Samsung Galaxy S 4 Review: Bigger, Faster, Stronger

Name: Samsung Galaxy S 4 Review: Bigger, Faster, Stronger
Brand: Samsung

by Marco Chiappetta — Wednesday, April 24, 2013, 12:00 AM EDT

In addition to using the Samsung Galaxy S 4 in a variety of everyday usage scenarios, we also conducted some formal performance testing to see how well the device compared to some of the other smartphones we have recently evaluated.

CPU testing

Android CPU testing

In the Linpack for Android benchmark, the Samsung Galaxy S 4's quad-core 1.9GHz Snapdragon 600 SoC put up the best score we have seen to date. In both the single and multi-threaded version of this benchmark, the Samsung Galaxy S 4 led the pack.

Graphics testing

Android graphics testing

The Galaxy S 4 also put up the best scores we have seen in two of the three An3DBench XL tests we ran. And in the third test, it performed right up there with the fastest devices we've seen.

The Galaxy S 4 also put up some excellent graphics-related benchmark scores in GL Bench. The iPhone 5 holds onto a commanding lead in the GL Benchmark fillrate test, but the S 4 pulled ahead of the iPhone 4S and all of the other Android-based devices we tested. The Galaxy S 4 also put up the best score we have seen in the Egypt Off-Screen benchmark, besting everything else by a wide margin.

Tags: Samsung, Android, Mobile, smartphone, LTE, 4G, cellular, touchwiz, Galaxy, S 4

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com