***Official Galaxy Nexus Pre-Release speculation thread**

[EarlyMon]

Answers to FAQs

https://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/activation/activatephone.jsp

Hope this helps!

 

[r4yN]

refering to black_man_x's tweet that the CDMA/LTE-Version of a nexus device won't be the Unlocked worldphone and that we should expect the GSM-variant, i have a new (maybe interesting) theory:

as we know the I9250 went through FCC, without any word of LTE, it might be true that the rest of the world gets no LTE-compability, which reminds me of the first exynos-soc (4210, used in the Galaxy S2), and again maybe the exynos 4212 does not support LTE either (in the official announcement they only said some things like: 25% faster, 50% better 3d rendering, 30% less power consumption), but instead just way better performance [like i already mentioned]... and so i think the GSM-Model comes with the new exynos 4212-soc, while the verizon-variant comes with the Omap 4460 for having LTE-compability...

i don't like my theory either, but its possible, isnt it?

edit: wait i noticed he said: "So expect to see gsm versions same as today's nexus S" - so Gsm versionS [plural] ?

not again, pls i'd be so pissed if we germans would get a nexus device with only SLCD instead of sAmoled again -.-'

edit: you know the iPhone 4s has got a GSM/CDMA-dual radio ? for that they need 2 antennas and a intelligent switching system...

and that's one of samsung's patents... [source]

so if this patent for dual cdma/Gsm-phones is owned by samsung, we might see it in a samsung-own device like the nexus prime? (reminds me of the GSMArena-specs)

 

[HanSolo]

Firstly, I never mentioned it was Vz_wired..

Interesting. I did find it a bit odd that vz_wired would go on here for a few days and give us little tidbits, and suddenly now has changed tactics and is only communicating through Steve. So maybe it's someone else. . .

(Unless VZ is just trying not to get caught doing anything naughty by Red Momma, and PM's to Steve are much less traceable than public posts. . .)

Whatever processor is in this new phone, it hasn't been in a phone in the U.S. before. That's if you believe VZ_Wired, . .. . .

Unfortunately vz_wired didn't specify whether the processor itself was new or not. He simply said "components". P3Droid was tweeting yesterday that this baby will have a newer radio and LTE chipset. He might have been talking about that. Or the camera sensor. Or the battery. Or something totally different.

(His response, however, was a result of me asking him in bold letters to please tell us which processor it will be, so it's highly likely he was talking about a new processor.)

will we disappointed if it doesn't release with the Exynos? Absolutely. . . . .

Honestly, I couldn't care less if we're getting an OMAP or an Exynos. I think that those who really are rooting for the Exynos will be those who plan on playing games on this phone. I'm not one of them. If the phone can handle playing 720p movies without lag or sync issues, and can surf the web on reliable 4G, and can look crisp and sharp with ebooks, I'm extremely happy. Whether I can play Madden 12 on it is about #30 on my list of wants for this puppy.

It might have a snowball's chance in Hell, but that's still a chance.

Not that I believe in the "traditional" view on Hell (you know, burning in fire for eternity, etc.) but if Hell was a very hot, humid place with flames everywhere, a snowball would never make it. I mean think about it. I once brought in a snowball to the house, where it was about 70 degrees ambient temperature, and I think the snowball lasted about 3 minutes before turning into a puddle. Now you're talking about a place that might exceed 2000 degrees, and you think that snowball has a chance? It wouldn't get within a 100 miles of hell. If that snowball had a chance, then why would the space shuttle be covered in flame-resistant foam and panels, and not snow? I'm sorry, Nashdroid, but you ruined your entire argument with that statement.

Yes, Samsung makes the CMOS sensor for cellphones. This is why Samsung is such a power house and sampling to external parties is irrelevant. Samsung makes CMOS sensors, SoCs, flash, RAM, displays, etc... With the SGS2, it was alleged that they were running into shortages for the Exynos. So if they did plan on putting the 4212 into the NP, then it would make sense to hold off sampling/selling it to external customers until production is ramped up enough to fill internal demand. Consider the profit on a SoC vs the completed phone...

This actually makes a lot of sense. I really like your posts, man. Very informative without coming off as a stuck up know-it-all. Thanks!

