PCMark for Android adds more benchmark tests and compares OS performance

Futuremark has just updated its free PCMark for Android app. It now has one additional benchmark and a new version of a previous test that will help you see how your particular device can handle specific tasks. The update also allows for users to see how performance on devices is affected by Android OS updates.

The Work benchmark test in the new version has been upgraded to version 2.0. The test is designed to see how an Android smartphone or tablet can handle common productivity tasks. The updated Work 2.0 test has improved versions of its Web Browsing, Writing, and Photo Editing tests. It also adds the new Video Editing and Data Manipulation tests that can be conducted to check both the performance and the battery life of Android devices for those tasks. The Work 1.0 benchmark is still in the app, though its scores are not comparable with the new 2.0 version.

See also: How to write an Android CPU benchmark tool4

The all new benchmark in PCMark for Android is called Computer Vision. It has been designed to show how devices handle image recognition tasks. Futuremark states there are three tests in the new benchmark:

TensorFlow is an open-source machine learning library developed by Google. The test uses a pre-trained neural network to recognize different objects in a set of pictures. ZXing, commonly known as Zebra Crossing, is a multi-format barcode image processing library. The test uses ZXing to read a set of barcodes and QR codes. Tesseract is an open-source optical character recognition library. The test recognizes and extracts English text from a set of images.

Finally, the updated PCMark for Android has added a feature in its in-app Best Devices list. Not only can you compare your benchmarking scores on your device against other Android smartphones and tablets, but now the scores can be compared with different Android OS versions. Newer versions of Android on the same device can offer improvements, or sometimes declines, in performance and battery life. The Best Devices feature can now show how PCMark for Android’s benchmark scores compare side-by-side using different OS versions.