Android L is now smoother, faster, nicer looking than iOS

[TechGod]

Sure...

He was being sarcastic.

 

[jrswizzle]

I know they just tore apart the new iMac and it was identical to last year's model. Only thing they did was put a 5k screen in. I have seen this over the years. Apple doesn't make drastic changes every year or even every other year. That is what I am referring to.

"Only put a 5K screen in it".....

Uhh....so that doesn't count as a semi-major accomplishment? I mean, I suppose given all the other 5K all-in-ones out there its not really a.....oh, wait.

They developed a brand new chip to push the pixels and likely did some additional work to the display apparatus itself.

The MBA internals were completely reworked a year or two ago.

Apple designs its own mobile chips each year. Add on a second A8X this year.

They've always been at the forefront of display technology (not the display itself, rather the entire apparatus) - this year adapting their laminating process to the iPad Air 2.

That R&D department does a crap ton of stuff. Most of it not realized by the general public because its all under-the-hood stuff. The nuts and bolts get very little attention compared to the sizzle.

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Yes everyone pays costs over and above bill of materials

Regardless it leaves a bad taste in my mouth that iPhone often times is lower bom and higher or equivalent cost. Ye olde apple tax

Comparing BOM to BOM doesn't even tell you the whole story though.....

If I'm company A and I buy 10 million chip wafers for my order, I'd likely get those wafers at a cheaper cost than Company B who only needs 2 million.

So when comparing BOMs, one must also take into account the sheer volume Apple moves and the affect volume discount pricing likely has on the overall BOM.

Just reiterating what has already been said - there's a lot more to this than just a BOM. If you calculated profit margin off the BOM itself, you'd be somewhere in the neighborhood of 65-70%. Yet Apple reports profits FAR lower than that (usually somewhere near 30-40%).

Wonder where all that money goes.....

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Quick question - is Android L officially out yet?

 

[daneoni]

He was being sarcastic.

I guessed so, but you can never be sure in this forum hence my ambiguous reply.

Quick question - is Android L officially out yet?

Not to my knowledge which is the irony of it all.

 

[TechGod]

"Only put a 5K screen in it".....

Uhh....so that doesn't count as a semi-major accomplishment? I mean, I suppose given all the other 5K all-in-ones out there its not really a.....oh, wait.

They developed a brand new chip to push the pixels and likely did some additional work to the display apparatus itself.

The MBA internals were completely reworked a year or two ago.

Apple designs its own mobile chips each year. Add on a second A8X this year.

They've always been at the forefront of display technology (not the display itself, rather the entire apparatus) - this year adapting their laminating process to the iPad Air 2.

That R&D department does a crap ton of stuff. Most of it not realized by the general public because its all under-the-hood stuff. The nuts and bolts get very little attention compared to the sizzle.

----------



Comparing BOM to BOM doesn't even tell you the whole story though.....

If I'm company A and I buy 10 million chip wafers for my order, I'd likely get those wafers at a cheaper cost than Company B who only needs 2 million.

So when comparing BOMs, one must also take into account the sheer volume Apple moves and the affect volume discount pricing likely has on the overall BOM.

Just reiterating what has already been said - there's a lot more to this than just a BOM. If you calculated profit margin off the BOM itself, you'd be somewhere in the neighborhood of 65-70%. Yet Apple reports profits FAR lower than that (usually somewhere near 30-40%).

Wonder where all that money goes.....

----------

Quick question - is Android L officially out yet?

Thank you. Exactly this. Other companies just recycle chips, e.g most major flagships are using SnapDragons. Did any of them spend money designing it? no. Apple does.

 

[jrswizzle]

Thank you. Exactly this. Other companies just recycle chips, e.g most major flagships are using SnapDragons. Did any of them spend money designing it? no. Apple does.

Not to mention those Apple designed dual core chips usually run circles around the quad core chips of the competition.

