Nokia Lumia: Windows Phone 7.8 Update Performance 'About the Same' as Windows Phone 7.5

A test comparison shows Windows Phone 7.8 has roughly the same speed as its predecessor mobile operating system update.

As provided by 7Tutorials, the Windows Phone 7.8 was tested and compared to the Windows Phone 7.5 on speed, battery time, boot time, and memory.

"Windows Phone 7.8 was a fine example of how NOT to deliver a major update to your loyal fans and users," stated Ciprian Adrian Rusen of 7Tutorials. "First, Microsoft has said almost nothing about what they are going to provide in terms of new features. Then, the release schedule was not clearly communicated. To top things off, the first version brought performance issues to many users and the update was stopped."

To compare the stats of both Windows Phone versions, they were run on the same mobile device - Nokia Lumia 800.

"I used the latest Windows Phone 7.8 update - version 7.10.8862.144, which fixes most of the initial performance issues Windows Phone 7.8 had. All tests were run three times and I recorded the average results," Rusen noted.

For the test, two benchmarks were used, the MultiBench 2 and WP Bench.

Starting with MultiBench 2, the results were minor. Windows Phone 7.8 was three percent less efficient than Windows Phone 7.5, and the data transfer favors the older OS version.

"They don't tell a very clear story and you could say the performance levels are about the same. The only worrying fact is that the data transfers made by this benchmark are a lot slower than when using Windows Phone 7.5."

With WP Bench, the CPU's usage on the Windows Phone 7.8 was less efficient by six percent. The memory test further showed the Windows Phone 7.8 was slower in transferring data and was 10 percent slower.

Web speeds also favored the Windows Phone 7.5.

"It turns out that the Internet Explorer, in Windows Phone 7.8, is 1.39 [percent] slower," wrote Rusen. "The difference is very small though so you will not really sense a meaningful difference when browsing the web. I browsed quite a few websites and, subjectively speaking, it never felt slower."

The battery usage did show good news for the Windows Phone 7.8 update. In comparison to Windows Phone 7.5, the battery life improved 13 percent in Windows Phone 7.8.

Overall, Rusen states the performance levels are about the same, but Windows Phone 7.5 runs slightly faster for some features.

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