The recently announced Samsung Galaxy S II HD LTE packs the following specs:

• 1.5GHz dual core AP (they do not specify if it is the new Exynos)

I expect the Prime to also pack the same specs.

What is with the secret on what type of processor will be running on this? I just don't get it. Why can't anyone know?

 

[rrhartjr]

What is with the secret on what type of processor will be running on this? I just don't get it. Why can't anyone know?

I have a feeling its the snapdragon dual 1.5.. and samsung isnt real thrilled about it.. just like they put the snapdragon in the tmo sgs2 to support their faux-g

 

[HanSolo]

I have a feeling its the snapdragon dual 1.5.. and samsung isnt real thrilled about it.. just like they put the snapdragon in the tmo sgs2 to support their faux-g

Yes but isn't the Tmo sgsii getting rave reviews for torching speed? Why wouldn't we want that?

 

[Millinium]

Happy Sunday All! Let's see what today brings. Looking forward to another day of craziness.

 

[The_Chief]

I may as well "CHIP" in my two cents

I'm with Han here. I think most of us aren't going to be pushing this thing's triangle limits with 3D games. We want the thing to respond instantly to our commands, and do what we want it to do real quick-like.

Unlike my poor OG Droid, who has given up on real-time and decided that I need to take a coffee break between the time I tell it to do something and it actually doing it

If I can get that kind of instantaneous response and speed out of a phone - whether it be browsing, movies, CAMERA, or whatever - I really couldn't care less if it's packing OMAP or Exynos. Hell, it could have a little guy with an abacus in there if he's fast enough.

Other than that: good morning, fellow Primers and Primettes!

 

[xtop]

Ohhhhh my friend xtop, you just stepped in it bigtime. In fact Intel is widely known to be doing exactly that right now. They can already introduce higher clocked chips on most of their sockets right now today if they wanted, but they're currently so far ahead of AMD that there's no reason to -- they're already making top dollar on their upper level chips!

It's true on Intel's server line too. I think it's their latest E-step chips that haven't been officially released (because they don't need to) but which are actually being unofficially sold to certain high-value customers (at caviar prices, naturally).

yeah you're completely right. it was a poor choice by me. i blame it being too late for my brain to work properly. but i'm done arguing that now

i want more info on the camera. nokia phones have beed regarded as having the best camera for a long time (the n900/n97/etc) now, it's time for an android phone to step up.

 

[HanSolo]

I'm with Han here. I think most of us aren't going to be pushing this thing's triangle limits with 3D games. We want the thing to respond instantly to our commands, and do what we want it to do real quick-like.

I think that sometimes we get so caught up in "specs" that we lose sight of real-world practicality. Last year the Chargers had "statistically" the best defense and best offense in the league, but they sucked on the Win Column. I don't care if the Prime isn't #1 on the spec list. I want it to "just win, baby!". (Al Davis)

i want more info on the camera. nokia phones have beed regarded as having the best camera for a long time (the n900/n97/etc) now, it's time for an android phone to step up.

Good point. Camera definitely has real-world impact. I'm hoping we get an excellent one without a huge wait in between shots.

 

[breadnatty08]

Answers to FAQs

https://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/activation/activatephone.jsp

Hope this helps!

Appreciate it! Hopefully this helps her deal with the period before I get my Prime
Sorry if it was too much of a hijack, never had done much other than upgrading lines.

 

[Medion]

Yes but isn't the Tmo sgsii getting rave reviews for torching speed? Why wouldn't we want that?

As good as that Snapdragon is, anything based on A9 is better. Here's why.

In terms of MP Core, Snapdragon averages out to be about 10% faster than A8. A9 averages out to be 30% faster than A8. So, a 1.2ghz A9 is, in theory, about as fast as a 1.5ghz Scorpion (Snapdragon).

However, A9 is a true symmetrical multi-processor while Scorpion is not (you can reference the multiple discussions at XDA or even Qualcomm's documents that state as much). What this means is the A9, being SMP capable, can have both cores address memory at the same time and process threads at the same time. Scorpion's cores have to "take turns" addressing memory. To simplify this, let's take 2 cores on each CPU, and 4 tasks that want to be executed at the same time.

