[ampere]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

I still don't understand why Samsung gave the S4 two sets of quad-core processors, except for them playing musical chairs among themselves.

Its not the full power of 8 cores. Its still mainly the 4-cores. One set of quad is made of the Cortex-A15 core, which is the power horse; while the other set is made of Cortex-A7; a lower power version which would used for such applications. Of course kernel scheduling and the rest, are of a different complexity. (Esp to figure when to use what and switch)

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

uh, excuse me.

I still don't understand why Samsung gave the S4 two sets of quad-core processors, except for them playing musical chairs among themselves.

In terms of response, the S3 was good enough. Seriously - most people just need to browse the internet, check facebook and email etc. Two quad cores is beyond overkill.

Even though I don't like Samsung mostly due to the design philosophy, I do acknowledge that they are quick on the roll out of updates, so I'll say future ready,heat management and all.
Most people don't need octa, so most people don't need to buy it, no?
The nearest analogy I can draw is a v12 shutting down 4 cylinders when not necessary.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by ampere

Its not the full power of 8 cores. Its still mainly the 4-cores. One set of quad is made of the Cortex-A15 core, which is the power horse; while the other set is made of Cortex-A7; a lower power version which would used for such applications. Of course kernel scheduling and the rest, are of a different complexity. (Esp to figure when to use what and switch)

Exactly - why this kolaveri di?

[agambhandari]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Exactly - why this kolaveri di?

To make the phone powerful yet power efficient.

[bhp_maniac]

Originally Posted by ampere

Its not the full power of 8 cores. Its still mainly the 4-cores. One set of quad is made of the Cortex-A15 core, which is the power horse; while the other set is made of Cortex-A7; a lower power version which would used for such applications. Of course kernel scheduling and the rest, are of a different complexity. (Esp to figure when to use what and switch)

The power efficiency thing definitely works! My wife owns one and it doesn't even lose a single percent of battery overnight! I was jealous as my Note 2 drains around 2%

[mrohit17]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Galaxy Grand is possibly the most daft phone to buy at the price. Its got nothing going for it. Lags like hell, too big a screen for the resolution and looks horrendous. No finesse. But then again, its expected given Samsung releases a Galaxy phone almost everyday.

Well not really...remember its the most decent dual sim available in the market today (lets see how the latest released Lenovo's fare). A large section of people considering it are because of the dual sim capability.

As far as its screen is considered, it quite matches if not betters most of the HD/full HD screens available for the similar price band (read Micromax, Lava etc.). The brightness and the colour reproduction of the screen is better than them. Well I moved from Note-1 to Grand and had the same apprehensions but then I have not yet cursed the screen once. In fact I believe Grand is one such example which proves that just resolution of a screen does not translate to good performance in real world. But yes better resolution would have been more great I agree.

What it loses in screen resolution it gains in battery life. Remember screen time is the most battery consuming activity and HD/Full HD screens would use more power. I am a power user and I take my phone out of charging 6:00AM in morning (full day 3G on, two e-mail accounts, one exchange account, team-bhp, tapatalk, Whatsapp, little gaming) and by 10:00 in the night the phone goes completely dead. Its better than my other handsets where even on single sim they managed only similar battery performance.

Also as per my real life experience Grand is better in the lag department than Note-1 and I have made it perform better as stated some posts earlier.

Styling too is similar to any premium Galaxy handset so its quite boring but fine. And performance wise it runs Subway Surfer/ Dead Trigger just fine.

I believe points above make this a decent/OK handset option even for single sim users of course the Samsung branding is a plus too. But for dual sim users its the best option I believe (Awaiting reviews of Lenovo P780....).

[ampere]

Originally Posted by bhp_maniac

The power efficiency thing definitely works! My wife owns one and it doesn't even lose a single percent of battery overnight! I was jealous as my Note 2 drains around 2%

I need to upgrade! I am still on Atrix 2 !

On a serious note, with architectures getting more efficient and a semiconductor gains with newer technologies starting to seeing the wall, to a certain extent, its law of diminishing returns. Its hard to see some real disruptive technology in architectures, getting all pervasive. It may be one in ten, but still that does not stop people from innovating. That still is the key.

[bhp_maniac]

Originally Posted by ampere

I need to upgrade! I am still on Atrix 2 !

On a serious note, with architectures getting more efficient and a semiconductor gains with newer technologies starting to seeing the wall, to a certain extent, its law of diminishing returns. Its hard to see some real disruptive technology in architectures, getting all pervasive. It may be one in ten, but still that does not stop people from innovating. That still is the key.

Atrix 2, its a different story altogether for me. Atrix 2 still holds the award for the mobile phone which I used for the shortest time, i.e. 4 months to be precise No other problems, but it used to last only 8-10 hrs on 3G. I am not a heavy user at all. Normally, the mobile phone life cycle we follow in our family is like this. When I upgrade, my phone goes to wife, her goes to one of the parents. When I changed from Atrix 2 to Note 2, I did the same and my wife literally cursed me for the battery life she got on Atrix 2 and altogether it spent 6 months in the family.

[Spinnerr]

Hello! Need help....

I going round and round trying to figure out which of these phones to buy. Please help out and tip the scale in one's favor; I would like to pick one of these 2 up this weekend.

