http://www.tomsguide.com/us/fastest-smartphone,review-2881.html
A fast phone shouldn't just score well in benchmarks. It should deliver swift, everyday performance, too, whether it's opening a large file, gaming without lag or firing up its camera faster than you can say "cheese." We pitted six of the latest smartphones against each other in nine rounds of competition, and the Galaxy S6 blew away the field, finishing first in 6 out of 9 real-world tests and synthetic benchmarks.
The LG G4 is our runner-up, turning in the fastest camera-open time and storage benchmark score. The iPhone 6 finished third, tying for first in our real-world gaming test and second in our PDF load-time score. The biggest letdown was the Nexus 6, which finished fifth overall and dead last in opening our PDF, camera-open and gaming tests.
Samsung Galaxy S6: Samsung developed its own octa-core Exynos 7420 processor instead of opting for one of Qualcomm's CPUs. The S6 is also one of just two phones in this contest featuring advanced DDR4 memory (the other being the HTC One M9), and it features a new, faster storage format called UFS 2.0, which promises SSD-like speeds in a phone.
MORE: Samsung Galaxy S6 Review
LG G4: With its Snapdragon 808 CPU, the G4 has difficulty matching the raw power of the S6, but it was the fastest to open its camera and snap a picture, and the second-fastest phone on our video-editing test and the Geekbench 3 performance benchmark.
MORE: LG G4 Review
Apple iPhone 6: Despite having the weakest specs on paper and also being the oldest phone in our roundup, the iPhone 6's 64-bit A8 processor was able to keep up with the most powerful Android phones in some tests, especially our PDF-open test and gaming frame-rate test.
MORE: Apple iPhone 6 Review
HTC One M9: The HTC One M9 features Qualcomm's most powerful processor, the Snapdragon 810, and in theory should be able to keep up with the S6. Unfortunately, with the exception of graphics tests, the One M9 disappointed with weak performance.
MORE: HTC One M9 Review
Google Nexus 6: As the ambassador for stock Android, the Nexus 6 should demonstrate the height of Google's smartphone experience, and while even its slightly older Snapdragon 805 SoC performed admirably, real-world results were disappointing, due to lethargic camera speeds, average Wi-Fi throughput and poor game performance.
Asus Zenfone 2: The Zenfone 2 is an interesting beast, featuring an Intel Atom Z3580 CPU and unmatched 4GB of RAM for an affordable $299. This phone finished a fairly strong third in our memory benchmark but didn't place better than that in any other test.
MORE: Asus Zenfone 2 Review
Real-Word Performance Tests
PDF Load Time
To start, we wanted to see how long it would take each phone to open a whopper of a PDF (1.6GB). We measured the time it took to open the PDF using a camera capable of recording slow-motion video at 240 fps. The Galaxy 6 finished first with a time of 127 milliseconds, with the iPhone 6 finishing in a solid second place.
The Nexus 6, the only competitor running stock Lollipop, lagged far behind handsets running skinned versions of Google's OS with a laborious open time of 482 ms.
Camera Load Time
Because you never know when you need to snap a photo, we wanted to test how long it takes to open the camera with 10 apps running in the background, including such popular programs as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
The top three phones separated themselves from the pack, with the LG G4 leading the way with a time of just 52.5 ms. The Galaxy S6 was close behind with 55.5 ms. This was in stark contrast to the Nexus 6, which sat in dead-last place with 128 ms — more than twice as slow as the G4, S6 and iPhone 6.
Gaming Performance
Traditional graphics benchmarks don't necessarily provide a good measuring stick for gaming performance — they can be "gamed" by savvy phone manufacturers and often lack real-world context. That's why we used GameBench to measure the average frame rate over a 3-minute racing session in the Asphalt 8 game. The benchmark also measures the stability of the gaming session (how consistent that average frame rate is).
The iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 both managed a class-leading 30 frames per second, with the S6 just barely edging out the iPhone with its 96 percent stability versus the iPhone's 94 percent. The poor Google Nexus 6 came in well behind the rest of the pack, managing a tolerable 26 fps at an intolerable 77 percent stability. That means that the phone failed to maintain consistent frames per second for nearly a quarter of the gaming session.
Video Editing
We used the VidTrim app to convert a 204MB 1080p movie to 480p. Unfortunately, we could not run this test on the iPhone 6, due to the lack of an equivalent iOS app, but for Android phones, this real-world scenario paints an accurate picture of CPU performance. Once again, the Exynos 7420 in the Galaxy S6 finished first with a transcoding time that's 65 percent faster than its next closest competitor.
