Fujitsu-Siemens LOOX 720: All Inclusive

Performance

The era of Intel PXA27x processors has started relatively recently. Clock frequencies of currently available representatives of this series are from 312 to 624 MHz. LOOX 720 uses an intermediate modification: its processor operates at 520 MHz. Some competitors (for example, HP with its iPaq 4700) have faster chips, Palm OS models, on the contrary, content themselves with a lower frequency. But the handheld performance depends not only on the CPU clock frequency. Program optimizations for a certain environment provide much higher results: Subjectively, palmOne Zire 72 (CPU clock frequency – 312 MHz) operates much faster than ASUS MyPal A730 (520 MHz). It's partly a fault of the high display resolution (640x480), which requires larger calculating capacities. There is no point in comparing models with different display resolutions using the same tests. The table provides test results of LOOX 720 in popular Spb Benchmark (data on HP iPaq 5550 and ASUS MyPal A716 are provided for a pictorial view: there is no point in comparing VGA and QVGA devices using Spb Benchmark).

It's a meaningless set of figures, at first glance. But in fact, most results have a logical explanation. Firstly, the overall index is small solely because of the low speed of graphics output. Secondly, LOOX 720 processor operates a tad faster than that in ASUS A730, not due to the general device optimization but due to the frequency increased by 2 MHz. In comparison with models based on the previous Intel XScale 2xx series, the new line of processors has noticeably higher performance. Thirdly, the new model from Fujitsu-Siemens features an unsurpassed synchronization speed! However, it's still far from the limitations of the USB 1.1 interface. USB 2.0 in HP iPaq hx4700 did not raise the sync speed.

Graphics system performance is very low. The reasons for this are the increased display resolution (VGA display has four times as many pixels in comparison with QVGA) and the lack of software optimization for the Intel 2700G graphics chip. There is no point in interpreting the results obtained, because the old program code is just not ready to operate with the new hardware. That's what dynamic games demonstrated: Bomberman (Superbomber) worked at the speed of 3 frames per second. Old arcade fans will have to wait until the Microsoft OS is updated and 2700G is properly supported.

In calculation tasks LOOX 720 is outscored only by HP hx4700, which is easily explained by the increased CPU clock frequency of the competitor (624 MHz).

  

Increased requirements to performance have their effect on the video playback speed. Using a test clip (extract from "Shrek", 512x384 resolution, 1.4 mbps data rate, divxmpg4 v3 encoded) we managed to squeeze only 83% playback speed from LOOX 720. Intel 2700G accelerator support in future versions must increase the playback speed. It means that there will be no need in re-encoding movies into mpeg4 to watch them on your handheld – you will just copy a file from CD to an expansion card.

When testing LOOXstore (built-in flash disk), LOOX 720 demonstrated average performance. The operating speed is comparable with that of HP iPaq 5550 File Store. But nothing more is required from a built-in disk.