First 64-bit..Snapdragon 808 and 810, were rushed to market..and suffered from overheating problems

[virtuality]

According to Wikipedia: The first 64-bit SoCs, the Snapdragon 808 and 810, were rushed to market using generic Cortex-A57 and Cortex-A53 cores and suffered from overheating problems and throttling, particularly the 810, which led to Samsung ditching Snapdragon for its Galaxy S6 flagship phone.

I didn't really follow this situation back then (only heard some Snapdragon problems from the sidelines), but now it came to my attention because I became interested in getting some not-the-latest, but good value Android phones for hacking.

The LG Nexus 5X is equipped with the aforementioned Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 CPU, while the Huawei Nexus 6P is equipped with the aforementioned Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 CPU. Both phones came out in the fall of 2015, both are still available.

What to think of these phones now, knowing the fiasco? I have no idea, but perhaps Qualcomm came out improved versions of these same chips (perhaps, under specific model numbers), and some of these phones on the market are OK to buy, or these two are better to avoid, or the whole fiasco really wasn't that big of a deal? These are not insignificant phones, by the way, these are the Nexus phones from the year 2015.

 

[Commodus]

According to Wikipedia: The first 64-bit SoCs, the Snapdragon 808 and 810, were rushed to market using generic Cortex-A57 and Cortex-A53 cores and suffered from overheating problems and throttling, particularly the 810, which led to Samsung ditching Snapdragon for its Galaxy S6 flagship phone.

I didn't really follow this situation back then (only heard some Snapdragon problems from the sidelines), but now it came to my attention because I became interested in getting some not-the-latest, but good value Android phones for hacking.

The LG Nexus 5X is equipped with the aforementioned Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 CPU, while the Huawei Nexus 6P is equipped with the aforementioned Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 CPU. Both phones came out in the fall of 2015, both are still available.

What to think of these phones now, knowing the fiasco? I have no idea, but perhaps Qualcomm came out improved versions of these same chips (perhaps, under specific model numbers), and some of these phones on the market are OK to buy, or these two are better to avoid, or the whole fiasco really wasn't that big of a deal? These are not insignificant phones, by the way, these are the Nexus phones from the year 2015.

It wasn't a non-issue, but at the same time... the LG V10 sitting on my desk uses an 808, and it's fine. The issues were more with extended gameplay and other moments where you're pushing a phone hard for a long time.

If you can get a good deal on the Nexus 6P (it's the more future-proof one), spring for it. But you may want to look at the OnePlus 3T or other devices that might offer newer chips for not much more cash.

 

[dark zero]

Those were the worst chips Qualcomm made in it's history. Far worse than Kryo BTW.

And considering that A72 at 28 nm puts both 808/810 chips on shame is a true insult for and from Qualcomm.

 

[Crono]

The 808 wasn't as bad as the 810. I have one in my Robin and had a Nexus 5X. The 5X had issues, but not directly related to the 810.

 

[lopri]

Camera was a problem while I had one. It usually freaked out within 5 minutes of use due to the overheating chipset. I hear that later updates lessened the pain somewhat, but it is still one to avoid in my book if there is a reasonable alternative.

 

[NTMBK]

Look up "Nexus 5X bootloop"- it's a common problem that lots of people have developed after a year or so. (Happened to me, but thankfully I got a free repair under warranty.) Speculation is that it's caused by CPU overheating problems and solder connections dying- more information at https://www.xda-developers.com/lg-bootloop-lawsuit-adds-nexus-5x-lg-g5-v20-case/

I'd steer clear of getting one second hand.

 

[tsupersonic]

If you can get a good deal on the Nexus 6P (it's the more future-proof one), spring for it. But you may want to look at the OnePlus 3T or other devices that might offer newer chips for not much more cash.

As an owner of 6P, I wouldn't recommend it anymore. It's plagued with battery issues, or bootloops (so many reported of both issues that they started a class action lawsuit). It's also going to guaranteed get updates for four more months (till Sept. 2017), and guaranteed security updates till Sept. 2018.

Camera was a problem while I had one. It usually freaked out within 5 minutes of use due to the overheating chipset. I hear that later updates lessened the pain somewhat, but it is still one to avoid in my book if there is a reasonable alternative.

G'ah! The 6P (with SD 810) has an awesome camera, but I was disappointed when I took it on a vacation. This was the only time it would throttle from taking too many pictures, and it would stop taking pictures at times, which is frustrating.

 

[dark zero]

The only survivors from that Qualcomm dissaster were:

- Xiaomi Mi4C and Mi4S thanks that they used only a Full HD screen
- Leeco Le Max 1 thanks to the insane size and they way how they spread the chip heating (I like Leeco on that department since they make strong devices)
- Moto X Style due the software optimizations... that ironically provoqued a bootloop later.
- Nextbit Robin (sadly JerryRigEverything one-shoted one on an unexpected video)
- MS Lumia 950XL due the heatsink.

Only them managed to go out without the bootloop issue as the main problem.

 

[Andrei.]

It wasn't a non-issue, but at the same time... the LG V10 sitting on my desk uses an 808, and it's fine. The issues were more with extended gameplay and other moments where you're pushing a phone hard for a long time.

If you can get a good deal on the Nexus 6P (it's the more future-proof one), spring for it. But you may want to look at the OnePlus 3T or other devices that might offer newer chips for not much more cash.

The 808 was worse than the 810.

 

[Puffnstuff]

FYI Wikipedia is not a scholarly source of information and I take anything I see there with a grain of salt as anybody can add content.

