Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 review: By the dozen

Synthetic benchmarks

The Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 is powered by either an Exynos 5420 or a Snapdragon 800, depending on whether you get the Wi-Fi only or the LTE model. Both pack 3GB of RAM but differ on everything else as far as the chipset is concerned.

That said, Samsung did a very good job of balancing the Galaxy S4 with Snapdragon 600 and Exynos 5410 to give them equal performance. We have the Exynos-powered Note Pro 12.2 with four Cortex-A15 cores at 1.9GHz and another four Cortex-A7 cores at 1.3GHz processor. The GPU is a new Mali T628MP6.

The Snapdragon 800 model has four Krait 400 cores at 2.3 and Adreno 330, its performance should be quite familiar by now (it powers most of the recent flagship devices, including the Galaxy Note 3 phablet).

It terms of CPU power, it seems that the four Cortex-A15 cores lag behind the Krait 400 alternative. The difference is slim, but the Exynos-powered Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 was behind the Note 3 phablet, its results consistent with the Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014) powered by the same Exynos chipset.

Benchmark Pi

Lower is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  99
• Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 (Exynos)
  111
• Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition
  115
• LG G Pad 8.3
  131
• Transformer Pad TF701T
  137
• LG Optimus G Pro
  147
• Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
  211
• Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0
  324
• Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1
  351
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus
  470
• Samsung Galaxy 3 7.0
  483
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 Plus
  488

Geekbench 3

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  2937
• Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition
  2743
• Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 (Exynos)
  2706
• Transformer Pad TF701T
  2665
• LG G Pad 8.3
  1950
• HTC One Max
  1899
• HTC Butterfly
  1257

We also ran the AnTuTu 4 full system benchmark where the Note Pro 12.2 came out on top, slightly ahead of the other Cortex-A15 tablets (including the Transformer Pad TF701T, which has a Tegra 4 chipset).

AnTuTu 4

Higher is better

• Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 (Exynos)
  34393
• Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition
  33198
• Transformer Pad TF701T
  32991
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  31109
• Samsung Galaxy S4
  24716
• LG G Pad 8.3
  24440
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  24236
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  20216
• LG Optimus G Pro
  20056
• HTC Butterfly
  19513
• Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
  19131
• Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0
  17159
• Google Nexus 10
  12695
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0
  9070

Basemark X

Higher is better

• LG Nexus 5
  985
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  961
• Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
  931
• LG G2
  879
• Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 (Exynos)
  764

How much did the GPU help for that result? Not much as it turns out. The Mali T628MP6 GPU has tangibly less performance in the GFXBench 1080p off-screen tests. Performance is nothing special on the older 2.7 T-Rex bench, but nearly double on the newer 3.0 Manhattan tests.

GFXBench 2.7 T-Rex (1080p off-screen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  26
• Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 (Exynos)
  22.7
• Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition
  22
• Transformer Pad TF701T
  21
• Samsung Galaxy S4
  17.1
• Apple iPad 4
  16.8
• Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
  15
• LG G Pad 8.3
  15
• Google Nexus 10
  13.9
• Sony Xperia Z
  13.5
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  13
• Sony Xperia ZL
  12.8
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  7.0
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0
  4.0

GFXBench 3.0 Manhattan (1080p off-screen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  9.7
• Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
  9
• LG Nexus 5
  8.5
• Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 (Exynos)
  5.6

Those were off-screen tests and the 2,560 x 1,600 resolution of the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 screen takes quite a toll. The tablet managed a playable (but barely) framerate in Epic Citadel Ultra quality, which uses the popular Unreal Engine. Keep in mind that dropping to High Quality pushes the framerate to nearly 60fps.

Epic Citadel (Ultra quality)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia Z1
  54.9
• Sony Xperia Z Ultra
  54.9
• LG G2
  51
• Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
  37.2
• HTC One
  35.6
• HTC Butterfly
  29.6
• Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 (Exynos)
  28.3

Samsung has done very well when it comes to browser optimizations (note: we used the modified Android browser, but Chrome is also available). The Note Pro 12.2 topped the chart in the latest SunSpider and BrowserMark 2.

SunSpider

Lower is better

• Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 (Exynos)
  531
• Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition
  569
• Transformer Pad TF701T
  606
• LG Optimus G Pro
  1011
• Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
  1150
• LG G Pad 8.3
  1190
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  1233
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0
  1366
• Google Nexus 7
  1703
• new Apple iPad
  1722
• Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1
  1891
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7
  1953
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus
  1992
• Galaxy Tab 2 7.0
  2253
• Huawei MediaPad
  2490

BrowserMark 2

Higher is better

• Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 (Exynos)
  3317
• Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition
  3138
• Transformer Pad TF701T
  3005
• LG G Pad 8.3
  2664
• Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
  2386
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  2363
• HTC One
  2262
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0
  2228
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  2170
• LG Optimus G Pro
  1801
• Oppo Find 5
  1797
• Google Nexus 10
  1773
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0
  1612
• HTC Butterfly
  1475

The Vellamo score is not as high as it could have been though, the Note 10.1 (2014) has basically the same chipset and screen resolution and is on top.

Vellamo

Higher is better

• Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition
  2743
• Transformer Pad TF701T
  3089
• LG G Pad 8.3
  2505
• Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 (Exynos)
  2463
• Samsung Galaxy Note II
  2418
• HTC One
  2382
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  2265
• Samsung Galaxy S4
  2060
• Google Nexus 10
  1929
• HTC Butterfly
  1866
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  1777
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  1641
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0
  1633
• Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
  1597
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0
  1440

The Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 offers flagship performance but users have a decision to make - the Exynos-powered version is marginally slower than the Snapdragon one, mainly felt in the graphics department. But the Snapdragon model comes with LTE Cat. 4 support and commands a higher price respectively.

Is it worth getting the LTE model even though you won't use mobile data? No, the difference isn't worth the price jump. However, the extra speed is a bonus for those who do need LTE.