We test a lot of Android phones here at Tech Advisor. It’s a good way to see how phones compare in terms of raw power, as well as provide stats for graphics performance, battery life, and other areas. If you want to do the same at home and see how your phone compares to others, we’ll explain how we do it.
The process is simple and uses mainly free apps.
Are benchmark test results useful?
One thing to consider before testing is that while benchmarks provide useful information, they should not be the only way to measure performance. While your phone may or may not score highly in synthetic benchmarks, the real test is how it performs day-to-day under real-world conditions.
Bragging rights aside, benchmarking is simply an objective way to see how your phone compares to others in certain situations.
Apps you need to benchmark an Android phone
To get a good idea of how your phone is performing, you’ll need some apps to run the tests. These are the ones we use:
Geekbench 6 for Android
The heart of your phone is a System on Chip or SoC. Unlike a PC where the CPU, GPU and other components are separate, phones generally use a single chip that combines everything into one.
There is still a traditional CPU that does the main computing work. Like desktop PCs and laptops, a phone’s CPU consists of a number of cores. Many flagship Android phones these days have eight CPU cores, but there are different configurations. To test CPU performance, you’ll want to use Geekbench 6, as it can display the speed of single-core activity and of multiple cores together. The multi-core result is the one we pay the most attention to, as it is the result that best reflects the performance of apps in the real world.
Download Geekbench on your phone and then follow the steps below.
Open Geekbench
Foundry
To start the test, you need to tap Run CPU benchmark option at the bottom of the screen. Everything will be automatic, but make sure your phone is not in a power saving mode, which can affect the results.
Check the results
Foundry
When the benchmark is complete, you will be presented with Single and Multi-core performance scores. On the Result The tab allows you to scroll down for more details on how the phone performed in different subtests. By tapping the Single core or Multinuclear tabs then show you how your phone compares to other models tested on Geekbench.
How to test the GPU performance of an Android phone
Next to the CPU (Central Processing Unit) you will find the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) which processes all the rendered images that you see on your screen. It’s useful to test it because it tells you how well a phone can play games. To do this, you will need to use GFXBench. So download, install and launch the app, then follow these steps:
1. Select benchmark tests
There are a wide range of tests, but you don’t need them all. When we test phones, we disable the offscreen versions of each test, as these test the GPU without taking into account the resolution of your phone’s screen.
Tap the Test selection option and then enable the tests you want to run. By default everything is checked.
These are the tests we perform:
- GFX T-Rex
- GFX Manhattan
- GFX Manhattan 3.1
- GFX car chase
- GFX Aztec Ruins Vulkan Normal
- GFX Aztecs ruins Vulkan High
- GFX Aztecs ruins OpenGL Normal
- GFX Aztecs ruins OpenGL High
Make sure you set your phone to the highest refresh rate (usually found in the Display settings) if it has a screen higher than 60Hz. Otherwise you will find that the results are limited to 60 frames per second.
Once you’ve selected the tests you want to use, tap the Start option in the top right corner to start the test.
Leave the phone down to complete the benchmarks as you won’t be able to do anything else while they are running.
2. Check the results
Once the tests have been run, you will see the different scores next to the tests. To see how this compares to other devices, tap the Compare option at the bottom of the screen and you’ll see where the phone stacks up against its rivals.
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
How to test battery life on an Android phone
Another essential element of any phone is battery life. Now, of course, you can charge your phone and then have it play a video repeatedly until it runs out of power, but that can be a bit fiddly and also requires you to pay close attention so that you know when exactly the battery is going to run out.
A much simpler solution is to use the PCMark for Android app, which runs a detailed battery monitoring benchmark.
Download and reinstall the app from the Google Play Store, then open it to start the test.
Running the benchmark
The benchmark you are looking for is Work 3.0. This needs to be installed from the app, so tap Install button under the test. When this is done, tap the Walk button next to Work 3.0 battery life.
Please note: Your battery must be charged to at least 80% before PCMark will let you run the test. We ensure phones are fully charged before running.
Once done, plug in your phone and boot it up to check the test results.
Screen brightness will affect the results of any battery tests, and we use a colorimeter (a Datacolor Spyder) to set each screen as close to 200 nits as possible, disabling auto-brightness to ensure it lasts for the entire duration of the test remains at that setting. test.
We’re assuming you don’t have a colorimeter, but there are several apps that can turn your old phone into a makeshift light meter.
How to compare charging speeds on your Android phone
One final test worth doing, especially since the battery is now dead thanks to the PCMark for Android benchmark, is to see how long it takes to charge.
This test simply requires a timer. Therefore, connect your phone with the supplied charger and USB cable and set a limit of 15 minutes. If it goes away, check the percentage and then check it after another 15 minutes. Many modern Android phones equipped with fast charging can reach 60-90% in half an hour, but it’s useful to know how fast your battery will charge if you go out and need to quickly charge it for 15 minutes.
If after running the various tests you find that the results are not quite what you had hoped for, you can always use this as an excuse to upgrade to a new model. So be sure to check out our current recommendations for the best Android phones and the best mid-range phones.
