Samsung Galaxy Note Edge review: The other side

Performance

The Samsung Galaxy Note Edge is powered by a Snapdragon 805 chipset - four Krait 450 cores join an Adreno 420 GPU and 3GB of RAM. They are needed too, since there are rich multitasking options and plenty of screen pixels.

Raw CPU performance is unbeatable among phablet-sized (and smaller) devices, it's even better than a similarly equipped Galaxy Note 4 according to GeekBench 3. AnTuTu 5 isn't quite as impressed but keep in mind that it includes graphics tests and the Galaxy Note Edge has slightly more pixels than the Note 4 (more on that in a bit).

GeekBench 3

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
  3287
• Motorola Nexus 6
  3285
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  3011
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  2925
• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  2884
• LG G3 - EU version
  2563

AnTuTu 5

Higher is better

• Motorola Nexus 6
  49803
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  46824
• Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
  44258
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  43164
• LG G3 - EU version
  39905

Basemark OS II gives the lead to the Nexus 6 with the Galaxy Note Edge behind it. Keep in mind that the Nexus runs Android 5.0 Lollipop, which may prove to be an advantage - we won't know for sure until the Note Edge gets updated.

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• Motorola Nexus 6
  1509
• Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
  1260
• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  1222
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  1181
• LG G3 - EU version
  1126
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  1082

AnTuTu reported that the screen resolution is 2,560 x 1,532px. QHD measures 2,560 x 1,440px - exactly four times 720p - but the Galaxy Note Edge has an extra 160px strip on the right that makes up the Edge screen and it seems part of that is used for the main screen too.

Anyway, off-screen performance at a standardized 1080p resolution shows the Adreno 420 GPU is among the fastest of the current generation.

When it comes to on-screen performance the pixel-rich screen does slow things down tangibly. You still get a lot more from the Galaxy Note Edge than from Adreno 330 devices (Snapdragon 801) even ones with lower resolution like the 1080p Galaxy S5.

Still, game developers might consider rendering at a lower internal resolution (say, 1080p) and upscaling the result, which will allow them to add more effects. Also keep in mind that benchmarks are always tougher than contemporary games.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  44.6
• Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
  42.4
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  41.7
• Motorola Nexus 6
  38.9
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  27.8
• LG G3 - EU version
  27.2

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Motorola Nexus 6
  18.6
• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  18.6
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  18.5
• Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
  18.3
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  11.8
• LG G3 - EU version
  11.4

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  28.1
• Motorola Nexus 6
  27.4
• Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
  26.5
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  26.4
• LG G3 - EU version
  20.5

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Motorola Nexus 6
  11.9
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  11.7
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  11.2
• Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
  9.9
• LG G3 - EU version
  7.2

Basemark X places the Galaxy Note Edge slightly behind the Galaxy Note 4.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Motorola Nexus 6
  20901
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  18684
• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  18297
• Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
  17108
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  11744
• LG G3 - EU version
  11552

Great CPU performance usually means good JavaScript speed, but browsers can't reach the top without a specially tuned JS engine. Apple and Samsung are known to do it (so we used the Internet app instead of Google's Chrome). Kraken 1.1 shows Apple still has the lead but the Galaxy Note Edge is among the best-performing Androids.

Kraken 1.1

Lower is better

• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  4650
• Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
  5109
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  5351
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  6043
• Motorola Nexus 6
  6088
• LG G3 - EU version
  6987

Web page rendering is again slowed down by the resolution - QHD has nearly 80% more pixels than 1080p (like the iPhone 6 Plus screen) and the Galaxy Note Edge goes a bit over QHD as we saw in the game section.

BrowserMark 2.1

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  3389
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  2208
• Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
  2056
• LG G3 - EU version
  1474
• Motorola Nexus 6
  1447
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  1398

We used the specialized versions of Basemark X and Basemark OS II to find if the Samsung Galaxy Note Edge cheats. We didn't find a significant difference in the results but we did notice the Note Edge is susceptible to heat - its performance drops when it gets hot. That's a common problem for high-power devices though.