Counterclockwise: console-quality graphics on phones

05 November 2017
Mobile chipsets rival computer and console parts in complexity, but the promise of console-like graphics never comes true.

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  • K
  • Kangal
  • uCX
  • 06 Nov 2017

Anonymous, 05 Nov 2017Back then, the Nokia N-Gage games had console quality games... moreOh, hush stop spreading lies.
As someone who had the N-Gage, a PS1, and a Windows 98 PC... I can tell you are wrong.

When it comes to games there are three main performance factors:
Resolution, Framerate, Graphics Settings.

There are some ports of console games to PC, and they run better with the faster hardware, but require much more performance than console to bring those improvements simply because they weren't as optimised.
And there are games ported to the mobile platform from the console platform that do function very relatively, however they make concessions to the framerate (eg 24fps), to the resolution (1024 x 600 sampled/upscaled to 1080p), and Graphics Settings (eg from Medium-High to a custom Low Setting level).

Case in point: the latest full port (ie currently best optimisation), of Doom (a graphically malleable game), ported from the Xbox One (a very weak console of current-gen), and ported to the Nintendo Switch (one of the most powerful mobile hardware).

As you can see, mobile devices have exceeded the graphics of the Xbox 360/PS3/Wii U and they have approached the graphics level of the Xbox One.

So it is 100% accurate and fair to say "console level graphics" when describing a high-end mobile device, but that doesn't mean equal performance, some concessions will still need to be made.

So technically speaking, we could see hardware like the QSD 636, QSD 660, Apple A9, QSD 820, QSD 821, Exynos 8890, Kirin 960, Helio X30, Exynos 8895, Kirin 970, QSD 835, Apple A10, Apple A11.... they all have the needed hardware performance to be able to play console games.

(Honorable mentions go to the QSD 650, QSD 652, QSD 653, Exynos 7420, Helio X20, Helio X25 which are close).

Console Games such as:
MGS V, GTA V, Sleeping Dogs, Red Dead Redemption,
Fallout New Vegas, Saints Row 4, Rage, Far Cry 4, Just Cause 2,
Crysis 3, Battlefield 4, CoD Advanced Warfare, God of War Ascension, Skyrim,
Tomb Raider, Uncharted 2 and 3, The Last of Us, Beyond 2 Souls, Heavy Rain,
Fifa 18, NBA 2k15, DiRT 3, Forza Motorsport 4, Tekken 6, Mortal Kombat 9,

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • vxJ
    • 06 Nov 2017

    Phones are never going to reach console level fidelity for the following reasons:

    1. Thermal/power constraints.
    2. Too much variance between devices - forced to develop for the lowest/low powered configurations.
    3. Developers are too busy making ****ty 2D games infested with IAPs instead of pushing graphical boundaries.

      • D
      • AnonD-122899
      • Gfx
      • 06 Nov 2017

      Even if the iPhone X can run the best console title, I will rather play games on my PC / TV than holding onto such small screen with the mercy of the battery going flat in no time for such graphic intensive games.

        • R
        • Reviews and More
        • t@P
        • 06 Nov 2017

        Just lookup "quake 3 arena nokia" and you can see past handsets with (at the time) console level potential, Also Playing Quake II on a Samsung Innov8 was pretty cool back in the day... was sad when later phones had GPU's reduced and Ngage closed as it was considered that mobile gaming was not worth pursuing... we know this was a bad call.

        Unfortunate... especially when 8-10 years on, devices like the switch show us that really those old devices had been well ahead of their time and the market had not yet fully realised what was being shown, a shame really, again a call was made and it was proven to be the wrong one as many gamers did want the potential of great graphics on mobile games.

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • p3f
          • 06 Nov 2017

          What about Samsung’s Exynos???

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            • AnonD-183110
            • mi7
            • 06 Nov 2017

            My GPU is about 5 Teraflops, but it's not nescessarily more capable than newer Nvidia cards with less Teraflops

              • S
              • Surficial
              • 0RS
              • 05 Nov 2017

              I wonder how long it will be for the source engine to come to phones.
              Portal would make loads of money and is probably do-able now at a lower resolution.

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • nmM
                • 05 Nov 2017

                coolsauce, 05 Nov 2017I'm pretty much sure if Google shuts down Google Play Servi... moreNot having unlimited data is pretty ancient, though. Should be available for everybody by now, but seems like it's not. :/

                  Its been more than a year since google announced vulkan on android. But still less than 5 games support it, and even they dont support all the devices. So i have no hope for android. But Apple might achieve those graphics with good hardware and tight grasp on developers. I was hopeful for vulkan support. But google does'nt care.

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                    • Anonymous
                    • t@g
                    • 05 Nov 2017

                    iphone has mediocre Screen obviously score higher than 2k screen on Android,finally bechmark dont tell anything and could be manipulated by vendor or bechmarker itself.

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                      • Anonymous
                      • 3Jn
                      • 05 Nov 2017

                      When my mrs or I take our old Sony/Ericsson p910i''s out for a bit of fresh air and use,we still get surrounded by people Ayn they see how good Lucas art games look and how much fun we have playing them,on devices that are well over ten years old now !
                      And the games like Sam and max or "tentacles are 20+ years old !!!
                      But they still look brilliant,and play well and seem to look better on the older screens than newer ones + scumm seems to be happier running on older devices for some reason..
                      Tried scumm on lots of devices over the years,some just can't handle it,others much better than some,always seemed to have trouble getting it to run well on any Samsung I have tried, but some other makes seem to be ok..

