Why does the U.S get the single quad-core version of the S4?

[Kevin OQuinn]

Under normal usage is what I meant, so for the average user. If you're just pushing the Octa and using only the A15 then yes, more power requires more juice. I didn't have the 9500 for very long, but comparatively it was better than my AT&T version by a slight margin.

What's really not known is the threshold of when the high power side gets spun up. Best guess has been around the 1 watt mark, but that doesn't help us much since we as users don't really know what apps will be that demanding outside of games.

Navigation, streaming video (YouTube, Netflix, etc), and recording videos would be a few I would guess push the device relatively hard.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Eric Kane]

What's really not known is the threshold of when the high power side gets spun up. Best guess has been around the 1 watt mark, but that doesn't help us much since we as users don't really know what apps will be that demanding outside of games.

Navigation, streaming video (YouTube, Netflix, etc), and recording videos would be a few I would guess push the device relatively hard.

Posted via Android Central App

Guess the balance of how well it handles low power situations evens it out. The branding gets people all riled up. If they knew how little of a difference there is between the two versions their wouldn't be threads like this.

 

[JHBThree]

Re: Why does the U.S get a ****tier version of the S4?

Even if everything is true, what is the reason for Samsung not releasing the 8 cores to the U.S? All major carrier in the U.S have 4G LTE coverage and some are very fast as well. My conspiracy theory still hold for the time being unless someone can debunk it.

Because snapdragon is certified for all carriers already? You do realize that the modem in these phones has already been used, so it doesn't have to go through the lengthy approval process by the carriers, don't you?

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk 2

 

[JHBThree]

Alone, sure, but being part of the big.little combo makes the Octa more efficient. No LTE over here, though. Big tradeoff.

Not more efficient, no. Samsung's controller software for the octa is poorly written, which adversely affects efficiency.

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[return_0]

Even this is somehow Apple's fault? How silly is that...
Don't worry, Android OS and apps have no idea what to do with quad core as it is. It just generates more heat and battery usage causing throttling. They use it to look good on a spec sheet.

Dude, seriously. It's not 2010!

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[Kevin OQuinn]

Guess the balance of how well it handles low power situations evens it out. The branding gets people all riled up. If they knew how little of a difference there is between the two versions their wouldn't be threads like this.

I agree.

 

[DavidsTech]

Samsung didn't pay Apple $2 Billion. Who knows when Apple will see a dime from that ruling. And they are not paying 2 billion last I seen. Even if they did that's ridiculous to think that means give a big market something else as ?punishment". After thinking about which GS4 I would buy I decided to go with my carrier for many reasons. Besides being able to just call and have them ship me a replacement (for issues) instead of mailing mine in first I want LTE data speeds. I'm getting 48Mbps down at times with LTE.

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[Yoink676]

In normal usage exynos octa is a bit more battery efficient but sadly exynos octa is not using all 8 cores, the way it is supposed to work.

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[stanwest31]

Re: Why does the U.S get a ****tier version of the S4?

Even if everything is true, what is the reason for Samsung not releasing the 8 cores to the U.S? All major carrier in the U.S have 4G LTE coverage and some are very fast as well. My conspiracy theory still hold for the time being unless someone can debunk it.

Ok. Sure thing.

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[haillyl]

For web browsing, Snapdragon is the winner. For gaming, exynos is the winner. Don't get me wrong, Snapdragon has lower power consumption than the exynos. Plus US/Snapdragon version features 4G LTE, and Qualcomm is really take good care of their users, batteryguru app is the best proof.

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[Yoink676]

For web browsing, Snapdragon is the winner. For gaming, exynos is the winner. Don't get me wrong, Snapdragon has lower power consumption than the exynos.

Sent from my LG-E975 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

For browsing A15 cores are more powerful than Krait cores easily.
And for battery you are right when A15 cores are active but once A7s kick in nothing can defeat it for power saving.

 

[rushmore]

The Octa, besides sounding like a villain from Spiderman 2, runs even hotter at peak and uses battery more than the 600.

Snap FTW!

 

[Yoink676]

The Octa, besides sounding like a villain from Spiderman 2, runs even hotter at peak and uses battery more than the 600.

Snap FTW!

And gives more peak performance too

 

[rushmore]

I prefer a little less performance rather than more heat and battery drain, but personal preference.

 

[Yoink676]

I prefer a little less performance rather than more heat and battery drain, but personal preference.

Yeah I prefer that too, but it's not a problem for exynos users, you just need to uc cpu to 600mhz which would completely disable A15 cores and only A7 cores would be active making it super efficient.

 

[haillyl]

For browsing A15 cores are more powerful than Krait cores easily.
And for battery you are right when A15 cores are active but once A7s kick in nothing can defeat it for power saving.

http://m.pocketnow.com/2013/04/30/galaxy-s-4-octa-vs-galaxy-s-4-quad-video
Check this out.
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[skipatrol]

My theory is that ever since Apple sue Samsung for 2 billion dollars, that Samsung apparently see it fit that the U.S will get everything last. Even though it not the customer fault, they did lose 2 billions to a U.S company after all, and it only make sense.

Thoughts and opinion are welcome. Love to hear everyone feedback on this subject.

Dude no offense please, but this is one of the most ridiculous things I've read in a long time. You are alleging that Samsung has a personal vendetta against the entire United States of America (the country in which a good chunk of their profit comes from) because of the Apple lawsuit. This isn't the school yard. The is global business and Samsung does everything they do from a profit driven standpoint...not to "send a message" to Apple via their product offerings to the American People. lol.

 

[gollum18]

It's probably because lte isn't continentaly deployed yet in europe/Asia. Believe it or not lte chips cost a lot of money. In order to keep the price down and still offer lte samsung has to reduce the processor. Otherwise you would be paying 400$ on contract for your phone. Most areas in asia/Europe don't have lte yet just 3g, thats why they are able to offer the better processor over there.

Samsung has no vendetta against the United States. If anything they did consumers here a favor.

Sprint GS3 Running TN's Msg and Chubbs

 

[SenseMonkey]

It's probably because lte isn't continentaly deployed yet in europe/Asia. Believe it or not lte chips cost a lot of money. In order to keep the price down and still offer lte samsung has to reduce the processor. Otherwise you would be paying 400$ on contract for your phone. Most areas in asia/Europe don't have lte yet just 3g, thats why they are able to offer the better processor over there.

Samsung has no vendetta against the United States. If anything they did consumers here a favor.

Sprint GS3 Running TN's Msg and Chubbs

I don't necessarily think the Octo-core is necessarily better because the S4 600 preforms really good. Though im not sure anymore as Qualcomm was in this "situation" last year when their biggest competition was Nvidia and their Tegra 3 chip. Qualcomm thought they had the edge over Tegra 3 with the s4 processor but sadly that wasn't the case as quad-cores really took off.. So as for the U.S not getting the Octo-core, it was for LTE purposes as you said, though the majority of consumers would be content with the S4 600 and probably have no idea that there is another version of the phone. Still, would of been cool to see how smoother the Octo-core was compared to the 600 since this is definitely smoother than Tegra 3 and the original s4 cpu.

From my Sammy Galaxy S4

 

[Yoink676]

http://m.pocketnow.com/2013/04/30/galaxy-s-4-octa-vs-galaxy-s-4-quad-video
Check this out.
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They should have specified the firmware, there is a big difference between early firmwares and newer ones for octa.

Nevertheless A15 cores are more powerful (as you can see in those benchmarks) and would provide better Web page rendering.

All in all octa has more potential in its cpu.

Here is a quadrant benchmark of octa when clocked at same frequency as S600(1.9ghz)