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iPhone4 - CPU Underclocked?

R

richardc1983

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 13, 2010
111
2
Leeds, UK
Please help me here...

My brother is banging on about how iphone4 is a rubbish phone compared to his HTC HD7 windows phone.

I checked the comparison here http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=3338&idPhone2=3275 and the Iphone looks clearly in a league of its own with a faster processor.

However my brother says the iphone has an underclocked CPU:

I have googled it and many results came up:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=e...erclocked&meta=&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

So how can I prove to my brother the iphone is better when he keeps coming back with all these comments... hes so anti Iphone whereas I love mine!

I just changed from a 3G to a 4 and its great!
 
the iPhone 4 isn't clocked at 1ghz like the iPad. People have assumed it to run at around 800mhz.

Anyways, who cares about specs as long as it works for you. Let him enjoy his toy, and you enjoy yours.
 
If you're both gamers just download Epic Citadel. That'll put the argument to rest. The retina display kills what's on the HD7 anyway.

The iPhone is most likely underclocked like almost every other chip Apple uses but no one knows for sure as it's the same as the iPad A4 chip.
 
Where does the GSMArena comparison show the iPhone4 having a faster processor? Most consumers only look at the clock speed (not saying you should only look at that, but most do) and that comparison shows both phones having a 1GHz processor. The iP4's proc is definitely underclocked- benchmarks have shown the iPhone4 to be slower than an iPad even with its extra RAM.

Why do so many iPhone users on this forum seem to think their phone is the best in the world and all other phones to be crap?
 
TheMacBookPro said:
Where does the GSMArena comparison show the iPhone4 having a faster processor? Most consumers only look at the clock speed (not saying you should only look at that, but most do) and that comparison shows both phones having a 1GHz processor. The iP4's proc is definitely underclocked- benchmarks have shown the iPhone4 to be slower than an iPad even with its extra RAM.

Why do so many iPhone users on this forum seem to think their phone is the best in the world and all other phones to be crap?
Click to expand...

Sorry my bad the processors are supposed to be the same speed.

I dont think my phone is the best in the world but its up there near the top though, I would also say its the same for the anti iphone brigade they will claim their htc, nokia etc is better than the iphone.

I am not claiming anythign of the sort I am very happy with my phone.
 
richardc1983 said:
Sorry my bad the processors are supposed to be the same speed.

I dont think my phone is the best in the world but its up there near the top though, I would also say its the same for the anti iphone brigade they will claim their htc, nokia etc is better than the iphone.

I am not claiming anythign of the sort I am very happy with my phone.
Click to expand...

Sorry, that rant wasn't directed at you, just go thru my previous post history and you'll see what I mean.

Pretty sure it's underclocked though- why else would it be slower than the iPad with extra RAM?
 
TheMacBookPro said:
Sorry, that rant wasn't directed at you, just go thru my previous post history and you'll see what I mean.

Pretty sure it's underclocked though- why else would it be slower than the iPad with extra RAM?
Click to expand...

Yeh theres a lot im learning at the mo about the iphone

Like this auto3g thing, does it drain more battery having that app runnning waiting for you to lock your screen and unlock it etc.

Too complicated... and should I get it.
 
richardc1983 said:
Yeh theres a lot im learning at the mo about the iphone

Like this auto3g thing, does it drain more battery having that app runnning waiting for you to lock your screen and unlock it etc.

Too complicated... and should I get it.
Click to expand...

No. Don't bother. If you decide 'I need to search for xxx', pull out your phone, slide to unlock, tap Safari, and... Safari could not connect because it is not connected to the internet.

Not as flawless as the description makes it seem. Getting a 3G IP address takes time (~20 seconds). So you'll have to learn how to be patient since you'll have to wait for the phone to retrieve an IP before you can browse.
 
TheMacBookPro said:
No. Don't bother. If you decide 'I need to search for xxx', pull out your phone, slide to unlock, tap Safari, and... Safari could not connect because it is not connected to the internet.

Not as flawless as the description makes it seem. Getting a 3G IP address takes time (~20 seconds). So you'll have to learn how to be patient since you'll have to wait for the phone to retrieve an IP before you can browse.
Click to expand...

Never had that problem. And never had it take 20 secs to get an 3G IP-adress I gotta say. Not with any phone. It could be because I'm in Sweden and we usually don't have such problems :)
 
TheMacBookPro said:
No. Don't bother. If you decide 'I need to search for xxx', pull out your phone, slide to unlock, tap Safari, and... Safari could not connect because it is not connected to the internet.

