Futuremark Updates 3DMark for Android, Adds Recommend Feature

Futuremark has just updated its 3DMark benchmark for Android, introducing a couple of new features and preparations for beefier updates in the future. At the forefront is a new feature for recommending a device; once a benchmark run is complete, you can simply click on "Recommend". While Futuremark already ranks devices based on performance, this feature should prove useful when you'd actually recommend that very device to someone else - after all, just because a device performs well doesn't mean it's equally excellent in other areas.

With this update, Futuremark is hinting that more tests are going to be added down the road, so to prepare for that, the benchmark has become modular. When you download the app now, it does not automatically download the standard Ice Storm test. Instead, you'll download the base app and then have to download the test inside of it. This is a much clunkier design, but one that will be appreciated by those with limited-space devices.

In addition to those updates, the benchmark now requires Android 4.0; 3.2 support has been retired. Further, UI rendering performance has been improved, Mandarin language support has been added, and some bug fixes have been implemented.

If you're a 3DMark user, updating to the latest version is a no-brainer, but bear in mind that scores are totally unaffected - if nothing new here is important to you, you're safe to stay with your current version (ignoring the fact that your Android device might update it automatically, that is).