For the A9, cores 1 and 2 process tasks one and 2 simultaneously, before moving on to tasks 3 and 4. For the Scorpion, Core 1 handles task 1, then core 2 handles task 2, then core 1 handles task 3, then core 2 handles task 4. (NOTE: This is simplified, as both CPUs can process multiple threads on one core similar to Intel's hyper-threading. This was meant to be a simplified example.)

So, what does this mean? In most instances, a dual-core A9 can process tasks more efficiently at lower clock speeds and with less power draw when compared to a dual-core Scorpion. Scorpion was designed to compete against the A8, and it succeeded. It's not Qualcomm's designed competitor against A9/A15, that would be the upcoming Krait (S4).

I'm with Han here. I think most of us aren't going to be pushing this thing's triangle limits with 3D games.

FYI (food for thought, rather), the PowerVR SGX540 in the OMAP4 pushes SIGNIFICANTLY more triangles than the Mali400. The Mali has 2-3x the fill-rate and texturing performance. While each chip has its advantages, my personal opinion is that the PowerVR is more well-rounded and future proof as today's games don't push either chip to their geometric limits. We've seen these one-trick ponies before, two examples;

-In 2005, ATI's X800 series was going against Nvidia's Geforce 6 line. The X800 promised better fill-rate and overall speed, whereas Nvidia was putting in more features to make their GeForce 6 more well rounded. For the next 6 months, the X800 series edged out the GF6 series in almost all benchmarks. Within a year, the GF6 had overtaken the X800 in performance due to games beginning to utilize those new features. Within two years, the GF6 series started to become the "minimum" requirement for certain games, while the X800 series wasn't even compatible with some games due to lacking the required features.

-The original Snapdragon launched using the Adreno 200 GPU which claimed a 3x geometric performance (22m triangles/sec) over the PowerVR SGX 530 that was eventually used in OMAP3 (Droid 2, Droid X, etc.). However, what Qualcomm failed to state was that the fill-rate was atrocious and not designed for screens that were 800x480 or higher, whereas the PowerVR chips used a balance of fill-rate and geometric performance. Bottom line is, the OMAP3 is still a competent chip for almost all 3D Android games today. However, many of these same games are not compatible with the Adreno 200.

The intent of my post is not to slam the Mali400. It's an amazing GPU that currently outstrips any other Android GPU in any fill-rate tests. I just personally tend to place my bets with the more balanced GPUs, and for me, the PowerVR SGX 540 is that chip until Android gets the newer multi-coure PowerVR chips.

 

[Steven58]

Personally, i was wondering IF YOU GUYS EVER SLEEP!

I'm thinking of locking this thread between the hours of midnight and six am just to force you guys to sleep some!

 

[EarlyMon]

edit: you know the iPhone 4s has got a GSM/CDMA-dual radio ? for that they need 2 antennas and a intelligent switching system...

and that's one of samsung's patents... [source]

so if this patent for dual cdma/Gsm-phones is owned by samsung, we might see it in a samsung-own device like the nexus prime? (reminds me of the GSMArena-specs)

Maybe, not sure.

I just wanted to chime in with this - http://androidforums.com/lounge/425395-samsung-seeks-injunction-ip4s-over-wcdma.html - for France and Italy.

Good times, good times. Hopefully, they'll all stop this nonsense, but there it is.

 

[The_Chief]

You guys want some fun statistics? Sure you do!

It took:

43 days to get from post 1 to post 1000.
13 days to get from post 1000 to post 2000.
6 days to get from post 2000 to post 3000.
2-1/2 days to get from post 3000 to post 4000.
And we're on track to get from post 4000 to post 5000 in 2 days.

No wonder people can't keep up! WHEW! At this rate, there's no telling how many posts we'll have by the time this thing launches... 10,000? 20,000?

Okay, back to Galaxy-Nexus-Prime stuff...

 

[Steven58]

You guys want some fun statistics? Sure you do!

It took:

43 days to get from post 1 to post 1000.
13 days to get from post 1000 to post 2000.
6 days to get from post 2000 to post 3000.
2-1/2 days to get from post 3000 to post 4000.
And we're on track to get from post 4000 to post 5000 in 2 days.

No wonder people can't keep up! WHEW! At this rate, there's no telling how many posts we'll have by the time this thing launches... 10,000? 20,000?

Okay, back to Galaxy-Nexus-Prime stuff...

And I'm not the top poster in this thread. Huh. I was in the incredible thread... must ... post.... more.

