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I am about to sell my Dell Streak and three replacements seem to be coming out very shortly.
Samsung Hercules
Samsung Galaxy SII HD
Samsung Note
Right now I am confused on the release dates of each of these items and availability to T-Mobile users. I don't want to get involved in another ATT propriety phone that will have bandwidth issues. Long of it short, when are the release dates on the last two phones, and what are the bandwidths that will be available? Is pricing available on the last two also?
Samsung Galaxy S2 (Hercules) model is true Quad x Quad band
Quad band 2G (Voice/EDGE) + Quad band 3G/4G
so you can really go any where, any network and enjoy both voice and internet at high speed
that is the one coming out Oct 12 at T-mobiles USA for $230, and possibly unlocked with some luck
the Galaxy Note is due out in November sometimes, the phone is gigantic, 5.6" not sure if you want that, might as well get a tablet if it was me.
Samsung Galaxy S2 HD is only going to be release to Korea soon, no words when it will be available in the rest of the world
AllGamer said:
Samsung Galaxy S2 (Hercules) model is true Quad x Quad band
Quad band 2G (Voice/EDGE) + Quad band 3G/4G
so you can really go any where, any network and enjoy both voice and internet at high speed
that is the one coming out Oct 12 at T-mobiles USA for $230, and possibly unlocked with some luck
the Galaxy Note is due out in November sometimes, the phone is gigantic, 5.6" not sure if you want that, might as well get a tablet if it was me.
Samsung Galaxy S2 HD is only going to be release to Korea soon, no words when it will be available in the rest of the world
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I knew the Hercules would be a non-issue phone, but I wanna make sure I am getting the best phone for me.
Will the Note be available on T-Mobile bands? The size doesn't bother me, it is similar to a Dell Streak's dimensions and I believe even lighter in weight.
I m also a bit confused on the processor difference between the SII versions and apparently the Hercules has an oddball processor? Is this of real consequence or more nit picking?
it's the latter, people are just nit picking, and being biased by some synthetic bench scores
as for the Note, they have not yet released enough Tech Spec details to indicate the network type
I'm considering getting a note as well, it has its merits for its size, and screen resolution.
makes good for work, without carrying a heavy or large tablet/laptop with you
I think you should go for galaxy S II, its quite cool..
Best decision for you - sony ericsson
Let me make it more complicated for you!!
Samsung has recently announced new generation of Exynos 4212. It uses 32nm fab process and they claim that 50% increase in 3D graphics performance. Has to be more power efficient. No real time tests done yet obviously, but I think we can trust Samsung on hardware internals. They gave 2 stunning SoCs in GS and GS2. Not sure which phone(s) will have this internals.
Add to this they introduced 20nm fab for DDR3 RAM.
Over that add new camera modules. 1/2.3-inch 16 MP CMOS sensor with backside illumination. 1/2.3 should be same like normal point-n-shoot cams. This they claim can shoot 60fps video at 8MP.
No idea which phones will have those. Sure GS3 will have the cam module and DDR. Not too sure about SoC as they are in-line to pump out Q-Core with Mali-T604 GPU.
Choose your poison.
It seems that there are a few carriers out there still having a hard time working with the advancements of Quad-Core devices and though the processors being used (Tegra 3 chips) aren't what we're use too (Snapdragons) there are a few carriers worried about whether or not they will be able to write software right away either.
HTC One X phone gets quad-core CPU -- except in U.S.
Progress doesn't come without a price and in the case of the new HTC One X smartphone, the price of running on AT&T's 4G LTE network in the U.S. will be a downgrade from a quad-core processor to a dual-core CPU.
The HTC One X will sit at the top of a new line of One smartphones, which the Taiwanese electronics maker showed off for the first time at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona.
The One X will sport a huge 4.7-inch touchscreen with 1,280 x 720 pixel resolution, 32 gigabytes of built-in storage, 1 gigabyte of RAM and an 8-megapixel/1080p rear camera. It'll also run Google's Android Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, topped with HTC's Sense user interface.
And when it begins to arrive at retailers in April, the One X will be part of a growing trend in Android handsets that feature quad-core processors, except for the U.S. variation, which will be called the One XL in Asia and Australia.
The U.S. version, which will be sold by AT&T, will ship with a 1.5-gigahertz, dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor rather than the quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor. Dual-core is still plenty fast, but the difference is a bit disappointing as there are no quad-core phones sold here yet.
The reason for the CPU switcheroo is that Nvidia's processor lacked compatibility with AT&T's 4G LTE hardware when the One X was being developed. As first reported by CNet, phones with quad-core Tegra 3 chips and AT&T 4G LTE capability will arrive eventually, but the timing was off for the One X.
Another major feature for the One X and One XL will be the inclusion of Beats Audio, which HTC says will offer a better listening experience for music, videos and games. After all, what's the point of a $300-million deal with Beats By Dr. Dre if Beats Audio technology doesn't make it into your flagship phone?
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Story found here for more information and further links:http://www.latimes.com/business/tec...hanks-to-att-4g-lte-20120227,0,6217626.story
Personally my concern is that T-Mobile is picking up the One as well and even though T-Mo doesn't support LTE service this can still put us T-Mo customers at a disadvantage if the devices come to us as Dual-Cores. I've had my MT4G for a while now and though I got it for cheap money it's getting old as any phones life depletes in our community fairly fast considering the amount of flashing we all do, but with this being an option for the carriers including our own this might effect the cost between the Quad and Dual versions.
Well lets see where this puts us in a month or so but for now it looks like I'm buying a new extended-life battery online somewhere till the dust settles.
Example of what it should be.... But with a SD card slot....
HTC One X is an exquisite device that boasts the best of what current mobile technology has to offer, housing an NVIDIA quad-core Tegra 3 processor and featuring Android 4.0 with the HTC’s Sense 4.0 UI.
Other features of the HTC One X include:
Dimensions: 134.4 x 69.9 x 8.9 mm, 130 grams
Micro SIM
4.7″ HD LCD screen, with gorilla glass protection
1280×720 resolution
1.5 Ghz quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor
1 GB RAM
32 GB built-in memory, no microSD slot
8MP rear camera with ImageSense, 1.3MP front camera
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
NFC support
1800 mAH battery
Beats Audio integration
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Interesting find I too wonder how all of this will turn out. I'd rather get it unlocked with quad. But I'm 14 and don't have that money haha.
Sent from my Sense 4.0 Glacier using XDA Premium.
invasion2 said:
Interesting find I too wonder how all of this will turn out. I'd rather get it unlocked with quad. But I'm 14 and don't have that money haha.
Sent from my Sense 4.0 Glacier using XDA Premium.
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Well the concern is that all of these devices were to come solely as Quad Cores and there was a specific price point for it because of that, carriers in the US are known for changing the price point because they can get customers to pay the original price of the Quad Cores for the Dual Cores.
This pushes the price of the Quads up a little hitting our pockets and they realize our community will go after the better of the two, I think HTC should have just forced the carriers hand to work on the quad cores instead of giving them the option of downgrading the hardware.
Well T-Mobile is moving to LTE...invasion, I feel you pain bro, I wish I had enough money to buy an unlocked quad core but I would rather go to college lol. Anyway, I heard the quad core isn't better than the snapdragons
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA
invasion2 said:
Interesting find I too wonder how all of this will turn out. I'd rather get it unlocked with quad. But I'm 14 and don't have that money haha.
