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What is all the obsession over dual core phones?

I have to ask: Why does everyone want a dual core phone which cant even currently be used?
I say it cant be used because dual core processors cant be used on Android 2.3 Gingerbread/Linux kernel 2.6.35, there is only multi-core processor support in A3H/L2.6.36 (only avaliable (officially) on tablets). We will see problably support in in "A4I"/"L3.6.37" for both phones and tablets.
So whats everyones obsession? The only thing you are problably gaining is a SLIGHT speed boost (not even close when a kernal that supports it is released) and more battery drain.
On a counterside this could bring good marketing to Google: They release "A4I", current dual core phones get a HUGE speed boost and everyone praises Google. Could work good for them.

Interesting, I never knew Gingerbread couldn't support dual cores on phones. Good info, I guess I'll keep my Evo for another year.

It's pretty easy to compile the kernel to use multi core processors. The current one may not, but hold your judgement until it's actually released.

crazy25000 said:
It's pretty easy to compile the kernel to use multi core processors. The current one may not, but hold your judgement until it's actually released.
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So true............. Currently 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% of users AND developers of applications can and are willing to complie a custom kernel not used by the rest and use/make multi core supported applications with its multi core supported kernel.

I guess progress has to begin somewhere?

i don't think i'll ever need / want a dual core phone for my daily rutine, my SGS is perfect for me, what more could you need from a phone? don't think they'll be able to fit jet packs on them any time soon...

riahc3 said:
So true............. Currently 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% of users AND developers of applications can and are willing to complie a custom kernel not used by the rest and use/make multi core supported applications with its multi core supported kernel.
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What I'm saying is the kernel can easily be compiled by Google or Samsung and used as the stock kernel on the GSII.

maranello69 said:
i don't think i'll ever need / want a dual core phone for my daily rutine, my SGS is perfect for me, what more could you need from a phone? don't think they'll be able to fit jet packs on them any time soon...
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Yeah its logical to think like that but 3 years ago who thought you need phone with such big screen and processor/RAM almost match PC speed?
As someone said somewhere they have to start but interesting thought by thread creator

ksavai said:
Yeah its logical to think like that but 3 years ago who thought you need phone with such big screen and processor/RAM almost match PC speed?
As someone said somewhere they have to start but interesting thought by thread creator
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Honestly those arent needs either. But as of right now the only purpose of a dual core phone is to brag.

[Q] Why is iPhone still faster than any Android Quad-Core Phone?

Hi,
my friend and I are comparing which Phone is better.. The iOS Phones or the Android Phones.
In my opinion an iPhone is not a real Smartphone because you can't really do nothing with it..
There is just a damn Appdrawer without a damn Home screen.
Just Apps and some other notification stuff.
An Android Phone has almost everything that you need. You can even Update a Ps3 system with just an Android Phone.
You can build your own system and run your Rom with your taste.
But why the hell has the iPhone 5 still compared to HTC One X or Sony Xperia Z a better Benchmark result?
I mean the iPhone got a Dual core with just 1 Ghz per Core. But it beat a Quad-Core Phone.
For example I got a Sony Xperia S and how you know it has a 1,5Ghz Dual-Core hardware. And STILL the iPhone runs Asphalt 7 or Shadowgun: Deadzone better than the Xperia S
How that can be possible??

xShottaZx said:
Hi,
my friend and I are comparing which Phone is better.. The iOS Phones or the Android Phones.
In my opinion an iPhone is not a real Smartphone because you can't really do nothing with it..
There is just a damn Appdrawer without a damn Home screen.
Just Apps and some other notification stuff.
An Android Phone has almost everything that you need. You can even Update a Ps3 system with just an Android Phone.
You can build your own system and run your Rom with your taste.
But why the hell has the iPhone 5 still compared to HTC One X or Sony Xperia Z a better Benchmark result?
I mean the iPhone got a Dual core with just 1 Ghz per Core. But it beat a Quad-Core Phone.
For example I got a Sony Xperia S and how you know it has a 1,5Ghz Dual-Core hardware. And STILL the iPhone runs Asphalt 7 or Shadowgun: Deadzone better than the Xperia S
How that can be possible??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To answer the question in title.
Iphones would seem faster because its software is only written for one device.. the Iphone.
When you build the hardware and the software you able to really optimise it for that device.
This would be possible with Android but for a device manufacture would take far to much work at the lower levels of android itself, and they simply do not have the time or resources to do that (After all we do want updates within 6 months of google pushing them).
If you however get a Nexus device built for stock Android you will see what android can do

