Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet to feature powerful ARM Mali T-604 graphics, adding to a quad-core processor

posted by Daniel P.

May 15, 2012, 6:40 AM

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet to feature powerful ARM Mali T-604 graphics, adding to a quad-core processor

Whatever tablet Samsung was preparing with the Galaxy Note 10.1, it has gone back to the drawing board in terms of specs now, as a leaked Taiji graphics benchmark shows, and as Samsung itself hinted at us when we were doing the hands-on preview at MWC.

The score of 61.4 megapixels per second beats the second in line - Galaxy S III - by a huge margin, indicating a new graphics processor. Since the chipset in the Galaxy Note 10.1 is listed as the same Exynos 4412 we have in the latest Galaxy phone, then the graphics processor must be the next generation Mali T-604, not the Mali-400 in the Galaxy S II and S III.

We thought that Mali T-604 will only be coming with the Exynos 5 series of chips, but apparently Samsung might be testing other combinations, if this benchmark scale is true. The T-604 is quoted for 5x the Mali-400 performance, so we'd expect it to power a high-res screen also, otherwise there wouldn't be much point in adding such a powerful graphics subsystem, unless this is just a test device.

Just yesterday a device was leaked in Google's Git repo, that uses the same graphics processor, so something is definitely brewing in Samsung land, that requires the heavy GPU cavalry to be unleashed. At MWC we made the hands-on you see below on a dual-core Exynos with 1280x800 resolution. This might have now been bumped to quad-core with next generation graphics, but there are no leaks whether the screen will be different as well yet.

source: NordicHadraware via AndroidAuthority

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44 Comments

29. android1234

Posts: 203; Member since: Feb 09, 2010

THEY HAVE TO UPGRADE THE SCREEN, MINIMIUM 1980X1080, BUT ITLL BE SWEET TO GET 2560X1600!!

posted on May 15, 2012, 9:32 AM 1

40. pbui.818

Posts: 78; Member since: Feb 06, 2012

Yup, I hope this is the rumored 2560×1600 resolution tablet but a minimum 1920×1200. Other potential resolutions? 1920×1280 1920×1440 1920×1536 2048×1536 2560×1440 2560×1920 Dream resolutions? 2560×2048 3840×2160 4096×2160 Delusion resolutions? 7680×4320 8K UHD 7680×4800 WHUXGA

posted on May 15, 2012, 1:42 PM 0

20. GuiltyBystander

Posts: 199; Member since: Mar 05, 2012

I want this on the Galaxy Note 2.

posted on May 15, 2012, 8:48 AM 0

15. ahomad

Posts: 175; Member since: May 15, 2012

I think you are mistaken, t658 has 10x times the power of t400 and 4x the power of t604. thus, t604 has around 2.5x the power of t400. and that what are we seeing in this benchmark. it shows that it is around 2X the power of t400, but the t400 used in sgs3 is over clocked while t604 has 2.5x the slandered t400. can you check this for us please.

posted on May 15, 2012, 8:03 AM 0

17. remixfa

Posts: 14605; Member since: Dec 19, 2008

according to samsung, it has 5x the power of the mali400, both at base clocks. what you are also seeing is a massive jump in resolution from the SGS2, which is going to skew the test down a bit. if it were running the exact same resolutions of the SGS2 or something similar, it would show the difference much greater than it does. Since the note is the closest thing to a base mali400 on that test, compare it to the 604. It has 3x the rate of the mali400. This is also prerelease software, so expect it to be optimized further.

posted on May 15, 2012, 8:14 AM 1

25. ph00ny

Posts: 2082; Member since: May 26, 2011

Actually 5x comment came from ARM http://www.arm.com/products/multimedia/mali-graphics-hardware/mali-t604.php?tab=Performance "The Mali-T604 GPU delivers up to 5x performance improvement over previous Mali graphics processors and is scalable up to 4 cores."

