Here’s a serious accusation that is making its way around the Internet that puts Samsung in the same company of Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun. 9to5google.com and Anandtech are accusing Samsung of rigging their flagship phone the Galaxy S4 to perform better on benchmark tests than it normally would under everyday conditions:
Essentially, Samsung has set the GPU of the Exynos 5 Octa Galaxy S4 variant to run at a higher frequency when being benchmarked than during normal, day-to-day usage. AnandTech tested this and found that Samsung sets the device to run at 533MHz during benchmarking tests, as opposed to the 480MHz during normal usage.
The same trickery also appears to be true when it comes to the CPU speed. While running the GLBenchmark 2.5.1, AnTuTu, Linpack, and Quadrant benchmarking apps, the device was set to use the Cortex A15 cores clocked at 1.2GHz. When using the GFXBench 2 app, which is apparently not subject to Samsung’s benchmark trigger, the device ran at the lower 500MHz speed.
Finally, the report also points to some interesting code within the Galaxy S4, dubbed “BenchmarkBooster” that essentially orders the device to kick up its clock speed when certain apps (read: benchmarks) are being ran.
Samsung responded to this with something that sounds almost convincing. Here’s what The Verge reported:
“[We] did not use a specific tool on purpose to achieve higher benchmark scores.”
Samsung adds that, “under normal conditions, the Galaxy S4 operates up to 533MHz at its best performance.” The Korean manufacturer says certain “full screen apps” (any app in which the status bar isn’t present) such as the camera, browser, video player, and benchmarking tools, are classified as requiring the highest performance available. Many games don’t require the maximum clock speed to run, the company notes.
I’m sorry but I don’t buy this statement. PC companies have been doing this sort of thing for years. So it’s no shock that this sort of behaviour has invaded the smartphone space. Samsung needs to come up with a much better explanation as to why they have code that is seemingly targeted only towards a specific set of conditions that few apps (mostly benchmark tests) would ever trigger. Better yet. They need to say “We’re really sorry. Here’s how we’re going to make things right.”
So, how about it Samsung?
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
This entry was posted on July 31, 2013 at 9:27 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Samsung. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Samsung Accused Of Rigging Galaxy S4 To Rock Benchmark Tests
Here’s a serious accusation that is making its way around the Internet that puts Samsung in the same company of Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun. 9to5google.com and Anandtech are accusing Samsung of rigging their flagship phone the Galaxy S4 to perform better on benchmark tests than it normally would under everyday conditions:
Essentially, Samsung has set the GPU of the Exynos 5 Octa Galaxy S4 variant to run at a higher frequency when being benchmarked than during normal, day-to-day usage. AnandTech tested this and found that Samsung sets the device to run at 533MHz during benchmarking tests, as opposed to the 480MHz during normal usage.
The same trickery also appears to be true when it comes to the CPU speed. While running the GLBenchmark 2.5.1, AnTuTu, Linpack, and Quadrant benchmarking apps, the device was set to use the Cortex A15 cores clocked at 1.2GHz. When using the GFXBench 2 app, which is apparently not subject to Samsung’s benchmark trigger, the device ran at the lower 500MHz speed.
Finally, the report also points to some interesting code within the Galaxy S4, dubbed “BenchmarkBooster” that essentially orders the device to kick up its clock speed when certain apps (read: benchmarks) are being ran.
Samsung responded to this with something that sounds almost convincing. Here’s what The Verge reported:
“[We] did not use a specific tool on purpose to achieve higher benchmark scores.”
Samsung adds that, “under normal conditions, the Galaxy S4 operates up to 533MHz at its best performance.” The Korean manufacturer says certain “full screen apps” (any app in which the status bar isn’t present) such as the camera, browser, video player, and benchmarking tools, are classified as requiring the highest performance available. Many games don’t require the maximum clock speed to run, the company notes.
I’m sorry but I don’t buy this statement. PC companies have been doing this sort of thing for years. So it’s no shock that this sort of behaviour has invaded the smartphone space. Samsung needs to come up with a much better explanation as to why they have code that is seemingly targeted only towards a specific set of conditions that few apps (mostly benchmark tests) would ever trigger. Better yet. They need to say “We’re really sorry. Here’s how we’re going to make things right.”
So, how about it Samsung?
Share this:
Like this:
Related
This entry was posted on July 31, 2013 at 9:27 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Samsung. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.