zacthespack said:
To answer the question in title.
Iphones would seem faster because its software is only written for one device.. the Iphone.
When you build the hardware and the software you able to really optimise it for that device.
This would be possible with Android but for a device manufacture would take far to much work at the lower levels of android itself, and they simply do not have the time or resources to do that (After all we do want updates within 6 months of google pushing them).
If you however get a Nexus device built for stock Android you will see what android can do
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Yes and Java android implementation has a really time spent garbage collector, IOS programs are written over Objective C with just in time memory management.
No garbage collector = faster app

The on-the-surface reasons are a fast and capable CPU and GPU, but mainly the fact that apps have a very limited ability to run in the background. There are more technical reasons, as mentioned above, but that's the gist of it.
iOS's efficiency and performance comes from its heavy software limitations.

Okay, so mainly it has to do with optimizing the hardware with the software right?

xShottaZx said:
Okay, so mainly it has to do with optimizing the hardware with the software right?
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Yes, and like I said, heavily disallowing apps from running in the background.

I bet thats also the reason why macs are seen as such intuitive machines compared to pcs. Windows is made for any pc while mac os is strictly built for mac. :good:

Omega Supreme said:
I bet thats also the reason why macs are seen as such intuitive machines compared to pcs. Windows is made for any pc while mac os is strictly built for mac. :good:
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Macs use the same parts as PC's. It's just that they say, "Alright, these are the parts we're going to use this year. We only need drivers and software compatible with these parts. Anything extra is up to the manufacturers." It's the same thing with Windows, but like you said, just a wider array of devices and parts.
Intuitiveness has nothing to do with hardware and interfacing software; it has everything to do with aesthetics and software design.

Okay thanks for your answers guys

for me, Iphone is only good for old people, who doesnt really care about their gadget, they only use it for show off, without knowing the "true" potential of their phone.
with android, we could squeeze the juice from the phone out untill its screaming, lol, and our device will worth every dime and penny we spent, like many of people only know that they have Intel i7 processor without knowing that their i7 processor can beat up so easily with Overclocked core 2 Quad processors.
just my 2 cents though

There's more to it than benchmarking though. I actually carry and use both devices. My DNA is a good bit faster than my iPhone with some processes. Other things the iPhone is faster with. But as stated above, the apple hardware and software is highly optimized, which is why iPhone users don't see force closes or random reboots except for the occasional rare extreme problem.
They both have their pros and cons, there's a lot of young people also that the iPhone fits better than android.
There's a lot of people in this world that think differently than me. I did not see the dialer or keyboard on my DNA until after it was unlocked and rooted and had a custom rom and kernel overclocked. I didn't realize until later that I didn't even open much on the interface until after I had installed the software I wanted. Lots of people wouldn't want to take an off contract 700 dollar device and blindly void the warranty, but that's all I bought mine for is the hardware and ability to build my rom and interface to fit my needs.
Sent from my DNA... S-Off like a baws

apple not only manufactures its own software, but also hardware, hence it has better control to customize their hardware according to the software or vice versa.

ob7125 said:
apple not only manufactures its own software, but also hardware, hence it has better control to customize their hardware according to the software or vice versa.
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Apple doesn't manufacture anything. Most of their components come from Samsung and other manufacturers like Qualcomm. They work ONLY on the software.

