HTC Edge rumoured to be first Quad Core phone

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lokhor

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#92936 9-Nov-2011 13:26

According to pocketnow.com the first Kal-El Tegra 3 bearing HD handset is going to be the HTC Edge. Coming in Q1/Q2 2012 this device has some astonishing specs and a fairly typical, yet attractive HTC designed unibody shell.

You can check out the full specs over at AndroidNZ

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timmmay

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#543113 9-Nov-2011 13:38

I can't think of any reason a phone needs a quad core processor. Dual core tegra 2 on my Transformer is really really fast. I think software is still the factor limiting performance, they can't even get rid of keyboard lag in the browser but 3D games work well.

lokhor

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#543116 9-Nov-2011 13:50

The Tegra 3 processor is supposed to be far more power efficient, in the Transformer Prime it will nearly double the battery life over the Transformer. I can think of many reasons to want a quad core, the least of which being the 720p display.

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timmmay

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#543117 9-Nov-2011 13:55

I can play 720p and 1080p with the right software on my Tegra2. More power might be handy 5% of the time, and the lower power fifth core on the Tegra 2 will be handy a lot of the time.

On my tablet power usage is 50% screen, 20% idle, 15% Android OS, 6% WiFi (I turn it off when i'm not using it), then bits and pieces. Angry Birds is at about 5%! I expect on a smaller screen the screen will take less battery, but the radios will take much more - you can't shut down the radios when it's idle if it's a phone :)

tdgeek

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#543119 9-Nov-2011 13:58

Battery life is a common issue on smartphones. If a dual core phone can cater for HD more than adequately, and if the Tegra3 is more power efficent, wouldn't it be a user benefit to make the dual core as power efficient and therefore vastly increase battery life per charge?

In the PC days, hardware was forever always playing catchup to the software, but I don't really see that for smartphones. Happy to be enlightened though!

lokhor

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#543120 9-Nov-2011 13:59

I've had trouble playing 1080p and sometimes 720p content on my Transformer, even with Dice Player. Without NEON extensions on the processor it can't do hardware accelerations for many H264 encoded videos.

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lokhor

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#543121 9-Nov-2011 14:00

tdgeek: Battery life is a common issue on smartphones. If a dual core phone can cater for HD more than adequately, and if the Tegra3 is more power efficent, wouldn't it be a user benefit to make the dual core as power efficient and therefore vastly increase battery life per charge?

In the PC days, hardware was forever always playing catchup to the software, but I don't really see that for smartphones. Happy to be enlightened though!

There are a couple of whitepapers floating around about why the Tegra 3 i so power efficient, basically it needs to be a quad core to achievemore performance at the same voltage levels - reducing power consumption

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tdgeek

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#543122 9-Nov-2011 14:02

lokhor:
tdgeek: Battery life is a common issue on smartphones. If a dual core phone can cater for HD more than adequately, and if the Tegra3 is more power efficent, wouldn't it be a user benefit to make the dual core as power efficient and therefore vastly increase battery life per charge?

In the PC days, hardware was forever always playing catchup to the software, but I don't really see that for smartphones. Happy to be enlightened though!

There are a couple of whitepapers floating around about why the Tegra 3 i so power efficient, basically it needs to be a quad core to achievemore performance at the same voltage levels - reducing power consumption

Ahh, ok, tks for that, nice to learn a bit today

RealityClash

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#543129 9-Nov-2011 14:08

And of course I would see this only several days after buying my HTC Sensation...
Ahh nevermind :/

timmmay

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#543134 9-Nov-2011 14:15

I'd like to read that white paper... here is is, or one like it.

Basically it says we have a low power core that uses less power when performance isn't needed.

Debin

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#543169 9-Nov-2011 15:27

RealityClash: And of course I would see this only several days after buying my HTC Sensation...
Ahh nevermind :/

Not really a big deal though. If you are waiting for the next best thing you'll be foreever waiting!

I expect a Quadcore AMOLED Galaxy would fly off the shelves, though.

