Chip maker Mediatek might not be a big name in the US, but the company’s low power ARM-based processors are showing up in a growing number of phones and tablets in China, India, and other nations. The latest Mediatek is a quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 processor, and while it’s not quite in the same class as the chips powering the Google Nexus 4 or Nexus 10, it appears to be a pretty speedy chip that’s almost as fast as the best processors from early 2012.

The folks at thinkdigit have been testing one of the first phones to feature a Mediatek MT6589 processor, and they’ve shared benchmarks suggesting that the phone is almost as powerful as a Samsung Galaxy S III, and much faster than most phones in the same price-range.

thinkdigit Micromax Canvas HD A116 benchmark
thinkdigit.com

The Micromax Canvas HD A116 features Mediatek’s quad-core processor, a 5 inch, 72op display, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of storage, and dual SIM card slots. It runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and the phone is available in India for about $277.

According to benchmarks from thinkdigit, the phone gets an Antutu score of about 13148 and a GLBenchmark Egypt score of 4866. While it’s hardly the fastest phone around, it’s a relatively inexpensive option that’s speedy enough to handle almost any Android game or app you can throw at it.

Unfortunately thindigit also reports that their demo unit also rebooted unexpectedly a few times, but it’s not clear if that’s a widespread problem.

While the Micromax Canvas HD A116 is only available in India at the moment, we should start seeing other devices with Mediatek’s quad-core MT6589 chip soon. There’s a rumor that Archos plans to bring a 4.8 inch smartphone to market featuring the processor. And Chinese retail marketplace AliExpress has listings for several phones powered by MT6589 chips, with prices running from about $250 to about $450.

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14 replies on “MediaTek’s MT6589 quad-core CPU benchmarked: It’s fast (for a budget chip)”

  1. well i am using the a116 canvas and till now its not given me any problems

  2. antutu is the much used benchmark.. i like this eventhough it is not a “BRANDED” processor published in the US.. this is one awesome processor at a valued price..

  3. Please… As long as MediaTek is unwilling to provide the necessary source + binaries for proper AOSP/Custom ROM support, they’re pretty much a non-option.

    And $277.00 for that phone, when the Nexus 4 starts at $299.00? Mind boggling… After the Nexus 4 release, the most they can hope to charge for these devices is $150.00, and that’s stretching it.

    1. For those who haven’t read the article, they’re using Antutu, Nenamark2, GLBenchmark Egypt… *Classic*???

      Please…

      Have them post GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt HD *On-Screen + Off-Screen* results, then we’ll talk…

      1. GLBenchmark tests almost the GPU only, whereas Antutu tests also the CPU.

        1. Check the GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt HD iPhone and iPad scores, then match it up to their smoothness… Yes, for a smarthphone or tablet, the GPU is more important for the total experience than whatever CPU is inside the device.

          1. depends on your usage. for games that don’t stress the GPU to the max, CPU performance is more important.

          2. Is there any non-3D game that requires an insane amount of CPU?

            Tell me which 2D or 3D current iPad/iPhone game ever stalls or stutters.

            Haven’t seen one yet.

            And everybody knows the type of CPU and GPU the current iPad and iPhone have.

            For the full, smooth, buttery mobile experience, irrespective of the OS (Android, iOS, WP8, BB), the GPU is king.

          3. no, but there’s tons of non-3D games that run smoothly already without stressing the CPU or the GPU. So like I said, depends on your usage, so saying to use GLBenchmark as a starting point is wrong.

            And you’re totally wrong about GPU being king for smooth UI. The CPU plays a large portion too. Just look at how Project Butter works.

    2. do you aware that price for Nexus 4 outside US is much higher than $299? Just because it is cheap in US doesnt mean it is cheap in other countries as well

      1. Define “much higher”… I don’t live in the US and was able to get the Nexus 4 (16GB) for ~$390.00 (including US tax and shipping) then paid international shipping costs of ~$20.00 for a grand total of ~$410.00… And that was when there was an inventory deficit. Getting an Nexus 4 right now is way too easy. And even at $500.00+, the Nexus is *the best alternative* for the *amazing* AOSP/Custom ROM support.

  4. Well it all looks good on paper, but we’ll see about support and how well real world devices fare.

Comments are closed.