Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 and 10.1 Review
by Jarred Walton on March 22, 2014 9:30 PM ESTPerformance Benchmarks
In the world of laptops where I come from, we’re fast reaching the point – if not well beyond it – where talking about raw performance only matters to a small subset of users. Everything with Core i3 and above is generally “fast enough” that users don’t really notice or care. For tablets, the difference in speed between a budget and a premium device is far more dramatic. I’ve included numbers from the Dell Venue 8, which I’ll be providing a short review of in the near future. While the price isn’t bad, the two Samsung tablets feel substantially snappier – as they should. We’ll start with the CPU/system benchmarks and then move to the GPU/Graphics tests.
In terms of CPU speed, the Apple A7 chips still take the lead in all of our tests, though not always by a large margin. We’re also using different browsers (Chrome vs. Safari), and JavaScript benchmarks aren’t always the greatest way of comparing CPU performance. I ran additional benchmarks on the two Samsung tablets just to see if I could get some additional information; you can find a table of results for AndeBench, Basemark OS II, and Geekbench 3.
| CPU/System Benchmarks of Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro | |||
| Benchmark | Subtest | Tab Pro 10.1 | Tab Pro 8.4 |
| Andebench | Native | 13804 | 17533 |
| Java | 708 | 790 | |
| Basemark OS II | Overall | 865 | 1062 |
| System | 1542 | 1529 | |
| Memory | 419 | 503 | |
| Graphics | 1032 | 2555 | |
| Web | 838 | 724 | |
| Geekbench 3 | Single | 942 | 910 |
| Multi | 2692 | 2847 | |
| Integer Single | 1028 | 967 | |
| Integer Multi | 3135 | 3343 | |
| FP Single | 897 | 848 | |
| FP Multi | 3106 | 3080 | |
| Memory Single | 860 | 922 | |
| Memory Multi | 982 | 1391 | |
Interestingly, the Samsung Exynos 5 Octa 5420 just seems to come up short versus the Snapdragon 800 in most of these tests. However, there’s a bit more going on than you might expect. We checked for cheating in the benchmarks, and found no evidence that either of these tablets was doing anything unusual in terms of boosting clock speeds. What we did find is that the Pro 10.1 is frequently not running at maximum frequency – or anywhere near it – in quite a few of our CPU tests.
Specifically, Sunspider, Kraken, and Andebench had the cores hitting a maximum 1.1-1.3GHz. The Pro 8.4 meanwhile would typically hit the maximum 2.3GHz clock speed. The result, as you might imagine, is that the 8.4 ends up being faster, sometimes by a sizeable margin. Basemark OS II, Geekbench 3, and AnTuTu on the other hand didn’t have any such odd behavior, with the Pro 10.1 often hitting 1.8-1.9GHz (on one or more cores) during the testing, and when that happens it often ends up slightly faster than the Pro 8.4.
Which benchmark results are more "valid"? Well, that's a different subject, but as we're comparing Samsung tablets running more or less the same build of Android, we can reasonably compare the two and say that the 8.4 has better overall performance. Updated drivers or tweaking of the power governor on the 10.1 might change things down the road, but we can only test what exists right now.
Overall, both systems are sufficiently fast for a modern premium tablet, so I wouldn’t worry too much about whether or not you’re getting maximum clock speeds in a few benchmarks – in normal use you likely won’t notice one way or the other. But we’re only talking about the CPU performance when we say you won’t see the difference; let’s move over to the graphics benchmarks to see how the Galaxy Pro tablets fare.
Graphics Performance
Outside of the 3DMark Unlimited Graphics Test 1 result, the Pro 8.4 sweeps the tables against its big brother. Playing games like Angry Birds Go! or any other reasonably demanding 3D titles in my experience confirms the above results – Adreno 330 beats the Mali-T628; end of discussion. I also had a few quirks crop up with the Pro 10.1 graphics, like Plants vs. Zombies 2 at one point stopped rendering all the fonts properly; a reboot fixed the problem, but I may have seen one or two other rendering glitches during testing. I have some additional results for GPU testing as well via GFXBench 3.0 if you’re interested:
| Graphics Benchmarks of Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro | |||
| Benchmark | Subtest | Tab Pro 10.1 | Tab Pro 8.4 |
| GFXBench 3.0 Onscreen | Manhattan (FPS) | 2.9 | 5.8 |
| T-Rex (FPS) | 14 | 17.1 | |
| ALU (FPS) | 13 | 59.8 | |
| Alpha Blending (MB/s) | 3295 | 6847 | |
| Fill (MTex/s) | 1956 | 3926 | |
| GFXBench 3.0 Offscreen | Manhattan (FPS) | 5.5 | 10.8 |
| T-Rex (FPS) | 22.9 | 25.9 | |
| ALU (FPS) | 25.6 | 138 | |
| Alpha Blending (MB/s) | 3093 | 7263 | |
| Fill (MTex/s) | 1956 | 3780 | |
The new Manhattan benchmark was one of the other tests where the Pro 10.1 didn’t seem to render things properly, and even then the Pro 8.4 ends up with nearly twice the frame rates. The ALU, Alpha Blending, and Fill rate scores might explain some of what’s going on, where in some cases the Pro 8.4 is more than four times as fast. Regardless, if you want maximum frame rates, I’d suggest getting the Pro 8.4 over the 10.1.
