XDA Dev codeworkx explains why not to buy Exynos based devices

[Bateluer]

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=31873214&postcount=7773

I9100g (omap4, same hardware as i9100) got jellybean pretty instant. opensource hwcomposer, opensource audio, butter, working tvout

I9100: (exynos4, same hardware as i9100g) buggy jellybean, closed source and incompatible audio, no butter, no tvout, bugs which will never be solved.

the xperia s is becoming a aosp device. sony is contributing a lot to aosp.
sony is releaseing official beta firmwares. sony cares about the community developers.

the xperia t kernel sources are damn close to qualcom reference code.
kernel sources are already out and the device isn't available in most countries yet.
if it goes well, that could be the next aosp device which gets support after it hit the market.

Interesting. Exynos isn't a weak platform, but if Samsung doesn't work with the community you can forget speedy development. Discuss.

 

[Jodell88]

No surprise here.

 

[lothar]

Title should be changed to "XDA Dev codeworkx explains why not to buy non-Nexus based SoC".
That's all I care about now. Nexus.
If it's not a Nexus, do not want.

Hopefully this forces Samsung to wake up.
If Samsung is not careful, they could go the route of HTC.

 

[jpeyton]

It feels like newest generation of non-Apple smartphones are getting standardized around Qualcomm's Snapdragon SoC. US variants of the SGS3 and HTC One series, and several Motorola devices as well.

I'm betting the new Nexus device will follow in the same path; S4 Pro perhaps. Windows Phone 8 devices are all S4. It should make development easier.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Meh, Samsungs international models get updates quickly enough that waiting for Exynos support isn't a big deal, besides the only reason OMAP 4 was better is it is used in the Nexus.

My last two phones have been Hummingbird/Exynos and my next one will be too. I'm not going to sacrifice hardware performance to get custom roms a little faster.

 

[Eug]

It feels like newest generation of non-Apple smartphones are getting standardized around Qualcomm's Snapdragon SoC. US variants of the SGS3 and HTC One series, and several Motorola devices as well.

I'm betting the new Nexus device will follow in the same path; S4 Pro perhaps.

To me it just sounds like the flavour of the month. These things have a tendency to leapfrog. Competition is good.

I think the only thing we can be sure of is that the next Nexus won't be running an Apple A6.

 

[Bateluer]

It feels like newest generation of non-Apple smartphones are getting standardized around Qualcomm's Snapdragon SoC. US variants of the SGS3 and HTC One series, and several Motorola devices as well.

Not surprising really. Its the only high end SoC available right now. OMAP5 is a ways off, Tegra 3 has issues with LTE, and Exynos is Samsung only. If you want to launch a high end phone right now, you're stuck with Qualcomm's S4. Not that the S4 is slow by any means.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Interesting. Exynos isn't a weak platform, but if Samsung doesn't work with the community you can forget speedy development. Discuss.

I find it funny how in the past year people were lauding Samsung as the most developer friendly unlike HTC and stuff but I kept telling people over and over again that with closed source blobs and no documentation that there's not much to celebrate about Samsung.

 

[Jinny]

it looks like they have the mali drivers working on the i9100.
i have a i777 and am anxiously waiting for the ports to come.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

it looks like they have the mali drivers working on the i9100.
i have a i777 and am anxiously waiting for the ports to come.

yeah the memleak is fixed, but the hwc isn't. still waiting on Siyah to update so I can dual boot. CM9 is still my daily driver for now...

 

[jacktesterson]

I really don't see a reason for buying a Quad. Its not like anything actually needs it currently. (and by the time it is useful you will want a new phone anyways)

 

[SunnyD]

I9100: (exynos4, same hardware as i9100g) buggy jellybean, closed source and incompatible audio, no butter, no tvout, bugs which will never be solved.

Translation: It's newer with less community support so we don't have a fucking clue what we're doing with it (yet).

Big fucking deal. Only reason they're bitching is because omap has been around since forever and a day and it's basically the same as it has been since day one, just faster and better. So it's familiar and they know it back to front already. Exynos will get there too.

 

[Jinny]

yeah the memleak is fixed, but the hwc isn't. still waiting on Siyah to update so I can dual boot. CM9 is still my daily driver for now...

no i think they got the hwc to work

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

no i think they got the hwc to work

in response to:

Quick question? What hwc is in the latest cm nightlies? Opensource hwc/hwc2 or blob or nothing?

ICS blob, same as always. It's going to be that way for a long time.

memleak is def fixed, but there are some experimental builds trying with the opensource hwc. I think it may be slightly better but its all placebo. The few people who do also have a Gnex report the Gnex is still night and day smoother in comparison.

Personally, HWC is nice, but CM10 with ICS hwc is not worse than CM9, so as long as I get the same level of performance (at minimum) with new features I'll take it.

But it's stuff like this that will convince me to move onto a different phone and away from Exynos unless it's the next Nexus. The HTC One X for example has a very good working CM10 already.

