HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

Interesting reading, never imagined phones would move to dual cores

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardwar...details-leak/1

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

Soo when is the new amazing ubertechnology for batteries coming I wonder..

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

Funny that it's called the "Glacier", I bet it won't feel so cold with dual core processors running @ >= 1GHz. However still sounds cool, so maybe it's warranted.

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

the next step for arm has been announced as being dual core. Hopefully Nokia is going to be bold and introduce this with the first Meego device! timeframe should be about right.

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

super awesome. Although the article claims it didnt score that much higher than the galaxy s with its 1ghz hummingbird processor in the benchmark tests. Im not sure how dual core 1.2 ghz processors dont own noobs against a single 1ghz, but anyways :P

I feel like HTC is really leading this crazy with the 1ghz processors for the last year. where the heck is our super awesome Nokia :P

BTW, at some point these inferior, mortal operating systems wont know what to do with all the cpu power, and thats when our amazingly ambitious mobile computers will shine, riiight? :P

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

Dual core ARM is nothing new. Cortex-A9 core based cpus were shown by few manufacturers already.

I played with dual core U8500 (ARM cpu from ST-Ericsson) running Android in 2009.

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

Initial releases won't bring (too) much improvement as most OSs and benchmarks are not optimized for multicore hardware. On a side note - Maemo/MeeGo requires the least amount of 'tweaking' to work nicely with multicore.

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

when has it been announced? please keep in mind that a device needs approximately 1-2 years from start meeting to working product that can be sold....

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

OMAP4 has been announced in February 2009, with silicon available from February 2010 and volume production in late 2010.

EDIT: Though it might be counterintuitive, dual core processors might actually mean better power saving in certain scenarios (having two well utilized cores at 500MHz can be less drain than a single core at 1GHz (as power consumption increase is not linear).

EDIT2: OMAP4 brings also many more interesting things, not just dual cores and general efficiency - take for example the video/image segment, stuff like multi-display output, support for image stabilization, 1080p level of video muscle, picoprojectors and even 3D content should that become an important thing.

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

And it was already said, that the first MeeGo device won't run on a dual-core chip.
It will run on a (hummingbird-like) Cortex A8 clocked at 1Ghz.

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

Man on one hand I'm afraid that by the time Nokia's MeeGo baby comes out, it won't run hardware that's still current. I think that by Christmas 2010 1Ghz processors will be the stock frequency in a lot of high-end phones.

Then on the other hand I remember that d'oh, "its going to be running Linux!" and my worries fly away again 8).

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

Pretty much (if not all) all devices you see are planned a year in advance. More then a year if you just think in potential concepts. Then comes negotiation, engineering, etc..

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

omap36xx probably - 1GHz clock replacement of omap34xx from N900

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

Not very surprising. ARM architecture was created for desktops. ;)

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

Isnt dual core cpu's going to eat your battery like pringles?

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

Depends on how they are used. If both are running at full speed to do all operations? Then yes. If they're used to split a task but take less cycles than a single core CPU? Then no

It's also like what consumes more battery life, a task running at 250 mhz clocked CPU or a 600 mhz clocked CPU. The 600 clock gets it done alot faster than the 250 mhz, so it spends less time in use therefore not consuming as much battery over a prolonged time.

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

Let me get to work on developing liquid cooling solutions for overclocked dual core cell phones.

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

Not convinced this is a dual-core device.

As pointed out in the article, the "up to 3x faster in some tests" is based on GLbenchmark, which is an OpenGL suite of tests and (as pointed out in this forum post) the original 1GHz SnapDragon (presumably as used in the HTC EVO) had a poor GPU.

Presumably the new 1.2GHz SnapDragon SoC in the Glacier now has a better GPU explaining why it is slightly faster (on GLBenchmark) than the 1GHz clocked Samsung Galaxy S (which already had an updated GPU) - the difference is due to the increased clock frequency of the single core ARM in the Glacier, not the presence of second core.

For the record, I'd prefer a slower clocked dual core device (eg. dual 600Mhz-800Mhz) than a fast clocked single core device (1GHz+), and a highly clocked dual core device is probably ridiculous/overkill.

Agree that MeeGo is probably best placed to exploit SMP but tweaking the VM may be all that's required in order for Android to make better use of additional cores.

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

dang. Where was this said?

Isn't A8 oldschool, and A9 is expected soon?

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

Why the heck has HTC had 1ghz snapdragon phones out for what seems to be a long time, and Nokia's N9 (asuming that will be the first MeeGo device after all) will get a 1ghz processor, in the future.

