The HTC Butterfly runs one of the top setups among flagship droids - a Qualcomm S4 Pro chip with four Krait cores clocked at 1.5 GHz, 2 gigs of RAM and the Adreno 320 graphics processor. In other words it matches the Nexus 4, Xperia Z, Oppo Find 5, and DROID DNA.
Initially, we were really impressed by the Oppo Find 5, until the Xperia Z managed to blow it out of the water. So the HTC Butterfly has a tall task entering the competition. Unfortunately, Quadrant and GLBenchmark reported errors and were taken out of the running.
We'll start you off with BenchmarkPi which tests calculations per core. In theory the Krait cores are the best in the business right now (until those Cortex-A15s start flaunting their stuff in a few months) and should post impressive scores.
The HTC Butterfly was 2 points short of a record here - but that one belongs to the Xperia Z.
Lower is better
Linpack also tests calculations per second, but unlike the single-thread-focused BenchmarkPi, it tests multi-threaded performance. Here, the Butterfly was second only to the Xperia Z, again. But only just.
Higher is better
AnTuTu is a compound benchmark which means it tests just about everything it can. Here the Butterfly didn't post an impressive result. It's lower than the significantly underpowered One X+.
Higher is better
We land on the first real GPU-based benchmark Epic Citadel. It's based on the Unreal engine and really stresses the graphics chip to its limit. Here, the Butterfly managed to match the current champion Sony Xperia Z, which is normal considering that both devices run on the same GPU. At 55.6 frames per second average you can bet that things run as smooth as silk.
Higher is better
Another compound benchmark, Geekbench 2, lets us see how the most powerful droids compare to Apple's finest. The HTC Butterfly was slightly behind the Xperia Z and way in front of the iPhone 5 and slightly in front the likes of the Optimus G and Galaxy S III.
Higher is better
When it comes to JavaScript performance it's no secret that manufacturers tend to "coach" their devices to perform better. Here the Butterfly was second to last, beating only the Xperia Z which also got a horrid result.
On BrowserMark 2, however, the HTC flagship managed to beat everyone else, except for the LG Optimus G.
Finally Vellamo, which like BrowserMark 2 is primarily HTML5-based, showed the HTC Butterfly as an above average contender - although not the best.
Lower is better
Higher is better
Higher is better
We expected the HTC Butterfly to rip the competition apart and perform among the lines of the Xperia Z. And the results did not disappoint for the most part, save for the unfortunate lack of GLBenchmark and Quadrant scores. However the Sony flagship was able to ultimately notch the victory in its favor.
We should point out that Sense UI is among the heaviest launchers available and at times the phone struggles to perform glitch-free. That being said, Project Butter has really improved navigation and animations are smooth throughout the OS, with any stutter associated with Sense only just noticeable. Pages load quickly, graphics are stellar, placing and removing widgets is done in a heartbeat and no matter how many apps are running, the HTC Butterfly doesn't seem to ever deplete its available RAM.
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