back to article Galaxy S4 way faster than iPhone 5: Which?

UK consumer magazine Which? has dropped a benchmark bucket on the iPhone, rating it the slowest of seven smartphones under test. The magazine ran the Geekbench 2 test on seven phones – the iPhone 5, Samsung's Galaxy S4, the HTC One, Sony's Experia Z, Google's Nexus 4, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, and the BlackBerry Z10. With a …

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  1. Tommy Pock

    Title

    This article helps a lot, thanks. As I keep trying to explain to the missus, I might not last very long but I'm very fast

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Title

      And presumably top end Lumias are faster than either of them. The Windows Phone UI certainly is.

      1. Kristian Walsh

        Re: Title

        nope. It's pretty much a CPU benchmark. I'd expect it to be about 10-20% faster than iPhone, but still much slower than the Samsungs.

        The lightweight UI is the reason for Lumia being faster.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Title

          "The lightweight UI is the reason for Lumia being faster."

          And a better far better OS that doesn't rely on garbage collection and the associated latency penalties...

    2. Ru
      Paris Hilton

      Re: Title

      As I keep trying to explain to the missus, I might not last very long but I'm very fast

      Careful now. You don't want her to engage in a comparitive benchmarking session, do you?

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Title

      Thing is perhaps the Galaxy / Android 'needs' a faster processor to be as quick as an iPhone 5 running iOS ??

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Title

      Microsoft and AMD went through the 'mine is faster than yours' thing a few years ago.

      Ok so you might have bragging rights but does it allow you to make quicker calls? Do messages appear quicker?

      Does the clock make the minutes pass faster?

      It won't be long before consumers wise up to this and buy a phone based on how well it is put together as a package.

      A formula one car only lasts one race, I need something to do 100,000 without unnecessary intervention.

  2. Uffish

    Faster phone ?

    Or is it just a faster games platform ?

    Disclaimer: My phone is a T28s and if it ever stops working I'll probably get something like a Nokia 100.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Faster phone ?

      It's a pretty pointless benchmark - the iPhone is plenty fast enough already - I really can't imagine anyone doing a real world test would conclude the iPhone was a slow-coach.

      1. Mark .

        "fast enough"

        Sure it's good enough for most people, but if you just want good enough, why pay for one of the most expensive phones on the market? Samsung have plenty of cheaper offerings if you don't need a full S4. (Also consider future use - older iphones and Android slow down with the latest OS updates or due to more demanding software, don't you want one that will last better?)

        It's also a rebuttal to all the years where the media have falsely assumed all along that the iphone was the best phone, including from a pure hardware point of view. It's long been known that it specs like resolution and RAM it's lagged behind, because we can easily compare these - but this shows even on CPU, it's not true either.

        I wonder how the ipad mini compares to other Android tablets - again, we see the same thing where much of the media portay it as one of the most advanced tablets, despite poorer resolution and RAM (and at a higher price). Is it at least giving you the fastest CPU for the money?

        1. Tom 13

          Re: "fast enough"

          I'll start with the standard stock warning that past performance is no guarantee of future earnings.

          What the higher price from Apple has gotten you in the past is a stable platform. If you wanted to keep your phone for 4 years you could. The cost was a performance hit. As a lot of hardware vendors have been finding out in the PC world, most people just want something that works, not necessarily the fastest latest toy to one up the Joneses. But yes, if you do want to always own one of the fastest toys on the block, buy a new Android at least once every 2 years. No skin off my nose either way. I had an Android HTC that worked well on the rare occasion when I had 4G signal, tolerably when I had 3G, but I was still paying too much so I traded it in for a flip phone that pretty much just makes a rare phone call.

          1. Mark .

            Re: "fast enough"

            But a phone that's more than fast enough now will have the advantage of lasting longer due to being more future proof. I'm not sure what you mean by stable platform, and people are free to keep their Android phones for 4 years too. It's not clear to me that the iphone platform is better in this regard. If you mean that older iphones can get the latest OS, that's a myth, as they don't get all the functionality.

            Android barely existed 4 years ago so it's hard to compare that timescale. But I don't see that a 2 or 3 year old Android phone gives a worse experience than a 2 or 3 year old iphone, if we compare like with like (i.e., comparing two phones that were high end when bought). There are loads of people worldwide still using 4 year old Symbian phones, I'm not sure there are as many people on iphone 3G phones.

            Most people want phones that work, and most people do that with Android phones.

            "I was still paying too much so I traded it in for a flip phone that pretty much just makes a rare phone call."

            Yes, exactly - if one doesn't one high specs, there's no need to spend high prices at all, S4 or iphone or otherwise.

            1. PC1512
              Facepalm

              Re: "fast enough"

              Re the comment about the "myth" of iPhone updates - no, sorry, not a myth. It's true that not every iPhone gets every new feature, but it's also true that many new features do come to older iPhones via updates, along with a continual stream of improvements and security patches etc. Look at ios7 - literally the biggest overhaul to the platform since the first iPhone, with major changes not only to the look and feel of the UI but also the background stuff like multitasking, power management, networking etc - it'll come out on the inevitable iPhone 5S, but not only will it also be downloadable the same day for the iPhone 5, but the 4S from 2011, and even the 4 from 2010. What new OS will be released to the Galaxy S3 this year, let alone the S2 - and how about the Galaxy S, what update is that getting? Jack Schitt, that's what that's getting.

              Personally I find it a bit laughable that a supposedly reputable review mag like Which would try and build a review based on some meaningless abstract benchmark that anyone could run - surely there's nothing here that isn't all over the web anyway. To the average Which reader (and in fact the average anybody) the raw CPU performance of these phones, which is all that's being testers here, is utterly meaningless. What happens is how quickly, and how well, the device actually performs its tasks as a smartphone - and a LOT of that has nothing to do with the CPU and everything to do with the software and the rest of the hardware package.