Sent from my Sense 4.0 Glacier using XDA Premium.
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You're 14?
And I'm in college and don't plan on spending that type of money on a phone ever, I'd much rather buy a tablet, which I will soon be doing. Going for the new Asus tabs as soon as they come out.
Orical said:
It seems that there are a few carriers out there still having a hard time working with the advancements of Quad-Core devices and though the processors being used (Tegra 3 chips) aren't what we're use too (Snapdragons) there are a few carriers worried about whether or not they will be able to write software right away either.
Story found here for more information and further links:http://www.latimes.com/business/tec...hanks-to-att-4g-lte-20120227,0,6217626.story
Personally my concern is that T-Mobile is picking up the One as well and even though T-Mo doesn't support LTE service this can still put us T-Mo customers at a disadvantage if the devices come to us as Dual-Cores. I've had my MT4G for a while now and though I got it for cheap money it's getting old as any phones life depletes in our community fairly fast considering the amount of flashing we all do, but with this being an option for the carriers including our own this might effect the cost between the Quad and Dual versions.
Well lets see where this puts us in a month or so but for now it looks like I'm buying a new extended-life battery online somewhere till the dust settles.
Example of what it should be.... But with a SD card slot....
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Don't be fooled by the number of cores a phones has. The AT&T One X has a next gen S4 Dual-core cpu which is based off the ARM A15 core unlike the Tegra 3 which based on ARM A9 cores. The Qualcomm S4 Dual-core are as fast and in some cases faster then Tegra 3 4+1 cpu's due to the newer chip design. Its not a downgrade by any means.
T-mobile is getting the One S. That particular phone has always been specked with the S4 Dual-core cpu and will be HSPA+ 42 capable.
How many times will I have to write it... It just means that your average journalist is no less stupid than your average customer, and can't do a basic research. It might be forgivable for customers, some of which are just 14-year-old kids with no understanding of anything, but it's less forgivable for journalists who should at least pretend having a brain.
Here's a comparison between dual-core S4 and quad-core T3 by Anandtech:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5563/qualcomms-snapdragon-s4-krait-vs-nvidias-tegra-3
Looks like Tegra3 will have a hard time even trying to keep up.
And the funniest thing is that One S, if HTC won't cripple it intentionally, will be way more powerful than One X - because it will have both the CPU speed advantage and, with lower resolution, GPU advantage.
Plus, it's VERY old news already.
Jack_R1 said:
How many times will I have to write it... It just means that your average journalist is no less stupid than your average customer, and can't do a basic research. It might be forgivable for customers, some of which are just 14-year-old kids with no understanding of anything, but it's less forgivable for journalists who should at least pretend having a brain.
Here's a comparison between dual-core S4 and quad-core T3 by Anandtech:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5563/qualcomms-snapdragon-s4-krait-vs-nvidias-tegra-3
Looks like Tegra3 will have a hard time even trying to keep up.
And the funniest thing is that One S, if HTC won't cripple it intentionally, will be way more powerful than One X - because it will have both the CPU speed advantage and, with lower resolution, GPU advantage.
Plus, it's VERY old news already.
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Its not worth it....
smooth3d said:
Don't be fooled by the number of cores a phones has. The AT&T One X has a next gen S4 Dual-core cpu which is based off the ARM A15 core unlike the Tegra 3 which based on ARM A9 cores. The Qualcomm S4 Dual-core are as fast and in some cases faster then Tegra 3 4+1 cpu's due to the newer chip design. Its not a downgrade by any means.
T-mobile is getting the One S. That particular phone has always been specked with the S4 Dual-core cpu and will be HSPA+ 42 capable.
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My intention of posting this is to show how the market is effected over a network of carriers and manufacturers when product is effected by the investment through marketing and demand, as it's stated in the main post the chips were not going to work with the software planed for them so in turn they changed the device to run a better core (though half of what was originally advertised) to prevent having to re-write the framework.
If the case were specific to the fact that the Tegra chips were going to be the problem then why not pony up for the quad core snapdragons and boost the price for the device as they always have in the past, it's not like they're worried about what their going to charge the consumer as that's never been the case. Personally I would have just waited for a contract deal and weighed my options when it was time, I'm not one to just run out and buy something just because the "Advertised public hype" says it's the best thing since sliced bread I wait to see what happens after the lust settles to get the facts.
Quad-core Snapdragons were not on the market yet (and you can see that there are no devices with those scheduled to arrive at the time of release for One X/S), thus they couldn't be utilized, making your point void. AFAIK, Qualcomm's competitor to T3 is dual-core S4, and this is what the device manufacturers will be choosing from, until the quad-core phone-oriented S4 will arrive. The current 8064 is not suggested for LTE phone configuration - read this article, it'll help to understand, why:
http://gigaom.com/mobile/qualcomm-no-quad-core-phones-at-mwc-but-well-have-something-better/
The carriers had their choice, and chose what they thought would suit them the best, considering the time-to-market, the potential performance/battery life differences etc. That some journalist thinks their choice was wrong - doesn't necessarily mean that it is.
Jack_R1 said:
Quad-core Snapdragons were not on the market yet (and you can see that there are no devices with those scheduled to arrive at the time of release for One X/S), thus they couldn't be utilized, making your point void. AFAIK, Qualcomm's competitor to T3 is dual-core S4, and this is what the device manufacturers will be choosing from, until the quad-core phone-oriented S4 will arrive. The current 8064 is not suggested for LTE phone configuration - read this article, it'll help to understand, why:
http://gigaom.com/mobile/qualcomm-no-quad-core-phones-at-mwc-but-well-have-something-better/
The carriers had their choice, and chose what they thought would suit them the best, considering the time-to-market, the potential performance/battery life differences etc. That some journalist thinks their choice was wrong - doesn't necessarily mean that it is.
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Obviously there's a miss communication on how marketing works here, even though they may not have had the option previously doesn't mean they don't have it now. Point is valid. Now that I think of it the Snapdragons have been around for the minimum of a year and the Tegra have been used for twice that and if you read the what you posted it doesn't say the tegra cant do it but it states that it would do it poorly draining battery. I agree with you on that but your missing my point entirely which is with the options they have their going to use other reasons to charge the consumer for over looked issues they can and have the ability to change now.
And another thing though it seems to be old news too you others still have yet to see it, this is why people don't post anything they read anymore because some people have no problem trying to shoot down anything posted before a discussion actually produces anything constructive.
Either I don't understand what you're talking about, or you don't understand how the market works - and I'm leaning for the 2nd option. For marketing to have something to show off and plan on, you have to have the actual HW (phone, that is) in the final readiness stage, which means that the HW has been developed for at least 1/2 year ahead of that time. 1 year from CPU manufacturing to phone sales is very good, 9 months is INCREDIBLY OUTSTANDING. Having the CPU ready at point X in time doesn't mean it can be used at that point - it means it can be used at the very least 9 months from that point. There are NO other phones and NOTHING to choose from 9 months ago - but the 2 choices you see now. The only other choice would be to skip international phone launch and wait until either T3+LTE modem combo of some kind is made functional (which could be already done, but we're talking 9 months time ahead, yes?), or to wait until Qualcomm prepares its quad-core for phones (which could also be already done, but again, 9 months ago it wasn't). So, let's see, what would you choose - participate in worldwide launch and use an equally powerful (if not even more powerful) version of the phone sporting LTE support to boot, which nobody else gets, or skip the launch. Oh well, let me think, a very hard choice, is it.
