What's the Issue: 30 FPS or Lag

[toiz]

I've seen the 30 FPS issue on a number of forums. It seems to me the issue isn't the 30 FPS, but the lag while playing games.

For example, I've seen many compare gaming on the EVO to the Incredible. All the benchmarking I've seen for 3D gaming on the Incredible indicates it's only around 30 FPS. But comments all indicate the Incredible is much smoother than the EVO. If that's truly the case, then isn't it the 'lag' that's causing the heartburn?

 

[pwnst_r]

Probably...a steady 30fps is totally fine for gaming, but if you get a bunch of baddies on the screen at once and you drop to half that even for a second or two = lag.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

30 fps might be fine for gaming, but from a UI perspective it can make a difference in fast transitions.

 

[Kedar]

Not fine for gaming. It's fine for movies because they have something called motion blur.

I don't know what the issue is to be honest. Exzeus arcade runs smoothly yet Reading Thunder 2 had framerate issues.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

Not fine for gaming. It's fine for movies because they have something called motion blur.

I don't know what the issue is to be honest. Exzeus arcade runs smoothly yet Reading Thunder 2 had framerate issues.

I emailed HTC about it (i'm sure I'm not the first) and haven't received a reply. I hope they can fix this. I understand the HDMI thing, but let it run faster when the HDMI output isn't being used.

 

[Kedar]

Xda forum had like a research thread about this. If you want to do your homework then go there, heh. They're trying everything.

 

[wrecklass]

Personally I can't get that worked up about this issue. I still prefer a dedicated gaming hand held for my games. The occasional card game I might play on the evo will be just fine at 10 fps.

I guess I am still to much of a hard core gamer to think of a phone as the way to play. I pay too much for a desk top gaming rig, too

 

[Kedar]

I don't like to carry another device. And it's just astounding what phones can do now. The 3d games for the iphone and pre are crazy.... I just wish the evo could play them but the adreno gpu isn't that strong.

The best games you see in the market graphics wise are made by the ndk (something development kit) or some new optimized open gl stuff. I hope developers look into that.

 

[RayStinkle]

Everyone misses the point that this issue isn't about gaming, but the entire UI is not smooth when side by side with a nexus or incredible. The UI is the most intimate part of your phone, you use it to operate the device on every single level. Some people are annoyed to always have the choppy UI in the back of their mind no matter what task you do on the phone.

Regarding gaming, its a problem cause the fps fluctuates during any game. If the screen is capped at 30 fps then during gameplay it can often drop much lower than 30 cause of the artificial limitation. Whereas if there is no cap, a game might be at 507 fps then drop down to 30 during intense scenes. But starting out already capped at 30, it might drop down to 15 which might look really bad.

 

[Darth Mo]

Everyone misses the point that this issue isn't about gaming, but the entire UI is not smooth when side by side with a nexus or incredible. The UI is the most intimate part of your phone, you use it to operate the device on every single level. Some people are annoyed to always have the choppy UI in the back of their mind no matter what task you do on the phone.

But there's a difference between a choppy animation an actual lag, which I think is what the OP was asking.

For example, let's say a screen flip is designed to take 0.5s. If the UI was lagging, then this animation would take longer than 0.5s, be it 0.55s, 0.6s or whatever.

But if the animation is just choppy, that page flip will still be 0.5s, it just won't look as pretty.

So lag is the phone actions actually slowing down, where choppy UI is purely cosmetic.

Which one is it?

 

[toiz]

Regarding gaming, its a problem cause the fps fluctuates during any game.

Isn't that lag? It's not the 30 FPS limit.

If the screen is capped at 30 fps then during gameplay it can often drop much lower than 30 cause of the artificial limitation. Whereas if there is no cap, a game might be at 507 fps then drop down to 30 during intense scenes. But starting out already capped at 30, it might drop down to 15 which might look really bad.

Ok, maybe I just don't get this part ... but this doesn't make sense to me. If it would run at 30 FPS without the 30 FPS limit, why would it slow to 15 with a 30 FPS limit? Again, this seems like lag to me and is probably caused by something other than the 30 FPS limit.

I understand the smoothness of the UI issue. While noticable, I can live with it. But when it makes a game unplayable, that's a problem (try Asphalt 5).

 

[DiGGiTY dan]

Okay, so I know this is only my first post. And I don't even own an Evo yet But I've been following the forums and news about the Evo since it's release (gotta wait until July 11th before I can leave AT&T and trash my iPhone... could time possibly pass any slower?) The frame rate and UI lag has been a concern for me. Even then I know it won't stop me from buying one.

Anyways on to the point of my post..

Regarding gaming, its a problem cause the fps fluctuates during any game. If the screen is capped at 30 fps then during gameplay it can often drop much lower than 30 cause of the artificial limitation. Whereas if there is no cap, a game might be at 507 fps then drop down to 30 during intense scenes. But starting out already capped at 30, it might drop down to 15 which might look really bad.

I don't know if the Evo would work this way. But I know with my gaming rig I get almost 400 fps on most games. With that high of fps I get screen tearing. So I use vsync to cap my fps at my displays refresh rate of 60. Even with vsync capping my frame rate it never drops below 60 because my video cards a capable of a much faster rate.

I know I've read the Evo is capable of around 60 fps. I would assume because of that fact it would be able to stay at a steady 30 fps even with action on the screen. Could it be possible that the gaming issue is just because of bad optimization? And not because of the phones frame rate cap? I know Kedar said ExZeus Arcade runs smoothly but Raging Thunder 2 lags. I've owned both those two games on the iPhone and I know ExZeus is a much more intense game then RT.

Of course if optimization is the case then I have no idea what the UI Lag's excuse is.. But with as bad as my iPhone 3G lags I'm sure I won't even notice it Hopefully with Froyo it disappears.. If not I can more then live with it!

 

[njbianco#AC]

I have been playing Hockey Nation 2010, Raging Thunder 2, and Gangstar West Coast Hustle there all graphic extensive games(for a phone) and havent had any issues at all.

 

[RayStinkle]

I honestly don't know if the evo would stay at the limit of 30 fps or drop down during gaming. Maybe it would stay right there and not drop.

But there are definitely 2 issues people are talking about that the O P is asking about, the 30 fps cap, and then there is a scroll lag that people are not sure if these are separate issues, or tied together one causing the other. Over at Xda there is in depth discussing about it. But the YouTube videos show the evo having a slow scroll AND 30 fps cap. But I don't think its a huge issue.