              1. deadbeef
                Go

                Re: "fast enough"

                "What new OS will be released to the Galaxy S3 this year, let alone the S2 "

                Android 4.2.2 official update is coming to the S3 any time now and probably the S2 (of course there is XDA for those who can't wait). Then Keylime Pie (Android 5.0) should be on the way next. So that's Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean and Keylime Pie major OS updates for the S3 for starters.

              2. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: "fast enough"

                I used to have a Iphone 3G running IOS4, IOS4 was released in 2010, 2 years after Android Gingerbread. My Android Gingerbread phone is still going strong.

                Now I had to finally abandon my 3G earlier in the year , as the storefront was removed of all IOS4 compatible apps. It is not possible to upgrade the Iphone 3G.

                So although android doesnt update as frequently, I can still get apps for it.

                The point is that Apple phones have at most a 3 year shelf life, after which you are forced to upgrade as you cannot get any further apps nor can you update your existing apps.

                1. Greg J Preece

                  Re: "fast enough"

                  Now I had to finally abandon my 3G earlier in the year , as the storefront was removed of all IOS4 compatible apps. It is not possible to upgrade the Iphone 3G.

                  Woah, woah, what? I wasn't aware of that! That's some forced-upgrade bullshit if I ever heard it!

          2. Clunking Fist
            WTF?

            Re: "fast enough"

            " If you wanted to keep your phone for 4 years you could. "

            Eh? Two iPhone 3GS died (well, the batteries died) 53 weeks after purchase. Replaced (at a cost and a shed-load of hassle) by "refurbished phones of similar condition".

            No thanks, no fixed battery ever again. Samsung? Plasticy, but do what they say on the tin. Still loving my Galaxy SII. Thinking of Xcover II (or some other water-resistant phone) as a replacement when I lose or break the SII.

        2. Andy

          Re: "fast enough"

          That's like saying why buy a Ferrari when a Kia is just as good. I'd rather have my iPhone due to nice looking design and doesn't feel like 20p worth of plastic holding it l together. Some of us buy into apple because of its design and happily pay that premium.

      2. deadbeef

        Re: Faster phone ?

        "I really can't imagine anyone doing a real world test would conclude the iPhone was a slow-coach."

        Once iOS7 appears then we shall see how the current iPhone hardware handles real-world tests once *full* "proper" multi-tasking comes into play like Android has been doing for a very long time. That is when you realise that you suddenly need plenty of RAM, CPU grunt, battery power and good power management (which the S3, S4 and HTC One actually do very well at). It will be interesting to see what iPhone hardware actually gets the iOS7 update with full multitasking.

      3. VaalDonkie

        Re: Faster phone ?

        The Toyota Aygo is fast enough for day-to-day use, but would you really go for that over a nice Fiat 500 Abarth?

        1. Greg J Preece

          Re: Faster phone ?

          The Toyota Aygo is fast enough for day-to-day use, but would you really go for that over a nice Fiat 500 Abarth?

          Yes? Not least because a 500 Abarth is the equivalent of tattooing "cockend" across your forehead.

          1. Steven Raith
            Coat

            Re: Faster phone ?

            I'll stick with my bright yellow Ford Puma, thanks.

            Not quite as quick in a straight line as the Abarth, but handles better because it has something other than 'grip' in it's handling repertoire.

            Also cost me under a grand.

            What were we talking about again?

            Steven R

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Happy

      Re: Faster phone ? @ Uffish

      " My phone is a T28s "

      Respect! What sort of reactions do you get whipping that baby out in public?

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Faster phone ?

      My phone is fast than my voice and I wish it would slow down the voice of my missus, any apps for that. But seriously my cars is also faster than what I am allowed to drive. So where does this faster actually make any difference. A video moving alone faster than than you can see. What the hell, go for it, we all love "Top Gear" although I cannot stand that guy for even one second any more.

    4. Getriebe
      Terminator

      Re: Faster phone ?

      Uffish, You from Millwall perchance?

  3. Silverburn
    Gimp

    Time to get some of that "innovation" into useability Apple, rather than tinkering with the form factor so much it's now hard to produce. Time to admit you misread the market, and get back to what people want.

    Though in their defence - my iphone 5 is hardly slow in my usage model, so one does wonder why we need nearly 2ghz of quad core in a phone?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Years ago people wrote fast code or wrote code then optimised it.

      It's a sad day when you need stupid amounts of processing power on a phone. But then it's no wonder we need such power given the latest batch of phones have a display with as many pixels as a full HD TV. They have more pixels than many laptops and desktop machines.

      Take a screen shot on your 1080 HD phone and email it to your computer, it's a perfect illustration of how crappy computers are now. You'll have to zoom out the image to see it.

      1. AceRimmer
        Facepalm

        "Take a screen shot on your 1080 HD phone and email it to your computer, it's a perfect illustration of how crappy computers are now."

        That's because you bought a top end phone and a low end laptop

        1. Dazed and Confused
          Facepalm

          @ AceRimmer

          > That's because you bought a top end phone and a low end laptop

          Perhaps, but how many laptops on the market have a better screen resolution than a current generation of mobe screen?

          Looking at Insight's website (coz you can search on screen res) it shows only 6 and that includes tablets, so

          1920x1200 (cica 2003 spec laptop) 1, a Tosh Tough book

          2560x1600 a pair of Apples.

          2880x1800 oh look another pair of Apples.

          (I might hate their business practices but they seems to be the only people trying to make a 21st century laptop at the moment)

          Anyone know of any others?

          I'm doing loads of work with a major corp at the moment and all the new laptops screen res is too low to show the windows they need to run the SW they've written themselves. Left Hand, meet Right Hand, you know, you guys should talk sometime.

