Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo review: Size me up

Synthetic benchmarks

Samsung has, by and large, turned to Broadcom for many of their recent entry-level and midrange devices, and the Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo in no exception. It's powered by a quad-core 1.2GHz Broadcom BCM23550 chip, and is the first time we've seen a Broadcom chip in a quad-core configuration.

The Galaxy Grand Neo quad-core chipset utilizes Cortex-A7 cores. BenchmarkPi tests the individual core performance so having four of them brings no extra points. In this test, the original Galaxy Grand fares better than the newcomer as it has a dual-core chipset, which is based on Cortex-A9 cores rather than Cortex-A7s.

Benchmark Pi

Lower is better

• Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
  166
• Sony Xperia Z
  264
• HTC Butterfly
  266
• Oppo Find 5
  267
• HTC One X+
  280
• LG Optimus G
  285
• HTC One mini
  293
• Samsung Galaxy Express
  346
• Sony Xperia M
  400
• Samsung Galaxy Grand
  408
• Samsung Galaxy S II Plus
  409
• Sony Xperia L
  435
• Samsung Galaxy S III mini
  499
• Samsung Galaxy Ace 3
  519
• Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo
  525
• Sony Xperia go
  543
• HTC Desire 600 dual sim
  554
• Samsung Galaxy Core
  578
• HTC Desire X
  639
• Sony Xperia E dual
  800
• Samsung Galaxy Young
  831

Linpack

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S4
  788
• HTC One
  646
• Sony Xperia Z
  630
• HTC Butterfly
  624
• LG Optimus G
  608
• Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
  413
• Sony Xperia SP
  348
• HTC One mini
  320
• Nexus 4
  213
• Sony Xperia L
  191
• HTC One X+
  177
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  175
• Sony Xperia M
  168
• HTC One X
  160
• LG Optimus 4X HD
  141
• Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo
  113
• HTC Desire 600 dual sim
  108
• Samsung Galaxy Core
  85
• Samsung Galaxy Ace 3
  68

Geekbench 3 factors in memory performance into the equation. Here the Grand Neo did not stack up well against the competition, but you have got to remember it runs against mostly flagship-grade devices.

Geekbench 3

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  2937
• Sony Xperia Z Ultra
  2670
• Sony Xperia Z1
  2638
• Apple iPhone 5s
  2561
• LG Nexus 5
  2453
• LG G2
  2243
• HTC One
  1972
• HTC One Max
  1899
• Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
  1869
• LG Optimus G
  1623
• Meizu MX3
  1579
• Huawei Ascend P6
  1315
• LG Nexus 4
  1288
• HTC Butterfly
  1257
• Oppo R819
  1047
• Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo
  1041
• HTC One mini
  887
• Samsung Galaxy Ace 3
  564

In Quadrant, a compound benchmarks, which takes into account not only CPU performance, but also memory and GPU, the Galaxy Grand Neo's quad-core chipset achieved a score equal to that of the dual-core chipset in the original Grand.

And in Antutu, another compound benchmark, the quad-core Broadcom chipset was able to shoot the Galaxy Grand Neo well ahead of the Galaxy Grand with almost a double score.

AnTuTu

Higher is better

• HTC One
  22678
• Sony Xperia Z
  20794
• Oppo Find 5
  15167
• Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
  14518
• Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo
  13109
• HTC Butterfly
  12631
• HTC One mini
  11434
• HTC Desire 600 dual sim
  11203
• Samsung Galaxy Ace 3
  10448
• Sony Xperia M
  9902
• Sony Xperia L
  9746
• Nokia Lumia 620
  9140
• Samsung Galaxy Core
  7408
• Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2
  6650

Quadrant

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
  7153
• HTC One mini
  6048
• Sony Xperia V
  5816
• HTC Desire 600 dual sim
  5053
• Samsung Galaxy Express
  4998
• Sony Xperia L
  4279
• Sony Xperia M
  4147
• Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo
  3935
• Samsung Galaxy Grand
  3914
• Samsung Galaxy Core
  3240
• Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2
  3152

The VideoCore IV GPU found in the Grand Neo is decidedly several steps behind most flagship and midrange GPU's, so we've brought back our NenaMark 2 test to get a more accurate representation of performance. The Gran Neo does better than the Galaxy Ace 3, which features the same GPU but a lower-clocked dual-core processor.

NenaMark 2

Higher is better

• HTC Desire 700 dual sim
  56.0
• Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo
  47.3
• Samsung Galaxy Ace 3
  47.3
• Sony Xperia E dual
  27.7
• Samsung Galaxy Fame
  26.9
• HTC Sensation XE
  23.0
• Sony Xperia J
  19.6
• LG Optimus L7
  19.3
• Sony Xperia miro
  15.9
• Samsung Galaxy mini 2
  15.4
• HTC Explorer
  15.1
• Samsung Galaxy Y Duos
  13.2
• Samsung Galaxy Pocket
  12.9
• Samsung Galaxy Ace
  12.0

To put the graphic performance in perspective with more robust offerings, we ran the Grand Neo through the GFXBench T-Rex test at 1080p offscreen mode. The meager 1.8fps is markedly unimpressive, but chances are it will never have to face 1080p screens in real life.

