Dual core on smartphones... why?

[bonkers325]

AFAIK, there are no mobile operating systems that seriously take advantage of dual core processors. Aside from future-proofing your mobile hardware, what's the incentive of having a dual core phone?

 

[Deeko]

We've been stagnating for quite awhile now in the mobile CPU world - 1GHz Snapdragons hit the market in August of 2009! Its about time they started pushing the envelope. All kinds of applications can take advantage of a dual core processor - even a single running application can, if properly designed, and most mobile OSes multitask anyway, and dual-core would offer significant improvements when multitasking.

As long as they can keep the battery life sane...why the hell WOULDN'T they innovate on the hardwre front?

 

[erwos]

AFAIK, there are no mobile operating systems that seriously take advantage of dual core processors.

Android takes advantage of them just fine.

 

[MrX8503]

This was the same argument when AMD released their 64bit dual core CPUs. Developers can't take advantage of hardware that's not there.

Also like Deeko said, snapdragon has been out for a while. I've learned to never question technological advancements just because I don't see the purpose within our current timeframe. Questioning it's purpose is like questioning why we needed more than 512KB RAM.

 

[bonkers325]

I'm all for hardware advancement. But where is the progress from software to match the hardware? Feels like the android phone makers are trying to brute force the operating system to run smoothly. Judging from some reviews of dual core android phones and some forum member feedback, the software is what is holding the phone back. So if that's the case, why am I paying for state of the art hardware when my software can't keep up?

This is more of an argument for single core phones versus dual core phones (at present). GPU acceleration would fix many problems that a second core simply does not solve.

 

[MrX8503]

Well the software side is really up to the developer to take advantage of.

 

[Zargon]

Android takes advantage of them just fine.

this.

2.2.1 and 2.3 both support multithreading

 

[Deeko]

I'm all for hardware advancement. But where is the progress from software to match the hardware? Feels like the android phone makers are trying to brute force the operating system to run smoothly. Judging from some reviews of dual core android phones and some forum member feedback, the software is what is holding the phone back. So if that's the case, why am I paying for state of the art hardware when my software can't keep up?

This is more of an argument for single core phones versus dual core phones (at present). GPU acceleration would fix many problems that a second core simply does not solve.

A) Just because Android doesn't have smooth scrolling doesn't mean it can't take advantage of dual core processors in other ways. See my earlier point about multitasking, which Android actually does currently do. Plus - there's more to the world than Android. Have you seen QNX running on the dual core Playbook? Rumor has it the next iPhone will be dual core as well.

B) Like MrX said, the software devs aren't going to take advantage of hardware that doesn't exist yet. If you write all kinds of multithreading/multiprocessing into your application, but the hardware runs it in a single-threaded fashion, well, you're wasting a lot of effort. However, if the hardware will take advantage of that, you're more likely to do it.

 

[rcpratt]

I agree, let's just stop developing improved technology.

 

[Bateluer]

I agree, let's just stop developing improved technology.

TRS-80 for live!

 

[bonkers325]

Who needs more than 640k of ram?

 

[jdport]

I don't think anybody wants to stop improving technology... If I am reading the OP correctly what I think he's getting at is that maybe they should put their focus on improving the parts of the technology that can most improve the product right now such as improving the software or the GPU rather than focusing on dual core CPUs which would currently have a lesser impact.

 

[Deeko]

I don't think anybody wants to stop improving technology... If I am reading the OP correctly what I think he's getting at is that maybe they should put their focus on improving the parts of the technology that can most improve the product right now such as improving the software or the GPU rather than focusing on dual core CPUs which would currently have a lesser impact.

Its Google's job to make their software take advantage of the latest hardware. ARM, Qualcomm, TI, etc are not going to stop innovating mobile hardware on their account. Someone, somewhere will take advantage of it.

 

[bonkers325]

Its Google's job to make their software take advantage of the latest hardware. ARM, Qualcomm, TI, etc are not going to stop innovating mobile hardware on their account. Someone, somewhere will take advantage of it.

Phone manufacturers are hyping up their dual core processors. But, when bottlenecked by the OS, it is just a marginal upgrade. The Atrix will release with 2.2 Froyo. How long until 2.3 becomes available? If the bootloader is locked, how long will you be at Moto's mercy before 2.3 becomes official? Yes, I know you can goto XDA and get gingerbread roms, but you'll still be running core Froyo with snippets of Gingerbread here and there. By the time the official software catches up to the handset hardware, the next generation of hardware will be out.

