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  • Recently we took a look at the hardware that makes up your smartphone camera. While it's interesting to know and understand what constitutes a digital camera module, that won't help much when it comes to actually taking a photo on your smartphone. From a photography enthusiast and mobile hardware reviewer, I've put together this guide to tackle that part of the equation.
    We've laid out ten tips for taking good photos on a smartphone, so hopefully you'll be well on your way to producing some awesome shots from a fairly limited camera platform.
    1

    Know Your Auto Mode

    Knowing how the automatic shooting mode on your smartphone camera works can greatly help you take good photos. Take the time to learn when it uses high ISOs, when it uses long shutter speeds, and adjust how you take photos accordingly. It especially helps to know when you decide to…

    Two photos taken with the Nokia Lumia 930. Adjusting the white balance manually is necessary to get a good photo
    2

    Override the Defaults

    Smartphones can be pretty good when it comes to choosing settings, but not always. Metering can sometimes be pretty shoddy indoors and in cloudy conditions, which is where overriding some of the settings can come in handy.
    If you think the white balance is off, change it. If the photo is underexposed, use the sliders found in most camera applications to boost it. If you’d prefer grain to blur, up the ISO used by the camera manually. Don’t forget about the flash either, which is sometimes necessary.
    If center-weighted metering isn’t providing the right results, you might also considering switching to spot-metering, which some cameras allow you to do. Center-weighted looks at the entire image and meters according to what it sees, with a preference on the center of the frame. When shooting subjects off-center, it can be a good idea to switch to spot metering so the area around the ‘spot’ you select is exposed perfectly.
    3

    Use Good Posture (or Even a Tripod)

    A key method for reducing blur is knowing how to hold a smartphone camera in a stable way. Holding your arms outstretched or far away from your body can make them sway more when photographing. Moving your elbows into the sides of your body can give a bit of extra stability where needed, as can physically resting the smartphone on a stable object.
    If you want perfect stability, it is possible to get a tripod attachment that you can slot your smartphone into. You’ll probably look a bit silly bringing a tripod out and about to use with your phone, but I have seen and achieved myself some fantastic shots with a tripod in hand.

    The Samsung Galaxy S5's HDR mode greatly improves visible detail in shadows
    4

    Harness HDR Mode

    Dynamic range – the range of light intensities a camera can capture in the one photo while preserving detail – tends to be a weak point in smartphone cameras. In scenes with both dark and bright areas, such as a shadowed forest, it’s difficult to capture detail in the shadows and highlights at the same time. This is where HDR mode, or high dynamic range mode, comes into play.
    HDR mode takes two images of different exposures near-simultaneously, and then combines them to produce one image that has higher dynamic range than the sensor can normally achieve. On most smartphones, this is something you can and should enable when the scene you’re photographing has widely varying contrast. The difference in photos can be vast, especially on Samsung smartphones where the HDR mode is particularly effective.
    HDR mode shouldn’t be used all the time, though. As it has to take two photos and combine them, trying to photograph a fast-moving subject in HDR mode can lead to nasty ghosting and other unwanted effects. Using HDR mode in darker conditions can also introduce blur, simply from the combination of two images with slow shutter speeds.
    5

    Use the Whole Sensor

    Something that really irks me about smartphone OEMs is their choice to always default to a 16:9 image capture ratio even if the sensor itself is not 16:9. You won’t have to do anything if you have a smartphone with a 16:9 sensor like the Galaxy S5 or HTC One M8, but if you don’t, switching back to standard 4:3 can be beneficial.
    Shooting in 4:3 on a 4:3 sensor not only gives you access to the full resolution of the camera, but it still allows you to crop down to 16:9 after the fact with more pixels to play with. Didn’t frame the shot perfectly the first time? Well if you were shooting in 4:3 and using the whole sensor, you might be able to get a better photo out of your shot.

    HDR shot taken with a Samsung Galaxy S5 and edited in Adobe Lightroom. The original can be seen here.
    6

    Edit

    The final piece of the puzzle that often stops a photo captured with a smartphone from looking truly awesome is the post-processing stage. All the detail and necessary information has been captured, but it may not look as vibrant as you were after, or as sharp, or as beautiful.
    It’s easy to fix this: chuck the photo in an editing program on your computer, like Lightroom, or even use an app on the device itself and begin playing around. After moving a few sliders and ticking a few boxes, the results might astound you and your friends.
    7

    Check the App Store

    You don’t have to use the default camera application on your smartphone. Check the Google Play Store, App Store or Windows Phone Store on your respective device and look for a standout camera app. Look online to see what people are saying, because there are some gems out there that can add features and controls to the smartphone photography experience.
    Camera Zoom FX, as silly as it may sound, is a really solid camera replacement for Android devices. If you’re using a Windows Phone and it’s made by Nokia, make sure you’re using Nokia Camera. As for iOS, Camera+ and ProCamera are some applications to consider.
    8

    Never Zoom

    Most smartphone cameras have the ability too zoom in while taking a photo. As the overwhelming majority of smartphones don't have an optical zoom module, this zoom feature digitally zooms, simply enlarging and cropping the output from the sensor before the photo is captured. To get the best photos from your camera, never use the zoom feature.
    Zooming before capturing does not allow you to reframe the image after the fact: you're essentially losing data and reducing quality with no way backwards. Yes, the image will appear to show an image in the distance closer than it would otherwise, but you can very easily take the photo without zooming first, and then crop it afterwards. Taking the photo without zooming provides flexibility and the ability to change your mind later.

    Taken with the Sony Xperia Z2 and its f/2.0 lens
    9

    Go Macro

    Smartphone cameras don’t have the best bokeh from their wide-angle lenses, meaning it’s hard to achieve DSLR-like background blur with medium range shots (unless you have some fancy tools like the Duo Camera on the HTC One M8). How do you achieve that pleasant blur? Simply get closer to the subject of your shot, utilizing the close macro range of the focus system.
    Some of the best photos I’ve achieved with a smartphone have been macro-style, using the small amount of bokeh that’s achievable to my advantage. On an f/2.4 camera system, like the LG G2 or Nokia Lumia 930, don’t expect anything incredible; but if you’re blessed with an f/2.0 system like the Sony Xperia Z2 results can be surprising.
    10

    Light It Right

    If you want to get serious about smartphone photography, it’s crucial that your photos are lit well. Small sensors typically found in phones are not very capable when lighting gets poor, so it’s always best to ensure your subject is well lit when taking a shot. If you can use your camera at ISO 100 or lower, you’ll see less grain in the resultant image, and photos will look clearer and more impressive.
    One way to achieve better lighting for your smartphone photos is to get strong artificial lights, but this probably isn’t practical or worth it considering it’s not a DSLR. The flash also tends not to be so great, so you can rule that out as well. This leaves natural light as the best source, and there are a few tips to getting the best shots in the lighting you have.

