Samsung Nexus Prime/Galaxy Nexus specs - disappointment?

[hnilsen]

I've been reading up on specs, and the latest is from BGR: Samsung Galaxy Nexus full specs revealed; Verizon Wireless exclusive

They state the following:

• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
• 9mm thin
• 4.65-inch 1280 x 720-pixel Super AMOLED HD with curved glass
• TI OMAP 4460 dual-core Cortex A9 processor clocked at 1.2GHz
• 1GB of RAM
• 32GB of built-in storage
• 5-megapixel camera on the back, 1.3-megapixel in the front
• 1080p HD video capture support
• LTE/HSPA depending on carrier
• Wi-Fi a/b/g/n
• NFC
• 1,750 mAh battery

The main issue I have with this is the OMAP 4460 Cortex A9 CPU. This comes bundled with the GPU PowerVR SGX 540. The iPhone 4s has the custom made Apple A5, with mostly the same specs as the OMAP 4430, but with the PowerVR SGX 543 GPU.

The PowerVR SGX 543 MP2 GPU is a lot faster than the PowerVR SGX 540 GPU. Firstly, it's multicore, secondly it's x2 GFLOPS compared to the other one. If Samsung indeed delivers the Nexus Prime with the 540, Apple will be way ahead in terms of power on the side of graphics. This disappoints and annoys me. The 540 is from 2007, damnit.

Is there anything out there to indicate that the GPU is stronger?

What is really problematic with this is that Samsung is the one producing the CPU for both phones. But I imagine Apple has paid them handsomely for an exclusive right to be better in this area for a certain amount of time.

 

[DessVZW]

The original Galaxy S used the 540 GPU, and it was the fastest in its day. the 543 is incredible, and it is the best out there right now. However, the original Galaxy S's 540 GPU was clocked @ 200Mhz. The one in the 4460 is clocked at 384Mhz (check out wikipedia - search for "Texas Instruments OMAP").

That's nearly double the clock speed, which should yield some impressive results. I assume it's not dual core, but I don't think we'll have a weak phone for games, at all. Stop worrying, it'll be great.

 

[ManBearPig618]

Holy last weeks news, Batman! (and really? BGR?)

 

[Officerpolabear]

I've been reading up on specs, and the latest is from BGR: Samsung Galaxy Nexus full specs revealed; Verizon Wireless exclusive

They state the following:

• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
• 9mm thin
• 4.65-inch 1280 x 720-pixel Super AMOLED HD with curved glass
• TI OMAP 4460 dual-core Cortex A9 processor clocked at 1.2GHz
• 1GB of RAM
• 32GB of built-in storage
• 5-megapixel camera on the back, 1.3-megapixel in the front
• 1080p HD video capture support
• LTE/HSPA depending on carrier
• Wi-Fi a/b/g/n
• NFC
• 1,750 mAh battery

The main issue I have with this is the OMAP 4460 Cortex A9 CPU. This comes bundled with the GPU PowerVR SGX 540. The iPhone 4s has the custom made Apple A5, with mostly the same specs as the OMAP 4430, but with the PowerVR SGX 543 GPU.

The PowerVR SGX 543 MP2 GPU is a lot faster than the PowerVR SGX 540 GPU. Firstly, it's multicore, secondly it's x2 GFLOPS compared to the other one. If Samsung indeed delivers the Nexus Prime with the 540, Apple will be way ahead in terms of power on the side of graphics. This disappoints and annoys me. The 540 is from 2007, damnit.

Is there anything out there to indicate that the GPU is stronger?

What is really problematic with this is that Samsung is the one producing the CPU for both phones. But I imagine Apple has paid them handsomely for an exclusive right to be better in this area for a certain amount of time.

These specs are hardly (actually everything about this phone isn't disappointing except for maybe the storage specs) disappointing. Besides that, I doubt they will keep the GPU at the same speed as the SGS or the iPhone 4. They probably upped it and if it's any indication, the GPU will do fine considering that the iPhone 4 runs games fairly well. To be honest, we only have a few games that have the same graphical details as the games on iOS.

Edit: I seriously don't get why people want this phone to have borderline existent specs (quad-core and such) even though dual-core is enough. I'd be more than glad to have this phone, regardless if it has dual-core or not. 1-2 years later is when I will expect the next nexus (or the nexus after that since that'll pop up at the end of my contract) to have a quad-core or more

 

[digitalslacker]

Most of these specs are still rumored right? I mean I know last week there were two different sets floating around the Interwebs. One from BGR and one from GSM Arena. Both were very different and both claimed to have a solid anonymous source.

I'm gonna wait until I see a specs sheet released from Google or Samsung before I get disappointed or excited about anything. No sense in freaking out about something that might not be the real deal. Although I'm leaning towards the BGR specs as being the more likely.