 

[TechGod]

Not to mention those Apple designed dual core chips usually run circles around the quad core chips of the competition.

The K1 is the only one that bests the A8, but that's because its a tablet only chipset. Imagine an A8X vs K1...

 

[fredaroony]

Not to mention those Apple designed dual core chips usually run circles around the quad core chips of the competition.

Not true http://www.anandtech.com/show/8559/iphone-6-and-iphone-6-plus-preliminary-results

Wins some and loses some but certainly doesn't "run circles" around anything

 

[TechGod]

Not true http://www.anandtech.com/show/8559/iphone-6-and-iphone-6-plus-preliminary-results

Wins some and loses some but certainly doesn't "run circles" around anything

It's still near top performer in many benches.

 

[fredaroony]

It's still near top performer in many benches.

Never said it wasn't and it's obviously a good performer. I just live in reality...

 

[TechGod]

Never said it wasn't and it's obviously a good performer. I just live in reality...

I'm not denying the A8 got crushed in a few benchmarks.

 

[Kissaragi]

I do wonder if anyone would actually choose the modified versions of android the manufacturers push on us rather than stock if we had a choice. Does anyone actually like touchwiz?

Seems like they could all save a fortune in dev costs by just sticking the stock android on everything and include apps with whatever added features they want.

Glad to hear Android L is nearing iOS smoothness.

 

[fredaroony]

I do wonder if anyone would actually choose the modified versions of android the manufacturers push on us rather than stock if we had a choice. Does anyone actually like touchwiz?

Seems like they could all save a fortune in dev costs by just sticking the stock android on everything and include apps with whatever added features they want.

Glad to hear Android L is nearing iOS smoothness.

I'm not a fan of Touchwiz at all. I'm quite happy with my Moto X and just waiting for the 2014 version to be released here.

 

[TechGod]

I'm not a fan of Touchwiz at all. I'm quite happy with my Moto X and just waiting for the 2014 version to be released here.

But Touchwiz looks so nice on the Note 4. That is one phone that impressed me from Samsung.

 

[Lloydbm41]

Not to mention those Apple designed dual core chips usually run circles around the quad core chips of the competition.

Single core performance vs multicore performance. Unless you only use apps that don't multi thread (which aren't many outside of the Apple app store), your statement doesn't mean much. The benchmarks that have real world significance are multicore benchmarks and the iPhone is far from being the best.
But really, when we are talking thousandths of milliseconds in benchmark times, it doesn't really matter, does it?

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Thank you. Exactly this. Other companies just recycle chips, e.g most major flagships are using SnapDragons. Did any of them spend money designing it? no. Apple does.

Exynos

 

[jrswizzle]

Single core performance vs multicore performance. Unless you only use apps that don't multi thread (which aren't many outside of the Apple app store), your statement doesn't mean much. The benchmarks that have real world significance are multicore benchmarks and the iPhone is far from being the best.
But really, when we are talking thousandths of milliseconds in benchmark times, it doesn't really matter, does it?

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Exynos

It isn't FAR from being the best, at all.

As far as I know, the Note 4 is the only smartphone to best it.

Though this makes sense as each smartphone released is the best until the next smartphone is released - in terms of benchmarks.

Single core or multi core. Apple does some amazing things with seemingly inferior specs.

 

[TechGod]

Single core performance vs multicore performance. Unless you only use apps that don't multi thread (which aren't many outside of the Apple app store), your statement doesn't mean much. The benchmarks that have real world significance are multicore benchmarks and the iPhone is far from being the best.
But really, when we are talking thousandths of milliseconds in benchmark times, it doesn't really matter, does it?

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Exynos

Did you know Exynos was just rebranded ARM chips until the Note 4? The Note 4, also is pretty expensive.

Same price as a iPhone 6+ here.