    Taken with the merely okay HTC One Mini camera. Placing the paperweight near a window helps improve lighting for a better photo.
    Like when photographing with any camera, ideally the sun should be behind the camera’s lens, shining light onto the subject without entering the lens directly. Pointing a camera towards the sun will cause shadowing and a loss of contrast, so try not to do so unless you want the artistic effect. In cloudy conditions the sun can be diffused throughout the sky, so avoid shooting up to the sky if it’s not a sunny day.
    As I mentioned earlier, it might also be worth exploring spot metering to get the exposure just right, especially when there’s strong backlighting. Ideally you wouldn’t be shooting when there’s strong backlighting as smartphone cameras typically have weak dynamic range, but sometimes it’s necessary. And sometimes you can experiment with reflective surfaces to get light in just the right positions: often a simple white piece of paper will suffice at directing light from the sun (or an artificial light) on to your subject.
    Finally, as some bonus tips for you budding videographers out there, make sure that you set your smartphone to record at the maximum resolution possible. Many smartphones that record at 4K will default to 1080p, so changing the appropriate setting will lead to better quality videos. Another thing, try recording HDR or 60 frames per second video for better quality or smoother videos.
    And whatever you do, never film a video vertically.
  • Recently we took a look at the hardware that makes up your smartphone camera. While it's interesting to know and understand what constitutes a digital camera module, that won't help much when it comes to actually taking a photo on your smartphone. From a photography enthusiast and mobile hardware reviewer, I've put together this guide to tackle that part of the equation.
    We've laid out ten tips for taking good photos on a smartphone, so hopefully you'll be well on your way to producing some awesome shots from a fairly limited camera platform.
    1

    Know Your Auto Mode

    Knowing how the automatic shooting mode on your smartphone camera works can greatly help you take good photos. Take the time to learn when it uses high ISOs, when it uses long shutter speeds, and adjust how you take photos accordingly. It especially helps to know when you decide to…

    Two photos taken with the Nokia Lumia 930. Adjusting the white balance manually is necessary to get a good photo
    2

    Override the Defaults

    Smartphones can be pretty good when it comes to choosing settings, but not always. Metering can sometimes be pretty shoddy indoors and in cloudy conditions, which is where overriding some of the settings can come in handy.
    If you think the white balance is off, change it. If the photo is underexposed, use the sliders found in most camera applications to boost it. If you’d prefer grain to blur, up the ISO used by the camera manually. Don’t forget about the flash either, which is sometimes necessary.
    If center-weighted metering isn’t providing the right results, you might also considering switching to spot-metering, which some cameras allow you to do. Center-weighted looks at the entire image and meters according to what it sees, with a preference on the center of the frame. When shooting subjects off-center, it can be a good idea to switch to spot metering so the area around the ‘spot’ you select is exposed perfectly.
    3

    Use Good Posture (or Even a Tripod)

    A key method for reducing blur is knowing how to hold a smartphone camera in a stable way. Holding your arms outstretched or far away from your body can make them sway more when photographing. Moving your elbows into the sides of your body can give a bit of extra stability where needed, as can physically resting the smartphone on a stable object.
    If you want perfect stability, it is possible to get a tripod attachment that you can slot your smartphone into. You’ll probably look a bit silly bringing a tripod out and about to use with your phone, but I have seen and achieved myself some fantastic shots with a tripod in hand.

    The Samsung Galaxy S5's HDR mode greatly improves visible detail in shadows
    4

    Harness HDR Mode

    Dynamic range – the range of light intensities a camera can capture in the one photo while preserving detail – tends to be a weak point in smartphone cameras. In scenes with both dark and bright areas, such as a shadowed forest, it’s difficult to capture detail in the shadows and highlights at the same time. This is where HDR mode, or high dynamic range mode, comes into play.
    HDR mode takes two images of different exposures near-simultaneously, and then combines them to produce one image that has higher dynamic range than the sensor can normally achieve. On most smartphones, this is something you can and should enable when the scene you’re photographing has widely varying contrast. The difference in photos can be vast, especially on Samsung smartphones where the HDR mode is particularly effective.
    HDR mode shouldn’t be used all the time, though. As it has to take two photos and combine them, trying to photograph a fast-moving subject in HDR mode can lead to nasty ghosting and other unwanted effects. Using HDR mode in darker conditions can also introduce blur, simply from the combination of two images with slow shutter speeds.
    5

    Use the Whole Sensor

    Something that really irks me about smartphone OEMs is their choice to always default to a 16:9 image capture ratio even if the sensor itself is not 16:9. You won’t have to do anything if you have a smartphone with a 16:9 sensor like the Galaxy S5 or HTC One M8, but if you don’t, switching back to standard 4:3 can be beneficial.
    Shooting in 4:3 on a 4:3 sensor not only gives you access to the full resolution of the camera, but it still allows you to crop down to 16:9 after the fact with more pixels to play with. Didn’t frame the shot perfectly the first time? Well if you were shooting in 4:3 and using the whole sensor, you might be able to get a better photo out of your shot.