Also, hummingbird > snapdragon? 1ghz is 1ghz is 1ghz?

EDIT:

So the snapdragon we seen in all these HTCs is made by qualcomm, and the hummingbird is made in house by Samsung, as seen in their galaxy s? So Nokia is gonna source cpu's from Samsung?

Also, is anyone willing to teach me by adding N900 info to this chart ?

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

N96 had dual ARM9s. Dual CPU ARMs are nothing new. The OMAP3430 in your N900 is already arguably dual core.

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

you're not going to believe what people thought impossible 10 years ago...^^

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

No, don't fall for Qualcomm's abuse of the megahertz myth. They're pulling a Pentium 4 with their A8 stuff.

TI, most likely.

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

Actually the score is rather weak. Galaxy S that i own too gives those results before even the major extra umph gotten from Android 2.2.
If it's real i bet it's some Qualcomm dual core sh1te. :p

Nokia have had good relationship with TI so i'm hoping we see some OMAP4 love from there because that's surely the next gen imo and it should be hear on our hands from these big manufacturers in very near future. When it comes to Nokia i doubt we will yet see it inside the first MeeGo phone thought.

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

Hard to see the many advantages of having 2 processors in a phone at this time, 1ghz proves to be enough. Maybe if it also supported real graphics cards and a keypad I might actually care :/

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

The benefit of a dual core system is not just so you can run more stuff. It can be used to reduce the inefficiency of using one CPU at a higher clock speed. It's kinda like Apple's A4 chips. They can go alot faster than what Apple uses them for, but Apple would prefer to use the more efficient chips at a lower clock speed for better battery life and less heat output.

I am going be surprised if the HTC Glacier doesn't have better battery life and less heat output than other Android 1 Ghz single core devices.

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

One big thing for the performance and battery life is that example snapdragon 1ghz and OMAP3430 are 65nm based while hummingbird, A4 and OMAP36xx are 45Nm.

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

N96 maybe had two ARM9 cpus. But one was application CPU (Symbian + apps) where second was baseband cpu (so GSM modem). That was popular way.

N900 has single core ARM cpu. OMAP3430 has few units in one silicon but only one ARM core - rest are DSP, GPU etc.

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

# of cores in an SoC is always an interesting discussion for marketing. Lots of SoCs have additional cores embedded for support functions which are not customer facing. Do you only count the apps cores the customer can see or do you include the 4+ other cores, some of which may also be ARM based?

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

Technically, it has two ARM cores - the GSM section has a separate ARM(9?) core, but it is dedicated so not really pertinent to this story.

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

So what? N900 has multiple integrated processors inside. (430 MHz GPU, 600 MHz CPU and a processor for GSM module(?))

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

I think when people talk about "dual core" etc. they're really thinking in terms of SMP.

Most SoCs today have a single ARM core with additional hardware units to help with certain types of workload, but that doesn't make these SoCs "multi-core" in the same way that a SoC with two or more SMP-enabled general purpose ARM cores would be considered a "true" dual-core device etc.

Also the Android-based G1 had two cores on it's Qualcomm SoC - an ARM9 running a closed source real-time OS for the GSM stack (ie. phone functions) and a completely separate ARM11 for the Android OS and applications. The same SoC also had two DSPs plus media and video hardware acceleration units. Still wasn't "dual-core" though, as it had no SMP capability whatsoever.

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

Just to say that the Qualcomm Snapdragon isn't a Cortex-A8 core - Qualcomm licensed the instruction set from ARM and then designed their own CPU architecture that (mostly) implemented the ARMv7 instruction set. Since Snapdragon is not a Cortex-A8 and a completely custom design Qualcomm were able to implement changes that allowed for higher speed/faster clocks and/or improved performance (ie. better SIMD operations).

TI and Samsung licensed the Cortex A-8 architecture from ARM and proceeded to build their SoCs around it, tweaking the ARM design where necessary to suit their requirements, but it's fundamentally a Cortex-A8 at heart.

I do agree though that the ridiculous "megahertz claims" are leading us back into the dark ages of Intel vs. AMD. :(

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

these engineers that work on cpu and its architecture, are they all software engineers? what do you call them?

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

I'll bet it won't run glacially slow either.

You can call them "sir".

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

Transistor monkeys.

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

Architects. Generally not software engineers, though you may wind up working with a lot of HDL (hardware description language).

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

hehehe lol

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

lawlzorz :)

Re: HTC Glacier - dual processors!
 

An old link for what is the key improvement as posted above ..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQQM3w8atsM