Android ROM Comparison

[userfriendly]

Since we now have a tech corner I thought I post some data on how much difference custom roms make on Android devices. I only have some data right now (lost some others) and will have to retest again to find them. NOTE: this data is far from perfect and should be treated as reference points only as to what was the difference on my device only. There are other people who could do better tests and have more unbiased results, that may not be the case with my data. As it seems that I will have to run the tests again, I will update these scores later. Basically I ran three benchmark tools that are available for free on the Android market: Quadrant, Linpack, Antutu.

Here are the results for the two Android devices I have:

OG DROID (OVERCLOCKED):
Peter Alfonso GPA 15 (This should be the OEM Stock Android and should have no modifications on top of the version released by AOSP)
CPU SPEED: 800 Mhz
Quadrant: 917
Linpack: 11.5
Antutu: 1563

Droid Incredible (NOT OVERCLOCKED):
Stock ROM (This is the stock unrooted ROM Android 2.2 available currently on the Droid Incredible)
Quadrant: 1050
Linpack: 32
Antutu: 1675

CyanogenMod 7.1 RC1 (Android 2.3.4)
Quadrant: 1206
Linpack: 36
Antutu: 1883

As you can see there is definitely a difference between Froyo and Gingerbread, as the latter is faster. I don't have enough data to say that the Custom ROM is faster than Stock OEM with crapware, but it just maybe. I will attempt to test the difference between Stock Android 2.2 on the OG Droid and CyanogenMod 6.1.2 which is also built on Android 2.2 to show the difference between stock and custom, although the OG Droid was a dream device as it did not have crapware on that my stock Droid Incredible came with. Again this data is far from perfect, but it can show that there is a difference.

[userfriendly]

These are the following I plan to do:

For OG Droid @ 800Mhz:
CyanogenMod 6.1.2, Stock 2.2, Chevy No1. GingerBread Non-Themed @ 1Ghz, and latest CyanogenMod (maybe 7.1 or 7.0.3)

For Droid Incredible
CyanogenMod 7.1, Stock 2.2, and others. Other versions I am still researching but they will include a version with HTC Sense, a stock Android 2.3 and possibly others.

If you have a custom ROM on your phone please post scores as well, I want to see what we get.

[userfriendly]

As you can see that Gingerbread definitely makes a difference, but at 1Ghz Chevy No.1 was also sometimes unstable (I would find that it had automatically rebooted). I don't have the data on hand right now, but the overclocked Chevy No.1 @ 1Ghz was able to beat the Droid Incredible on the Quandrant and Antutu benchmarks, but not in the LinPack. LinPack I think is strictly CPU based, while the others take into account file write speeds, GPU speeds, etc.

[ezcheese]

I have used smartbench but haven't trked those others. My droid charge scores pretty poorly on the productivity portion in smartbench. It does fairly well on the gaming part though.

[ezcheese]

Just scored a 970 on quadrant with my stock install. Gonna check out the other two apps as well.

[ezcheese]

2941 in antutu.

17.154 megaflops single thread
15.613 megaflops multithread in linpack.

[userfriendly]

Here are some more numbers:

OG Droid
CyanogenMod 7.0.3 Android 2.3.3 @ 800Mhz
Quadrant = 914
Linpack = 11.3
Antutu = 1637

Stock Android 2.2.2 @ 550Mhz (Stock CPU Speed -- What all OG Droid's should be running stock right now)
Quadrant = 733
Linpack = 8.5
Antutu = 1228

Droid Incredible (Not Overclocked) Synergy Nightly Build Android Gingerbread with Sense 2.1/3.0 mix
Quadrant = 1055
Linpack 34
Antutu 2500

Still waiting to try OGBM stock Android Gingerbread ROM to see what difference is in speed, although I don't expect it to be much faster than CyanogenMod.

[userfriendly]

Droid Incredible
Stock Android 2.3.3 - OMGB ROM
Quadrant = 1091
Linpack = 37
Antutu = 1879

Pretty good, but not drastically different from CyanogenMod. Personally between this one and Cyanogen I would choose CyanogenMod because it is updated more frequently due its large popularity and developer community. This ROM was last updated in April and is still running 2.3.3, while CyanogenMod releases nightly builds almost everyday and is running 2.3.4.

[ezcheese]

So with these custom roms you pretty much void your warranty, correct?

[userfriendly]

So with these custom roms you pretty much void your warranty, correct?

To do the custom ROM you would have to root your phone, which voids your warranty. Of course you can hide it from them, but that is easier said than done with rumors floating around that all carriers can track whether your phone is rooted or not (which is done for warranty claims and tethering). Then loading the custom ROM doesn't matter. From what I have read in some places it is the file system that Samsung uses that makes it score lower on those benchmarks, but your phone is still very fast. Lets hope that with gingerbread implementation on your phone in the coming months Samsung starts using the standard Linux EXT4 system because they already use it on the Galaxy S II phones, which should help speed up your phone in those benchmarks.

[ezcheese]

I got my buddy to install and run Antutu and Quadrant on his new Evo 3G and it blew my phone out of the water. The Droid charge did score better on 2D performance though!

[ezcheese]

Been doing some reading about my phone and found that I can take screenshots by holding back and pressing home. Just ran antutu again.

uploadfromtaptalk1310475207177.png

[userfriendly]

Been doing some reading about my phone and found that I can take screenshots by holding back and pressing home. Just ran antutu again.

uploadfromtaptalk1310475207177.png

Now that looks like good numbers there. Btw, you should be getting Gingerbread soon, the Droid Incredible 2 is now getting it and as always they forgot the older phone like mine.

[ezcheese]

I read that it will be coming soon! I saw a video of a Droid Charge running the Netflix app.

[ezcheese]

Just ran vellamo.

uploadfromtaptalk1310696190235.jpg

[matt.wu]

While this thread is way too nerdy for me to enjoy right now, I'm going to have to tuck it away as a good reference once renewal time comes around. The longer Android is out, the more I think I will stick with it instead of an iPhone....

[Isthmus]

Here s one thing that I've never gotten about ROMs. Other than for removing crapware, overclocking your CPU, unlocking native features (such as tethering) and adding the newest android to older hardware, I've yet to understand the benefit of custom roms. Do any offer any major extra features built in?

[userfriendly]

Here s one thing that I've never gotten about ROMs. Other than for removing crapware, overclocking your CPU, unlocking native features (such as tethering) and adding the newest android to older hardware, I've yet to understand the benefit of custom roms. Do any offer any major extra features built in?

I would say most have some customizations over stock roms. For example on CyanogenMod long pressing Volume up/down will skip tracks on the music player when the screen is off (i.e. when the phone is playing music over auxiliary cable), take screenshots by pressing power button and choosing the option (although I thought I heard not seen that 2.3.4 would have the option to take screenshot natively without root or plugging into PC), and also a whole menu of customizations that I have yet to go through although I have seen options for "quiet hours" and changing the color of the notification light. These customizations are possibly the other major benefit, however I have yet to dig deep enough to see how deep the rabbit hole goes because I have not had the need to. The major benefit still remains getting newer software on unsupported older hardware that manufacturers have forgotten, for example getting the new Sense 3.0 from HTC sensation on my Droid Incredible (although I didn't keep it around).