtues of USB, but how fast is the PalmOS 3.1h that comes with the Visor? To find out, I used two programs that test the speed of your Palm-compatible -- BenchMark and PocketMark. All of the tests below were done with no hacks turned on.
According to the Benchmark FAQ, it performs a CPU and memory-intensive
Fibonacci calculation to test speed and bus bandwidth utilization. Below
are the ratings of some of the current Palm-compatibles.
| Palm III | 91% |
| Palm IIIx/V | 100% |
| Palm Vx | 122% |
| Visor DX | 158% |
| TRGPro | 161% |
PocketMark is
a similar tool for comparing the speed of the various Palm-compatibles.
PocketMark performs three tests: the first test, IntMark, is done using an
algorithm to find perfect numbers, so it is a very CPU-intensive task with
little memory impact. The second test (MemMark) performs copies to/from a
buffer (array), evaluating the RAM speed. The last test (FloatMark)
performs floating point calculations using NewFloatMgr routines. The
overall number is the PalmMarks in the far-right column. Here are the
results taken from the author’s
website and from emails in varous user groups:
| Palm III | 88 | 70 | 86 | 85 |
| Palm IIIx/V | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Palm Vx | 116 | 113 | 113 | 115 |
| Visor DX | 129 | 101 | 132 | 125 |
| TRGPro | 100 | 111 | 100 | 102 |
It looks like Handspring optimized the PalmOS code very well in the Visor. Looking at the BenchMark results, the TRGPro edged out the Visor because of the TRGPro’s better performance in memory-intensive procedures. In the PocketMark overall results, however, the Visor surpasses even the Palm Vx, which has a faster processor and Palm OS 3.3.
Conclusion
The Handspring Visor is fast -- both in synchronizing and in PalmOS speed. The PalmOS performance overall surpasses other Palm-compatibles, and the USB really flies during a HotSync™.
Copyright ©1999-2016 Smartphone Experts. All rights reserved :
Terms of Use : Privacy Policy
VisorCentral is not not affiliated with or endorsed by Handspring Inc in any way.