Not as flawless as the description makes it seem. Getting a 3G IP address takes time (~20 seconds). So you'll have to learn how to be patient since you'll have to wait for the phone to retrieve an IP before you can browse.
Click to expand...

it doesnt even work on my phone, I tried it. It dont even switch 3g back on when i unlock even though the icon goes green. If i renable it in the settings it just turns back off.
 
Apple never tells us this stuff but the general wisdom would indicate that the gsmarena comparison that you linked to is wrong in saying that both phones have their CPU clocked at 1GHz, many people (myself included) believe the iPhone to be clocking the A4 at 800MHz. I'd make two points on this for the benefit of the OP talking to his brother

1) There is far more to CPU performance than clock speed. Saying that one CPU is faster than another just because it has a higher clock speed is like saying that the racing car that will post the fastest time on a given race track is always going to be the one with the engine that can rev to the highest rpm. What about aerodynamics, handling on the corners, acceleration and braking performance? The GHz=performance myth for CPUs really is as crazy as my racing car example. No one knows what architecture tweaks Apple might have done within their A4 to improve performance vs the QSD8250.

2) In choosing the clock speed for the CPU in a mobile device it really is quite a simple tradeoff between battery life and performance. Raise the clock speed and the manufacturer will get better performance at the cost of a worse battery life and lower the clock speed and performance will suffer but battery life will improve (although with most modern CPU's ability to dynamically underclock themselves when they are idle, these effects are less than they used to be). So, even if your brother still buys into the GHz myth, or maybe his phone is genuinely faster, how is his battery life? If your iPhone is fast enough for you then why would you want less battery life in return for extra performance that you didn't need anyhow?

And of course my fianl point is, if you can't win the argument with your brother, then just get revenge by posting some embarassing pictures of him as a child on the internet :D

- Julian
 
If someone who has an iPhone 4 could download the app "checkup" that would be great because I think it shows the processor speed. I have it because it was free a while ago, but now you need to pay but I dont have an iphone 4 to test it on
 
wordoflife said:
If someone who has an iPhone 4 could download the app "checkup" that would be great because I think it shows the processor speed. I have it because it was free a while ago, but now you need to pay but I dont have an iphone 4 to test it on
Click to expand...

The app won't be able to tell CPU speed only that iPhone 4 has 512MB o RAM

As for the OP's question, yes it is underclocked to around 800MHz but if there's anything Apple has taught me its to not believe in the MHz myth anymore. It's the same reason an iPhone 3GS keeps up with 99% of all the Snapdragon Android devices.

Its not about MHz it's all down to optimization

There are several reasons as to why an iPhone 4 > HD7. Bigger battery, better screen, more memory, better camera etc
 
Last edited:
I think the real thing to note is that Apple doesn't care about specs anymore...at least things that the average user doesn't need to know. Most of their products are appliances, where the average user shouldn't be worrying about if they have a faster CPU or not. The things that matter to you (according to Apple) are capacity, display quality, and features/design.

That being said, CPU speed is not a good comparison, especially since both phones are completely different architecturally and software-wise.
 
We need to delete all this "underclocked" nonsense from places like Wikipedia, for several good reasons beyond just being confusing to non-engineers:

First off, no one actually knows what the maximum speed of Apple's cpu is. The oft-quoted "1GHz" was just a guess. Could be less or more.

Secondly, it's the speed that it's running at that matters, not the speed rating. Qualcomm is working on 2GHz capable Snapdragons, so then what? I can imagine a future idiotic comparison stating "the iPhone is a 1Ghz cpu underclocked to 800Mhz, and this Android $50 special is a 2GHz cpu underclocked to 800Mhz". The only thing that counts(*) is the 800Mhz.

Finally, as others have pointed out, cpu speed isn't the whole story, not by far, especially when comparing different cpu types. Memory, bus, GPU, peripheral, OS all come into play.

(*) If you're comparing exact same models, underclocking has benefits of using less power and generating less heat, at the cost of speed.
 
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TheMacBookPro said:
richardc1983 said:
Sorry my bad the processors are supposed to be the same speed.

I dont think my phone is the best in the world but its up there near the top though, I would also say its the same for the anti iphone brigade they will claim their htc, nokia etc is better than the iphone.

I am not claiming anythign of the sort I am very happy with my phone.
Click to expand...

Sorry, that rant wasn't directed at you, just go thru my previous post history and you'll see what I mean.

Pretty sure it's underclocked though- why else would it be slower than the iPad with extra RAM?
Click to expand...

I agree that the iPhone is probably underclocked. However I do remember some peoplenpointing out that the iPad may be faster since it was running 3.2, which is much more basic than iOS 4. Have they compared iPad speeds before and after getting 4.2?
 
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