posted on May 15, 2012, 9:00 AM 0

32. ahomad

Posts: 175; Member since: May 15, 2012

but again, according to ARMhttp://www.arm.com/products/multimedia/mali-graphics-hardware/mali-t658.php The Mali-T658 delivers up to ten times the graphics performance of the Mali-400-MP GPU, as well as a four times increase in GPU Compute performance when compared with the Mali-T604 GPU. the part you quoted didn't specify specific GPU, they just said previous processors. but here they clearly said t400, t604 and t658

posted on May 15, 2012, 10:11 AM 0

34. ahomad

Posts: 175; Member since: May 15, 2012

this support what I said earlier that t604 has 2.5x the power of t400, am I right?

posted on May 15, 2012, 10:14 AM 0

21. hung2900

Posts: 966; Member since: Mar 02, 2012

Taiji locks at a frequency of ~ 60 Hz on account of vsyn (the same as nenamark), so the true number is maybe higher.

posted on May 15, 2012, 8:56 AM 0

8. Jimstar

Posts: 259; Member since: Oct 24, 2011

Alright so now the obvious question...what games on Android require this kind of graphical prowess to run? I can't even find a game that doesn't run smoothly on even the now-aging Power VR540.

posted on May 15, 2012, 7:28 AM 2

11. thelegend6657 unregistered

But live wallpaper will sometimes lag on powervr sgx540 . Hint galaxy nexus

posted on May 15, 2012, 7:37 AM 2

16. remixfa

Posts: 14605; Member since: Dec 19, 2008

thats an issue with a poorly implemented live wallpaper. A program is only as good as its programmer.

posted on May 15, 2012, 8:12 AM 0

23. ph00ny

Posts: 2082; Member since: May 26, 2011

Nah Problem is poor choice of hardware. There are microstutters sometimes even in the app drawer

posted on May 15, 2012, 8:58 AM 0

27. thelegend6657 unregistered

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1rdoCy8iKk see how laggy is the nexus with live wallpaper enabled

posted on May 15, 2012, 9:31 AM 1

31. thelegend6657 unregistered

BTW , he answered my question on do older launcher's work i asked on his nova launcher review

posted on May 15, 2012, 9:39 AM 0

36. PimpStrong

Posts: 310; Member since: Jul 25, 2011

I owned a G'Nex briefly. Couldn't believe that a stock LWP made the phone lag. The same wallpaper runs just fine on my TMO GSII.

posted on May 15, 2012, 10:17 AM 0

14. remixfa

Posts: 14605; Member since: Dec 19, 2008

because in order for games to progress, they must first have more power at their disposal. Most games are made to be able to run on the majority of phones, not the super powered minority. Over time, the super powered phones become the "average" phone as new phones come out, thus games will get better over time. The more people that buy in the ultra high end, the faster the games get to improve.

posted on May 15, 2012, 8:01 AM 3

26. Jimstar

Posts: 259; Member since: Oct 24, 2011

Yeah but they haven't even progressed so as to tax even the Tegra3's GPU, and this thing is what? 3 times more powerful or something even more ridiculous. I'm pretty sure Samsung of all companies knows this, and this is just alot of flexing. Unless publishers are already trying to port over their Just Cause 2's and the like I'm not really seeing a point, and of course with that comes another can of worms.

posted on May 15, 2012, 9:19 AM 0

35. remixfa

Posts: 14605; Member since: Dec 19, 2008

The Tegra3 just came out not too long ago. Games are set towards the AVERAGE user experience for mass adoption, not the upper end. Games are coming out that are meant for the T3 that cant play on anything lower, but they are the exception. Most games barely tax the Adreno 220 in the S3. As those fade out and the Adreno 225, T3, and Mali400 become even more common, games will start to push those boundaries.. but by the time they become common, the next set of super GPU's will be out. Your talking probably a year or so lag between GPU launch and a few games that really start to push it.. probably 2 year lag from launch till the time many games push it. Were in a time of very powerful devices in our pocket. Smile.

