Forum > Manufacturer Discussion > Samsung > Samsung uses software tricks to inflate Note 3 benchmark scores

The Note 3 is an iterative product, that’s absolutely true, but the improvements in the Note 3 are pretty dramatic. It really does feel better, thinner, lighter all while having a bigger, more usable display. The silicon inside is incredibly quick, easily the fastest in the Android camp. It's also good to see Samsung on the forefront of RF technology here, implementing an envelope power tracker alongside Qualcomm's 3rd generation LTE modem. The combination results in a fairly robust, very high-end platform that is modern on both compute and modem/RF fronts. Given my affinity for the latter, I'm happy.

Battery life benefits from the large chassis and associated battery, as well as Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 platform which seems to manage power a lot better than the outgoing Snapdragon 600. I was also impressed by the Galaxy Note 3's IO performance. Although it didn't beat the Moto X in random write IO performance, it came extremely close and absolutely destroyed everything else in sequential write speed. Samsung clearly went all out with the Note 3 and pretty much tried to win all of our tests. The beauty of that approach is it should lend itself to an awesome user experience.

The Galaxy Note 3 is the best smartphone Samsung has ever made. In fact, the Note 3 is one of the best Android phones ever, period. It’s fast, it’s very capable, and unlike most smartphones these days, the S Pen and Samsung’s related software suite give the Note 3 genuinely compelling differentiation. This phone does things your phone can’t. Important, useful things that make your life easier.

While the massive size and plasticky build would prevent me from ever carrying the Note 3 personally, the size is a big draw for millions of smartphone users across the globe. And when it comes to supersized smartphones with screens that measure more than 5 inches diagonally, there is simply nothing on the market right now that can hold a candle to the Galaxy Note 3.

On top of all that, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is simply one balanced performing smartphone! At $300 with a 2-year contract, there’s no denying the fact that it’s an expensive cost, but as we’ve come to learn, the hefty pricing does come with some perks. The phablet category saw some new entrants into the space this year, but the Note 3 continues to be the best in its class.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is the phablet flagship for this year and the upcoming holiday season. Samsung made sure of it and despite having many opponents to shuffle through before it can get the user's seal of approval, the Galaxy Note 3 does offer something the competition just doesn't - the S Pen.

The Galaxy Note 3 is more or less the fastest Android smartphone we've tested up to this point.

Stuffed into the Note is a stonking 2.3GHz quad-core processor, together with 3GB of RAM. Those are some seriously potent specs, so I wasn't surprised when it delivered the best scores on my benchmark tests that I've ever seen.

On the Geekbench 2 benchmark test, it achieved a whopping 4,139, casually beating the Xperia Z1's (the previous top performer) score of 3,706 and laughing in the face of its predecessor's 1,998. Its 22,487 result on the Quadrant test is again the best score I've ever had from a mobile device.


That really is an astonishing benchmark score.
Those are undeniably impressive scores, but it's important to take them with a pinch of salt. For one, Samsung has been accused of tweaking the processor specifically to give better scores. Whether that's true or not, the fact remains that benchmarks aren't always totally accurate tests of how they'll perform in real life. Thankfully though, I found the Note 3 to be every bit as blistering in my own use as the tests suggested.

There's zero lag when swiping around the home screen, placing apps, pulling down notification bars, or jumping into menus. Photo editing in snapseed is extremely nippy and playing back Full HD video is stutter free.


Glossy racer Asphalt 8 played without any hiccup whatsoever.
Gaming is handled with aplomb too. Water racer Riptide GP 2 played with deliciously smooth frame rates, as did the graphically intense Asphalt 8 and N.O.V.A 3. With the graphical prowess of the updated Jelly Bean software eventually allowing for even more demanding games, the Note 3 is well-poised to be able to hand the next generation of titles.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is far and away the most mature smartphone of this size on the market today. More than that, Samsung has outdone themselves in this category – with the likes of Air Command, the S Pen suite becomes a solid experience that I’ll no longer have to explain to relatives is just for writing notes and drawing pictures. Here there’s a real solid draw.