Ps: I believe we are approaching critical mass as we did in the incredible thread!

 

[EarlyMon]

As good as that Snapdragon is, anything based on A9 is better. Here's why.

In terms of MP Core, Snapdragon averages out to be about 10% faster than A8. A9 averages out to be 30% faster than A8. So, a 1.2ghz A9 is, in theory, about as fast as a 1.5ghz Scorpion (Snapdragon).

However, A9 is a true symmetrical multi-processor while Scorpion is not (you can reference the multiple discussions at XDA or even Qualcomm's documents that state as much). What this means is the A9, being SMP capable, can have both cores address memory at the same time and process threads at the same time. Scorpion's cores have to "take turns" addressing memory. To simplify this, let's take 2 cores on each CPU, and 4 tasks that want to be executed at the same time.

For the A9, cores 1 and 2 process tasks one and 2 simultaneously, before moving on to tasks 3 and 4. For the Scorpion, Core 1 handles task 1, then core 2 handles task 2, then core 1 handles task 3, then core 2 handles task 4. (NOTE: This is simplified, as both CPUs can process multiple threads on one core similar to Intel's hyper-threading. This was meant to be a simplified example.)

So, what does this mean? In most instances, a dual-core A9 can process tasks more efficiently at lower clock speeds and with less power draw when compared to a dual-core Scorpion. Scorpion was designed to compete against the A8, and it succeeded. It's not Qualcomm's designed competitor against A9/A15, that would be the upcoming Krait (S4).

FWIW, I overclock my Evo 3D to 1.5 GHz (it has the 8x60 Snapdragon that they're calling the S3 now). In CF-Bench for cpu only, it's just a tad above the stock SGS2 (I'd call it identical for all purposes) and on Nenamark 2 for a good dual-core benchmark, I average around 33 fps where the SGS2 is reporting 45 fps. Depending on the browser, it scores very highly on Vellamo as well (internet vids of laggy browser response notwithstanding).

And because of speed scaling on demand, I can exceed a full day's use on my phone with moderate use (18 hours, 50% battery left, no nutzo battery saving schemes, just rooted and bloat removed).

Even with the eye-candy bloat that is Sense (I happen to like it, so it is what it is), I'll simply say that at 1.5 GHz, from the user perspective, the Snapdragon S3 just seems to do something magical and really scream thru everything.

I believe that you're in error on task handling for the Snapdragon with respect to two cores with the tasks ping-ponging. I could be wrong on that, but these pictures and use cases do seem to suggest otherwise -

http://androidforums.com/htc-evo-3d/381826-dual-cores-anyone-taking-advantage-them.html

(edit and ps - OK, yes, memory access does ping-pong, probably the key point there. OTOH, the Scorpion datapaths are wide, and the end results seem acceptable. I stand corrected on that point because of that aspect. In any case, my benchmark results (sample of one, me) support your claim that 1.5 GHz S3 approximates a 1.2 GHz A9.)

~~~~~~~

For those new to dual core phones, there's a lot of claptrap out there that Android doesn't really fully utilize dual cores yet.

Yeah. No.

~~~~~~~~

Others with more demanding gaming applications may feel differently - but owning a Snapdragon S3 at 1.5 GHz is a far cry from medieval torture.

Personally, i was wondering IF YOU GUYS EVER SLEEP!

I'm thinking of locking this thread between the hours of midnight and six am just to force you guys to sleep some!

lma0

Yeah. No. Good luck with that.

 

[Steven58]

lma0

Yeah. No. Good luck with that.

Lma0 2!

 

[Steven58]

I'm at church.... must respect God over this thread.... must... try...

 

[jimbo1mcm]

My head just exploded

 

[kyler13]

You're wrong. My real camcorder records 1080/60p just dandy, 28Mb/s, on Class 4 media. That's well within the standard (4MB/s = 32Mb/s), and fully supported by Panasonic (this one's a TM700; I have others, all shoot full HD video onto Class 4 cards). It's highly unlikely we'll see anything beyond 1080/30p on any smartphone this year, so that's half the data. Well within the 24Mb/s limits of most consumer video, works just dandy on a Class 4 SDHC card.

