Why cant we all have GPU acceleration :(

[Roxzor]

So i have fondled quite extensively ME a Galaxy S from Tmobile (VIbrant), and i have noticed their touch wiz 3 is most CERTAINLY gpu accelerated. How so? its as smooth as an iphone and i have perfect eyes FPS is a huge deal for me i can tell when my video games are running even 5 frames off 60



So bullshit Aside. How does the hierarcy of an overlay (Sense, Launcherpro, TouchWiz, consider in the GPU and why was samsung able to make their product smooth as shit and everybody else is plain sucking it even launcher pro can be nerfed with one or two widgets like a calender. Ive also had (3g, 3gs, ipod touch, ipad, droid --2.1 -2.2, droid incredible-- 2.1-2.2, droid x and an eris. I have played with them all.


There is no way in hell its the hardware because the Galaxy has a sgx540 2x's the performance of my droid x SGX535 however the 535 is the same gpu shared with an iPad and iphone4 and new ipod touch 4 gen, and they all run FLAWLESSLY in the aspect of FPS and the GUI.

another question is gingerbread going to hopefully have gpu accleration for the GUI native so we wont have to bitch anymore and i wont feel bad about not having butter smooth interface animations and screen swipes into huge massive widget filled pixels paths ?!? PLEASE OH PLEASE!!!!

 

[Roxzor]

Also the iphone 3gs has a SGX535

 

[Medion]

Google has an open thread on their code site. They've basically stated that the way Android does multi-tasking would cause a huge issue for GPU accelerated interfaces on older hardware. I think with 3.0, we'll see them do it since the older hardware won't get it (and this could explain the rumors of minimum hardware requirements).

As for the issue Google claims, basically the lower end GPUs in earlier Android handsets can only push acceleration on one thing at a time. When you hit the home button to go back to the home screen, your game is still running, which would potentially cause the UI to crash, the game to force close, or the whole phone to crash. Newer phones don't have this problem.

 

[Demache]

Google has an open thread on their code site. They've basically stated that the way Android does multi-tasking would cause a huge issue for GPU accelerated interfaces on older hardware. I think with 3.0, we'll see them do it since the older hardware won't get it (and this could explain the rumors of minimum hardware requirements).

As for the issue Google claims, basically the lower end GPUs in earlier Android handsets can only push acceleration on one thing at a time. When you hit the home button to go back to the home screen, your game is still running, which would potentially cause the UI to crash, the game to force close, or the whole phone to crash. Newer phones don't have this problem.

Pretty much that. Older Android phones just don't have the power for a GPU accelerated interface. I think their GPU's are very basic, in the sense that they can render 2D interfaces and basic 3D ones, but that's about it. But I'm thinking a GPU accelerated interface will come around in 3.0. Newer phones are powerful enough, I wouldn't see why not.

Its sort of like how in newer versions of Windows, in order to run the Aero interface with all the fancy effects, you need hardware that supports transform and lighting. Not a problem for most modern graphic cards and integrated GPU's. However, older integrated GPU's don't have this capability, so they offload this task to the CPU. But its a waste of CPU power to render an interface with 3D effects. So in older computers, it runs in sort of a "compatibility mode" that gives only the basic 2D UI.

 

[grainysand]

even launcher pro can be nerfed with one or two widgets like a calender

I'm running Launcher Pro. Calendar widget, gtask widget, music mod widget, buzz deck widget, power control, a battery widget, a time widget. I experience no slow-downs. What are you talking about?

 

[Medion]

Its sort of like how in newer versions of Windows, in order to run the Aero interface with all the fancy effects, you need hardware that supports transform and lighting. Not a problem for most modern graphic cards and integrated GPU's. However, older integrated GPU's don't have this capability, so they offload this task to the CPU. But its a waste of CPU power to render an interface with 3D effects. So in older computers, it runs in sort of a "compatibility mode" that gives only the basic 2D UI.

Just wanted to clarify, the feature required isn't HT&L (it's not a requirement, but every nVidia card since the original GeForce, and every Radion since the 7k days has it). The required features are shader/vertex models 3.0 or higher, which means it requires a card that supports DirectX 9.0C. This means GeForce 6000 series or higher (released in 2005), and Radeon X1k series or higher (released in 2006). As for integrated cards, I can't even begin to comment on which ones started to offer it.

And also, I believe that Google could just offer a "soft" UI, and an accelerated UI for the phones that support it, but then we begin running into "bloat." Much like Windows supports everything (does your Toaster have a USB port? Then Windows has drivers for it!), it pays for it by being labeled "bloated." That's one thing we can't have on mobile devices yet. Their lesser hardware resources demands something more streamlined.

 

[Demache]

Just wanted to clarify, the feature required isn't HT&L (it's not a requirement, but every nVidia card since the original GeForce, and every Radion since the 7k days has it). The required features are shader/vertex models 3.0 or higher, which means it requires a card that supports DirectX 9.0C. This means GeForce 6000 series or higher (released in 2005), and Radeon X1k series or higher (released in 2006). As for integrated cards, I can't even begin to comment on which ones started to offer it.

I done goof'd. Thanks for fixing it.

