Asus PadFone X review: Like no other

Synthetic benchmarks

The Asus PadFone X is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset with 2.3GHz quad-core Krait 400 CPU. The GPU is Adreno 330, while 2 gigs of RAM ensure smooth operation at all times.

The PadFone X doesn't feature the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 SoC as most of the high-end Android devices do these days, but this is hardly a deal breaker in our book. After all, the 801 is essentially a version of the Snapdragon 800 with slightly higher GPU and memory frequencies.

GeekBench 3 and AnTuTu 4 are all-round benchmarks that test the entirety of the hardware build. The Asus PadFone X posted flagship-worthy results on both occasions.

GeekBench 3

Higher is better is better

• Oppo Find 7
  3178
• Oppo Find 7a
  3093
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  3011
• Sony Xperia Z2
  2856
• Alcatel Idol X+
  2842
• LG G Pro 2
  2585
• LG G3 - EU version
  2563
• Asus PadFone X
  2514
• LG Nexus 5
  2453
• HTC One (M8)
  2367
• LG G2
  2243
• Huawei Ascend P7
  1895

AnTuTu 4

Higher is better is better

• Oppo Find 7
  38484
• HTC One (M8)
  37009
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  36018
• Asus PadFone X
  35909
• LG G2
  35444
• Oppo Find 7a
  33344
• Sony Xperia Z2
  33182
• LG G3 - EU version
  32780
• Alcatel Idol X+
  31717
• LG G Pro 2
  29603
• Huawei Ascend P7
  25812
• LG Nexus 5
  25097

Next up we have the Adreno 330 GPU put to the test with GFXBench's 2.7 T-Rex and 3.0 Manhattan. Once again the handset showcased similar performance as the heavy hitters in the Android realm.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better is better

• HTC One (M8)
  28.4
• Oppo Find 7a
  28.4
• Asus PadFone X
  28.1
• Oppo Find 7
  28
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  27.8
• Sony Xperia Z2
  27.2
• LG G3 - EU version
  27.2
• LG Nexus 5
  23
• LG G Pro 2
  22.9
• LG G2
  22
• Huawei Ascend P7
  12.3
• Alcatel Idol X+
  10.9

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)

Higher is better is better

• Asus PadFone X
  30.1
• HTC One (M8)
  30.1
• Oppo Find 7a
  28.8
• Sony Xperia Z2
  28.7
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  28.1
• LG G Pro 2
  24.1
• LG Nexus 5
  24
• LG G2
  23.1
• LG G3 - EU version
  20.5
• Oppo Find 7
  19.9
• Huawei Ascend P7
  12.4
• Alcatel Idol X+
  10.6

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better is better

• Asus PadFone X
  11.9
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  11.8
• Sony Xperia Z2
  11.7
• Oppo Find 7a
  11.4
• LG G3 - EU version
  11.4
• HTC One (M8)
  11.1
• Oppo Find 7
  11.1
• LG G Pro 2
  8.7

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better is better

• Asus PadFone X
  12.8
• Sony Xperia Z2
  12.2
• HTC One (M8)
  11.9
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  11.7
• Oppo Find 7a
  11.4
• LG G Pro 2
  9.2
• LG G3 - EU version
  7.2
• Oppo Find 7
  6.7

BrowserMark 2.1 looks at HTML 5 performance, while Mozilla's Kraken 1.1 is JavaScript-centric. The Asus PadFone X did fine on both occasions, but didn't shatter any records.

BrowserMark 2.1

Higher is better is better

• LG G3 - EU version
  1474
• Oppo Find 7
  1452
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  1398
• LG G Pro 2
  1346
• Oppo Find 7a
  1327
• LG Nexus 5
  1286
• Sony Xperia Z2
  1224
• HTC One (M8)
  1069
• Asus PadFone X
  1035

Kraken 1.1

Lower is better is better

• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  6043
• Oppo Find 7
  6363
• LG G Pro 2
  6578
• Oppo Find 7a
  6660
• LG G3 - EU version
  6987
• Sony Xperia Z2
  7041
• LG Nexus 5
  7148
• Asus PadFone X
  7867
• HTC One (M8)
  10296

Basemark X is designed to put the Adreno 330 GPU to the test by throwing a heavy load of graphics to render. The PadFone X bested the likes of LG G3 and Samsung Galaxy S5, and came slightly short from topping the HTC One (M8).

Things change considerably in the anti-cheat version of the benchmark. On this instance, the PadFone X didn't post such impressive numbers and came in last among the other high-end devices we tested.

Basemark X

Higher is better is better

• Oppo Find 7
  14968
• HTC One (M8)
  12396
• Asus PadFone X
  12213
• LG G3 - EU version
  11552
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  10660
• Asus PadFone X (anti-cheat)
  8143

Basemark OS II tests the overall CPU performance. Again, we witness a score that is typical for a high-end device. The anti-cheat version however, showcased a slightly lower result by the device.

Basemark OS II

Higher is better is better

• Asus PadFone X
  1306
• Oppo Find 7
  1212
• LG G Pro 2
  1140
• HTC One (M8)
  1126
• LG G3 - EU version
  1126
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  1082
• Sony Xperia Z2
  1080
• Oppo Find 7a
  1057
• Asus PadFone X (anti-cheat)
  766

Basemark OS II (single-core)

Higher is better is better

• Oppo Find 7
  2606
• Oppo Find 7a
  2580
• Asus PadFone X
  2549
• HTC One (M8)
  2428
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  2415
• LG G Pro 2
  2401
• Sony Xperia Z2
  2253
• Asus PadFone X (anti-cheat)
  2227
• LG G3 - EU version
  2213

Basemark OS II (multi-core)

Higher is better is better

• Oppo Find 7
  10391
• Oppo Find 7a
  10256
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  10063
• Asus PadFone X
  10046
• Sony Xperia Z2
  10044
• HTC One (M8)
  9860
• LG G Pro 2
  9802
• LG G3 - EU version
  9611
• Asus PadFone X (anti-cheat)
  6657

The real-life performance of the Asus PadFone X was as stellar as we expected. The handset ran every app and task we threw at it with no hiccups.