          1. larokus
            Facepalm

            Re: @ dazed&confused

            Hey asshat

            My 2009 yes thats right 4 years old gateway has a 1920x1200 screen and a badass graphics card. LONG before apple.

            And what's this SAMSUNG ativ q ??? Is that 3200x1800??? Dual booting windows AND android? That would suck to own

            1. Dazed and Confused

              Re: @ dazed&confused

              > My 2009 yes thats right 4 years old gateway has a 1920x1200

              This is precisely my point. Your 2009 Gateway has a reasonable screen res. Does Gateway make a 2013 laptop with anything other than crap res screens?

              My 2003 Dull has a 1920x1200 screen.

              My 2009 HP has a 1920x1200 screen, and drives a second external one at the same time.

              Last year when I need a replacement is a hurry I couldn't find one and had to go out and buy 2nd hand as being the only way to get the spec I needed.

              This new Samsung looks interesting. The pair of HP mobile workstations are damn heavy to lug around when I occasionally need to do so. So thank you for answering my question. I just hope you don't have to suffer W8 on it and it'll run something useful too.

      2. David Hicks
        FAIL

        >> It's a sad day when you need stupid amounts of processing power on a phone.

        I take it you still use a nokia 3310 and a 286 then?

        It sure us a sad day when you need such power as a modern Core processor just to run a desktop OS and an office suite.

        Alternatively you could look at it as progress, you know, like we have been doing in tech since the whole thing started. Faster = able to do more.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          It sure us a sad day when you need such power as a modern Core processor just to run a desktop OS and an office suite."

          True... If I could run a desktop & word processor on an A1200, why does my Windows 7 machine become unresponsive on a 3Ghz CPU with 16GB ram running of an SSD?

          And when it does, it is the damned pop up UAC stuff...

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            "And when it does, it is the damned pop up UAC stuff..."

            http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+turn+off+UAC+on+windows+7

          2. davemcwish

            CPU Inflation

            it's probably a combination of:-

            1. Lower manufacturing costs of faster CPUs, HDDs and RAM chips

            2. Marketing teams exploiting the Kano model and providing the cpnsumer with loads of features we don't actually use. How much of all the features of Office 2010 suite do we actually use regularly ? I'd guess at < 50%

            3. Programmers exploitting 1 & 2

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          "I take it you still use a nokia 3310 and a 286 then?"

          I have a 6310i. up to 1 month between charges, or several hours on a call and rock solid call quality.

          I guess on a phone the most important thing i want is to make and receive calls. Guess I'm out of touch as well.

          Faster = able to do more charging

          1. David Hicks
            Stop

            >> I have a 6310i. up to 1 month between charges, or several hours on a call and rock solid call quality.

            Good for you. I make about 3 calls a month but have endless uses for a pocket-sized tablet.

            >> I guess on a phone the most important thing i want is to make and receive calls. Guess I'm out of touch as well.

            Pretty much, yup.

            >> Faster = able to do more charging

            Or run a variety of foreground and background apps without choking utterly. Either way, The criticism that "OMG how terrible is your phone you need all that power" is nonsense.

            It's not a case of "need", it's a case of want, can have and "ooh shiny!".

    2. Kevin Fairhurst

      We don't! But like PC days of old (and Amiga* days before that) it seems as though Android is all about having the biggest numbers and best stats! My phone is faster than yours, ner ner! Candy Crush still plays at exactly the same speed though...

      * "Ah but my memory card has a co-processor. I have a 68882 with blah blah blah." Did it actually make a difference to how I used the damn thing? Did it buggery.

      1. DAN*tastik

        @ Kevin Fairhurst

        *Did it actually make a difference to how I used the damn thing? Did it buggery.*

        It will make no difference whatsoever. But maybe it will force marketing drones to think about new ways to justify an overpriced kit? They won't be able to stick to "it's so easy to use" forever...

        1. Richard Jones 1

          Re: @ Kevin Fairhurst

          The marketing drones are even now sharpening their pencils, so far their best is along the lines of:

          "Our Smart phone gives you time to rest and maybe even sleep while it does something - like stop you leaving the walled garden!"

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Windows

        Hmm, i had as blizzard card

        in my amiga, and as I used to play with vista pro (the fractal software), the card had an slot for a maths co-pro. So I bought one and my god, was vista fast(er). So, in my case, it made a HUGE difference as I could render in hours/days not days/weeks!!!!

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      iSheeple are easily fooled.

      "Though in their defence - my iphone 5 is hardly slow in my usage model, so one does wonder why we need nearly 2ghz of quad core in a phone?"

      Then the new iFolly is released, you rush out to purchase a new status, and suddenly this observation becomes void. Funny That!

      1. jaduncan

        Re: iSheeple are easily fooled.

        In fairness to Apple, the non-VM iOS does seem a bit less cycle-happy than Android.

      2. LPF
        Paris Hilton

        Re: iSheeple are easily fooled.

        The ipHone did not even have the faster core or the most cores when it was released , so what are you wittering on about ?

        Personally I think your using your phones specs to make up for a shortage in other departments ;)

        Paris becuase she knows what I'm talking about!

        1. plrndl

          Re: iSheeple are easily fooled.

          But I always wanted a phone that's really good at benchmarks.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: iSheeple are easily fooled.

            Different phones with different operating systems - hardly a realistic benchmark. It would be like putting two cars on a dyno - pulling off their BHP and deducing how well they will drive and how fast they will get around a track. Caring nothing for how much they weigh, how well they steer or the other components that make up the total package.

      3. Silverburn
        Thumb Down

        Re: iSheeple are easily fooled.

        Then the new iFolly is released, you rush out to purchase a new status, and suddenly this observation becomes void. Funny That!

        That's a sweeping assumption on your behalf, and you missed by a country mile.

        Actually I came to the IP5 as an experiment after a Galaxy note. Naturally the fandroids will downvote this as a failing on my behalf, rather than - god forbid - find fault with the Note. But that's a very long post for another time.

