Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 review: Splashing colors

Synthetic benhcmarks

The Wi-Fi-only version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 features Exynos Octa 5422 chipset with 1.9GHz quad-core Cortex-A15 CPU and 1.3 GHz quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU. The GPU is Mali-T628 GPU, while 3GB of RAM make sure everything runs smoothly on the device.

GeekBench 3 and AnTuTu 4 are benchmarks which put to the test the hardware combo inside the tablet. GeekBench 3 is more CPU-intensive, whereas AnTuTu 4 is a compound benchmark - testing CPU, GPU, memory performance among others.

GeekBench 3

Higher is better

• Oppo Find 7a
  3093
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  3011
• Galaxy S5 Active
  3010
• Galaxy Tab S 8.4 (Exynos)
  2881
• Sony Xperia Z2
  2856
• LG G3
  2687
• LG G Pro 2
  2585
• LG Nexus 5
  2453
• HTC One (M8)
  2367
• LG G2
  2243
• Motorola Moto X
  2123
• Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (Exynos)
  1777
• HTC One mini 2
  1526
• Sony Xperia T2 Ultra
  1359

AnTuTu 4

Higher is better

• HTC One (M8)
  37009
• Galaxy S5 Active
  36162
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  36018
• LG G2
  35444
• Galaxy Tab S 8.4 (Exynos)
  35359
• Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (Exynos)
  33961
• Oppo Find 7a
  33344
• Sony Xperia Z2
  33182
• LG G3
  30482
• LG G Pro 2
  29603
• LG Nexus 5
  25097
• Sony Xperia T2 Ultra
  19896
• Motorola Moto X
  19031
• HTC One mini 2
  17883

Basemark OS II is another all-round benchmark. It gives an overall score along with single-core, multi-core, and math performance. The tablet didn't blow us away on this occasion.

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• LG G3
  1151
• LG G Pro 2
  1140
• LG G3 (anti-cheat)
  1132
• HTC One (M8)
  1126
• Galaxy S5 Active
  1107
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  1082
• Sony Xperia Z2
  1080
• Oppo Find 7a
  1057
• Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (Exynos) anti-cheat
  829
• Galaxy Tab S 8.4 (Exynos) anti-cheat
  768
• HTC One mini 2
  517
• Sony Xperia T2 Ultra
  434

Next up we have GFXBench's 2.7 T-Rex and 3.0 Manhattan. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 performed in an underwhelming fashion here - its GPU simply couldn't manage all the pixels the way a flagship device should during the on-screen tests. The off-screen results were slightly better, yet still far from the top of the charts.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC One (M8)
  28.4
• Oppo Find 7a
  28.4
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  27.8
• LG G3
  27.6
• Samsung Galaxy S5 Active
  27.5
• Sony Xperia Z2
  27.2
• LG Nexus 5
  23
• LG G Pro 2
  22.9
• Galaxy Tab S 8.4 (Exynos)
  22.8
• Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (Exynos)
  22.5
• LG G2
  22
• Motorola Moto X
  16
• Sony Xperia T2 Ultra
  5.8
• HTC One mini 2
  5.8

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC One (M8)
  30.1
• Oppo Find 7a
  28.8
• Sony Xperia Z2
  28.7
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  28.1
• Galaxy S5 Active
  27.7
• LG G Pro 2
  24.1
• LG Nexus 5
  24
• LG G2
  23.1
• LG G3
  20.6
• Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (Exynos)
  14
• Galaxy Tab S 8.4 (Exynos)
  14
• HTC One mini 2
  11
• Sony Xperia T2 Ultra
  10.9

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• LG G3
  11.9
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  11.8
• Galaxy S5 Active
  11.7
• Sony Xperia Z2
  11.7
• Oppo Find 7a
  11.4
• HTC One (M8)
  11.1
• LG G Pro 2
  8.7
• Galaxy Tab S 8.4 (Exynos)
  5.6
• Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (Exynos)
  5.6
• HTC One mini 2
  1.7

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia Z2
  12.2
• HTC One (M8)
  11.9
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  11.7
• Galaxy S5 Active
  11.7
• Oppo Find 7a
  11.4
• LG G Pro 2
  9.2
• LG G3
  7.4
• Sony Xperia T2 Ultra
  4.1
• HTC One mini 2
  3.8
• Galaxy Tab S 8.4 (Exynos)
  2.9
• Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (Exynos)
  2.9

BrowserMark 2.1 looks at HTML 5 performance, while Mozilla's Kraken 1.1 is JavaScript-centric. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 did well on Kraken, but didn't impress on BrowserMark.

BrowserMark 2.1

Higher is better

• Galaxy Tab S 8.4 (Exynos)
  1681
• Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (Exynos)
  1515
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  1398
• LG G Pro 2
  1346
• Oppo Find 7a
  1327
• Galaxy S5 Active
  1319
• LG Nexus 5
  1286
• LG G3
  1254
• Sony Xperia Z2
  1224
• HTC One (M8)
  1069
• HTC One mini 2
  945

Kraken 1.1

Lower is better

• Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (Exynos)
  4777
• Galaxy Tab S 8.4 (Exynos)
  4927
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  6043
• Galaxy S5 Active
  6341
• LG G Pro 2
  6578
• Oppo Find 7a
  6660
• Sony Xperia Z2
  7041
• LG Nexus 5
  7148
• LG G3
  7610
• HTC One (M8)
  10296
• HTC One mini 2
  15684

Overall, the benchmark performance of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 turned out to be a mixed bag. GPU performance in particular in nowhere near what's expected from a flagship slate - it had a hard time handling all the pixels of the Super AMOLED display.