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Cell Phones For Science: BOINC Now Available For Android

Posted by Soulskill on from the let-your-phone-do-something-more-productive-than-angry-birds dept.

Luyseyal writes "BOINC is now available on Android. Many of you may not know, but the Slashdot Users team makes a decent showing on World Community Grid. WCG supports research on AIDS, schistoma, cancer, clean energy, and more. Now is your chance to put your idle charge cycles to good use. Let's do some science!"

4 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Battery by Saethan · · Score: 5, Informative

    From the app description: 'BOINC computes only when your device is plugged in and charged, so it won't run down your battery'

  2. Re:Battery by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 4, Interesting

    aw.. crap... ...redo

      Having said that, there are a lot of devices (like the Nexus 7 with four cores) that have problems because the battery drains *EVEN IF* it is on the charger. I have to set mine so that it only uses 2 cores otherwise the thing never charges.

  3. Re:Battery by mwvdlee · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It will burn a hole in your table though.
    Ever noticed how hot smartphones get when left running at full capacity for a while?

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  4. The Idle Cycles Fallacy by GameboyRMH · · Score: 5, Informative

    This point gives me a chance to bring up the fallacy of "idle cycles" on modern processors.

    There's no such thing any more. There was in the '90s and earlier when CPUs didn't have the power controls they do today, but nowadays your CPU uses exactly what it needs and anything more you give it to do will use extra energy.

    So be aware that you're not putting any wasted resource to good use with these things. You're just using more resources. And on a phone that's the last thing you need.

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