Freescale’s i.MX6 Quad processor is a 1.2 GHz quad-core chip with support 1080p HD video playback and 3D graphics. Tablets and other devices with the chip started shipping recently, and the folks at PandaWill sent me an Ampe A10 tablet with an i.MX6 processor to review.

You can pick one up from PandaWill for $219.99.

I’ll have mode details on the tablet soon (it’s a mixed bag — with at least one dead pixel and a bubble under the screen — but a pretty zippy processor and decent looking design). But for now I wanted to share some preliminary benchmarks. Keep in mind, RAM, storage, and other components also play a role in benchmark results, so not all i.MX6 devices will get identical scores.

Freescale i.MX6 (Ampe A10 tablet) benchmarks

The Amp A10 has a 1280 x 800 pixel display, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, HDMI, WiFi, and Bluetooth. It features the Vivante GC2000 graphics engine and ships with Google Android 4.0.4.

There are a number of popular benchmarking utilities for Google Android. Some of the best look at overall CPU and graphics performance. While they don’t always tell you much about how a tablet will perform in day-to-day usage, they do at least help you get an idea of which tablets are generally faster than others.

If you take a look at the chart above, you’ll see that I pitted the Ampe A10 tablet against a Google Nexus 7 (with a 1.2 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor), and the B&N NOOK Tablet (with a 1 GHz TI OMAP 4430 CPU).

In 2 out of 3 tests, the Ampe A10 trailed the Nexus 7… but not by very much. In Quadrant, the Ampe A10 actually came out ahead… but again, not by a very large margin.

Both of those tablets trounced the NOOK Tablet in all tests. And the NOOK Tablet isn’t exactly a sluggish tablet by any means.

Freescale i.MX6 SunSpider

I saw similar results in the SunSpider web-based benchmark which looks at JavaScript performance. For this test, lower scores are better — and the Ampe 10 was faster than the NOOK Tablet, but not as speedy as the Nexus 7.

The Antutu and CF-Bench utilities also include charts that compare the device you’re testing with other products, including many I haven’t had a chance to test. Based on my results, I’m not surprised by the Ampe A10’s placement in the charts.

The HTC One X, Samsung Galaxy S III and other new superphones and top-tier tablets outperform the Ampe A10, but it still scores higher than some relatively recent devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone.

While the Freescale i.MX6 clearly isn’t the fastest processor on the market (and 4 cores aren’t always faster than 2), it’s certainly not a bad option for low cost devices like the Ampe A10.

This is one of the fastest 10 inch tablets I’ve tested, which is pretty impressive for a device that sells for just $220.

Unfortunately the tablet has a few other quirks that could take a little getting used to. Stay tuned for a more detailed review.

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14 replies on “Freescale i.MX6 quad-core CPU benchmarks (Ampe A10 tablet)”

  1. I have a Sanei N83 Deluxe (=Ampe A10) bought from Aliexpress. The build quality seems ok (one small screen bubble), but the wifi reception is HORRIBLE – perhaps because this model has a metal back? This kind of ruins it.
    @sola see the hiapad stick recently featured on this site/cnx-software.

    1. I didn’t include these above, because I haven’t run GLBenchmark on most of the devices I’ve tested. But the Ampe A10 clocked 34 frames per second in GLBench 2.1 Egypt. The Nexus 7 got 55 fps in the same test.

      An error prevented GLBench 2.5 Egypt HD from completing, but the Nexus 7 got 12 fps in that test.

  2. The tablet have a few issue on software . I hope they concentrate on 4.1 who should get out this days . whith the right soft should get almost 11000 on antutu . For now i dont recomand to buy , only for testers and advanced users

  3. What, a review of a cheap Chinese tablet? Looking forward to it. You’ve already hinted at some quality control issues, and I think that’s what most people want to hear about. The fact that Chinese manufacturers can make low cost electronic devices with decent performance numbers isn’t much in doubt these days, but where they seem to cut the most corners is in the quality of construction and testing for reliability.

    1. I’ve literally only used this thing for a few hours, and it’s easier to find flaws than things that work right, but here are a few things I’ve noticed:

      1. At least one dead pixel
      2. At least one bubble under the screen (I did remove the plastic cover, so this seems to be under the glass)
      3. The tablet seems to choose battery status numbers at random. I went to bed last night with it unplugged and reporting 86%. This morning it said 92 percent. After plugging it in for a few hours, it dropped to 88%. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of actual battery life the tablet gets.
      4. The default keyboard is a weird English/Chinese hybrid, but you can go into the settings and switch to the default Android keyboard.

      But the tablet does come with Google Play Store access. It is pretty responsive. And it doesn’t look half bad. If you go into this sort of purchase expecting a decent but imperfect device, you might be happy with what you get.

      Like I said though, I really want to kick the tires on battery testing, video, gaming, and a few other things before writing up a full review.

      1. Thanks for the information. your experience does seem to be in line with what people typically say about directly imported Chinese tablets — screen and battery, as well as audio problems.

  4. sorry it’s a bit out of topic but how was your experience buying from pandawill so far? are they good/ok? thanks

    1. Well, I didn’t send them any money. They sent me this unit for review purposes. Shipping took a little longer than it would have if they were a US-based company, but so far I have nothing to complain about.

      1. The thing to be concerned about is that I assume they sent Brad the tablet knowing that it would be reviewed. If so, it was in their own best interest to send him the best quality sample they could lay their hands on. But if that was the case here, it doesn’t speak well to the quality control of the manufacturer that he found things like stuck pixels and bubbles in the screen.

      1. Well what do you think, this SOC or should I go with the rockchip with the MALI 400

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