SGS4 a quarter away?

[s44]

So I was mostly ignoring the rumors, but the one involving the Galaxy S4 releasing on Tax Day seems more legit, given that the tie-in Unpacked event probably has some advance prep going on as we speak.

If Samsung is in fact going from mid/end Q2 (international/US for the S3) to early Q2, I wonder if the possible GPU inferiority of Exynos "the Ocho" vis-a-vis Tegra4 is cause (they want to release early so as not to be pre-outspecced) or effect (they had the early date set and the SGX is what they could incorporate into the SoC in the time given) or neither.

Btw, I think the only things we can count on for the S4 are that (1) it will use the new Exynos and (2) the screen will be 4.99" 1080p pentile SAMOLED (haha, they made Brian take it down).

 

[dagamer34]

What makes you think that the Exynos 5 Octa has a weak GPU?

 

[Mopetar]

What makes you think that the Exynos 5 Octa has a weak GPU?

Weak as compared to what?

If you consider history and compare it to whatever monstrosity Apple tends to include in their SoC, then I suppose it will be 'weak'. However, unless the only thing you do on your phone is play games, it won't matter as it'll be more than strong enough to run the OS and most normal apps.

 

[s44]

What makes you think that the Exynos 5 Octa has a weak GPU?

I'm sure it will beat Qualcomm, because Qualcomm.

However, Tegra4?--not necessarily.

 

[dagamer34]

Weak as compared to what?

If you consider history and compare it to whatever monstrosity Apple tends to include in their SoC, then I suppose it will be 'weak'. However, unless the only thing you do on your phone is play games, it won't matter as it'll be more than strong enough to run the OS and most normal apps.

I asked that because of this sentence:

I wonder if the possible GPU inferiority of Exynos "the Ocho" vis-a-vis Tegra4 is cause

Which I found quite silly because changing anything besides final clocks in an SoC after its already been taped out means a several month delay.

 

[bearxor]

I'm sure an SGS4 is right around the corner. They usually launch by June internationally anyways, so a April-June time frame isn't really a stretch.

Still don't think it will be an Octo-core Exynos. Looking more for a dual A7/dual A15 configuration. Don't really know what else, hardware wise it can really bring. Do we need more than 2GB of RAM in the near future? A 5" 1080p screen is (probably) a given. Just not sure what else can really be brought, hardware wise.

 

[dagamer34]

I'm sure an SGS4 is right around the corner. They usually launch by June internationally anyways, so a April-June time frame isn't really a stretch.

Still don't think it will be an Octo-core Exynos. Looking more for a dual A7/dual A15 configuration. Don't really know what else, hardware wise it can really bring. Do we need more than 2GB of RAM in the near future? A 5" 1080p screen is (probably) a given. Just not sure what else can really be brought, hardware wise.

With dynamic power gating of complete cores, there's really no reason not stick in as many cores as reasonably possible (battery life isn't the reason). Plus, since Samsung is the fab manufacturer, they don't need to worry about anyone in the middle demanding significantly more profit from a chip that has more die area.

You might ask why this wasn't done before, and the reason is quite simple, the goal is to build a chip that's good enough to do well against the competition, but not so good that you don't have something improved to sell next year. We've got Cortex A53/A57 on the horizon, so you might as well go all out with A7/A15 configuration.

 

[supercowboy]

I'm sure an SGS4 is right around the corner. They usually launch by June internationally anyways, so a April-June time frame isn't really a stretch.

Still don't think it will be an Octo-core Exynos. Looking more for a dual A7/dual A15 configuration. Don't really know what else, hardware wise it can really bring. Do we need more than 2GB of RAM in the near future? A 5" 1080p screen is (probably) a given. Just not sure what else can really be brought, hardware wise.

i think it will be a dual quad core solution. everything else is hard to sell

 

[Riceninja]

there's no way they would announce the exynos octa at ces if they didnt plan to put it in the gs4. the whole point is the build the hype...imagine the let down.

the galaxy s series has never been behind on specs, i expect octa for sure.

 

[lopri]

With dynamic power gating of complete cores, there's really no reason not stick in as many cores as reasonably possible (battery life isn't the reason).

I agree and that is why I think Tegra 3's design (and 4, soon) is an indirect proof that shows NVIDIA's lack of expertise in this area, despite its many virtues.

Does anyone know how hot does Exynos 5 dual gets in Nexus 10? I've got an app that displays CPU temp on my Nexus 7, and Tegra 3 gets hot (~50C) pretty quick under normal usage.

 

[GTRagnarok]

I wonder how fast you could drain the battery by putting all four A15 cores under load.

 

[dagamer34]

I agree and that is why I think Tegra 3's design (and 4, soon) is an indirect proof that shows NVIDIA's lack of expertise in this area, despite its many virtues.

Does anyone know how hot does Exynos 5 dual gets in Nexus 10? I've got an app that displays CPU temp on my Nexus 7, and Tegra 3 gets hot (~50C) pretty quick under normal usage.

I wouldn't go that far. Keep in mind that Samsung doesn't really have to worry about the cost of the SoC since it will always be stuck in a $499+ product. nVidia on the other hand has to make profit on a $25 chip and convince phone OEMs to buy its product instead of chips from Qualcomm. They are under much different constraints.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I am pretty excited about the SGX GPU. Hopefully that will make for better open source ROMs. I'm pretty pumped about the SGS4 potential.

Honestly at this point what matters is the LTE radios to prevent Americans from being stuck with another Qualcomm spinoff.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Honestly at this point what matters is the LTE radios to prevent Americans from being stuck with another Qualcomm spinoff.

That's not an issue anymore, all of the US Note 2 models are Exynos powered with LTE.