 

[Jinny]

in response to:





memleak is def fixed, but there are some experimental builds trying with the opensource hwc. I think it may be slightly better but its all placebo. The few people who do also have a Gnex report the Gnex is still night and day smoother in comparison.

Personally, HWC is nice, but CM10 with ICS hwc is not worse than CM9, so as long as I get the same level of performance (at minimum) with new features I'll take it.

But it's stuff like this that will convince me to move onto a different phone and away from Exynos unless it's the next Nexus. The HTC One X for example has a very good working CM10 already.

i have no idea if it's placebo or not, but i think i'm gonna wait it out. the gs2 has a nice form factor that i like and i can't think of a better phone to replace it. it's fast, screen is large enough and has microSD support.

 

[Skurge]

haven't tried CM10 on a SGS2 yet, but I have used it on the international SGS3 and it's smoother and faster than on my Gnex. It was instantly noticeable.

 

[grkM3]

I thought that omap was out of the cell phone market now?

 

[Puddle Jumper]

These rants make it feel like 2010 again when all of the HTC fanboys were getting defensive about the SGS1's success. The fact is there are plenty of good roms for Exynos based devices and no amount of software will make up for the flaws pre Krait Snapdragons had.

But it's stuff like this that will convince me to move onto a different phone and away from Exynos unless it's the next Nexus. The HTC One X for example has a very good working CM10 already.

If you walk into an At&t store and buy a One X today odds are you won't even be able to root it, that's hardly what I call developer friendly.

 

[sjwaste]

CM10 nightlies on the i777 are daily driver worthy, at least up to about a week ago since I'm still running that. I haven't tried anything newer. hwcomposer still isn't fixed, but I don't have issues. You're more likely to run into lag issues with a shitty launcher than you are due to hwcomposer issues.

 

[Bateluer]

These rants make it feel like 2010 again when all of the HTC fanboys were getting defensive about the SGS1's success. The fact is there are plenty of good roms for Exynos based devices and no amount of software will make up for the flaws pre Krait Snapdragons had.

Well, in all fairness, the SGS1s had some pretty serious flaws and problems in both hardware and software.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Well, in all fairness, the SGS1s had some pretty serious flaws and problems in both hardware and software.

Eclair and the early Froyo builds were rough but the only hardware issue was the GPS which was not entirely Samsung's fault. They run ICS incredibly well though for a single core device with limited ram.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

These rants make it feel like 2010 again when all of the HTC fanboys were getting defensive about the SGS1's success. The fact is there are plenty of good roms for Exynos based devices and no amount of software will make up for the flaws pre Krait Snapdragons had.

If you walk into an At&t store and buy a One X today odds are you won't even be able to root it, that's hardly what I call developer friendly.

Plenty of good roms for Exynos based devices? You mean the SGS1 which had development aided by the Nexus S?

What about the SGS2? There aren't that many ROMs anymore. And if by ROM you're counting Joe's tweak of the TouchWiz ROM, that doesn't mean much. ROMs based on AOSP like CM, AOKP, etc are severely impacted by the Exynos platform.

I'm not an HTC fanboy. I own two Samsung devices, and I would continue to if the Exynos platform were easier to develop for. As it stands I might choose the One X+ over the SGS3 simply because it's a better development platform.

Furthermore, Snapdragons did fine. The HTC Sensation was a beautiful phone. Since only one carrier had it in the US no one really knows about it anyway, but it was a great phone. The SGS2 won, but the HTC One X is a serious step up. And honestly it's not like you'd notice the 10% speed difference between a Snapdragon and an Exynos 4 chip in the SGS2 when you put the two phones on AOSP.

 

[Raduque]

Title should be changed to "XDA Dev codeworkx explains why not to buy non-Nexus based SoC".
That's all I care about now. Nexus.
If it's not a Nexus, do not want.

Hopefully this forces Samsung to wake up.
If Samsung is not careful, they could go the route of HTC.

And on the other end of the spectrum, Nexus is something I care zero about. ROM developement isn't something a care a whole lot about anymore either. And I definitely don't want an AOKP/AOSP rom on my device.

 

[lothar]

And on the other end of the spectrum, Nexus is something I care zero about. ROM developement isn't something a care a whole lot about anymore either. And I definitely don't want an AOKP/AOSP rom on my device.

So you either one of those people that likes waiting 8 months for an Android update, or just doesn't care about Android updates in general?

 

[Mopetar]

I find it somewhat strange and my best guess for why it is happening is that Samsung doesn't have enough developers. They're one of seven Platinum member of the Linux Foundation (Google is only a gold member) so it's not as though they have some kind of aversion to being open.

The only reason I can think of is that they don't have the manpower to handle this on top of everything else that they're doing. However, given that they're by far the most successful Android manufacturer, one would think that hiring additional staff would be an issue. Any other reason would problem Ned to assume some sinister motive on Samsung's part, but I don't see any evidence to suggest that.