Tag: by the benchmarks

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vivo X70 Pro+ and Pro By the Benchmarks: An Exercise in Restraint?

There’s an interesting thing happening in phones, a quiet trend of product differentiation. Likely a factor influenced by component shortages, and at the same time, a more competitive market than many enthusiasts might assume.

In the gadget lab, I have two phones from Vivo. They’re both called “X70 Pro”, but one is a “Pro” and the other is a “Pro+”. There are numerous small differences between the two phones, but one significant difference, SOCs from two completely different chip suppliers. The Pro+ is using the best Qualcomm has to offer, a Snapdragon 888+. The Pro is equipped with the best chip available from MediaTek, the Dimensity 1200.

Vivo has accomplished something impressive, that these two phones “FEEL” like members of the same family. That said, we do get to take a look at how these kinds of hardware differences can impact performance.

Here are the Vivo X70 Pro and X70 Pro+ by the benchmarks! Continue reading “vivo X70 Pro+ and Pro By the Benchmarks: An Exercise in Restraint?”

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OnePlus Throttling Performance, Anandtech Analysis, and GeekBench’s Reaction

This makes phones less fun.

OnePlus has been caught again messing with phone performance in a way that might frustrate phone consumers. How is this different than previous instances of benchmark rigging? How should we test and describe phone performance?

Let’s chat for a bit… Continue reading “OnePlus Throttling Performance, Anandtech Analysis, and GeekBench’s Reaction”

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Black Shark 4 By The Benchmarks: A Monster Mid-Ranger!

Performance is fun to test, but there are some exciting moments when we really balance performance against price. The Black Shark 4 arrives at a compelling price, and with some fun gaming hardware. Notably, this phone is the first we get to test using the Snapdragon 870. This SOC is a refresh on last year’s top of the line option from Qualcomm.

Often when we push a phone’s price to the mid-pack, we use a middle tier SOC. This year Qualcomm is offering two options for their 800 series chips. This introduces an interesting performance sub-tier. As a cost savings, we can often recommend a one year old flagship phone for those looking at cutting costs.

The Black Shark 4, as a brand new phone, looks to compete against last year’s premium offerings.

We should expect to see a lot of our tests land somewhere inbetween the most expensive phones from last year, and the premium tier phones from this year. Let’s see how this gaming phone handles some real world apps!

Performance testing is more involved than running a synthetic bench and comparing who’s number is bigger. Let’s dig a little deeper than that. Here’s the Black Shark 4: By The Benchmarks! Continue reading “Black Shark 4 By The Benchmarks: A Monster Mid-Ranger!”

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OnePlus 9 Pro THROTTLED Gaming! Premium Performance?

ONEPLUS IS THROTTLING YOUR GAME!

Dang. Performance testing is hard enough, but it’s been REALLY challenging THIS year on premium smartphones. We definitely seem to be dealing with SOME kind of GPU limiter on the OnePlus 9 Pro. That makes comparing phones a LOT more complicated…

Sigh…

This one needs a bit of explaining… Continue reading “OnePlus 9 Pro THROTTLED Gaming! Premium Performance?”

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OnePlus 9 Pro By the Benchmarks: Better Performance for the Price!

Sometimes it’s ok to NOT be first.

OnePlus is following the CRAZY early launches from Xiaomi and Samsung. This generation, we’ve seen some concerning tests using Qualcomm’s newest SOC, the Snapdragon 888.

After testing the Galaxy S21, we definitely needed to compare against other phones using this SOC. Were the performance issues the fault of Qualcomm? Samsung? App developers? There are a LOT of moving parts here to consider.

The OnePlus 9 Pro gives us another data point to compare, and OnePlus is making some important claims about their phone. Not only are they using the top of the line SOC, they’re also claiming to do a better job cooling that SOC.

A premium tier phone is an incredibly powerful mobile computer. Someone buying at this price tier might want to know they really can replace some of their laptop or desktop use with their phone.

Performance testing is more involved than running a synthetic bench and comparing who’s number is bigger. Let’s dig a little deeper than that. Here’s the OnePlus 9 Pro: By The Benchmarks! Continue reading “OnePlus 9 Pro By the Benchmarks: Better Performance for the Price!”

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Galaxy S21 By the Benchmarks: The performance plateau…

Samsung was early to market with the S21 this year.

In a move to reduce prices over last year’s S20, the new S line from Samsung is a less feature rich offering than its predecessor. While those compromises are debatable, and are certainly more a conversation about personal preferences than objective improvements, the main touted improvement for the phone has been the top of the line Snapdragon 888.

This chip marks a change in SOC from Qualcomm, including one larger CPU performance core along side three more powerful CPU cores, in addition to a quartet of lower power CPU cores. The SD888 is also packing the latest and greatest GPU from Qualcomm, and as expected, our synthetic benchmarks show generational improvements.

That’s only the beginning of a conversation about performance though. How does the S21 stack up against last year’s handsets? How should we feel about a Galaxy S which is pre-throttled out of the box?

Performance testing is more involved than running a synthetic bench and comparing who’s number is bigger. Let’s dig a little deeper than that. Here’s the Galaxy S21: By The Benchmarks! Continue reading “Galaxy S21 By the Benchmarks: The performance plateau…”

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By the Benchmarks Budget Showdown! OnePlus Nord N10 vs TCL 10 5G UW!

It’s time for a showdown! FIGHT FOR BLOOD! Psh! Psh! Psh!

(Those were supposed to be the punching sounds from my old showdown videos.)

Budget hardware is brutally competitive these days. The daily driver experience found near $400 is formidable, and we’re getting more options for different features. Adding 5G to the mix, these are the phones that will help move 5G forward in the Android space. More reasonably priced, but not compromising too much from the upper mid-range tier.

OnePlus has represented the idea of  low price and high performance since the brand started. 2020 was a strong year for TCL coming out of the shadows with their own label on phones.

These two phones are primed for a battle!

Let’s see how some subtle differences effect performance! Continue reading “By the Benchmarks Budget Showdown! OnePlus Nord N10 vs TCL 10 5G UW!”

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OnePlus 8T By The Benchmarks: Does Android 11 Degrade Performance?

OnePlus is a fascinating company to cover as a reviewer. Half year hardware refreshes and aggressive software updates keep you on your toes. Really using a OnePlus means following a conversation around refining a product after its launch.

As we close out the year, it’s worth taking a second look at a premium OnePlus, to see if these refinements improve performance over the phones launched earlier in the year. Especially looking at hardware scores from an older version of Android, as the 8T is one of the first phones to launch with Android 11 out of the box. Continue reading “OnePlus 8T By The Benchmarks: Does Android 11 Degrade Performance?”

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