Quad-Core Phones on the Horizon

[carlz28]

Isnt this like when desktop computing started to use multi cores with Win XP, to be most efficient, both the OS and app need to be written to take advantage of multiple cores, otherwise for the most part 1 core is being maxed most of the time while the second sits in wait.

I certainly remember this dilemma with PCs. Hopefully Google's next few releases will incorporate this kind of technological possibility. But it makes you wonder if it's already possible since dual-cores are a mere few months away. I'm not very knowledgeable on the way CPUs an OS' handle this stuff, but maybe it won't be thank difficult after all. Now writing apps to utilize multi-core phones, that could be a whole different ball game.

[kodiak799]

I have a quad core laptop (actually 8 processors)....Thing runs hot enough to burn you at times. Hard to imagine that tech being viable in a phone. I guess the processors themselves would have a much lower clock speed so not nearly as much heat, but still.

That's the future and these phones replace netbooks and tablets. Just hook up an lcd screen (maybe with bluetooth technology) and you're good to go. That'd be a lot of power in a phone, capable of replacing probably 90% of PC's for people at home AND work.

[kodiak799]

I certainly remember this dilemma with PCs. Hopefully Google's next few releases will incorporate this kind of technological possibility. But it makes you wonder if it's already possible since dual-cores are a mere few months away. I'm not very knowledgeable on the way CPUs an OS' handle this stuff, but maybe it won't be thank difficult after all. Now writing apps to utilize multi-core phones, that could be a whole different ball game.

Yes, applications have to be coded to utilize multi-thread processors. But maybe Win7 resolved that issue.

[cereal killer]

Isnt this like when desktop computing started to use multi cores with Win XP, to be most efficient, both the OS and app need to be written to take advantage of multiple cores, otherwise for the most part 1 core is being maxed most of the time while the second sits in wait.

Great observation and excellent point. From my understanding Gingerbread is being optimized for the Dual-Core Tegra2. Nvidia and Google are working hand in hand.

The early video of the LG Star is not a good barometer of how well the Tegra will perform because it's running on 2.2. Once Gingerbread drops it will be a whole other thing.

[johnomaz]

Dont' forget, the quadcore in a phone will be nothing like a quadcore in a PC. I can see each core doing a specific task and when that task isn't being done, its not in use. That would be a huge battery life advancement. At the same time though, who cares. I am a huge tech nerd and frankly, phones don't excite me that much. I love my DroidX, but really, it is just a phone. quad core phones are just a selling point.

[beneharris]

I love my DroidX, but really, it is just a phone. quad core phones are just a selling point.

for most people, yeah it will be just a phone, but a few years down the road this technology will really help out with replacing laptops and desktops like someone above said.

i would think it would take a few years to do, but eventually these things will get efficient to the point where laptops really are less used. this is just one of the first steps to get there.

i probably was to young to be aware of it at the time, but i bet they said the same things about laptops, and look at them now. i'm one of the only people in my dorm who even owns a desktop computer

[Dave12308]

Interestingly, most folks assume that dual-core and quad-core chips in phones will kill battery life, but actually if you dig deeper into the technology you find that moving to multi-core designs actually improves battery life. This is because the 'multi-brained' chips can process more information at lower clock speeds, and lower clock speeds means less power consumption.

This may be true to an extent, but a chip with 4 1.2GHz cores is still going to use more power that a single core at 2GHz. And unless the app is multicore aware, in the end it will be quite a bit slower. This is why for alot of home users, a dual-core PC in alot of cases is a better choice than a quad.

The battery life will likely be better than current gen chipsets, but not for the reasons mentioned. These new quads will likely be built on a smaller process technology, THIS is where the power savings will come from. I would hope that they are designed to power down cores that are not in use, as well.

[BlueSami]

How bout we see a dual core phone first?? or even just a 2ghz one?

[cereal killer]

How bout we see a dual core phone first?? or even just a 2ghz one?

yeah we are already on liquid cooled 4GHZ Six Cores. By the time you read this we will be on servers on our handsets.

[carlz28]

How bout we see a dual core phone first?? or even just a 2ghz one?

yeah we are already on liquid cooled 4GHZ Six Cores. By the time you read this we will be on servers on our handsets.

I don't know about you CK, but my sd card has 100 TB of storage.

But seriously, I agree with a comment above that this appears to be a stepping stone of mobile technology to come. Just when things seemed to be on a plateau, they up the ante even more! I'm all for it!