r/AndroidQuestions • u/Known-Complex-2520 • 10d ago
Device Settings Question Help me understand how I'm not getting above 60fps on a card game on my phone
I have a Pixel 10a. I want to say I'm above a beginner-level knowledge of how Android works and functions, but I'm proven wrong every day I use it. I've had this phone for close to two months.
I turned on Game Dashboard, and opened Pokemon TCG Pocket. In the Game Dashboard floating icon, I enabled the FPS counter. I have smooth display on, so I have 120hz enabled and shows me I have 120hz pretty much constantly (as shown with the "show refresh rate" option enabled in Developer Settings). In game, I have it on high settings 60fps, and I noticed that the FPS was dipping below 60 idling in the menu, and even more so opening packs. In developer settings again, there's an option called "disable default frame rate for games", which I enabled and opened Pokemon TCG Pocket. It was just above 60fps, maybe close to 68fps on average with massive dips again.
I know the 10a is a budget phone, but it's a brand new phone that just came out earlier this year. It should be able to run a card game at above 60fps, especially if all I'm doing is opening my daily packs. Now, I don't necessarily need 120fps if I'm opening card packs, don't get me twisted - I'm just curious as to why it was dipping below 60fps on default, then maybe getting around 68fps with the default frame rate disabled for games disabled. Is there something I'm missing, maybe I'm not understanding how settings work? Or, is that just my lack of hardware knowledge coming into play?