GFXBenchmark 2.7 T-Rex (1080p off-screen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia Z1
  23.0
• Sony Xperia Z Ultra
  23.0
• LG G2
  22.0
• Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
  17.1
• Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa)
  17.1
• Apple iPad 4
  16.8
• HTC Butterfly S
  16.0
• Samsung Galaxy S4 Active
  16.0
• Google Nexus 10
  13.9
• LG Optimus G
  13.9
• Sony Xperia Z
  13.5
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  13.0
• Sony Xperia ZL
  12.8
• Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
  6.4
• Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3
  6.3
• HTC One mini
  5.6
• Motorola Moto G
  5.6
• Samsung Galaxy Note II
  4.9
• HTC Desire 700 dual sim
  3.2
• Sony Xperia C
  2.8
• Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo
  1.8

Finally, we move on to the web browsing benchmarks, which has been traditionally a strong point for Broadcom processors, particularly when it comes to HTML 5. The Grand Neo performed on par with most of the droids in its class, but when it comes to more capable midrangers and flagships it doesn't stand a chance.

SunSpider

Lower is better

• Apple iPhone 5s
  403
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  587
• LG Nexus 5
  827
• Sony Xperia Z1
  845
• LG G2
  908
• HTC One
  1174
• Samsung Galaxy Ace 3
  1337
• HTC One mini
  1375
• LG Nexus 4
  1379
• HTC Butterfly
  1397
• Oppo R819
  1423
• Samsung Galaxy S II Plus
  1460
• Samsung Galaxy Grand
  1470
• Samsung Galaxy Express
  1654
• Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo
  1691
• Samsung Galaxy Nexus
  1863
• Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2
  1901
• HTC Desire X
  2259

BrowserMark 2

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
  2314
• HTC One
  2262
• Sony Xperia V
  1957
• Samsung Galaxy Ace 3
  1902
• Sony Xperia L
  1809
• Sony Xperia M
  1642
• Nokia Lumia 620
  1469
• Samsung Galaxy Core
  1469
• Samsung Galaxy Grand
  1252
• Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo
  1174
• Samsung Galaxy Express
  1154
• Samsung Galaxy S II Plus
  1079
• Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2
  1036
• Sony Xperia E
  992
• Samsung Galaxy Young
  908

Vellamo

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia SP
  2497
• HTC One
  2382
• Sony Xperia Z
  2189
• Samsung Galaxy S4
  2060
• HTC Butterfly
  1866
• Sony Xperia M
  1800
• Sony Xperia L
  1640
• HTC Desire 600 dual sim
  1572
• Samsung Galaxy Ace 3
  1409
• Samsung Galaxy Core
  1366
• Nexus 4
  1310
• Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo
  1291
• Samsung Galaxy Fame
  1234
• Samsung Galaxy Young
  1072
• Sony Xperia E dual
  1065

As you see, the new quad-core chipset of the Galaxy Grand Neo is certainly not a clear cut winner. In single thread processes it's actually almost 20% slower than the older dual-core chipset, but in all other applications, which would make use of its multi-core architecture, it's either equal or substantially better than the dual-core solution used in the original Galaxy Grand.

A comparison to the Mediatek MT6589 chipset, used in the Xperia C might also be interesting, as it's based on the same 1.2GHz Cortex-A7 cores as the Broadcom BCM23550 chipset in the Galaxy Grand Neo.

Yet, it's substantially faster in single core performance (BenchmarkPi is almost 30% better). It turned well ahead in compound benchmarks too, being 6% better in Antutu and 20% better in Quadrant. The reason for the better compound performance may as well be due to a better GPU (PowerVR SGX544) being used in Mediatek's chipset. Our GPU-intensive GFXBenchmark 2.7 T-Rex (1080p off-screen) testified for that by reporting 34% higher frame rate for the Xperia C than the Galaxy Grand Neo.

It gets even more interesting if we recall the results from the recently reviewed HTC Desire 700 dual sim. It uses a similar chipset to those two. It comes from the relatively unknown company Spreadtrum. Called Shark, this quad-core package utilizes 1.2Ghz Cortex-A7 cores.

Despite its menacing name, the Shark did even worse in our benchmarks. The Broadcom chipset in the Grand Neo was 10% better than the Spreadtrum Shark in the single-threaded BenchmarkPi; it fared 13% better in the compound benchmark Antutu; and it finished off with an 18% better score in the compound Quadrant.

Even the obviously superior Mali-400 GPU in the Spreadtrum Shark was not able to help its case in these compound benchmarks. It showed as the better performer in the GPU-intensive GFXBenchmark 2.7 T-Rex (1080p off-screen) with a 12% better score than the PowerVR SGX544 in Xperia C and a good 44% better score than the unnamed GPU in the Grand Neo's Broadcom BCM23550 chipset.

Overall, we would say that the Broadcom BCM23550 chipset used in the Galaxy Grand Neo is a good budget chipset but it's certainly behind the completion when it comes to graphic-intensive apps such as games.