What also causes me to doubt you know what you're talking about, is the fact that Snapdragon-based phones have been around Android since Jan 2010 (Nexus One), and Tegra chipset saw first wide use only in its 2nd version, in Jan 2011 (Optimus 2X), a year later, and a couple more months till it was officially available in US. So it's actually 2 years of VERY widespread use for Snapdragon vs 1 year of spotty use (more tablets than phones - barely 2 phones or so, Atrix and Optimux 2X) for Tegra 2. Just the opposite of what you wrote.
For having smart discussions, there is a small prerequisite - both sides should know what they're talking about quite well. On this board, such a situation is rarely encountered. So sometimes it's better that people don't just run here posting everything they saw somewhere on the internet - especially if it's a 2nd-grade non-professional article in "business" section of some newspaper, and not a professional analysis article on one of the dedicated HW and Android-related sites.
Jack_R1 said:
Either I don't understand what you're talking about, or you don't understand how the market works - and I'm leaning for the 2nd option. For marketing to have something to show off and plan on, you have to have the actual HW (phone, that is) in the final readiness stage, which means that the HW has been developed for at least 1/2 year ahead of that time. 1 year from CPU manufacturing to phone sales is very good, 9 months is INCREDIBLY OUTSTANDING. Having the CPU ready at point X in time doesn't mean it can be used at that point - it means it can be used at the very least 9 months from that point. There are NO other phones and NOTHING to choose from 9 months ago - but the 2 choices you see now. The only other choice would be to skip international phone launch and wait until either T3+LTE modem combo of some kind is made functional (which could be already done, but we're talking 9 months time ahead, yes?), or to wait until Qualcomm prepares its quad-core for phones (which could also be already done, but again, 9 months ago it wasn't). So, let's see, what would you choose - participate in worldwide launch and use an equally powerful (if not even more powerful) version of the phone sporting LTE support to boot, which nobody else gets, or skip the launch. Oh well, let me think, a very hard choice, is it.
What also causes me to doubt you know what you're talking about, is the fact that Snapdragon-based phones have been around Android since Jan 2010 (Nexus One), and Tegra chipset saw first wide use only in its 2nd version, in Jan 2011 (Optimus 2X), a year later, and a couple more months till it was officially available in US. So it's actually 2 years of VERY widespread use for Snapdragon vs 1 year of spotty use (more tablets than phones - barely 2 phones or so, Atrix and Optimux 2X) for Tegra 2. Just the opposite of what you wrote.
For having smart discussions, there is a small prerequisite - both sides should know what they're talking about quite well. On this board, such a situation is rarely encountered. So sometimes it's better that people don't just run here posting everything they saw somewhere on the internet - especially if it's a 2nd-grade non-professional article in "business" section of some newspaper, and not a professional analysis article on one of the dedicated HW and Android-related sites.
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Wow how's that high perception of yourself. Im actually surprised how easy it is for you to judge a top paid news publicist. I'll just leave the rest for you to continue your rant on how well educated you are and how well business does for you.
I'm not some kid with nothing better to do than sit around and rant, I saw the post which I placed as a reason to see what people thought, it shows the type of people that come on line though.
"Top paid publicist" is paid to make news items, not objective analysis. Objective analysis mostly doesn't interest people, it doesn't play with their emotions (which is usually a prerequisite for creating interest). To make interesting news, you need to forcibly inflate just about any issue you're writing about, in such way that would steer people's emotions. This is exactly what you're seeing in the newspaper.
And yes, being a "top paid engineer" that happens to work in this industry, makes you kinda judgmental. I understand that you don't have valid arguments left. OK then.
hmm tmo updated their account app to support android 4.0
Bangincrazy said:
hmm tmo updated their account app to support android 4.0
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Lol, old news. I said this in one of the dev threads about a week ago. This means some device, whether it's the sensation about to update or the one s is about to come out on T-Mo soon, will give us official ICS on T-Mo, meaning we're going to get wifi calling for ICS finally.
When do you think phone processor tech will stabilize with software? Moore's laws?
It's apparent SoC, GPU development and technology will continue, but processors, just like desktops and notebooks do, are bound to start seeing that point where gains are insignificant to the average user.
From 2008 to 2012, we've seen a lot happen. My recollection of it starting from:
2008: G1 was released, 528mhz MSM7201A
2009: Nothing major until the Hero, under MSM7200A, even then was major/minor depending on how you look at it
2010: S1 QSD8250 / OG Desire released, was a reigning champion GSM wise as well as the Nexus One. That was until S2 MSM7x30's came out. CDMA Evo 4G, G2, Desire HD, a lot of which are the "basic smartphones" that still function very adequately today. Samsung just got their gears started somewhere in this time.
2011: In Q3 2011, we start seeing dual-cores becoming the market standard. Samsung's taken a lead in the market penetration with the Exynos SoC's, GNexus, SGS2, are all flagship phones.
2012: So far it seems the S4 (One series) chipsets had the lead for the first half, and we start seeing quad cores. That is until Exynos 4 just entered the fray. We are already seeing 1.5ghz this year
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It's not a doubt we will see more penta/hexa or some other maximizations (maybe even octas) just sometime the next year or two, but at that point is that even needed to browse the web, check email and run some general apps? A good chunk of cellphone users probably do not play games or processor-intensive tasks, just as a good majority of users in reality are still using core2duo's or core2quads without much problems in daily use seeing no need to upgrade to i7 architectures - games and other major multimedia applications aside.
Personally if I had to venture a guess, once SoCs reach 2.0+ dual or quad cores, this is the breaking point to where upgrading can only benefit for hardcore enthusiasts or app/game fanatics. That doesn't seem too long in the future, as this could possibly by the end of this year.
I think that this year will be the year of the S4 processor in the United States.
Next year will probably be Quad-core Krait and Higher clocked Tegras/Exynos processors (1.7ghz maybe?)
I don't think that stock clock speed will increase beyond 1.8ghz due to heat. Rather, I think efficiency, much like what the S4 is doing for dual core will become the focal point.
I agree with some previous posts.. We are almost at the plateau.. Software is our major downfall in the smartphone segment.. All of these newer phones could be running windows XP(example only) with the specs they are listing..
Drivers and software are holding us back now
Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using xda premium
Hello Guys, was wondering, would you guys recommend a chinese smartphone to use in Tmobile's 4G network? I was thinking of buying rollmid(dot)com/new-arrival-mtk6577-n9776-6-inch-fwvga-smartphone-1-2ghz-dual-core-3200mah-wifi-5-0mp-camera.html
or one of the phones mentioned in some other threads such as Haipai I9220 etc. My question is, would you guys recommend using any chinese smartphone? If so which one would be best for the tmobile 4g network and that can be rooted?
Thanks.
You and i think alike! I am looking at 6-inch, 854 x 480 phones, or "phablets" . For now, the N9776 appears to be the best: It's shortest (158mm), narrowest (87mm), has the largest battery (3200 mAH), and is the only one with Dolby 5.1 speakers, if the specifications are correct. At about $200 shipped, it's also just about the cheapest.
The CarPad Note5 F6 was the first. It may be the best-built and most intelligently designed, like an Apple product Available with an MTK5675 or MTK5677 dual-core CPU. The LCD is definitely IPS; maybe the others, are, too.
The a9800 and i9800 use the older MTK6575 CPU.
