The Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge Review: Part 2
by Joshua Ho on July 5, 2016 8:00 AM ESTSystem Performance Cont'd
Now that we've gone over the more general purpose system benchmarks we can focus on new benchmarks that emphasize GPU performance much more strongly. For the most part we haven't had huge issues here like we've had with good CPU and general performance benchmarks, but it's important for us to keep our benchmarks up to date in terms of workload balance and overall performance.
One of our first new benchmarks designed to better test the GPU is 3DMark's Sling Shot ES 3.1 test, which is designed to test a GPU's performance when the application is either using OpenGL ES 3.1 or Metal. As one can see, the Snapdragon 820 and Exynos 8890 have basically comparable GPU performance in this test and in the physics test as well. Once again we're seeing how core count and clock speed are basically the primary determinants of performance in the physics test when the device isn't strongly limited by thermals. I wouldn't draw any real conclusions from this as generally game CPU code can extract ILP unlike what we're seeing in this test.
In this test we start to see that the Mali GPU in the Exynos 8890 and the PowerVR GPU in the A9 are providing a noticeable advantage over the Snapdragon 820's Adreno 530 to a noticeable extent.
With GFXBench we can see that in Car Chase and Manhattan the Adreno 530 actually manages to pull away. However, because we have basically zero architecture disclosure on the Adreno 530 there's really no way for us to explain what's going on here and why. The reasons for the difference in performance could be related to drivers or architecture or architecture implementation and in the absence of information it's probably best to avoid making blind guesses. Regardless of these details, the Snapdragon 820's GPU should be more than enough for playing the latest games, but unless you use Samsung's automatic game optimizer system to set render resolution to 1080p it won't do as well as the iPhone 6s but given that most Android games target a much lower spec level it's likely that you won't have any problems given that the Adreno 530 is on the bleeding edge for Android SoCs.
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realbabilu - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link
I wish AT can check the touchscreen latency between these mobile. Sometimes you got powerful chip but still some lags noticeable.I want to see where the real apps excluding the benchmark app that can utilize all Cores and where the cpu can use smart management where the app need use all power and which not. Simple that sometimes a 2D games like
Air attack 2 could raise temperature very high. Smart management cpu may decrease the power that doesn't needed for those apps.
Good review. And nice to review high end to cheap Chinese phones, so we can now where it pays..
Magicpork - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link
So it took them 4 months to write up an Apple Biased review... no wonder the reputation of anandtech has fallen so much recently..KoolAidMan1 - Sunday, July 10, 2016 - link
This comment section taught me that reality is biased.Instead of being mad at Anandtech that a GS7 got BTFO by an iPhone SE, maybe you should demand more from Google and OEMs to improve their hardware and operating system.
Ihabo - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link
Galaxy S7 Edge Wins In:+IPS68 Water & Dust Resistant
+Quad HD Super Amoled Screen ( brighter under sun light ) and immersive
+Dual Pixel New Technology Camera - Very Fast in Auto Focus & Low Light
+3,600mAh Battery last one day easily of heavy usage
+Exynos8890 Better than SnapDragon 820 in Battery Performance.
+Wireless Charging
+No Heat while fast charging
Phone of the Year no Doubt
beggerking@yahoo.com - Monday, July 11, 2016 - link
now only if they'd bring removable battery back... then i'd be all over it.still keeping my s5 for the time being.
AJP - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link
Regarding the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge Review, when comparing benchmarks please take into account the APPLE Iphone screen resolutions are much lower. That will bias the results in their favour and should be considered before making any comments.blackcrayon - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link
Did you even read the review? For as long as I can remember, they've been showing both onscreen and offscreen GPU benchmarks for this very reason. And they specifically mention it in the review that the iPhone GPU keeps up on-screen because of the lower resolution.As for the CPU benchmarks, it comes down to Apple's really high single core performance and optimized browser engine. One advantage of designing both the hardware and all of the software in tandem.
JoeDuarte - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link
Does anyone know what the author means by Google's optimizations - or lack thereof - for Chrome on Android? What optimizations? Does Google normally do something special? I don't understand what he's referring to.Also, what does he mean by Samsung's lack of optimization of the UI? Is there a standard set of optimizations that OEMs do on Android phones? Is he talking about low level C code, or ARM assembly or something?
Impulses - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link
In the case of the browser, there's optimizations other browsers can and have done for specific SoC, it used to be a lot more common before Chrome for Android being the stock browser tho it's still prevalent... I'm guessing for whatever reason Google has never implemented such hardware specific optimizations.In the case of the UI, there's a lot of Samsung elements added atop the base OS that do drag performance down, other OEM have scaled back their OS customizations or fine tuned then over time (namely Moto and HTC to an extent)... Samsung's approach is still pretty heavy handed.
UltraWide - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link
"Samsung is better than anybody else at learning from its competitors. "A market reader is sort of the classic fast follower," explains Barry Jaruzelski, senior partner at Booz&Co and the co-author of the Global Innovation 1000. "It doesn't mean they ignore their customers, but they're very attuned to what competitors are doing and what other people are bringing to market first and observing what seems to be gaining traction, then very rapidly coming up with their own version of that innovation."http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-corporate-s...
That's always been Samsung's strength, it will take time to change the whole corporation's mantra.