We test on cheap phones on purpose

A game can look flawless on the newest device and stutter miserably on the phone most people actually own. That's why we keep a few older, cheaper Android phones around for testing.

Frame drops in a racing game aren't a cosmetic issue; they cost you corners. In an arcade title, a hitch at the wrong moment ends your run. So we note performance whenever it matters.

Nacho Casinacho earned points here for running smoothly on our weakest device. Plenty of prettier games didn't, and we said so.

If a review mentions performance being fine, assume we mean fine on modest hardware, not just on a top-tier phone. That's the honest baseline.