The n9880 (corrected from n9800) has only 260,000 colors, so it is not IPS. But it has 8GB of ROM. The Viewsonic n9880 claims to use an MTK6577; other n9880 variations, only the MTK6575.
All have only 512MB of RAM, even if the seller says 1GB.
Although none has the 1700 MHz band, they all have 2100 and of course 850/1900. I plan to join T-Mobile's $30-a-month prepaid online plan: 5GB of 4G data, only 100MB of voice. Yes, I will only get 2G speeds for now. But where I live and work, in the Washington, DC, area, HSPA+ will migrate to 1900 MHz by January 2013.
A friend of mine advised me, "Don't get a cheap Chinese phone! You'll regret it! A smarphone is difficult to make." But I am a family man; I don't have $600 for a Samsung Note, and even a used Note, at $350 to $450, i s a lot of money. T-Mobile will have a Note with 1700 MHz and 1900 MHz for $250, but only if you accept a 2-year contract. No, thanks.
If 6 inches is too large, by mid August there will be 2, 3, or 4 phones with a 5.3-inch display whose resolution reaches 960 x 540. The best-known of these is the MeePad i5270.
Paul in Maryland said:
You and i think alike! I am looking at 6-inch, 854 x 480 phones, or "phablets" . For now, the N9776 appears to be the best: It's shortest (158mm), narrowest (87mm), has the largest battery (3200 mAH), and is the only one with Dolby 5.1 speakers, if the specifications are correct. At about $200 shipped, it's also just about the cheapest.
The CarPad Note5 F6 was the first. It may be the best-built and most intelligently designed, like an Apple product Available with an MTK5675 or MTK5677 dual-core CPU. The LCD is definitely IPS; maybe the others, are, too.
The a9800 and i9800 use the older MTK6575 CPU.
The n9880 (corrected from n9800) has only 260,000 colors, so it is not IPS. But it has 8GB of ROM. The Viewsonic n9880 claims to use an MTK6577; other n9880 variations, only the MTK6575.
All have only 512MB of RAM, even if the seller says 1GB.
Although none has the 1700 MHz band, they all have 2100 and of course 850/1900. I plan to join T-Mobile's $30-a-month prepaid online plan: 5GB of 4G data, only 100MB of voice. Yes, I will only get 2G speeds for now. But where I live and work, in the Washington, DC, area, HSPA+ will migrate to 1900 MHz by January 2013.
A friend of mine advised me, "Don't get a cheap Chinese phone! You'll regret it! A smarphone is difficult to make." But I am a family man; I don't have $600 for a Samsung Note, and even a used Note, at $350 to $450, i s a lot of money. T-Mobile will have a Note with 1700 MHz and 1900 MHz for $250, but only if you accept a 2-year contract. No, thanks.
If 6 inches is too large, by mid August there will be 2, 3, or 4 phones with a 5.3-inch display whose resolution reaches 960 x 540. The best-known of these is the MeePad i5270.
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I've seen the youtube reviews, and so far I'm liking these cheap chinese phones! Currently, my sister's and mom's phone and mine took a dumb on us! Since I am on a special plan I have to purchase phones retail price. Do you know if the N9776 is available to be rooted? And have you purchased any of these yet?
Thanks
I don't know whether the N9776 can be rooted. If it becomes popular, I am sure that someone at XDA will figure out a way.
No, I have not bought yet. I was going to get the N9776 because it's only $200 shipped and "may" have Dolby 5.1 speakers (I don't know how). But now I plan to buy the Note5 F6 because of this comment by XDA member Robarnold:
Everything works well so far -.seems much slicker and quicker than my Haipad (though no complaints about that) Although externally it is only a very little larger than the Haipd the increase in screen size is quite noticeable. It came with ICS but suppliers expect a stable JB rom soon and say they'll provide me with a link."
and, perhaps even more so, because of the F6's design details explained on the manufacturer's F6 home page.
I bliv it can be rooted , just like u mentioned, once it gains popularity, Rooting procedures will be made available
Paul in Maryland said:
I don't know whether the N9776 can be rooted. If it becomes popular, I am sure that someone at XDA will figure out a way.
No, I have not bought yet. I was going to get the N9776 because it's only $200 shipped and "may" have Dolby 5.1 speakers (I don't know how). But now I plan to buy the Note5 F6 because of this comment by XDA member Robarnold:
Everything works well so far -.seems much slicker and quicker than my Haipad (though no complaints about that) Although externally it is only a very little larger than the Haipd the increase in screen size is quite noticeable. It came with ICS but suppliers expect a stable JB rom soon and say they'll provide me with a link."
and, perhaps even more so, because of the F6's design details explained on the manufacturer's F6 home page.
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N9776 forum
There's already an N9776 forum. The brand appears to be either Dapeng or Star.
I just bought one of these phones.. and yes you can use it on Tmobile.. for safety sake make your purchase through aliexpress.com they have an escrow service that holds your funds until the seller ships the device and you confirm receipt.. if its not to your liking or it never gets sent you can request a refund and they put the cash back on your card.
Back to the phones.. most of the chinese market is built on the MTK processor The current build is the MTK6577 which is their current dual-core @ 1.2ghz the 6577 is single core @1.0ghz DO NOT purchase any phone with MTK6516 that was their first phone processor and is slow as **** on android.. 6575, 6577 and the 6589 (quad-core) due out this december.. make sure the phone has at minimum a 4GB rom because the OS plus the MTK support software will take up half of the internal memory.. I bought a 7" phone tablet (search for A70 mtk6573) and it was decent for a full tablet with calling ability (rare back then) but it 0nly had a 1gb rom ( I learned though) and its okay its just that all programs have to be installed to SD card. Most of the suppliers will root the phones for you too.. Good luck!! I have 3 of them coming monday ..PS.. always choose DHL shipping 3 days from china to your door.. EMS and china post take FOREVER (up to 21 days) and sometimes lose the parcel. its totally worth the extra 25 bucks!!!
Chinese 6-inch phones: CarPad F6, N9776, and N9880
Great tips, Vinski. I just bought a Star N9880 from Fastcardtech.com and arranged for it to be sent by EMS, which the seller strongly recommends. EMS was at least $15 cheaper than DHL. Here's hoping all goes well. With a spare battery, a case, protective film, and a 4.5 percent Paypal fee (yes, I had to pay it), my total came to about U.S. $275
I had been leaning toward two alternative 6-inchers: The Carpad Note5 F6 and the (Star?) N9776. The Carpad is a class act of design and manufacture; at 256 grams, it's also the heaviest by a good 2 ounces. But in 6577 trim, it would have cost $35 more than the comparably spec'd N9880. More to the point, the F6's designer/developer, "Kay send" (as he's called in the Google translation of the Note5 F6 forum), is continually improving the model (better battery, free second-color back) and hinting at successors. I would have felt like a chump paying a premium for a phone that would soon be eclipsed. The forum members are clamoring for a 6577 version with an IPS display and 960 x 540 resolution, or an MTK6588 version in January with IPS and 1280 x 720. I haven't owned a phone in more than 3 years, and I'm tired of waiting.
Most N9880s come with a slim flip case; that's a plus, since the phone-case aftermarket hasn't caught up with the size of these jumbo phones. In truth, I tried to order an iron-colored N9776 at Rollmid.com. But PayPal reported something like "This seller cannot currently accept payments," and my purchase was automatically canceled. I then almost ordered it from Alibaba for the same price. But on Alibaba it was offered only in white and I saw no way to order the "optional" case. (The case was listed nowhere on rollmid, either.)
