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Apple A6: built for app switching

A

Anti-Lucifer

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 9, 2012
776
2
I know you i5 owners probably noticed by now, there is zero lag and instantaneous app switching with the new iPhone 5's A6 processor. I know apple must of designed this chip to allow for instant app switching because unlike my ipad 3, ipad 2, and my wife's old iphone 4S, the app switching would be delayed for a second or three depending on memory. You would notice on the non A6 devices that there is lag evident between switching any app.

If they put this A6 design in an ipad 4, my gosh, the thing will fly. I'm absolutely delighted with the performance of the iphone 5; so much I am finding myself using the iphone 5 more so than my ipad 3!

But you can't give up the ipad 3 retina screen size and resolution; it's just so good. If only the new ipad will have this sort of iphone 5 performance, I'm going to be extremely happy.
 
The 1GB of RAM helps as well. So far all of my Safari tabs stay open and never reload and I have yet to have Messages reload. So happy with the 5. It's really an amazing device.
 
QuarterSwede said:
The 1GB of RAM helps as well. So far all of my Safari tabs stay open and never reload and I have yet to have Messages reload. So happy with the 5. It's really an amazing device.
Click to expand...

That's very true; the ipad 3 also has 1GB of ram but still, it lags! A6 is genuinely state of the art performance!
 
i believe the next ipad will have improved a6. let's say a6x
 
Anti-Lucifer said:
That's very true; the ipad 3 also has 1GB of ram but still, it lags! A6 is genuinely state of the art performance!
Click to expand...

iPad 3 has a much higher screen resolution which means it has to store a lot more data. Its not entirely because of the A6 processor, RAM has an equal or higher role to play.
 
really glad i didn't get trigger happy on the retina display of the ipad 3 because i'm thinking the jump between the ipad 2 -> 4 is going to be significant. can't wait!
 
yep

one of those improvements people don't mention. It's amazing how quick it is compared to the 4S...and when going through settings as well. lighting quick. One big reason glad i upgraded.
 
Aw man, was just about to pull trigger on a 4s, not you RUINED it! waaaah!

Ur costing me $$$.
 
damn, apple did it - didn't expect it was done in 6 months time, however!

The ipad 4 will be outstanding performance. You will see when the reviews come in, nothing from the competitor side will come close to the graphics and processing power of this new ipad 4. Right now the big hoopla is over the ipad mini because it's new but when the ipad 4 is reviewed, you can bet people will pay attention.

There was just too many updated products unveiled 10/23 - so much to the point everything that was great was just blurred by the ipad mini. The new imac is incredible, the new ipad 4 will be incredible, the new macbook 13 retina is great, but everyone loves to talk down about an ipad mini!
 
Check out Anand's review of the iPhone 5 if you're curious about the A6 SoC.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6330/the-iphone-5-review/4

That's where the A6 stuff starts. Interesting design choices Apple made, which seem to have translated into speed that you can actually feel in usage, not just synthetic benchmarks. Interesting that Apple didn't hype this up more; maybe they were hoping that the competition wouldn't notice their strategy!
 
tymaster50 said:
too bad almost no apps actually use all this speed lol most apps are just using 4S speed
Click to expand...

Incorrect. All core animation uses the gpu. So essentially every single app on the iPhone sees the improvements in the A6 3core gpu. Aside from the system services themselves using the A6, even app loading times are all benefited from the A6.

Games and web rendering all benefit from the A6. With the bigger battery from the iPad 4, you can almost bet the A6X will scale up even higher performance than an iPhone 5.

That's why this iPad 4th gen is significant as an upgrade because the iPad 3 should've had an A6X!
 
Anti-Lucifer said:
Incorrect. All core animation uses the gpu. So essentially every single app on the iPhone sees the improvements in the A6 3core gpu. Aside from the system services themselves using the A6, even app loading times are all benefited from the A6.

Games and web rendering all benefit from the A6. With the bigger battery from the iPad 4, you can almost bet the A6X will scale up even higher performance than an iPhone 5.

That's why this iPad 4th gen is significant as an upgrade because the iPad 3 should've had an A6X!
Click to expand...

And this is why the iPad mini blows. Apple's current offerings make it look like a toy.
 
Anti-Lucifer said:
Incorrect. All core animation uses the gpu. So essentially every single app on the iPhone sees the improvements in the A6 3core gpu. Aside from the system services themselves using the A6, even app loading times are all benefited from the A6.

Games and web rendering all benefit from the A6. With the bigger battery from the iPad 4, you can almost bet the A6X will scale up even higher performance than an iPhone 5.

That's why this iPad 4th gen is significant as an upgrade because the iPad 3 should've had an A6X!
Click to expand...

I haven't played a single third party app that had trouble running on the 4S. The a6 is just a second or 2 faster than a 4S, which isn't much of a difference. Developers need to make use of the power but then the games will get too big, there is a tradeoff.
 
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