Galaxy Note 3

[Spud]

Just thought I'd let everyone know that I've had the note 3 for a couple of months now and it's prefect for TPA as far as phones go.

Stock everything, runs very smooth, high textures and nice screen.

I actually prefer playing on this over the note 10.1. looks better and runs Better. Obviously the 10.1 is much larger so some text is easier to read on that but overall I just enjoy the 3 more.

Sometimes people ask what devices are good for TPA so just putting it out there.

That is all.

 

[jaredmorgs]

Good to know Spud. Thanks for sharing.

 

[danivempire]

You don't think it runs good on the note 10.1?
I have one (not the 2014 version) and it runs perfect.
I also have the galaxy s3 and it runs perfect as well.
Edit: i just compared the two, the note is a quadcore and the tab 3 a dual core and the note as twice the ram... it should run better on the note :/

 

[LeRoy3rd]

Just to interject, I previously had an Evo3d, and pinball arcade ran GREAT. About a year ago I got a Note 2, and it runs HORRIBLY. The combination of a higher resolution screen and a lesser video card (the used the same card from the s2 in the note 2!) means there's a ton of lag and the ball seems to jump around (it appears to be dropping frames to keep up). This makes it completely unplayable. I have tried on the Note 3, and agree that it plays fabulously on it... Wish I could upgrade.

 

[Alex Atkin UK]

Interesting as I find it runs a bit choppy on my Note 3 LTE model.

 

[danivempire]

an advice for people running on android, do yourself a favor, go with a custom rom ^^
there's a good lot of them, cyanogenmod, android revolution hd, etc etc!

there's two types, the stable ones and the experimental ones.

I've put android revolution HD on my note 10.1. It was already running flawlessly (quadcore and 2go of ram), but now the battery lasts longer, the transfer rate when I copy files are improved.
It's not just for TPA but is good for your whole android device.

Because samsung is one the brands who put phones and tablet on the market and put new ones just a few month after and leave the "older" to die with no update. The teams who makes those roms make a great work improving and tweaking things!

 

[Ryan Routon]

Well, just remember more cores does not necessarily = more power. One thread can only use one core after all and its up to the OS and drivers to intelligently schedule them out. Interesting read:

http://www.ubergizmo.com/2013/08/are-more-cores-better/

 

[danivempire]

Nice article, i saw in the reviews that for example the note 10,1 is an octo-core but it only works with 4 core at time.
I don't remember the frequency they have but basically you have 4 cores at xxghz and the other 4 are higher. When the lower ones are not enough the higher are supposed to take over... so it's not an 8 core but a 4x2 core...
I made a mamecab a two years ago and as it run 2d only games i didn't bother with multicore, instead a single core but a 3.6 ghz!

Now ryan, question, does tpa deals well with multicore on android???

 

[Ryan Routon]

yeah we have to to run at 60fps. And let me tell you it can melt your brain if you aren't careful.

Graphics thread
CPU thread (deals with emulation & physics )
audio thread
input thread
event threads

However we have no control over what runs where, only priority, which I give highest to the gpu.

 

[danivempire]

In the option of android, you can use something like "force gpu renderer" or something like that.
Maybe it can help people who have lag or stuff like that then???

 

[netizen]

Not just multi core threading but with the "newer" heterogeneous architectures like ARM's big.LITTLE being available in so few devices presently and controlled by the proprietary OS, it makes for an interesting future of whether it will even be possible to utilize the potential power available by having a dynamic system. Which also raises the spectre of Tizen

Add in the 2 "new" OSes (Ubuntu + Firefox) that may be fully released this year for 'droid devices and there's a shed load of mind melting potential available.


Enabling "Force GPU Render" will force the GPU to use clock cycles to render 2D graphics where the CPU may have been utilized previously. That will have limited to no effect with TPA.
Disabling all notifications, sync, and limiting background processes will have a greater effect if you have an older device or one that has a 3G type connection and experiences occasional lags.
If your device supports it you can enable "Force 4x MSAA" but it may cause performance issues. That is a form of Anti-Aliasing. YMMV with its use.

