Samsung Galaxy S 4 Review - Part 1
by Brian Klug on April 24, 2013 12:01 AM ESTCPU Performance
For our CPU analysis we're left with our usual browser based benchmarks. Again this isn't an ideal list of tests but it's the best we've got for now. Where necessary we'll show results using both stock and Chrome browsers. We did notice a single case of thermal based throttling under SunSpider 0.9.1 (the benchmark alone is ine, but running it after a bunch of others caused throttling), so we're once again presenting results in our standard test environment as well as inside of a freezer to show peak performance. Although the Galaxy S 4 managed to throttle in one of our tests, the device never felt all that warm to the touch. We could be seeing some of the same aggressively set thermal governors that we saw back with the Nexus 4. It's also worth pointing out that we're simply in an era of pushing the limits of just how fast you can go at 28nm LP in many of these smartphones. The mobile SoC vendors also need to do a better job of power management, enabling controlled bursting to these high frequency states vs. sustaining the higher frequencies until there's a serious enough thermal issue that the CPU cores have to throttle themselves significantly.
Under Kraken in particular we see a measurable improvement in performance over the 1.7GHz S600 used in the HTC One. Qualcomm still can't attain the peak performance of ARM's Cortex A15, but once again we're looking at a much lower power profile.
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sigmatau - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link
Better screen on the HTC One. You can't see shit in sunlight on OLED screens. And the speakers are a huge difference.Thud2 - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link
I have an HTC ONE and it's amazing in all respects. Beautiful, fast, great camera, great screen, I've seen all day battery use so far, great phone, I have no complaints, all the complaints I've seen online seem like ninja Samsung reps or fanboys, but one recommendation. GET A COVER!!! I was one of the ones who said "No, it's to nice to cover up!" No joke, the first person I handed it to dropped it handing it back to me, on a concrete bar! IT IS A SLICK PHONE and not metaphorically! It is SMOOTH! To the point of being hard to hold. I love the look, but sadly it needs a cover. Luckily it's so small that it's still smaller than other phones even with a cover.shaolin95 - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link
Is a phone not a hockey puck!Enough with the stupidity.
Alvar - Monday, April 29, 2013 - link
6 Reasons to get the Samsung Galaxy S4medi02 - Monday, April 29, 2013 - link
What about notebooks, pretty please. Do all high ends now have to be metal body?How come aluminum (soft metal) is somehow inherently superior to all kinds of plastik in the world?
shaolin95 - Monday, May 27, 2013 - link
Such a lame comment....you see most users do not use the phone as a hockey puck! So stop it with the BS arguments.kurama_k - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
Easy replace the back cover with thishttp://www.amazon.com/GINOVO-Brushed-Aluminum-repl...
bromegaman - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
"with the power button about four thirds up the right side, volume rocker four thirds up the left side.""four thirds"? Seriously?
Brian Klug - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
Ugh, reminds me of the 5/4 people are bad at fractions joke, except it's me making the mistake. Fixed!-Brian
JimRamK - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
Maybe you were thinking of the Camera sensor?