Benchmarking the Androids from MWC 2014

We managed to do a few field tests while at the MWC, including several benchmarks. We collected them all into one post to make it easier to compare several of the more interesting new devices from the Cognress.

The set of phones spans the whole spectrum, from expensive flagships to affordable entry-level phones.

Note: we borrowed results from the AnTuTu team for several devices.

We start off with Benchmark Pi, which we used on the more affordable phones. The relatively unknown European brand Wiko had a couple of devices, one of which was the first device with Tegra 4i, the Wiko WAX. Its counterpart, the Highway, uses an octa-core MediaTek chipset.

As for Nokia’s X phones, all of them (X, X+, XL) are powered by dual-core Cortex-A5 processors. Calculations took longer than on the Moto G (lower is better here), but the numbers still look good considering the Nokias cost half as much.

Benchmark Pi

Lower is better

• Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
  132
• LG Optimus G Pro
  147
• HTC One
  151
• Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3
  169
• Wiko Highway
  226
• Wiko WAX
  261
• Sony Xperia Z
  264
• HTC Butterfly
  266
• Samsung Galaxy Note II
  305
• Alcatel One Touch Hero
  308
• Huawei Ascend Mate
  347
• Motorola Moto G
  392
• Nokia X
  677
• Nokia XL
  681

We ran AnTuTu 4 – a comprehensive benchmark – on every phone we could and the Galaxy S5 with its Snapdragon 801 chipset (the latest top-of-the-line MSM8974AC variety) topped the chart. The Sony Xperia Z2 with a Snapdragon 801 (AB) was just behind the Galaxy S5. The AB version of the chipset has higher clockspeed for the GPU compared to a Snapdragon 800, while the AC has a higher CPU clock too.

That said, the Xperia Z2 has 3GB RAM versus the 2GB for the Galaxy S5, which should make a difference when multitasking with several apps.

The underdog from Wiko did fairly well here with results not too far off the Note 3 either. Right behind them is the Gionee Elife S5.5, the thinnest smartphone yet. The affordable HTC Desire 816 phablet slots behind rivals from lesser known manufacturers, while the Huawei Ascend G6 and Lenovo S860 are at the lower end of the scale for mid-range phones.

The Huawei MediaPad X1 is an LTE-enabled 7″ tablet with voice calls. Physically it’s more compact than the Nexus 7 (2013) and it’s cheaper to boot. Huawei must be pleased with its victory over its Google-branded adversary.

As for the Nokias, they were all at the bottom, but quite close to the current Galaxy Tab 3 8.0, which has a dual-core Exynos 4212 chipset.

AnTuTu 4

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S5
  35145
• Sony Xperia Z2
  34986
• Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4
  34016
• LG G Pro 2
  33997
• Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 (S800)
  33996
• Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition
  
  33198
• Transformer Pad TF701T
  
  32991
• Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 (Exynos)
  
  32796
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  
  31109
• Wiko Highway
  26886
• Wiko WAX
  26560
• Gionee Elife S5.5
  26539
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  24236
• Huawei MediaPad X1
  22180
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  20216
• HTC Desire 816
  21828
• LG Optimus G Pro
  20056
• Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
  19131
• Huawei Ascend G6
  17658
• Lenovo S860
  17498
• Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0
  17159
• Google Nexus 10
  
  12695
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0
  9070
• Nokia X
  7745
• Nokia XL
  7529

We didn’t have time to run Quadrant on all phones, but the Galaxy S5 certainly outperforms the Galaxy Note 3 in this benchmark. Another Gionee phone, the Elife E7 beat the Nexus 5 in this test by a wide margin.

Quadrant

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S5
  24258
• Sony Xperia Z1
  20388
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  20052
• LG G2
  19815
• Sony Xperia Z Ultra
  18177
• Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 (S800)
  17963
• Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4
  16769
• Gionee Elife E7
  14150
• LG Nexus 5
  8844

Time for some heavy duty 3D benches – the Samsung Galaxy S5 and Sony Xperia Z2 went head to head here. The two flagships were neck and neck here, with the Galaxy wining the newer benchmark by a measly 1fps. It’s understandable as both have the same GPUs (with perhaps the S5′s one running at a higher clock rate)

GFXBench 2.7 T-Rex (1080p off-screen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia Z2
  27.7
• Samsung Galaxy S5
  27.5
• Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4
  26
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  26
• Apple iPad Air
  25
• Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 (S800)
  25
• Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 (Exynos)
  
  22
• Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition
  
  22
• Transformer Pad TF701T
  
  21
• Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
  15
• LG G Pad 8.3
  
  15
• Google Nexus 10
  13.9
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  7.0
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0
  4.0

GFXBench 3.0 Manhattan (1080p off-screen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S5
  11.7
• Sony Xperia Z2
  10.1
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  9.7
• Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
  9
• Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4
  8.9
• LG Nexus 5
  8.5
• Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 (S800)
  8.1
• Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 (Exynos)
  5.6
• Galaxy Note 10.1 (Exynos)
  5.6

Finally, a quick web test, the familiar SunSpider benchmark. Here, the Galaxy S5 absolutely aced it, being behind only the iPad Air tablet. Apparently, Sony didn’t optimize JavaScript performance for this benchmark as the Xperia Z2 ended up behind the Wiko duo. As usual, the Nokia X phones were at the bottom.

SunSpider

Lower is better

• Apple iPad Air
  
  373
• Samsung Galaxy S5
  397
• Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 (Exynos)
  
  531
• Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition
  
  569
• Transformer Pad TF701T
  
  606
• Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 (S800)
  607
• Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4
  651
• Wiko Highway
  807
• Wiko WAX
  893
• Sony Xperia Z2
  952
• LG Optimus G Pro
  
  1011
• Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
  1150
• LG G Pad 8.3
  
  1190
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  1233
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0
  1366
• Google Nexus 7
  1703
• new Apple iPad
  1722
• Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1
  1891
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7
  1953
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus
  1992
• Galaxy Tab 2 7.0
  2253
• Huawei MediaPad
  2490
• Nokia X
  2624
• Nokia XL
  2719

We’ll have to revisit the Samsung Galaxy S5 vs. Sony Xperia Z2 battle as those are the first 2014 smartphone flagships (LG and HTC are yet to announce theirs). By the looks of it, things will be very close with a small edge for the Galaxy thanks to the higher CPU speed.

Up and coming brands like Wiko and Gionee impressed with their performance, staying close to premium products from the big manufacturers. The Android expansion has led to increasingly good offerings from small brands, so consumers have more options than ever before and we like it.

At the entry-level, Nokia showed decent but not great performance. The company’s goal isn’t blazing fast 3D games though, it’s bringing the amazing utility of smartphones to millions of people stuck on feature phones due to pricing considerations. We did notice that the Nokia X beat the Nokia XL more often than not, despite having less RAM. Is this a software issue or a slower (but bigger) RAM chip? It remains to be seen.