Very little separates many of the high-end tablets these days, with each new model claiming to be the fastest on the market.
To put these claims to the test, Which? Magazine took the bestselling tablets from the likes of Apple, Samsung, Google and Tesco, covering various price ranges, and ran each one through speed benchmarking tests.
Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition topped the list, with a benchmark score of 2856, while Apple’s iPad 2 finished last with a score of just 502.
Apple’s iPad Air was in second place with 2687, followed by the second-generation Google Nexus 7 in third with 2675.
A surprise performer was the Advent’s budget Vega Tegra Note 7, in fifth place, which scored 2612 points during speed tests.
This was faster than Apple’s iPad mini with Retina display, which scored 2512, despite the Advent being £250 cheaper.
Amazon’s latest Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 was just eight points behind Google’s seven-inch tablet, but its older Kindle Fire HD model was eighth, with a score of 807.
According to the results, Apple’s iPad Air is five times faster than Apple’s iPad 2, however, the latter was released in 2011 so the speed difference isn’t surprising.
Which? Used Geekbench software to test each tablet’s speed. The software is designed to test multi-core performance by replicating a series of everyday tasks.
Each of these tests is given a score, which are then combined and weighted to calculate a final numeric score.
In theory, the higher the score, the faster the tablet will be when browsing the web, loading pages, opening apps and streaming video.
All tablets tested were Wi-Fi only models.
Technology researcher Robert Leedham said: ‘Speed is essential when it comes owning the latest premium tablet. Battery life and storage space are important too, but nothing beats processing power for tablet bragging rights.’
‘Despite their premium mantra, our testing found that Apple’s iPads aren’t as fast as many of their cheaper Android competitors.
‘The iPad mini with Retina display (£319) proved slower than both Google’s Nexus 7 (£199) and the Advent Vega Tegra Note 7″ (£129).’
However he continued that the results should be used as a guide, but speed alone should not influence a buying decision.
‘Speed benchmarks are undeniably important when buying a top-end tablet, but so are other factors like battery life, storage space and pricing,’ explained Leedham.
