Predicting performance for an iPhone/iPod Touch App

Question

I don't have an iPhone Developer Program Account yet and will be getting one in the next couple of days. Can instruments be used with the simulator to give a rough estimate on how well my app may perform? Using instruments I checked and fixed all the leaks it was detecting, and it appears that my memory usage maxes out at about 5.77mb. Is there any other tests I could perform with instruments to judge how well my app would perform? I realize there is no way other then the actual device to get a definite answer, it would be nice to get an estimate.

Answer 1

Keeping memory under control is a good first step. Also, make sure you're not allocating too many objects, as all those allocations can take time (use ObjAlloc to check this; it can show you things that Leaks cannot).

Comparing performance between the Sim and Device is pretty much pointless... you have effectively unlimited memory can CPU on the desktop. Best wait until you get your app installed on an actual device.

Answer 2

You could test with a jailbroken device while you're waiting for your developer account. By the time you get your account, you would have time to fix any potential problems, and only need to recompile with your new credentials and deploy.