Bionic? Why bother.

[dannar]

At the risk of seeming like a troll, compared to the ThunderBolt, I just don't see the appeal of the Bionic. When I read forum conversations about the droid bionic, nobody seems to point out the obvious.


I've looked up and down the specs of this phone, and I really don't get it. People seem to really froth at the mouth when talking about dual core phones. Frankly, I don't get it. The bionic doesn't have better tech specs sans the much vaunted dual core. I suppose the screen is also a bit better too, huh? Here are the kisses of death for this phone that should really drive everybody away from it:


A) The phone isn't technically more impressive than the TB. The TB is out now. When will the bionic be out? Why would you go for the same phone released months later? (Don't answer this if you're an iphan who will buy the iphone4 because you can get it in white)


B) Dual core isn't supported. It'll take a bit for it to come into play. And when it does, will it really be a lot faster than the TB? Think of it from a numbers game standpoint. Are we talking about double the performance? Ten percent? After rooting, will anybody notice?


C) Locked bootloader. I guess if you aren't the type to root, this is a moot point. But to the majority of us here, I'd wager that this is a big deal. Without the ability to root and install custom ROMs, the life of your phone will be significantly shorter.


I'm sorry to rant. I'm not quite as invested in this as I sound, but I would be interested to hear a compelling counter argument.

 

[gflam]

Is it even completely confirmed that the bionic will have a locked bootloader other than the way moto has been is there anything that like definately says it will be locked?

Anyway i agree if my plan were up right now i'd be going with a tb over the bionic especially with how fast things are already moving with the tb and the amount of dev push behind it

 

[dannar]

I think we're all going off of past performance here. Just the same, there is no evidence to support that it wont be locked either.

If it were unlocked, I'm sure the Bionic would be worth a second glance.

 

[sheba611]

Tbolt will soon be joined by the Droid Charge and the LG Revolution. The Droid Charge is basically a Samsung Galaxy S phone with LTE and SAMOLED plus display. Samsung has a rep for being slow to update their phones, but the Galaxy S line is unlocked so very easy to root and flash custom ROMs. Haven't heard much about the Revolution except it will have Netflix and maybe IPS display.

 

[gflam]

I think we're all going off of past performance here. Just the same, there is no evidence to support that it wont be locked either.

If it were unlocked, I'm sure the Bionic would be worth a second glance.

Exactly if it were to be unlocked it will be a wonderful device although it is taking quite some time to get here i will admit which is why i'm leaning towards a tb

 

[bendystrawboy]

Lol, you act like android development haulted when the tb was released, how do you know the "bionic/tegra" won't be released with a new os that supports dc?

Hell, how do you even know what the bionic will be?

And I'm sorry but a 4.3 inch screen at the same resolution as my droid doesn't appeal to me, like the droidx the tbolts resolution is disappointing.

 

[random190user44]

Why do people keep saying that android doesn't support dual core? It does! People who say it doesn't only further perpetuate the myth.

EDIT: I'm trying to find an article, so everyone has a reason to believe me, but I'm having trouble finding it. I read it about a month ago

Sent from my DROID2 using DroidForums

 

[kptphalkon]

This was pointed out by someone else: The core linux kernel that Android uses DOES in fact already support multi threading AND dual cores.

As for the relative performance increase? 15-25% over a single core sounds reasonable. Then we tie in the fact that the TB uses DDR, while the Bionic uses DDR2 and that increase jumps to (a measly) 30-40%, in the best case scenario. Which is if the app or apps running are coded for multi threading.

Will the bionic already be outdated when it comes out? Sure, and so is the Thunderbolt. To each his own.

 

[random190user44]

This was pointed out by someone else: The core linux kernel that Android uses DOES in fact already support multi threading AND dual cores.

As for the relative performance increase? 15-25% over a single core sounds reasonable. Then we tie in the fact that the TB uses DDR, while the Bionic uses DDR2 and that increase jumps to (a measly) 30-40%, in the best case scenario. Which is if the app or apps running are coded for multi threading.

Will the bionic already be outdated when it comes out? Sure, and so is the Thunderbolt. To each his own.

Did you find the article I was talking about? Id like to re read it. I think i remember reading something about dual core android phones exceeding double the performance of single core phones but I'm not certain.

Sent from my DROID2 using DroidForums

 

[Brainiac v3]

I found this article which had a screen shot of some benchmark scores.
http://androidevolutions.com/tag/froyo-dual-core/

 

[jev]

I really don't see why anyone cares if they're not planning on buying the phone. That's what's great about freedom, if you don't want a product, then don't buy it, after all it's only a phone....

 

[random190user44]

I really don't see why anyone cares if they're not planning on buying the phone. That's what's great about freedom, if you don't want a product, then don't buy it, after all it's only a phone....

Its not just a phone. If you want to put it that way, why not go with the motorola razr or lg chocolate?

Sent from my DROID2 using DroidForums

 

[Maverick0984]

This was pointed out by someone else: The core linux kernel that Android uses DOES in fact already support multi threading AND dual cores.

As for the relative performance increase? 15-25% over a single core sounds reasonable. Then we tie in the fact that the TB uses DDR, while the Bionic uses DDR2 and that increase jumps to (a measly) 30-40%, in the best case scenario. Which is if the app or apps running are coded for multi threading.

Will the bionic already be outdated when it comes out? Sure, and so is the Thunderbolt. To each his own.

That isn't entirely true. An app doesn't have to be coded for a dual core CPU to see gains from it. The CPU will be used at the OS level, not the app level. Same principle for desktop applications not needing to be coded for mutiple threads to still benefit from it.

The CPU right now, to emulate multitasking, hops between tasks for split seconds, simulating concurrency. Each app runs on it's own, regardless of the type of CPU it is using. With 2 cores, you can accomplish that hopping, twice as fast.

Can an app be coded for mutiple cores? Absolutely. Does it have to be to see benefits from it? Absolutely not. The Android OS is what you should be worried about, that is what will do all the heavy lifting with mutiple cores.

I am in no way insinuating a dual core will offer 2x the performance. It would only offer that if both cores were maxed out completely, which won't happen often.

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums

 

[Crankintopwater69]

I found this article which had a screen shot of some benchmark scores.
http://androidevolutions.com/tag/froyo-dual-core/

Thank you 4 that info.Now im plzed 2 know when i get my dual-core it'll b running both cores.

 

[EFGantry]

here's the thread, with the article link, discussing dual core performance: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dr...s/140004-why-dual-core-todays-technology.html

in essence, the Andy OS is already capable, even in the current Froyo form, of taking advantage of dual cores:

Does this tell you that Android running on these devices uses both cores? Absolutely.
And which versions of Android are they using? FROYO

The reality is that Froyo running on these devices have been recompiled with SMP (Symmetric Multi-Processing) option turned on. The Linux kernel used in Android OS has been supporting multi-core processors for many years. This should not be a news to us.
It might be possible to further optimize these SMP enabled Android OS but even in its current state, it is more than capable of handling both cores

the article does indicate that most apps don't currently take advantage of the availability of dual core. however, i believe the point of the story is to demonstrate that, because the Andy OS is already designed to utilize more than a single core, it will be very easy to optimize apps to take advantage of dual core. therefore, getting the most out of dual core will be something that happens sooner rather than later, and single cores will quickly become outpaced by dual core devices.

moreover, my understanding is that even with apps that aren't optimized for dual core, you'll still get better performance (at least in terms of heat and batt consumption) than single core. for example, what's better/more efficient - a single 1 ghz core running at 1000 mhz, or two 1gzh cores, each operating at 500 mhz...