Posted by We bring you another performance comparison review, this time featuring the TECNO Boom J8 vs Alcatel Idol 3 vs Huawei GR3. They are all touted as mid-range devices. they all run Android Lollipop, and they all look great! Looks aside, the question is, How do they perform in everyday use? How do they handle multitasking and heavy use?
We set out to find out. Note also that though their processors vary, all of them are equipped with 2GB of RAM.
TECNO Boom J8
The J8 performs nicely most of the time. However, when you begin to do heavy multitasking, you begin to feel that it is a bit under-powered. The processor is clocked at 1.3 GHz, which wouldn’t be an issue if only it was octa-core. But instead, what we have here are four cores only, and it tells when you push the J8 hard.
Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
The Idol 3’s 1.5 GHz octa-core processor is impressive on paper, but somehow after pushing the device hard a while, it begins to get sluggish too, and surprisingly, more visible/noticeable than the J8. One would expect that the higher CPU clock and extra cores would give it an edge, but I am afraid it isn’t so. Heavy multitasking on the Idol 3 will soon have you annoyed. The Alcatel Idol 3 trumps the others in other areas, but this is its weak spot.
Huawei GR3
The GR3 is the smallest device here, packing a 5-inch display, as against the 5.5 inches of the other two. It also has a 1.5 GHz octa-core processor. And it performs smoother than the other two when multitasking. The difference is quite noticeable.
TECNO Boom J8 vs Alcatel Idol 3 vs Huawei GR3 Benchmark Tests
The benchmark test results largely reflect our experience with the devices. It is the Huawei GR3 that comes out with the best benchmark test results overall. The Idol 3 and J8 sort of slug it out for 2nd place.
Have a look at the test results. We ran AnTuTu, GeekBench, and Quadrant benchmark tests. Higher benchmark score is better in all the tests we ran.
| TECNO Boom J8 | Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5) | Huawei GR3 |
| Display: 5.5 inches, 320 PPI | Display: 5.5 inches, 401 PPI. | Display: 5.0 inches. 294 PPI. |
| 1.3 GHz quad-core Mediatek MT6753 | 1.5 GHz octa-core Snapdragon 615 | 1.5 GHz octa-core Mediatek MT6735 |
| Graphics Processor: Mali-T720 | Graphics Processor: Adreno 405 | Graphics Processor: Mali-T720 MP3 |
| 2 GB RAM | 2 GB RAM | 2 GB RAM |
| Android 5.1 Lollipop + HiOS | Android 5.0.2 Lollipop | Android 5.1 Lollipop + EMUI |
| AnTuTu: 32,037 | AnTuTu: 33,023 | AnTuTu: 40,585 |
| GeekBench 3: 623 Single-Core, 1,807 Multi-Core | GeekBench 3: 652 Single-Core, 2,308 Multi-Core | GeekBench 3: 714 Single-Core, 3,240 Multi-Core |
| Quadrant: 14,233 | Quadrant: 10,393 | Quadrant: 25,370 |
Since our usage experience and the benchmark test results align almost perfectly, this performance comparison test winner is the Huawei GR3. It runs smoother and multitasks better than the other two.
Founder of MobilityArena. Yomi’s journey in mobile started in 2001. Besides obsessing over mobile phones, he also started creating WAP sites (early mobile-friendly websites created with WML). He began writing about phones in 2004 and has been at it since then. He has owned over 200 devices, from Symbian, Palm, PocketPC/Windows Mobile, BlackBerry/BB10, webOS, Windows Phone, Firefox, Ubuntu Touch, to Android, iOS, and KaiOS operating systems.
