Google Pixel 4 XL Review: Streaks Of Brilliance, Pure Android

Name: Google Pixel 4 XL
Brand: Google

by Dave Altavilla — Thursday, November 07, 2019, 01:53 PM EDT

Google Pixel 4 XL Gaming And Graphics Performance

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Next we'll see how the Google Pixel 4 XL holds up with GFXBench, which has been one of our standard mobile graphics performance benchmarks for years. In order to ensure display refresh (v-sync) and resolution are not limiting factors, we are comparing off-screen test results here. GFXBench tests OpenGL ES graphics workloads and we're specifically testing GLES 2.0 and 3.0 rendering performance in the following two benchmark modules.

3D Graphics Benchmarks: 3DMark And GFX Bench

Pushing The Pixels

Not surprisingly here, the Google Pixel 4 XL falls in line with other Snapdragon 855 devices but a notch behind Snapdragon 855+ scores for devices like the ASUS ROG Phone II and OnePlus 7T. Regardless, general gaming performance represented here by the new Pixel 4 XL is solid.

Futuremark's 3DMark has been a staple 3D graphics benchmark at HotHardware across all mobile and desktop platforms alike. In this case, we were running 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited, which is targeted for mobile devices and also runs at 720p in offscreen mode, so as to take display resolution out of the equation. This test and its 3D graphics engine are also based on the legacy OpenGL ES 2.0 API.

Here we see a bit of a break-out for the Google Pixel 4 XL with a top class-leading score and excellent Physics performance, which likely is due to the efficient, clean Android 10 OS powering this new smartphone.

3DMark Sling Shot is a newer benchmark module that's been added to the 3DMark mobile suite, though we do have a few top-shelf Android phones, the iPhone X, and the new Samsung Galaxy S10+ and LG G8 ThinQ in the mix. Sling Shot is a much more advanced OpenGL ES 3.1 and Metal API-based test that employs more advanced rendering techniques, like volumetric lighting, particle illumination, multiple render targets, instanced rendering, uniform buffers and transform feedback.

Futuremark 3DMark Sling Shot Extreme Benchmark

In this test we again run it in off-screen mode, so as to remove display resolution differences from the equation and thus can compare cross-platform results more reliably.

3DMark Sling Shot shows more strength for the Google Pixel 4 XL, again with a strong Physics score that's indicative of more efficient general purpose CPU throughput. The ROG Phone II with its Snapdragon 855+ graphics engine takes the lead this time but not by much.