 

[MrX8503]

So i have fondled quite extensively ME a Galaxy S from Tmobile (VIbrant), and i have noticed their touch wiz 3 is most CERTAINLY gpu accelerated. How so? its as smooth as an iphone and i have perfect eyes FPS is a huge deal for me i can tell when my video games are running even 5 frames off 60



So bullshit Aside. How does the hierarcy of an overlay (Sense, Launcherpro, TouchWiz, consider in the GPU and why was samsung able to make their product smooth as shit and everybody else is plain sucking it even launcher pro can be nerfed with one or two widgets like a calender. Ive also had (3g, 3gs, ipod touch, ipad, droid --2.1 -2.2, droid incredible-- 2.1-2.2, droid x and an eris. I have played with them all.


There is no way in hell its the hardware because the Galaxy has a sgx540 2x's the performance of my droid x SGX535 however the 535 is the same gpu shared with an iPad and iphone4 and new ipod touch 4 gen, and they all run FLAWLESSLY in the aspect of FPS and the GUI.

another question is gingerbread going to hopefully have gpu accleration for the GUI native so we wont have to bitch anymore and i wont feel bad about not having butter smooth interface animations and screen swipes into huge massive widget filled pixels paths ?!? PLEASE OH PLEASE!!!!

If you read a lot of anandtech's reviews you'll understand why samsung is the only one to be able to implement GPU acceleration. The only phones to use GPU acceleration is the iPhone and the galaxy s, which is why they have the smoothest ui.

In anand's review, he mentions that samsung works very closely with apple. They share the same CPU and samsung provides flash memory. Also if you look at touchwiz it looks very similar to iOS. Basically Samsung knows what they're doing and is learning from their partners.

Other manufacturers such as htc/moto do not work as closely with their CPUs/GPUs partners.

Another theory that Anand mentions is that without GPU acceleration you won't have a smooth UI, unless you have a dual core ARM processor. As we all know those don't exist yet.

What this means is that samsung and apple are ahead of the pack.

 

[SupremeBeaver]

This thread is very interesting. I had no idea the Galaxy S and iPhone had GPU acceleration while the rest of the phones didn't. The more i read about the Galaxy S the more interested i get in it. It has the best technology in a smartphone right now.

On another note LG will be announcing their new Optimus line of phones this Tuesday running Tegra 2. Dual core A9 CPUs with a POWERFUL Geforce GPU. I believe this will be the standard and i hope LG implements this GPU acceleration.

Also i really hope Gingerbread does implement GPU acceleration. I'll probably pick up a tegra 2 phone which i know will be capable of it.

 

[gwlaw99]

Launcher Pro is smooth as silk. Doesn't need it.

 

[MrX8503]

This thread is very interesting. I had no idea the Galaxy S and iPhone had GPU acceleration while the rest of the phones didn't. The more i read about the Galaxy S the more interested i get in it. It has the best technology in a smartphone right now.

On another note LG will be announcing their new Optimus line of phones this Tuesday running Tegra 2. Dual core A9 CPUs with a POWERFUL Geforce GPU. I believe this will be the standard and i hope LG implements this GPU acceleration.

Also i really hope Gingerbread does implement GPU acceleration. I'll probably pick up a tegra 2 phone which i know will be capable of it.

Yeah a lot goes behind the scenes that people don't know about.

If the LG has dual core ARM plus a powerful GPU, the UI should be smooth granted that its optimized for it. If Gingerbread isn't optimized for GPU acceleration by then, the extra core from the ARM should smooth things out.

From what I've read, Gingerbread is all about speed and polish, so Android should perform quite a bit different once Gingerbread is released.

Software is just as important as the Hardware, if these two are working at optimum efficiency, you get a kickass phone.

 

[takeshi]

Launcher Pro is smooth as silk.

IMO it's smoother but it's not iPhone smooth. In other words, if you don't know what you're missing you're probably totally happy with it.

 

[MrX8503]

IMO it's smoother but it's not iPhone smooth. In other words, if you don't know what you're missing you're probably totally happy with it.

I agree with this. People don't really know what they're missing until they've experienced it.

The iPhone still has a few hiccups, but its speed and finger tracking is unreal. It moves as fast as my finger.

 

[Demache]

I agree with this. People don't really know what they're missing until they've experienced it.

The iPhone still has a few hiccups, but its speed and finger tracking is unreal. It moves as fast as my finger.

That's one thing I do like about my iPod Touch 2G. The entire UI is much smoother than my Eris (except in Opera Mini, the UI is actually smoother on my Eris). Would it be nice to have? Sure. But I'm not going to get in a bunch over it.

 

[Medion]

I'm still not convinced that the Galaxy S has a hardware accelerated UI, as I've heard nothing official on this. Still, it's something I'll have to play with when I get home.

For those who think their Android phones are "smooth" but don't want to touch an iPhone, try a Zune HD. I feel that the Zune HD has reset the bar for UI response, even exceeding the iPhone (and yes, it's GPU accelerated). My Incredible is "smooth" but simply doesn't compare to either the iPhone or the Zune HD in this regard.

And again, hopefully Google will finally address it with Gingerbread.