But since the first Note’s introduction in 2011, competitors have flooded the market with phones that are bigger than ever before. None have been able to match Samsung’s breakaway success yet, though, and none have really given users a compelling reason to have such a large phone.

All day and all night

The Note has always been one of the fastest Android phones on the market, and the Note 3 is even faster than before. The T-Mobile version I reviewed has Qualcomm’s top-of-the-line S800 processor and 3GB of RAM (different global versions swap the S800 for a Samsung Exynos chip, but all of the US models will have the Qualcomm), which gives the Note 3 speedy performance with no hiccups. I never really had to wait for the phone to do anything (apart from the Gallery app, which was uncharacteristically slow at times), and Samsung’s customizations don’t noticeably hold the phone back from being as fast as it could be. You won’t notice many of the speed increases unless you compare the Note 3 side-by-side with other devices, and raw power isn’t everything, but there’s plenty of raw power here.

PERFORMANCE IS RARELY AN ISSUE FOR THE NOTE 3 AND BATTERY LIFE IS ALMOST NEVER A CONCERN

The big phone category is well, bigger than ever, but the Galaxy Note 3 proves that Samsung still owns this arena. The wealth of iterative improvements over last year’s quite-capable model are more than welcome, and the overall experience is better than ever. It feels nicer, runs faster, lasts a long time, and is just a better device overall than the Note II. If you really liked the earlier models, you’ll love the Note 3, but it probably won’t convert those that never bought into the idea. Samsung didn’t reinvent the wheel here, it just gave it a smoother ride.

but based S3 and S4, Samsung UI and customization is laggy.

On 2013-10-02 20:31:24, Gitaroo wrote:
http://anandtech.com/show/738[....]cheating-in-android-benchmarks

Note 3 and 10.1 2014 has to cheat in almost everything

It's also worth pointing out that nearly almost all Android OEMs are complicit in creating this mess. We singled out Samsung for the initial investigation as they were doing something unique on the GPU front that didn't apply to everyone else, but the CPU story (as we mentioned back in July) is a widespread problem.

....The majority of our tests aren’t impacted by the optimization. Virtually all Android vendors appear to keep their own lists of applications that matter and need optimizing. The lists grow/change over time, and they don’t all overlap. With these types of situations it’s almost impossible to get any one vendor to be the first to stop. The only hope resides in those who don’t partake today, and of course with the rest of the ecosystem.


.....The hilarious part of all of this is we’re still talking about small gains in performance. The impact on our CPU tests is 0 - 5%, and somewhere south of 10% on our GPU benchmarks as far as we can tell.

On 2013-10-02 18:37:40, Tsepz_GP wrote:
Every single one of them said its fast and ON TOP OF THAT the best phablet, a category that includes LG G Pro, Z Ultra and their fellow also-rans, end of story.

And when it comes to supersized smartphones with screens that measure more than 5 inches diagonally, there is simply nothing on the market right now that can hold a candle to the Galaxy Note 3.

The phablet category saw some new entrants into the space this year, but the Note 3 continues to be the best in its class.

On 2013-10-02 18:37:40, Tsepz_GP wrote:

Your opinion.
For me and +40million others say otherwise.

On 2013-10-03 00:54:03, MyP910 wrote:


as I said, almost all of them said in terms of phablet category except for CNET.

BGR:



Phonearena:






Me and many more among the +40million said that Samsung UI is laggy.