    HDR shot taken with a Samsung Galaxy S5 and edited in Adobe Lightroom. The original can be seen here.
    6

    Edit

    The final piece of the puzzle that often stops a photo captured with a smartphone from looking truly awesome is the post-processing stage. All the detail and necessary information has been captured, but it may not look as vibrant as you were after, or as sharp, or as beautiful.
    It’s easy to fix this: chuck the photo in an editing program on your computer, like Lightroom, or even use an app on the device itself and begin playing around. After moving a few sliders and ticking a few boxes, the results might astound you and your friends.
    7

    Check the App Store

    You don’t have to use the default camera application on your smartphone. Check the Google Play Store, App Store or Windows Phone Store on your respective device and look for a standout camera app. Look online to see what people are saying, because there are some gems out there that can add features and controls to the smartphone photography experience.
    Camera Zoom FX, as silly as it may sound, is a really solid camera replacement for Android devices. If you’re using a Windows Phone and it’s made by Nokia, make sure you’re using Nokia Camera. As for iOS, Camera+ and ProCamera are some applications to consider.
    8

    Never Zoom

    Most smartphone cameras have the ability too zoom in while taking a photo. As the overwhelming majority of smartphones don't have an optical zoom module, this zoom feature digitally zooms, simply enlarging and cropping the output from the sensor before the photo is captured. To get the best photos from your camera, never use the zoom feature.
    Zooming before capturing does not allow you to reframe the image after the fact: you're essentially losing data and reducing quality with no way backwards. Yes, the image will appear to show an image in the distance closer than it would otherwise, but you can very easily take the photo without zooming first, and then crop it afterwards. Taking the photo without zooming provides flexibility and the ability to change your mind later.

    Taken with the Sony Xperia Z2 and its f/2.0 lens
    9

    Go Macro

    Smartphone cameras don’t have the best bokeh from their wide-angle lenses, meaning it’s hard to achieve DSLR-like background blur with medium range shots (unless you have some fancy tools like the Duo Camera on the HTC One M8). How do you achieve that pleasant blur? Simply get closer to the subject of your shot, utilizing the close macro range of the focus system.
    Some of the best photos I’ve achieved with a smartphone have been macro-style, using the small amount of bokeh that’s achievable to my advantage. On an f/2.4 camera system, like the LG G2 or Nokia Lumia 930, don’t expect anything incredible; but if you’re blessed with an f/2.0 system like the Sony Xperia Z2 results can be surprising.
    10

    Light It Right

    If you want to get serious about smartphone photography, it’s crucial that your photos are lit well. Small sensors typically found in phones are not very capable when lighting gets poor, so it’s always best to ensure your subject is well lit when taking a shot. If you can use your camera at ISO 100 or lower, you’ll see less grain in the resultant image, and photos will look clearer and more impressive.
    One way to achieve better lighting for your smartphone photos is to get strong artificial lights, but this probably isn’t practical or worth it considering it’s not a DSLR. The flash also tends not to be so great, so you can rule that out as well. This leaves natural light as the best source, and there are a few tips to getting the best shots in the lighting you have.

    Taken with the merely okay HTC One Mini camera. Placing the paperweight near a window helps improve lighting for a better photo.
    Like when photographing with any camera, ideally the sun should be behind the camera’s lens, shining light onto the subject without entering the lens directly. Pointing a camera towards the sun will cause shadowing and a loss of contrast, so try not to do so unless you want the artistic effect. In cloudy conditions the sun can be diffused throughout the sky, so avoid shooting up to the sky if it’s not a sunny day.
    As I mentioned earlier, it might also be worth exploring spot metering to get the exposure just right, especially when there’s strong backlighting. Ideally you wouldn’t be shooting when there’s strong backlighting as smartphone cameras typically have weak dynamic range, but sometimes it’s necessary. And sometimes you can experiment with reflective surfaces to get light in just the right positions: often a simple white piece of paper will suffice at directing light from the sun (or an artificial light) on to your subject.
    Finally, as some bonus tips for you budding videographers out there, make sure that you set your smartphone to record at the maximum resolution possible. Many smartphones that record at 4K will default to 1080p, so changing the appropriate setting will lead to better quality videos. Another thing, try recording HDR or 60 frames per second video for better quality or smoother videos.
    And whatever you do, never film a video vertically.

  • The HD 7000 series was a big deal for AMD as it saw the move from 40nm to a 28nm fabrication process. Moreover, it was the company's first truly new architecture in five years since the HD 2000 series.
    Known as 'Graphics Core Next' (GCN), the HD 7000 range featured a RISC SIMD architecture that required considerably more transistors than before but offered advantages for GPU computation and also lead to better efficiency. Most of the GPUs in the HD 7000 series were based on the GCN 1.0 architecture, though the HD 7790 featured an improved GCN 1.1 logic, which added AMD TrueAudio and a revised version of AMD's Powertune technology.
    GCN 1.2 launched along AMD's Radeon R9 285, featuring improved tessellation performance, lossless delta color compression to reduce memory bandwidth usage, an updated and more efficient instruction set, a high quality scaler for video, and a new multimedia engine for video encoding and decoding.
    AMD's upcoming Radeon 300 series code-named 'Pirate Islands' is expected to be based on similar GCN 1.2 architecture.
    Radeon HD 5870 HD 6970 HD 7970 HD 7970 GHz R9 290X
    Codename Cypress XT Cayman XT Tahiti XT Tahiti XT2 Hawaii XT
    Fab (nm) 40 40 28 28 28
    Transistors (Billion) 2.15 2.64 4.31 4.31 6.2
    Die size (mm2) 334 389 352 352 438
    SPU 1600 1536 2048 2048 2816
    TAU 80 96 128 128 176
    ROP 32 32 32 32 64
    Memory (MB) 1024 2048 3072 3072 4096
    Bus width (bit) 256 256 384 384 512
    Bandwidth (GB/s) 153.6 176.0 264 288 320
    Release date Sept-09 Dec-10 Jan-12 June-12 Oct-13
    Price at release $380 $370 $550 $500 $550
    The Radeon HD 5870 and HD 6970 were clearly the single-GPU flagships for their series, while the 7970 was replaced after only five months with an overclocked version known as the 7970 GHz Edition, which went on to be the single-GPU flagship for 16 months.
    The 7970 GHz was released out of necessity as it allowed AMD to retain the performance crown over Nvidia's GTX 680 -- if only barely. This was AMD's answer to avoid immediate price cuts, a move often forced on graphics chip makers after the competition undercuts them in price vs. performance offered. Still, we didn't like the 7970 GHz Edition when it landed as it was more expensive than the standard 7970 and only offered a modest factory overclock. We've included both the 7970 and the 7970 GHz Edition since both were Radeon HD 7000 flagships at a given point.
    Let's explore how Radeon GPUs have scaled from one generation to the next over the past few years...