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Single core performance vs multicore performance. Unless you only use apps that don't multi thread (which aren't many outside of the Apple app store), your statement doesn't mean much. The benchmarks that have real world significance are multicore benchmarks and the iPhone is far from being the best.
But really, when we are talking thousandths of milliseconds in benchmark times, it doesn't really matter, does it?

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Exynos

Umm what are you on? In many tests, it's shown only the Tegra K1 bests it.

 

[I7guy]

Single core performance vs multicore performance. Unless you only use apps that don't multi thread (which aren't many outside of the Apple app store), your statement doesn't mean much. The benchmarks that have real world significance are multicore benchmarks and the iPhone is far from being the best.
But really, when we are talking thousandths of milliseconds in benchmark times, it doesn't really matter, does it?

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Exynos

Based on your comments the benchmarking is irrelevant, which makes the entire "spec" war urrelevant. The phone has to run fast enough for YOU.

Unlike cara, which I do buy based on specs I do not care about the specs for.a phone. It just needs to work.

 

[Lloydbm41]

Umm what are you on? In many tests, it's shown only the Tegra K1 bests it.

Basic math. Again, single core (no multithreading) vs multicore (multiple cores share the workload and how most phones are running these days) benchmarks.

It isn't hard to look up the differences. Apple has always been great at single core benchmarks. Multicore benchmarks though... Not so much.

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Based on your comments the benchmarking is irrelevant, which makes the entire "spec" war urrelevant. The phone has to run fast enough for YOU.

Unlike cara, which I do buy based on specs I do not care about the specs for.a phone. It just needs to work.

Benchmarks are irrelevant to 99% of the people that buy phones. The other 1% are geeks that love benchmarks. But benchmarks don't mean crap if the phone doesn't run well to the average consumer, now do they?

 

[TechGod]

Basic math. Again, single core (no multithreading) vs multicore (multiple cores share the workload and how most phones are running these days) benchmarks.

It isn't hard to look up the differences. Apple has always been great at single core benchmarks. Multicore benchmarks though... Not so much.

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Benchmarks are irrelevant to 99% of the people that buy phones. The other 1% are geeks that love benchmarks. But benchmarks don't mean crap if the phone doesn't run well to the average consumer, now do they?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8554/the-iphone-6-review/5

 

[srkmish]

I am on android 4.4 on my spice android one( low end stock android phone in India) and its really a wonder how far android has come. its ultra smooth almost as smooth as my iPad mini. that too on very modest hardware

 

[I7guy]

Basic math. Again, single core (no multithreading) vs multicore (multiple cores share the workload and how most phones are running these days) benchmarks.

It isn't hard to look up the differences. Apple has always been great at single core benchmarks. Multicore benchmarks though... Not so much.

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Benchmarks are irrelevant to 99% of the people that buy phones. The other 1% are geeks that love benchmarks. But benchmarks don't mean crap if the phone doesn't run well to the average consumer, now do they?

Agreed seems the iPhone holds its own. So let's talk about the phones in the bottom of the list.

 

[mib1800]

You can best everyone in benchmark but this can't compensate skimping on ram like ip6 and making the phone reload tabs/apps all the time. In terms of performance that matters ip6 is worse than a lot of phones.

 

[Lloydbm41]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8554/the-iphone-6-review/5

Now this is what I am looking to see. This gives us both single and multi-core ratings and the iPad 2 looks pretty amazing. Hopefully, now that it has 2gb of RAM and I look at another webpage and then come back to this one, it won't reload my data (or in many cases, lose all the info I had typed!)

It will be interesting to see the Nexus 9 vs iPad Air 2! I think I have dropped the Mini 3 off my radar, since it is still using the A7 chip.

 

[viskon]

Apparently, Google wants to take root access away from us in Lollipop.

XDA-Developers: Android L is for Lockdown. http://google.com/newsstand/s/CBIwuJngwB8

 

[torana355]

Yeah im looking forward to getting Lollypop on my Nexus 5. I don't even feel the need to upgrade the phone itself as it still performs great by todays standards.