LG G2 and MSM8974 Snapdragon 800 - Mini Review
by Brian Klug on September 7, 2013 1:11 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- LG
- Mobile
- LG G2
- Android 4.2
- MSM8974
- Snapdragon 800
Battery Life
One of the things Qualcomm promised would come with Snapdragon 800 (8974) (and by extension the process improvement with 28nm HPM) was lower power consumption, especially versus Snapdragon 600 (8064). There are improvements throughout the overall Snapdragon 800 platform which help as well, newer PMIC (PM8941) and that newer modem block onboard as well, but overall platform power goes down in the lower performance states for Snapdragon 800. In addition the G2 has a few unique power saving features of its own, including display GRAM (Graphics RAM) which enables the equivalent of panel self refresh for the display. When the display is static, the G2 can run parts of the display subsystem and AP off and save power, which they purport increases the mixed use battery life case by 10 percent overall, and 26 percent compared to the actively refreshing display equivalent. In addition the G2 has a fairly sizable 3000 mAh 3.8V (11.4 watt-hour) battery which is stacked to get the most out of the rounded shape of the device, and utilizes LG's new SiO+ anode for increased energy density compared to the conventional graphite anode.
Our battery life test is unchanged, we calibrate the display to exactly 200 nits and run it through a controlled workload consisting of a dozen or so popular pages and articles with pauses in between until the device dies. This is repeated on cellular and WiFi, in this case since we have an international model of the G2 that lacks the LTE bands used in the USA, that's 3G WCDMA on AT&T's Band 2 network. I've tested 3G battery life on devices concurrently for a while now in addition to LTE though, so we still have some meaningful comparisons. The most interesting comparisons are to the Optimus G (APQ8064) and HTC One (APQ8064T) previous generation.
The LG G2 battery life is shockingly good through our tests, and in subjective use. The combination of larger battery, GRAM for panel self refresh, new HK-MG process, and changes to the architecture dramatically improve things for the G2 over the Optimus G. While running the two web browsing tests I suspected that the G2 might be my first phone call test to break 24 hours, while it doesn't break it it comes tantalizingly close at 23.5 hours. I'm very impressed with the G2 battery life.
The G2 also charges very fast for its battery size. I've been profiling charging behavior and current for devices for a while now, since I strongly believe that battery life and charging speed are complementary problems. You should always opportunistically charge your smartphone, being able to draw as much while you have access to a power outlet is critical. The G2 can negotiate a 2A charge rate on my downstream charge port controller and charges very fast in that mode. Of course the PM8941 PMIC also includes some new features that Qualcomm has given QuickCharge 2.0 branding.
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Crono - Saturday, September 7, 2013 - link
I'm surprised this qualifies as a "mini" review (even for AnandTech), but I'm impressed by the graphics performance of the G2 more than anything else. I'm just wondering if there are any applications or games yet that can take advantage on Android.fteoath64 - Saturday, September 7, 2013 - link
The graphics benchmarks put the Moto-X in a strong position een though it uses the older cores and newer Adreno 320 gpu. Granted it has only 1280X720 resolution, the overall performance is very close to the S800 with FullHD screens. This actually means that the Moto-X SoC is well optimized for it purposes. It also seems to beat the SGS4 in most graphics tests.Krysto - Saturday, September 7, 2013 - link
The test was done at 720p - for everyone - which means Moto X is beating most everyone else in GPU performance - at the same resolution. If you take the real world case, and put the others at their native 1080p resolution, then in the real world Moto X will be 2x better in gaming performance since it will push half the pixels.Also Adreno 320 is not new. Is a year old, just like the S4 Pro CPU cores. Just because S4 and HTC One used the same GPU this year, doesn't mean it's "new".
coolhardware - Saturday, September 7, 2013 - link
Pretty nice point!A question though, do any Android games render at a lower resolution and then upscale to fit native resolution?
Also, the LG G2 comes in about 6th place in top pixel density of phones
http://pixensity.com/list/phone/
and it has the largest screen of those top 6 phones... #7 Lenovo / #8 Sony are bigger though :-)
Looking forward to the final review and seeing LTE performance!
nerd1 - Saturday, September 7, 2013 - link
All the pixel density fad is apple's clever ploy to conceal their small screen. Resolution / size = density, so smaller screen will get higher dpi. However, it is quite obvious that if resolution is the same, larger screen is much easier on eye.FwFred - Saturday, September 7, 2013 - link
Agreed, we are well into the point of diminishing returns with PPI on high end smartphones. I'd imagine we are getting to the point where we are wasting power/performance for spec chasing.theduckofdeath - Sunday, September 8, 2013 - link
RR3 doesn't render in 1080p on the GS 4, I can clearly see pixelation in the 3D parts. I guess it might be because they're perhaps lazy in utilizing multi-core hardware? Because the game lags considerably when there are a lot of AI cars in front of you.warisz00r - Saturday, September 7, 2013 - link
If the next Nexus phone is indeed based on this, then color me very stoked.Panickd - Sunday, September 8, 2013 - link
Maybe loosely "based on". According to the FCC paperwork the Nexus 5 has a display of roughly 4.96 inches to the G2's 5.2 inches. Looking at the pictures the camera is also in a different place on both as well. Not huge differences, mind you, but seems like a lot of work going into making them different if they are indeed based on the same general design.I would plunk down for a G2 in a heartbeat if LG didn't have such a shoddy support and update record for their phones. I currently own an old G2x and am currently scanning around for it's successor. I'll have to wait to see what the Nexus 5 really turns out to be, I suppose.
Impulses - Sunday, September 8, 2013 - link
I'd take the smaller display and battery if it comes with a slightly better looking/feeling build (more Moto X and less Galaxy S).