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • mY2
                        • 05 Nov 2017

                        Back then, the Nokia N-Gage games had console quality games. They had PS1 quality. For example you can't differentiate the Colin McRae Rally 2005 on N-Gage from Colin McRae Rally 2 on PC and PS1. It also had Call of Duty and other great games.

                        From the N-Gage 2.0 era (Nokia N82, N95 8GB, etc.), the Pro Series Golf, Brothers in Arms and Resident Evil Degeneration were the best games. However, from this era, the best games that were available for phones were the Quake 2 and 3. They were PC ports and used the 3D accelerator chip. Duke Nukem was also great.

                        N-Gage 1.0 games are much better than N-Gage 2.0 games. Unfortunately Nokia purposely made the Symbian S60V3 incompatible with older Symbian apps, including N-Gage 1.0 games.

                        I was dreaming about playing certain games on phones, but since it was not possible, I had to find replacements. In 2007-2008, I wanted to play Driver 2 with PS1 emulator on a phone like Nokia N82. So I was playing Driver 3 GBA with a GBA emulator on my N82 and the Gangstar Crime City java game for GTA style gaming. Then later in 2009, I surprised when I saw videos on YouTube about Samsung Omnia and HTC HD2 running Driver 2 with a PS1 emulator. I was amazed when Rockstar released the GTA III for Android in 2011. I instantly knew that soon they will release Vice City and San Andreas too.
                        When the Quake 3 was ported to Nokia N82 I was dreaming about playing Return to Castle Wolfeistein on a phone. I was happy when the RTCW4A was released for Android in 2012 (then the RTCW Touch, which is a different port).

                        So in short, in the pre-2010 era, the Quake 2, 3, Duke Nukem and N-Gage 1.0 games were the bests on phones. From 2010 to present, a lot of long awaited games for phones were released. The dreams become true. GTA San Andreas, GTA Vice City, RTCW Touch, JK2 Touch, DIII4A (Doom 3), ... And we have PS1 and PSP emulators for phones, so we can play the original console games like Medal of Honor Underground, Spyro Year of the Dragon, GTA Vice City Stories, Call of Duty 3, Colin McRae Rally 2005, ... Since 2016 (Snapdragon 820), flagship phones can run PSP games at full speed when configured properly.

                        Now I just want Soldier of Fortune 2 and Postal 2 on Android.

                        These games are the good ones that I have mentioned above. Most people don't know what is good. They play with crap games like Angry Birds, Candy Crush, Pokemon Go, Temple Run, ...

                        I always hated mainstream and modern games. They have health regeneration, freemium, pay-to-play, advertisements, internet requirement (can't backup, install and play offline), you don't own the game, you can't backup, install and play the full game, because you must have internet connection and pay for in-app purchases to unlock the full content and DLC or to check the license.

                        In around 2011 I always hated to see that other people have a high-end Android phone and play those shit games, while I had just an old Nokia N82 and I wanted to play the ported PC games and emulators that were available on Android, but couldn't, because I didn't have a high-end Android phone.

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • mY2
                          • 05 Nov 2017

                          Anonymous, 05 Nov 2017If current phones had 720p screens then most of them could ... moreSome phones like LG and Samsung have options to reduce screen resolution of games to increase performance.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • mY2
                            • 05 Nov 2017

                            coolsauce, 05 Nov 2017I'm pretty much sure if Google shuts down Google Play Servi... moreYou already can disable Google Play Services in the settings. If you root the phone, you can uninstall it too.

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • mY2
                              • 05 Nov 2017

                              Anonymous, 05 Nov 2017Then your phone will be as thick as a laptop with that cool... moreThere is nothing wrong with a phone that is 150-200mm thick as long as it has a huge battery, 1" camera sensor with OIS and good heatsink. LG V20 and Galaxy Note 4 have similar thickness with the 3x bigger ZeroLemon extended battery.

                                AnonD-42209, 05 Nov 2017stop nonsense, google has redesigned every core elements an... moreI'm pretty much sure if Google shuts down Google Play Services which runs like hell in the background and constantly abuses your modem and racks up data expenses on your bill phone could last so much longer.

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • HjB
                                  • 05 Nov 2017

                                  AnonD-4254, 05 Nov 2017Hmm... Fans are cool, but they will decrease battery life h... moreThen your phone will be as thick as a laptop with that cooling segment..

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • Fht
                                    • 05 Nov 2017

                                    Anonymous, 05 Nov 2017Yup.. The Nokia N-Gage was providing full 3D games on mobil... moreNokia is dead , shame but true

                                      • l
                                      • lol
                                      • J9V
                                      • 05 Nov 2017

                                      Xbox One is quieter than Xbox One S.

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                                        • AnonD-558092
                                        • r7b
                                        • 05 Nov 2017

                                        The graphics race is dumb. Look at MS and Sony. Xbox One X, PS4 Pro and whatever... While Nintendo sold out their console with a much weaker SoC (Tegra X1, first used on the Pixel C, but with 4GB LPDDR4).

                                        But, about the GFLOPS thing with the iPhone and the SD835, yes the SD is more powerful, but the A11 is well optimized. Like comparing a race car (SD835) and an electric car (A11). The race car can be ultra fast, but here, the electric car takes shortcuts and comes out ''faster''.

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