Archos Diamond Omega review

Synthetic benchmarks

Just like its 16:9 sibling, the Nubia Z17s is a true 2017 flagship. In fact, it is practically identical in terms of raw computational power, packing the same Snapdragon 835 chipset. Both devices also run on pretty similar Nubia UI 5 ROMS, on top of Android 7. So, we expect a similar, if not identical, performance between the two.

Still, there are some notable differences this time around that could result in interesting performance deltas. Besides the slight OS differences, the Archos Diamond Omega which we are reviewing has a whopping 8GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. That is, essentially, the top tier configuration for the Nubia Z17s, as well as the Z17. The Nubia Z17 results we have in our database are from the base model 6GB, plus 64GB storage one.

While we still have plenty of doubts for the usefulness of more RAM in the current state of the Android OS in real life terms, benchmarks, or at least some of them, are sure to give a few extra points to the 8GB Archos Diamond Omega.

But, the biggest hardware change is definitely not the amount of memory, but rather the new 17:9 display. Not only does it have more pixels, making the on-screen rendering tasks all that little tougher on the Adreno 540, but its aspect is also quite non-standard. We can't wait to see how that translates to GPU test numbers.

First off, however, let's get some pure CPU numbers out of the way. The Archos Diamond Omega definitely holds its own in GeekBench 4. Nubia clearly has no issue utilizing the eight Kryo cores inside the Snapdragon 835 to their full capacity.

GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Archos Diamond Omega
  6689
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  6656
• ZTE nubia Z17
  6622
• OnePlus 5
  6604
• Nokia 8
  6568
• Xiaomi Mi Mix 2
  6234
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  5460
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  4292
• Moto G5S Plus
  4193
• LG G6
  4175
• vivo V7+
  3912
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
  3251
• Nokia 6 (Global version)
  2841

Not only is the Archos Diamond Omega effectively leading the pack of Snapdragon 835 devices, we chose for the list, but it is also holding its own and often outpacing the likes of Samsung and Huawei, with their respective custom chips.

BaseMark OS 2.0 seems to be a bit less favorable to the Archos. Still, the difference in performance between it and the other flagships on the list is minimal. Clearly a great showing, overall.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• OnePlus 5
  3601
• Xiaomi Mi Mix 2
  3578
• Nokia 8
  3503
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  3376
• ZTE nubia Z17
  3281
• Archos Diamond Omega
  3214
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  3174
• Huawei P10
  2910
• HTC U Ultra
  2222
• LG G6
  2126
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
  1309
• vivo V7+
  1290
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  1262
• Moto G5S Plus
  1176
• Oppo F5
  424

On to AnTuTu, a more compound benchmark. Once again, we find the Archos Diamond Omega trading blows with other Snapdragon 835 devices near the top of the chart.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• OnePlus 5
  180331
• ZTE nubia Z17
  178629
• Archos Diamond Omega
  177190
• Nokia 8
  175872
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  174435
• Xiaomi Mi Mix 2
  160319
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  144223
• LG G6
  143639
• HTC U Ultra
  139750
• Huawei P10
  126629
• Moto G5S Plus
  64554
• Oppo F5
  63889
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  61762
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
  58068
• vivo V7+
  57791
• Nokia 6 (Global version)
  47495

So, no surprises in the CPU department whatsoever. The Archos Diamond Omega can crunch numbers as good as any other 2017 flagship. We have every reason to believe the Nubia Z17s can do just as well.

Graphics performance on the Archos Diamond Omega is an interesting topic. Straight off the bat, we will note that the phone handles its Adreno 540 GPU pretty well. Frankly, we expected the odd aspect ratio to take a bigger toll on rendering performance. But, looking at the charts and comparing the Archos with the regular Z17, we only see a couple of frames difference on average.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• ZTE nubia Z17
  63
• OnePlus 5
  60
• Archos Diamond Omega
  59
• Nokia 8
  57
• Xiaomi Mi Mix 2
  54
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  50
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  50
• LG G6
  41
• HTC U Ultra
  41
• Huawei P10
  29
• Oppo F5
  11
• Moto G5S Plus
  9.8
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  9.8
• vivo V7+
  9.3
• Nokia 6 (Global version)
  7.1
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
  6.5

