Windows Phone 8.1 review: Major league

Benchmarks and performance

We already said Windows Phone 8.1 feels smoother than its predecessor, but is it really? Well we've decided to run some benchmark tests and see how the new OS performs under pressure. Microsoft has done quite a few optimizations for sure, so we are eager to see how the update is handled by different phones.

We had three Lumia phones around for our tests - Lumia 720, Lumia 1020 and Lumia 1520. We rаn each benchmark on Windows Phone 8 with GDR3 and Nokia Black updates, and then we've updated all three devices to the latest Windows Phone 8.1 Developer's Preview.

The first test measures the single-core performance by calculating the Number Pi. All phones scored the same on both version of the OS, but that's hardly surprising as it's a strictly CPU-intensive test.

Pi Benchmark

Lower is better

• Nokia Lumia 1520 (WP8.1)
  146
• Nokia Lumia 1520 (WP8.0)
  146
• Nokia Lumia 1020 (WP8.1)
  215
• Nokia Lumia 1020 (WP8.0)
  215
• Nokia Lumia 720 (WP8.1)
  336
• Nokia Lumia 720 (WP8.0)
  336

Then we got to the compound test AnTuTu. All three Lumia phones showed no significant rise or drop in the performance. So there is nothing conclusive about any potential performance benefits of Windows Phone 8.1.

AnTuTu

Higher is better

• Nokia Lumia 1520 (WP8.1)
  25659
• Nokia Lumia 1520 (WP8.0)
  24797
• Nokia Lumia 1020 (WP8.1)
  11567
• Nokia Lumia 1020 (WP8.0)
  12064
• Nokia Lumia 720 (WP8.1)
  7135
• Nokia Lumia 720 (WP8.0)
  7319

Finally, we used the popular cross-platform BaseMark OS II compound benchmark. The three Lumia phones scored noticeably higher when running on the Windows Phone 8.1 update, testifying that the Windows Phone 8.1 OS indeed brings about a certain performance boost over its predecessor.

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• Nokia Lumia 1520 (WP8.1)
  1116
• Nokia Lumia 1520 (WP8.0)
  1012
• Nokia Lumia 1020 (WP8.1)
  526
• Nokia Lumia 1020 (WP8.0)
  495
• Nokia Lumia 720 (WP8.1)
  332
• Nokia Lumia 720 (WP8.0)
  319

Windows Phone 8.1 comes with a brand new Internet Explorer 11 web browser that brings lots of new goodies and… performance improvements. We explain all the new stuff a bit further down, but for now we'll just show you how the new IE11 stacks against its previous version and other competing web browsers.

SunSpider measures the JavaScript performance of the web browser. While the Internet Explorer 11 on Lumia 1520 and 1020 demonstrated boost of its JavaScript capabilities, the app on Lumia 720 somehow managed to get worse. We believe this might be fixed in the final version of the OS though.

SinSpider 1.0.2

Lower is better

• Nokia Lumia 1520 (WP8.1)
  514
• Nokia Lumia 1520 (WP8.0)
  543
• Nokia Lumia 1020 (WP8.1)
  912
• Nokia Lumia 1020 (WP8.0)
  965
• Nokia Lumia 720 (WP8.1)
  1756
• Nokia Lumia 720 (WP8.0)
  1430

BrowserMark 2 compound benchmark tests the web browsers in several departments. While Internet Explorer 11 is still behind its competitors, it is definitely better and faster than the IE10, which comes with Windows Phone 8.0.

BrowserMark 2

Higher is better

• Nokia Lumia 1520 (WP8.1)
  2699
• Nokia Lumia 1520 (WP8.0)
  2019
• Nokia Lumia 1020 (WP8.1)
  2261
• Nokia Lumia 1020 (WP8.0)
  1767
• Nokia Lumia 720 (WP8.1)
  1769
• Nokia Lumia 720 (WP8.0)
  1477

Finally, we put the phones through the standard HTML5Test and the entire gang showed similar bump in its HTML5 capabilities, courtesy of Windows Phone 8.1.

HTML 5 Test

Higher is better

• Nokia Lumia 1520 (WP8.1)
  372
• Nokia Lumia 1520 (WP8.0)
  328
• Nokia Lumia 1020 (WP8.1)
  368
• Nokia Lumia 1020 (WP8.0)
  328
• Nokia Lumia 720 (WP8.1)
  368
• Nokia Lumia 720 (WP8.0)
  328

So overall, the new OS brings along a definite speed improvement over Windows Phone 8. We hope to see the final version does even better in this respect.