Fortnite's 60fps mode looks great but comes at a cost

Epic Games has finally got Fortnite running at 60 frames per second (fps) on some high-spec Android phones, as well as on the latest iPhones. This is a major technical feat which brings mobile Fortnite much closer to the quality of the console version.  However, high-fidelity gaming on passively-cooled smartphones often requires some compromise. In this article, we'll look at objective performance and image quality comparisons to help gamers figure out whether the 60fps mode is worth it. 

Read More

HONOR View 20 game benchmarks: frame rates for PUBG, Arena of Valor and Modern Combat 5

The brand new Honor View 20 is a mid-tier smartphone that promises top-tier gaming performance, due to the fact that it shares the same chipset (Kirin 980) as flagship phones. As a consumer, it's easy to accept this type of marketing logic ("fast chip = fast phone"), especially when other manufacturers like OnePlus and Xiaomi have repeated it so often. But real-world testing shows that it's not always so simple: thermals, drivers, APIs, game engines and various software optimisations can be at least as important as the chipset when it comes to gaming, so real game benchmarks are essential. Read on to see what they reveal about the Honor View 20...

Read More

Huawei Mate 20 X gaming benchmarks: GameBench Labs reveals frame rates for top games

Huawei launched the Mate 20 X today with a simple marketing claim: this is a smartphone dedicated to the needs of gamers. But such claims need evidence and that's why Huawei (a GameBench client) sent a pre-release device over to our new testing department, GameBench Labs. We tested the phone's graphical performance across three popular and computationally demanding mobile titles that Huawei nominated: NBA 2K18 by 2K, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang by Moonton, and PUBG Mobile by Tencent Games. Read on to see how the Mate 20 X fared compared to the Apple iPhone Xs Max and Samsung Galaxy Note9.

Read More

Introducing GameBench Labs: Providing verified performance results to device makers and game studios

GameBench is rapidly growing in popularity as a mobile testing tool, which people can use for any purpose they like. It's great to see our software being used by phone enthusiasts like XDA for benchmarking, by game studios like Rovio for QA and by device makers like OnePlus for hardware optimisation. At the same time, we've also seen increased demand from our clients for us to offer GameBench as an end-to-end benchmarking service, in which we take charge of testing and publishing authoritative and credible results for their products. In response, after a year of experimenting with publishing ratings via our Reference Data Beta, we're pleased to announce the launch of GameBench Labs! Please read on for more...

Read More

Huawei's 'GPU Turbo' benchmarked: can it beat gaming on pricier phones like the iPhone X?

Huawei’s new software optimisation for mobile gaming, which goes by the name of GPU Turbo, has so far received a skeptical reception in Europe. This is understandable, because Huawei handset owners won't get the GPU Turbo update until later this month (starting with P20, Mate 10 and Honor 10 models), and in the meantime there's been little evidence to support the manufacturer’s bold claims about improved performance and power consumption.

Read More