Samsung Galaxy S 4 Review - Part 1
by Brian Klug on April 24, 2013 12:01 AM ESTCPU Performance
For our CPU analysis we're left with our usual browser based benchmarks. Again this isn't an ideal list of tests but it's the best we've got for now. Where necessary we'll show results using both stock and Chrome browsers. We did notice a single case of thermal based throttling under SunSpider 0.9.1 (the benchmark alone is ine, but running it after a bunch of others caused throttling), so we're once again presenting results in our standard test environment as well as inside of a freezer to show peak performance. Although the Galaxy S 4 managed to throttle in one of our tests, the device never felt all that warm to the touch. We could be seeing some of the same aggressively set thermal governors that we saw back with the Nexus 4. It's also worth pointing out that we're simply in an era of pushing the limits of just how fast you can go at 28nm LP in many of these smartphones. The mobile SoC vendors also need to do a better job of power management, enabling controlled bursting to these high frequency states vs. sustaining the higher frequencies until there's a serious enough thermal issue that the CPU cores have to throttle themselves significantly.
Under Kraken in particular we see a measurable improvement in performance over the 1.7GHz S600 used in the HTC One. Qualcomm still can't attain the peak performance of ARM's Cortex A15, but once again we're looking at a much lower power profile.
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nerd1 - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
Front facing speakers are revolutionary? Nothing beats a 'real' speakers or even a quality earbud. 4MP cameras revolutionary? It is sacrificing resolution for slightly better noise performance (which is actually helped by f2.0 lens and IS, not low MP sensor) and Zoe? It's just another gimmick, which GS4 has a ton.Rits - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
The One. Its just a much better all round package. Those minor differences in performance are not something that will ever affect anybody in real-world usage, so I don't think the S4 has a real performance advantage at all. And as soon as you get out of the guts, one represents taste and an eye for quality, while the other represents Fisher Price. I know what I'd go with. 64GB is more than enough for me and a battery that lasts through the work day is plenty.Shlong - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
Did you ever look inside the HTC One? I saw the breakdown and it looks like it was made by Fisher Price. If Samsung sold a whole bunch of S3 & Note 2 phones using the same material, what makes you think they wont with the S4? Different strokes for different folks.kmmatney - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
I don't care about the plastic, but the speakers of the HTC One look really nice. I often play music on my phone while working, just using the built-in speaker at lowish volume. Real stereo sound would be awesome.nerd1 - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
One is worse in every aspect except for the case.superflex - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
Keep trolling. You might get off Samsung's fecal pond one day.Camera, display, speakers, graphics and UI are all better on the One.
nerd1 - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
Camera is not any better (bit better at night but way worse in daylight, only 1/3 pixels). Display is smaller and has less contrast. GS4 has higher clocked GPU and DDR3 ram. UI are personal preference and I think GS4's additional features are a clear plus (like 2-panel multi tasking)I agree that twin speakers are plus for One.
cryosx - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
I really hope overall picture quality has improved with this update http://www.androidpit.de/htc-one-update-fotos?utm_...sigmatau - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link
Display on the HTC One kills the Samsung's. Try again.krumme - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link
Try at look at the pictures here, and do your own judgement:http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/Camera-compariso...