Galaxy Tab S (Exynos 5420) Real world performance?

[arandomguy]

So the Galaxy Tab S with the Exynos 5420 did not have the best benchmarks when it came out even compared to contemporaries like the S800/801. It is also completely outclassed now by devices with Tegra K1 (Nexus 9), A8X (ipad air 2), or the S805 (kindlefire hdx?).

But how does that difference actually translate into the real world? Both in comparison to "last gen" devices and new devices (eg. Nexus 9, ipad air 2)?

Web Browsing -
What are some example scenarios of competing tablets/SoCs showing an advantage?

Video -
Standard video decoding should be acceptable across all these devices. How does the Tab S compare in terms of the following maybe?
1) 1080p 10-bit h.264 (hi10p) capability?
2) HEVC (h.265), 4k capability?

Comic Reading/image viewing -
Perhaps smoothing scrolling and transitions on other SoCs?

Gaming -
Aside from platform exclusivity issues (eg. iOS or Tegrazone games), what are some examples of better gaming (currently out or will be out) that are better on other devices?

Other scenarios?

Thinking about buying a tablet if some deal comes up this holiday season.

 

[desura]

I have the tab s.

Its performance sucks. It isn't really good for actually manipulating the tablet with your fingers.

I'd say that it is slower at web-surfing than an iPad 4.

the worst part of it is that there are these very sensitive capacitive buttons on the bezel itself. This results in me hitting them by accident constantly. Samsung is like the king of inexplicably stupid design decisions.

But it's a great movie player. I enjoy watching movies on it more than plasma tv's. Speakers are pretty good. Screen is best in class.

 

[arandomguy]

Is it not, at least partially, due to Samsung's software stack though? I believe there are complaints abound regarding the responsiveness of Samsung devices even with other SoCs as well? I'm wondering whether or not the Android L update (its listed on there) will address this or a custom rom somewhat?

When you say web browsing is problematic is that just content heavy pages or in general?

Yeah what interests me is the display since it's a "stand out" type of feature currently not available elsewhere (and not just strictly limited to tablets but a general not available elsewhere). One aspect of the screen that also works well for me is I would primarily be using the device in low light or dark environment. Daylight outdoor view ability is actually not a concern at all for me. Maybe somewhat of an opposite criteria compared to most people.

The other usage for me would be comic reading (and image viewing in general) which I think the display would also lend itself well to, I forgot to mention that in the OP, will add it.

 

[desura]

Samsung consistently has the worst implementation of Android as well.

I am anticipating Android L. It looks like it will also improve responsiveness.

I have read comics on it. They were rendered pretty well.

Stil, as I said earlier, the capacitive buttons are a major major flaw in the tablet. If you're reading a comic in portrait mode, the capacitive buttons are a significant distraction.

Unless you're big into movies, the iPad will serve you better all-around. the iPad is much more responsive to touch, better designed on a whole.

Most people use tablets indoors, not outdoors. People use phones outdoors more often. Tablets tend to stay at home.

 

[jacktesterson]

I have the tab s.

Its performance sucks. It isn't really good for actually manipulating the tablet with your fingers.

I'd say that it is slower at web-surfing than an iPad 4.

the worst part of it is that there are these very sensitive capacitive buttons on the bezel itself. This results in me hitting them by accident constantly. Samsung is like the king of inexplicably stupid design decisions.

But it's a great movie player. I enjoy watching movies on it more than plasma tv's. Speakers are pretty good. Screen is best in class.

It's not that bad. I think most people will find the Tab S performance perfectly fine. Yes there is better, but for the most part everything is smooth.

Which browser are you using? The "Internet" browser that comes with the Tab S benchmarks the fastest from my experience. (and works the fastest)

 

[soccerballtux]

that SOC looks pretty good and actually has more mem bandwidth than the 801

 

[desura]

It's not that bad. I think most people will find the Tab S performance perfectly fine. Yes there is better, but for the most part everything is smooth.

Which browser are you using? The "Internet" browser that comes with the Tab S benchmarks the fastest from my experience. (and works the fastest)

Chrome.

It is pretty bad that an iPad from 2 years earlier is faster.