    Testing Methodology

    Although we collected frame time data in our testing, we haven't included it in this article because it's less relevant for single GPU reviews. Frame time data will still be included in our CrossFireX and SLI reviews.
    For this article we tested at 1366x768, 1920x1080 and 2560x1600 resolutions. We have yet to incorporate 4K benchmarks because none of the current single GPU graphics offerings today provide true playable performance at this resolution.

    System Specs

    • Intel Core i7-4790K (3.60GHz)
    • x2 4GB Crucial DDR3-2400 (CAS 11-13-13-28)
    • Asrock Z97 Extreme6 (Intel Z97)
    • OCZ ZX Series (1250W)
    • Samsung SSD 850 Pro 512GB (SATA 6Gb/s)
    • Gigabyte Radeon HD R9 290X (4096MB)
    • AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz (3072MB)
    • AMD Radeon HD 7970 (3072MB)
    • HIS Radeon HD 6970 (2048MB)
    • AMD Radeon HD 5870 (1024MB)
    • Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
    • AMD Catalyst Omega 14.12

    Benchmarks: Crysis 3, BioShock


    The Radeon HD 5870 averaged just 22fps at 1080p while the HD 6970 was a little over 40% faster at 31fps. The HD 7970's average frame rate of 38fps was 23% faster than the 6970 and the jump from the 7970 to the 7970 GHz Edition only yielded an 8% increase for 41fps, but the R9 290X managed to top the GHz Edition by 41%, which was the same gap between the 5870 and the 6970.
    The results at 2560x1600 were considerably different as the 6970 was only 31% faster than the 5870, the 7970 was a significant 41% faster than the 6970, while the R9 290X was still around 40% faster than the 7970 GHz Edition.

    At 1080p in BioShock the HD 6970 was just 26% faster than the 5870 while the 7970 was a whopping 69% faster than the 6970. The 7970 GHz Edition provided an extra 10% more performance over the standard card and the R9 290X was just 25% faster than the 7970 GHz Edition with an average of 111fps.
    Again, increasing the resolution to 2560x1600 changed the margins a lot. While the 6970 vs. 5870 comparison remains much the same, the 7970 was now 78% faster than the 6970, yet despite that the R9 290X was now 35% faster than the 7970 GHz Edition.

    Benchmarks: Metro Redux, Tomb Raider


    Metro Redux provided some interesting results. At 1080p the HD 6970 was 47% faster than the 5870. What’s more interesting was how the 7970 was 91% faster than its predecessor (the 6970). Unsurprisingly, the 7970 GHz Edition was 10% faster than the standard 7970 while the R9 290X enjoyed a 37% performance advantage over the GHz Edition with 63fps.
    Jumping to 2560x1600 mixes up the results. The HD 6970 was now 60% faster than the 5870, while the 7970 was now just 69% faster than the 6970. The R9 290X results are much the same, though it was now 41% faster than the 7970 GHz Edition.

    The HD 6970 was 33% faster than the 5870 at 1080p in Tomb Raider with an average of just 28fps. The HD 7970 averaged 55fps, a whopping 96% faster than the 6970, the 7970 GHz Edition was 7% faster than the standard card, and the R9 290X was 27% faster than the GHz Edition.
    The 2560x1600 results were much the same when comparing the 7970 graphics cards and the R9 290X. However the Radeon HD 6970 was now 58% faster than the 5870 and the 7970 has dropped to just 74% faster than the 6970.

  • Battery Life Gains

    Battery life needs a little explanation. All the new battery-specific features and APIs implemented into Android 5.0 won't have an immediate effect on battery life, as developers will have to harness improvements to job scheduling and the like. As such, I'm not expecting to see any battery life differences in tests such as video playback and web browsing, which are mostly display and modem limited.
    I've also thrown PCMark's battery benchmark into the mix, because it is the one test here that could benefit from Android 5.0's under the hood changes. As this is a high performance battery benchmark that tests the efficiency of the CPU (mostly), having more efficient code without as much overhead thanks to ART could theoretically improve battery life.
    This is because the CPU won't have to waste as many clock cycles on inefficient processes, such as converting instructions from bytecode to native code on the fly. In turn this will create better peak performance (as we saw in the CPU benchmark portion of this article), which will help CPU-heavy tasks finish more quickly. Getting CPU-limited tasks to finish more quickly, or having these tasks waste less clock cycles, helps improve battery life by allowing the CPU to enter a low power state more quickly, and stay there for longer.
    PCMark's battery benchmark simply loops the Work benchmark continuously, which on initial inspection might not benefit from having high performance tasks finish earlier. However there are several sections of the benchmark that are fixed-time, such as the video playback test and parts of the web browsing test. As such, the benchmark should benefit overall because CPU utilization is usually lower during these sections, and more time will be spent during these less intense sections out of the entire test run as the high performance tasks will finish sooner.




    Results here were pretty much as I expected. Battery life was largely unchanged in our video playback and web browsing tests, but improved in PCMark by an average of 20%.
    There's a couple of things to note here throughout the testing. Firstly, battery performance reduced on the Moto G in both our browsing tests. As I installed a version of Android 5.0 meant for the single-SIM Moto G, while I actually tested on the dual-SIM variant, the difference in modem software could have caused this reduction. A reduction of around an hour in each test indicates you should wait for an official OTA rather than jumping the gun like I did.
    The LG G3 also suffered from the update to Android 5.0 in our Wi-Fi and video playback tests. For a device with average battery performance on Android 4.4, it's disappointing to see the update to Android 5.0 reduce battery life further. I'm not entirely sure what has caused these drops, but I suspect it has something to do with LG's under the hood changes. Maybe a minor update in the future can restore the battery performance of Android 4.4.

    Does Lollipop Truly Deliver?

    With all the benchmarks now out of the way, we're getting a good look at what Android 5.0 brings to the table from a performance and battery life perspective.
    Two of the devices I tested -- the Galaxy S5 and Moto G 2014 -- saw performance gains on the CPU side when upgrading to Android 5.0. On average that improvement was around 5%, although individual results varied from no improvement to 10%+ gains.
    I would expect that anything in the 5-10% improvement range represents a best case scenario for an Android 5.0 upgrade, and unless 64-bit support was suddenly enabled on a supporting device, I'd be surprised if overall gains would be larger than that.

