The Google Nexus 9 Review
by Joshua Ho & Ryan Smith on February 4, 2015 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- HTC
- Project Denver
- Android
- Mobile
- NVIDIA
- Nexus 9
- Lollipop
- Android 5.0
GPU Performance
While Denver is new, the Kepler GPU in the Tegra K1 is mostly a known quantity by now. In the Nexus 9, the GPU is still a single SMX clocked to 852 MHz. In order to verify performance, we turn to our standard test suite. For the most part, our GPU-bound tests are meant to represent gaming performance although tests like 3DMark can have CPU-bound aspects while GFXBench tends towards being a pure GPU test.
The Nexus 9's GPU has effectively identical performance to what we saw in the SHIELD Tablet, which means that the Nexus 9 should be able to support a broad range of games without performance issues. There is a bit of a noticeable performance delta when comparing on-screen performance, but this is simply due to the higher resolution of the Nexus 9's display. The one notable exception is the 3DMark physics test, which seems to scale with core count quite well, and that causes Denver to fall slightly short of the quad A15 configuration.
NAND Performance
While storage performance can often be secondary to a smooth user experience, poor storage performance is extremely painful. This is similar to RAM, where the difference between 2 and 3 GB is generally academic, while the difference between 512MB and 1 GB is enormous. While there have been some issues with Androbench with the move to Android 5.0, it seems that the timer issues have since been resolved, so it's possible to resume using the results from Androbench to get a rough idea of NAND performance.
Here the Nexus 9 doesn't suffer nearly as much from full disk encryption that is forcibly enabled on the device; performance is noticeably higher than what we see in the Nexus 6. This seems to lend some credence to the theory that CPUs with ARM v8 ISA would be better suited to handling the need to encrypt and decrypt storage in real time. I tested the Nexus 9 with a custom kernel without full disk encryption to see how Androbench scores might change, but this didn't have a noticeable impact which seems to back this theory, although I'm still not confident that FDE is a good idea to enforce across all new devices.
The NAND itself, a Samsung eMMC package designated by the name BWBC3R, seems to be quite performant outside of pure sequential access, which seems to suggest that HTC hasn't skimped out in this area at all, and the use of F2FS is responsible for some of the best random I/O scores in any mobile devices we've tested thus far.
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coburn_c - Wednesday, February 4, 2015 - link
High end my rear end. HTC has made high end tablets, HTC makes high end devices, Google makes high end companies make garbage. Seriously. Google devices are done.rpmrush - Wednesday, February 4, 2015 - link
On the cover page it has a tag in the top right saying, "HTX Nexus #2". Should be HTC?cknobman - Wednesday, February 4, 2015 - link
So regardless of how nice the hardware it Android (and more importantly most of its apps) still have major issues when it comes to tablets.Why waste time buying this stuff when you can get a Windows 8 tablet?
I get the best of both tablet and PC worlds in one device without being held hostage by lord overseer Apple dictating my every move or Androids crappy support and busted app ecosystem.
milkod2001 - Wednesday, February 4, 2015 - link
@cknobmanthere's no Windows 8 tablet out there for the same price,with same quality screen and snappiness as this one or Apple tablets. The closest would be Surface3 but it's much more expensive.
If you happen to know about any please post some links please.
rkhighlight - Wednesday, February 4, 2015 - link
Because a Windows 8 tablet is worse than a tablet when it comes to tablet user experience and worse than a notebook when it comes to notebook experience. Most people like to have two separate devices rather than owning a product that tries to combine everything. For some people this works but the majority prefers two product.milkod2001 - Wednesday, February 4, 2015 - link
not necessarily if done right. Lenovo Yoga comes probably the closest with its hybrid(tablet +notebook). It need to be much cheaper if it wants to be acquired by majority though.melgross - Wednesday, February 4, 2015 - link
The Yoga got terrible reviews everywhere. It's hardly recommended.Midwayman - Wednesday, February 4, 2015 - link
I don't think that's true at all. Most people would probably prefer to only pay for one device. The issue is one more of execution than concept. If the surface pro 3 were as light, thin, and as good on battery as high end tablets I certainly would have bought one. At a premium even.Impulses - Wednesday, February 4, 2015 - link
It that were true MS wouldn't be able to keep Surface on the shelves and the market for x86 Atom hybrids at <$500 would be comprised of more than a handful of OEM & models...I think for a certain class of individuals it makes all the sense in the world; students, business travelers, etc. For most people however it's just a compromise on both form factors and not really much of a money saver (specially when you factor the upgrade cycle into the equation).
steven75 - Thursday, February 5, 2015 - link
I have a Windows 8.1 tablet (not RT). It's the worst tablet interface I've used yet. A total bomb. And the touch apps and selection are universally awful.If it didn't have "classic" Windows desktop, I'd have sent it back to the store.