It took a while, but AT&T finally has an Android phone that can play with the big boys. While it certainly has it’s faults, it also has things that it does extremely well. We posted our unboxing and first impressions of this Galaxy S-based phone a few days ago, so that should get you caught up with the basics of the device, so let’s get in depth:
Now obviously the one thing we didn’t cover in the video was benchmarks, so let’s address that shall we? First up on the benchmark block is Google’s V8 Benchmark version 5. This test benchmarks a devices JavaScript performance, mainly while web browsing. One thing that I should point out is that the Nexus One that Captivate was compared to was running Android 2.2, while the Captivate was stuck with Android 2.1. Now some people may say “Oh that’s not fair” but it is. If you buy a Nexus One right now, it will come with Froyo. If you buy any Galaxy S based phone right now, you get Android 2.1. So thats how the cards are dealt, and that’s why it’s perfectly acceptable.
So obviously, this was a landslide victory for the N1. If you do a little snooping around the web you’ll find that pre-Froyo, the N1 was getting scores in the low-60′s. So to say that Froyo has a few performance increases is an understatement. Next up, BenchmarkPi.
BenchmarkPi calculates Pi, so it’s all about CPU power, plain and simple. Since both phones are packing heat in the form of 1GHz CPU’s, you’d think this would be a fair fight, but it’s not. Our little Hummingbird is no match for the Snapdragon and Froyo:
For our last CPU test, we have Linpack. The Linpack Score relies heavily on CPU performance and how it handles some of the interactions with the Dalvik VM in Android:
So there you have it, the Nexus One and Froyo won all the CPU benchmarks. This does not make the Captivate a loser though, as all Galaxy S devices are slated to get Froyo, so once they do, these benchmarks will have to be revisited.
Now for our final and last benchmark, we’ll get to what this phone screams at, 3D graphics. The GPU on the AT&T Captivate is simply amazing. Every game or video I threw at it, it chewed up and spit right back out. Just take a look at the trouncing it gave the Nexus One in the NeoCore benchmark, which is all about 3D acceleration:
While a 27 FPS difference may not seem like a lot, it’s the difference between laggy, choppy video and nearly smooth as silk video. And that is exactly what you get on the Captivate, pure video bliss.
Next up is NenaMark1. NenaMark1 is an Android 2.0 benchmark/demo of OpenGL ES 2.0, using programmable shaders for graphical effects such as reflections, dynamic shadows, parametric surfaces, particles and different light models to push the GPU to its limits.
Again, the Captivate spanks the Nexus One in anything GPU-releated.
Finally, the last benchmark we have is GLBenchmark 1.1.4. We ran two different instances of GLBenchmark, PRO ES 1.1 as well as HD ES 1.1. Take a look at the results:
So as you can see, in ANY GPU benchmark, the Captivate (and all Galaxy S phones) simply walk away from the Nexus One.
Now in my opinion, the biggest let down on this device is the camera. With the great pictures being taken by the Droid X, they simply fell short here. At the very least, they should have included a flash like some of the other Galaxy S phones on other carriers are getting. If you want to see the kind of photo’s and 720p video that the Captivate produces, then take a look for yourself.
Well boys and girls, that will about do it for our review of the AT&T Samsung Captivate, we hope you enjoyed it and thanks for reading.
An original article by Scott Young
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