First up is Geekbench 3, which evaluates the CPU, RAM, GPU and storage, and combines them into a single score representing overall system performance. With a mark of 5,283, the Samsung Galaxy S6's octa-core Exynos 7420 SoC and speedy 3GB of DDR4 RAM crushed the competition. That's 50 percent faster than the second-place LG G4, and more than double the HTC One M9.
MORE: Best Smartphones on the Market Now
Basemark OS II System
In Basemark OS II's system test, which performs multiple floating-point and integer calculations, among other computations, the S6 retained its lead. Interestingly, the Asus Zenfone 2 finished ahead of the HTC One M9 in the system test despite costing less than half the price.
Basemark OS II Memory
Next up was the Basemark OS II memory test, which evaluates NAND storage performance by reading and writing files of varying sizes. This tells us the theoretical max speed at which the phone can save and retrieve data from storage, which affects things such as app load times and local media playback.
This time, the LG G4 barely edged out the S6, despite the Samsung's more advanced UFS system (Universal Flash Storage), which has the ability to perform simultaneous reading and writing and looks to replace the older eMMC standard used in other phones.
3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited
In Basemark OS II's graphics test, the HTC One M9's Adreno 430 GPU finished first. The $299 Zenfone finished in third place, demonstrating that you can get solid performance for a low price.
Wi-Fi Speed
Wi-Fi speeds are one aspect of performance that's often overlooked. A quick glance shows that every phone in our roundup features 802.11 ac capability, but our testing proves that not all Wi-Fi modems are created equal. Using the IxChariot networking benchmark, we sent packets of information to each phone from a blazing-fast Asus RT-AC87U router and measured the throughput.
From 15 feet away, the S6 and HTC One M9 delivered top speeds that were 25 percent faster than the third-place phone, the LG G4. This can make a big difference in everyday use, whether you're downloading an app or movie, surfing the Web or streaming video.
Bottom Line
With its homegrown Exynos 7420 CPU, DDR4 memory and speedy UFS storage, the Samsung Galaxy S6 is the fastest phone you can buy right now. In both real-world tests and synthetic benchmarks, the S6 finished first in 6 out of 9 tests, and it never finished lower than third in the other three. So for those who need the best performance, your search ends at Samsung.
A fast phone shouldn't just score well in benchmarks. It should deliver swift, everyday performance, too, whether it's opening a large file, gaming without lag or firing up its camera faster than you can say "cheese." We pitted six of the latest smartphones against each other in nine rounds of competition, and the Galaxy S6 blew away the field, finishing first in 6 out of 9 real-world tests and synthetic benchmarks.
The LG G4 is our runner-up, turning in the fastest camera-open time and storage benchmark score. The iPhone 6 finished third, tying for first in our real-world gaming test and second in our PDF load-time score. The biggest letdown was the Nexus 6, which finished fifth overall and dead last in opening our PDF, camera-open and gaming tests.
Samsung Galaxy S6: Samsung developed its own octa-core Exynos 7420 processor instead of opting for one of Qualcomm's CPUs. The S6 is also one of just two phones in this contest featuring advanced DDR4 memory (the other being the HTC One M9), and it features a new, faster storage format called UFS 2.0, which promises SSD-like speeds in a phone.
MORE: Samsung Galaxy S6 Review
LG G4: With its Snapdragon 808 CPU, the G4 has difficulty matching the raw power of the S6, but it was the fastest to open its camera and snap a picture, and the second-fastest phone on our video-editing test and the Geekbench 3 performance benchmark.
MORE: LG G4 Review
Apple iPhone 6: Despite having the weakest specs on paper and also being the oldest phone in our roundup, the iPhone 6's 64-bit A8 processor was able to keep up with the most powerful Android phones in some tests, especially our PDF-open test and gaming frame-rate test.
MORE: Apple iPhone 6 Review
HTC One M9: The HTC One M9 features Qualcomm's most powerful processor, the Snapdragon 810, and in theory should be able to keep up with the S6. Unfortunately, with the exception of graphics tests, the One M9 disappointed with weak performance.
MORE: HTC One M9 Review
Google Nexus 6: As the ambassador for stock Android, the Nexus 6 should demonstrate the height of Google's smartphone experience, and while even its slightly older Snapdragon 805 SoC performed admirably, real-world results were disappointing, due to lethargic camera speeds, average Wi-Fi throughput and poor game performance.