N9880s are starting to appear on eBay. But they all use the older, MTK6575 CPU and have only 260,000 colors. The N9776, with 16 million colors, a shorter length, a narrower width, and Dolby 5.1 speakers (don't ask me how), handily beats them. Nearly all of Alibaba's 9880s likewise use the older CPU and claim to have only 260,000 colors.
The 9880 sold by Fastcardtech can't match the N9776's smaller area, but it does match its internal specs: 6577 1.2 GHz CPU, 16 million colors, largish battery (2800). In fact, it has two features the N9776 doesn't: Bluetooth 2.1 (vs. 2.0) and a lithium-polymer battery (vs. lithium-ion). So I bought it. I dunno whether the brand is Dapeng, Star, Telsda, or Viewsonic. When I receive it, I'll report what I find in this thread. I'm hoping the claimed 1GB of RAM is for real.
My only reservation about this model is that, unlike the N9776 and the F6, it currently has no enthusiast forum. But maybe the three phones, and the lesser Dapeng i9800 / Star i9800, are all similar enough that ROM tricks and OS updates will work for all of them.
N9880 with MTK6577
Hmmm. FastTech just dropped the price of their high-end N9880 from $234 to $212. I wonder whether they'll credit me the difference. Next to the price, it says, "in stock; ships in 1-3 working days." But in a response to a comment posted today, the company says that it's not yet in stock. A delay no longer than a week or so would be worth it if it means the phone would then come with Android 4.1.
4g working?
Does the 4g or 3g actually work in North America? I had bought a Gooapple V5 3G but the 3G never worked in North America because of the band it operated on. It does however work in the UK and Europe which is what I wanted.
The 4G and 3G on these phones won't work on 3G networks that use CDMA (Verizon, Sprint), 3G networks that use HSPA+ on 1700 MHz, or 4G networks that use LTE (Verizon, AT&T). But they should work on 3G networks that use HSPA+ at 1900 MHz (AT&T, and increasingly, T-Mobile).
Hi Paul,
Can you confirm the CPU (1.2 GHz, dual-core), the RAM (1GB), the screen quality (IPS? wide-viewing angle, 1.6M colors) and camera (8MP) when you receive the device please?
Seeing different specs on sites regarding cores, RAM, 356K vs 1.6M colors and camera (5 vs 8 MP).
Thanks!
I'm planning on getting this to use on the T-mobile network.
Paul in Maryland said:
Great tips, Vinski.
The 9880 sold by Fastcardtech can't match the N9776's smaller area, but it does match its internal specs: 6577 1.2 GHz CPU, 16 million colors, largish battery (2800). In fact, it has two features the N9776 doesn't: Bluetooth 2.1 (vs. 2.0) and a lithium-polymer battery (vs. lithium-ion). So I bought it. I dunno whether the brand is Dapeng, Star, Telsda, or Viewsonic. When I receive it, I'll report what I find in this thread. I'm hoping the claimed 1GB of RAM is for real.
My only reservation about this model is that, unlike the N9776 and the F6, it currently has no enthusiast forum. But maybe the three phones, and the lesser Dapeng i9800 / Star i9800, are all similar enough that ROM tricks and OS updates will work for all of them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You bet I will, webdoctors. I'm guessing my N9880 will arrive shortly before September. I, too, will be using my phone on T-Mobile.
I completely agree that some of the specs are suspect. Here are the N9880 specs that may be worse than we have led to believe:
- 1GB RAM (will probably be 512MB)
- 16 million colors (may be 260K, like the display on the MTK6575 variants)
- IPS (never claimed, but we all inferred this from "16 million colors"
At the same time, here are specs that may turn out to be BETTER than we had thought:
- Android: Spec says 4.0, but today I saw an N9880 screen shot or video somewhere that definitely said 4.1, with a ROM or installation dated July 30.
- Cameras: Spec says 0.3 / 5.0MP, but I've started to see claims of 2MP / 8 MP.
- Bluetooth: Spec says 2.0 but I'm also seeing 2.1.
- Battery: Spec used to say lithium-ion but now says lithium-polymer.
It seems to me that if you want to be sure of getting a 6-inch phone with the best specs, you go with the N9776 or Carpad Note5 F6. If you want to be sure of getting the lowest specs, get an i9800 or N9880 with an MTK6575. If you want to spin the wheel and take your chances, go for the N9880 MTK6577.
---------- Post added at 09:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:05 PM ----------
To appreciate the size of these phablets, here's the N9880 beneath an iPhone 4. I explain to people that on a 6-inch phone, the glass is about the same size and shape as a 3 by 5-inch index card.
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---------- Post added at 09:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:42 PM ----------
Soon there will be a handful of sixes:
1. Note5 F6
2. i9080
3. N9776
4. N9880
5. HiLive [awaiting name]
It was announced 2012-08-04.
EMS from China to the USA should be quite fast. From previous experience buying stuff from Taiwan/Japan, EMS is less than 4 days door-to-door.
Paul in Maryland said:
You bet I will, webdoctors. I'm guessing my N9880 will arrive shortly before September. I, too, will be using my phone on T-Mobile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did anyone see the iHTC One X posted at fastcardtech? Is it legit?
Its advertised as having a 4.7 inch IPS screen, 960*540 pixel, 1 GB RAM, dual core 1.2 GHz, and under $200 (199).
Too good to be true? I don't see the model posted at any other stores, so not sure if the specs arae a typo. Not sure of iHTC build quality, it could be some fake company trying to create poor HTC knockoffs rather than their own brand/quality control.
The quality gap between 'cheap Chinese phones/clones' has narrowed
Has significantly narrowed due to the evolution of the wireless chip sets: Microtek has come more up to the 'phone kit' packaged design that Qualcomm has traditionally offered the market. MTK provides the device manufacturers with increasingly inclusive kit designs through their network of suppliers of moldings, software, supplementary circuit components etc. The device suppliers job becomes more of selecting among the suppliers and doing final development and assembly operations. As many experience, the added refinement from the Chinese suppliers often is not much: many simply take the designs and burn the ROMs packaged up with Android software... rushing the products out even while some things do not work or do not work well. That is why GPS, WiFi, motion sensors may not work well until upgrade ROMs are available.. they hack the products to get them to the market in time to meet the window of market demand. XDA and other groups then serve as the talented group of folks that put together the fixes while the Chinese suppliers move on to the next product. That is what happened with many of the MTK 6575 devices. Those are more mature.. the stuff like GPS and WiFi now works and the devices can load up many apps and run most any software on par with expensive name brand devices costing 2-3 times more. Samsung. Apple, HTC maintain a leading edge in interface camera and video, software and hardware refinements that make the clones look second class in comparison but the gap has closed compared to where it was just a year ago.
The next step up for the Chinese suppliers will be improved screen resolution and more refined hardware... for them to stop using their customers as unwitting guinea pigs for pushing out half-baked products on the market. The first MTK 6577 products will be interesting to look at: will this prove to be similar to MTK6575 in which the YouTube videos look impressive but once you get it in your hand, some will find the Wi-Fi reception is weak, the sensors do not work or only work with some programs and not others due to incompatibilities between the ROM and Android or whatever?
Thus far, the MTK6577 products are still in the experimental entry into the market stage where the early adopters serve as guinea pigs to test out what works and what doesn't and for the many experts here to contribute their great skills to fixing the problems that will almost certainly be found.. and adding refinements that the rest of the market never gets or must wait for the operator upgrades.