i think you are wrong.
zacthespack said:
To answer the question in title.
Iphones would seem faster because its software is only written for one device.. the Iphone.
When you build the hardware and the software you able to really optimise it for that device.
This would be possible with Android but for a device manufacture would take far to much work at the lower levels of android itself, and they simply do not have the time or resources to do that (After all we do want updates within 6 months of google pushing them).
If you however get a Nexus device built for stock Android you will see what android can do
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i saw the nexus 5 benchmark fight with the iphone 5s, NEXUS 5 can't reach near iphone 5s , actually i don't understand how is this possible and i don't believe that optimization makes iphone to this much faster, when we are looking forward the case of samsung galaxy note 3 and iphone 5s just an optimization can't beat the 8 core and 3Gb ram with 1.3gh 2 core with 1gb ram, may be the precision is the key

Don't bother with battery comparisons on the i9500, the phone is unfinished.

So I got my i9500 and already did some foolery with it.
Fine device, but I hate the raised lip around the screen edge. Something I definitely did not miss on the S3 and something very annoying.
Other than that small design critique:
THE ****ING PHONE ISN'T RUNNING FINAL FIRMWARE!
Basically the CPU is running on the cluster migration driver, meaning it switches all four cores from the LITTLE to the big cluster, as opposed to the core migration driver who does this in an individual core-pair manner.
You can pretty much throw all battery comparisons out of the window: it's completely unfinished and unoptimal.
I already compiled the kernel and flashed it without the cluster migration tidbit, but the phone won't boot. So yea. Current sources also useless.
Cleverly enough: you can't really distinguish between the two drivers apart from one manner: if /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/iks-cpufreq/max_eagle_count is present, you're running an IKS driver. If it's not, then you're running the sub-optimal IKCS driver.
So yea. We'll see what Samsung does about this, currently the advantages of big.LITTLE are pretty much unused.
Another nail in the coffin on how rushed and unprepared this phone has been.

Wow, this is seriously turning out to be a fiasco.

ChronoReverse said:
Wow, this is seriously turning out to be a fiasco.
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This is EXACTLY why at the end I don't care for technical details about socs but was rather waiting for real world usage first. As much I wanted to agree with Andrei Lux on how intelligent BigLittle is, I sort of felt that it wont be same at the end.
Question is now: Is this possible to fix in the near future?? So that maybe buying the Exynos will be beneficial if the devs take over. I wont bet on Samsung introducing mind-blowing improvements in that department in upcoming firmwares

Xdenwarrior said:
Question is now: Is this possible to fix in the near future?? So that maybe buying the Exynos will be beneficial if the devs take over. I wont bet on Samsung introducing mind-blowing improvements in that department in upcoming firmwares
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The code other driver is there in the kernel, it's just not used. No idea. It's not like we need Samsung for it: I already talked to a developer at Linaro about some incomplete switcher code that's being currently getting the green-light to be made public. But who knows how long that will take.
Whatever the case, I gather that they can't just let it be in the current state.

AndreiLux said:
The code other driver is there in the kernel, it's just not used. No idea. It's not like we need Samsung for it: I already talked to a developer at Linaro about some incomplete switcher code that's being currently getting the green-light to be made public. But who knows how long that will take.
Whatever the case, I gather that they can't just let it be in the current state.
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Any way to just disable cortex a15 altogether yet just to see how well cortex a7 will perform in simple texting, browsing, calling and to see what the battery life will be like on that?? (cause cortex a7 only uses like 200 something mw as opposed to 1000mw for snapdragon). I know u wont be able to game. How often does Cortex A15 hits in? cause I would suspect a much worse battery life with incomplete drivers doing the switching if its very often on. But PocketNow reports very similar battery results to snapdragon variant which I find odd

Xdenwarrior said:
Any way to just disable cortex a15 altogether yet just to see how well cortex a7 will perform in simple texting, browsing, calling and to see what the battery life will be like on that?? (cause cortex a7 only uses like 200 something mw as opposed to 1000mw for snapdragon). I know u wont be able to game. How often does Cortex A15 hits in? cause I would suspect a much worse battery life with incomplete drivers doing the switching if its very often on. But PocketNow reports very similar battery results to snapdragon variant which I find odd
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Use any app to limit the CPU frequency to 600MHz. That'll limit it to the A7 cores running to 1200MHz. Basically you can just use CPU-Spy. Everything <= 600 are A7's mapped at half frequency, everything above it are A15's at 1:1 frequency.
As for PocketNow: irrelevant. The difference is what could be instead of what is, the Snapdragon doesn't play a role in the discussion here.

