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Our beloved EVO beats the Droid X Video

Well I have been up and down the Droid X system and I see nothing indicating it's using any parts of 2.2. I'm not saying it isn't possible but it seems extremely unlikely.

I would never expect our 3 year old Snapdragon to win against a (almost) brand new TI OMAP anyway.

Bottom line for me is I am very happy with the performance of my Evo and don't feel insignificant just because a better handset is coming out.

Detail for us what exactly makes the Droid better to you. Please no generalizations (I.E. it has a better processor) as any numbskull would know that it's just as much about implementation as it is hardware. What does it actually DO better.
 
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Well I have been up and down the Droid X system and I see nothing indicating it's using any parts of 2.2. I'm not saying it isn't possible but it seems extremely unlikely.

I was sincere when I said I could be wrong.

I would never expect our 3 year old Snapdragon to win against a (almost) brand new TI OMAP anyway.

Me either. 100% agree.

That said, I've trusted the many sources that claim the Droid X is using an OMAP 3630 processor.

OMAP3 and Snapdragon 8x50 both started in 2006, productizing in 2007.

If the Droid X is using the OMAP4, then a whole LOT of product references are wrong and that would be the source of my error.

Naturally, the first place I looked was here:

DROID X by Motorola - Android phone - HD phone - Motorola USA

Per usual for all of the makers, it's not listed, so I web searched for it.

I found a single reference to it being an OMAP 3640, all others indicated it was OMAP 3630, such as this example:

http://gadgetsdna.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/iphone4_droidx_incredible_evo4g_nexusone.jpg

Either way - that's OMAP3. Also three years old.

Bottom line for me is I am very happy with the performance of my Evo and don't feel insignificant just because a better handset is coming out.

I'm a bottom line guy, too.

Bottom line for me is that I like to keep up on things and get frustrated when the hype outweighs the facts.

My next upgrade - if I become dissatisfied with my EVO someday - will most likely come down to choosing among the OMAP4, Snapdragon 8672, or an S5PC110-class (Hummingbird) processor.

I am curious, Snapdragon. ;)
 
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Look, I have an Incredible, and I have an Evo. I don't post about my Evo on Inc forums, and I don't post about my Inc on the Evo forums.
Simple concept that works for everyone.


Another person with two separate phone accounts? How do you have money for beer?

My wife would kill me, voodoo "reserect" me and kill me again, if I were to have two phone & data accounts with carriers.

OK, I admit it, I am jealous of the EVO due to it's kick a55 stand.
 
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Most of the 3 series are old, however the 36xx is less then a year old. TI extends OMAP 3 product family |Texas Instruments

Otherwise I agree with everything you said.

Yep, was aware of that.

Architecturally, it's 3 years old. If they were to have changed the SGX530 to another variant, then that would have meant a big jump.

However - I don't think that they did - it's OMAP3 implemented with a 45 nm process. That portends lower power and higher speed all by itself.

Linpack coming in 8 for X vs. 65 nm 7 for N1 shows that.

But the GPU would have to be architecturally different - like the SGX540 - to get there, in my opinion.

From all accounts, the 36x0 is still SGX530.

Anything's possible. I just found this link, it's cracking me up. The guy thinks exactly the way I do. I promise this is the first I've seen this:

Ruminations on various benchmarks for the OMAP 3600s, Hummingbird, and Snapdragon | AlienBabelTech

I had noticed the 3640 being 1 GHz, 3630 being 720 MHz before, but I'd seen that in pre-release stuff, very old, so until someone clarifies, I'll just note it would not be the first time the pre-release info, or the manufacturer's web, or I that was wrong.

In his case, he identifies the cause as other changes in silicon.

It is not, as the press contends, that the Droid X has a GPU, a separate GPU or a different GPU, however.

When we're into full release, we'll all know.

Unlike others, I don't mind being wrong -- as I've said in nearly substantive post on this subject, I often am.

I hope I am wrong. But I'll need proof.

PS - I'm freely abbreviating down to just the GPU core. All of these models have associated DSP cores that go with them for image processing. I've left that out because I've beaten that to death elsewhere, and this is just a public forum - when you change the GPU, you change the DSP, so I'm close enough for this discussion and I expect that other chipheads get that.
 
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But the real question is: why didnt HTC or Qualcomm go with the 45nm QSD 8650 A for the EVO? I will let it slide for the Inc, but the EVO? A phone with a bigger screen, 4G chip?

Thats a revision, not even a different chip model. I have seen revisions on PC motherboards get pushed out as soon as they get manufactured.
 
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But the real question is: why didnt HTC or Qualcomm go with the 45nm QSD 8650 A for the EVO? I will let it slide for the Inc, but the EVO? A phone with a bigger screen, 4G chip?

Thats a revision, not even a different chip model. I have seen revisions on PC motherboards get pushed out as soon as they get manufactured.

Only insiders know for sure, but I'll give my guess:

Up until now, there's a been a normal process - whatever it is - to develop new phones. I'm kinda sure it's a combination of things including proposals from the makers, requests and negotiations with the carriers, etc, etc, etc. And that's a worldwide dance, not just for us. I saw once, years ago, how that worked in one country, but only just a little. I'm not expert on it, so I don't want to rant further.

However - this was a different case entirely.

I believe that Sprint sent out a request for combination EV-DO/WiMAX (3G/4G) phones to their supplier network.

So far as I know, I've only been able to find two WiMAX phones in existence before - the HTC MAX 4G (originally for Russia only, then spread to the UK) (GSM/WiMAX) and the Nokia N810 (WiMAX only?).