    Google actually claimed at the launch of Android 5.0 that some benchmarks and applications would see performance improvements up to 2x from switching from Davlik to ART. Across the benchmarks that I use, which I believe test fairly real-world use cases, improvements weren't nearly as high. In some specific cases you could see gains this high, like when a JIT compiler was particularly inefficient for the code base, though I'd expect these would be few and far between in everyday usage.
    The Moto X was an interesting case in that it saw no gains on the CPU side. Performance was already quite good when I tested the device running Android 4.4, and it remains so with Android 5.0, performing slightly better than other flagships with similar hardware. Theoretically we should have seen extra performance from the switch to Android 5.0, though Motorola might have decided to tweak power management to keep performance flat. The device already gets quite hot under load, so carefully managing thermals might have been a priority for Motorola (and with good reason).
    The LG G3 saw performance reduced across the board by ~4%. Although LG hasn't officially confirmed this, I suspect the reduction is due to a change in SoC thermal management aimed at providing better sustained performance. The G3 did thermally throttle under some conditions, and the effects of this seem to have been reduced after the update to Android 5.0. Although performance reductions are never ideal, if it's to achieve better sustained performance in real use cases (e.g. games), it's probably for the better.

    As for GPU performance, unsurprisingly we saw no gains on any of the devices we tested. Android 5.0 wasn't designed for improving GPU efficiency, as ART focuses more on CPU-specific optimizations. While some GPU-limited applications saw slight jumps, this would be from CPU optimizations only.

    Battery Life Results

    Battery performance remains mostly the same after upgrading to Android 5.0. Unless you have the LG G3, which saw some unusual reductions in battery life, you should expect roughly the same life from your device during video playback and web browsing. Intermittent high performance workloads are the only areas you can expect to see any real gains; I recorded 20% gains on average in PCMark for Android's battery benchmark.
    At the end of the day it's hard to say exactly what improvements you can expect from an Android 5.0 update as OEMs may choose to tweak many aspects of performance at the same time. However, looking purely at Android 5.0-related gains, a performance improvement of 5-10% on the CPU side - with better battery life in performance intensive tasks to go with it - would be a good result.
    As developers begin to harness the new battery APIs in Android 5.0, and as we start to see more 64-bit capable devices on the market, I'd expect both performance and battery results to improve again purely from enhanced software. And even though gains are relatively small today, they're still pretty impressive considering nothing has been altered on the hardware side.

    As for what the future holds, it's unclear how much more efficient you can make Android, and whether we'll see similar gains from a new major revision to the operating system. There are probably still tweaks to be done here and there, but the switch to ART with improved garbage collection will likely be one of the biggest performance-focused updates to Android for a few years, aside from continual improvements on the low end.
    Most importantly, I hope we start to see more manufacturers roll out Android 5.0 as soon as possible. While four of the handsets I had on hand happened to receive Android 5.0 updates (after weeks of waiting) not all devices get this treatment, and especially products that aren't flagships. Choosing an OEM with a good update record, like Motorola, can be key to getting the latest software as quickly as possible, even on budget devices.

  • We tested Android 5.0 using the Moto X, Moto G, LG G3 and Galaxy S5 smartphones. Here's how it went down...

    This article is a long time coming.
    Google released Android 5.0 ‘Lollipop’ last November, a major milestone in the life of today's most popular mobile operating system. Like with most Android revisions, the update was pushed over-the-air to Nexus devices and all was well in the vanilla Android camp. Google took the opportunity to launch new devices, too, the Nexus 6 smartphone and Nexus 9 tablet, complete with Android 5.0 support out of the box.
    But again, like with every major Android software update, those without a Nexus device have had to anxiously wait for new software to hit their phone. Contrast this to iOS or Windows Phone, both of which come with fast upgrade pathways, and Android’s update rollout scheme seems severely outdated and frustrating for users.
    However this article isn’t meant to expose how awful the Android upgrade system is, because frankly, everyone knows this already. Instead, I'm seeking to explore how updates to the core architecture in Android 5.0 have improved performance and battery life on existing handsets. For that, I needed to wait until official updates hit for some of the leading devices out there, something that took a lot of patience.

    Before I dive into some of the improvements in Android 5.0 “Lollipop”, it’s interesting to explore the global rollout of the software across some of the devices I have in my possession.
    The first thing to note is that not every version of the one smartphone was created equally. Devices like the Galaxy S5 have many different SKUs that are littered around the globe, and software development teams within the company work at different rates on different SKUs. Sometimes even regional versions of the same SKU aren’t updated at the same time: a perfect example is the SM-G900I Galaxy S5 I have with me, which has been updated to Android 5.0 in Taiwan, but not in Australia. Other variants, like the G900H, are still stuck on Android 4.4.4.
    Of the ten Android smartphones I have in my office, global Android 5.0 rollouts for some SKUs have only begun for four of them: the Moto X 2014, Moto G 2014, LG G3 and Galaxy S5, in that order. Of those four, the Moto X 2014 is the only smartphone that that allowed me to update over the air to Android 5.0 in Australia. The other three were either just about to get Lollipop, or a local rollout hasn’t begun.
    As for the other six handsets, most of them are set to receive Android 5.0 at some point in the future, or so their manufacturers promise. The Galaxy Note 3 appears on the cusp of receiving an update, while updates for the Xperia Z2 and Z1 aren’t far off. Motorola announced an update for the Moto X 2013, though who knows when that will arrive.
    The newly released Galaxy A5 shipped without Android 5.0 and I have no hope for the BenQ-manufactured Kogan Agora 4G.

    Having a newer device isn’t an immediate ticket to Android 5.0 either. Devices I’ve recently reviewed, such as the Galaxy Note 4, Note Edge and Galaxy Alpha, Sony Xperia Z3, and Huawei Ascend Mate 7 haven’t received Android 5.0. The only other recent phone that has received the update that I can immediately think of is the HTC One M8.
    Anyway, enough talk about the update process, it’s time to talk about Android 5.0 itself. How could Google have squeezed more performance and more battery life out of a simple software update, you ask? Well, it comes down to ART, AOT compilation, and Project Volta.
    ART, or the Android Runtime, has actually been available since Android 4.4 as an optional developer feature that could be enabled if you so choose. However with Android 5.0, ART is set as the default, effectively replacing the old 'Davlik' runtime that has been around for years. This change has many performance implications.
    Davlik used a just-in-time (JIT) compiler to compile an application’s Java bytecode into native hardware instructions when said code was executed (such as when an app was opened). This form of compiler was necessary in older Android editions due to the hardware limitations of the devices it was running on, specifically in the storage and RAM departments.

