The Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 edge Review
by Joshua Ho on April 17, 2015 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Samsung
- Mobile
- Galaxy S6
- Galaxy S6 Edge
System Performance Cont'd: GPU Performance
As previously mentioned, the Galaxy S6 uses a Mali T760MP8 clocked at 772 MHz, which should provide a healthy improvement in GPU performance over the Exynos 5433. To test this, we run through our standard suite of game-style GPU benchmarks. However, there are still some CPU benchmarks present within these tests such as the 3DMark physics test. In general though, a strong GPU is needed to perform well in these tests. For those interested in an architectural deep-dive of the Mali T760, I would refer to Ryan’s article on the Midgard architecture for more information.
The Galaxy S6 starts out fairly strong in 3DMark. Overall performance is boosted by a chart-topping physics score, while pure graphics performance trails a bit. In this case the S6 is roughly on par with the iPhone 6 Plus, but would have to close quite a gap to catch up to the HTC One (M9).
BaseMark X finds the S6 the runaway winner. The phone is well ahead in both the Dunes and Hangar test, beating the next-best phones (primarily Adreno 420/430 based) by 25% or more depending on the test. The increase over the S5 is especially remarkable; Samsung has more than doubled their performance in this benchmark in barely a year.
GFXBench 3.0 is another strong showing for the S6. In both offscreen tests it's 15% or more ahead of the next closest phone, which is once again the HTC One (M9). Meanwhile compared once more to the S5, Samsung's performance has more than doubled. Consequently even the onscreen tests show significant gains, as the GPU performance gain more than outstrips the additional performance required to drive the higher resolution 1440p AMOLED display of the S6.
Overall, as we can see the performance of the S6 is in line for what is expected from its Mali T760MP8 configuration. Interestingly though the phone's performance exceeds the scaling we'd expect from adding two shader cores and increasing frequency to 772 MHz, as compared to the Exynos 5433-powered Note 4 Exynos. This suggests that the Exynos 5433's GPU was bandwidth-limited to some extent, in addition to any possible thermal throttling that would occur over the course of a GFXBench run. But I suspect we'll have to save the deep dive for a future article as I can't take the review unit apart to find out.
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FlushedBubblyJock - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
so the pictures go by default to internal memory - that's one red herring out with the bathwater ...lag and power drain - I guess android is so stupid the 1st thing it does when you touch your metal feel, is scan the sd card for desperately needed data, right ?
yes, twin babies out with the bathwater fella - right out the window an onto the sidewalk below
h3ck - Friday, May 8, 2015 - link
How is removing the sdcard more "iPhone-like" when Google Android Standard is no sdcard? The flagship Vanilla Android Nexus line is all sans sdcard. I think we often forget that and quickly point to Apple. Also, with increasing harddisk sizes and the ease of using a microsd to microusb adapter (see Dash Micro device), I think the sdcard argument is weak.Daniel S. Buus - Friday, July 17, 2015 - link
Those were my gripes as well. However, as I've learned that the battery is still replaceable, and the charge is $45 for such a replacement done by Samsung, the battery issue doesn't bother me anymore. Then the storage thing — I've previously bought my share of SD cards to augment my phones. The largest card I've bought was a 64GB one, though, which was sufficient in my Note 3 to satisfy my hunger for filming 1080p60 when travelling. I just ordered the S6 128GB version on sale for the same price as the 32GB version, and it's plenty plenty plenty for my needs. I may have to unload some stuff in the evening to an external storage device if I go crazy with my filming, but that's it. Reading this review and seeing the impressive speed of the storage just makes me even happier that I finally chose this phone :)beehofer - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Nice Phone. There's nobody who won't take one if it were offered. But since we have to pay, ppl will decide on the things that set it apart from the pack. Samsung had an "edge" with SD cards and removable batteries and for some of us it will be a deciding factor. The battery, OK I'll get an extra charger for the car or office but the SD is inexcusable. This has ALWAYS been a blow against Apple and now it can be said against Samsung. I'll keep my S5 or wait.name99 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Samsung probably ALSO have sw installed on the phone that tells it when an SD card has been installed and the battery replaced, and is well aware that <1% of their phones ever went through either operation.I suspect Samsung's idea of what matters to the market is rather more accurate than your idea...
FlushedBubblyJock - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
I believe you are referring to the NSA, and thus, with no removable battery, the phone can never really be "turned off" and no removable SD means Homaleand Security and the NSA can access you and everything you've done at any time....So, it's truly and upgrade because you of course have nothing to hide
akeemcharles - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Nice photosUxi - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I have an S5 with wireless charging using original Samsung covers, so wireless charging is not N/A on the S5, but I admit it was an add-on purchase.DanNeely - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
What is the "obvious" defect on the S6 screen picture? Is it one of the things that looks like a fingerprint smudge, the horizontal blue bar that looks like a reflection, or something that isn't obvious to me from looking at the picture?nerd1 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I have a phone with exactly the same display (Galaxy S5 cat.6 model) and couldn't see any 'obvious' defects at all.