posted on May 15, 2012, 10:15 AM 0

41. Jimstar

Posts: 259; Member since: Oct 24, 2011

There were some factors I didn't take into account. Like that ARM made that GPU, and not Samsung, and they probably aren't very concerned by the state of gaming on android, they just want to provide something that device makers will find attractive I mean you made points about the lag between when a GPU launches and when games that can really make use of it come out, but do you really feel that interval is accurate today? I'm sure you'd know better than me but I feel like hardware development is way outpacing game development in android at least in terms of how much they're taxing the GPUs that are offered. I mean take a look at the top new and top games in the market, doesn't seem to me that there's all that much that's really all that graphically intensive. And I haven't payed very close attention honestly, but I feel like I'd know if games were coming out on a regular basis that could be graphically taxing and just weren't selling well. Still I could be wrong. I'm not hating on the progress, I just feel like increasingly powerful GPUs can take a momentary backseat to other enhancements to improve the experience while the games themselves catchup somewhat.

posted on May 15, 2012, 1:49 PM 0

37. ph00ny

Posts: 2082; Member since: May 26, 2011

If the hardware didn't exist, would games like GTAIII, riptide, shadowgun, etc be released on android? It's the same concept as game consoles. Same hardware since day 1 but the visual quality is drastically different than the first day of the launch.

posted on May 15, 2012, 10:25 AM 0

7. blinkdagger

Posts: 81; Member since: May 04, 2012

We still will be bombarded by samsung devices. They just keep coming. But sadly samsung ways of "don't put all eggs in one basket" gonna give us lots of redundant products. We not going to get 'killer' spec in one ultimate device, instead samsung will spread it to make all their devices sold. At least that's what my friend in Samsung told me.

posted on May 15, 2012, 7:27 AM 1

30. thelegend6657 unregistered

well i do hope there is an upgrade to the HTC OneX I like it very much but i find it not as good as the s3 . Maybe they would do a OneXE of something like that

posted on May 15, 2012, 9:33 AM 0

4. PimpStrong

Posts: 310; Member since: Jul 25, 2011

I'm gettin' that.

posted on May 15, 2012, 7:14 AM 1

38. Non_Sequitur

Posts: 1111; Member since: Mar 16, 2012

I will too, but only if it comes with a screen the same or better than the upcoming Transformer Prime Infinity. And it also needs a good keyboard dock with USB ports. Let's also see how this compares to the Asus Padfone.

posted on May 15, 2012, 10:31 AM 0

39. remixfa

Posts: 14605; Member since: Dec 19, 2008

they pushed this back to put in a bigger chip and GPU after the crowds moaned at it's dual core nature. Now its quadcore with a massive GPU. That would be nearly meaningless on the short term unless they were raising the screen density/resolution. Maybe thats where the Super Amoled+ HD screens will end up? A nice thought for sure.

posted on May 15, 2012, 10:34 AM 0

44. hung2900

Posts: 966; Member since: Mar 02, 2012

Actually I wish it has an IGZO retina display: nice, thin and extremely power efficient.

posted on May 15, 2012, 8:25 PM 0

3. remixfa

Posts: 14605; Member since: Dec 19, 2008

*Angels start to sing* Ahh.. the first official appearance of the 5250 chip. Isnt it heartwarming? :) The S3 has already been knocked off the king of the hill crown.. by another samsung, and the S3 hasnt even launched yet.. lol

posted on May 15, 2012, 6:57 AM 3

5. PimpStrong

Posts: 310; Member since: Jul 25, 2011

Eeeasy now. That is a tablet. Let's not get the "S3 is outdated" comments going until it is at least released!

posted on May 15, 2012, 7:16 AM 1

10. thelegend6657 unregistered

This isn't that super fast A15 dual core chip that you say is faster than the quad core A9 chip ? This smokes the Tegra 3 ! This is just a same exynos from galaxy s3 with a new GPU right ? Btw Tegra 2 and snapdragon 3 which is faster ?

posted on May 15, 2012, 7:35 AM 0

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