 

[Ryan Routon]

What he said

Not just multi core threading but with the "newer" heterogeneous architectures like ARM's big.LITTLE being available in so few devices presently and controlled by the proprietary OS, it makes for an interesting future of whether it will even be possible to utilize the potential power available by having a dynamic system. Which also raises the spectre of Tizen

Add in the 2 "new" OSes (Ubuntu + Firefox) that may be fully released this year for 'droid devices and there's a shed load of mind melting potential available.


Enabling "Force GPU Render" will force the GPU to use clock cycles to render 2D graphics where the CPU may have been utilized previously. That will have limited to no effect with TPA.
Disabling all notifications, sync, and limiting background processes will have a greater effect if you have an older device or one that has a 3G type connection and experiences occasional lags.
If your device supports it you can enable "Force 4x MSAA" but it may cause performance issues. That is a form of Anti-Aliasing. YMMV with its use.

 

[danivempire]

Unfortunately the 4x fsaa is not available for all android devices, android 4.2 at least is needed but as you said, the performance and battery takes a hit with this thing...
The best advice is (you said it too) to limit the things running in background, the syncing, 3g,...
And for the aliasing, it is noticeable but it's not that bad, the game is gorgeous ^^

 

[jaredmorgs]

Well, just remember more cores does not necessarily = more power. One thread can only use one core after all and its up to the OS and drivers to intelligently schedule them out. Interesting read:

http://www.ubergizmo.com/2013/08/are-more-cores-better/

That could save a lot of people a lot of money if they are gunning for Octacore as the "next big thing for fast mobile performance". Re-shared on Google+

 

[jaredmorgs]

yeah we have to to run at 60fps. And let me tell you it can melt your brain if you aren't careful.

Graphics thread
CPU thread (deals with emulation & physics )
audio thread
input thread
event threads

However we have no control over what runs where, only priority, which I give highest to the gpu.

(only because I say the priority of the audio thread...)

I heard the disappointing news about the audio sample quality on mobile, Ryan. It's a shame it would cost too many dev cycles to correct it.

From the thread priority order, you can't make audio any higher than it already is.

 

[Spud]

Danivempire

Yeah I think it also runs great on the 10.1

Just seems more consistent from table to table on the 3.
Maybe the high textures and AA option help with the illusion of smoother play. Don't know!
The 10.1 can look a little dull on the colors and brightness. The 3 is warmer looking.

Maybe the smaller screen hides the ever so small amount of ball stutter I see on the 10.1 while playing.

Just compared a couple of tables and they seem reasonably comparable. BOP has been a bit choppy in the past on the 10.1

 

[Munky]

Just to interject, I previously had an Evo3d, and pinball arcade ran GREAT. About a year ago I got a Note 2, and it runs HORRIBLY. The combination of a higher resolution screen and a lesser video card (the used the same card from the s2 in the note 2!) means there's a ton of lag and the ball seems to jump around (it appears to be dropping frames to keep up). This makes it completely unplayable. I have tried on the Note 3, and agree that it plays fabulously on it... Wish I could upgrade.

Until the Steam version was released, I played TPA on my Note 2 connected to my tv and using a DS3 controller and it worked perfectly.

 

[danivempire]

I agree that if i compare the note 10.1 and my galaxy s3, the colors looks warmer on the s3...
But maybe the smaller screen gives this impression.
One thing is for sure, i would like a tool to be able to control the colors, contrast and all, like you have on tv or pc monitor!
Noooooooo, you can change the brightness and that's all...
... unless there's an app, but i didnt find one...

 

[netizen]

I agree that if i compare the note 10.1 and my galaxy s3, the colors looks warmer on the s3...
But maybe the smaller screen gives this impression.
One thing is for sure, i would like a tool to be able to control the colors, contrast and all, like you have on tv or pc monitor!
Noooooooo, you can change the brightness and that's all...
... unless there's an app, but i didnt find one...

Try this one, but from what I read adjusting contrast can lower performance
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.netmanslab.sa&hl=en

 

[danivempire]

Thanks I'll give it a try