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• ZTE nubia Z17
  56
• OnePlus 5
  56
• Archos Diamond Omega
  54
• Xiaomi Mi Mix 2
  50
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  47
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  36
• Huawei P10
  35
• Nokia 8
  33
• LG G6
  24
• HTC U Ultra
  24
• vivo V7+
  17
• Oppo F5
  11
• Moto G5S Plus
  10
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  9.7
• Nokia 6 (Global version)
  7
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
  6.1

Even more interesting is the fact that that variance is present in 1080p off-screen render tests as well, which, by design, take the display and its resolution or aspect out of the equation. That, in turn, means that the Z17 managed to squeeze some extra performance out of its hardware and the odd screen aspect of the Archos Diamond Omega is not really hurting its performance that much.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• ZTE nubia Z17
  43
• OnePlus 5
  41
• Archos Diamond Omega
  40
• Nokia 8
  39
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  39
• Xiaomi Mi Mix 2
  37
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  36
• HTC U Ultra
  27
• LG G6
  26
• Huawei P10
  22
• Oppo F5
  7.1
• Moto G5S Plus
  6.4
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  6.4
• vivo V7+
  6.1
• Nokia 6 (Global version)
  4.6
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
  3.8

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• ZTE nubia Z17
  41
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  41
• OnePlus 5
  40
• Xiaomi Mi Mix 2
  32
• Archos Diamond Omega
  30
• Huawei P10
  30
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  23
• Nokia 8
  18
• vivo V7+
  13
• HTC U Ultra
  13
• LG G6
  12
• Oppo F5
  6.8
• Moto G5S Plus
  6.8
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  6.3
• Nokia 6 (Global version)
  4.5
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
  3.6

However, that's only part of the story, especially when talking about actual game titles, rather than synthetic benchmarks. Since the Archos Diamond Omega uses a 17:9 display, we have little hopes that any developer has actually optimized content for it, or will do so in the foreseeable future. Even so, often times the phone refuses to let games scale in the first place. Instead, it elects to leave its navigation bar in place and just render a standard 16:9 image for the game next to it.

GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Nokia 8
  32
• ZTE nubia Z17
  25
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  25
• Xiaomi Mi Mix 2
  25
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  25
• Archos Diamond Omega
  24
• OnePlus 5
  24
• HTC U Ultra
  18
• LG G6
  16
• Huawei P10
  14
• Oppo F5
  4.2
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  3.5
• Moto G5S Plus
  3.4
• vivo V7+
  3.3
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
  2.6
• Nokia 6 (Global version)
  2.5

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• ZTE nubia Z17
  25
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  25
• OnePlus 5
  24
• Xiaomi Mi Mix 2
  24
• Archos Diamond Omega
  23
• Huawei P10
  16
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  13
• Nokia 8
  12
• HTC U Ultra
  10
• LG G6
  8.5
• vivo V7+
  6.6
• Oppo F5
  4
• Moto G5S Plus
  3.8
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  3.5
• Nokia 6 (Global version)
  2.5
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
  2.4

While this does look odd and can get irritating at times, it also means little to no performance impact. Plus, the dedicated game mode can disable inputs on the navigation bar for you, so you can confidently rest your fingers on top of it.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S8
  42370
• Huawei P10
  39433
• OnePlus 5
  38844
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  38507
• Xiaomi Mi Mix 2
  38349
• Nokia 8
  37593
• Archos Diamond Omega
  36391
• HTC U Ultra
  35875
• ZTE nubia Z17
  33513
• LG G6
  30507
• Moto G5S Plus
  10488
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  10472
• vivo V7+
  9955
• Oppo F5
  9205
• Nokia 6 (Global version)
  7516
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
  7004

Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S8
  1189
• Nokia 8
  855
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  842
• OnePlus 5
  796
• Xiaomi Mi Mix 2
  739
• Archos Diamond Omega
  734
• Huawei P10
  716
• ZTE nubia Z17
  619
• HTC U Ultra
  582
• LG G6
  541
• Oppo F5
  251
• Moto G5S Plus
  137
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  136
• vivo V7+
  131
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite / Honor 9i
  119
• Nokia 6 (Global version)
  100

We're not saying it's the best system, but if you are prepared to live with the compromises it requires, at least you are still getting a taller display for browsing and general usage and not crippling your games.

And as far as browsing and other general productivity tasks go, it is nearly impossible to choke the Archos Diamond Omega up. It's one speedy smartphone.