3D gaming is great on the Pixi [video] 37
by Robert Werlinger Thu, 12 Aug 2010 10:47 am EDT
I was able to spend some time with EA's Need For Speed: Undercover on the Sprint Pixi after last night's update to webOS 1.4.5, and I have to say that I'm pretty impressed by what what this little phone can do. The frame rates aren't as high as they are on the iPhone 4 or the Pre Plus to be sure, and Pixi's the screen is tiny in comparison to both phones, but the overall experience was still surprisingly good. Load times were longer but never unacceptable, cut scenes looked great, but installation took forever without the luxury of WiFi.
Catch the video after the break!
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37 Comments
at least something from the update works! I'm bummed that when I type in a text box online the screen doesn't follow the cursor :-(
At least it shows what can be done with a very svelt phone.
I've always loved the pixi formfactor. Spread the screen across the face of that phone and take the keyboard away,and i'd probably give a virtual keyboard a try.
Seems a little slower than gaming on a Snapdragon class phone. The Pre, iPhone, and Galaxy S phones are just so far ahead of the competition.
The Pre or Pre Plus don't have snapdragon processor. And the Pre isn't really ahead of the competition, some of the WebOS features are, but the Pre really isn't.
I know the Pre doesn't have a Snapdragon processor. I'm saying that the Snapdragon graphics capabilities are behind the Pre/iPhone/Galaxy S phones and the Pixi is behind the Snapdragon.
How come my girl's pixi won't download the good games? Is there something other than just the 1.4.5 update?
Same here. I upgraded to 1.4.5 yesterday, but all the PDK apps still say Pr
There'll be some new apps/games, but possibly not all. The screen res difference means devs probably need to do a little porting when it comes to games.
Just speculating, but I'd guess a lot of Gameloft titles aren't ported and may not be. These were all brought to the Pre from the iPhone. And honestly, can't imagine playing on the Pixi screen. The onscreen controls with the smallish Pre screen already make it pretty cramped (read: just bearable enough to play).
She can't even download the game reviewed here, Need for Speed...WTF?
Huh. Are you in the States? If not, that might explain it. (Regional availability?)
But if you are in the US, then I have no idea. :-/
I didnt see the 3D games listed after I updated my kids Pixi. Even that piano game wasn't listed in the App Catalog.
its so nice to see the lack of fragmentation on the WebOS platform...
At last! Pixi can play game :)
nice... Maybe I should jump to pixi and leave Pre? :)
I love Pixi form factor compared to Pre.
I think the pixis keyboard should be used for gaming controls
Where are you getting that the pixi's gpu is faster than the pre? From what I can see, it is clocked higher at 192mhz vs 110mhz, but is the adreno 200, which is much slower than the sgx530 in every benchmark i've seen.
I was definitely confused when he said that. Higher MHz doesn't mean better!
thanks, I looked at the video and they do show that it has a higher fill rate. real world performance is probably better on the pre mostly because just about every game out is optimized for iphone hardware, which uses the powervr like the pre and not the adreno
It's clocked higher, and Palm engineers said it was faster at Developer day. http://www.precentral.net/hardware
How do you find out which 3D games are available on the Pixi? I can search for "need for speed" and it comes up. How do I find out which of the other games that are available are 3D?
That is pretty impressive for a small and cheap phone.
I'm confused.
All this talk about 3D being released with 1.4.5 and now Need For Speed. If Need for Speed is a 3D game but 3D games are only available on 1.4.5, then how is the Pre/Plus able to play Need for Speed today with 1.4? Can someone please explain this?
Thanks
1.4.5 is released for Sprint, just not Verizon/At&t yet. Also some Europe based carriers have it as well.
1.4.5 was enabling PDK support for the pixi. The pre has had the ability to run PDK apps for a while, since i think 1.4. This is why the update is 38mb for the pixi and only 8 for the pre
see my next question
It brings support for PDK apps built by developers who didn't have early access to the palm pdk. Among other minor things.
The Pre got PDK (and therefore 3D gaming) support quite some time ago. The Pixi, however, is only just now getting that support as part of the 1 4.5 update.
Wait. So if the Pre already has PDK (3D?) support built in, then what's 1.4.5 bringing to the Pre?
Straight from the PreCentral article:
Description of enhancements/fixes
This update includes fixes for:
Web podcasts download correctly
Correct entry of text on Web
Sprint branded default email signature corrected
Power use and battery optimization
Send video via multimedia messaging from Video application
Video trim feature now works to send in a message
SprintTV upgrade to V 3.5.4 and enhanced parental controls
Oh, 1.4.5 also gives the Pre access to the PDK apps coming from developers who weren't given early access to the PDK development kit.
For the Pre, 1.4.5 brought PDK-app-"sandboxing", so that PDK apps are limited (via permissions and other such things, I guess) from being able to change and affect the Pre in ways they shouldn't be able to do.
What that means pragmatically is that Palm can now safely allow developers outside their small circle of "trusted" and worked-closely-with partners to produce PDK apps for our Pre/+ use.
Thanks!
time to go back to android. Palm just aint keepin up. Enough said
haha enjoy. i have yet to see any half decent games on any droid
there is some good ones on android skies of glory,hyper jump,hungry shark,wave blazer,winds of steel,gameloft games,pirate wings,speed forge 3d,backbreaker,blow up,armored strike,homerun battle 3d,zenonia,psx for android,carrom 3d,baseball stars 2010 and many more
wrong the Palm Pre has better 3d games then android and they run better. Fifa 2010 plays better and runs smoother on the Pre then on the Evo more ea fault i think though. I feel the Palm Pre is only second to the iphone as far as gaming goes
True true.
No argument here, I've had all three(Currently running Evo), love android more overall, but as far as games, the marketplace sucks.