    ART shifts to an ahead-of-time (AOT) compiler, which compiles the entire application’s bytecode into native code only once, rather than each time the application is opened. As these native instructions typically use more space, apps themselves have a larger footprint on Android 5.0 and devices running ART; something that has only really been possible since RAM and NAND capacities of Android smartphones have increased.
    By compiling applications into native code ahead of time – typically when the app is opened for the first time – a lot of system overhead is removed for any subsequent launch and use of the same app. Although this does mean the first launch of an app will be slower under ART than Davlik, after the first launch, performance should be improved.
    Google also claims that by compiling the entire application at once and only once, it can achieve greater optimization of the code, which again should improve performance. As overhead is removed at the same time, battery life should be improved thanks to fewer CPU cycles going to compilation each time an app is opened and used.
    ART also features an improved garbage collection (GC) mechanism, which works behind the scenes to allocate and reallocate memory. Previously, the GC system would have to pause code execution to clean up memory use, which would cause what Google describes as “jank”, or general stutter while using an app. With ART, the GC system has been improved to reduce pause times, in turn reducing jank. Combined with better memory allocation systems, and again performance increases.

    As for Project Volta, Google’s umbrella term for range of improvements, new features and APIs focused on extending battery life. On the feature side we see a new Battery Saver mode, and a Battery Historian app designed to give users and developers a better picture of what’s draining the device. But it’s the APIs that will do most to improve general battery life.
    The Job Scheduler API is new to Android 5.0 and allows developers to bundle tasks together and execute them at ideal times. When used for background tasks, this could significantly reduce the amount of time the modem and CPU is active for. For example, tasks could be bundled together and executed only when the device is charging, or for non-critical internet-active tasks, when the device is connected to Wi-Fi.
    These new features won’t necessarily improve battery life just from an upgrade to Android 5.0, though it’s possible for Android OEMs to integrate the APIs into their stock applications and other elements of their skins.

    About the Test, Impressions and General Performance

    The four devices used for testing in this article are the Motorola Moto X (2014) and Moto G (2014) Dual SIM, the Samsung Galaxy S5 SM-G900I, and the LG G3. All were updated to Android 5.0 from Android 4.4, with various skins and OEM adjustments applied.
    This is a purely official software comparison, so all Android 5.0 updates were official ROMs provided by the OEM, though not every update was performed over the air. I could have installed custom software such as CyanogenMod on other devices I had, but I decided to keep this to official and readily available updates only.

    On the Moto X and Moto G, the update to Android 5.0 provides you with an unskinned and essentially pure version of Lollipop, save for a few customizations that add extra features. Apart from getting a Nexus or Google Play Edition device, this is the closest to official Android you can get. The Moto X also had the fastest software update to Android 5.0 out of any non-Nexus device.
    Material Design, complete with cards and refreshed animations, is seen throughout, and the new notification system (including proper lockscreen notifications) feels more mature than previous editions of stock Android. Other features like guest logins I didn't use all that much.

    The Samsung Galaxy S5's update to Android 5.0 includes a mildly refreshed version of TouchWiz. The general style of Samsung's software skin is largely identical to the previous version, with minor changes that reflect Google's Material Design... to an extent. The carded notification dropdown, notifications on the lockscreen, and the task switcher have all been included, and there's a splash of Material in stock apps. However the general feel of the OS is still decidedly Samsung.
    Samsung also didn't take the time to remove a lot of junk from their software iteration, which isn't that surprising. The settings screen is still a ridiculous mess, and several stock applications still feel like they were designed by committee.

    LG's Android 5.0 update for the G3 includes the least amount of changes. You get a slightly modified notification pane that features Google's carded style, as well as lockscreen notifications (already a feature of LG's Android 4.4 edition) and the task switcher, but most other aspects of the skin remain visually identical to the previous version.
    In general, if you were hoping that Lollipop updates to major smartphones with heavy skins would bring the software closer to stock Android, I think you'll be disappointed. OEMs seem pretty keen on keeping the style of their skins intact, despite how far many of them are from Material Design.

    One thing I did notice is that the Android 5.0 experience across all four devices felt smoother and faster than Android 4.4. Browsing around the operating system, moving in and out of different screens and stock applications, felt smoother and more seamless despite a healthy dose of animations across the board. The task switcher, for example, loads notably quicker on all handsets, especially on the LG G3 which had a particularly slow implementation in KitKat.
    As I expected, loading applications for the first time after I installed them from the Google Play Store was slightly slower on Lollipop than KitKat, for reasons I just mentioned. After the first load, reloading and switching to these apps felt slightly faster, especially on the Moto G with its limited resources. On powerful Snapdragon 801 devices, the difference was less noticeable as app loading was often instantaneous previously.
    These observations were purely subjective, and your mileage may vary, especially if you are applying an OTA to a device already loaded with apps. For this article I tested phones that were factory reset either side of the Android 5.0 update, to ensure a clean slate and fair testing ground across all devices.

    CPU Performance Gains

    Here's where things start to get interesting. I already established that general operating system performance feels slightly better in Android 5.0, so it's now time to quantify any performance improvements. Google says there should be a noticable performance improvement from moving to ART, even in benchmarks, and even with standard 32-bit instructions. How noticeable these improvements are in practice remains to be seen.
    On this page we're looking at improvements in CPU and system bound benchmarks. As a refresher, the Moto X 2014, Galaxy S5 and LG G3 come with Snapdragon 801 SoCs inside with 2.5 GHz quad-core Krait 400 CPUs and Adreno 330 graphics. The LG G3 is the only device with 3 GB of RAM and a 1440p display, with the Moto X and Galaxy S5 coming with 2 GB and 1080p displays.
    The Moto G 2014 is a mid-range device with a Snapdragon 400 SoC inside, with its quad-core Cortex A7 CPU clocked at 1.2 GHz. It comes with 1 GB of RAM and an Adreno 305 GPU to power a 720p display.





    Note here that the LG G3 did not complete Basemark II 2.0 in Android 4.4 correctly. It did complete correctly in Android 5.0.