      4. Steve Todd
        Stop

        Re: iSheeple are easily fooled.

        That's you Obviously! hiding behind an anonymous mask isn't it. People buy products that best match their tastes, requirements and budget. There's nothing wrong with people choosing an iPhone just like there's nothing wrong with them choosing a Galaxy, a Blackberry or a HTC. It's only people like you who give fans a bad name.

      5. CyberAngel
        Thumb Down

        Re: iSheeple are easily fooled.

        or my very flat iPhone doesn't need your S4 battery bulge

        Style and Function before muscle (which mainly goes to Dalvik VM burning)

  4. Scott Earle
    WTF?

    Shocker

    "Phone that was released last year is slower than other phones released this year" shocker.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Shocker

      I think it's the 'how much slower' that is surprising, no?

    2. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

      Re: Shocker

      Scott Earle,

      I thought that as well, but didn't the Google Nexus 4 come out in October? Admittedly there were only 3 available to buy, and most people probably didn't get theirs until December/January...

      But that's in the same time-frame as the iPhone 5, and about half the price. Although I believe only the direct from Google ones are quite so ridiculously cheap.

      As happens, I don't really care. The Nokia Lumia 710 I used to own had a pretty crappy processor even by the standards of the cheap Androids at the time. But it was very fast, presumably due to having a less complicated UI, no multi-tasking - and perhaps more efficient code. It was also pretty nippy on the few apps I ran on it, and was the fastest thing to get a satnav lock that I've used.

      Personally I think more than 2 or 3 apps multi-tasking is overrated on a phone, but then I don't use many apps. I prefer a tablet for those. For those that disagree, there's the top-end Androids.

      1. Mark .

        Re: Shocker

        And also the Note 2 was released September 2012.

        (If people don't care about CPU or apps etc on a phone, then why consider one of the most expensive phones on the market in the first place? The low end Lumias do reportedly run well for a low cost - the point is that the iphone can't compete either on performance against high end devices, or on cost against low end devices.)

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Shocker

      Forgot how the Galaxy SIII was released a year after the iPhone 5.

  5. Spearchucker Jones

    What use is speed...

    ...when the device's OS is an NSA-branded front-loader?

    1. Serge 2

      Re: What use is speed...

      in all three cases. With the only exception is Cyanogen (or similar) modded Android devices, only perhaps.

  6. Peter Johnston 1
    FAIL

    You got that wrong.

    The Nexus 4 is much cheaper - not dearer - than the Sony - £239 for the 8Gb and £279 for the 16Gb.

    Makes me wonder about the rest of the article.

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      >The Nexus 4 is much cheaper - not dearer - than the Sony

      Forgive me if a correction has been made to the article since your comment, but I read " but the former [The Xperia Z] is more than ₤200 ($US308, $AU334) more expensive than Google's offering." to mean the Sony was more expensive than the Google Nexus 4.

      The article was just reporting tests made by Which? magazine using a certain benchmark... as people have observed, there are other factors that affect how the phone performs in the real world. Which normally do recommend Apple products over competitors, mainly because their readership is looking for tech reviews in a monthly magazine and not on a tech website. Anandtech would tell you that the iPhone5 rules 'Sunspider' tests (something to do with its cache, apparently), but I don't know how that affects real-world use.

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        @Peter Johnston 1

        Apologies: judging from article text quoted in another comment, it would appear that the article was corrected in between your comment and my reading it.

  7. robert_raw

    I wouldn't say my Nexus 4 performs quite as fast as an iphone 5 - Not that i would expect it to given the price difference

  8. James Delaney
    Stop

    It's not the power that's important…

    It's what you do with it that counts.

  9. teapot9999
    Thumb Down

    so what?

    I have an iPhone 5, I never think it is slow, or that it would be better if it did something 0.01ms faster. I guess the S4 needs all the extra power to run the background spyware, viruses, crapware etc.

    1. SiempreTuna

      Re: so what?

      Quite. Phones have reached the stage PCs did around 10 years ago: they're fast enough for anything a regular user wants with the possible exception of high end gaming.

      I have an N4 and the missus has an iP5. I find her screen way too small, she hates Android. Never noticed any difference in speed in every day usage. These numbers are going to change anybody's mind about what to buy as their next phone.

      1. Mark .

        Re: so what?

        "These numbers are going to change anybody's mind about what to buy as their next phone."

        I'm not so sure. Firstly, maybe they can stop the media claiming the iphone as the best phone, even for hardware. And there are people who go "I want the best hardware, no matter what the cost", and then base it on what has been portrayed as top in the articles they've read.

        More generally, people will wonder what they're getting for their money. Even if faster CPUs are entirely useless (not that I'd agree), people pay money to brag about it. Now they'll realise they'll look like mugs who paid more for something far slower.

    2. Robert Forsyth

      Re: so what?

      How about when you take a photo, then want to take the next one?

      Find an email from last month with some detail you need to know?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: find an email from last month ...

        My email would not be stored on my phone. It would be stored on a webmail system, or on my PC

        1. MrXavia
          Thumb Down

          Re: find an email from last month ...

          @AC, then a smart phone is not for you...

          I really hate having to boot up a PC to find an email, as often I book an event, get emailed confirmation, then a month later I am going, and I get in the car and think, damn what was that address.. its nice to be able to look up emails fast on the phone...

          Sure my emails are stored on servers NOT on my phone, but the phone is an interface to my server!

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: find an email from last month ...

            why the AC shouldn't have a "smart" phone is not obvious. He has his email stored on a server. Doesn't preclude accessing it via a "smart" phone. But then that is via a web interface, and the phone CPU has limited impact in that respect

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: find an email from last month ...

            IMAP.

            Who on earth stores their email on either the PC or the mobile? Many use both to process email according to need, where and so on. So, they need access via all their cunning devices.