I am very interested in the new 6 inch 'Phablet'/'car pad' devices - but will likely wait until others report how well they work and that there is a support group that is interested in supporting the ROM upgrades, etc. beforehand. I would like to see higher resolution 6"-7" models which would more aptly serve needs for both a tablet and a SmartPhone.. the 'one device' solution for personal and road use. qHD to HD quality screen with a mini HDMI output would be hot imo.
N9776 - Where to buy?
The N9776 looks like the best of the 6 inch phones to me. Does anyone know a reputable place to buy it from? The only place I can see that sells it is Aliexpress and none of the sellers that are offering it there fill me with confidence.
andymac66 said:
The N9776 looks like the best of the 6 inch phones to me. Does anyone know a reputable place to buy it from? The only place I can see that sells it is Aliexpress and none of the sellers that are offering it there fill me with confidence.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMHO, I think CarPad note5 F6 is better than N9776. It has 8MP real camera and 2MP front camera. And they have their own forum for support of ROM update or custom ROM, although it is in Chinese. However, if you can wait, you may want to wait for 6-inch 540x960 resolution version, as I think 400x854 is still not good enough.
I'm giving this a try :silly:
http://www.androidforcheap.com/note...3-os-wcdma-3g-gps-wifi-smart-phone-p-310.html
or this
http://www.androidforcheap.com/i930...-pixel-camera-micro-sim-card-phone-p-453.html
amazing what they can produce here :cyclops:
check out some china phone reviews
http://www.chinaphonereview.com/
mengfei said:
I'm giving this a try :silly:
http://www.androidforcheap.com/note...3-os-wcdma-3g-gps-wifi-smart-phone-p-310.html
or this
http://www.androidforcheap.com/i930...-pixel-camera-micro-sim-card-phone-p-453.html
amazing what they can produce here :cyclops:
check out some china phone reviews
http://www.chinaphonereview.com/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You may want to consider Haipai Noble I9220 or X710D as both phones has support thread in this XDA forum, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1646544
about exynos octa and future of exynos and exynos based mobile devices.
Over the past few months there have been a lot of talks going on about the system on a chip (SoC) choices that Samsung’s Mobile division has made for their recent and upcoming products; now new information has shed more light as to how these choices came to be, their reasoning, and what the repercussions for both the company and their users are.
Back in January, during the official announcement CES 2013, and as early as several weeks earlier as the internet rumour-mill and Korean analysts predicted that the Galaxy S4 would come with the company’s own Exynos Octa SoC, most people were not be aware what is going on behind the scenes at Samsung.
Samsung’s System LSI Business, a business unit of the company’s Semiconductor division, has had several SoC projects in their pipeline. We know for certain of the 5410 (Octa), the 5450 and 5440, both quad-core A15 chips that seem to never have been released. Other rumoured projects were the 5210, a supposed big.LITTLE chip in a 2 + 2 configuration.
Something went on during last winter that panicked the mobile division to change SoC provider for many variants of the S4. Mounting evidence of this can be found in the overlapping local-specific variants in the official source code of both Qualcomm and Exynos platforms. JF based variants, which are based on the Snapdragon chips, overlapped JA based variants, based on the Exynos platform. Korean (jf_ktt, jf_lgt, jf_skt <> jaltektt, jaltelgt, jalteskt), European (jf_eur <> jalte), and Japanese (jf_dcm <> jaltedcm) variants were developed for both platforms. The Korean variants ended up being the sole ones to actually hit the market with the Exynos platform, other than the global 3G version of which there’s no evident Qualcomm counterpart.
Chaotic development for the whole phone seems to have been the norm: Many parts changed supplier in prototype revisions, such as the Amtel touchscreen controller which gave way to a Synaptics counterpart, a MagnaChip AMOLED controller which is missing in action, and Philips LED controller which was shelved for a Texas Instruments IC. All of the prior seem like last-minute changes simply for the fact that their drivers and firmwares are delivered in the shipping product, even if they’re not used. A well-planned product is certainly something you would not call the S4.
One of the early reported reasons for the processor change was the unexpected power consumption of the Exynos. While this remains partly true and undoubtedly had an impact, the other reasons are far more sinister.
As a reminder, the Exynos 5410, as a big.LITTLE chip by design, is supposed to have different kinds of operating modes, mostly something that is defined and limited only by software:
- Cluster-migration; where only either one or the other quad-core clusters works at any one time.
- Core-migration; where both clusters can work in tandem but only have up to 4 physical CPUs online, but any mix of A7 and A15 cores can be achieved.
- Heterogeneous multiprocessing: All 8 cores are online at once.
The problem is that to achieve any of the latter two operating modes, a specific piece of hardware is needed that allows efficient and useful use of those models: the Cache-Coherrent-Interconect (CCI). As per ARM’s own claims: “Hardware coherency with CoreLink CCI-400 is a fundamental part of ARM big.LITTLE processing.”
While it has been obvious for several months that the person behind the SamsungExynos twitter account is nothing but a clueless PR representative, the above claim is nothing short of a lie.
We have information from several sources that Exynos’s CCI is inherently crippled in silicon. It is not functional or even powered on in the shipping product (i9500). In fact, this has been such of an issue, that as a result, the chip was almost cancelled. It was reportedly only salvaged by having it work in the cluster migration policy and bypass the CCI entirely. While contradicting, it questions the validity of ARM’s own videos while demonstrating the Octa.
Internally at SLSI, as many as three projects were cancelled late last year. We don’t know the reasons for their cancellation, however it is said that the issues are related, and unacceptable power consumption also plays a big role.
One can argue that ARM’s Cortex A15 is partly to blame here: The inherent architecture is to power consuming to be implemented in a smart-phone. big.LITTLE provides major breathing-room, but only in scenarios where continuous load is not an issue. HD gaming is a major Achilles heel where power consumption can run rampant. Nvidia is having it much worse with their Tegra 4: With only a single tablet design win besides their own Shield gaming console, it’s a chip that needs to, and will be, quickly forgotten.
Plagued by delays, hardware bugs, and high power consumption, one could view the Exynos 5410 as nothing short of a failure. In fact, Samsung’s Mobile division was so dismayed at the whole situation that their next major products will completely forego the company’s own Exynos chips and go straight with Qualcomm’s offerings.
Reports that the Note 3 would come with the S800 match with this information, and are probably very correct.
With confirmed designs such as the Galaxy Tab 3 coming with an Intel processor, and the rest of the new Galaxy line-up shipping with various variants of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S-series, the mobile division should be lauded for providing the user with the best possible experience – even if that involves skipping the Exynos. They have proven that they have no qualms to use a wide array of third-party suppliers (ST-Ericsson, Intel, Broadcom, Qualcomm) to base their products on, and this strategy is proven to be successful.
As for SLSI, things look very bleak for Samsung’s in-house processors. The business is failing to cater, not only in terms of support, like providing proper hardware documentation and source code to the public, but the current line-up is in shambles also in terms of hardware.
Lackluster graphics performance and outdated GPUs have become sort of a habit for the company. This reportedly is due to an unwillingness to spend the money on IP licenses from third-party companies, and the use of Mali GPUs in their SoCs is due to a free licensing agreement they receive from ARM as a lead partner. The surprise use of the SGX 544MP3 in the Exynos 5410 is due to panic caused by Mali’s own T6xx GPUs: again an issue of extremely excessive power consumption. The first generation Midgard lineup was quickly scrapped, leaving the Exynos 5250 and its T604 as something of an orphan. Products like the T658 never saw the light of day and are not even mentioned anymore on ARM’s website.