 

[desura]

that SOC looks pretty good and actually has more mem bandwidth than the 801

Yeah, well, as I said, Samsung is the king of stupid design decisions. Apple tends to overachieve relative to stats. Samsung underachieves. It is as if their vertical integration makes it lose efficiency.

 

[Skurge]

Chrome.

It is pretty bad that an iPad from 2 years earlier is faster.

Chrome can be pretty slow on my Nexus 5.

 

[dawheat]

Chrome.

It is pretty bad that an iPad from 2 years earlier is faster.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chrome.deviceextras.samsung&hl=en

It's sad but there's some problem between Google and Samsung regarding Chrome. The stock Samsung browser is much faster without the above extension.

 

[RockinZ28]

There was an OTA update on ~10/29 I read did something with Chrome, among other improvements. Not sure what it helped though, Chrome lacks far too many features on mobile for me to bother using it.

Do need to root thing thing though. As said the buttons are annoying, but can be disabled with root. I use Pie controls, same with my phones. So much better than physical buttons.

For the most part performance seems fine. Can get a bit laggy at times. I disabled/deleted a bunch of the bloat, and it seems much smoother. One day may get around to a custom rom.

 

[Commodus]

I'd look at an iPad Air 2 -- if you're interested in comics and gaming, it's not going to get much better than that.

It's not so much the performance (although it's better than the Tegra K1 in some respects) as the ecosystem. Like it or not, it's still true that the iPad not only gets most big-name tablet apps first, but tends to get much better optimization.

If you do decide to go that route, hold out until Black Friday. Apple typically discounts devices that day, and you may score some third-party deals then as well.

 

[Dman8777]

I have a tab s but since it's my first tablet I can't answer most of your questions. I can say that I have no problems in everyday use (chrome, youtube, some light gaming) though. The reason I went with the tab s is the display. After using my S4 for 6 months I don't think I'll ever go back to an lcd.

 

[jacktesterson]

I've always found Chrome Beta to be faster than Chrome too. (on any device)

 

[jpeyton]

I have a Tab S and Tab Pro. Tab Pro is faster, and feels faster day-to-day.

Exynos Octa needs to die a quick death. It was fast when it first came out, but has been quickly outclassed by the last two iterations of Snapdragon.

 

[Dari]

Yeah, well, as I said, Samsung is the king of stupid design decisions. Apple tends to overachieve relative to stats. Samsung underachieves. It is as if their vertical integration makes it lose efficiency.

Samsung is having a serious love affair with Qualcomm so their ARM-derived SoC is taking a backburner. It never should've been created in the first place but they probably had all the other components in place and thought "Why not!".

 

[arandomguy]

Wasn't really intending for this to be a what tablet to buy thread but wanted to first research impressions of the Tab S's performance for some preliminary research (which is the phase I'm in, takes me weeks or months of research before buying something haha...). But since it's slightly gone there -

1) Will be waiting to see what holiday season deals crop up.

2) Not so much into gaming but it is a usage that I assume would be more influenced by hardware specifications, so I was wondering what type of actual impact the faster SoCs have. Since I'm not as familiar with mobile gaming I have no actual gauge of what the faster performance would translate to in real terms unlike say on the desktop. Was wondering if someone could actually give an example of a game that would play better on the K1 (or another better SoC) or maybe not at all on the Tab S.

3) Would be more for images and video viewing, as well as web browsing. Honestly this would be veering into another topic all together but it might just be that I'm not aware of (or haven't really found) that many interesting mobile device games. Or maybe they just aren't the game type for me that predominate the platforms. I do some gaming on the phone currently but I can't really think of any that are really performance demanding.

4) At the moment I'm preferring Android (well actually I'd prefer x86 windows assuming all else were equal) just due to platform investment and familiarity, as well as already using that for my phone. Although it's still relatively early, so I wouldn't rule out adding another one in iOS.

5) The only ipad I'm really considering at the moment would be the ipad retina (old one). The reason being the higher storage option version is a rather good price (about $380) with the recent price cut, while the ipad air 2 64gb is about $700. At $700 however I'd basically rather just spend more and get the Surface Pro 3 or maybe just another convertible all together.