            Once more: IMAP.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re:IMAP

              I would be surprised if phones were punting POP3 as a preferred method of retrieving e-mails.

              That would mean that the e-mails were either on your desktop computer or on your mobile, but not both?

  10. DrXym

    Latter vs Former

    "the Sony Xperia Z was only fractionally ahead of the Google Nexus 4, but the latter is more than ₤200 ($US308, $AU334) more expensive than Sony's offering."

    vs original blog:

    "Sony’s Xperia Z also did well to sneak into third place, finishing fractionally ahead of Google’s Nexus 4 mobile. Despite this the Nexus 4 is over £200 cheaper to buy SIM-free than the top three phones in our testing. "

  11. P. Pod

    Battery

    What I really want is a phone that can run for at least a week (preferably a lot more) without charging the battery. Phones have had enough processing power for any normal use for years now.

    1. Dave Fox
      Stop

      Re: Battery

      Just pull your old feature phone out and use that then!

      Modern *smartphones* aren't going to get the battery life you require until the battery technology catches up, or they start making them 5 x thicker and heavier to accommodate a much larger battery (which would probably take 24+ hours to charge!).

      1. Spanners
        Happy

        Re: Battery

        Modern *smartphones* aren't going to get the battery life you require until the battery technology catches up...

        A partial solution is to get a grown up smartphone that allows you to remove the battery. My GS2 has a more than double capacity battery. Its replacement, whatever it turns out to be, will have a removable battery as well.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Battery

        Or get a life and not spend all waking hours staring at the mobile. My ageing iPhone 4S can last four days, even five, doing just basic stuff such as a couple of short calls, SMSs, quick check of email, short use of GPS and map to find where I am lost, when away on a cycling or walking tour.

        Of course, I learnt how to use it, turning off all the automatic stuff that no sensible person would leave on anyway, turning it on, e.g. wireless, only when I need it.

        Of course, when at home, spending too long reading the news or whatever on the mobile while on the train or tram, it goes down to one and a half to two days. But then, my wife's old Nokia is not much better now that the battery is ageing (no, not keen to spend several times what I paid for the mobile just to get a replacement battery).

      3. Mark .

        Re: Battery

        Actually my old "feature" phone (2005, Motorola) had far worse battery life than either my Nokia 5800 or Galaxy Nexus (the Nokia having the best battery life). Battery life is one of those things that goes up and down, and there is little difference between feature or smart except for the label used in marketing. It's dumb phones that have much better battery life.

    2. Peter Gathercole Silver badge

      Re: Battery

      Sounds like my Palm Trio. Still gives me a weeks battery life on it's original battery, and was very smart in it's time.

  12. AndyMM

    Battery Life

    The speed is already fine, give me more battery life.

  13. LazLong

    More expensive?

    "It's hardly surprising, of course, that a more expensive device with a 1.9 GHz quad-core processor would outperform the dual-core 1.2 GHz iPhone 5."

    Here in the States on AT&T the 16GB iPhone 5 and Galaxy S4 are priced identically ($200), while the 32GB iPhone 5 is $50 more expensive ($300 vs $250) than the 32GB Galaxy S4.

    1. Dave Fox
      Stop

      Re: More expensive?

      You really shouldn't equate the "price" of a phone from a carrier with a contract, with the actual price of the phone SIM free and unlocked, which is how much it would actually cost to buy if you take the carrier and contract out of the equation.

      Here in the UK, on my contract, I wouldn't pay a single penny for either an iPhone 5 or a Galaxy S4 at contract renewal, but that doesn't mean the phone is "free". A quick glance at the SIM free prices on Amazon(UK) shows the iPhone 5 @ £505, and the Samsung Galaxy S4 @ £450.

    2. frank ly

      Re: More expensive?

      I assume you are looking at the 'bundled with a contract' price? If so, here in the UK, I can get the S4 for the low price of £0.

      Edit: And Dave gets in with seconds to spare.

  14. JayTee

    So the fairly new S4 is faster than a year old IPhone 5. How unusual. -_-

    Journalism at it's best, ladies and gentleman.

  15. This post has been deleted by its author

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    How does this translate in usage terms?

    Since Jelly Bean landed, my S3 has been very slick (seriously, it was born again). When I had a play with a iPhone 5, I didn't notice that it was less slick, or slower in any way. I know we're talking about the S4 here, but when I had a (very quick) play with one of these, I didn't notice a huge difference. Surely all the extra umph is only going to make a difference to gamers???

    1. Mark 65

      Re: How does this translate in usage terms?

      Sounds like the benchmark is heavy on multi-threading and the Samsung is a quad core. Don't PC benchmarks use real-world tests these days because of this (my i7 is likely slower than an up-to-date i3/5 with higher clock but shits on it in video encoding)? i.e. time to open app x, do task y etc etc. Sounds like phones need a similar routine.

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Re: How does this translate in usage terms?

        Depends on which i7 and i5 you have... the media transcoding part of Ivy Bridge's HD4000 component is fairly respectable.

  17. Yves Kurisaki
    Thumb Down

    Fast?

    I had an HTC One for one day (I sent it back). It took 10 seconds to crop a picture for a wallpaper.

    Fast doesn't mean good user experience.

    1. Greg Williams
      FAIL

      Re: Fast?

      Yeah, ok... Just did this on a full 1080p with my HTC One, cropped and saved, from after the point I made the selection to when it was actually cropped and ready to save, it took... oh, no idea - too fast for me to actually time it.

      Maybe you had a dud?

      1. Yves Kurisaki

        Re: Fast?

        It did that consistently in the default gallery app.

        Very disappointing.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Fck processing speed - give me a semi-smart phone you don't have to charge every day. 5 days battery life would be spiffing.

