[badboyg200]

I am curious to know how comparable the graphics are to the graphics on the iphone. I remember hearing that the iphone can render graphics better than a Sega Dreamcast or something along those lines (since the iPhone uses a PowerVR chip similar to the Dreamcast). Would the Blackberry Storm have the same functionality, if not better, when applications are released for it? What kind of video hardware does the storm have? Some good input would greatly be appreciated..

[n0t0ryus1]

Well at the moment this thing can't even keep with my fingers when I type nor can it pan an image without lagging. I hear it has an onboard gpu but its really the processor that matters and the iphone seems to be leaps and bounds better. Even if the storm was more powerful I'm pretty sure it will never be as fluid. Poor coding.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Eben3]

Well at the moment this thing can't even keep with my fingers when I type nor can it pan an image without lagging. I hear it has an onboard gpu but its really the processor that matters and the iphone seems to be leaps and bounds better. Even if the storm was more powerful I'm pretty sure it will never be as fluid. Poor coding.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Took the words right out of my mouth.

[vaca232]

From what I understand the Storm has a pretty powerful gpu built into its chipset.. But its not used. It would be cool if RIM gave open GL support to the Storms OS, but who knows if that will ever happen...

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[cray1000]

Well at the moment this thing can't even keep with my fingers when I type nor can it pan an image without lagging. I hear it has an onboard gpu but its really the processor that matters and the iphone seems to be leaps and bounds better. Even if the storm was more powerful I'm pretty sure it will never be as fluid. Poor coding.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

agreed, and it cant keep up with my fingers either.

(or even play back my little 5mb wmv files)

[bigman2]

No one knows for sure whether or not the GPU built into the Storm's CPU is being used or not, or to what extent if it is. To answer that we'd either need someone from RIM to come along and tell us, or have access to the current source code. Neither of those is likely to happen any time soon.

What we can say is that Apple used a stripped down version of OS X for the Jesus Phone, and that the Aqua GUI on OS X is basically a giant OpenGL app. So that pretty much mandated the use of some kind of GPU with the Jesus Phone. And to Apple's credit, from what little I've seen of the Jesus Phone, they managed to make pretty good use of it.

Of course it still isn't this great and glorious thing like so many people seem to think. Until GPGPU OpenCL stuff starts being implemented, the GPU isn't doing probably half the things most people think it is. It's still the CPU doing all the grunt work on music and video playback, and really anything outside of drawing things on the screen that isn't decoded video. It might make the UI seem more responsive, but that's really about all it does, besides draw power from the battery, generate heat, and increase the production costs of the phone.

So, it's an area where RIM could potentially leap ahead of everyone. They could be among the first to really implement OpenCL into the Storm OS, and get the GPU doing all the grunt work decoding MP3s and video files. GPUs are many times more efficient at that kind of processing compared to a normal CPU. I somehow doubt it will happen, but it's an idea for 4.7.1.x when/if it comes along.

But in the end, it's a bloody cell phone. Do we really need all of these visual effects? Sure they look cool, but what do they really add to the overall experience? Some people have suggested that there should be an animation when the phone changes from landscape to portrait or the other way around. Aside from being a bit aesthetically pleasing, what does it really add to the experience?

It's one thing on a desktop, where processing power is hundreds if not thousands of times greater, and you essentially have unlimited power. A phone is a different story, where you have rather limited processing power, and you have to assume that the user is working on battery power, so every processor cycle counts.

[jodyberry]

Well written, Bigman2!!












.

[milkpowder]

The Storm has quite a powerful CPU... The lack of hardware acceleration is surprising, but isn't this a firmware issue?

[d1ez3]

It's pretty disappointing how slow and laggy my phone is compared to an iphone.

[Lowsol94]

They are obviously working on the lag issues. As bigman wrote hopefully in these updates they will take advantage of the hardware they have available. Don't forget Verizon has very impressive business tactics. I'm sure they will implement this into the next official release and those that come after. Good things do take time. We have the hardware all we need now is the software.

[lyoko37]

iPod Touch 2nd Gen has a faster processor / better at running games than the iPhone 3G though. I think we should compare it to that

And I've played around with the org iPhone with 2.0 software on it, lags quite a bit to be honest.

Remember that the iPhone can't run 3rd party programs in the background so it auto-fails at life.