 

[Chiropteran]

I bought a Nexus 6p for myself and 5x for my wife. Neither has had any CPU-related issues (my wife dropped and broke her phone twice, thankfully nexus protect replaced it). Neither device ever suffered from any bootloop issue.

Does the 6p throttle some while doing heavy gaming? Sure, it probably does, I don't notice it though. And with or without throttling, it still faster than my previous Nexus 6 by every possible metric, so who cares?

That said, I upgraded to a Pixel. My 3 year old uses the Nexus 6p now. Still working fine.

But if you are buying a phone now, why even consider 18-month old technology? For a bargain priced phone, something like an honor 8 would be the way to go, IMO.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Those were the worst chips Qualcomm made in it's history. Far worse than Kryo BTW.

And considering that A72 at 28 nm puts both 808/810 chips on shame is a true insult for and from Qualcomm.

Qualcomm's own A72 on 28nm performs so dangerously close to the SD820 in CPU performance to the point that non China OEMs don't even want them in their midrange SKUs.

Which is also why I fully believe their SD660 which is an even better A73 on 14nm / DC-LPDDR4 will be a vaporware product.

 

[dark zero]

Qualcomm's own A72 on 28nm performs so dangerously close to the SD820 in CPU performance to the point that non China OEMs don't even want them in their midrange SKUs.

Which is also why I fully believe their SD660 which is an even better A73 on 14nm / DC-LPDDR4 will be a vaporware product.

The problem is that the current lineup with only A53 based cores aka SD630 and Helio P25 will underperform hard leaving again a total empty hole for the mid high tier products... And some apps like games are more CPU and GPU power hungry... Something the current mid tier cores can't compete.

Heck, even Samsung is starting to move to use the ARM A73 cores and if OEMs won't follow that, they will be likely screwed up.

 

[virtuality]

- Nextbit Robin (sadly JerryRigEverything one-shoted one on an unexpected video)

I'm not sure I understood this.

FYI Wikipedia is not a scholarly source of information and I take anything I see there with a grain of salt as anybody can add content.

Indeed. But I did not heard about issues from Wikipedia. Not to go too far, in this very thread as well.

But if you are buying a phone now, why even consider 18-month old technology? For a bargain priced phone, something like an honor 8 would be the way to go, IMO.

Good question! Why would I buy an old phone and not a new? For LineageOS. I'm not at all in anything like the Honor 8, especially for that price. As far as I know the Nexus line is 'more stock' > Better for LineageOS. Qualcomm is also better for LineageOS.

Thanks for all, though!

 

[dark zero]

I'm not sure I understood this.

Sorry sir, I was meaning to this...

Despite has good specs and is similar to Xiaomi Mi 4C, the latter was really well made that could resist a bend test while the Nextbit Robin was so fragile that it played against it hard.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Sorry sir, I was meaning to this...

Despite has good specs and is similar to Xiaomi Mi 4C, the latter was really well made that could resist a bend test while the Nextbit Robin was so fragile that it played against it hard.

When I heard him say "don't put it in your back pocket especially if you're American" and then saw the fat guy on the scooterI ROFL'd.

 

[virtuality]

Sorry sir, I was meaning to this...

Despite has good specs and is similar to Xiaomi Mi 4C, the latter was really well made that could resist a bend test while the Nextbit Robin was so fragile that it played against it hard.

Oops. So should we (me, you whoever), or shouldn't we buy it now for only $110?

http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/0...it-robin-entirely-different-better-phone-130/

http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/07/10/deal-alert-nextbit-robin-just-109-99-ebay/

 

[dark zero]

Oops. So should we (me, you whoever), or shouldn't we buy it now for only $110?

http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/0...it-robin-entirely-different-better-phone-130/

http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/07/10/deal-alert-nextbit-robin-just-109-99-ebay/

Right now is worthy the cost. plus a rugged case and a tempered glass is a great bang for the buck.

 

[virtuality]

According to Wikipedia: The first 64-bit SoCs, the Snapdragon 808 and 810, were rushed to market using generic Cortex-A57 and Cortex-A53 cores and suffered from overheating problems and throttling, particularly the 810, which led to Samsung ditching Snapdragon for its Galaxy S6 flagship phone.

I didn't really follow this situation back then (only heard some Snapdragon problems from the sidelines), but now it came to my attention because I became interested in getting some not-the-latest, but good value Android phones for hacking.

The LG Nexus 5X is equipped with the aforementioned Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 CPU, while the Huawei Nexus 6P is equipped with the aforementioned Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 CPU. Both phones came out in the fall of 2015, both are still available.

What to think of these phones now, knowing the fiasco? I have no idea, but perhaps Qualcomm came out improved versions of these same chips (perhaps, under specific model numbers), and some of these phones on the market are OK to buy, or these two are better to avoid, or the whole fiasco really wasn't that big of a deal? These are not insignificant phones, by the way, these are the Nexus phones from the year 2015.

A follow up question on my original question (as I'm reading watching reviews of the Nextbit Robin).

Intel CPUs are sometimes famously released with bugs in them, which are then later fixed by software. As I'm reading/watching the Nextbit Robin reviews (the phone has the erroneous Snapdragon 808 CPU), they say the software wasn't ideal at first, but with later updates it become more snappy.

So I wonder if we can draw an analogy between CPU errors in Intel and CPU errors in Qualcomm; both can be, and has been fixed with software more or less fully, or are we talking about completely different CPU bug animals in the two cases?

 

[lopri]

What Qualcomm might have done with software update (wrt S808) is spreading out throttling more evenly and with granularity so that the systems do not come to an abrupt halt. That obviously has no bearings on desktop/server CPUs.