Use this free program to put your device through a stress test. Research In Motion has released a variety of devices for a variety of networks. The resources available to each handheld model vary and, of course, over time the hardware is getting faster with more capacity. You can compare your device's performance against the average performance of other models by using a free program called BenchmarkMagic. 5.5.1. Install BenchmarkMagicYou can download BenchmarkMagic from the author's web site at http://www.software-for-blackberry.com. You'll be redirected to the popular handheld software site Handango, where you can download an archive suitable for installing using Desktop Manager and Application Loader. There is no over-the-air install available at the time of this writing. Once you install BenchmarkMagic, run it by clicking on the icon that resembles a processor on the Home screen (see Figure 5-16). You'll be presented with the main BenchmarkMagic screen showing a variety of BlackBerry models and the average performance scores they achieve using the tests this software performs. Figure 5-16. The BenchmarkMagic icon on the Home screen5.5.2. Put It Through the Wringer!When you're ready to run the test, use the trackwheel to access the menu and choose Run Test then watch the sparks fly! The program creates several polygons using the BlackBerry's graphics library and prints them to the screen (see Figure 5-17). This hardware-intensive operation repeats several times, making a good test of your hardware. Figure 5-17. The benchmark test in actionOnce complete, your handheld's will be displayed the screen, showing the number of polygons your device was able to produce in a second and the number of CPU operations it was able to perform in a second. Click OK to return to the main benchmark screen, as shown in Figure 5-18 where you'll see the score from the test you just ran compared with other BlackBerry devices. Figure 5-18. The results of your testYou'll see that my device scored off the charts! It's several times faster than the next most powerful device. Is this the latest prototype BlackBerry with the latest, fastest processor available? Not exactly. Actually, I cheated I ran this test using the BlackBerry Simulator [Hack #93] that runs on a Windows machine. These handhelds are no match for my Intel Pentium 4 processor! |