    1. Philippe

      it's called a Nokia Asha 501

      It's semi smart, does multi task, has got a few apps, the battery lasts for a month and it only cost 60 quids.

      The good news is that this little marvel will be available in the UK from next week..

  19. Steve Todd
    Stop

    All Geekbench does

    Is measure CPU performance with code that is optimised for multiple threads. Purely on the numbers a 4 core 1.9GHz CPU should be 216% faster than a twin core 1.2GHz CPU, but then GHz as a measure of performance went out of fashion in the PC world over 10 years ago. It's also quite rare to find software that makes full use of threading (i.e. maxes out all cores), so both single threaded and multi-threaded numbers are important if absolute performance is to be compared.

    In terms of user experience its a combination of factors that are important - CPU performance, GPU performance, UI speed and efficiency, battery life etc. Often there is a balance between factors (faster CPU = shorter battery life for example). In this respect Which? should be ashamed of themselves. The numbers presented are absolutely useless to the man in the street who they purport to serve and act only as bragging rights for the techie crowd.

  20. 1Rafayal

    this still doesnt help me.

    I am trying to find a reason why I should buy a Samsung Galaxy S4 and a reason why I shouldnt get the HTC One.

    The only reason I need to get either is down to my three year old phone finally giving up the ghost. Additionally, if I go for the S4 I will probably end up getting one given to me at work...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Does your three year old really need a phone?

    2. fishman

      S4 has a removable battery, and can take a mini SD card for storage expansion. HTC One doesn't. If it is important to you, the choice is easy.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        The HTC One is built using decent materials, and has a very nice speaker.

        The Samsung is built out of nasty plastic (not as nasty as the S3 though), and has a shite speaker.

        1. dougal83
          Thumb Up

          @ AC 10.26

          "The Samsung is built out of nasty plastic (not as nasty as the S3 though), and has a shite speaker."

          What qualifies as nice plastic? Would it offend you if I said a phone used nasty weighty metal? (Half the smartphones I've seen have covers regardless) At least the Samsung phones have a lovely operating system that is intuative to use. Took me frickin ages ages to figure out the hold the button on an iPhone trick (I guess there would be a new user tutorial that I missed). I found myself handing the iPhones back to the owners to do stuff for me before I was shown about that. No wonder I bought an Android phone after retiring my Nokia 3310. I don't think I was conviced by people telling me iPhones are amazeballs. My previous experience was of Apple was somewhat biases against as a lab full of Apple iMac G3s kept crashing so we could not do our coursework at university. Oh and my iPod mini got unrecoverable unhappy face after 3 weeks. Apple not for me, doesn't work. Looks nice though?

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: @ AC 10.26

            Some people are unable to wear a watch as all from the cheapest to the dearest stop working on them. Perhaps you are like that with computers.

            Not got one; but I believe that the most popular Samsungs run Android as the operating system. Perhaps you mean the UI. Hmm. Perhaps you are not technically aware enough to be allowed in a computing lab. or any kind that uses computers.

            I've got OS X, IOS, Windows of various sorts (home and work), Linux (RH currently), Solaris and others. They all seem more or less all right. At home, no question, OS X is easiest, most reliable and has a good UNIX implementation (not a Linux imitation of UNIX).

            1. dougal83
              Pint

              @ AC 13.19

              I'm sorry for your loss. You own a mac. I got a first in a Computer Science BSc with honours and the G3 didn't help with the assembly language. FYI I don't own a watch as I have a really nice smartphone. I guess you'll be buying a shiney watch soon though, because it's amazeballs. I'll stick with Windows and Ubuntu for my needs as they work. OS X has a great shell but people seem to love it for emails and photo albums... you got your pet cat pictures sorted yet?

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                @dougal83

                Shame your qualifications couldn't help you learn to spell. Also using amazeballs (even ironically?) automatically removes your opinion on anything and everything.

        2. Brainman

          In our house we have 3 Samsungs (2*S4 + a note) & 2 iPhones (4 & 5) all with a history of earlier versions. I can honestly say that the plastic & glass samsungs are far more resilant to daily wear than the metal & glass iPhones.

    3. CyberAngel
      Go

      HTC One has OIS

      IF you value

      ½ steady video

      or unshaken (only stirred = out of focus) photos

      and low-light photos

      THEN

      a phone with OIS

  21. Serge 2

    Such tests carry very little informative value. The most important set of benchmarks on any phone should be: how responsive its user interface; how user friendly it is; how secure is the device; how long does the battery last under full load; screen brightness and resolution, and perhaps now it is how good is the lens, sensor and firmware on the camera module.

    Hardware performance benchmark otherwise has very little to offer unfortunately. Bottom line, your phone is not your desktop or laptop and you will not be doing some heavy duty number crunching on it, hence is fecking useless.

    I am not Apple or Android fan but from having used them both iPhone beats any and Android device hands down. (Bring doen the down votes)

    1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

      I am not Apple or Android fan but from having used them both iPhone beats any and Android device hands down. (Bring doen the down votes)

      Serge 2,

      Having played with, and read reviews of, the new Blackberry and owned a 'Droid, a Win Phone 7 and now on my first iPhone (a 5) - I can say they're all pretty much of a muchness now. They've all got their differences, strengths and weaknesses, but none of them now totally outshines the others.

      Just in the last few months I've recommended a cheapie Windows Phone to a couple of people, a Samsung Galaxy Note to a mate who wants the stylus and big screen and an iPhone to someone else. It's horses-for-courses, and I'm not talking lasagne...

  22. Simon Harris
    Coat

    I bought a Galaxy S4...

    Now I have to talk twice as fast to keep up with the thing...

    and nobody can understand a damn thing I say!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Joke

      Re: I bought a Galaxy S4...

      Ah factory default mode. Change the language from Korean....

  23. Dan 55 Silver badge
    Meh

    Innovation? Pah.

