Decent Android device for testing our mobile game

I'm using Unity to work on a children's adventure game for Android (and perhaps iOS eventually). It is kind of like an old school Sierra/LucasArts adventure game but with 3D characters & levels.

I've only owned iPhone/iPad, so for testing I picked up an used Samsung Nexus 10 Tablet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_10

The problem is that no matter how much we try to optimize (scale down textures, reduce polygons etc.)... I can't get the game running at a decent framerate. It's usually 6 - 10 Frames a second. Scenes are simple and I would say half of the textures have normal map textures, with 2-3 point lights at most per scene. As we optimize that is getting cut down as we speak.

That aside, collogues are telling me that the game runs fantastic for them; a solid 30 FPS on their devices (as it is capped at 30 for some reason). One is using a Samsung S8 and the other a Samsung S9.

I know that it's better to optimize for older hardware, but is my hardware TOO old? Say that we want most kids to be able to play this game on tablet/mobile phone, what device should I be testing on? Any recommendations?

I hope I've supplied enough details, If you need more information let me know. Thanks in advance.

 

It sounds like you have the right device for testing. Knowing that most people would have a better experience, it's best to test on low end hardware. Just my 2 cents. Having said that, it would be helpful to look at the device logs, to see if there are any issues https://forum.unity.com/threads/how-to-capturing-device-logs-on-android.528680/

 

Thanks so much for the advice on device logs. I will make sure to check that.