WOW , thats sucks
Samsung was too rushed and ruined it :/

AndreiLux said:
Use any app to limit the CPU frequency to 600MHz. That'll limit it to the A7 cores running to 1200MHz. Basically you can just use CPU-Spy. Everything <= 600 are A7's mapped at half frequency, everything above it are A15's at 1:1 frequency.
As for PocketNow: irrelevant. The difference is what could be instead of what is, the Snapdragon doesn't play a role in the discussion here.
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Hey thanks, but I don't have the S4 to test it with since i'm still debating on which to get. I live in Canada and so the only version here which I can get a lot cheaper on a contract is LTE snapdragon, but I wont mind getting the Exynos since it got potential. Besides 16GB internal isn't enough for me. So that's why asking if u seen any improvements in battery when only cortex a7 ran? If a7 doesn't do much in power consumption, then no point spending 800 bucks and loosing LTE altogether...

@bala_gamer please see my PM its important...
Sent from my GT-I9500 using xda premium

Oh wow. Just got word (without further in-depth explanation) that this might actually be a hardware limitation. Coming from a reliable source.
No words...

AndreiLux said:
Oh wow. Just got word (without further in-depth explanation) that this might actually be a hardware limitation. Coming from a reliable source.
No words...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you elaborate a bit more pls?
Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk 2

that's not what samsung exynos advertised..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6UNODPHAHo

Is it possible that we're having a simpler Exynos 5 system technically closer to Exynis 5 Quad (plus 4 A7 cores) than a real seamless Octa-core system? It was strange reading that "Octa-core manufacturing starts in Q2" (April-June) then see Octa-core versions hitting reviewers early April, that's way too low time frame. Maybe this is a 1st-gen 5410. In any case, performance and current-state battery life beats the Snapdragon version, even if only just.

AndreiLux said:
Basically the CPU is running on the cluster migration driver,
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wtf? Well done Samsung... This is ridiculous...
AndreiLux said:
Oh wow. Just got word (without further in-depth explanation) that this might actually be a hardware limitation. Coming from a reliable source.
No words...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WHAT THE [email protected]??!!
Actually WTF is a massive understatement here....!!!
Please can you give more info about this matter whenever is possible? This is very serious...
Is it a specific hardware limitation? Something that Samsung specificly did in GS4 (I9500) ?
Because this can't be a generic exynos octa limitation. It makes no sense... Unless everything we've read from Samsung and ARM about exynos octa, are completely misleading...

A hardware limitation..? They advertised the functionality and to then release a device without it, is just plain stupid. Hopefully it is a just a kernel issue and can be resolved quickly.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Probably Samsung will implement it in their Note 3 device? It's a conspiracy so that people buy their next Note phone but this news is sad.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

Now what is this all about? Is this a very serious issue?

So its either all A15s or all A7s?
so would the 'octa' really be a better choice than the S600? That should be powerful enough.. and the S600 is pretty power efficient too

rkial said:
So its either all A15s or all A7s?
so would the 'octa' really be a better choice than the S600? That should be powerful enough.. and the S600 is pretty power efficient too
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What I understood is its either the full cluster of a7 or a15 is used/ functional based on the load, dynamically turning on one or two cores of a15 to work along with a7 may not be possible it seems.
I may be wrong, waiting for an elaborate exp from andrei
Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk 2

bala_gamer said:
What I understood is its either the full cluster of a7 or a15 is used functional based on the load, dynamically turning on one or two cores of a15 to work along with a7 may not be possible it seems.
I may be wrong, waiting for an elaborate exp from andrei
Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk 2
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I was always under the impression this was the intention of Samsung's particular implementation of it. I thought it was common knowledge that Samsung's version worked on a 4 or 4 (A15) or (A7) basis.
Maybe he was talking about the ability to change that.