Final words
Samsung has done it again - and it made it look so easy.The Galaxy Note 3 can pretend it has no competition, while otherwise remarkable rivals know they'll will have to live with - but not quite live up to - comparisons to the gadget that defines an entire segment.
Three generations into it, Samsung is returning to a playground which now has to be shared with others. There are bigger screens out there, waterproof bodies, impressive cameras and immensely powerful chipsets. But the Galaxy Note 3 is in no mood to share the spotlight, and is keen to show everyone that it doesn't break the rules - but makes them.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 didn't need a massive screen to make its point. What Samsung did instead looks like a smart move. The new leather-look finish is great but that's not the only advantage in terms of design. The new Note is the size of the Note II, but thinner, lighter and with a bigger higher-res screen and even ampler battery. It's also powered by two of the best chipsets available and comes with the whopping 3GB of RAM.
Samsung it well aware though that specs can be matched and eventually beaten. It's the experience that counts, and the Galaxy Note 3 is bursting at the seams with all the premium features of the Galaxy line of smartphones.
And we don't just mean the various Air Gestures and things like Smart Stay and Smart Scroll, which are actually part of the standard equipment, so to speak. It's the S Pen features, the optimizations for single-hand use and the multi-tasking capabilities, which after the multi-window update are unrivaled that take the Galaxy Note 3 to the next level.
Being able to comfortably move content across applications and the new search feature are only beginning to tell the story. The S Pen is made to count almost everywhere in the interface. The dedicated single-hand mode isn't limited to just a smaller keyboard and dialer that you can move around and place within comfortable reach.
Any screen, and we do mean any - from the homescreen to the deepest setting - can be resized for single-hand use, and when you do that the main controls (Home, Back and menu) are moved over to the dock at the bottom of the screen, and so are the volume controls - so you don't have to stretch your hand to reach the hardware volume keys on the phablet's side.
Honestly though, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 doesn't have to worry so much about size not permitting single-handed use. To take full advantage of the Galaxy Note 3 you really need to have the device in one hand, stylus in the other. That said, we do think most of the likely rivals will have a hard time besting the Note 3's handling.
Sony recently unleashed the Snapdragon 800-powered Xperia Z Ultra. It has a massive 6.3-inch 1080p display responding to pen and pencil input. The phablet is water and dust resistant, on top of having one of the hottest bodies in business.The Xperia Z Ultra is seriously bigger than the Galaxy Note 3, though, and while the screen size may be a legitimate advantage, the LCD quality isn't quite a match for the Note's AMOLED. Still, the Z Ultra is around €100 cheaper and can go under water so it might manage to build a loyal following.

LG's first attempt at phablets, the 5.5" Optimus G Pro, is obviously too old to seriously trouble the Galaxy Note 3. The gadget runs on a Snapdragon 600 chipset and has a 13MP camera. It is considerably cheaper than the Galaxy Note 3 at around €480, but omits the stylus input.

The LG G2, even though sporting a 5.2" only 1080p display, is much closer to the Galaxy Note 3 in terms of functionality and speed. The latest LG flagship is powered by the Snapdragon 800 chipset, offers a host of multi-tasking features and a respectable Q-Note repertoire. If the smaller screen is not a problem, it's definitely worth checking out. Currently the 16GB model costs €200 less than the Note 3 but, considering the lack of memory expansion, the 32GB version might make more sense.

The recently-announced Liquid S2 is also a very interesting alternative. Acer will probably struggle to match Samsung and Sony's level of brand recognition, and like the rest of the competition, the S2 lacks a stylus. With a 6" 1080p IPS LCD, it's powered by the same Snapdragon 800 chipset and is capable of shooting 4K UHD videos, making it the Galaxy Note 3's only equal for the time being. In fact the Liquid S2 also adds a ring-flash for much better performance under low-light and will run you €100 less.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is the phablet benchmark for the competition to live up to - and a matching price tag is perhaps the only piece of bad news. On the other hand, without the advantage of the S Pen, rivals haven't got too many options - they just deliver as much horsepower as possible and the push screen size as far as they can and hope for the best. The first obvious casualty is the comfort of handling. And the irony of it is that a device like the Note, which clearly is supposed to keep both hands busy, is more compact and more optimized for single-handed use than its main rivals.

Oh well, Samsung and the Galaxy Note 3 have done it again and the bad news for the competition is that their phablets have just been relegated to just huge phones by the latest installment of the one that once started it all.