Dingbatt

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#543291 9-Nov-2011 19:41

So internal memory only... how Apple-ish. But sticking with my theory about skipping an HTC generation I may have to leapfrog the Sensation and all its iterations and go for a quad after my DHD. Mind you it will be a premium price. Wonder how Cupertino feel about someone producing a quadcore 720p phone before them. 4.7" screen may be pushing the 'pocket-ability' envelope.

Areas of Geek interest: Home Theatre, HTPC, Android Tablets & Phones, iProducts.

lokhor

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#543295 9-Nov-2011 19:51

Dingbatt: So internal memory only... how Apple-ish. But sticking with my theory about skipping an HTC generation I may have to leapfrog the Sensation and all its iterations and go for a quad after my DHD. Mind you it will be a premium price. Wonder how Cupertino feel about someone producing a quadcore 720p phone before them. 4.7" screen may be pushing the 'pocket-ability' envelope.

I don't think Apple really care about specs - they have shown that with the fact that the iPhone 4S is way behind the curve when it comes to that sort of thing. They care more about their design, user experience and brand. Android devices will always be the ones pushing the envelope when it comes to cutting edge hardware. I don't think that 4.7" will be a problem - NZTechFreak is currently reviewing the Galaxy Note a 5.3" behemoth and it fits perfectly fine into his trousers as demonstrated by this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItUPm3xMUb4

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Dingbatt

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#543305 9-Nov-2011 20:12

lokhor:
Dingbatt: So internal memory only... how Apple-ish. But sticking with my theory about skipping an HTC generation I may have to leapfrog the Sensation and all its iterations and go for a quad after my DHD. Mind you it will be a premium price. Wonder how Cupertino feel about someone producing a quadcore 720p phone before them. 4.7" screen may be pushing the 'pocket-ability' envelope.

I don't think Apple really care about specs - they have shown that with the fact that the iPhone 4S is way behind the curve when it comes to that sort of thing. They care more about their design, user experience and brand. Android devices will always be the ones pushing the envelope when it comes to cutting edge hardware. I don't think that 4.7" will be a problem - NZTechFreak is currently reviewing the Galaxy Note a 5.3" behemoth and it fits perfectly fine into his trousers as demonstrated by this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItUPm3xMUb4

The DHD happily fits in a variety of pockets and the extra height and width of the proposed Edge shouldn't be too much different. It's that 4.3" screen on the DHD and Sensation are just manageable one handed, adding that extra 5mm width and height might be just too much. From what I saw of the Note video, it's not really a pocket phone unless you want to show someone you're happy to see them

.
As for Apple not caring about specs, the '5' will be obsolete in terms of specs unless it is quadcore/4"+/720p because of the pace of advancement of their competitors.

Areas of Geek interest: Home Theatre, HTPC, Android Tablets & Phones, iProducts.

insane

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#543399 9-Nov-2011 22:48

I've still got a HTC desire 3.7" and LG P970 4.0" and decided not to upgrade to the sensation after seeing how big the sensations 4.3" screen makes the phone. The thought of a 4.7" screen becoming mainstream really puts me off.

Hopefully someone out there will still be making decent resolution 4" screens to keep the bulk down.

lokhor

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#543436 10-Nov-2011 07:16

insane: I've still got a HTC desire 3.7" and LG P970 4.0" and decided not to upgrade to the sensation after seeing how big the sensations 4.3" screen makes the phone. The thought of a 4.7" screen becoming mainstream really puts me off.

Hopefully someone out there will still be making decent resolution 4" screens to keep the bulk down.

It's funny that you say that, I switched from the SGS i9000 to the Sensation and found the size to be much nicer - it felt sleeker and more comfortable in hand. The Sensation has a 16:9 ratio screen so is quite slim, meaning it's fairly easy to reach right across even though it's 4.3". My Fiancee has tiny (like seriously tiny) hands and she really likes her Sensation.

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All comments are my own opinion, and not that of my employer unless explicitly stated.