Asus Zenfone 2: The Zenfone 2 is an interesting beast, featuring an Intel Atom Z3580 CPU and unmatched 4GB of RAM for an affordable $299. This phone finished a fairly strong third in our memory benchmark but didn't place better than that in any other test.
MORE: Asus Zenfone 2 Review
Real-Word Performance Tests
PDF Load Time
To start, we wanted to see how long it would take each phone to open a whopper of a PDF (1.6GB). We measured the time it took to open the PDF using a camera capable of recording slow-motion video at 240 fps. The Galaxy 6 finished first with a time of 127 milliseconds, with the iPhone 6 finishing in a solid second place.
The Nexus 6, the only competitor running stock Lollipop, lagged far behind handsets running skinned versions of Google's OS with a laborious open time of 482 ms.
Camera Load Time
Because you never know when you need to snap a photo, we wanted to test how long it takes to open the camera with 10 apps running in the background, including such popular programs as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
The top three phones separated themselves from the pack, with the LG G4 leading the way with a time of just 52.5 ms. The Galaxy S6 was close behind with 55.5 ms. This was in stark contrast to the Nexus 6, which sat in dead-last place with 128 ms — more than twice as slow as the G4, S6 and iPhone 6.
Gaming Performance
Traditional graphics benchmarks don't necessarily provide a good measuring stick for gaming performance — they can be "gamed" by savvy phone manufacturers and often lack real-world context. That's why we used GameBench to measure the average frame rate over a 3-minute racing session in the Asphalt 8 game. The benchmark also measures the stability of the gaming session (how consistent that average frame rate is).
The iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 both managed a class-leading 30 frames per second, with the S6 just barely edging out the iPhone with its 96 percent stability versus the iPhone's 94 percent. The poor Google Nexus 6 came in well behind the rest of the pack, managing a tolerable 26 fps at an intolerable 77 percent stability. That means that the phone failed to maintain consistent frames per second for nearly a quarter of the gaming session.
Video Editing
We used the VidTrim app to convert a 204MB 1080p movie to 480p. Unfortunately, we could not run this test on the iPhone 6, due to the lack of an equivalent iOS app, but for Android phones, this real-world scenario paints an accurate picture of CPU performance. Once again, the Exynos 7420 in the Galaxy S6 finished first with a transcoding time that's 65 percent faster than its next closest competitor.
First up is Geekbench 3, which evaluates the CPU, RAM, GPU and storage, and combines them into a single score representing overall system performance. With a mark of 5,283, the Samsung Galaxy S6's octa-core Exynos 7420 SoC and speedy 3GB of DDR4 RAM crushed the competition. That's 50 percent faster than the second-place LG G4, and more than double the HTC One M9.
MORE: Best Smartphones on the Market Now
Basemark OS II System
In Basemark OS II's system test, which performs multiple floating-point and integer calculations, among other computations, the S6 retained its lead. Interestingly, the Asus Zenfone 2 finished ahead of the HTC One M9 in the system test despite costing less than half the price.
Basemark OS II Memory
Next up was the Basemark OS II memory test, which evaluates NAND storage performance by reading and writing files of varying sizes. This tells us the theoretical max speed at which the phone can save and retrieve data from storage, which affects things such as app load times and local media playback.
This time, the LG G4 barely edged out the S6, despite the Samsung's more advanced UFS system (Universal Flash Storage), which has the ability to perform simultaneous reading and writing and looks to replace the older eMMC standard used in other phones.
3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited
In Basemark OS II's graphics test, the HTC One M9's Adreno 430 GPU finished first. The $299 Zenfone finished in third place, demonstrating that you can get solid performance for a low price.
Wi-Fi Speed
Wi-Fi speeds are one aspect of performance that's often overlooked. A quick glance shows that every phone in our roundup features 802.11 ac capability, but our testing proves that not all Wi-Fi modems are created equal. Using the IxChariot networking benchmark, we sent packets of information to each phone from a blazing-fast Asus RT-AC87U router and measured the throughput.
From 15 feet away, the S6 and HTC One M9 delivered top speeds that were 25 percent faster than the third-place phone, the LG G4. This can make a big difference in everyday use, whether you're downloading an app or movie, surfing the Web or streaming video.
Bottom Line
With its homegrown Exynos 7420 CPU, DDR4 memory and speedy UFS storage, the Samsung Galaxy S6 is the fastest phone you can buy right now. In both real-world tests and synthetic benchmarks, the S6 finished first in 6 out of 9 tests, and it never finished lower than third in the other three. So for those who need the best performance, your search ends at Samsung.
