The Samsung Galaxy S7 & S7 Edge Review, Part 1
by Joshua Ho on March 8, 2016 9:00 AM ESTGPU Performance
On the GPU side of things, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 is equipped with the Adreno 530 clocked at 624 MHz. In order to see how it performs, we ran it through our standard 2015 suite. In the future, we should be able to discuss how the Galaxy S7 performs in the context of our new benchmark suite as we test more devices on our new suite to determine relative performance.
At a high level, GPU performance appears to be mostly unchanged when comparing the Galaxy S7 to the Snapdragon 820 MDP. Performance in general is quite favorable assuming that the render resolution doesn't exceed 2560x1440.
Overall, the Adreno 530 is clearly one of the best GPUs you can get in a mobile device today. The Kirin 950's GPU really falls short in comparison. One could argue that turbo frequencies in a GPU don't make a lot of sense, but given that mobile gaming workloads can be quite bursty in nature and that gaming sessions tend to be quite short I would argue that having a GPU that can achieve significant levels of overdrive performance makes a lot of sense. The A9 is comparable if you consider the resolution of iOS devices, but when looking at the off-screen results the Adreno 530 pulls away. Of course, the real question now is how the Adreno 530 compares to the Exynos 8890's GPU in the international Galaxy S7, but that's a question that will have to be left for another day.
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theduckofdeath - Tuesday, March 8, 2016 - link
I expect them to do a comprehensive test of the Exynos model, as that one seems to be the one they're going to sell everywhere not-USA.NonSequitor - Tuesday, March 8, 2016 - link
Samsung has proven that they can build really great hardware. Great. Now can we go back to getting a GPE version of their phones? I love my Nexus 6's user interface. Every time I try to help a friend with a Samsung phone it feels like the interface has been hit with an ugly stick and all the useful little things have been taken away. But the Nexus 6 hardware is only 'meh', and the 6P isn't better enough to justify a change. If the S7 were a Nexus device I'd be saying TAKE MY MONEY right now.R. Hunt - Tuesday, March 8, 2016 - link
Funny, that's exactly what I think everytime I've got to deal with stock Android: "Where have all the features gone?".Cooe - Thursday, March 24, 2016 - link
Lol what you call "features" I call terrible gimmicks. Stock Android FTW.theduckofdeath - Tuesday, March 8, 2016 - link
No one was interested in the GPE models. Samsung has had no interest in being a Nexus manufacturer for half a decade. That's why. Like it or not, buyers wants the smart features pre-installed at the factory.lopri - Tuesday, March 8, 2016 - link
Throughout the review, Mr. Ho refers to the Note 5 but I do not see any data pertaining to the Note 5 in the charts?I agree with him about the camera hump. I had no issue with the S6's camera hump, both aesthetically and practically. I think this provides an opportunity in which tech media should take a pause and self-reflect. In every freaking review of the S6/Edge, reviewers incessantly cried over that hump as if Samsung committed an unspeakable sin. It looks like Samsung took the criticism to heart, but unfortunately the criticism was an unwarranted one to begin with. Reviewers should think for themselves before following the fellow herd parroting sensational nitpicking on a non-issue.
Ratman6161 - Tuesday, March 8, 2016 - link
The note 5 will perform essentially the same as an S6/S6 edge. I've got a Note 5 and personally I'm not seeing anything in the new generation that would make me lust after an upgrade.R. Hunt - Tuesday, March 8, 2016 - link
Well, at least they address the issue in the right way IMHO: but making a only so slightly thicker phone and taking the opportunity to put a bigger battery in it.ah06 - Tuesday, March 8, 2016 - link
"In the interest of providing another data point and some validation of our testing results, I ran both devices through our old web browsing test to see what the results would be for something that should be display-bound. Here, it’s obvious that the Galaxy S7 edge holds a significant lead over the iPhone 6s Plus"But the actual delta in both cases is exactly the same! 53 mins!
Am I calculating this wrong?
9:58 - 9:05 = 53 mins
14:03 - 13:10 = 53 mins
So the delta in the 2013 and 2016 tests is exactly the same
Andrei Frumusanu - Tuesday, March 8, 2016 - link
Those are decimal hours 9.58h = 9 hours 34 minutes.