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Apple may re-architect iOS to utilize more processor cores ahead of iPhone 6

vansmith

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I suppose that would keep them in the game in terms of processing cores since many Android devices are moving to 4+ cores but why does my phone need more than 2 (isn't 2 already quite a bit)?
 
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From what I know, iOS can already utilize multi cores(up to 4 without problems). These rumors are either wrong, or are actually referring to more cores than what we have been seeing in the market(maybe 2x2 or 2x4 setups).
 

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From what I know, iOS can already utilize multi cores(up to 4 without problems).
Is the OS multicore aware though? You can certainly do concurrent processing tasks in iOS but does the OS itself work like that? Honest question - I have no idea.
 

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I suppose that would keep them in the game in terms of processing cores since many Android devices are moving to 4+ cores but why does my phone need more than 2 (isn't 2 already quite a bit)?

Exactly. We're not exactly running "heavy hitter" applications on these things.
 
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Is the OS multicore aware though? You can certainly do concurrent processing tasks in iOS but does the OS itself work like that? Honest question - I have no idea.

iOS is, but I'm not sure how individual apps are designed...never really looked into it before. Both Android and iOS can use multi-cores at the same time. Apple made Grand Central Dispatch to help apps take advantage of multiple cores(not sure if there is a limit). I remember Apple talking about the new 2 processor greatness out of the iPhone4s and how the new iMovie was going to take advantage of it. I haven't tried this on an iPhone, but on my Note2, I can check the speed of all 4 cores to see how much each is being used, as well as speeding 1(or all 4), or shutting 1 or more down. Is there an app to let you see that info? I would check myself, but I don't have the means to do so.
 
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Anyone ever wish there was a "valet" setting for their iPhone? Sort of like how you could put your Corvette ZR-1 into 4 cylinder mode so the valet couldn't have too much "Ferris Bueller" type fun while you were eating dinner? I'd like to have less CPU to make my battery last longer - maybe just enough to make and receive cellular calls and that's it.
 

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Anyone ever wish there was a "valet" setting for their iPhone? Sort of like how you could put your Corvette ZR-1 into 4 cylinder mode so the valet couldn't have too much "Ferris Bueller" type fun while you were eating dinner? I'd like to have less CPU to make my battery last longer - maybe just enough to make and receive cellular calls and that's it.

LOL on the Ferris Bueller comment. That would be awesome, actually - and something that would set iOS apart.

Maybe you should say something...

Apple - Feedback
 

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Anyone ever wish there was a "valet" setting for their iPhone? Sort of like how you could put your Corvette ZR-1 into 4 cylinder mode so the valet couldn't have too much "Ferris Bueller" type fun while you were eating dinner? I'd like to have less CPU to make my battery last longer - maybe just enough to make and receive cellular calls and that's it.
Hmmm, processors have this ability - the Tegra line has different core speeds (Tegra 3 has four regular cores and one slower core for when the device is asleep) and the new 8 core processor Samsung developed is actually a high performance 4 core and a lower performance 4 core one. Controlling this at the software level can't be hard either - my One S has a "power saver" mode which, if I understand correctly, shuts down one of the two cores.
 
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More cores would be useful if they introduced true (simultaneous-process, regardless of screen focus) multi-tasking...
 

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The question that remains though is "do you even need it?" Honestly, I can't think of much on a phone that requires multi-thread support. It's a phone...
 
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More cores would be useful if they introduced true (simultaneous-process, regardless of screen focus) multi-tasking...

The Galaxy Note 2(as well as a few others) can already due that depending on what carrier you are with. It wouldn't be much of an introduction, as much as it would be catching up. It's actually not a feature I much care about though. As long as cache gets saved from a previous app, it's all I need.
 
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The question that remains though is "do you even need it?" Honestly, I can't think of much on a phone that requires multi-thread support. It's a phone...

Some of the most popular phones today are more powerful than the computers from less than 10 years ago. There's definitely a need.
 

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The Galaxy Note 2(as well as a few others) can already due that depending on what carrier you are with. It wouldn't be much of an introduction, as much as it would be catching up. It's actually not a feature I much care about though. As long as cache gets saved from a previous app, it's all I need.

That's more of a curse than a feature. Apple's implementation of "multitasking" (which it really isn't, it's more like task switching) is very deliberately done that way. I can't see them "catching" up any time soon. Not unless battery technology improves in a very significant way and people do way more on their phones than run basic apps and play games.
 

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Some of the most popular phones today are more powerful than the computers from less than 10 years ago. There's definitely a need.
I get the feeling this is more a product of the vicious "consumers want more power so companies produce them which means people want better phones..." circle. And honestly, I think some (certainly not all though) people buy the top of the line phones because they can, not because they know what it is.
 
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There's nothing wrong with buying the top of the line phone, or any product of such nature. I remember my HTC MDA from a while back. I thought it was fast, and kept it for while thinking it was still a good phone a few iPhones later. When I turned it on, it was so slow it would probably be comparable to swimming through honey. The demand for consumers wanting better products, which in turn causes companies to upgrade their products, is nothing abnormal. Happens with literally everything man-made. Without it, there would never be consumer awareness of what is better, or that they are the driving force behind the bettering of products. Would you go back to whatever cell phone you had 10 years ago? From your experience of how you handled it back 10 years ago, you might say yes, but if you were to start fresh with it after using a phone from today, you would throw it straight into the trash.
 

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Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against innovation (I do like my shiny new toys) but innovation doesn't always have to entail "bigger/more is better" which seems to be a trend in mobile device development. Think of the two major trends in mobile phones right now: larger screens and more processing cores. Even Apple, a company adamant that the pre-iPhone 5 size was sufficient acquiesced on screen size. My concern with this (more with the processing cores than anything) is do we really need it now? Given that it hits my battery hard, I'd suggest that it's overkill for what we want. Take for example the Exynos 5 processor Samsung built. It has 8 cores (one quad 1.8Ghz and one quad 1.2Ghz). Why? What possible good other than testing battery capacity does that provide me for my phone? This is where I have the problem. Innovation is great but it doesn't have to mean pushing things beyond necessity.

This is where Apple does it right. Developers need to stop cramming gear into a plastic case and selling it as the next best thing. The ultimate goal is experience and Apple has demonstrated that you don't need to put a Ferrari engine under the hood to get it.

(Note, perhaps in a moment in which I admit irony, I've ordered a Nexus 4, a phone with 4 cores and 2GB of RAM, haha).
 
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Scientist: "It's a much bigger pill."
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That's more of a curse than a feature. Apple's implementation of "multitasking" (which it really isn't, it's more like task switching) is very deliberately done that way. I can't see them "catching" up any time soon. Not unless battery technology improves in a very significant way and people do way more on their phones than run basic apps and play games.

I'm not sure if you've ever experienced multitasking on it, but It's extremely far from a curse. Just search for Note 2 multitasking on Youtube some videos. If you're not impressed by what you see, then nothing will ever impress you.
 
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Split-screen multi-tasking may not be massively useful on an iPhone or iPod Touch due to the limited screen size (even given the high resolution), but it could be worthwhile on the iPad; to be able to run two 1536x1024 (3:2 an aspect ratio that we know iOS works well in) 7" effective diagonal size applications side-by-side or one atop the other on the iPad's 4:3 screen (i.e. the apps in landscape mode when the tablet was held in portrait orientation & vise-versa) could be useful for businessmen, content creators, etc...
 

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