Which one is "faster" ? Nexus 7, iPad 4 or Nexus 10?

dagamer34

Platinum Member
Aug 15, 2005
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Faster at what?

Raw GPU power, iPad 4 wins. Raw CPU power, iPad 4 and Nexus 10 likely go toe to toe. Problem is that it makes no sense to compare the raw hardware capabilities of an iOS and Android device because if you like iOS, you don't get to pick your hardware.


And the Nexus 7 has a relatively outdated Tegra 3 chip. It's cheap. Thats it.
 

lopri

Elite Member
Jul 27, 2002
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And Microsoft's Surface took that outdated chip and crippled it some more. It's the most expensive of the bunch. That's it. XD

(Whoops, sorry I didn't notice that OP hadn't included Surface into the mix)
 

Ravynmagi

Diamond Member
Jun 16, 2007
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The Nexus 10 has the fastest CPU. iPad 4 has the fastest GPU. Overall though I'd imagine the iPad 4 probably has the fastest feeling experience. Benchmarks alone don't always paint the entire picture.
 

bearxor

Diamond Member
Jul 8, 2001
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Yeah, that's what I was thinking. On paper, the N10 will have the fastest CPU. The N7/iPad 4 should be fairly close in raw CPU power, with the two extra cores in the N7 leveling out any CPU advantage the iPad 4 has.

But the GPU in the iPad 4 is way better than Tegra 3, and still a bit better than the T604. Even the 543MP3 in the iPhone 5 pulls ahead of it a bit.
 

TuxDave

Lifer
Oct 8, 2002
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I'm glad to see these answers. It's good to see that the internet finally graduated from looking only at hardware specs to determine the best device.
 

PowerYoga

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Nov 6, 2001
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these are slightly different in dimensions as well, aren't they? I thought nexus 7 is smaller than an ipad.
 

dagamer34

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Aug 15, 2005
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The Nexus 10 has the fastest CPU. iPad 4 has the fastest GPU. Overall though I'd imagine the iPad 4 probably has the fastest feeling experience. Benchmarks alone don't always paint the entire picture.

Would you like to back up that statement with some facts? I didn't say that because AnandTech doesn't have a review of the Nexus 10, and I automatically ignore any and all browser benchmarks because of how Javascript dependent they are. The Surface RT gets better SunSpider scores than the Nexus 10, which makes that test invalid in my eyes for comparing CPUs (perfectly fine for comparing browsers though, but it just shows you how terribly unoptimized Chrome for Android is).
 

bearxor

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Jul 8, 2001
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The N7 has a Tegra 3, which is a standard A9 implementation. The iPad 4 with the A6X has a custom and optimized implementation somewhere inbetween an A9 processor and an A15 processor. The Nexus 10 has a full out A15-based processor. It has a deeper pipeline with more optimized cores and higher clock speed potential.

On paper, the A15 in the N10 should be faster.
 
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cyclistca

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Dec 5, 2000
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The iPad 4 is the heaviest so I would say it's the fastest if you were to drop all three of them.
 

MrX8503

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2005
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On paper the N10 has a faster CPU, while the ipad4 has a faster GPU.

The iPad 4 is the heaviest so I would say it's the fastest if you were to drop all three of them.

A 500lb ball falls at the same rate as a 5lb ball.
 

Bateluer

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
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The N4 has a Tegra 3, which is a standard A9 implementation. The iPad 4 with the A6X has a custom and optimized implementation somewhere inbetween an A9 processor and an A15 processor. The Nexus 10 has a full out A15-based processor. It has a deeper pipeline with more optimized cores and higher clock speed potential.

On paper, the A15 in the N10 should be faster.

Nexus 4 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro, not a Tegra 3. The S4s are also not standard Cortex A9 designs, and borrow many design implementations from A15s as well as Qualcomm's own tech.
 

bearxor

Diamond Member
Jul 8, 2001
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Nexus 4 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro, not a Tegra 3. The S4s are also not standard Cortex A9 designs, and borrow many design implementations from A15s as well as Qualcomm's own tech.

That's my bad. It's supposed to say N7, not N4. The N4 isn't even in this conversation. I changed it so it makes sense now

And I'm pretty sure cyclistca was being sarcastic, guys.
 

Sephire

Golden Member
Feb 9, 2011
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The iPad 4 is the heaviest so I would say it's the fastest if you were to drop all three of them.

1305865316_cute_girls_reaction.gif
 

Bateluer

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
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That's my bad. It's supposed to say N7, not N4. The N4 isn't even in this conversation. I changed it so it makes sense now

Noted. :p

Thought the quad core S4 Pro in the N4 was pretty well documented and known. :)
 

phucheneh

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Jun 30, 2012
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This chick is down with Galileo.

But really, in a mobile device often used for internet access and limited by the speed of its connection...does speed really matter very much? I've been seeing these commercials for 'quad core' phones and whatnot and have just found it kind of amusing. I don't even have a quad core PC, and it's ridiculously faster than any mobile device, buzzwords be damned.
 

BrightCandle

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Mar 15, 2007
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I find the N7 is too slow. Web browsing is mostly usable but there are certainly times in basic web browsing where the scrolling drops below an acceptable frame rate. I get similar issues with certain videos where say its decoding water and all of a sudden the GPU can't keep up and the video becomes unwatchable until the water is gone. Happens sometimes with crazy hair as well. I can notice the frame rate isn't perfect just on the home screen swipes as well.

In games I actually find it runs pretty smooth, but graphically its not very impressive compared to a PC, no surprises there.

So we do need faster hardware IMO, or to turn the effects down a little so its a smoother experience. But right now I would a N7 is just about usable, but far from smooth.
 

Pr0d1gy

Diamond Member
Jan 30, 2005
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Someone points out the N10 CPU and all the Apple loons come out of the woodwork....lmao

This is the new ATi v NVidia forum, I see.

FWIW, I have zero slowdown on the 3 N7's we have. Just sayin.
 

BrightCandle

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Mar 15, 2007
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FWIW, I have zero slowdown on the 3 N7's we have. Just sayin.

I will be blunt, that means you don't know what you don't know. I am used to very high performance parts, I am the first person here to call out the microstutter on the 7000 series, a year ago. I am certain there are slow downs on the N7 I see them all the time. If you don't see them your tolerance for low fps is very good indeed or you are trolling. But that does not mean they aren't there, they most certainly are.

However having never owned an iPad I can't tell you if its better in this regard or not. I suspect based on the hardware it likely isn't but maybe iOS has less overdraw and that produces better performance, but since they both use WebKit for their browser I think its fair to assume they will perform quite similar with similar processors.
 

Fire&Blood

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Jan 13, 2009
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I had the ipad2 here for the first few weeks of owning N10. In mundane and "easy" tasks, it appeared faster than the N10 but was destroyed in SoC intensive tasks. Also the N10 wows every once in a while, Exynos 5 is desktop like for the brief moments it's isn't held down by software environment. All usage scenarios combined, ipad has the higher average and stable FPS whereas N10 is all over the place.