XDA Dev codeworkx explains why not to buy Exynos based devices

[Jodell88]

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.

Being a platinum member of the Linux foundation doesn't necessarily mean that you have to be totally open. Adobe is in the Linux Foundation and I don't believe they've ever opensourced anything.

 

[Mopetar]

Being a platinum member of the Linux foundation doesn't necessarily mean that you have to be totally open. Adobe is in the Linux Foundation and I don't believe they've ever opensourced anything.

Of course it doesn't, but it does indicate that the company obviously views open source software (and ideally the philosophy behind it) as a good thing, so it would seem strange for them to be keeping things closed down on purpose. Just earlier this week they released the source for a new file system designed for use with flash memory.

As a side note, Adobe is involved with several open source projects.

 

[Raduque]

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?

Mostly, I just don't care about the updates anymore. My SGS2 hasn't magically stopped working, nor has it stopped being lightning fast just because Android 4.1 isn't on my phone.

There's only one feature I'm interested in from 4.1 in fact, and it's the multi-channel audio. It'd be nice to have my music not get interrupted by a notification sound playing. Other than that, there isn't anything in 4.1 that's a "Must Have!" feature.

Edit: I should clarify that I've nothing against community ROMs. In fact I'm running Semi V17 which is 95% stock Samsung software. I just have no desire for boring stock Android. If that means I'm running 4.0.3 till I get a Note II, oh well.

 

[lothar]

Mostly, I just don't care about the updates anymore. My SGS2 hasn't magically stopped working, nor has it stopped being lightning fast just because Android 4.1 isn't on my phone.

There's only one feature I'm interested in from 4.1 in fact, and it's the multi-channel audio. It'd be nice to have my music not get interrupted by a notification sound playing. Other than that, there isn't anything in 4.1 that's a "Must Have!" feature.

Edit: I should clarify that I've nothing against community ROMs. In fact I'm running Semi V17 which is 95% stock Samsung software. I just have no desire for boring stock Android. If that means I'm running 4.0.3 till I get a Note II, oh well.

Good that you clarified your statement because my next response to you would have been for you to get a Verizon Motorola phone with locked/encrypted boot loader if you didn't care that much about Android updates or custom ROMs.

 

[Raduque]

Good that you clarified your statement because my next response to you would have been for you to get a Verizon Motorola phone with locked/encrypted boot loader if you didn't care that much about Android updates or custom ROMs.

Why would I want a Motorola phone? Their hardware design and style and undesirable and their software adds nothing to the experience. I like Samsung, both hardware and software.

 

[Bman123]

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)

My thoughts exactly, my sensation 4g with a old dual core runs great. Improve battery tech fuck CPU this and that make a better battery not a bigger one.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

My thoughts exactly, my sensation 4g with a old dual core runs great. Improve battery tech fuck CPU this and that make a better battery not a bigger one.

I think that's what Jellybean addressed. Efficiency in the OS for graphical animations. If Project Roadrunner is true, then yes battery life could be extended.

The problem is battery tech hasn't significantly changed since.... forever. Maybe Li-Ion batteries can last for more cycles, but in the end we're dealing with 1400 mAh batteries.

The biggest changes Android can use to improve battery are all in the software. The way Android syncs, pulls data consistently, etc means it uses more battery in general than competing OSes. Furthermore, it's not too hard to get apps that can significantly screw your battery life over.

For tech geeks like us, using BBS, CPUSpy, monitoring apps it's not the most difficult thing in the world. But even for us there are days where we run into rogue apps or forget to shut one off, or see battery usage go through the roof. For the average user who doesn't want to tweak everything, it's hard to get them to appreciate battery life when their phone gobbles that up. I had to tell my gf that there's no point in having BOTH Google+ and Dropbox sync her photos. That doubles the bandwidth, and significantly increases the amount of data used. I had her turn both off and to wifi only, and so now she doesn't have as much battery issues when out and about

With that said quad core CPUs do help. My gf's GS3 does fly compared to my GS2. However, I think for most basic tasks my GS2 is still fast enough. There are certainly elements of Android that can be improved so that it's more efficient, but in general I see that we do need bleeding edge hardware to be considered fast, and that our phones are more easily outdated than iDevices which run more efficiently.

 

[Mopetar]

I think that's what Jellybean addressed. Efficiency in the OS for graphical animations. If Project Roadrunner is true, then yes battery life could be extended.

The Project Roadrunner rumor was part of a hoax that someone played on an Android rumor site. As such, there's no real reason to believe it exists.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

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?

Well TBH, there are plenty of consumers who don't care about these things, so it doesn't affect him whether or not Exynos is developer friendly or not.

But given the sheer popularity of the SGS phones, the GT-i9100 and GT-i9300 occupy a huge chunk of the Android marketshare. There's a big enough crowd out there that would be interested in running AOSP based ROMs on these phones and so to them it matters.

I buy my phones to install CM on, but I also appreciated the design and specs of the SGS2 enough to buy that over the GNex. While Samsung doesn't have to make their Exynos SoC developer friendly, there's a voice out there advocating for it and given the industry trends seeing how Qualcomm, TI, and Nvidia SoCs are far easier to develop for, I would *hope* that Samsung tries to change.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

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.

The SGS2 has plenty of roms, and Touzhwiz roms most certainly do count. I've run AOKP and CM9 on my SGS2 and I ultimately settled on a Touchwiz rom because I like the SGS3 launcher and Samsung default apps.

You bring up the One X again yet it is a textbook example of a developer unfriendly phone that at the moment is as locked down as tight as anything Moto has put out. Maybe the One X+ will be better but then you are stuck with an old Tegra 2 SoC that isn't as good as the Exynos 4 Quads much less Krait Pro.

The Sensation was a forgettable device that was completely outclassed by the SGS2. Also AOSP won't make up for Snapdragon S3's poor gpu performance or lacking media playback capabilities, Exynos 4 was miles ahead on those fronts.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

The SGS2 has plenty of roms, and Touzhwiz roms most certainly do count. I've run AOKP and CM9 on my SGS2 and I ultimately settled on a Touchwiz rom because I like the SGS3 launcher and Samsung default apps.

You bring up the One X again yet it is a textbook example of a developer unfriendly phone that at the moment is as locked down as tight as anything Moto has put out. Maybe the One X+ will be better but then you are stuck with an old Tegra 2 SoC that isn't as good as the Exynos 4 Quads much less Krait Pro.

The Sensation was a forgettable device that was completely outclassed by the SGS2. Also AOSP won't make up for Snapdragon S3's poor gpu performance or lacking media playback capabilities, Exynos 4 was miles ahead on those fronts.

TouchWiz ROMs do count for what? They show how friendly the platform is to develop for? It's not much of a modification. People release ROMs with rethemed crap or just removing some TouchWiz apps. That's not developer friendly at all or an indication of developer friendliness. The number of TouchWiz ROMs out there correlates to the popularity of the phone. Looking at AOSP development is a good sign. That's great you run CM9 on your SGS2. People run CM9 on many phones. Have you paid attention to CM10 development? It's a huge struggle, and that's because of the Exynos platform being hard to develop for.

The One X isn't the most developer friendly platform, but Nvidia is at least trying to be more open. Furthermore, the Tegra SoC is similar to the one in the Nexus 7 and so development efforts can be leveraged.

Who cares if Exynos 4 quad is better or Krait Pro or whatever? These are inconsequential differences to the operation of the phone. It's the same generation meaning +/- 10% performance or whatever. If anything, bloat associated with TouchWiz or Sense could make the difference. If I ran AOSP on One X I bet it could be smoother than a bloated SGS3 with TouchWiz. But this is besides the point.

Finally, you talk about the Sensation being completely outclassed by the SGS2. It's not. It's the same generation and they're not too far apart in performance. Once again, put both on AOSP and they'd perform similarly. The reason the Sensation was probably slower had a lot to do with bloated Sense 3.0. Furthermore, you talk about Snapdragon S3's poor performance. Okay, but people play GTA3 on their TouchPads which have the same GPU. It might lose to the Exynos in high powered graphics races, but for 99% of the people, it's fine. The Mali 400 isn't going to make a difference in standard OS performance, casual gaming, and even basic 3D games.

The point I'm trying to make in the end is that it was easier to develop on the Sensation than the SGS2. It was easier to develop for the One X than the SGS3. That doesn't mean HTC is a model for developer friendliness, but a sign that Samsung is falling to dead last in this category. The only company that's worse is Motorola and their locked bootloaders. I don't think there's anything wrong with asking for more.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

TouchWiz ROMs do count for what? They show how friendly the platform is to develop for? It's not much of a modification. People release ROMs with rethemed crap or just removing some TouchWiz apps. That's not developer friendly at all or an indication of developer friendliness. The number of TouchWiz ROMs out there correlates to the popularity of the phone. Looking at AOSP development is a good sign. That's great you run CM9 on your SGS2. People run CM9 on many phones. Have you paid attention to CM10 development? It's a huge struggle, and that's because of the Exynos platform being hard to develop for.

The One X isn't the most developer friendly platform, but Nvidia is at least trying to be more open. Furthermore, the Tegra SoC is similar to the one in the Nexus 7 and so development efforts can be leveraged.

Who cares if Exynos 4 quad is better or Krait Pro or whatever? These are inconsequential differences to the operation of the phone. It's the same generation meaning +/- 10% performance or whatever. If anything, bloat associated with TouchWiz or Sense could make the difference. If I ran AOSP on One X I bet it could be smoother than a bloated SGS3 with TouchWiz.

Finally, you talk about the Sensation being completely outclassed by the SGS2. It's not. It's the same generation and they're not too far apart in performance. Once again, put both on AOSP and they'd perform similarly. The reason the Sensation was probably slower had a lot to do with bloated Sense 3.0. Furthermore, you talk about Snapdragon S3's poor performance. Okay, but people play GTA3 on their TouchPads which have the same GPU. It might lose to the Exynos in high powered graphics races, but for 99% of the people, it's fine. The Mali 400 isn't going to make a difference in standard OS performance, casual gaming, and even basic 3D games.

The point I'm trying to make in the end is that it was easier to develop on the Sensation than the SGS2. It was easier to develop for the One X than the SGS3. That doesn't mean HTC is a model for developer friendliness, but a sign that Samsung is falling to dead last in this category. The only company that's worse is Motorola and their locked bootloaders. I don't think there's anything wrong with asking for more.

No, I haven't payed much attention to CM10 becase tbh I don't really care about it. Notice I said I ran CM9, I replaced it with a Touchwiz rom and have been much happier. AOSP isn't the end all of Android development, many people actually like the latest versions of Touchwiz and the features it offers.

The only reason tegra 3 is better is the Nexus 7, it doesn't have anything to do with nvidia.

If you don't care about SoC performance why not just buy a GNex since that is clearly what you want, plenty of us actually do care about SoC performance. And you are wrong about SoC performance making a difference, CM10, or CM25 won't make a Xoom Play 1080p or even 720p video well or make the Sensation match the gpu performance of the SGS2.

On the subject of the Sensation sure it can play GTA3, the Intel HD 3000 in my laptop can play Crysis if you don't care about the fps. Plus the sensation still can't play 1080p content as well as the SGS2.

I honestly don't care if the Sensation is easier to develop for I'd rather have a SGS2 on the stock Samsung ICS rom than it on CM10. Besides the SGS2 does have ICS and JB AOSP roms so it's not like we are missing out.