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rogueninja - Sunday, March 23, 2014 - link
It's like a giant phone without the calling features. Android doesn't have anything for productivity.ESC2000 - Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - link
I assume you mean in comparison to Windows tablets bc you claiming that ios is better than android for productivity and that an iPad is less like a big phone would be a total joke. At least some Android tablets allow you to view more than one window at a time which is crucial for productivity, not to mention swipe keyboards as well as active digitizer to facilitate data entry. On top of that Android 's customizability allows you to set your tablet up in whatever way facilitates productivity for you which is guarantee is rarely a 4x5 grid of icons that you're stuck with on the iPad. Also not being able to access the file system is quite a drag for work purposes..... Need I go on?And if you were referring to Windows tablets *slinks away in shame *
TestKing123 - Sunday, March 23, 2014 - link
Have to say, since the flood of Windows 8 Pro two in one's (laptop and tablet hybrid), these large tablets are irrelevent. Got a Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro and it literally blows the water out of any android tablet (and iPad) in performance and usability. Only negatives are price and size, but compared to a 10" regular tablet, seems like a good way to go. All the benefits of a tablet with the power and software of a regular PC.wintermute000 - Monday, March 24, 2014 - link
yes and no. Win8 apps are still a pretty poor selection, going from my Win8 surface pro to android is like night and day difference. For tablet use Win8's app selection needs to improve drastically (heck even winphone is noticeably more barren and many apps that are there lack feature parity compared to droid/apple). Desktop apps yes handy but no good in touch mode.darkich - Tuesday, March 25, 2014 - link
Absolutely correct.I would still pick a high end Android tablet or even an iPad over any windows tablet wannabe.
The problem with windows tabs is that they aren't good TABLETS.
Simple as that.
And they surely aren't good for a laptop use case because the screen is too small.
Simple as that.
You obviously got tunnel vision ed by windows/pc so much that you just don't understand what a tablet is and how people use it.
darkich - Tuesday, March 25, 2014 - link
To clarify myself..with getting "tunnel-visioned" I was referring to TestKing123TestKing123 - Tuesday, March 25, 2014 - link
Obviously, the only one with tunnel vision is YOU since you obviously haven't used a two in one before. Care to give give specifics instead of spouting dribble?"I would still pick a high end Android tablet or even an iPad over any windows tablet wannabe."
Why? Can you work in Microsoft Excel on your Android tablet or iPad? Play a REAL PC game instead of some silly mobile nonsense?
"The problem with windows tabs is that they aren't good TABLETS.
Simple as that."
WRONG. Using a windows Pro tab is just as easy/inituitive as any android/ipad tablet. Mine even comes with a QHD screen. Care you to give examples rather than talk out of your ass?
"And they surely aren't good for a laptop use case because the screen is too small.
Simple as that."
You're talking out of your ass. Simple as that. My Yogo 2 pro is 13.3, only slightly smaller than the industry standard 14" ultrabook. Maybe a Surface 2 Pro is small, but it isn't a 2 in 1, is it? It's form factor is a tablet with an OPTIONAL keyboard, not a genuine hybrid like the Yogo 2 Pro or others from Dell/HP just now hitting the market in mass. Do you even know what you're arguing about?
"You obviously got tunnel vision ed by windows/pc so much that you just don't understand what a tablet is and how people use it."
Of course, especially since I own an iPad 4th gen, iPad mini, Galaxy Tab 8.4 and a Nexus 7. Obviously I don't understand these tablets that I own.
It seems the only one with tunnel vision is YOU.
darkich - Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - link
Oh wow.I call a huge BS there.
The fact that you REALLY are suggesting an ultrabook to be used as a tablet says all I need to know about you.
Oh and that office question is even greater pile of sh!t.
Of course I CAN do an excel document ..in fact I can do it even on the cheapest android Chinese knockoff, and I can do it for free.(Kingsoft office)
Not to mention some of the many premium office apps on Android and IOS.
Why on earth would I play a pc game on a tablet??
Name me one such game you can play without a mouse and a keyboard!
Still, since you ask I in fact can point you to some of the highest grade pc games on a tablet - GTA San Andreas, Xcom Enemy unknown, Anomaly 2 (2013 pc release with absolutely unchanged mobile version)
TestKing123 - Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - link
You call BS? The only one here who’s shown a complete lack of intelligence is YOU with your ignorant statements. EVERYONE sees this.Let’s start with your statement on Office:
“Oh and that office question is even greater pile of sh!t.
Of course I CAN do an excel document ..in fact I can do it even on the cheapest android Chinese knockoff, and I can do it for free.(Kingsoft office)”
PLEASE tell me you know the difference between a stripped down and mobile android / IOS office editor compared to NATIVE office? You DO know the difference, do you? Name me ONE enterprise mobile application that even remotely compares in functionality to full fledged Office. You can’t possibly be that dumb? Not to mention, you expect me to believe you work in Excel building reports (like I do) on a dinky mobile knockoff? LOL!
But the comedy keeps coming!
“Why on earth would I play a pc game on a tablet??”
LOL! Who’s forcing you to play PC games on a hybrid in tablet mode? Wouldn’t you use....say, LAPTOP mode? LOL! This is yet another example of your utter ignorance, you just don’t know what the hell you’re arguing about.
And FYI, even if you had a Surface 2 Pro, you can still plug in an Xbox 360 controller to play PC games, which the vast majority of games support. And further still, many genres are quite touch friendly and even better with a touch interface, like Adventure games.
In my case, the Yoga 2 pro has a QHD (3200x1800) screen in which games look absolutely beautiful, even if games are running in regular HD. Also, Intel’s HD4400 blows away any mobile SOC GPU in pure raw performance.
And LOL at you’re list! That’s all you can come up with? Everyone sees you’re an absolute idiot if you’re truly believe mobile games are comparable to the vast library of regular PC games that you can play on a hybrid, including the latest and greatest. San Adreas….LOL! How about GTA 4? I can play that rather well on my Yoga 2 Pro. How does that run on your ipad? LOL.
Of course, all your comical statements are nothing but empty arguments because you simply don’t know what you’re talking about. How about you address my points which you’ve conveniently ignored? Here they are again:
"The problem with windows tabs is that they aren't good TABLETS.
Simple as that."
WRONG. Using a windows Pro tab is just as easy/inituitive as any android/ipad tablet. Mine even comes with a QHD screen. Care you to give examples rather than talk out of your ass?
"And they surely aren't good for a laptop use case because the screen is too small.
Simple as that."
You're talking out of your ass. Simple as that. My Yogo 2 pro is 13.3, only slightly smaller than the industry standard 14" ultrabook. Maybe a Surface 2 Pro is small, but it isn't a 2 in 1, is it? It's form factor is a tablet with an OPTIONAL keyboard, not a genuine hybrid like the Yogo 2 Pro or others from Dell/HP just now hitting the market in mass. Do you even know what you're arguing about?
darkich - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
Well that was a waste of time since you obviously lack the minimum nerve, decency and intellectual capacity to understand my points.The funniest thing, you actually CONFIRMED EVERY SINGLE OF MY POINTS AND SHOT YOUR SELF IN THE FOOT WITHOUT EVEN REALIZING IT.
Yet you keep trolling utter prejudice and insulting like a little pgatetic basement butthurt you are .
You don't deserve a further answer.
My points:
-you are talking a 13.3 inch, 1.4kg ultra book is a good thing to use as a tablet
Anyone with a half sense sees how idiotic proposition this is.. but not you!
- if we actually take a usable tablet form windows (8-10" and a 500-700grams) and try to use it for your idiotic propositions of playing pc games, programing (lol) or ANY use that you can benefit from a laptop form factor..so we need to hook up a keyboard and a mouse to a 10" screen, put it on a table and squint onto it.
Office, again only a professional who is living offa doc editing will have a real benefit in MSOffice ..and ypu thik those proffesionals will not therefore use a real laptop?!?!
Average people that need to write something on their TABLETS will be more than served by the likes of Kingsoft office.
You ever even used it or are you the one talking out of your ass!
It can do spreadsheets, power point, pdf files, and more word and excel than anyone will ever need on a touchscreen.
As that's what I am talking about from the start..understanding what a TABLET really is and what people are needing it for.
And that is a causal, comfortable media consumption in something they can easily handle, hold in one hand and carry around in a purse or even a pocket.
How retarded is to propose using a TABLET ( repeat that word into your head unlit it starts to dawn on you) for gaming with a keyboard and mouse, for professional document editing or writting on your office table?
..
Starting to sink into that tiny clouded mind of yours now??
And further proof of your prejudiced stupidity is that you you fail to realize
that the games I mentioned are in fact a pc games, and a great pc games at that.
I only and merely answered to your callout because it technically was off.
You lack a basic understanding and reading comprehension.
And you waste other people's time!