HTC - Products - HTC MAX 4G - Overview

http://www.nokiausa.com/find-products/phones/nokia-n810-wimax-edition/specifications

I wasn't there, but the challenge to the suppliers had to be:

* fast to market
* lots of features typical for US market
* proven form factor for the US market

OK, if you're Samsung, you're already coming on strong with the Galaxy. You're going to release to your bigger customer, T-Mobile, with the S, first. That didn't happen until May, and getting the S Pro out is going to take longer.

OK, for HTC, that's Sense/Android and bigger phone. And we already know from the backstory that recently enough, HTC had to turn to LCDs because their supplier - Samsung - "couldn't meet customer demand." (Samsung's building a new fab to counteract this, at some $2.2 billion, btw.)

And HTC is already producing the Droid Incredible (to name but one) using that 65 nm tech.

So - if you were HTC, and you wanted to be the first in the US market with a 4G phone, and you had a stable, proven 65 nm platform that was very successful in the US, and were already facing supply chain issues, what would you do?

Hold back and invest in new supply? Use your existing, proven supply of components?

Remember - you're not serving the largest US carrier with this phone, you've got new costs rolling in for the new features and size, you've got design work costs - and TSMC is just down the road cranking out those 65 nm Snapdragons at an attractive price. Maybe there's even excess inventory of them (I have no idea).

Do you add to your costs and timeline and risk Samsung catching you?

Or do you get to market first, knowing that you can play leapfrog with new models having solid differentiation?

And - you're phasing out your 65 nm product supply, so this is a chance to get that last bit of return on your investment in the line.

What do you do?

I think the entire decision was just good economic sense.

I don't think they cheaped out. I think this was going to be inevitable path for any supplier with the earliest 4G phone.

It's not like we had a lot of 45 nm superphones just laying around, ya know.

And if I were building the first one, I'd expect it to have a short life cycle - the others will be gunning for me anyway.

I'm a chiphead, I got the EVO, I knew exactly what "old" tech I was buying.

I knew I was going to have product integration issues buying the first 3G/4G phone. That's just common sense.

I didn't mind one bit that it was based on long track-record tech - in fact, that seemed like a risk mitigation in my purchase.

Anyway - I pulled all of that out of thin air.

I could be totally be drinking the Kool Aide on this one!

Obviously, I didn't think so or I wouldn't have bought one. ;)

A big PS - Look at how Sprint is marketing 4G. Are they showing gamers going nuts and rocking out? Or are they showing people downloading movies? The latter. The coming-on-strong market.

And H.264 720p, 24 fps movies roll just fine out of the HDMI port on this thing.

Here's what they promise and pitch for 4G:

http://now.sprint.com/nownetwork/4G/?id9=SEM_Google_P_4G

http://now.sprint.com/firsts/evo4g/

It may not do everything you expect after a Hero or an Incredible - but it's not junk, either.
 
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lol It sound believable to me....

I agree I think it was economic sense too. But I feel they cheaped out IF this comes out in the next few months:

HTC Mondrian with 1.3GHz Snapdragon detailed in leaked Windows Phone 7 ROM? -- Engadget

HTC to debut first Windows Phone 7 smartphone in Q4 - Computerworld

Now thats considering IF that even comes out and it has the 8650 A.

HTC is already planning dual core in Q4, I think the 8650 A is the last model in their single core chips.

They're planning dual core in Q4, and maybe a phone running the 8650 A in Q4....if that WinMo phone comes out with it in it, they cheaped out. They bascially showed more love to WinMo than Android if it turns out to have the 8650 A.

But like u said, only insiders will know for sure.
 
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HTC is already planning dual core in Q4, I think the 8650 A is the last model in their single core chips.

They're planning dual core in Q4, and maybe a phone running the 8650 A in Q4....if that WinMo phone comes out with it in it, they cheaped out. They bascially showed more love to WinMo than Android if it turns out to have the 8650 A.

But like u said, only insiders will know for sure.

Well - maybe. Maybe it was more a case of showing more love to Microsoft than to Sprint.

18 of the 34 phones listed by Microsoft in this market are made by HTC - WinMo is said to be the 4th in the market worldwide for smartphones right now.

Browse and Buy Windows Phones | Find, Compare, Buy a Windows Phone | Windows Mobile

Besides, when it's all over, history's going to say that HTC put the first 4G out in the world and then the first 4G phone into the US - the latter with love showed to Android.

Plus - I have zero clue what it must be like to qualify a phone for a carrier, be it Sprint/Android and anybody/WinMo.

10 minutes and the rest is Sprint marketing holdups?

Who knows?

Maybe it's a simple case of planned obsolescence just to grab our dollars in the upgrades.

It's not like any corporation out there is really our BFF.
 
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Yea, first 4G, u right. Android did get all the love for that one...And first 4G is a lil more important than which cpu its running, especially to the general public.

But hey, whatever the case may be at least HTC did better than Dell with the Streak. Its running the QSD 8250....my goodness...Isnt that in the Eris...

I would stay far away from that thing.
 
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Yea, first 4G, u right. Android did get all the love for that one...And first 4G is a lil more important than which cpu its running, especially to the general public.

But hey, whatever the case may be at least HTC did better than Dell with the Streak. Its running the QSD 8250....my goodness...Isnt that in the Eris...

I would stay far away from that thing.

The 8250 is just the 8650 with different support options - it's the same chipset separated only by the carriers they support.

Qualcomm unveils 1 GHz mobile phone processors - News - Linux for Devices

Qualcomm Products and Services - The Snapdragon? Platform

As for Dell... dood, I'm not getting one.
 
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The X does it by double tap only. The Droid does it the same way. I think the EVO can do it with pinch to zoom and double tap.

Thats Sense UI goodness for ya. Even if u dont like HTC phones, u gotta give them props for Sense UI.

Now lets hope that if Blur really is apps & widgets this time, HTC, Samsung and whoever else that has a custom UI follow Motorola and dont tie their UI into the OS so much.
 
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