Samsung Galaxy Tab Review – Android takes on the iPad

Performance Testing – GPU Benchmarks and Conclusions

 Neocore


The Neocore Benchmark from Adreno Graphics (Qualcomm) is an OpenGL-ES 1.1 test, which measures GPU performance. In this test, we also see some more advanced graphical features, such as 1-pass light maps and bump mapping.


Even though we may expect this test to be tuned more towards the Adreno graphics cores in Snapdragon SoCs, the PowerVR GPU in the Hummingbid core and TI OMAP (Droid X) outperforms the Qualcomm solution across the board. Also interesting, is that even though the Galaxy Tab is driving twice as many pixels, it has a very similar score to the Epic 4G (A Galaxy S phone) with similar hardware.

NenaMark

Similar to Neocore, NenaMark is an OpenGL-ES 2.0 benchmark, using shaders for graphical effects such as reflections, dynamic shadows, parametric surfaces, particles and different light models.

 
With NenaMark, the resolution difference between the Galaxy Tab and Galaxy S becomes more evident, but the PowerVR GPU still seems to victor over the Qualcomm Adreno core option.


Conclusions

Overall, I have been very impressed with both the form factor, and performance of the Samsung Galaxy Tab. With a more portable, but still very expansive 7” screen, at a similar resolution to the 10” iPad, it provides more room for applications and an overall more usable Android experience.


The real test for the Android tablet market will be in the upcoming months, with the pending release of Android 3.0 (Honeycomb).  Honeycomb features an all new tablet-redesigned interface. This, as well as the dual core processors, such as the Tegra 2 platform, and other ARM A9 Dual Core options, should refresh the tablet market, and keep it interesting for the forseeable future.