But all class 4 cards aren't equal. I can record 720p video on my phone with my 16gb class 2 Sandisk card, but I can't with the Samsung that came with the phone (also class 2 16gb). Class ratings are minimum specs and people often find their cards perform better. You're quoting the class 4 speed, but have you tested your class 4 card to determine if it's just meeting the minimum or actually overperforming? Also, what bitrate is the Panasonic recroding HD at, and is that different than your phone? I believe Samsung uses a higher bitrate than others. Can you record with a class 2 card? Absolutely if it's writing above it's rating, but if you're a manufacturer, you have to account for minimums so you're not dealing with consumer complaints.

 

[vandyman]

Hopefully the FCC can shed some light on the Galaxy Nexus next week.
I originally said about 2000 posts ago that we may see the FCC stuff on Oct. 10. But I maybe off by two days with this.

^^HUNCH^^

 

[EarlyMon]

I'm reminded that Trudy the Bag Lady said, Reality is a collective hunch.

 

[vandyman]

Personally, i was wondering IF YOU GUYS EVER SLEEP!

I'm thinking of locking this thread between the hours of midnight and six am just to force you guys to sleep some!

I don't think that will work, Can you sleep with the animals clawing at the door?

 

[Medion]

Earlymon,

FWIW, I overclock my Evo 3D to 1.5 GHz (it has the 8x60 Snapdragon that they're calling the S3 now). In CF-Bench for cpu only, it's just a tad above the stock SGS2 (I'd call it identical for all purposes)

If the Snapdragon came out about the same as the SGS2, then that seems to match what I said, and what I'd expect.

and on Nenamark 2 for a good dual-core benchmark, I average around 33 fps where the SGS2 is reporting 45 fps. Depending on the browser,

I'm not a fan of Nenamark as it seems to run, if I recall correctly, at the native resolution of the device rather than a forced resolution. This is great for a device specific benchmark, but it doesn't factor in proper fill-rate utilization. So, a device with a lower resolution will be given biased results against a device with a higher resolution. Case in point, the original Nenamark used to score the T-Mobile G1 higher than the Nexus One.

Also, Nenamark is a GPU benchmark, not a dual-core benchmark. Most of the load will be on the GPU.

AnandTech - Samsung Galaxy S 2 (International) Review - The Best, Redefined

Using these tests, Anandtech forced a resolution of 720p. Because this is fill-rate intensive, and the Mali (SGS2) has superior fill-rate, it won all of the "game" tests. If they had scaled the resolution back to 800x480, the results would have been closer, probably moreso than your results.

Given that the Nexus Prime should have a 720p display, one would assume that the Mali is the GPU of choice here, but again, that atrociously low triangle performance alarms me.

Even with the eye-candy bloat that is Sense (I happen to like it, so it is what it is), I'll simply say that at 1.5 GHz, from the user perspective, the Snapdragon S3 just seems to do something magical and really scream thru everything.

Absolutely. While I feel one CPU is superior to the other, that doesn't mean the Snapdragon is garbage. It's an absolute screamer. I just feel that A9 screams a little louder, just as Snapdragon was faster than the previous A8

I believe that you're in error on task handling for the Snapdragon with respect to two cores with the tasks ping-ponging. I could be wrong on that, but these pictures and use cases do seem to suggest otherwise -

According to Qualcomm's technical docs, I'm spot on. Because Snapdragon is asynchronous, you can view a dual-core CPU @ 1.5ghz as one big 3.0ghz CPU if needed. If an app requires relatively little CPU power (Angry Birds), you're not going to see that second core fire up, as shown in your post in that thread. Something more demanding, like a malware scan or encoding (Lookout app in that thread is a prime example) will try to max out both cores to finish the task in less time. The bottom line is that both cores are only used when needed, and when needed, it handles tasks in the order that I specified.

With native SMP, as A9 supports, the second core would fire up Angry birds at the speed it needs while the first core would handle existing system resources, or vice versa. The point would be to scale both cores evenly when possible to keep the speed low, and therefore, power consumption lower. So, the key difference here is that, due to SMP, both cores are typically used the majority of the time to automatically split tasks for the sake of efficiency. Snapdragon cannot do this, but S4 will.

 

[iowabowtech]

Well you two (EarlyMon and Medion) are talking above my knowledge level but I can at least follow it and its very interesting reading. Thanks for the insight guys.