I really want to get the first dual core phone when it comes out, but I'm having difficulty justifying it as a future-proof phone when next-gen processors are already slated to come out by end of the year and mobile OS deployment is delayed by manufacturer and carrier customizations. I don't want to buy a state-of-the-art hardware platform that is bottlenecked by software.

Right now, I think it's an arms race with everyone looking at the hardware when its the software that makes or breaks the phone.

 

[Deeko]

There is no future proof phone. Period. You might as well get that idea out of your head right now or else you'll never buy anything.

If it really were an "arms race", we wouldn't have been rehashing varients of the same processor for the last year and a half. There are plenty of places where dual core will help you. Just because the launcher isn't GPU accelerated doesn't mean you can't take advantage.

Besides, its not like they're charging a ridiculous premium for dual core. They'll be your standard high end smartphone.

 

[MrX8503]

I really want to get the first dual core phone when it comes out, but I'm having difficulty justifying it as a future-proof phone when next-gen processors are already slated to come out by end of the year and mobile OS deployment is delayed by manufacturer and carrier customizations. I don't want to buy a state-of-the-art hardware platform that is bottlenecked by software.

Right now, I think it's an arms race with everyone looking at the hardware when its the software that makes or breaks the phone.

You can't really futureproof tech because its advancing so quickly. My only advice to you is to not buy a device in the end of its lifecycle. For example don't pick up an iPhone4 or Droid Incredible. Thats all you can really do, any phone you buy from now and into the future will have problems and will be outdated.

 

[bonkers325]

You can't really futureproof tech because its advancing so quickly. My only advice to you is to not buy a device in the end of its lifecycle. For example don't pick up an iPhone4 or Droid Incredible. Thats all you can really do, any phone you buy from now and into the future will have problems and will be outdated.

I was one of the early blackberry storm adopters and have regretted it for some time lol. In fact, I'm still on the storm. I just want to avoid getting another dud. Don't want to be another early adopter of something that won't have much support within the year.

 

[simonizor]

I was one of the early blackberry storm adopters and have regretted it for some time lol. In fact, I'm still on the storm. I just want to avoid getting another dud. Don't want to be another early adopter of something that won't have much support within the year.

Well, don't just buy a device because it looks/sounds cool. Wait a month or two for some reviews to pop up and judge based on those. If you always have to have the newest tech without waiting for reviews, you're asking to get burned.

 

[MrX8503]

I was one of the early blackberry storm adopters and have regretted it for some time lol. In fact, I'm still on the storm. I just want to avoid getting another dud. Don't want to be another early adopter of something that won't have much support within the year.

Err...do some research? I tend to do some research before I make a big purchase.

 

[akugami]

AFAIK, there are no mobile operating systems that seriously take advantage of dual core processors. Aside from future-proofing your mobile hardware, what's the incentive of having a dual core phone?

Certain computing tasks require more computing power than is currently available. Example is editing RAW picture files. This is not a task that requires precision like editing in Photoshop but it does require some computing power. Again, there is no RAW editor similar to Lightroom or Aperture that I know of but it is a task that seems suitable to a tablet. Then there is video editing which is doable on a tablet provided an app is programmed with a proper UI suited to tablets and finger control. I'm sure that developers can come up with other tasks.

 

[s44]

Phone manufacturers are hyping up their dual core processors. But, when bottlenecked by the OS, it is just a marginal upgrade.

It's like you didn't bother reading the posts noting that Android, being a form of Linux, has native multithread support.

You could also have read AT's Optimus 2X review that says the same thing.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

I was one of the early blackberry storm adopters and have regretted it for some time lol. In fact, I'm still on the storm. I just want to avoid getting another dud. Don't want to be another early adopter of something that won't have much support within the year.

blackberry is horrible. internet is so bad on blackberry that they should arrest the ceo's of rim and charge them with fraud. seriously if you have a blackberry youre paying for service youre not getting.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

even now 1 ghz seems adequate but once we all try dual cores there will be no going back...

 

[wuliheron]

I really don't know much about phones, but at a guess it's a video issue. Having a second core allows for faster games and video. Power is also an issue, but today's processors often simply turn off parts of the chip that aren't being used.

 

[MotionMan]

Don't want to be another early adopter of something that won't have much support within the year.

Then don't be an early adopter?

Honestly, I am not sure what your complaint is: You think that software/OS's should be designed to take advantage of dual core phones before they produce dual core phones?

That is just not how tech development seems to work. As long as the added cost for a dual core phone is not significant, I am not sure why it is a problem having a dual core phone slightly ahead of the development of software/OS's that can really take advantage of it (and apparently, the software/OS's are already here).



MotionMan