Google Nexus 5 Review: A Fast, Affordable Phone With LTE For All

Results: Web Browsing Benchmarks

The tests on the this page are JavaScript- and HTML5-heavy selections from our Web Browser Grand Prix series. Such tests are extra meaningful on mobile platforms, where much of the in-app content is served via the platform's browser on the back-end. They should not only offer a view of the Web browsing performance of each device, but since these tasks are traditionally so CPU-dependent, browser benchmarks (especially JavaScript-heavy tests) are a great way to measure SoC performance on devices using the same browser and platform.

All web tests are conducted using the optimal Web browser for each platform. Due to platform restrictions, Safari is the one and only choice for iOS-based devices, while Internet Explorer is the only game in town on the Windows RT platform. Although Chrome is the obvious choice for Android, in order to keep our browser versions even across devices for the foreseeable future, we're employing Opera 16, which is also based on Chromium.

JavaScript

First up, we have Rightware’s BrowserMark, a synthetic browsing benchmark that tests several aspects of performance including: load time, CSS, DOM, HTML5 Canvas, JavaScript, and WebGL.

Google's Nexus 5 fares well. Sure, it's in third place, but behind one tablet and Apple's A7-equipped iPhone 5s. The Nexus even manages to beat out LG's G2, and we have to assume that Android 4.4.2 is helping the Google-branded device.

Next up, we have JSBench, the newest JS performance test on the block, and the spiritual successor to WebKit’s ubiquitous SunSpider test that just won’t seem to go away. Unlike most off-the-shelf Web browser benchmarks, JSBench could almost be considered real-world. This test utilizes snippets of JavaScript that actually appear on several of today's most-visited Web sites.

Javascript performance continues to be a strength for the Nexus 5. Yes, it's beaten by a large margin by EVGA's Tegra Note tablet and really flattened by the iPhone 5S (no shock there), but out of the Android smartphones, it's the fastest by over a minute and a half! That's impressive, particularly as the device has issues with other benchmarking tools.

Brought to us by Futuremark (developers of well known 3DMark and PCMark), Peacekeeper is a synthetic benchmarking tool for testing Javascript performance.

And we see a repeat of the previous benchmark, with the Nexus 5 being not only the best value, but also the best-performing Android handset of the lot.

HTML5

Now we're moving away from JavaScript and into HTML5. First up is the Impact HTML5 Benchmark. Essentially a timedemo of the Impact HTML5 game engine in action, the relative performance here should be pretty indicative of other HTML5-based platformers.

This reads much like the Javascript benchmarking tools. Nexus 5, again, is the best performer in the handset group.

Finally, we have Principled Technologies' WebXPRT, an HTML5-based Web app benchmark. This test simulates common productivity tasks that are traditionally handled by locally-installed applications, including: photo editing, financial charting, and offline note-taking.

And the pattern repeats. Even though this test works in a very different manner as Impact, the results are almost exactly the same. This Nexus 5 proves to be quite capable.