    Robust CardDAV and CalDAV support via Bluetooth, SMS, e-mail, and sync anyone? No, we'll stick a slightly faster CPU in there.

    1. CyberAngel
      Go

      Re: Innovation? Pah.

      Even Microsoft+Nokia understands that

      thus GDPR2 has (finally) CardDAV and CalDAV support

      Microsoft also offers to the Office365 cloud subscribers an iOS client

      so iPhone/iPad can read your own/company excel, word, powerpoint

  24. jdv
    WTF?

    > The test results will also be a disappointment for BlackBerry ...

    What, you don't think they ran their own benchmarks? Perhaps they just made the right trade-off; that big quad core CPU in the GS4 might not actually be that useful for anything but running artificial benchmarks, and the money and power saved that way can be used for other things.

  25. MrXavia
    Facepalm

    Does it really matter that much now? phones are very fast, even my old SGS was fast enough to run 3D games!!

    The S4 is blisteringly fast, BUT android is still a bit sluggish IMHO...

    It is time they started to optimise what they have rather than go for new features all the time!

    Samsung really can't write good apps... s-translate? junk, it CAN'T work offline with Chinese, so it won't do what was shown in the video!!!

    1. the-it-slayer
      Facepalm

      [i]Samsung really can't write good apps... s-translate? junk, it CAN'T work offline with Chinese, so it won't do what was shown in the video!!![/i]

      Samsung are very good at doing that... advertising things that it idealistically can do, but in reality can't. The pictures with sounds feature? WTF? What happened to the video? Trying to reinvent the wheel there again with no validation. Then the music sharing. Phones are personal devices and sharing your music with others is the last thing you want to do. Or may only do it once in the life of the phone.

      Google/Android is all about being faster. Apple is all about being better/harder/stronger. IMHO, Android is faster at doing crap things.

      As long as my BB10 phone calls, texts, e-mails reliably (which it does over iOS/Android); then that's what matters. It's a phone, not a multi-core wankerthon device.

      1. MrXavia

        Google translate app on the other hand DOES work offline, and I plan on trying it out in a few months when I spend 3 weeks in China without an internet connection (well without a mobile one anyway)

        Music sharing, OK it works, but does not integrate with your normal music app, so its not just a case of share my music with X so we can listen to the same track while running...

  26. Bodhi

    Xperia doesn't start with an E

    The writer of the original Which? article should be taken out and shot - they can't even get the name of one of the phones right! I mean wtf is an Experia? They mean the Xperia I take it?

    As an aside I'm quietly chuffed with my Z's results in this. Same hardware as the vanilla Nexus 4, yet ever so slightly quicker. Not enough to get too excited about, except if you repeat the tests underwater :)

  27. messele
    FAIL

    ?

    Shirley with all that POWAH the S4 should be butter smooth out of the box under all circumstances.

    It isn't.

    Oh dear.

  28. Dave 15

    And?

    And does this mean that the samsung actually works better with less swearing from the user who is p***d off at waiting days for something to happen? I don't have an iPhone and won't - in much the same way as I don't have the iphone clones that are being made today. I want a phone with a proper keyboard, a proper button to take a photo/video with, proper buttons to zoom etc. Most of all I want to press the buttons and have a reaction in a time I don't notice - instantly to my eye. What I hate - and hate more than anything else - is a smooth plate screen where you can't get anything done because you get no tactile feedback and the screen takes an age to update.

    It makes me swear. It makes me swear when my computer takes 5 minutes to get to a usable state when I switch it on, it makes me angry when I want to take a photo on my camera phone and it takes it 10 keystrokes to unlock and find the camera app and 2 minutes for it to init the camera and be ready to shoot.. The 808 has a dedicated button to take a photo - it opens the app, sets the camera, focuses and takes the photo in less time than it takes me to find the camera app button on a Samsung. (And I've not tried an iPhone, but I'm pretty sure the experience is as dreadful on that as it is on the Samsung)

    1. Alien8n
      Alien

      Re: And?

      3 motions with my finger and that's photo taken on my iPhone. Press top button, swipe on the camera icon, click the volume button on the side and photo taken, saved and shared with my PC at home and my iPad for editing.

      As opposed to my old Xperia, find the icon for the camera (seemed to move every other week). Select the camera app. Remove the battery to reset the phone as it's crashed for nth time that week. Repeat until it takes a photo. Then upload it using the USB cable. Throw the phone away as the USB port on the phone breaks and leaves you with an unchargable brick.

      1. thesykes
        FAIL

        Re: And?

        Press the power or home button, swipe to unlock. Press the camera icon (always in exactly the same place, every time), press screen to take photo.

        Wait a couple of minutes (depends on wifi speed and photo size) and then marvel at the notification pop up on my laptop screen, telling me the photo had arrived. Also available on my Nexus, and probably every other pc, mac, iOS, Android, WinPhone or BB in the world, thanks to not being locked into any particular online storage system.

        All from my Xperia.

        1 extra press. Wow.

        Can't remember the last time I plugged my phone into my laptop, probably just after I got it. Same for battery removal, probably to put the SD card in or sim.

      2. This post has been deleted by its author

  29. RubberJohnny

    The market is finally learning that Megapixels are not the be all and end all of cameras.

    It seems to be taking longer to understand that benchmark performance is not the be all and end all of any consumer device.

  30. RubberJohnny

    Can it get and hold reasonable signal strength in fringe reception areas?

    Can it survive being dropped from head height onto concrete?

    Can it survive being rained on or dropped into a toilet so it has to be rinsed off?

    Will the battery last between reasonable charge opportunities?

    Can I read the display clearly in bright sunlight?

    I actually have no interest in its relative benchmark score. I am interested in stuff that makes a real difference.

