While sending messages and a few mails on the Nexus 5, I was pleasantly greeted with a message which said Android 6.0 update available. So before delving into the world of Marshmallow, we thought we’d run some benchmarks on the smartphone, update it to Android 6.0 and run the same benchmarks again to see if there is any difference. Here is a look at the benchmark scores before and after updating to Marshmallow.
| Particulars | Nexus 5 on Android 5.1.1 | Nexus 5 on Android 6.0 |
| 3D Mark Ice storm | MAXED OUT | MAXED OUT |
| 3D Mark Ice storm Extreme | MAXED OUT | MAXED OUT |
| 3D Mark Ice storm Extreme Unlimited | 17381 | 13696 |
| Geekbench 3 Single Core | 910 | 751 |
| Geekbench 3 Multicore | 2955 | 2415 |
| Antutu | 39477 | 25420 |
| Nenamark | 59.2 FPS | 59.2 FPS |
| GFX Benchmark (Manhattan onscreen) | 629.3 frames | 606.3frames |
From the above table you can see that 3D Mark Ice storm and 3D Mark Ice storm Extreme maxed out under both the versions of Android. There has however been a drop in the benchmark scores after the update.
One reason for this is the fact that the benchmarks haven’t been updated to work at an optimal capacity with the new version of Android. Another reason we think this could be the case is because the CPU started throttling after prolonged use and hence the lower scores. In the case of Nenamark there is no difference and in GFX Benchmark (Manhattan onscreen) the difference is negligible but with the other benchmarks, the difference is noticeable.
Moving on to everyday use, if you are one using a Nexus 5, there is little visual change here in the OS. Everything looks and feels the same. You can go into the settings menu -> about the phone and see the Android version you are running.
Left – Benchmark score before update
Right – Benchmark score after update