 

[soap]

those specs aren't disappointing at all..

iPhone's graphics thingy is better by the number 2? Couldn't care less... just give me a linux-based mobile environment that is easy to use and reliable and I'll be happy.

The only thing that worries me is battery life.

 

[greydarrah]

Those specs look good to me, but then again, I don't even know what a PowerVR SGX 540 is. I also don't know what a C69 dwarf gwab, or even what techno weeny specs are in the diesel engine of my truck...but I know it halls ass. All of this makes me happy. If the phone (remember that it is just a phone, not a space station missile control system) doesn't make you happy...wait for something else.

 

[Live2ride883]

No mention of an SD slot, may still be a deal breaker for me if its not there. Course if it was a Motorola phone they would be telling us that the SD slot would be added later at no cost (sorry just a little bit of a bitter taste in my mouth left over from the Xoom fiasco).

 

[anon(512898)]

Yeah sure it would be great if the Prime could be using the 543 instead of the 540, but currently the A5 is the only SOC in production that has this GPU and I don't see Apple licensing their chip design for Google to use. Google has to work with what is available and the overclocked power vr 540 in the omap is great. Sure the Mali in the SGSII is a little more powerful, but the 540 is better understood by programmers and is better optimized so there should not be much of a difference in real world applications (synthetic benchmarks may be different however)

 

[Lakhota]

I really don't think Samsung and Google will announce this device with an outdated GPU. They will likely have the same GPU that's found in the iPhone. They will not disappoint.

 

[SpaceHippie]

Geez if you think these specs suck then just stop buying smartphones. Because guess what, there will be something better than the quad core phones as well. This is starting to get very irritating.

 

[edoublediz]

there have been 2 sets of specs leaked. ill be happy with either one but, if the VZW comes out with the lower and the other nexus for the the other carriers has the better specs, im not going to lie, i will be pissed. it is a "developers phone" why would they spec it twice?

also, on the GPU. the 4S just smoked every phone out including the SGS2 by at least double on a recent benchmark. i mean smoked the ish out of it. granted i am not sure what benchmark and what it was benchmarking but, it didnt look good.

 

[Jdm4292]

Geez if you think these specs suck then just stop buying smartphones. Because guess what, there will be something better than the quad core phones as well. This is starting to get very irritating.

Lol the world would be a better place if they'd just release it already..

Sent from my ADR6400L

 

[edoublediz]

Yeah sure it would be great if the Prime could be using the 543 instead of the 540, but currently the A5 is the only SOC in production that has this GPU and I don't see Apple licensing their chip design for Google to use. Google has to work with what is available and the overclocked power vr 540 in the omap is great. Sure the Mali in the SGSII is a little more powerful, but the 540 is better understood by programmers and is better optimized so there should not be much of a difference in real world applications (synthetic benchmarks may be different however)

huh? apple is the only one that can include the 543 on their SOCs? im not sure i follow.

 

[anon(512898)]

Geez if you think these specs suck then just stop buying smartphones. Because guess what, there will be something better than the quad core phones as well. This is starting to get very irritating.

The thing is, quad core phones won't even be a big leap. Dual core was, because it allows the OS and background tasks to execute on a different core than the active application so there is no slowdown, but since android only allows for one active task quad core will not help applications run faster unless they are coded to be multi-threaded. Developers on the desktop have been slow to do this and single core processors stopped being relevant in that space a decade ago so I am not expecting apps in the mobile space to get any better at this for a long time.

 

[edoublediz]

Geez if you think these specs suck then just stop buying smartphones. Because guess what, there will be something better than the quad core phones as well. This is starting to get very irritating.

why are you irritated that people want the best that is available at any given time? im irritated that you would be irritated that people want the best!! it is human nature, it will never stop. quit reading threads with the word specs in the title.

 

[SpaceHippie]

Lol the world would be a better place if they'd just release it already..

Sent from my ADR6400L

Seriously lol. If people are gonna complain about a 1.2 GHZ dual core processor in a got damn phone, there gonna be stuck in the Android Central Rumored devices forum forever waiting on a phone with the best specs.

 

[anon(512898)]

huh? apple is the only one that can include the 543 on their SOCs? im not sure i follow.

apple is the only one currently producing chips with this GPU, it is in the roadmap for other SOCs but they won't be in production untill next year, so not helpful for the prime

 

[ManBearPig618]

Seriously lol. If people are gonna complain about a 1.2 GHZ dual core processor in a got damn phone, there gonna be stuck in the Android Central Rumored devices forum forever waiting on a phone with the best specs.

Fine with either spec set, and, to be honest, 1.2 might turn out better battery wise. Clock speed is overrated anyway. The only reason I'll be disappointed is if VZW's version is dumbed down.

 

[trenchkato]

its a phone... not a desktop... chill...