Performance: Snapdragon 800 Strikes Once again

Internally, the LG G2 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 MSM8974 SoC, which features a 2.three GHz quad-core Krait 400 CPU, a 450 MHz Adreno 330 GPU, LPDDR3 memory controller, QDSP6V5A Hexagon digital point processor (DSP) at 600 MHz, and a range of connectivity features including LTE and Wi-Fi 802.11ac.

My first experience with the Snapdragon 800 was in the Sony Xperia Z Ultra, and there'south not much difference between the Ultra and the G2 in terms of operation. Both systems feature the Snapdragon 800 with the aforementioned clock speed (two.26 GHz), and the aforementioned amount of RAM (2 GB), so later on when we get to the benchmarking section, the devices should annals the same functioning.

When using the device for basic tasks, it's clear that the LG G2 is powered by 1 of the speediest ARM-based fries y'all can get. I'1000 still amazed past just how fast multi-tasking is on this device, with apps resuming and loading in a fraction of a 2nd; faster than I've seen on any non-Snapdragon 800 handset. Swiping through the Os, manipulating high-resolution images, and loading the camera is also blazing fast, making every aspect of this device truly at the touch of a finger.

Web browsing is the fastest I've seen on the G2. You tin can open up upwardly ten tabs, browse between them with ease, pan in and out of chemical element-heavy webpages, and there will exist no noticeable hit to system performance. Only when the webpages are laden with images does the G2'southward browser seem to suffer, which is good news as well-nigh websites don't fall into this category, then whether you choose to browse mobile or desktop sites, the G2 has enough speed backside it to power through these tasks.

The G2 is also a suitable gaming device, thanks to its relatively spacious v.ii-inch display, portable body and powerful internals. The Adreno 330 GPU, which is used for the commencement time in the Snapdragon 800 SoC, is relatively new to the mobile market, and its power has yet to exist fully harnessed by game developers. This ways whatsoever game you throw at the G2 volition have no trouble existence run fluidly, even intense games such as Grand Theft Motorcar: Vice City and Existent Racing 3.

For what it's worth, the Snapdragon 800'south QDSP6V5A DSP and Krait 400 CPU cores are capable of decoding 4K video with very fiddling try, providing the kickoff fluid 4K video decoding I've seen on a mobile device. Ultra Hd content is still relatively rare today, but in the next few years this will be a key aspect of handset functioning. Plus, perfect decoding of 4K content means the device has no problem decoding 1080p videos, and it likely does and so at a lower clock speed than less powerful Snapdragon SoCs.

Before we get into the benchmarking section of this review, it's crucial nosotros point out that the LG G2 cheats at benchmarks. By adulterous, we mean there is specific code included in the device's OS that sets the CPU clock speed to two.3 GHz as shortly as specific benchmarks are run. The code only affects benchmarks, potentially altering the scores that are output, and providing no 'real world' gains. Out of the benchmarks we run, the LG G2 only tries to cheat in ane (Vellamo), so our results shouldn't be altered a corking deal.

In Futuremark's Peacekeeper examination, which is run in the stock Android browser, the G2 performs on-par with the Xperia Z Ultra (also a Snapdragon 800 device), and comes in fifteen% faster than the HTC 1, a Snapdragon 600 device. It notwithstanding falls backside the iPhone 5, which is a highly browser-optimized device.

Here we've run Qualcomm's Vellamo benchmark, both in the HTML5 examination and, for the first time, the Metal test. Here the G2 is over again on par with the Xperia Z Ultra despite the fact it cheats in this benchmark. Compared to the Snapdragon 600 SoC, the G2'southward Snapdragon 800 is 21% faster in the HTML5 test, and 53% faster at the Metal test. The Metal benchmark tests more than aspects of the device, including memory and storage performance, then the G2 might have a more pronounced reward in these areas.

In GFXBench we ran both the Egypt and T-Male monarch benchmarks, where the G2's Adreno 330 GPU came in effectually l% faster than the Adreno 320. Interestingly, the G2 was 8% slower than the Xperia Z Ultra (which has the same GPU) in the Egypt examination, which could be due to different thermal and power restrictions for each device. The Ultra and G2 scored effectively the aforementioned in the T-Rex examination.

Starting with the LG G2 review we're adding 3DMark to our benchmark cycle, a GPU examination focused on 3D rendering and physics. In the Ice Storm Extreme criterion, the Adreno 330 recorded a 29% operation reward over the Adreno 320, with the lead extended to 62.5% over the Milky way S4 i9500's PowerVR SGX544MP3.

With the G2 we've also started to benchmark the internal storage operation of mobile devices, every bit flash performance can affect the loading times in games, every bit well as the speeds at which y'all can re-create music, movies and photos to and from the device. Compared to the well-performing Samsung Galaxy S4, the LG G2 carries write speeds of 22 MB/due south and read speeds of nineteen MB/s, when copying big (1 GB+) files.

Speaking of storage, the G2 comes in two storage variants – 16 GB and 32 GB – which can't be expanded through microSD cards. I accept the more abundant 32 GB model with me for review, and with 24 GB of usable space I plant the G2's storage to exist acceptable. Of course I would like for all phones to have expandable storage, but at least this device without a microSD menu slot has enough storage for a decent selection of music and a few games.

Another interesting specification that is listed on LG's website is support for 24bit, 192 kHz audio. This is great news for FLAC and lossless audio lovers, although the boilerplate MP3 user won't observe any deviation. In my testing I found the G2's audio output through the headphone jack to be ordinary, falling backside the allegiance and quality I've experienced on devices such as the Lumia 925 and HTC 1. That's not to say the experience is bad, because it's certainly improve than some cheapo phones I've used, but information technology's not quite every bit good as other flagships I've used recently.

Overall, the LG G2 will provide anyone who buys the device with top-notch performance, thanks to the powerful 2.3 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC that is more than capable of crushing tasks you lot throw at information technology. Even when rendering games at 1920 ten 1080, the Adreno 330 is a capable GPU, and the Hexagon DSP alongside dedicated multimedia processors complement the package with low-power audio processing and 4K video decoding.