benchmarks

With just barely two weeks left, it’s not surprising to see a torrent of leaks, rumors, revelations, and even official teasers building up the hype around the Galaxy S9. Samsung has just recently released three video clips that hint at the upcoming flagship’s camera prowess. Now AnTuTu is getting into the game, revealing just how powerful the larger Galaxy S9+ will be. Its improvement is, of course, expected, but the bigger question is whether it will actually be enough, especially against the iPhone X.

Continue Reading

When LG announced the V30, it boasted of two things about its camera: its crystal clear glass lens and its big f/1.6 aperture. Taken independently, those specs might sound amazing. But digital photography is more than just lenses or even megapixel counts. It’s about everything working together for the best effect. And as DxOMark found in its review of the LG V30, it might not have the best. That said, it’s still one of the better ones out there in the market.

Continue Reading

Once upon a time, Nokia had a reputation for good phone cameras, especially with its partnership with lens maker Zeiss. Of course, back then, it didn’t have much competition anyway. As it got left behind in the smartphone race, it also lost its prominence in mobile photography. And just as the Nokia 8 is its current champion in the smartphone market, so it also represents its best foot in taking pictures and recording videos. And, unfortunately, HMD Global still has a lot of work to do.

Continue Reading

The Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities that were discovered last week are very bad news, and though Intel has been quick to roll out patches for them, the measures it had to take aren't exactly ideal. Specifically, these patches come with a performance hit for Intel systems, and in the lead up to their delivery, some benchmarks showed that the potential slowdown could be as high as 30%. While Meltdown and Spectre are issues that absolutely need to be defended against, the looming slowdown that accompanied these patches was still a bitter pill for Intel users to swallow.

Continue Reading

Benchmarks are a thorny subject, especially on mobile. A favorite among PC users, especially gamers, benchmarks have fallen out of fashion and under suspicion, no thanks to some OEMs caught “cheating” these tools. Of course, that hasn’t stopped Futuremark, creators of PCMark and the cross-platform 3DMark, in trying to make their numbers more relevant and more meaningful to users. Which is exactly what it trying to do with the latest update to the 3DMark benchmark app for Android, giving the tool a more “human” message.

Continue Reading

Since Xiaomi’s phones have never officially touched markets in the West, its camera prowess has never really put to the test. So it’s not exactly usual for DxOMark to put Xiaomi’s phones through its battery of benchmarks but now that it did, it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The Xiaomi Mi Note 3, the late 2017 flagship, has achieved a rather high score that puts it nearly on par with the last year’s Google Pixel and even this year’s HTC U11.

Continue Reading

It wasn't too long ago, in fact just last week, when Apple reclaimed its throne in the smartphone camera kingdom. But while the iPhone 8 Plus still sits at the top of DxOMark's list, it now has to share that spot with the Galaxy Note 8. That said, while Samsung's latest and greatest scores the highest in still photos, DxOmark was more impressed by its zooming capabilities than by any other feature.

Continue Reading

Smartphone photography is no longer just a “nice to have” feature anymore. In many instances, it is the driving force behind some of the latest innovations in both the mobile industry as well as the camera market. It has definitely come a long way, but DxOMak’s tests, which produce its well-regarded scores, are still stuck in the early days of the smartphone camera sensor. After having not a few smartphones beat its highest records, DxOMark finally decided to update its criteria for testing smartphones, which has caused a few phones to rise up or go down the ranks.

Continue Reading

In little less than two weeks, we will finally have the full picture of Samsung’s follow-up to the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 from 2016. Truth be told, we almost already have a full picture, though nothing beats official, of course. Just like any other smartphone flagship, we expect the Galaxy Note 8 to come in two processor variants, one with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 and another with Samsung’s own Exynos 8895. While those variants are usually the same in almost everything else, the difference between the two processors might actually be significant in this regard.

Continue Reading

This afternoon we're taking a peek at a set of leaked benchmark scores for the next iPhone from Apple. The device in question is the iPhone 8, a device whose final release date-set name isn't finalized - and whose very existence hasn't yet been confirmed by Apple. As such, take the following with a grain of salt - but also know that the sources we're using here have rarely been wrong - or even really inaccurate - in the recent past.

Continue Reading

While still a contentious topic, benchmarks are still popular and widely used, more as a common point of reference and a launchpad for discussion. While they may or may not reflect real world use, they can come pretty close to giving users an idea of what they're in for. And those waiting for LG's "true" 2017 flagship might be in for a treat. The LG V30 has just popped up at Geekbench, just a month shy of its official unveiling, and it has some pretty sweet numbers to boast of.

Continue Reading

OnePlus started its hype engine quite late in the development stages of the OnePlus 5 but, once it has warmed up, it went into full gear. That started with, and was mostly focused on, the OnePlus 5's dual camera system. In order to give credibility to its promise, OnePlus enlisted DxOMark's help in developing its cameras. That, however, didn't help it that much in the end, though the results aren't exactly surprising.

Continue Reading