[XPERIA X10 General] Yogarine:
I really wouldn't mind the FPS cap on the Xperia X10 that much if it weren't for the fact that there is a very noticeable delay when using the touchscreen.

If you want a good example, buy Fruit Ninja from the Android market, and try the same game on a T-Mobile G1 and an iPhone. You'll notice even the G1 performs much better than the X10.

I "discovered" the X10 had an FPS cap when developing a simple shooter in my free time. I started developing it on my X10, and it worked just fine. But then when I tested it on my G1, it ran twice as fast! I quickly figured out that I had implemented my movement by doing incremental updates in x,y positions, and forgot to put an FPS cap on it myself. :rolleyes:

Afterward I did a correct implementation using interpolated animation. However, I still noted that the X10 had a very noticeable lag in touch gestures. (I actually coded some tests to confirm it.)

Being the weird, marketing-focused, bureaucratic company they are, I don't expect them to fix this anytime soon, so I really hope that some clever coder will find a way to fix this on rooted handsets. (I recon it should be possible without having to recompile the kernel.)

Oh and I'd like to clear up some misconeptions here:

1.) FPS cap can have a very detrimental effect on performance, especially in games. The issue is that a.) developers don't take the FPS cap in account when developing and b.) FPS cap also effects UI responsiveness. Like I noted, the problem becomes very apparent in games like Fruit Ninja.

2.) The difference between 30fps and 60fps is noticable. However, it also depends on the circumstances, like ambiental lightning, etc. Let me give you an idea: Ever stared into the sun, a light, whatever, and noticed that you still see a "glare" before your eyes for a short while? That's because of the fotons overstimulating the sensors in your eye, which causes them to flip out and keep emitting signals to your brain for a short while after. Now, as you might know most cinematic movies are all 24fps. That's because cinema is mostly seen in a dark environment (like a cinema, or at home with the lights dimmed). Since your irises are wide open, a lot of light comes in, the image will retain in your retina for a short while, which serves as a "glue" between two frames. In a cinema this effect is increased even more because the projector flickers on/off 24 times a second.

Now, most "normal" tv shows, series, and made-for-tv stuff, is in fact 60fps interlaced video. And that's a good thing because most of the time that sort of material is watched in a area with a lot of ambiental lighting.

In games the difference is noticeable because you very actively interface with the gameplay. Even _if_ your eyes might not notice 1/30 of a delay _between frames_ when playing with low ambiental lighting, your brain will still notice 1/30 of a delay _between your input and the result on the screen_. That's why gamers that play high-action, high-speed video games like First Person Shooters and fighting games will quickly notice the difference between 30fps and 60fps.

Now think, in what sort of conditions do you use your phone? Lot's of ambiental lighting or not? Well, I know of nobody that uses their phone only at night... Secondly, think about the way you interface with your device. Yes, touch. Now you might think "hey, I don't play high speed games", but what you don't take into account that when you use touch, you're actually dealing with an interface that has to provide very quick feedback in response to your input. That's why half the the refresh rate can have a very big impact on responsiveness of a touchscreen device.

And it's not just theory, I did a lot of test comparing my X10 to the T-Mobile G1, a.k.a. HTC Dream, a very inferior phone from a hardware p.o.v., both running stock Android 1.6. And touch gesture responsiveness on the G1 beats the X10 hands down.

3.) Capping the refresh rate to 30 fps doesn't prevent "jerkiness". Sorry to bust your bubble, but that is just not true. If the framerate of your output is variable between 30 and 60 fps, this doesn't make it any more "jerky" than a fixed rate of 30 fps, because, like I briefly explained above, games on Android are always written so they interpolate the animation. So the actual speed of the animation in the game won't be affected by the variable framerate. The game will only become "jerky" when the framerate falls below 30, but that would happen just the same when the refresh rate is capped to 30 fps. Capping the refresh rate to 30 fps doesn't magically prevent the frame rate from falling below 30 fps.

Now there is one, and only one single thing that capping the refresh rate will help prevent, and that is _tearing_. But that on a phone display this hardly is an issue. I myself have never noticed any tearing on my G1, for example.

So why did Sony Ericsson decide to cap the refresh rate? Well, like someone pointed out, when there is more time between screen updates, the processor has a little more time to sleep, which helps increase battery life slightly. However, I guesstimate that it only makes 2-3% difference. Probably less when you don't do that much with your phone. Totally not worth the downsides.

And let me tell you something: If the recently unveiled PSP-phone is going to have the same FPS cap, then that is going the be the biggest #fail ever.

Anyway, above all, I don't want any of you to take my word for anything I just wrote. Try it all yourself. However, if you truly want to be convinced: Try Fruit Ninja (or any of the free clones) on both the X10 and a non-capped phone.

And if you don't notice any difference yourself, either because your senses aren't accurate enough, or because you genuinely believe that everything I just wrote is bull****, well, great for you! You'll never feel as annoyed/disappointed/angry about the performance of our second generation Android phone as the rest of us.