Why do (Android) phones need so many cores?

[JeffDenver]

What "mobile" device had multi-touch display before the iPhone?

Here you go.

In 2004, a French firm called Jazzmutant unveiled the Lemur, a music controller many consider the world's first commercial multitouch product. The Lemur could be configured to display a wide variety of buttons, sliders, and other user interface elements. When these were manipulated, the device would produce output in the MIDI-like Open Sound Control format. It debuted in 2005 and cost more than $2,000.

[...] IBM's Simon, introduced in 1993, is widely regarded as the first touchscreen phone.

[...] April 2005 saw the release of the Neonode N1m. While lacking the sophistication of the iPhone, it had a few notable features. It was one of the few phones of its generation not to have a hardware keypad, relying almost entirely on software buttons for input. It supported swiping gestures in addition to individual taps. And it employed a "slide to unlock" gesture, almost identical to the one the iPhone made famous.

[...] That December [2006], LG announced the LG Prada — beating the iPhone to market by several months. The two devices shared several common features. The Prada dispensed with a traditional keypad, relying on software buttons for most input. It included the ability to play music, browse the Web, view photos, and check e-mail.

If Android is a “stolen product,” then so was the iPhone | Ars Technica

 

[JeffDenver]

I use an iPhone and I am glad Apple copied some things from other OSs. I see no harm in that.

I personally don't care if they copy. But it is hypocritical of people defending Apple to complain about Android copying...when Apple has obviously done that themselves many times.

 

[A895]

What "mobile" device had multi-touch display before the iPhone?

Take a read here:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/02/if-android-is-a-stolen-product-then-so-was-the-iphone/

There was a tablet with multi touch before the iPhone. The LG Prada didn't have multi touch but it was a touch interface.

Posted via Moto X or Droid RAZR M on the Android Central App

 

[A895]

Until they move to someone else like Sharp with their IGZO screens or LG.

They are trying to move away from Sharp. You read the article I linked to?

Posted via Moto X or Droid RAZR M on the Android Central App

 

[A895]

Here you go.

Jeff great minds think alike. We linked to the same article.

Posted via Moto X or Droid RAZR M on the Android Central App

 

[Fr0gburp3r]

Here you go.

C'mon, man. The Lemur is not what we are discussing here. The other examples are touchscreens. I'm referring to multi-touch displays meaning using more than one finger touching the display like the most basic pinch to zoom that most, if not all, smartphones use now.

 

[A895]

C'mon, man. The Lemur is not what we are discussing here. The other examples are touchscreens. I'm referring to multi-touch displays meaning using more than one finger touching the display like the most basic pinch to zoom that most, if not all, smartphones use now.

The lemur was a multi touch tablet. You did say multi touch device and not phones specifically.

Posted via Moto X or Droid RAZR M on the Android Central App

 

[dc9super80]

I personally don't care if they copy. But it is hypocritical of people defending Apple to complain about Android copying...when Apple has obviously done that themselves many times.

Agreed.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[dc9super80]

Take a read here:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/02/if-android-is-a-stolen-product-then-so-was-the-iphone/

There was a tablet with multi touch before the iPhone. The LG Prada didn't have multi touch but it was a touch interface.

Posted via Moto X or Droid RAZR M on the Android Central App

I don't think the Prada was the reason the the industry went the way it went. What's more multi touch is probably the most important thing that happened to touch in those days.

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[Fr0gburp3r]

This is reaching. We are discussing mobile devices as in the mobile smartphones we use today. Why didn't Android devices have multi-touch display until after the iPhone was launched. Was it patented? If so, by who? I'm not saying they invented it but they implemented it in the first iPhone back in 2007 and Android didn't have it until after 2009. Again, I'm just giving credit where credit is due.

http://www.androidcentral.com/google-complied-apples-no-multi-touch-request

 

[A895]

This is reaching. We are discussing mobile devices as in the mobile smartphones we use today. Why didn't Android devices have multi-touch display until after the iPhone was launched. Was it patented? If so, by who? I'm not saying they invented it but they implemented it in the first iPhone back in 2007 and Android didn't have it until after 2009. Again, I'm just giving credit where credit is due.

http://www.androidcentral.com/google-complied-apples-no-multi-touch-request

They weren't the first mobile multi touch device though, which was the point.

