HTC One mini 2 review: Growing up

Synthetic benchmarks

The HTC One mini 2 runs on a midrange Snapdragon 400 chipset with 1 GB of RAM, a quad-core processor with four Cortex-A7 cores clocked at 1.2 GHz each. Cortex-A7 runs very close to its predecessor Cortex-A9 which was all the rage in devices like the Samsung Galaxy S III, HTC One X and others. Despite being close in terms of performance the Cortex-A7 cores consume much less power. The GPU is an Adreno 305. In retrospect the HTC One mini rocked a Snapdragon 400 with a dual-core Krait processor clocked at 1.4 GHz. Since the One mini of old uses a Krait core and not a Cortex core it is more powerful but in turn consumes more power. Other than that, both phones have the same Adreno 305 GPU and the same 1 GB RAM.

The screen is also the same 720p resolution so performance numbers will come down to the different CPU architecture. We'll see whether two more cores at a lower maximum clock speed can do more than before.

Let's jump straight into the tests.

GeekBench 3 and AnTuTu 4 are benchmarks, which put to the test the hardware combo inside the smartphone. GeekBench 3 is more CPU-intensive, whereas AnTuTu 4 is a compound benchmark - testing CPU, GPU, memory performance, etc. The HTC One mini 2 was able to pump out a good score in both. It managed to outdo the LG G2 mini, which has the same hardware as well as the Motorola Moto G. The HTC One mini from a year ago was also no match for the One mini 2.

GeekBench 3

Higher is better

• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  3011
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 S800
  2937
• HTC One (M8)
  2367
• LG G2
  2243
• HTC One mini 2
  1526
• HTC Desire 816
  1510
• LG G2 mini
  1123
• Motorola Moto G
  1120
• HTC One mini
  887

AnTuTu 4

Higher is better

• HTC One (M8)
  37009
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  36018
• LG G2
  35444
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 S800
  31109
• HTC Desire 816
  21580
• HTC One mini 2
  17883
• LG G2 mini
  17362
• Motorola Moto G
  17214
• HTC One mini
  11434

Basemark OS II is another all-round benchmark. It gives an overall score along with single, multi-core performance, math performance and more. We focus on the overall and CPU scores. The HTC One mini 2 got very similar results in both the regular and anti-cheat tests. Just as expected for its midrange position, looking at all the tests, the results weren't very good. And that's not comparing the One mini 2 to the best smartphones out there. It didn't manage to outperform the HTC Desire 816, which has almost the same innards.

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• LG G Pro 2
  1140
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  1082
• Oppo Find 7a
  1057
• HTC Desire 816
  520
• HTC One mini 2
  517
• HTC One mini 2 (anti-cheat)
  511
• HTC Desire 816 (anti-cheat)
  468
• Sony Xperia T2 Ultra
  434

Basemark OS II (single-core)

Higher is better

• Oppo Find 7a
  2580
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  2415
• LG G Pro 2
  2401
• HTC Desire 816
  1739
• HTC One mini 2 (anti-cheat)
  1357
• HTC One mini 2
  1304

Basemark OS II (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Oppo Find 7a
  10256
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  10063
• LG G Pro 2
  9802
• HTC Desire 816
  7071
• HTC One mini 2
  5182
• HTC One mini 2 (anti-cheat)
  4889

Next up we have GFXBench's 2.7 T-Rex and 3.0 Manhattan. In 1080p offscreen mode the GPU is tasked with performing graphical computations in 1920 x 1080px resolution, while the onscreen mode uses the screen's native 1280 x 720px resolution. T-Rex, which is the older of the two, poses less demanding tests and here the HTC One mini 2 posted an equal result to the LG G2 mini's and a better one than the Moto G's and HTC One mini's.

In the T-Rex onscreen test framerate doubles to 11 fps but sits behind a great 14.9 fps effort by the LG G2 mini. However both remain unusable and stuttery - anything below 30 fps is laggy.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC One (M8)
  28.4
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  27.8
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 S800
  26.3
• LG G2
  22
• HTC Desire 816
  5.9
• LG G2 mini
  5.8
• HTC One mini 2
  5.8
• HTC One mini
  5.6
• Motorola Moto G
  5.6

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC One (M8)
  30.1
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  28.1
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 S800
  26.7
• LG G2
  23.1
• LG G2 mini
  14.9
• HTC One mini 2
  11
• HTC Desire 816
  11

The more-demanding Manhattan shows a significant drop in framerate. The HTC One mini 2 posted the same score as the HTC Desire 816 we reviewed recently, which makes sense given that both carry the same chipset and screen resolution with the only exception being a slight RAM increase in favor of the Desire 816.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  11.8
• HTC One (M8)
  11.1
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 S800
  9.9
• HTC One mini 2
  1.7
• HTC Desire 816
  1.7

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC One (M8)
  11.9
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  11.7
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 S800
  10
• HTC Desire 816
  3.9
• HTC One mini 2
  3.8

BrowserMark 2.1 looks after HTML 5 performance, while Mozilla's Kraken 1.1 is JavaScript-centric. The HTC One mini 2 manages a good score in BrowserMark but rather poor in Kraken.

BrowserMark 2.1

Higher is better

• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  1398
• LG G Pro 2
  1346
• Oppo Find 7a
  1327
• LG Nexus 5
  1286
• Sony Xperia Z2
  1224
• HTC One mini 2
  945
• HTC Desire 816
  774

Kraken 1.1

Lower is better

• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  6043
• LG G Pro 2
  6578
• Oppo Find 7a
  6660
• Sony Xperia Z2
  7041
• LG Nexus 5
  7148
• HTC Desire 816
  13564
• HTC One mini 2
  15684

The HTC One mini 2 is a good performer as far as quad-core Snapdragon 400's go. It didn't get passed by its peers like the Moto G or LG G2 mini. But synthetic benchmarks aside, you should know that things load fast and the OS runs smooth. Android 4.1 Jelly Bean saw performance rise tremendously and 4.3 Jelly Bean and 4.4 KitKat added subtle improvements.

The current state of Android allows the HTC One mini 2 to offer commendable user experience. Still, we feel that for this steep asking price, HTC should have bundled it with a more premium chipset.