HTC Desire 510: benchmarking Qualcomm’s first 64-bit chip

The HTC Desire 510 has all the making of the latest entry-level HTC smartphone, running Android 4.4 with the company’s in-house Sense 6 overlay. But under the hood hides a smartphone first: Qualcomm’s first chipset capable of 64-bit operations.

The Snapdragon 410 processor is the first of many upcoming 64-bit processors that the company expects to release this year, which it hopes will lead the transition to mobile 64-bit processing. We’ve decided that its performance deserves some special attention, so let’s see if it brings something special to the table against the other entry-level competition.

Keep in mind that, as of its latest iteration – version 4.4 KitKat – Android is not a 64-bit OS, so it won’t be able to take advantage of the full spectrum of capabilities that the processor can provide. That being said, let’s dive right in.

The Desire 510 runs on a quad-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A53 processor, which is the successor to the Cortex-A7 found in many current quad-core configurations. Graphics performance will be powered by an Adreno 306 GPU (as opposed to the Adreno 305 in the Snapdragon 400), and there’s 1GB of RAM. The 4.7-inch display is of the FWVGA (480 x 854px) variety, which means that graphics performance should be acceptable.

Our first run of benchmarks takes a look at raw computing power. Geekbench looks at the processor on its own, while AnTuTu factors in the other aspects of the smartphone like memory and graphics chip. Overall and Basemark 2 factor in the other components like memory and graphics. Overall, the Desire 510 comes in around the middle of the pack, bettering offerings like the Samsung Galaxy S5 mini and Sony Xperia M2. It came in behind the likes of the HTC Desire 616, but that’s expected against octa-core competition.

GeekBench 3

Higher is better

• HTC Desire 616
  2125
• HTC One mini 2
  1526
• Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G
  1522
• HTC Desire 816
  1510
• HTC Desire 510
  1471
• Sony Xperia T3
  1373
• Motorola Moto G 4G
  1175
• Samsung Galaxy S5 mini
  1123
• LG G2 mini
  1123
• Sony Xperia M2 Aqua
  1106
• Sony Xperia M2
  1074

AnTuTu 4

Higher is better

• HTC Desire 616
  23482
• Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G
  21726
• HTC Desire 816
  21580
• Sony Xperia T3
  20282
• HTC Desire 510
  20143
• Sony Xperia M2 Aqua
  18829
• Motorola Moto G 4G
  18047
• HTC One mini 2
  17883
• Sony Xperia M2
  17808
• Samsung Galaxy S5 mini
  17753
• LG G2 mini
  17362

Basemark OS II is another compound test, which provides individual scores for single- and multi-core processors. Again, here we see middle-of-the-pack performance, with the Desire 510 being able to best true entry-level devices like the Sony Xperia M2.

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G
  542
• Sony Xperia T3
  535
• HTC Desire 816
  520
• HTC One mini 2
  517
• Motorola Moto G 4G
  495
• HTC Desire 510
  491
• Sony Xperia M2 Aqua
  452
• Samsung Galaxy S5 mini
  419
• HTC Desire 616
  378
• Sony Xperia M2
  298

Basemark OS II (single-core)

Higher is better

• HTC Desire 816
  1739
• Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G
  1666
• HTC Desire 616
  1533
• Sony Xperia T3
  1465
• Samsung Galaxy S5 mini
  1353
• HTC Desire 510
  1332
• HTC One mini 2
  1304
• Motorola Moto G 4G
  1192
• Sony Xperia M2
  1164
• Sony Xperia M2 Aqua
  1131

Basemark OS II (multi-core)

Higher is better

• HTC Desire 616
  12986
• HTC Desire 816
  7071
• Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G
  6662
• Sony Xperia T3
  5759
• HTC Desire 510
  5484
• Samsung Galaxy S5 mini
  5283
• HTC One mini 2
  5182
• Motorola Moto G 4G
  5012
• Sony Xperia M2
  4927
• Sony Xperia M2 Aqua
  4887

GFXBench takes a closer look at the graphics performance on the Desire 510. Having to push out only 480 x 854 pixel resolution, we expected the Desire 510′s Adreno 306 CPU to best the competing 720p devices with the Adreno 305 in both the on-screen and offscreen tests. Offscreen performance measures raw graphics computing power at 1080p, while the onscreen tests takes into account the device’s native resolution. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC Desire 616
  8.7
• Samsung Galaxy S5 mini
  6.7
• Sony Xperia M2 Aqua
  6
• Sony Xperia M2
  5.9
• HTC Desire 816
  5.9
• Sony Xperia T3
  5.9
• LG G2 mini
  5.8
• Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G
  5.8
• HTC One mini 2
  5.8
• Motorola Moto G 4G
  5.8
• HTC Desire 510
  5.3

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC Desire 510
  15.5
• Sony Xperia M2 Aqua
  15.5
• Sony Xperia M2
  15.4
• LG G2 mini
  14.9
• HTC Desire 616
  13.4
• Sony Xperia T3
  11.2
• HTC Desire 816
  11
• HTC One mini 2
  11
• Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G
  10.8
• Motorola Moto G 4G
  10.8
• Samsung Galaxy S5 mini
  9.3

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G
  2
• Sony Xperia M2
  1.9
• Sony Xperia T3
  1.8
• HTC Desire 510
  1.8
• HTC Desire 816
  1.7
• HTC One mini 2
  1.7
• Sony Xperia M2 Aqua
  1.7
• Motorola Moto G 4G
  1.7

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC Desire 510
  8.3
• Sony Xperia M2
  6.9
• Sony Xperia M2 Aqua
  6.9
• Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G
  4.3
• Sony Xperia T3
  4.2
• Motorola Moto G 4G
  4
• HTC Desire 816
  3.9
• HTC One mini 2
  3.8

Finally, browser performance is tested by Kraken and Browsermark 2. The former is based on the popular SunSpider dedicated mobile browser tests, while Browsermark factors in HTML5 capabilities. The Desire 510 posted respectable numbers in this test, which nonetheless also relies heavily on the Android build.

Kraken 1.1

Lower is better

• HTC Desire 816
  13564
• Sony Xperia T3
  13738
• HTC Desire 510
  14443
• HTC One mini 2
  15684
• Samsung Galaxy S5 mini
  15885
• Motorola Moto G 4G
  16118
• Sony Xperia M2 Aqua
  16129
• HTC Desire 616
  16953
• Sony Xperia M2
  18047
• Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G
  20366

BrowserMark 2.1

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia T3
  978
• HTC One mini 2
  945
• Motorola Moto G 4G
  911
• Sony Xperia M2
  903
• Sony Xperia M2 Aqua
  883
• Samsung Galaxy S5 mini
  861
• HTC Desire 510
  826
• Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G
  822
• HTC Desire 816
  774
• HTC Desire 616
  683

While it can’t yet be said that Qualcomm’s first 64-bit processor will be a gamechanger, its performance in a 32-bit environment is good enough – it managed to beat the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S5 mini and its higher-clocked 1.4GHz quad-core Exynos chip and it showed an equal performance to its Snapdragon 400 competitors. GPU performance however was a bit underwhelming as he newer GPU didn’t do much better than the older Adreno 305. Perhaps the Snapdragon 410 chipset would really need the native 64-bit architecture support, to properly outshine the Snapdragon 400 gang.