Review Update Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 LTE (SM-P905) Tablet

The SoC at work in the Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 LTE is a very popular one: The Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 MSM8974. This SoC is also installed in the Google Nexus 5, Nokia Lumia 1520, Kindle Fire HDX 7 or the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition, to name a few. It has four processing cores that clock at 2.3 GHz. The Adreno 330 integrated graphics solution is one of the fastest mobile graphics chips on the market today.

In terms of performance, the processor outstrips the Samsung Exynos 5420 Octa in the Wi-Fi version of the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 by a substantial margin. This is noticeable in practice as well: While there were some delays navigating through the main menu on the Wi-Fi version, the Galaxy Note 12.2 LTE functions completely fluidly. The benchmarks speak loud and clear too: In Linpack our test device comes in 13% to 15% ahead of the Wi-Fi version. In single-core mode, however, the Samsung Exynos 5420 Octa can keep up with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 MSM8974, and even beat it in some areas.

The graphics chip is also quicker than that of its sister model with Wi-Fi and in most of the graphics benchmarks only the Apple iPad Air constitutes a real competitor. In terms of memory access, the LTE version's speed is almost identical to that of the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 with Wi-Fi, and only the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, 2014 Edition surpasses it.

Power Consumption

Energy consumption, especially in standby mode, was an area where the Samsung Galaxy Note 12.2 with Wi-Fi fell short. The LTE model has to take the same criticism -- 1.2 Watts in standby mode is too much. Overall, the LTE model's energy consumption rates are even higher than its Wi-Fi twin and therefore very high. Our test device needed up to 11 Watts under full load, while it consumed up to 9.4 Watts in idle mode. One of the consequences for the Wi-Fi model was a mediocre battery life -- let us take a look at how long our current review device is able to keep chugging along.