Graphics Speed Test - by Larry Bank

I keep reading on competitors web sites how they have the "fastest" code for viewing photos.  Obviously only one product can truly be the fastest, so I downloaded the latest trial versions of all of the top selling imaging products and put them to the test.  I recently bought a Canon S40 digital camera.  It produces 4 megapixel files (2272 x 1704 pixels).  At the highest JPEG quality setting, these files average 1.7MB each.  I figure that this is a good test of real-world conditions for viewing photos and smaller files will take so little time that the differences will be hard to perceive.  My test consisted of an iPAQ 3835 with 64MB RAM (32.78MB free) and a Sandisk 128MB CF card with 38 sample images on it.  Two of the images are available below for you to test on your own.  For PQV, the "low res" setting was to load the image at 1/4 size (1136 x 852) and 16bpp.  The smooth scaling option was turned off.  Several other programs appeared to load the low-res image as 284 x 213 (1/64 size), but I cannot confirm this.  Loading times for thumbnails was done by "opening" a directory full of images and waiting for the program to finish painting the thumbnail view of them.  Timings were done with a stopwatch and by using the spinning hourglass when possible (1 second per revolution).

 
Test results
Product Name Load 38 thumbnail images from CF Load a low res image Load a full res image Comments
PQV 3.0
8 seconds
3 seconds from CF
2 seconds from RAM
4.5 seconds from CF
3 seconds from RAM
Full control over how JPEG images are loaded
ACDSee Mobile 1.0.1
76 seconds
2 seconds to load very low res image. PQV can load an identical looking image in < 1 second (1/64 size option).
hard to determine time; as you zoom in it has delays as it decompresses the image to finer degree
Crashed when tried to open a 1704x2272 (rotated) image to full size.  Left temp files in various places
Applian Picture Perfect 5.1
114 seconds
3 seconds to load a thumbnail sized image
N/A - refused to zoom in from small image; complained of insufficient memory
Primarily aimed at doing slide shows; very little control of image options.
Digisoft PictPocket Cinema 2.7
180 seconds
7 seconds from CF
7 seconds to open low-res, zoomed in very slowly; took 7 seconds more (14 total) & did not indicate when full size
Refused to open images from RAM (\My Documents); closed and re-opened and still refused
IA Style IA Album 2.30
12 seconds
4 seconds to load very low res version.
Loaded in stages; total of 11 seconds to see full res version
Left temp files in various places
Spb Palbum 3.0
114 seconds
N/A
N/A
Refused to load any image complaining of insufficient memory even though 32.78MB RAM was available for programs
Glass Lantern PocketLoupe 1.25
no multi-thumbnail view available, but loaded each thumbnail quickly
3 seconds from CF
2 seconds from RAM
6 seconds from CF
5 seconds from RAM
Simple app with very limited options.  No way to zoom in/out
Resco Picture Viewer 3.91
190 seconds
5 seconds from CF
4 seconds from RAM
N/A
would not allow me to load the full res image.  The best rendition appeared to be 1136 x 852
iPAQ 39xx Image Viewer v2.05 (Westtek Clearvue)
152 seconds
N/A - out of memory error
N/A - out of memory error
machine hung while it prepared the thumbnail images.  This is the viewer which ships on the iPAQ 39xx.  This machine also had 32MB free program memory

Conclusions:
1) The worst of the bunch in terms of performance was Digisoft PictPocket Cinema.
2) It was surprising how many viewers refused to load a 4 megapixel image at full resolution; even though there was sufficient free memory.
2) I don't appreciate little temp files being created on my CF cards nor on my Pocket PC file system; there are utility programs just to clean this up - hmmf :(
3) ACDSee was quickest to get a first view of the image, but you are not in control of how it loads in memory and as you zoom in, you encounter delays
4) Even though some programs could not open the image because of its size, Internet Explorer did successfully open it at full size (25 seconds)
5) PQV offers the most control over how images are loaded and was fastest at letting you browse the thumbnails and get started working with the images. Depending on your usage patterns, you decide which is best.

Sample Images:
Sample Image 1 (2274x1704)
Sample Image 2 (2274x1704)

 

 

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