Single Core Vs Dual core was the main debate a few months ago.As expected, there was quite a bit of jump in day-to-day activities when we went from one to two cores. No so with dual core vs quad core.....
Some have argued that we haven’t seen a similar performance bump because Android isn’t optimized for quad-core processors. I’m sure there’s some truth to that, however, it looks like SoC architecture – rather than the number of cores — is more important to overall performance than just putting more cores.
The Snapdragon S4 Pro is the latest and greatest SoC at present. It’s performing amazingly well too. What’s more, the little processor is smashing all the benchmarks and only sipping at the battery juice!
Agreed,the S4 Pro performs well, but before we dwell into further details of why that is happening, let’s clear up some confusion surrounding the S4 family.
The Snapdragon S4 Pro could be considered the “middle” processor in the S4 line-up. The reasons for this claim are:
1.The S4 Play comes in dual or quad-core configurations up to 1.2 GHz, it’s also based on the Cortex-A5 and includes an Adreno 230 GPU.
2.The S4 Plus occupies the third slot with a dual-core configuration up to 1.7 GHz based on the Krait architecture with a GPU up to the Adreno 305.
3.The fourth and fifth slots are where the S4 Pro comes into play. Available in either dual-core or quad-core, also up to 1.7 GHz, and also based on the Krait architecture with an Adreno 320 GPU.
4.The sixth and highest position is held by the S4 Prime: quad-core up to 1.7 GHz, Krait-based, with an Adreno 320 GPU.
Battery Power
Whenever we talk about extra processing power or graphics resolution we have to discuss their effects on battery life. One would think that, generally speaking, the more powerful the CPU/GPU, the more power it consumes. Not correct,actually.
As processor technology advances a few interesting things happen. Circuit paths get smaller so power requirements drop. Less heat is produced so there’s less resistance which also contributes to a reduction in power demands.
As graphics processors get better they can take more load off the CPU which can not only make things look a whole lot nicer, it can also help reduce power consumption as well.
I don’t think we’ll see batteries get any smaller (in capacity) any time soon, but looking at how much extra power is harnessed inside the the processors, the battery required to power them is a lot smaller than you might have imagined.
CPU
In the chart below you can see where the Scorpion- and Krait-class processors stack up against the ARM Cortex specs. The Krait is considered a “Cortex-A15-class” processor by some, but not by others.
So it seems that the S4 s are gonna put the Tegras out of business,eh?