The HTC 10 Review
by Joshua Ho on September 19, 2016 8:00 AM ESTSystem Performance Cont'd
Now that we've discussed how the HTC 10 performs in general purpose task we can turn our attention to tests that attempt to better test how a device performs in 3D gaming and other tasks that more strongly emphasize GPU and 3D API performance.
In the on-screen tests we can see the impact that the extra resolution has on GPU performance. Despite Adreno 530 providing a significant performance uplift the HTC 10 can actually give less GPU performance at native resolution depending upon the workload. Car Chase is fairly tesselation-intensive and uses ES 3.1, while ES 2 and ES 3 tests like Manhattan and T-Rex see parity between the two.
In 1080p off-screen rendering we see performance similar to applications that would render at non-native resolutions. Here the HTC 10 significantly outperforms the One M9 across the board and is in line with other Snapdragon 820 devices which is probably not a surprise.
Performance here shows an uplift over the One M9, but this is primarily because the scores are based upon the off-screen results where resolution is equalized.
As 3DMark relies on off-screen rendering again we can see the benefit of Adreno 530 over Adreno 430 but this can only be achieved if you use the game optimization settings in the Boost+ application. Overall this isn't particularly notable outside of simple verification that nothing is seriously wrong with the software and hardware on the HTC 10.
NAND Performance
Storage performance, while decidedly difficult to test well in the mobile space and generally not all that well covered remains a fairly critical component of overall system performance. It’s definitely possible to hide memory performance issues with caching, but if you’ve ever taken a course on these things you can see that there is an upper bound to performance when it comes to caching. As a result, being able to improve performance at each step of the memory mountain is critical to having low latency and high throughput for data in the system. In order to test storage performance on mobile devices, we continue to rely on AndroBench 4 for Android devices. In order to properly test storage performance in a somewhat realistic manner we elect to test with only one I/O thread and a 100 MB test set with 4KB and 256KB block sizes for random and sequential rather than the strange settings of 8 threads and a 32MB sequential test which seems to be geared towards generating the largest numbers humanly possible rather than any meaningful throughput figure.
In the case of the HTC 10 it’s probably not a surprise at this point but it uses iNAND 7232 from SanDisk, seemingly as a single source supplier. This uses the SLC/TLC hybrid configuration seen in devices like the LG V10, iPhone 6, 6s, and 7 as well. The SLC storage is on the order of a few hundred megabytes, so sequential writes that exceed this size will see a drop-off in performance.
These results are probably not a surprise if you’ve been following our recent coverage but it’s still worth noting how the use of eMMC 5.1 is not guaranteed to be a huge impediment, although I would say this is probably the last generation where it’s acceptable to ship eMMC in a flagship device as the eMMC spec doesn’t seem to be progressing much further and UFS/NVMe solutions really seem to be the way forward as far as the industry is concerned. The HTC 10 is not really that far off from the UFS solutions we’ve seen in phones like the Galaxy S7 and from the Discomark results you can see that the eMMC 5.1 solution used here isn’t really causing a huge difference in performance, but I suspect anything that can actually take advantage of UFS’ more sophisticated controller will really start to highlight the weakness of eMMC and SDIO. At this point the industry already has UFS as a fairly widespread standard so HTC could take this route for a future flagship or NVMe storage depending upon their logistics. It's really important to emphasize here how UFS and NVMe are not necessarily better one way or another, as these things only matter when the storage or storage controller isn't the bottleneck.
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Zoomer - Thursday, September 22, 2016 - link
It's not ten times better in the way that a BMW M7 isn't ten times better than a Tata Nano. That doesn't make it vastly better than a BLU.ACM.1899 - Friday, September 23, 2016 - link
i meant if your LCD, Speakers,Buttons, antennas, Charging circuit ... maintain their quality in long term. AND how REPAIRABLE it is.or more importantly Battery.
or the Rom lasts longer before becoming laggy. or how manufacturers support the phone or developers with their custom roms.
ACM.1899 - Friday, September 23, 2016 - link
not the best example though , but i see your point..because almost everybody can afford the best smartphone and when spending a lot of money , he/she would rather not to spend anytime soon.
like you buy shoes ; you can spend 150$ (50+50+50, three new cheap shoes every year) or 150$ (good quality shoes) every 3 years.(fixed prices and incomes)
ACM.1899 - Friday, September 23, 2016 - link
and of course it depends on how you use it.if you run a lot then you need good shoes.but if you just dial and text then a nokia 3310 is more than enough for you.
techconc - Monday, September 26, 2016 - link
I have no issue with you feeling good about your $60 phone. That's great. I'm truly happy for you. That said, your claim that purchasing high end phones isn't sustainable is provably incorrect. For many people, the smartphone is the computing device that people use for the better part of the day. It shouldn't be difficult to understand that even people with lower income would choose to indulge on this particular product category.Impulses - Thursday, September 22, 2016 - link
Glad you put this review out Josh, having read it I'm a little more inclined to pick a 10 up if the Pixels disappoint me... Despite all the enthusiast belly aching, people tend to keep phones longer those days and are thus much more likely to pick up a flagship model later in it's cycle.Shoot, I went thru three phones in three years (all HTC) before finally keeping one longer than that, still clinging to my N5... Not using my phone for gaming or as my primary camera has really made things like battery life, software, general design, and unique features the biggest differentiators.
Good old N5 got at least two of those right, really starting to want something with better battery life even after a cell swap and wireless chargers all over the house... Gotten quite used to those tho, hoping the Pixel's glass back means it's back in.
nukmichael - Sunday, September 25, 2016 - link
Why NFC looks still active in the battery test ?? Shouldn't be closed?DaFireStorm - Tuesday, September 27, 2016 - link
Great review. I use an HTC 10 and have become of the WiFi woes of this device but I think this may be the only review to have picked up on the WiFi problems.Badelhas - Tuesday, October 17, 2017 - link
Hi there. I just upgraded from the M8 and the wifi is not Wi-Fi range is very weak, used to be able to watch videos on the bedroom or kitchen and now it's impossible. Am I the only one? Is there anything we can do to fix it?Cheers
axcelred - Tuesday, November 22, 2016 - link
Thank you for this review, it really helped me make a decision. I was looking at so many midrange and high end flagship phones but wanted an overall good experience and low light camera as my main point to shoot. Mainly in home or social gathering use that has mid to subtle lighting and can pick up details in the shadows with less noise. Coming from a camera on a Lumia, it's hard to let go ir find something that performed similarly. With the current Black Friday 2016 - 200 dollars off, I purchased one; everything in the price range of 399-499, didn't have great reviews for these conditions and even some of the higher end phones. It may not be the fastest or have the latest processor, but it is stable, solid, and has a great community from HTC's commitments and XDA surrounded it and that is important. Really appreciate this and the in-depth reviews this site provides.