Google's Android 2.1: How It'll Change Your Phone

[cereal killer]

I see that a lot of people are interested in the Live Wallpapers that 2.1 brings.

Not to pee on anybody's parade but it is being reported on the N1 that they use up a lot of juice, are slow and degrade performance.

Just a heads up just in case that trickles over to the Droid. May not be an issue BUT just in case it is, you have been forewarned.

I was wondering that same thing. Another thing to point out is if it's slowing down the N1 then it's gonna be worse on the Droid or Droid Eris. The N1 has almost twice the processor power.

The reason I mention it is because IF, notice I said IF, it happens to run on the Droid the same way we don't have 50 million threads complaining about it : )

I'm telling you right now if it runs like it does on the N1 watch these forums light up with complaints. You and others that are prepared for it will shrug it off because you were aware of it ahead of time. Again this is assuming they, live walls, will run slow.

Now your statement about it certainly running slower on the Droid is not true. 2 different chips. The Droids architecture/chip is top notch. It's no slouch. I'm pretty sure that when this phone was in development they took into consideration 2.1 running on it. Could run better, could run the same, could run worse. Saying it will CERTAINLY run slower on the Droid is far from the truth.

I'm not an expert on the Droids CPU/GPU but I do know that it has a much higher fill rate than the N1's Snapdragon. How that plays out in 2.1 I have no clue but I'm not going to say it will be better or worse.

 

[Danthok]

what does the live walpaper do to the already weak battery life?

You might have a defective battery. My battery life is amazing, the only time I dip below 50% in a day is when I heavily use GPS.

 

[928Droid]

what does the live walpaper do to the already weak battery life?

You might have a defective battery. My battery life is amazing, the only time I dip below 50% in a day is when I heavily use GPS.

I agree, I think the Battery life, considering all the Droid Does, is amazing also. I have GPS, Wi-Fi, BT, auto brightness, etc on all day and am always doing somehing with it and I haven't had to go on the charger until I go to bed yet.

On the other hand my wife barely messes with her Eris, her Wi-Fi, BT, and GPS is always off and she never makes it thru the whole day.

Given the similar form factor of the Nexus to the Eris and then add in the faster processor I would be VERY surprised that a Nexus would last a whole day using it like I do my Droid.

Regardless, I know I will be using the Livewallpapers even if I have to go on the charger before the end of the day... at least until the novelty wears off

 

[Droidster163]

Sweet review! The other day i was looking for a voice to text app in the market! Nice to know i don't have to buy an app now! Also looking forward to the live backgrounds!

 

[Big Cam]

what does the live walpaper do to the already weak battery life?

You might have a defective battery. My battery life is amazing, the only time I dip below 50% in a day is when I heavily use GPS.

As a future droid owner this makes me very happy and excited.

 

[papy72]

fill rate [/URL]than the N1's Snapdragon.

Where did you get the fill rate information?

 

[KevinJ]

Does anyone know (yet) if the startup sequence with 2.1 will change? I think I remember seeing a video where someone put a beta 2.1 on their rooted Droid, and the "Droid" sound and the Red Eye were replaced.

(I like the Red Eye. I like to think of as my own personal Cylon - even better if it looked like Boomer or Caprica Six)

 

[cereal killer]

fill rate [/URL]than the N1's Snapdragon.

Where did you get the fill rate information?

Here's some info I've copied and pasted from various sites on this whole issue. People hear 1GHZ and then shut down. It's not just about clock speed as I've been saying for some time. The Droids TI OMAP 3430 is VERY capable and will be for some time.

*note: this is taken from 4 different sites*
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OMAP 3430 vs snapdragon... Both application processors are cortex a8 based so at 1GHz the snapdragon would be faster and draw more power. On the 3d side the 3430 has a GPU that pushes 18.5M triangles and about 662M pixels per second @ 530MHz the specs on the current snapdragon chipset list 22M triangles and 133M pixels per second. Not sure why the fill rate is so bad on the snapdragon but qualcomm didn't exactly go for 3d muscle in its MSM7500 series either so their GPU may simply be gimped with respect to fill rate. If this is true then the current snapdragon would be better and significantly worse then the OMAP 3430 depending on the application or benchmark.

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As for the performance benefit of the dedicated GPU in the OMAP3430 – The GPU in the OMAP3430 can perform roughly 18.5 Million Triangles and 662M pixels per second while Snapdragon has been benched (by Qualcomm, so take it as you will) at 22 Million Triangles although at a rather lowly fill rate of 133M pixels per second.

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i think its safe to say that Sanpdragon will most likely be better for everyday uses and the OMAP3430 will be better for games and UIs with GPU accelerated APIs

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To clarify, Snapdragon is the name for the platform. The processor core is called Scorpion which is based off the A8 architecture. This processor is paired up with an Imageon GPU along with an ISP and DSP. The OMAP3 found in the DROID is paired up with an SGX GPU. While the OMAP3 isn't as stout as the Snap's Scorpion, the GPU tends to be the weak point of the that combo where as the SGX GPU is very good, though also clocked slower. At the end of the day, it comes down to integration. Which combination and integration of SoC design works best. Benchmark tests for the N1 aren't out yet, but the HD2 which has the same hardware was bested by the iPhone running an OMAP3/SGX combo in virtually every graphics test except for a few integer-based tests where the Snap shines.

The short answer after a long one is: You're fine. The DROID's SoC is potent and will run and continue to run in many mobile platforms even after the N1's release. Snap is just the latest fad for marketing purposes. Don't get me wrong, it's very, very capable, but it won't render what you have obsolete.

 

[928Droid]

Nice post ^^^^^

 

[andymellon4]

will the update be sent to our phone for 2.1 like 2.0.1 was

 

[SSHGuru]

No they will us US mail and a special plug.:icon_ devil:

will the update be sent to our phone for 2.1 like 2.0.1 was

 

[andymellon4]

No they will us US mail and a special plug.:icon_ devil:

will the update be sent to our phone for 2.1 like 2.0.1 was

Well they could always not send it to us and we would have to go search for it and manually update it....................:icon_ devil:

 

[titans]

Hopefully this is released soon, can't wait.

 

[SSHGuru]

The manual update was invented in these forums - definitely not recommended by Verizon..

They will all be OTA.

No they will us US mail and a special plug.:icon_ devil:

will the update be sent to our phone for 2.1 like 2.0.1 was

Well they could always not send it to us and we would have to go search for it and manually update it....................:icon_ devil:

 

[Abby Normal]

GREAT post, better than great information.....:icon_ banana: