The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Review
by Joshua Ho on October 15, 2014 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Samsung
- Android
- Mobile
- Galaxy Note 4
CPU Performance
For those unfamiliar with the Snapdragon 805, I would refer back to our previous posts regarding this SoC. This is Krait’s final hurrah in a high-end SoC, and is likely to be the best smartphone SoC available for the next 4-6 months as it’s built on TSMC’s 28HPm process, which has strained silicon and high-k metal gate at the transistor level in order to improve performance and reduce power. In order to test the CPU and general CPU-bound performance, we turn to our standard test suite of browser benchmarks. As said before, I’m not quite happy with the state of this suite but for now it can work to provide a decent relative comparison.
Overall, the Snapdragon 805 performs about as well as one might expect, although the benefit from higher clock speeds is generally quite minimal.
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JoshHo - Monday, October 27, 2014 - link
As noted in the review, the Note 4 doesn't use PDAF for continuous AF so that number isn't representative of the total "AF speed" as there's significant lag between recognizing that a scene is out of focus and the start of the focus run.Drumsticks - Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - link
It really amazes me (and is a testament to their engineers) that the A8 seems to deliver near twice the IPC/per clock performance as Krait.Also: good review in general! I think phablets are too big for me, but I like keeping up with where the market likes to go.
Calista - Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - link
Fully agree, the Apple A-series are amazing. Half the frequency, half the core count, one third the memory and still the fastest SOC more often than not while still being very frugal.danbob999 - Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - link
CPU benchmarks are not designed to test the benefit of having more RAM. One could design a benchmark using 2GB RAM. The iPhone would be slower than a Galaxy S3 because it would be swapping (or even failing).Javascript benchmarks test the browser more than the CPU. That's why the iPhone 5s still performs well in these benchmarks even tough it has a very slow CPU with no ARMv8.
mudman - Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - link
Wikipedia states that the a7 in iPhone 5s is based on armv8-a.kokono - Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - link
Does this mean iPhone6+ lags when compared to the new Galaxy?melgross - Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - link
Android needs more RAM to begin with. It's not a useful comparison.tipoo - Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - link
That's true, but not to the point of making 1GB on iOS moot vs 2-3GB Android phones. It definitely swaps apps out of memory more.KPOM - Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - link
How many phone apps really use more than 1gb right now? The iPad Air 2 will have 2 GB and my guess is that the iPhone 6s will too. But for now 1GB is fine.akdj - Thursday, October 30, 2014 - link
You're entirely TOO WRONG!Lol, what crap. I've got a Note 3, specifically for my business. The 5s as my personal, daily driver. I love em both for different reasons. Especially with what we do, the stylus on the Note for when we're doing it ...& collecting the pay for it with our clients using the SPen to sign their credit card receipt.
Other than that...nope. Nothing is 'better' on the S3, 4, 5 or Note 3 than the iPhone 5s. Display preferences aside, as an owner of both, for over a year can attest to their performance. It's ridicukius realily. My Note, again being a business line doesn't have a whole lot of apps other than productivity, a couple of 'creative' types and some excellent games to kill time on sites.
Any and EVERY app in 'parity' (available on both platforms) overwhelmingly plays more fluently on the iPhone. Productivity, cloud access and any type of 'creative' apps are abound, and they're excellent ...well optimized to a single, specific type ID hardware
It's amazing to me, in a stock cold boot of a Note 3 (I've reset a couple times), it's ALREADY using 19-2.1GB of RAM! The OEM and carrier crap is a silly joke
Apps come to iOS first. Are optimized for a single platform (& able to be played for years, fluently and with updates!). Crazy, a ⅓ the RAM, twice the processors at twice the clock speed is definitely the more 'usable' system. Customizing aside, I enjoy my home screen but for seconds ...it's the apps, their design UI and ability to 'run with reliability'. That's where iOS Smokes iOS. Secondarily, it's for a vertical & horizontal system, ala OS X.
Android has Chrome
The SPIII is a nice piece. If Windows gets ohine's figures out, Samsung's screwed.
Oh, sorry. They already are!
Then there's the tablets. Windows, again ..the SPIII is special
The Air2, incredible.
There's NOT a comparable tablet running Android. Nor will Chromebooks become anything other than a home appliance.
Sorry. You certainty don't understand RAM.