Why guess at the performance of your device when you can run some tests and get detailed statistics? These apps test your device’s CPU, GPU, and other hardware components – in addition to your browser.
Whether you’re curious about how your Android stacks up against the latest devices on the market, trying to determine the benefits of an overclock, or looking for the best browser, these free apps can help you.
Quadrant
Quadrant is a well-rounded, popular benchmark tool that benchmarks the different types of hardware in your device, including your device’s CPU, memory and I/O performance. The free, “standard” version is ad-supported and lacks custom benchmark settings, but the full benchmark is fine.
It also benchmarks 2D and 3D graphics performance, although it’s a less intensive 3D benchmark than you’d get with a dedicated 3D benchmarking tool.
Quadrant only takes a few minutes to run before displaying a graph comparing your device’s performance to other popular devices.
AnTuTu
AnTuTu, an alternative to Quadrant, is another full-featured benchmark tool. It tests the same assortment of hardware in your smartphone or tablet. Unlike the free version of Quadrant, you can customize the tests AnTuTu runs.
The test will take several minutes, after which you can view your scores on the Scores tab and compare them on the Ranking tab.
If you run just one benchmark, make it Quadrant or AnTuTu.
GLBenchmark
If you’re just looking to benchmark your Android’s 3D performance, try GLBenchmark. Unlike some older 3D benchmark apps, GLBenchmark supports OpenGL ES 2.x. The app features 33 different tests to give you a well-rounded picture of your device’s 3D performance.
Running all the tests takes over 15 minutes, but you can select less tests.
GLBenchmark displays the FPS your device achieved for each test.
CPU Benchmark
If you only care about your device’s CPU performance, try CPU Benchmark. A CPU benchmark app is particularly useful if you’re playing with overclocking your Android’s CPU – the app will show you just how much additional performance the overclock is giving you.
Rightware BrowserMark
BrowserMark isn’t an installable app – it’s a mobile website you can launch in your Android device’s browser. It will test your browser performance and assign your device’s browser a score. Unlike many browser benchmark websites, it’s designed for mobile browsers. You can run it on a PC browser, but you’ll end up with a ridiculously high score.
After a few minutes, you’ll get a score – higher is better! Use BrowserMark in different browser apps on your Android device to find the browser with the best performance.
Tap the “Compare to other phones” button to compare your score to other popular Android devices.
You could theoretically use BrowserMark to compare performance between different Android devices as long as they’re using the same browser, but differences in browser and OS versions will skew the results.
Do you prefer a different Android benchmarking app? Leave a comment and let us know about it.