WP doesn't need dual core to compete

[blackhawk556]

so remember every time android fans talked smack and we gave them that line? well guess what? we were hella wrong.

Having used the HTC 8X for several days, it is obvious that windows phone does need dual core processors. it is amazing how smooth the operating system performs with current generation processors. Apps load much, much quicker and animations flow buttery smooth.

trust me, when you start playing with a wp8 device day in and day out, you will appreciate this new system and hardware.

your thoughts please

 

[ltyarbro42]

I figured this would be the case, but hey, im ok with being wrong in this instance

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express

 

[firstness]

I'm puzzled by OP's reasoning. If the OS runs buttery smooth with 2 cores, why couldn't it run acceptably with 1 core?

It's not the number of cores that prevents WP8 from working on older devices, it's the entire CPU architecture which is obsolete by modern standards.

 

[zolgi]

I'm puzzled by OP's reasoning. If the OS runs buttery smooth with 2 cores, why couldn't it run acceptably with 1 core?

It's not the number of cores that prevents WP8 from working on older devices, it's the entire CPU architecture which is obsolete by modern standards.

Yes, one example is that sgs3 runs on quad-core and is slower than these first wave wp8 with dual-core.

 

[firstness]

Yes, one example is that sgs3 runs on quad-core and is slower than these first wave wp8 with dual-core.

On a related note, I was really hoping that WP8 devices would launch with the Snapdragon S4 Pro with Adreno 320 instead of the non-pro with 225. If you're going to launch a flagship phone and new OS, why not use the best available chipset? Once the next batch of WP8 phones comes out with the S4 Pro, the L920 will feel obsolete.

For example the Nexus 4, having the S4 Pro, has not only a superior CPU/GPU to the L920/8X but it also has 4 cores instead of 2 (although 4 is not really an advantage for WP8).

 

[zolgi]

Because it uses 30% more battery and really isn't that faster that it would make sense.

 

[Landsharkk]

WP7 runs buttery smooth with 1 core, so any improvement on that is like candy.

 

[blackhawk556]

Start launching apps with each side by side and you''ll see what I mean^^^^^^^��

 

[a5cent]

To the OP. I'm not saying you are wrong, but I do wonder how you know???

Say you where to deactivate one of the cores on your WP8 device. You do realize that the remaining core is still much faster then the single core on your previous WP7 device, right? How do you know that single-core performance bump isn't the main contributing factor to better performance? (hint: in most cases it is)

Thanks to having ported the NT kernel and MinWin to ARM, Microsoft was able to bring the entire .NET run-time environment from Windows 8 over to WP8. How do you know this vastly superior .NET implementation (in comparison to what we had on Windows CE) isn't the main reason you're experiencing much improved start-up times? (hint: it is)

The Adreno 225 GPU is about six times faster than the GPU used in 1st gen WP7 devices. How do you know this faster GPU isn't the main contributor to improved UI performance? (hint: it is).

These are all huge improvements that have absolutely nothing to do with the second CPU core. How do you know that second CPU core is so much more responsible for performance improvements, than the combined effect of all the above (hint: it isn't).

On WP, smooth UI performance is mainly a function of GPU performance, so when it comes to "smoothness" that second core isn't really that involved at all.

In order to improve app startup times, Microsoft certainly has a few options on how to bring that second core to bear. However, to date I haven't read anything in the developer documentation suggesting they were active on that front (maybe they were, maybe they weren't). Have you?

How do you know the improvements you are seeing come from where you say they are?

 

[firstness]

Hint: he doesn't.

 

[Squachy]

It doesnt need it to compete, it needs it to keep up with the times.

the WP7 devices came with the snapdragon S1's, while everyone else was using S2's. Then the second gen devices were using Snapdragon S2's while everyone else was moving onto snapdragon S4 duals.

Now WP8 is using S4 duals. ITs still a little bit late to the game but not significantly so. Apple is still using duals and wont see quads (if they do go quad) until the next iphone or ipad, and other than the existing Exynos or Tegra 3 models (which the S4 beats most of the time) No one really has quads. Snapdragon S4 quad is the next step but its not significantly available as the S4 duals. And the next Exynos ad Tegra chipsets wont be out till next year.

 

[AngryNil]

Android has progressed since then. Pre-ICS, Android was a clusterfudge.

 

[Winterfang]

Hopefully the gaming part of it won't be so catastrophic. Gameloft is going to be doing their part bringing us quality games, so I just hope they are not too pricey.

 

[brmiller1976]

Android has progressed since then. Pre-ICS, Android was a clusterfudge.

It still is. My GS 3 will randomly freeze, go into "mute" during calls (and not let me turn it off), crash, and now has a weird problem where after about two days of use, the task switcher takes you to a random app and not the one I selected.

Android is always "fixed in the latest version," but not really.

 

[Winterfang]

There's always waiting with Smartphones. Is frustrating.

 

[a5cent]

Android has progressed since then. Pre-ICS, Android was a clusterfudge.

At least from a technical point of view, it still is. On a fundamental level, the Android OS resembles WinMo 6.5 with a Linux kernel instead of WinCE. In many ways it's still a 2005 era mobile OS optimized for pen based input. It is getting patched and band-aided all over the place, but often times a real 'fix' isn't possible without breaking app compatibility, so the solution all too often just involves throwing insanely powerful hardware at it, so the problem isn't as noticeable... but it rarely solves it. Still pretty much a clusterfudge if you ask me... just not as noticeable to the end user.

 

[Heron_Kusanagi]

I wouldn't be surprised. It took Intel and AMD the step to multicore to make computing a lot smoother now. I mean, back in the Pentium and Athlon days, single cores were 'good enough'. But the few running 2 processors on specialized boards knew better, and only when dual core processors became mainstream did we really knew that 1 core really isn't that great.

I am looking forward to getting a WP8 device. WP7's performance with third party apps is getting to me (Whatsapp and Facebook) and I will love a WP8 device.

 

[socialcarpet]

so remember every time android fans talked smack and we gave them that line? well guess what? we were hella wrong.

Having used the HTC 8X for several days, it is obvious that windows phone does need dual core processors. it is amazing how smooth the operating system performs with current generation processors. Apps load much, much quicker and animations flow buttery smooth.

trust me, when you start playing with a wp8 device day in and day out, you will appreciate this new system and hardware.

your thoughts please

My thought is that there are more variables at play than the cores in the processor. You also have a chip with faster clock speed, newer architecture, double the RAM AND you're running a completely new version of the OS with a different kernel.

There's no doubt that dual core processors will improve performance when paired with software that's designed to take advantage of them, but it's faulty logic to automatically attribute the improvements you're noticing to dual-cores alone. Could have something to do with it, or it might have little to do with it.

That said, I think dual core was inevitable and anyone who knows what their talking about knows they will improve performance, but ONLY when using software that utilizes them and in a way where they come into play.

The same will be true for quad core and so forth. It's not like just adding horsepower to a car.

 

[PhilR8]

This is the same thing that will happen if/when the Windows Phone app catalog adds enough content to be on-par with Google Play and/or iTunes. Right now, every WP ****** says: "Apps? Who but the most ardent hipster downloads more than an app a month? Most of the apps for iOS are crappy anyway!"

 

[Landsharkk]

I'm confused, are people saying that WP7 OS was slow with the single CPU?

I thought it was one of the fastest smartphone OS' I've ever used, even compared to the same gen competition.