About DeadTier

A benchmark that runs in the browser on any phone, tablet, laptop or desktop, and shows only what it measured.

What it is for

The pitch is one sentence: the shop says this device is top tier - test it and see. It runs on a demo unit on a counter, on a phone you are about to buy second-hand, on the laptop you already own. Nothing is installed, no account is made, and a full run takes about a minute.

What it measures

• Processor. One worker per core, each running a loop of arithmetic for 3 passes of 5 seconds. The median pass is the score, and how far the passes differed is printed next to it.
• Rendering. Twenty thousand moving sprites drawn on a canvas over the same 3 passes, with every frame timed individually - which is what makes the 1% low and the hitch count possible, and what separates smooth from merely fast.
• Display. The screen's refresh rate, read from how often the browser is able to paint.
• Core structure. Each worker reports its own throughput, so the spread between the fastest and the slowest is kept. A wide spread is strong evidence of a chip with big and little cores - something the score by itself cannot show.

What it refuses to show

A browser cannot read a processor's temperature, cannot locate heat on a chip, and cannot measure battery drain over a run this short. Earlier versions of this project displayed all three - simulated, with randomness added so they looked measured. They were deleted, not replaced. The rule since has been never display a number the app did not measure, and every figure on the results screen carries a caption saying how it was produced, so it can be checked rather than believed.

The one estimate, and where it says so

The tier - Flagship, High-End, Mid-Range, Entry-Level, DEAD TIER - places a result against what a strong device of the same type scores. Until 30 devices of a type have been tested here, that reference is an estimate, anchored on one real measured phone, and the results screen says so directly beneath the dial along with the count so far. From 30 on, the tier comes from where a device actually falls among the ones tested here, and the same line says that instead.

What it stores

Your results stay in your own browser. When a run finishes, a copy of the measurements - carrying nothing that identifies you or your device - is sent here to build that reference, and one switch turns that off. The privacy page lists every field, written from the code that sends it.

How it is paid for

It is not, yet. There are no ads on the site today. If advertising is added it will be Google AdSense, it will be marked as advertising, and it will have no bearing on any result - the measurements are made on your device, in your browser, before anything is sent anywhere.

Who makes it

DeadTier is an independent project with no affiliation to any device maker or retailer. The guides on this site are written to be read; none of them is generated from a result.