6) For those wondering I'm not in the US. The Galaxy Tab S 8.4 is around $420. The Nexus 9 is around $530. Asus Vivotab Note 8 is around $280. Shield Tablet is around $330. Ipad Retain Mini is around $380. These are some of the ones I'd given thought to.

7) One issue is I'd actually mainly use the tablet away from home as such I need more than 16gb of storage space to actually bring content with me. This is from personal experience having used both a 16gb and 32gb phone (basically been make doing using a phone). So basically I'd be looking at a device with either 32gb storage and/or microSD option.

 

[desura]

Get a retina mini iPad then. Or get a bay trail windows tablet. I'm really not a big fan of android, but the various nexus 7 tablets look good for your use.

 

[jacktesterson]

I have a Tab S and Tab Pro. Tab Pro is faster, and feels faster day-to-day.

Exynos Octa needs to die a quick death. It was fast when it first came out, but has been quickly outclassed by the last two iterations of Snapdragon.

I had the completely opposite experience and even had a thread here about it.

My Tab S 8.4 was noticeably faster than my Tab Pro 12.2 that I recently sold - both running the same internals and clockspeeds and both on 4.4.2

Octa is fine for CPU, its GPU where its behind.

 

[jpeyton]

I had the completely opposite experience and even had a thread here about it.

My Tab S 8.4 was noticeably faster than my Tab Pro 12.2 that I recently sold - both running the same internals and clockspeeds and both on 4.4.2

Octa is fine for CPU, its GPU where its behind.

Not sure how that is possible, with reviews showing benchmarks that have Exynos behind Snapdragon.

For my informal test, I simply tried to load a variety of webpages side by side, and Snapdragon won each time.

 

[jacktesterson]

Not sure how that is possible, with reviews showing benchmarks that have Exynos behind Snapdragon.

For my informal test, I simply tried to load a variety of webpages side by side, and Snapdragon won each time.

You must have had the Tab Pro 8.4 with the Snap 800?

I misread your comment. I was suggesting my Tab S 8.4 (with the Exynos) felt faster than the Tab Pro 12.2 I had even though both had the same CPU/GPU/OS. (The Tab Pro 12.2 also had the Exynos, not the S800 like the Tab Pro 8.4)

 

[soccerballtux]

Chrome lacks far too many features on mobile for me to bother using it.

can you explain that a bit more?
what features am I missing?

 

[desura]

So I did update the Tab S with all of the stuff you guys recommend. Yeah, it is faster now.

Still have that annoying problem with sensitive buttons on the bezel though.

And no rotation lock switch.

 

[RockinZ28]

can you explain that a bit more?
what features am I missing?

My main gripe is the lack of a forced desktop view all the time. You can request desktop after you've already wasted the time loading mobile, but still dumb. It also doesn't remember your preference on subsequent visits to the same site.

Doesn't have quick home or end virtual buttons that pop up if you scroll quickly up or down.

No built in ad remover, beneficial when I can't even root my Note 4.

No flash, although this seems difficult for any mobile browser now.

 

[arandomguy]

So I looked at the Anandtech numbers for the Tab S and it seems to outperform the Nexus 7. From my impression there hasn't been many complaints regarding the performance of the Nexus 7, so what explains this discrepancy?

The software stack? Screen resolution difference? Difference of expectations due to relative price points and/or date of release?

I'm trying to understand the issues deeper here. With say like a PC I can look at the new GTX 970/980 numbers or the new Haswell-E numbers and have context in terms of how that would actually affect my current usage and going forward. With mobile at the moment I can see the numbers and understand there is a performance difference but have almost no context in terms of how that actually affects real world usage.

Let's say start with a more specific scenario of the Nexus 9 vs Tab S in gaming (which typically highlights performance differences on the desktop). The Nexus 9 of course blows the Tab S out of the water in terms of GPU performance (and overall performance) but how is that actually affecting gaming? Are there more graphically demanding games that will simply play better (examples?) or can you turn up higher settings (examples?)?

For example with the desktop you can say a GTX 970 would give a better experience than a 750ti because it is faster enabling you to play demanding games like Crysis 3 at higher settings more fluidly. That's a very specific context to understand what the higher performance actually translates into. This also means I know that if I were only play much lower demanding games (eg. CSGO at 1080p) that I would be fine with the 750ti and not gain any real advantage.