Meanwhile, while their shipping products are failing to properly compete, Samsung is spending a lot of money on developing their own GPU IP from scratch. Not much information is available as to when we will see this in actual products, but it will eventually come, if not cancelled or delayed due to its unorthodox implementation of an FPGA-like re-programmable design which might be hit-or-miss. Imagination’s Rogue architecture and years of experience as a leading GPU IP provider will be tough competition.
CPU wise, things look just as bleak. Qualcomm currently dominates the performance per Watt scale for the high-end with the newest Krait architectures. With no custom design in the works, as done by Apple or Qualcomm, and no A57 or A53 as architectural refreshes from ARM, nor a new 20nm manufacturing process coming until 2014, the Exynos A15 line-up looks incapable of competing in the near-future.
(Disclaimer- sammobile)
the most shocking thing about this article is it comes from one of the most reliable site about anything and everything related to Samsun mobile division!!!
So you did not write this yourself (from the sounds of the last line you wrote), but you don't provide a link to the original source or credit beyond a veiled reference to sammobile?
Let me guess, so Exynos Octa is a fail product? :laugh:
windozeanti said:
Let me guess, so Exynos Octa is a fail product? :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well its not exactly a fail product, cause as the article and research said, the final product has not got enough homework as it deserved.
im pretty sure samsung would fix this in Note 3 and i highly doubt that samsung would introduce Note 3 without Exynos processor. it will have Snapdragon 800 (i wish) but it will also have exynos version. samsung would not leave its own chip just like that!
windozeanti said:
Let me guess, so Exynos Octa is a fail product? :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It runs the fastest mobile phone ever, it just never reached it's full potential, you know topping out round 2.3GHz, proper core migration for efficiency and total smoothness, stronger GPU. Then again, it's still the industry leader, but not without issues, so I guess Sammy will work on it, possibly bringing it over 20nm.
OMG !! after reading i want to sell my i9500
this device is 50-50 ... 50% updates 50% legacy !
if this will be considered a fail project i will break this into two !!!! rawr ~~~ im so dammnn dead !
gdonanthony said:
OMG !! after reading i want to sell my i9500
this device is 50-50 ... 50% updates 50% legacy !
if this will be considered a fail project i will break this into two !!!! rawr ~~~ im so dammnn dead !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
come on guys dont be like this! u should be really proud of ur S4! blunder from samsung aside, why dont u feel pride on ur S4 that being a bit not what it should have been it still is the fastest smartphone on the market right now and that will remain until Note 3 comes out...!
after reading what uve posted i feel my S4 i9500 suxxx bigtime
Wow,
I'm happy i got the I9505
This post is in compliance with the national potato safety regulation.
[Galaxy S 4 LTE]
but still i think andrie will not give up on this big.LITTLE arch though,,i hope so XD
Why is this thread 60% of whining while only 40% of problem solving? I'll quote what I said in another thread.
Tears for Fears said:
Why are you guys whining? I9500 is *THE* fastest smartphone in business. This flaw only means lesser battery but the battery is still very sufficient. GSMArena rated it 65h. To put this in perspective, Sony Xperia Z and HTC One got 48h. Galaxy S III got 50h, iPhone 5 got 51h, LG Optimus G Pro got 50h and Nokia Lumia 920 got 44h. Why are you whining when you get 65h? That's A LOT more than the flagships of other major manufacturers! Yes, if big.LITTLE would be implemented correctly, you'd get maybe 70-75h rating but in my opinion, 65h is HUGE compared to others' 45-50h.
Really, stop complaining and enjoy having the most powerful smartphone on Earth with an amazing battery life!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now can we please stop whining? It does no good to this thread.
Tears for Fears said:
Why is this thread 60% of whining while only 40% of problem solving? I'll quote what I said in another thread.
Now can we please stop whining? It does no good to this thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see your intentions
But would you let these companies screw your hard earned money?
At least let corporations work hard at providing us a product worth every cent.
Samsung did a terrible job at rushing things with the device. They have sacrificed a huge margin of time trying to implement protocols which they knew in the first place would have a risk of being feasible for the entire market.
So now they defray their failures to us by selling a partially finished product with huge non-uniform variants of the same device name then make all these crazy impulsive changes then run away with our money then denying most of the issues that are clearly present.
They even don't document their own chip pretty well neither.
So we just got screwed by samsung.
Better rick roll ourselves at most.
This post is in compliance with the national potato safety regulation.
[Galaxy S 4 LTE]
aami.aami said:
Something went on during last winter that panicked the mobile division to change SoC provider for many variants of the S4. Mounting evidence of this can be found in the overlapping local-specific variants in the official source code of both Qualcomm and Exynos platforms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or, as is typical in the development stage of many products, the s/w coding got ahead of the decisions on h/w so they coded for both eventualities. Since none of us work for Samsung any assumption of "panic" is a wild ass guess. Both Octa and S-600 don't come with an in-built baseband. S-600 already has the necessary interfaces and drivers while they'd have to be written for Octa. Maybe that work couldn't have been done in time considering all the different LTE markets that would need to be coded for. That, or it was just simpler and easier to use S-600 in LTE markets. They used Octa/LTE in Korea, their home town market, so I highly doubt they did that if it wasn't considered their "premium" offering. Last year for the SGS3, shipments were 1/3 LTE and 2/3 HSPA. This year it's the reverse. So favoring S-600 over Octa could be purely a market driven decision based on the larger availability of LTE this year. I agree something could have gone wrong that caused a last minute shift to S-600 and away from Octa but some stray code found in the kernel isn't a smoking gun.
Chaotic development for the whole phone seems to have been the norm: Many parts changed supplier in prototype revisions, such as the Amtel touchscreen controller which gave way to a Synaptics counterpart, a MagnaChip AMOLED controller which is missing in action, and Philips LED controller which was shelved for a Texas Instruments IC. All of the prior seem like last-minute changes simply for the fact that their drivers and firmwares are delivered in the shipping product, even if they’re not used. A well-planned product is certainly something you would not call the S4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Has anyone here run a large-scale product development group? Or worked on a h/w or s/w project that's the scope of launching a major electronic device? It's always chaos. Especially the last mile. The SGS4 could have been more chaotic than other devices Samsung's released but since none of us were on the project teams we're just guessing that last minute decisions were made because of crisis and error.
The problem is that to achieve any of the latter two operating modes, a specific piece of hardware is needed that allows efficient and useful use of those models: the Cache-Coherrent-Interconect (CCI). As per ARM’s own claims: “Hardware coherency with CoreLink CCI-400 is a fundamental part of ARM big.LITTLE processing.”
We have information from several sources that Exynos’s CCI is inherently crippled in silicon. It is not functional or even powered on in the shipping product (i9500). In fact, this has been such of an issue, that as a result, the chip was almost cancelled. It was reportedly only salvaged by having it work in the cluster migration policy and bypass the CCI entirely. While contradicting, it questions the validity of ARM’s own videos while demonstrating the Octa.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the way big.LITTLE is supposed to work. I'd like to understand what's missing and what replaced it.
As a reminder, the Exynos 5410, as a big.LITTLE chip by design, is supposed to have different kinds of operating modes, mostly something that is defined and limited only by software:
- Cluster-migration; where only either one or the other quad-core clusters works at any one time.