    The Samsung Galaxy S5 and Moto G 2014 gained performance from their upgrade to Android 5.0, recording improvements of 5% and 6%, respectively. For sustained, high performance workloads without any change in internal hardware, this is a decent enough gain, though far from groundbreaking. The Moto G stands to gain the most here due to its limited hardware.
    The LG G3 reduced in performance by 4% on average. I suspect this has to do with LG tweaking the CPU governor to be less aggressive, as with Android 4.4 the device did get very hot during benchmark runs, and was often thermally throttled. By allowing the CPU to run at slightly lower speeds, sustained performance can improve. And this was the case, with the G3 performing consistently when benchmarks were performed back-to-back.
    The Moto X 2014 did not gain performance at all. It already performed very well in Android 4.4, beating most other flagships with similar hardware by a small margin. While some scores dropped after the upgrade to Android 5.0, strong performance in Vellamo and especially PCMark kept it alive.
    Interestingly, PCMark for Android was the only benchmark which saw performance gains on every handset after switching to Android 5.0. Gains were particularly large on the Moto G at 18%, and I suspect this is due to PCMark's use of simulated real-world tasks. As I mentioned earlier, general OS performance seems smoother in Android 5.0, and PCMark might be illustrating this.

    GPU Performance Gains

    Now on to the GPU benchmarks. I'm not expecting to see many improvements in this space, considering ART's improvements aren't really geared towards optimizing 3D rendering. However, any optimizations that could be done during compilation could have a small effect.





    Unsurprisingly we're seeing basically no change in GPU performance. The Galaxy S5's gains were just under 2% while the Moto G saw no increase or decrease at all. In line with what we saw on the CPU side, the LG G3's performance dropped by around 4%. The Moto X's performance also decreased, but by such a small amount it's basically within the margin of error.
  • android, ios, cortana, voice assistantMicrosoft will soon give people one less reason to purchase a Windows Phone, as its digital assistant, Cortana, is reportedly headed to Android and iOS as a standalone application.
    At this stage Microsoft has only hinted at when Cortana will hit competing mobile platforms, with managing director of Microsoft Research, Eric Horvitz, saying that "the next roll out of Cortana" is scheduled for sometime this fall. This places its release around the same time as Windows 10, which Microsoft is also working to integrate Cortana into.
    As well as bringing Cortana to more mobile platforms, Microsoft is working on a major update to the virtual assistant that uses research from "Einstein", an artificial intelligence project at Microsoft Research. Details are light on at this stage, but it was mentioned that Microsoft hopes Einstein will transform Cortana into "the first intelligent 'agent' which anticipates users needs".
    The choice to bring Cortana to other mobile platforms is all part of CEO Satya Nadella's plan to increase the reach of Microsoft's services. Rather than attempting to get users to switch to their operating systems, Microsoft can gain users of their software platforms and services by offering tools like Cortana on other OSes.
    Unfortunately the news likely won't please Windows Phone fans, who have felt neglected by Microsoft for quite some time. Now that one of the main selling points of the OS is moving to other platforms, it leaves Windows Phone users with few truly exclusive features.
  • microsoft, windows, piracy, upgrade, windows 10One story that circulated a couple of days ago claimed that Microsoft would be giving pirates of their operating system a free upgrade to Windows 10. The news seemed a little strange at the time, considering Microsoft's previous stance on piracy, so it's not hugely surprising to discover that it was too good to be true.
    Microsoft has clarified that people who are running a pirated copy of Windows will be able to upgrade to Windows 10 relatively easily. However, their Windows license will remain invalid after the upgrade process is complete, meaning they won't really be getting a "free" upgrade to Windows 10.
    This will likely mean that non-genuine users will be subject to anti-piracy countermeasures after the upgrade to Windows 10, if previous versions are anything to go by. In current versions of Windows, Microsoft prevents users from customizing their install or using certain features if it detects a non-genuine copy, unless a crack has been installed.
    While users running pirated Windows will still be running pirated Windows after the upgrade to Windows 10, the company is still planning to "re-engage" pirates by making the upgrade path straight-forward. This could help in getting users in heavy piracy regions, such as China, running the same OS as the rest of the world, which in turn could result in higher usage of Microsoft's other services such as Office 365, OneDrive and Bing.
    Microsoft will need to carefully balance their re-engagement of pirates and anti-piracy measures. If countermeasures are too strict, users will still resort to cracks to circumvent restrictions, or even decide to stay on the current version of Windows. But if they get it right, they could encourage more people to get in on the new Microsoft ecosystem.
  • microsoft, windows, smartphone, operating system, 64-bit, pirated, 32-bit, windows 10, requirements, genuine windowsMicrosoft has fed the tech community a steady diet of Windows 10 information this week. In addition to revealing a summer launch window across 190 countries, demonstrating a new biometric authentication process and providing some Xiaomi users with a custom Windows 10 ROM, the Redmond-based company is now offering up new information and requirements for what could be its biggest OS launch to date.
    During the Windows Hardware Engineering (WinHEC) conference currently going on in Shenzhen, Microsoft confessed that Windows 10 phones can have a potential screen size between three inches and 7.99 inches. Obviously, the lower and upper limits are hypothetical as a 3-inch smartphone wouldn’t make much sense. Given the current phablet craze, I wouldn't rule out the possibility of a massive 8-inch handset.
    windows microsoft smartphone operating system 64-bit pirated 32-bit windows 10 requirements genuine windows
    Flagship Windows 10 smartphones will be required to carry a minimum display resolution of 2,560 x 2,048 and have at least 4GB of RAM on tap. Standard phones, meanwhile, are only required to run 800 x 480 up to 854 x 480 and have just 512MB of memory while all phones must have at least 4GB of onboard storage (and an SD card slot if they only have 4GB for updating purposes).
    Windows 10 Professional “desktop” PCs and tablets must carry screen sizes of at least seven inches, Microsoft said, while consumer tablets and PCs are required to start at eight inches.
    windows microsoft smartphone operating system 64-bit pirated 32-bit windows 10 requirements genuine windows
    Naturally, specifications for desktop PCs are a bit more flexible. As we learned earlier this week, 32-bit versions of Windows 10 will require at least 16GB of free storage space while 64-bit installations need 20GB. They also need a minimum of 1GB / 2GB of RAM for 32-bit and 64-bit installs, respectively, and have to support DirectX 9 or higher.
  • qualcomm, snapdragon, mwc, smartphone, zte, phone, biometrics, mwc 2015, zte grand s3, grand s3, retina scanner, eyeverify, eyeprint idZTE’s new flagship smartphone is taking a different approach to biometric authentication through the use of retina scanning technology from EyeVerify.
    The ZTE Grand S3 is the first smartphone to use eye-based biometrics for security purposes which ZTE is calling Eyeprint ID. With the phone in front of your face, the screen will turn white briefly to help illuminate your eyes. The retina scanner then goes to work and using the front-facing camera, scans the unique pattern of veins in the eye for authentication.
    The whole process is said to take as few as 800 milliseconds although in real-world testing, PCWorld said to expect about a full second.
    As of now, Eyeprint ID is only used to unlock the phone although ZTE has plans to extend its functionality to apps. They will also bring it to other handsets in the future.
    The Grand S3 features a 5.5-inch display operating at 1,920 x 1,080 and is powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor clocked at 2.5GHz. There’s 3GB of RAM on tap as well as 16GB of storage (expandable via microSD card slot).
    The rear camera is capable of capturing images at 16-megapixels while the front-facing shooter grabs memories at 8-megapixels. The phone measures 9.8mm thick with a 3,100mAh battery running Android 4.4 KitKat.
    Interestingly enough, the ZTE Grand S3 has been on sale in China since January. At Mobile World Congress, however, ZTE announced that it’ll be coming to other markets. It’s priced at 2999 RMB (around $480) in its home country meaning it's probably a safe bet to see it debut elsewhere around that same price.
  • google, apple, android, samsung, htc, mobile os, mobile operating system, nexus 9, nexus 6, lollipop, android lollipop, android 5.1, hd calling, device protectionWhat better way to rain on your competitor’s parade than to release the first major update to your mobile operating system just hours after their event. That’s exactly what Google has done with Android 5.1, an update to Lollipop that includes a few new features as well as improved stability and performance.
    For starters, Android 5.1 now allows users to use more than one SIM card on a device with dual SIM slots. This could come in handy if you’re using a pre-paid service while traveling or happen to share a phone with a family member.
    The new update for Lollipop also delivers high definition (HD) Voice calls to compatible handsets such as the Nexus 6 for T-Mobile and Verizon subscribers. Other basic enhancements include the ability to join Wi-Fi networks and control paired Bluetooth devices from within Quick Settings.
    google android dual-sim apple samsung htc mobile os mobile operating system nexus 9 nexus 6 lollipop android lollipop android 5.1 hd calling device protection
    But perhaps the most important addition is a service called Device Protection.
    For those unlucky enough to need to use it, Device Protection ensures your device will remain locked if lost or stolen, even if someone manages to restore said device to factory defaults. The only way to unlock a missing device is by signing in with your Google account. We’re told this feature will be available on most Android phones and tablets shipped with Android 5.1 as well as Google’s own Nexus 6 and Nexus 9.
    Google’s line of Nexus devices are expected to receive the update first, perhaps as early as today. Those with Android devices from other manufacturers like HTC and Samsung will likely have to play the waiting game considering 5.0 is still actively rolling out to some.
  • android, samsung, mwc, smartphone, galaxy s6, mwc 2015, galaxy s6 edge, edge display, samsung galaxy s6The long-anticipated Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge were the highlight of Samsung's Unpacked event at Mobile World Congress today. The new phones are all glass and metal, come in a handful of colors, and honestly they look gorgeous, especially the Edge variant.
    New for 2015 is a 5.1-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display operating at 2,560 by 1,440 (577ppi), Gorilla Glass 4 is used on the front and back, Samsung's own octacore Exynos 64-bit SoC, 3GB of RAM, and storage options ranging from 32GB to 128GB of internal memory, but no microSD slot this time.