  31. sinfocomar
    FAIL

    Headline grabber - not useful benchmark per se

    right on from the comments "The problem is that Geekbench isn’t a real world test, doesn’t take account of differences between mobile operating systems, and doesn’t test graphical performance at all. As such, using it like this mostly just serves to give you a headline rather than meaningfully useful information for consumers about which devices will actually perform better during actual use. I kinda expected better from Which?. "

  32. Seanie Ryan
    Mushroom

    bets

    Whats the bets that the same benchmark will NOT be run when the next iPhone comes along?

    2 issues...

    1. why was a recently released phone compared to a year old one?

    2. Why does Android need such high horsepower to make the OS/UI run, and still not give the same responsiveness as the year old iOS?

    its like when the US car makers put an 8 litre engine in , and it still only achieves the same horsepower as some EU/Asia made cars with 3-4 litres ... nobody produces reports saying how great the US car is because of 8 litres, they trash it. But cant have that in the tech world.. .techies are insecure and unreasonable.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: bets

      Yeah like an American muscle car with some huge V8 block and 500hp but weighs too much, does not handle well and the European sports car with 300hp runs rings around it - faster, more nimble and better fuel economy.

  33. davemcwish

    Phone 'Advancements'

    I'm with other posters for significant battery life improvements or even the ability to replace myself like I used to to with my first phone (6230i); I don't see either coming anytime soon. There are other's I'd like e.g. the next generation of GPS chips e.g. http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/CSR-launches-SiRFstarV-5e-GNSS-engine-7579.php but it seems that all I'm going to get is the bog standard one that has GPS and Glonass (to reduce import traffis)

    As for Android it does seem odd that the phone manufacturers cripple the o/s by adding their own bloatware on top.

  34. Alan Denman

    just a blip on the radar........

    yes, like that last report this iPhone story will be handled with lightweight reception.

    No need to retune your sets folks. The wooly service will be resumed very soon.

  35. This post has been deleted by its author

  36. Alan Denman

    US corporate alliances

    "Here in the States on AT&T the 16GB iPhone 5 and Galaxy S4 are priced identically ($200), while the 32GB iPhone 5 is $50 more expensive ($300 vs $250) than the 32GB Galaxy S4."

    LOL man, how can reprint marketing rubbish. That price is something like 24*$70+$200 = $1880.

    That how it is in the UK. We talk real prices. And even the iPhone has to compete on prices here now(often only one third of the above), unlike the US with the monopoly like corporate alliance

  37. Paradroid

    Surprised at Which

    I am surprised at Which doing something as irrelevant as benchmarking when their target audience is non-technical consumers.

    I have a HTC One and an iPhone 5 at the side of me. In theory the HTC should wipe the floor with the iPhone on performance, and I'm sure it will on benchmarks, but in real world use i.e. opening apps, searching Google Maps, using Facebook, running games, it is almost always slower.

    A shame because the HTC screen is a noticeable step up from "Retina" and the speakers are amazing, but it's going on eBay soon because in almost any real-world test it isn't as good as the iPhone.

  38. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    True, but as every iMconned will tell you.

    Apple will let you pipe your data to dev/null, because dev/null is web scale.

  39. Alan Denman

    Surprised at Which ?

    "I am surprised at Which doing something as irrelevant as benchmarking when their target audience is non-technical consumers."

    Their target is customers seeking the 'digested truth' devoid of marketing stuff. Stuff that often seems a compulsory obligation when coming from our own mouths.

    1. Paradroid

      Re: Surprised at Which ?

      But Apple don't really market their phones based on specs or performance, whereas the Android crowd do. All the marketing for the HTC tells me it's a quad core 1.7Ghz processor.

      So which is the digested truth?

  40. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So wait, iPhone 5 is still faster per-core?

    This is a multithreaded benchmark... the quad-core chip "should" be twice as fast as the dual-core chip, not 91%...

    So this means each iPhone core is still faster than the competition's cores? This is pretty startling news if true, considering when the chips were released and their relative clock speeds.

    Since most of the code that deals with user interactions is single-threaded, that means the performance of the year-old iPhone 5 at normal phone tasks will be faster than the new Samsung flagship. I would be pretty embarrassed if I were Samsung.

    1. Alex.Red
      Coat

      Re: So wait, iPhone 5 is still faster per-core?

      No - this is the short answer.

      Below is the long answer.

      I would be pretty embarrassed if I was you - talking about things that i do not have a clue. In this particular case you do not have a clue of how much does the performance increase when adding of 1/2/3/etc. cores to the system. Google it.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: So wait, iPhone 5 is still faster per-core?

        "I would be pretty embarrassed if I was you - talking about things that i do not have a clue. In this particular case you do not have a clue of how much does the performance increase when adding of 1/2/3/etc. cores to the system. Google it."

        In fact, as a software developer I have a firm grasp of how more cores can improve performance and that's why I posted what I did, namely, more cores do *not* improve the performance of typical cell phone tasks.

        But since you suggested I Google, I did, and I found a bunch of cross-platform benchmark results for the iPhone 5 and the Galaxy 4 S. I'll post the links to some below but the upshot is that the iPhone is often faster and when it's slower, it's slower by less than 10%. So maybe you'd like to revise your opinion of how much those extra cores are helping?

        http://www.idgconnect.com/abstract/1698/product-review-samsung-galaxy-s4-vs-iphone

        http://www.indiatvnews.com/business/india/samsung-galaxy-s4-vs-apple-iphone-5-performance-and-camera-comp-6190.html

  41. marc 9

    Real World Usage

    I have found Android tends to slow down over time, this is likely to be a software design problem (like the messages app loading all 3,000 of them into memory when I just want to read the latest) - at a guess. Part of me thinks it's probably down to Android running mostly Java software - is geek-bench written in Java, or did they use C/++?

    So this will only people who play games, even then the G4 has more pixels to push, so who knows.

  42. This post has been deleted by its author

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