1. LG Nexus 4, 16GB
2. Xperia SP

I had gone through reviews; side by side comparison; specs check, camera check. But yet I have not able to put my finger on one of these phone.

Spec comparison - http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3...2=5048#results

+ & -
LG Nexus 4, 16GB 26,200 (LG Shoppe)
+ Solid feel, nice to hold, all glossy black
+ Secondary camera is 1.3 MP
+ 2 GB ram (Temple run ran flawlessly)
+ Has compass
+ IPS dislay, so better viewing angles
- Li-Po 2100 mAh battery (?? with better battery management, may be with an optimized chipset, would this be a concern at all? )
- No memory card slot

Xperia SP 24,500 (Univercell)
+ Back cover is rubberized; so a better grip
+ Has a glove mode to operate the screen
+ Prev experience with Sony phones were good, service center experience was also good.
+ Has FM radio
+ 2370 mAh battery
- only 1GB RAM (Not sure if is a concern)
- No inbuilt compass

Both the phones have AVERAGE cameras; am OK with that. Android 4.1, 4.2 doesn't really matter.

Xperia has a Dual-core 1.7 GHz compared to Quad-core 1.5 GHz of Nexus, not sure if this is a deal breaker; cuz the phones which I tired on were not demo pieces; but of regular people. So it was fairly loaded with apps and contacts and msgs. And both felt fast. Pity I was not able to do a side by side compare on the same day.

Nexus looks good; SP's screen in certain angles were not that good. GSM arena endurance test places SP above Nexus; I would like to get a full day out of my phone.

Xperia SP isn't a popular phone; so I might be able to hold out once the people lap up Nexus 4.

In short; not able to decide.

[kap04]

Originally Posted by Spinnerr

Hello! Need help....

I going round and round trying to figure out which of these phones to buy. Please help out and tip the scale in one's favor; I would like to pick one of these 2 up this weekend.

1. LG Nexus 4, 16GB
2. Xperia SP

I had gone through reviews; side by side comparison; specs check, camera check. But yet I have not able to put my finger on one of these phone.

Spec comparison - http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3...2=5048#results

+ & -
LG Nexus 4, 16GB 26,200 (LG Shoppe)
+ Solid feel, nice to hold, all glossy black
+ Secondary camera is 1.3 MP
+ 2 GB ram (Temple run ran flawlessly)
+ Has compass
+ IPS dislay, so better viewing angles
- Li-Po 2100 mAh battery (?? with better battery management, may be with an optimized chipset, would this be a concern at all? )
- No memory card slot

Xperia SP 24,500 (Univercell)
+ Back cover is rubberized; so a better grip
+ Has a glove mode to operate the screen
+ Prev experience with Sony phones were good, service center experience was also good.
+ Has FM radio
+ 2370 mAh battery
- only 1GB RAM (Not sure if is a concern)
- No inbuilt compass

Both the phones have AVERAGE cameras; am OK with that. Android 4.1, 4.2 doesn't really matter.

Xperia has a Dual-core 1.7 GHz compared to Quad-core 1.5 GHz of Nexus, not sure if this is a deal breaker; cuz the phones which I tired on were not demo pieces; but of regular people. So it was fairly loaded with apps and contacts and msgs. And both felt fast. Pity I was not able to do a side by side compare on the same day.

Nexus looks good; SP's screen in certain angles were not that good. GSM arena endurance test places SP above Nexus; I would like to get a full day out of my phone.

Xperia SP isn't a popular phone; so I might be able to hold out once the people lap up Nexus 4.

In short; not able to decide.

Nexus 4 any day, just because of the 2 gigs of RAM, and the pure android experience

[JustCause]

Originally Posted by agambhandari

To make the phone powerful yet power efficient.

According to GSMarena comparo (Link) , the Quad core Snapdragon 600 version is more energy efficient than the Exynos Octa version, the performance being quite similar. The Cortex-A7 cores are no more than a gimmick, and are just there for one-uppance.

[9thsphinx]

Originally Posted by Spinnerr

Hello! Need help....

1. LG Nexus 4, 16GB
2. Xperia SP

In short; not able to decide.

Nexus any day. And it's backed by Google. You can't ask for more.

I've heard of a few people having trouble with their brand new Xperias. You wouldn't want yourself caught in that soup.

[agambhandari]

Originally Posted by JustCause

According to GSMarena comparo (Link) , the Quad core Snapdragon 600 version is more energy efficient than the Exynos Octa version, the performance being quite similar. The Cortex-A7 cores are no more than a gimmick, and are just there for one-uppance.

I have extensively read that comparison earlier as well. The exynos still has better performance and not much worse than the Q600. Think if there weren't any a7 cores, it would have gulped down more power.

[arup.misra]

Originally Posted by Spinnerr

I would like to pick one of these 2 up this weekend.

1. LG Nexus 4, 16GB
2. Xperia SP

If it helps, I have been using the Nexus 4 since Feb. Avg usage is calls (pretty obvious ), loads of internet both on wifi and 3G, music while driving to / from work, occasional videos & maps. Not much of a gamer of much of the newer games that I had installed in my experimental stage worked flawlessly.

With all this the battery easily lasts for day and a half. Got a nice book-type cover to protect accidental falls.

[harry10]

@Spinner- Nexus 4 any day. Been using it since 3 weeks and its fabulous. Have been reading few users complaining about issues in SP. So, do check all details before buying.