Samsung Ativ SE review: Under the radar

Benchmarks and performance

Samsung Ativ SE is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset with 2.3GHz quad-core CPU. The GPU is Adreno 330, while two gigs of RAM ensure that everything runs smoothly.

We had a few Lumia phones around for our performance test - the Lumia 630 with final WP8.1 version, Lumia 720, Lumia 1020 and Lumia 1520. We ran each benchmark on Windows Phone 8 with GDR3 and Nokia Black updates, and then we updated all three older devices (720, 1020, 1520) to the latest Windows Phone 8.1 Developer's Preview.

The first test measures the single-core performance by calculating the Number Pi. The Samsung Ativ SE did slightly better than the previously best Nokia Lumia 1520.

Pi Benchmark

Lower is better

• Samsung Ativ SE
  142
• Nokia Lumia 1520 (WP8.1)
  146
• Nokia Lumia 1520 (WP8.0)
  146
• Nokia Lumia 1020 (WP8.1)
  215
• Nokia Lumia 1020 (WP8.0)
  215
• Nokia Lumia 720 (WP8.1)
  336
• Nokia Lumia 720 (WP8.0)
  336
• Nokia Lumia 630 (WP8.1)
  699

Antutu was a similar story. The smartphone topped the charts here as well.

AnTuTu

Higher is better

• Samsung Ativ SE
  26117
• Nokia Lumia 1520 (WP8.1)
  25659
• Nokia Lumia 1520 (WP8.0)
  24797
• Nokia Lumia 1020 (WP8.0)
  12064
• Nokia Lumia 630 (WP8.1)
  12035
• Nokia Lumia 1020 (WP8.1)
  11567
• Nokia Lumia 720 (WP8.1)
  7135
• Nokia Lumia 720 (WP8.0)
  7319

We used the popular cross-platform BaseMark OS II compound benchmark. The Samsung Ativ SE came right behind the Nokia Lumia 1520 with Windows Phone 8.1 on board.

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• Nokia Lumia 1520 (WP8.1)
  1116
• Samsung Ativ SE
  1058
• Nokia Lumia 1520 (WP8.0)
  1012
• Nokia Lumia 1020 (WP8.1)
  526
• Nokia Lumia 1020 (WP8.0)
  495
• Nokia Lumia 630 (WP8.1)
  465
• Nokia Lumia 720 (WP8.1)
  332
• Nokia Lumia 720 (WP8.0)
  319

SunSpider measures the JavaScript rendering performance of the web browser. Once again, the Samsung Ativ SE topped the chart of Windows Phone devices we've tested this far.

SunSpider 1.0.2

Lower is better

• Samsung Ativ SE
  505
• Nokia Lumia 1520 (WP8.1)
  514
• Nokia Lumia 1520 (WP8.0)
  543
• Nokia Lumia 1020 (WP8.1)
  912
• Nokia Lumia 1020 (WP8.0)
  965
• Nokia Lumia 720 (WP8.0)
  1430
• Nokia Lumia 630 (WP8.1)
  1448
• Nokia Lumia 720 (WP8.1)
  1756

The HTML 5 test saw the smartphone drop behind the bunch of Windows Phone 8.1 device we tested. It is clear that its browser is no match for Internet Explorer 11.

HTML 5 Test

Higher is better

• Nokia Lumia 1520 (WP8.1)
  372
• Nokia Lumia 1020 (WP8.1)
  368
• Nokia Lumia 720 (WP8.1)
  368
• Nokia Lumia 630 (WP8.1)
  368
• Samsung Ativ SE
  332
• Nokia Lumia 1520 (WP8.0)
  328
• Nokia Lumia 1020 (WP8.0)
  328
• Nokia Lumia 720 (WP8.0)
  328

Overall, the Samsung Ativ SE proved to be the performance powerhouse we expected it to be, thanks to its hardware. A further small jump in performance is expected once Windows Phone 8.1 arrives.