Earlier this week Google announced two new flagship Nexus devices: the Nexus 4 smartphone and the Nexus 10 tablet. We received review samples of both earlier this week, and while we're hard at work at full reviews of the devices we couldn't help but share all of the test data we've been able to amass at this point.

For those who aren't familiar with it, the Nexus 4 features Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 Pro SoC - a quad-core 28nm Krait CPU with Qualcomm's next-generation Adreno 320 GPU. The combination proved quite formidable in the MDP/T we tested, as well as LG's recently announced Optimus G. The SoC drives a 4.7-inch 1280 x 768 IPS display and is paired with 2GB of LPDDR2 memory. The Nexus 4 ships unlocked with 8GB of NAND for $299 without a contract ($349 for the 16GB version). Pair that with DC-HSPA+ support and you get an absolute killer smartphone for use on T-Mobile: no contracts, very low monthly fees, and compelling cellular performance:

Brian will talk more about the combination in his full review, but rest assured that the lack of LTE is workable depending on T-Mobile coverage where you live/travel to.

The Nexus 10 also boasts a brand new SoC: Samsung's Exynos 5 Dual. The Exynos 5 Dual features two ARM Cortex A15 cores running at 1.7GHz as well as ARM's own Mali-T604 GPU. This happens to be the exact same platform used in the new Chromebook, just running Android. The Nexus 10 features a 10.1-inch 2560 x 1600 display, giving it the same resolution as the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display - but in an even smaller form factor. Google is also aggressive on Nexus 10 pricing: the 16GB WiFi-only tablet sells for $399, with the 32GB version going for $499.

Both Nexus devices run Android 4.2 and are guaranteed to be the first devices to be updated to upcoming Android revisions for the foreseeable future (it's the power of Nexus).

We haven't had a ton of time to test the devices and put this together so you're going to see combined performance charts throughout the rest of this article.

CPU Performance

The big story when it comes to CPU performance is a look at how the Cortex A15s perform under Android. Unfortunately we're still left with mostly browser based benchmarks to measure CPU performance, which actually highlights a major issue in our testing: Android V8 optimization doesn't seem to be anywhere near as good as it is under Chrome OS or Windows. As a result, all of the Nexus 10 performance scores end up slower than the new Chromebook - despite using the same SoC and running Chrome on both platforms. It's also possible that the Exynos 5 Dual in the Chromebook is allowed to burn a bit more power, translating to better performance, but either way the solution here in the Nexus 10 doesn't look as good across the board.

SunSpider Javascript Benchmark 0.9.1 - Stock Browser

SunSpider performance is good, but not significantly better than Qualcomm's Krait based Snapdragon S4. Both the iPhone 5 and RAZR i are able to outperform the Nexus 10. The S4 Pro based Nexus 4 tends to be in line with other S4 based devices - SunSpider doesn't really give much credit to the extra 2 cores.

BrowserMark

BrowserMark puts the Nexus 10 behind many platforms that should be faster, I'm even wondering here if there's some hard partitioning of memory bandwidth between the CPU and GPU to drive the 2560 x 1600 display that's simply choking the CPU here.

The Nexus 4 does ok, but again there seem to be some V8 optimization issues at work here under Android 4.2. At 1.5GHz it should deliver at least the performance of the dual-core Snapdragon S4 solutions.

Google Octane Benchmark v1

Octane is the first test where the Cortex A15s are really able to flex their muscle - the Exynos 5 Dual based Nexus 10 manages to outperform the RAZR i by 34%, and compared to the A6/Swift based iPhone 5 the advantage grows to 64%.

The Nexus 4 performs about in line with other Snapdragon S4 based devices, although once again the extra 2 cores don't seem to be doing much for it here at all.

Mozilla Kraken Benchmark

Kraken also paints the Cortex A15 based Nexus 10 in a good light: there's a 30% advantage over the RAZR i and a 76% advantage over the iPhone 5. These numbers will shrink a bit compared to other tablets, but not by much. The Nexus 4, once again, ends up performing similarly to dual-core Snapdragon S4 based devices.

Overall, the Nexus 10 results show us some real promise for what we can expect from ARM Cortex A15 based SoCs. The potential upside to this new architecture is huge.

 

GPU Performance & Display
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  • yyrkoon - Friday, November 2, 2012 - link

    "I can actually see them giving up on ARM altogether and going with new generation Intel Atoms from 2014 on."

    Very unlikely.

    Firstly, because you have no idea how ATOM will perform year from now. Secondly, because you have no idea how ARM will perform a year from now either.

    Also, Apple / VR SGX may have the best graphics scores in benchmarks, but you have to ask yourself how important that really is. Passed that, how is it important to the next person ?

    For *you* it may matter, but for many it does not. For many, a phone, is just a phone. With perhaps some added functionality. Where PC's, or gaming consoles are where the real action is.

    ARM is around for good reason. It is cost effective, and gives many users the experience they care about. Which for many is just enough performance, for a reasonable price.
  • AnotherHariSeldon - Friday, November 2, 2012 - link

    The developing pattern for SoC is dual core CPU and then increasingly powerful GPU's.

    I think you're falling into the trap of believing the current market of phone/tablet/pc is the way things will continue. Whereas I suspect the lines are set to become increasingly blurred and as mobile devices are used for content creation the performance demands will increase.

    Imagination's series 6 "rogue" will completely blow away current gen mobile GPU's and will also bring Compute functionality to the SoC space.
  • KitsuneKnight - Sunday, November 4, 2012 - link

    I'm pretty certain that, for the casual users, there's a very high percentage that play some sort of game on their phone (even if just Angry Birds). The GPU also impacts how fluid the UI is during transitions/animations.
  • AnotherHariSeldon - Friday, November 2, 2012 - link

    Well Intel Atom USES Imaginations SGX series GPU's. Just a variant of series 5.
  • smartthanyou - Friday, November 2, 2012 - link

    Thanks, I guess. But I fail to see how posting incomplete data is of any particular use. I think it would have been better to hold off until the review was finished.
  • dyc4ha - Friday, November 2, 2012 - link

    I agree with many posters above me: this is very misleading to say it is a "Performance" preview when it is actually just a browser benchmark. AT, I am more than sure you guys are smart people regarding tech, so really this is an unforgivable mistake; almost as if you have done this on purpose. If the readers can identify it being a potential software optimization, surely you can point it out too. Disappointing...
  • doobydoo - Friday, November 2, 2012 - link

    Seems to me you're just disappointed at how much this phone sucks.

    If it was a favourable story you'd have a different tune.
  • dyc4ha - Saturday, November 3, 2012 - link

    when identical hardware produces different results, there is a problem. i read AT to know why, not just "its bad on browsers".
  • doobydoo - Sunday, November 4, 2012 - link

    Hardware isn't identical.
  • De_Com - Monday, November 5, 2012 - link

    Seems to me you love Apple so much you can't help yourself having a dig at anyone else you suspect of not loving them as much as you.........disappointing.

    I suspect he meant nothing to do with favorable/unfavorable, the scores are all over the shop, best to wait for the Full Review.

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