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Exynos or Snapdragon ?

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If GSMArena are right, it looks like we're getting the Snapdragon in the UK as well: Samsung Galaxy S4 to ship with Snapdragon 600 in the UK - GSMArena.com news

Damn that LTE rollout! ;)

(Disclaimer: we don't actually know how much difference there will be in practice, so it is a little early to get upset.)

I read about this earlier, bit of a surprise as Exynos should be compatible with LTE in Europe.

If there's a big enough performance difference I might import one, depends on cost.

^This!

They expect the A15 running slower to out-perform the Krait 300s.

With zero data.

Yeah. No. :rolleyes:

But we do have some data, we already have Exynos 5250 from the Nexus 10 for comparisons which uses Cortex A15 Dual Core.
 
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I read about this earlier, bit of a surprise as Exynos should be compatible with LTE in Europe.

If there's a big enough performance difference I might import one, depends on cost.

But we do have some data, we already have Exynos 5250 from the Nexus 10 for comparisons which uses Cortex A15 Dual Core.

This is the next generation Exynos and Samsung has been slipping in changes (improvements) not on the Arm Cortex specifications.

Maybe the 5250 is a helpful indicator, maybe not, I couldn't say.

I noted with interest that Samsung clocked the Snapdragon 600 higher than the dual quadcore Exynos. Gut instinct says that they either did that to out-spec the One or to match this particular Exynos for performance. In any case, I doubt that they sacrificed potential battery life for speed without good reason.

As for LTE, we've seen the quad A9 Exynos support it in Korea and another Exynos support it on the US Note 2, if I'm not mistaken.

That may make this all more about supply and demand than anything.

The Snapdragon 600, unlike the Qualcomm S4, doesn't include the LTE modem and does require a separate chip complement, just like an Exynos.
 
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I noted with interest that Samsung clocked the Snapdragon 600 higher than the dual quadcore Exynos. Gut instinct says that they either did that to out-spec the One or to match this particular Exynos for performance. In any case, I doubt that they sacrificed potential battery life for speed without good reason.
Yeah. My suspicion all along has been that the clock difference is intended to ensure that there isn't a large performance difference between the two models. For that reason I'm actually more curious about the dual-quad's battery performance (and how well the scheduling, swapping core-sets, works out for the user in a range of circumstances, as that's an amusing little problem to optimise).

But it looks like in the immediate future this question is academic for me (though as I am an academic I shouldn't use that word like that ;)).
 
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I keep seeing various rumors, but if we're going to take guesses, so far as I know, the Nexus 4 runs the S4 Pro at 1.5 GHz and the owners insist it screams.

If it's true that this will run the 600 at 1.9, and if it's true that the Krait 300 is 15% more clock cycle effective, then we're talking about a potential speed bump over the Nexus 4 to the tune of 45% faster.

Take that with a huge bag of salt, but that may be interesting if true.
 
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Yes, thanks :)

I see how it is down to the number of transistors - the fewer the better when the phone is ticking over.

I suspect the A15 would need to kick in any time the screen came on or people would be crying about UI lag. I know I would.

I don't know about that, I think that quad A7's wouldn't have too I much trouble with screen transitions and the like, bring the big boys in just when something is computationally and graphically demanding like a high end game with a serious rendering engine like NFS Most Wanted/Shift, Real Racing 3 or MC3, now you want those 4 A15 cores to kick in and start screaming. :D
OB
 
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I don't know about that, I think that quad A7's wouldn't have too I much trouble with screen transitions and the like, bring the big boys in just when something is computationally and graphically demanding like a high end game with a serious rendering engine like NFS Most Wanted/Shift, Real Racing 3 or MC3, now you want those 4 A15 cores to kick in and start screaming. :D
OB

I'm not going to assume that the A7 quad is the default, and the A15 kicks in later.

The A7 quad is going to result in performance far below the SGS3 of either species.

I'd be surprised if the A15 isn't the default.

The transition strategy is going to be interesting.
 
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You have to remember that the A15 cores are clocked at 1.2 while the A7's are running at 1.6. Here's a good article describing how the dual quadcore works: Samsung Galaxy S4 processor: how the eight-core CPU works (Wired UK)
OB

Ftfy. :)

BTW -

arma7-dvfscurves-4ea0421-intro.png


From -

ARM’s new Cortex A7 is tailor-made for Android superphones | Ars Technica

Even with the A7 core clocked at 1.6 GHz, it's not going to be fast, and transitions between cores are not going to be trivial.

There has - without a doubt - been a thought put into this by Samsung.

But we won't know if they pulled it off until they're in users' hands, imo.
 
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I'm now undecided on which I will order until reviews of the performance of both come out.
I want to get the Exynos 5 version, but I've acquired some doubt with what I've read in the last 24 hours.
I won't want the Exynos version if there are tiny lags when it switches core sets, or other little glitches, I want a smooth running phone, the overall performance seems a bit of an unknown.
 
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I'm now undecided on which I will order until reviews of the performance of both come out.
I want to get the Exynos 5 version, but I've acquired some doubt with what I've read in the last 24 hours.
I won't want the Exynos version if there are tiny lags when it switches core sets, or other little glitches, I want a smooth running phone, the overall performance seems a bit of an unknown.

Yeah. It could be the best processor ever devised for mobile. I can't wait to see actual results, too! :)
 
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What good are benchmarks if you do not see actual performance results that correlate? Especially since we do not know the weight of each parameter, nor any bias created as a result. This means a device that could actually be faster for REAL use could get weaker benchmarks. High potential for placebo effect using benchmarks in general as a presumed standard.
 
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Yup, I suspect that for devices in this class we'll see no real life differences in responsiveness, or if we do they will be down to software (eg cpu scheduling) more than hardware.

Battery life differences will be interesting, but will depend hugely on usage, so review sites' methodologies will struggle with this.
 
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Interesting that the SamMobile Antutu screen shots show 4*1800 MHz clock speed, higher than the generally expected 1600.

Yep, a few sites have got hold of them and confirmed the Cortex A15's are clocked at 1.8GHz, Cortex A7@1.2GHz and the PowerVR SGX544MP3@533MHz.

It's looking good. :D

The camera is better on the Galaxy S4, much more detail overall and in low light conditions, it's not even close.

The shots on the HTC One look blurry when zoomed in and HDR mode is just horrible. HTC can call it whatever they want but it's just a slightly better than average 4MP camera which doesn't match up at all.
 
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If we're going off-topic, there's already been an update, that blur is coming from typical HTC overcompression rather than the hardware. The megapixel myth is clearly alive and well. We can discuss the HTC camera in the One forum if you like.

Anyway, I never trusted the earlier specs that had those two clock frequencies reversed for the dual quadcore, and what's out here makes much more sense.

It especially makes sense that the new A15 wasn't beating the Snapdragon 600 while only running at 1.2 GHz lol.
 
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