[HTC Rezound] Purpeltendire:
So. Finally, here’s my writeup of the kernel comparison I decided to do. :good: Be warned, for me it was a bit anticlimactic.

Screenshots of data, filenames indicate which kernel. Images with Screenshot_ names are the settings I used for both kernels.

As simple as this seemed in the beginning, I quickly realised that I really had no idea where to begin. So at first I treated this kernel comparison like the governor testing I was doing. I compared battery life and usage, and stuff like that. And for the most part... it was the same. :P Big surprise: Wheatley and Noop on both kernels meant they performed similar. I guess it really just came down to what the kernels offered.

I guess I should go over the tangible differences between each kernel.

I’ll start with HIRO Kernel RC1, by iHateWebOS. It’s compiled with Linaro GNU Compiler Collection toolchain, and boasts ARM Topology (individual queuing of tasks to cores), tweaked audio buffers, CPU/GPU overclock, Entropy tweak and Frandom module built in, and it has no less than 29 governors (22 working on both cores) and nine IO schedulers.

Now we come to Funky Kernel, by Snuzzo. As I write this it’s on version 3.1. He compiles it from HTC’s source code and keeps it up to date. he’s included CPU and GPU overclocking, topology scheduling, doubled Entropy, Frandom, and 11 governors with 4 IO schedulers.

To be blunt, Funky has some nice features, but is far more utilitarian. If it doesn’t work 100%, Snuzzo does not include it (this is very evident in the governors list). HIRO has a little more to offer in terms of features, but this also increases the kernel size a bit and could add more potential for something to go wrong.

Now, onto my thoughts and experiences.

As I said earlier, it was actually pretty difficult to distinguish between the two kernels. Once I set all the settings correctly, under normal use they behaved pretty much the same. I’ll say it right now, that for the most part it boils down to what is included with each kernel. So look for a feature set you like, and base your choice off that.

Anyways. There were a few differences I noticed. First off, I had some really weird performance issues while HIRO kernel was on the Noop scheduler. Things like excessive battery drain with no sign of wakelock, mainly. When I was done testing, I switched it to the default of ROW and had considerably better battery. I’m not sure if this was related to the IO scheduler itself, or something within the kernel that just didn't like Noop. But it made a pretty big difference.

Another issue was the crashing of SystemUI when pulling down the notification bar too quickly after turning the screen on. This is an issue in the Infection ROM, but Funky Kernel seemed to make it worse for me. It didn't start until I was below 20% battery while using HIRO, while using Funky it happened a few times throughout the day as well.

TL;DR

So in all, there honestly wasn’t that much to compare. The kernels are so similar in most aspects that the only real difference to most users will be the availability of certain governors and IO schedulers. I personally couldn't tell the difference between the two as far as daily use went, aside from the little issues above. This was a lot less exciting to write than I expected. :P Oh well. Hope you all enjoy it, and if you have any questions I'll do my best to answer them. :) :good: