Evidence of Quad-Core Chips Shows Up in iOS 5.1 Betas

[kiljoy616]

if its not a quad core what else on the pipe do they have for the iPad 3, just more graphic will not do if the chip stays the same.

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Wait.. some day my phone is going to be faster than my computer ^^

Time to upgrade your computer. Because new computers can do some incredible number crouching that no Arm chip can even get near to match.

 

[fertilized-egg]

No, of course you don't. Your judgment would be completely different if you actually had.

If your iPhone/iPod Touch could run live wallpapers, I'm pretty sure you'd have one just to show off how awesome your gadget is.

I've using Android for years now and no, I never showed off live wallpaper except the very first time I received my Galaxy S. My wife's comment "It feels laggy"

and most of the OS features that Apple now introduced as "innovations" in iOS 5 have been in Android since, well, ever. Including voice assistants.

Somehow I don't recall Cupcake or Donut having something like Siri...actually I don't think Gingerbread's voice assistant is really what Siri is about either.

Sure, the 3G had already been on the market for quite a while when I purchased mine, but nevertheless I felt betrayed by Apple.

That's a biiiig stretch. You can try to clutch on that straw but the fact is you can still buy many of the first Galaxy S versions new, and one of the Galaxy S was released after iPhone 4 - Epic 4G, end of August 2010. And it won't get the upgrade to ICS. How can you defend that?

fact that you CAN customize the Android OS. ... that alone is the ultimate killer argument for me

Ok that's fine and dandy. But that's an extremely small subset of potential phone buyers which Apple is not catering to. In fact why stop with Android? Insist Symbian and Windows Mobile had all the "innovations" and "customizations" first and they provide "freedom" as you've put it. It seems disingenous to criticize Apple based on your (niche) criteria.

Sounds interesting. Quad Core would definitely help if they really plan (as with the rumor) to go retina on the next iPad..

I wonder about that too. Will a faster dual core better for that purpose?

 

[thenerdal]

I've using Android for years now and no, I never showed off live wallpaper except the very first time I received my Galaxy S. My wife's comment "It feels laggy"

Galaxy S came out almost 2 years ago. Android has hugely improved since then.

Somehow I don't recall Cupcake or Donut having something like Siri...actually I don't think Gingerbread's voice assistant is really what Siri is about either.

True, but Froyo did have it, which was released almost 2 years ago in May.

That's a biiiig stretch. You can try to clutch on that straw but the fact is you can still buy many of the first Galaxy S versions new, and one of the Galaxy S was released after iPhone 4 - Epic 4G, end of August 2010. And it won't get the upgrade to ICS. How can you defend that?

Epic 4G is not a high end phone, that's why it's not getting ICS.

 

[MorphingDragon]

I don't understand the need for multiple cores on the iPhone because it doesn't even have true multitasking.

Games.

Multithreaded Apps.

Apple may lock one core and use it to run iOS and its inbuilt features exclusively, like on the PS3.

 

[fertilized-egg]

Galaxy S came out almost 2 years ago. Android has hugely improved since then.
...
Epic 4G is not a high end phone, that's why it's not getting ICS.

I'm familar with Android's improvement as I update my Android with the latest XDA ROMs and also tried most of the high end phones, including Galaxy Nexus. It still doesn't feel as smooth as iOS or Windows Phone 7.

Plus you're not being accruate with the fact:

First, Galaxy S Epic 4G came out on 31th of August 31, which means the phone's only 15 months+ old. The other versions came out in July. They still have 7-9 months to reach to be two years old.

Second, Epic 4G was a high end phone and a top end one at that. It carried one of highest price tags in Sprint ($249) and was considered a flagship Android device for the carrier as well as for Samsung. I don't really know why you'd claim such patently false fact.

Games.

Multithreaded Apps.

Apple may lock one core and use it to run iOS and its inbuilt features exclusively, like on the PS3.

People forget that it's very easy to develop apps that take advantage of multicores in iOS by multithreading. Plus there are many services and inbuilt iOS apps that do multitask more than 3rd party apps get access to.

I still do wonder if a faster dualcore will be more beneficial for games as opposed to a quadcore one.

 

[huntson]

cores.0 = single core
cores.1 = dual core
cores.3 = quad core

common sense would tell you cores.2 should be q tri core. as far as i know, there are no tri core processors out there.

Wrong:

http://hothardware.com/Reviews/AMD-Phenom-X3-8750-TriCore-Processor/

 

[firewood]

Symbian was specifically made for smartphones just as much as iOS is! FACT! Google it if you don't believe me.
Oh and iOS was designed for a tablet device FIRST ...

And that's exactly the issue. Symbian OS (and PalmOS, WinMobile, et.al.) was designed for what customers thought they wanted from smartphones around 10 years ago. Turns out both the customers and the companies were nearly completely wrong about what they would really want today. As they often are. Customers now really want something complete very different from a 10 year old smartphone design, something that turned out to be closer to was thought to only be suitable for be tablets 10 years ago.

Sometimes you win by doing the wrong thing. Apple is either brilliant or lucky that way.

 

[jwhite878]

It has been so easy to predict the specs for upcoming iOS devices lately. Apple is just following Android manufacturers:

* Android gets dual core - Apple follows
* Android gets quad core - Apple follows
* Android tablets get cameras - Apple follows
* Android phones/tablets get better hi-res cameras - Apple follows
* Android phones get bigger screens - Apple follows (expected this year)
* Android phones get NFC - Apple follows (expected this year)
* Android devices get LTE - Apple follows (expected this year)
* Android devices create market for 7" tablets - Apple follows (later this year)

To get an idea of which new features the next Apple phone/tablet will get, one can simply look at the current crop of the best Android devices. The only mystery about Apple designs left is the number and location of buttons (usually one, usually we know where).

I don't think it's exactly apple copying Android. It's just the how apple's release dates coincide with the technology available. Duel core phones weren't feasible until several months after the iPhone 4 came out. The first phone with duel core was the LG Optimus 2x in december. Most of the other points you mentioned follow a similar pattern. Quad core will basically be the same as duel core. Camera quality just increases over time. I don't really see the point being made by screen sizes, as Apple may likely choose to keep the screen the same to increase density or to avoid fragmentation. NFC and LTE aren't really big yet, and yeah, by the time the next iPhone is released, they probably will be and Apple will probably include them. 7 in. tablets from Apple are altogether unlikely. Little hardware changes like these aren't being copied because Android uses them, but because it's the general technology being produced by manufacturers at the release date of each generation of iPhone. What HAS been an example of trend following is the massive shift toward Apple's form factors whenever a new major product is released (iPhone (huge change), Ipad (big), ipod, and to the lesser extent, the Mac). Generally, the industry goes where Apple goes in aesthetics and overall function, and the industry leads itself in specs.

 

[AustinIllini]

I don't think it's exactly apple copying Android. It's just the how apple's release dates coincide with the technology available. Duel core phones weren't feasible until several months after the iPhone 4 came out. The first phone with duel core was the LG Optimus 2x in december. Most of the other points you mentioned follow a similar pattern. Quad core will basically be the same as duel core. Camera quality just increases over time. I don't really see the point being made by screen sizes, as Apple may likely choose to keep the screen the same to increase density or to avoid fragmentation. NFC and LTE aren't really big yet, and yeah, by the time the next iPhone is released, they probably will be and Apple will probably include them. 7 in. tablets from Apple are altogether unlikely. Little hardware changes like these aren't being copied because Android uses them, but because it's the general technology being produced by manufacturers at the release date of each generation of iPhone. What HAS been an example of trend following is the massive shift toward Apple's form factors whenever a new major product is released (iPhone (huge change), Ipad (big), ipod, and to the lesser extent, the Mac). Generally, the industry goes where Apple goes in aesthetics and overall function, and the industry leads itself in specs.

I love when the cores fight

 

[kxbcvoi]

Quad core already.

 

[falconeight]

stupid just stupid

 

[hstewart]

There are tri core x64 CPUs. Technically the 360 is a tri core CPU.

Keep in mind these are basically ARM cpu and single x86 64bit cpu is much more powerful then an quad core ARM.

Yes the 360's is a tricore cpu - but it uses a total different platform PowerPC - performance wize it is some between quad core ARM and singe x86 core. This is only a guess and does not assume GPU.

 

[toddybody]

A portable device will never have a Quad Core, its simply not going to happen.

 

[thenerdal]

A portable device will never have a Quad Core, its simply not going to happen.

Well, it's going to happen. Check out the HTC Edge, the first Quad Core phone.

 

[patent10021]

I'm expecting my new iPhone 5 in August to be freekin' gorgeous and fast. My current 2 yr iPhone4 contract runs out at the same time so it will be perfect timing.

 

[AidenShaw]

Originally Posted by toddybody
A portable device will never have a Quad Core, its simply not going to happen.

Well, it's going to happen. Check out the HTC Edge, the first Quad Core phone.

Image

But an Iphone will never have a quad core, because that would mean copying HTC.

 

[patent10021]

But an Iphone will never have a quad core, because that would mean copying HTC.

you can't copy a processor unless you're talking about the design etc. All computers/processors/CPUs get faster so copying doesn't have anything to do with it.

 

[fertilized-egg]

you can't copy a processor unless you're talking about the design etc. All computers/processors/CPUs get faster so copying doesn't have anything to do with it.

He's just making fun of some posters who claim Apple "copied" Android by using a dual core CPU. Obviously sooner or later someone would've used multi core CPUs since those are largely determined the advancement made by ARM and its licensees who supply the chips.

On the other hand, iOS and Android did probably push each other more in terms of using faster CPUs. Some old school smartphones, namely Blackberry phones and Symbian phones, stayed really long with the older and slower ARM 11 chips to save on battery life. Nokia for instance, released a flagship phone, N8, at the end of 2010 with a processor that was two generations behind.

 

[AidenShaw]

you can't copy a processor unless you're talking about the design etc. All computers/processors/CPUs get faster so copying doesn't have anything to do with it.

Umm - I believe that the ARM cores in the HTC and the ARM cores in the Apple are the same design (at least if they're the same generation).

But anyway, my post was sarcasm - technologies evolve and every manufacturer adopts the new stuff. Cars, televisions, computers, phones - lather, rinse, repeat.

It's only the Apple fans who go ballistic when they think that when someone comes out with something after Apple they are thieves and copycats, but say that when Apple is later than the others it's just the natural progress of technology..

 

[fertilized-egg]

It's only the Apple fans who go ballistic when they think that when someone comes out with something after Apple they are thieves and copycats, but say that when Apple is later than the others it's just the natural progress of technology..

Because dual cores are really the natural progress of technology that's supplied by the CPU makers. The trend was already seen in the desktop world where multicore processors became the norm. A supplier offers a dual core CPU with similar power consumption but with two cores and there are already dual core CPUs. Why wouldn't you use it?

Putting out a multitouch phone with an emphasis on the browser, and later a centralized app store, seems to be an obvious choice now, but nobody tried that combination before Apple and Apple did a heck of a job showing how the polishing is done. There's a very clear distinction between those two "copying" processes.

 

[wonderspark]

There's a very clear distinction between those two "copying" processes.

I disagree. I believe *everyone* would be better off copying, innovating and basically putting their best gear out there without suing each other to death.

 

[MythicFrost]

This is a pretty good idea of why we need quad-cores for games:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI-guAGGK3s&feature=player_embedded

(Watch the CPU monitor on the left, and sometime during the video he turns off two cores and you see the game stutter.)

 

[macintoshi]

Funny

http://www.applegazette.com/macrumors.php

 

[sundragon]

Hi, again I work in the "IT" industry and have first hand experience with Android 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, and rooting - so I had to comment when I read:

And I'm sure that you learned all of this through first hand experience by using Android and iOS phones on a daily basis over an extended period of time.

1. First hand experience Andriod - The Viewsonic Gtablet - I had to root it to install a newer version of the OS because Viewsonic had 2.2 - when 2.3 has been released - That was over 6 months ago and it's still not available for the Gtablet. Google needs to make Android available to users without having to root... Why? My mom (like 99% of the population) doesn't have the technical experience to root her tablet (it was a gift)...

2. More first hand experience: While I'm glad your S2 doesn't fry batteries; My friend who happens to be my coworker has a Galaxy S2! It dies before the day is done - we work in the same office and my iPhone 4 has about 80% battery life left while his is about 35% - He laments that he's not using the phone (it sits on his desk) and he has had to buy a second charger for the office because he gets tired of having a nearly dead battery when he's done. I can provide you an email addy so you can discuss how he can make that better...

He has also asked me to root it because (again, like most of the population) he doesn't know how to root and can't stand having preinstalled apps that he doesn't want or use but can't just delete - I thought it didn't require a root but Verizon locks their phone (at least his is).

But you're right he enjoys his active wall paper.

3. Please read the benchmarks on your Galaxy S2 vs iPhone 4s: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4971/apple-iphone-4s-review-att-verizon/4

Explain to me how it's faster? There isn't a benchmark test that it beats the 4s.

4. I had a 3G that died with iOS 4 so I understand that you feel betrayed by Apple because your 3GS (2 year old hardware) doesn't run iOS 5 - but do you feel betrayed by Samsung for releasing phones today with an older version of Android and no guarantee that it will be updated? I mean let's be fair... There are so many Android handsets being sold today with 2 year old versions of Android OS and no guarantee that the manufacturer will provide an update port. I don't understand why Android fans don't have an issue with this - it's ridiculous...

5. Rooting... Why does it have to be such a piece of work that I have friends left and right asking me for assistance... I'll link to the site for "dummies" http://viewsonic-gtablet-for-dummies.webs.com/rom.htm to point out what I mean. I asked them, why don't you do it and guess what - most people don't care to learn how to root a phone and you know what they are right - they shouldn't have to - You don't root windows or mac os or iOS...

6. I agree - I enjoy being able to mess around and customize the Android devices I've used. As a techie it's fun and the flexibility is nice.

7. On a more sinister level, I wonder why would someone who is obviously a Android fanboy take the time to post comments on MacRumors? Do you own Google stock? Is there some personal satisfaction requires you to troll and put down others (based on the post I quoted below)?

And I'm sure that you learned all of this through first hand experience by using Android and iOS phones on a daily basis over an extended period of time.

No, of course you don't. Your judgment would be completely different if you actually had.

If your iPhone/iPod Touch could run live wallpapers, I'm pretty sure you'd have one just to show off how awesome your gadget is. Since your castrated operating system doesn't support widgets and live wallpapers, of course, by definition, they have to be "stupid".

I also don't know where Android supposedly is a resource hog. My Galaxy S2 runs circles around the iPhone 4S and it never "fries" the battery. And it still has more features than the iPhone 4S - and most of the OS features that Apple now introduced as "innovations" in iOS 5 have been in Android since, well, ever. Including voice assistants.

Maybe the 3Gs still runs the latest iOS, but it's actually a suboptimal experience. Not as bad when iOS 4 was released for the 3G, but it's also not a real joy to use iOS 5 on that old 3Gs hardware anymore. And talking about software support in general -- my iPhone 3G was only over six months old when Apple decided to drop the software support for it. Sure, the 3G had already been on the market for quite a while when I purchased mine, but nevertheless I felt betrayed by Apple. I also felt betrayed by them when I had to pay for every single iOS update for my first generation iPod Touch. They only changed that AFTER I had already sold my iPod Touch.

But the most important thing speaking FOR Android and AGAINST iOS is the fact that you CAN customize the Android OS. It provides freedom. The one thing that you will NEVER get from Apple, and that alone is the ultimate killer argument for me to never buy an iOS-based product anymore.

 

[sundragon]

It has been so easy to predict the specs for upcoming iOS devices lately. Apple is just following Android manufacturers:

* Android gets dual core - Apple follows
* Android gets quad core - Apple follows
* Android tablets get cameras - Apple follows
* Android phones/tablets get better hi-res cameras - Apple follows
* Android phones get bigger screens - Apple follows (expected this year)
* Android phones get NFC - Apple follows (expected this year)
* Android devices get LTE - Apple follows (expected this year)
* Android devices create market for 7" tablets - Apple follows (later this year)

To get an idea of which new features the next Apple phone/tablet will get, one can simply look at the current crop of the best Android devices. The only mystery about Apple designs left is the number and location of buttons (usually one, usually we know where).

You forgot one:

* Apple releases a revolutionary smart phone that's a game changer in 29 June 2007 - Google follows on 22 October 2008 with the HTC built Nexus One

xoxo