Samsung Galaxy S3 pounds HTC One X into benchmark dust

We've run the Samsung Galaxy S3 through a barrage of benchmark tests, with our results showing that Samsung's latest toy is a proper performance powerhouse that manages to beat the beefy HTC One X. Read on, folks, and brace for numbers.

In the Antutu benchmark, which tests memory, CPU speed and graphics, the S3 racked up an impressive 12,112 points, beating the One X, which scored 10,827 in the same test.

A similar benchmark, Quadrant, awarded the Galaxy S3 with 5,289 points, again beating the One X, which mustered a score of 4,904. The HTC One X ran GL Benchmark's Standard Egypt test at a rate of 52 frames per second, but was once more bested by the Galaxy S3, which ran the same test at 59fps -- the same score managed by the frighteningly powerful new iPad.

The 4.8-inch Galaxy S3 even beat Apple's frighteningly powerful new tablet in one of our browser tests. When we ran the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark (in which lower scores are better), the S3 scored 1,498.9ms, while the new iPad and iPad 2 took slightly longer with scores of 1,890.9 and 1,884.6 respectively. The S3's result also aces the iPhone 4S, which scored 2,181.6ms.

HTC clawed back one victory -- sort of. In the Vellamo browser test the S3's score of 2,077 wasn't as high as the app's database score for the HTC One XL, a phone that's not out in the UK yet.

Despite the HTC One X also offering a quad-core chip and a slightly higher clock speed, our tests show that it's not quite as powerful as the Galaxy S3. That could be down to the S3's Exynos 4 Quad chip being made by Samsung itself, while the Tegra 3 processor in the One X is built by Nvidia.

Number crunching aside, my expert colleague Natasha reckons the Galaxy S3 feels slicker to use than HTC's offering, with no lag or stutter as you cruise around the phone's Ice Cream Sandwich-flavoured interface.

It's worth noting that while it's pipped to the post by the S3 in performance stakes, the One X is still a very powerful smart phone. For more on the One X's performance click here, and for more on the Galaxy S3, including test shots from the phone's 8-megapixel camera, observe our in-depth review.

Are you planning on buying the S3? If you own the One X, what do you think of its performance? Sound off in the comments or on our Facebook wall.

Update: The One X didn't fare too well in our battery test either. We fully charged the batteries on our S3 and One X and set them streaming the same video over Wi-Fi, with their huge screens at maximum brightness. After more than three hours, the S3 dropped to 68 per cent and the One X to 31 per cent.

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