No True Octa Core(HMP Update) For Exynos Version.

Sad News:
Sammy exec confirmed this:
http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s4_and_note_3_wont_get_true_octacore_update-news-6908.php
No wonder that they released videos of hmp on 5420 instead of note 3.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwbeb08W27U&feature=youtu.be&ism=SASep1513Facebook1
This is cheating but still that is not going to affect my descision to buy note3.
What do u guys think?

Yet people are still buying and will be buying samsung devices.

Oh noez, no 8 cores in your phone? How will we survive? Seriously, at some point cores will become ubiquitous, nobody will really care once the OS and software just uses available resources. We're getting closer, but I doubt your phone is doing anything that'd really require 8 cores to do.

khaytsus said:
Oh noez, no 8 cores in your phone? How will we survive? Seriously, at some point cores will become ubiquitous, nobody will really care once the OS and software just uses available resources. We're getting closer, but I doubt your phone is doing anything that'd really require 8 cores to do.
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Well HMP/GTS is not jus running all 8 cores at a time its about firing up the required number of cores in any combination of a7's and a15's currently afaik it cluster migration ( the worst implimation of big.littile).

jsriz said:
Well HMP/GTS is not jus running all 8 cores at a time its about firing up the required number of cores in any combination of a7's and a15's currently afaik it cluster migration ( the worst implimation of big.littile).
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Click to collapse
I think Note 3 is running core migration, which is much better than cluster migration.

system.img said:
I think Note 3 is running core migration, which is much better than cluster migration.
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Click to collapse
Wrong.Note 3 came with cluster migration.
The Note 3 is still running cluster migration and I'll doubt this will change anytime soon. Their drivers are still out of date for normal IKS so I won't even bother trying to get that running on a device I don't own. And frankly nobody else is interested in doing the work.
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ff - sorry can't delete

Mod Edit
Duplicate thread is closed
Original is HERE
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[Q] Is swapping out Snapdragon processors possible?

I did post this under Nexus 5 Q/A, but I realized this probably applies to all Android devices, not just the one I have. So sorry for dual-topic, but I feel this kind of belongs here more.
With the Nexus 6 announced, I was quite disappointed, as I was expecting Google to release an updated version of Nexus 5, just like they did with Nexus 7 back in 2013. I'm not a fan of phablets, and 6 inches seems too big for a phone, while Nexus 5 sure hit that sweet spot.
So I had this idea - would it be possible to replace the old existing Snapdragon processors with newer versions? 801? 805? What about the new 808/810 models? Problems that come to my mind are:
Do the newer processors have the same pin layout as the 800 version? I managed to find information that the 801 is, but I'd like to know about 805 or even 808/810.
Do different Snapdragon 8** series processors use the same instruction-set? If not, are the newer versions backwards-compatible with old versions, like for example Intel's x86?
Would the old chipset be able to take advantage of a faster processor? I know ROMs with custom kernels allow overclocking up to 3 GHz, although that's just stupid. With a 805/808/810 though... Would it be as simple as getting for exapmle CyanogenMod, "overclocking" the 805 to 2.7 GHz (what it's actually rated at), and that would be the end of the story? Or am I missing something?
How hard would it be physically to replace the processor? I imagine a skilled engineer with a soldering station would be able to do the job, or are the connections so small that it's practically impossible to do by hand?
How does one obtain a stand-alone Snapdragon processor? I can't seem to find any on Amazon. Do they even sell retail, like Intel/AMD? If not, how do I get hold of one?
What else am I missing? How feasable is this idea really?

Short answer. No.
Unlike the "Can I upgrade my phones memory?" question, this one is a much more definitive no.

From what I hear, the 810 will be the last 32-Bit Snapdragon SoC.
Meaning, even if you could (I highly doubt you can) your only improvement would be less than 0.5gHZ.
So not really worth the risk.