- Core-migration; where both clusters can work in tandem but only have up to 4 physical CPUs online, but any mix of A7 and A15 cores can be achieved.
- Heterogeneous multiprocessing: All 8 cores are online at once.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are only two operating models. Why is Samsung choosing to implement one over the other "screwing" anyone? The dev community not having a toy to play with doesn't mean Octa's a commercial failure because 99.9% of i9500 owners don't give a crap that it could be operating in two modes but instead is only operating in one.
Plagued by delays, hardware bugs, and high power consumption, one could view the Exynos 5410 as nothing short of a failure. In fact, Samsung’s Mobile division was so dismayed at the whole situation that their next major products will completely forego the company’s own Exynos chips and go straight with Qualcomm’s offerings. Reports that the Note 3 would come with the S800 match with this information, and are probably very correct. With confirmed designs such as the Galaxy Tab 3 coming with an Intel processor, and the rest of the new Galaxy line-up shipping with various variants of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S-series, the mobile division should be lauded for providing the user with the best possible experience – even if that involves skipping the Exynos. They have proven that they have no qualms to use a wide array of third-party suppliers (ST-Ericsson, Intel, Broadcom, Qualcomm) to base their products on, and this strategy is proven to be successful.
Click to expand...
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Does anyone here know what the production goals are for Octa? And over what time frame? Without knowing that how could 1/3 of SGS4's shipping with Octa be considered a failure? Qualcomm licenses ARM technology as the basis for all their designs. So the chip after S-800 will be big.LITTLE also as ARM's spent two years developing it and spent several billion dollars to do so. Exynos 5410 is the first and only commercial implementation of big.LITTLE. I highly doubt it's perfect as V1 of anything rarely is. But all this speculation of failure and use of adjectives like "chaos" is based on a very narrow and shortsighted view of what's basically a long view game.
Here are the white papers on big.LITTLE; three from ARM and one from Samsung. The Samsung paper's been authored by their Principal Engineer who has a PhD. When someone here who's got a PhD that’s being paid $500K+ a year and responsible for the s/w running hundreds of millions of devices writes a similar paper with as much fact and detail in it showing why big.LITTLE's a failure I'll be all ears. Until them I'm hoping the N3 has Octa because (at least to me) the long term benefit of having a big.LITTLE equipped device outweighs the short-term gains of going with Qualcomm's interpretation of a five-year old ARM design. For a site that's supposed to be technical you guys sure have a sour view on new and emerging technologies.
http://www.arm.com/files/downloads/big_LITTLE_Final_Final.pdf
http://www.arm.com/files/pdf/Advances_in_big.LITTLE_Technology_for_Power_and_Energy_Savings.pdf
http://www.arm.com/files/downloads/Software_Techniques_for_ARM_big.LITTLE_Systems.pdf
http://www.arm.com/files/downloads/Benefits_of_the_big.LITTLE_architecture.pdf
How would we feel barry with our 9500s without you barry.
Seriously, as a consumer, all i want is to know that i have the best and fastest smartphone when i traded my hard earned cash for it. As long as i know that i can run my desired apps faster than any other device out there, i know that i have gotten my money's worth. I couldnt care less if samsung hasnt done enough homework to utilize the big little technology at its fullest.
So please lets stop with the whining and complaining about the 9500 because its not helping out those who have gotten it. All of this to me feels like all bitterness. No punn intended. Just my thoughts. Thanks!
I knew that something little will be wrong with the octa, since it is the first time release, I think that all of these issues will be corrected by Samsung surely. I will stick with my GT-I9100G (beast-of-a-smartphone BTW is giving fight nowadays) until a new octa-core with those issues fixed comes up, may be the note 3
Sent from my Galaxy S2 using xda app-developers app
So i need to sell my octa one
Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
What's the big deal guys? So big.LITTLE isn't working as expected. We're still using the A15 processor which is a beast. The only benefit of big.LITTLE is enhanced battery life and even that is on par with the other flagship devices.
crzr said:
I think that all of these issues will be corrected by Samsung surely.
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One of the points OP made that's spot on is how competitive the mobile SoC business is. Unless Samsung's planning to exit the business which nothing points to, they'll have to keep innovating and providing cost effective, powerful, and energy efficient solutions to power not only future Samsung devices but other manufacturer's devices as well. Designing, engineering, and producing a SoC costs several hundred million dollars. Committing to big.LITTLE wasn't a "throw it against the wall and see if it'll stick" decision.
Samsung's supposed to sell 80MM SGS4's this year which means 24MM (1/3) of them will be Octa. HTC's projecting 20MM One's. That means there will be more Octa devices produced than all of HTC's flagship S-600 device. So I'd hardly call it a failure. And it’s great that Samsung’s experimenting with Intel. The 10.1” G-Tab 3 that’s supposed to have an Intel chip will probably sell 10MM units; if it’s the only SoC used which some are speculating it’ll only be for certain markets.
Here are some excerpts from Samsung’s Q1 earning’s release talking about their semi-conductor business. It certainly doesn’t sound like the division is in trouble or Samsung’s walking away from it any time soon.
As for this year's capital expenditure, Samsung Electronics executed a combined total of 3.9 trillion won for the quarter. The Semiconductor and Display Panel segments were each accountable for 1.5 trillion won ($1.3B USD) in capex spending. Samsung is poised to increase investment beginning from the second half of the fiscal year to preempt rising demand for differentiated products and to harness its competitiveness in the high-tech industry.
Samsung's Semiconductor businesses - including Memory and System LSI - posted consolidated 8.58 trillion won in revenue ($2.8B USD), a 11-percent drop from a quarter earlier. The Memory chip unit logged 5.12 trillion won in earnings but, compared with the previous period, quarter-on-quarter revenue retreated 4 percent.Profitability for the System LSI Business was hampered by seasonally slow demand in set products that use logic chips.Considering Octa is "V1" and that it out-benchmarks S-600 and gets very close to the same battery life the way it was shipped I'd very much call it a success. S-600 is nothing more than an evolution of previous Snapdragon chips. So that Samsung/ARM's first use of big.LITTLE is so competitive against a years old architecture that OEM’s are comfortable with implementing says a lot about what Samsung/ARM have done and what the upside potential is.
AnandTech talking about S4 - At present, this is the same Krait CPU as what we've seen in MSM8960 in phones like the USA versions of the Galaxy S 3 and HTC One X. Later on, Krait v3 will emerge with higher IPC and shorter critical paths (and clocks up to 1.7 or 2 GHz) and a resulting 10-15% boost in performance. For now however we're looking at 1.5 GHz APQ8064 with a Krait v2 inside and Qualcomm's newest scalar GPU architecture with Adreno 320.AnandTech talking about S-600 - Also being announced today is the Snapdragon 600. This part integrates four Krait 300 cores running at up to 1.9GHz. Adreno 320 handles GPU duties, although with an increased clock speed. Compared to the current Snapdragon S4, the 600 is expected to improve performance by up to 40% if you combine IPC and frequency increases.
I love this phone. ( I wish they'd fix this M****R F*****G Camera Reboot issue.) But I bought it because of the lies they told me.
hoezay said:
I love this phone. ( I wish they'd fix this M****R F*****G Camera Reboot issue.) But I bought it because of the lies they told me.
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What lies? When did they tell anything about how the CPU will work? Can you provide a link please?