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[garublador]

Apple is able to introduce some features first because people are willing to spend more money on Apple products than they are on other products. They don't have to hit a lower price point like other OEM's, so they can put more expensive technologies in their products earlier. Most of their hardware advancements have been stuff that almost certainly would have happened, anyway, but they were able to afford it first.

I'm surprised that I haven't heard (or I missed) Apple's most recent advancement that actually was revolutionary, the iTunes/App store. IMO, that's the real reason smart phones took off. Anyone who tried to use a PDA before the App Store/Google Play can probably attest to how crappy it was to find and install software on a mobile device.

 

[Fr0gburp3r]

This all stems from someone saying Samsung making a profit from someone else's success. I was pointing out that they get credit for iPhone chips because a lot of people don't realize it's the chip design that made it successful and not the foundry that mass produced it.

 

[Fr0gburp3r]

Apple is able to introduce some features first because people are willing to spend more money on Apple products than they are on other products. They don't have to hit a lower price point like other OEM's, so they can put more expensive technologies in their products earlier. Most of their hardware advancements have been stuff that almost certainly would have happened, anyway, but they were able to afford it first.

I'm surprised that I haven't heard (or I missed) Apple's most recent advancement that actually was revolutionary, the iTunes/App store. IMO, that's the real reason smart phones took off. Anyone who tried to use a PDA before the App Store/Google Play can probably attest to how crappy it was to find and install software on a mobile device.

I don't know about that. Microsoft and Blackberry had a lot of money for R&D back in the days to implement a lot of these features that we have now.

 

[A895]

This all stems from someone saying Samsung making a profit from someone else's success. I was pointing out that they get credit for iPhone chips because a lot of people don't realize it's the chip design that made it successful and not the foundry that mass produced it.

So the design of something that no consumer sees is what made it successful?

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[Geodude074]

Remember the first iPhone? Remember how slow it was with its single core processor? Are we really going to argue that an increase in CPU power does not generally mean faster CPU performance? Because in general it does.

 

[JeffDenver]

C'mon, man. The Lemur is not what we are discussing here.

Keep those goalposts moving heh heh.

The other examples are touchscreens. I'm referring to multi-touch displays

I know. That was included in my quote:

In 2004, a French firm called Jazzmutant unveiled the Lemur, a music controller many consider the world's first commercial multitouch product.
If Android is a “stolen product,” then so was the iPhone | Ars Technica

 

[Haalcyon]

Back to the original topic, has Samsung's 8-core mobile CPU really made any device any more powerful or energy efficient? I think its a great idea but, in practice, it doesn't seem or be too much to be excited about.


via the tablet

 

[garublador]

I don't know about that. Microsoft and Blackberry had a lot of money for R&D back in the days to implement a lot of these features that we have now.

I'm not talking about the R&D needed to develop the technologies, I'm talking about making them cheap enough to be worth putting in your product. People are willing to pay more for an Apple device, so they can afford to put more expensive technologies in their devices. They do an excellent job of figuring out the absolute perfect time to exploit that and one-up all other devices at the time. Apple didn't invent multi-touch screens or the solid state disk drive, but they implemented them in the iPhone, Macbook Air form factors first because they knew people would pay extra for an Apple device with those features in there. Most other companies can't charge what Apple does, so those technologies were out of their reach until they got cheaper.

I don't know if anyone remembers the mockups people made of the "new iPod" that was rumored back before the Touch/iPhone was out. It was basically an iPod touch but with a "virtual scroll wheel" that appeared on the screen, but random people on the internet came up with it before Apple announced the Touch. It was the next obvious change in MP3 players (they were smart enough to make it into a phone, too, which wasn't predicted, IIRC). Apple may have been one of the first to do it, but it was obvious enough that random dudes on the internet also thought of it.

 

[JeffDenver]

I'm not talking about the R&D needed to develop the technologies, I'm talking about making them cheap enough to be worth putting in your product. People are willing to pay more for an Apple device, so they can afford to put more expensive technologies in their devices.

That has not happened for a long time. The last time that happened was with the 4S...Apple has not done anything but play catch up since then.