This week we're taking a closer look at how the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 (Krait) processor works as it exists first on the MDP8690, the newest Mobile Development Platform that the manufacturer has released for developers to fully experience the S4 chip in its Krait configuration. This version of the S4 chip, code-named Krait, is an ARMv7-A compatible CPU architecture and is made for TCMC's 28nm process, and inside the MSM9860 you'll find two of these cores running at up to 1.5 GHz along with Adreno 225 graphics, Qualcomm's new baseband, and improved ISP - it's all ramped up, basically. This device we're testing the Snapdragon S4 out on is not a consumer product, instead it's a device which accurately shows the power of the S4 chip exclusively.
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‘benchmarks’ Stories
Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Benchmarking Part 1
Snapdragon S4 tests show Qualcomm pushing boundaries
Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 processor has been put through its benchmarking paces, with the 1.5GHz dual-core "Krait" MSM8960 proving capable of indecently slick Android performance. The new chipset delivered more than twice the CPU grunt of any currently-shipping chipset in some tests, and while AnandTech's benchmarking is done on a Qualcomm developer device, rather than commercial hardware, conclusions like "this is the absolute smoothest we've ever seen Ice Cream Sandwich run" certainly leave us wanting more.
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Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc S benchmarked
Does the world need a new XPERIA Arc? Sony Ericsson seems to think so, and hence the XPERIA Arc S has broken cover. Taking the same, slimline chassis – now in Stormtrooper white – and 4.2-inch display as the original, but boosting processor speed to 1.4GHz, the Arc S promises to bring the Android experience up to speed with what rivals are offering. We grabbed some hands-on playtime to find out if that was true.
LaCie Little Big Disk with Thunderbolt hands-on [Video]
Apple’s 2011 MacBook Pro laptops have been on the market for several months now, and there’s one port that has resolutely refused to be used in the way it’s intended. Devices bearing Thunderbolt ports – Intel’s high-speed connectivity standard co-developed with Apple – are yet to hit the market, but SlashGear caught up with LaCie for a pre-launch demo of the new Little Big Disk. The name might be daft but the performance is anything but: over 825 MB/s read speeds.
Android Oak Trail tablet benchmarks underwhelm: Intel still has work to do
Intel came out fighting at Computex this week, with ambitious Atom plans to take on ARM in its low-power, long-battery Android stronghold. According to the latest, very early benchmarks, however, the chip company may still have some work to do. Tweakers managed to run some tests on a Compal prototype running Android Honeycomb on Intel's 1.5GHz Oak Trail dual-core, finding it to be underwhelming in comparison to existing Tegra 2 based slates.
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DROID3 packs qHD display and TI dual-core tip benchmarks
Details of Motorola's upcoming DROID3 smartphone have been leaked, courtesy of some premature benchmarking of what's assumed to be a prototype device. According to the stats at Nenamark, spotted by Blog of Mobile, the Verizon Android smartphone will have a qHD 960 x 540 display, just like the Motorola ATRIX, as well as use Imagination Technologies' PowerVR SGX 540 GPU.
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HTC Sensation Benchmarks with SunSpider and Quadrant
We’ve got quite a nice little look at the HTC Sensation, (previously known as the HTC Pyramid) and what do you know? We even have some benchmarks! These are all courtesy of our good fellow Chris Davies who is, in fact, over in England where the bigtime HTC event has taken place. What we’ve got here is both Quadrant and SunSpider, giving us a generally decent look at both the CPU and the browsing capabilities of the unit.
Android browsing 52% faster than iPhone? Maybe, maybe not…
The mobile browser speed wars continue, and the latest fray comes courtesy of website optimization firm Blaze with claims that Android is 52-percent faster than iPhone, and quicker – in real-world testing – on 84-percent of sites. That’s despite Apple’s much-vaunted Nitro JavaScript engine, new to iOS 4.3 on the iPhone and iPad 2. We spoke to Blaze to find out more about the testing process, and in what ways the company was interpreting the results.
iPad 2 Browser Benchmarks
The iPad 2, Steve Jobs took to the stage to tell us, offers twice the performance of the original iPad and 9x the graphics performance, thanks to its dual-core 1GHz Apple A5 processor. Still, what does that mean for daily use? Considering most people spend their time on tablets browsing, we ran some side-by-side SunSpider benchmarking on Apple’s old and new iPads to see how the new model shaped up. Check out the results after the cut.
MacBook Pro early 2011 benchmarks confirm huge performance leap
We've already been impressed by the quad-core speed boost shown by our early 2011 MacBook Pro review unit, but it seems the performance jolt is across the board with Apple's refreshed machines. Primate Labs - responsible for the Geekbench tool SlashGear uses to profile notebooks - has pulled together benchmarking results for the new range, and the improvement is dramatic.
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iPad 2 and iPhone 5 multi-core tipped by iOS benchmark tool
Further evidence to suggest the incoming iPad 2 and iPhone 5 will use a new, multi-core processor has emerged, with iOS benchmarking tool Geekbench 2 [iTunes link] being updated recently with new "support for multi-core processors." The app, available on iTunes for $0.99, runs performance tests on processor and memory; however, so far all iOS devices have used single-core chips.
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Notion Ink Adam: Benchmarks & Flash Testing
As you’ve seen from our first hands-on, Notion Ink’s Adam tablet is a pretty smooth operator, but we wanted to see just how smooth. The company allowed us to load up an Android benchmarking app to see how the slate performs, but there are a few caveats to bear in mind.
Video after the cut
REVIEWS
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