'Uncheatable' Android benchmarking app GameBench gets beta release

With hardware manufacturers apparently willing to 'cheat' Android benchmarking tools, one new app is hoping to restore faith in a system that's rapidly going the same way as the PC industry. 

GameBench is a benchmarking tool that seeks to give accurate results that cannot be cheated, as well as useful debugging data for developers and hardware makers, on an app-by-app basis.

The app doesn't run a series of preset tests like other benchmarking tools, which can be detected and manipulated using a range of cheats, such as not throttling the CPU at high temperatures, but instead GameBench checks the performance of an actual game, in real-time.

This is ideal for game developers looking to squeeze the best performance on a huge range of Android smartphones and tablets, while giving confidence to consumers that the data being published is fair and accurate.

The same data can also be used by hardware manufacturers to optimise the operating system on current and future devices.

Besides measuring the more common things, like frame rates, GameBench can also keep an eye on other useful metrics, such as power consumption.

All of the data can be combined to produce an overall score for any Android device, giving consumers a way to more accurately compare gaming performance from one device to another.

A beta version of the app is now being rolled out, on an invitation basis. You can now register to request access.