    Samsung is using an internal battery for the first time on the Galaxy S, but adding support for both Qi and PMA wireless charging, as well as fast USB charging, it sounds like a sensible tradeoff.
    'Design with purpose' was the motto used by Samsung to announce their new Galaxy flagship phones, and it kind of shows.
    According to Samsung, the S6 will gain 4 hours of usage time out of a 10 minute charge and going from zero to 100% battery charge takes half the time when compared to the iPhone 6. According to reports, the battery capacity has been decreased from 2,800 mAh in the S5 to 2,550/2,600 on the standard S6 and Edge variant, something to look out for when we review the handset since Lollipop rarely presents big battery life gains. 

    The 16-megapixel rear camera adds optical image stabilization, real-time HDR and infrared white balance, which according to Samsung vastly improves shots in many situations including low light. The 'always on standby' camera is a software feature that means app launches almost instantly. The front-facing selfie camera has been boosted to 5MP and a 120 degree wide angle.
    'Design with purpose' was the motto used by Samsung to announce their new Galaxy flagship phones, and it kind of shows. Unlike the gimmicky Galaxy S5 release that packed half-baked features (health monitoring, fingerprint reader that didn't work well), the company appears to be doing a 360 by building a more solid and well conceived phone with useful features like wireless charging, an improved camera on both hardware and software, and the curved display -- ok, that may turn out to be a gimmick, but we won't know for sure until we test it in full. For now the S6 Edge does look like a more svelte and stylish version of the same Galaxy phone.

    The S6 Edge's screen slopes down on both sides but unlike the Note Edge smartphone that we reviewed a few months ago, the edges don't function as a separate panel if you don't want, so it's perceived like a fluid curved design.

    Two other noteworthy features: the Galaxy S6 fingerprint reader no longer requires a swipe and we assume by now Samsung will have figured it out so it's an actual usable aspect of the handset. Also as anticipated, 'Samsung Pay' is the company's take on mobile payments. After the acquisition of LoopPay that doesn’t require merchants to upgrade their checkout devices. The magnetic induction technology it uses can simply be tapped against the strip reader already found in most stores.
    The Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge will launch on April 10th around the world and on all major US carriers with 32/64/128GB storage options. Pricing is not yet official, but we woudn't be surprised if the S6 goes for $650 off-contract / $200 on contract, while the S6 Edge will likely set you back an extra $100 - 150.
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