Early iPhone 6 Benchmark Results Show Only Modest Gains For A8

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Early iPhone 6 Benchmark Results Show Only Modest Gains For A8

Posted by Soulskill on Friday September 12, 2014 @04:12PM from the find-a-way-to-make-this-fit-your-narrative dept.

MojoKid writes: Historically speaking, we typically see impressive performance gains each time Apple releases a new custom processor for its mobile products. Certainly that was true of the A7 SoC, the world's first 64-bit smartphone processor. So, can we expect the same kind of performance bump from the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, both of which sport the new custom A8 SoC? Maybe not. The iPhone 6 recently surfaced in results for the Basemark X benchmark and armed with a dual-core 1.4GHz Cyclone CPU and A8 GPU, the iPhone 6 scored 21,204.26 and a earned a place at the top of the chart, though not by much. By comparison, the iPhone 5s scored 20,253.80 in the same benchmark. In other words, the iPhone 6 is currently less than 5 percent faster than the iPhone 5s, at least as far as the Basemark X benchmark is concerned.

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power consumption? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-12 16:22 · Score: 4, Insightful

Who cares about performance anymore. Fast enough is fast enough. Which one lasts longer on battery?
1. Re:power consumption? by 93+Escort+Wagon · 2014-09-12 16:26 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Who cares about performance anymore.
  The people who own the phone that does better on the benchmarks, that's who.
  
  --
  #DeleteChrome
2. Re:power consumption? by bennomatic · 2014-09-12 16:34 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Well, I'd suggest the right question is, how much does this one benchmark matter? Fast enough isn't necessarily fast enough, as people will come up with more and more powerful applications.
  
  That said, the primary CPU isn't the only thing that governs speed. My understanding (and I could be totally wrong, but here goes) is that there's a separate and very fast GPU. Apple's done a lot of work with Grand Central Dispatch (is that the right technology?) to help developers offload as much as possible to the GPU, so what looks like a 5% gain on the CPU might in the real world be 10 times that in a performance increase. And at least Apple claims that the 6 is 50% faster than the 5s (again, IIRC), so if they're telling something that's approaching a reasonable truth, it's not just based on CPU, but on other metrics as well.
  
  --
  The CB App. What's your 20?
3. Re:power consumption? by dugancent · 2014-09-12 16:55 · Score: 1
  
  no, the people who do the benchmarks.
  
  --
  SJWs are the new boogeyman. -Me
4. Re:power consumption? by godrik · 2014-09-12 16:58 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  Well, I'd suggest the right question is, how much does this one benchmark matter?
  Well, the article does not even convince me that the benchmark was properly executed. When going from a 32-bit to a 64-bit architecture, you certainly need the code to be properly optimized for the new target architecture. For instance, if you do not use the new instructions, it is unlikely you will see a major performance improvement. If you normalize the benchmark result to clock speed and number of cores there is not much difference between the 2 processors.
  So my guess is: they did not properly compile the benchmark.
5. Re:power consumption? by countach · 2014-09-12 17:00 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Well... in most circumstances the GPU will only help graphics related performance. That's only impressive when you wanted better graphics performance, and not general performance. You can't offload anything onto the GPU. Only certain specific types of things, and certain math.
  Anyway, this whole article is premature. The benchmarks may not even be iPhone 6, they may be spoofed. They are only one benchmark. Let's wait see what real analysis reveals. Whatever the answer I doubt it will hurt sales.
6. Re:power consumption? by dgatwood · 2014-09-12 17:07 · Score: 1
  
  Apple's done a lot of work with Grand Central Dispatch (is that the right technology?) to help developers offload as much as possible to the GPU ...
  You're probably thinking of OpenCL. GCD is a pipelining engine for enqueuing work.
  
  --
  Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
7. Re:power consumption? by mark-t · 2014-09-12 18:20 · Score: 1
  
  Some people prefer phablets to itty-bitty little phones not because they are trying to "compensate for something", but because they are too clumsy to nicely type on smaller screens
  
  --
  File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
8. Re:power consumption? by xushi · 2014-09-12 18:55 · Score: 2
  
  iPhone 5s is also 64 bit, so weren't they comparing x64 x64 with that ~5% increase?
9. Re:power consumption? by grouchomarxist · 2014-09-12 19:00 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  According to Apple, the A8 draws 50% of the power of the A7. So it is a significant improvement. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A...
10. Re: power consumption? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-12 19:26 · Score: 1
  
  Or maybe its because I find it easier to read things on my galaxy note 3 rather than a smaller screen.
11. Re:power consumption? by gl4ss · 2014-09-12 20:23 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  fanboiz care.
  in the way that they like to mention how it has a new processor. since uh, there's not that much to mention about the iphone6 except nfc.
  it's a budget phone for premium pricing... and that's where apple is going now. budget in the sense that it costs less for apple to make the 6 than what it cost for them to make 5 when 5 came out. much less.
  battery life? about the same. it's about the same thing after all. it's 600 bucks + device and marketed partially with having a faster cpu so that's why you should as a consumer care if it's that much faster or not, because you can buy similar devices that play same kind of games, has about the same kind of screen, connects to all the same social networks, has about the same battery life but has one third of the price.
  you know why they call the 6+ retina hd? because fullhd is so 2012.
  
  --
  world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
12. Re:power consumption? by AmiMoJo · 2014-09-12 20:59 · Score: 1
  
  Here's a more relevant test: http://youtu.be/vZjurCN521U
  It's the 5s but still interesting. Real world tests with real apps. The iPhone 5S is about as fast as a Nexus 5, a fraction slower in many tests and a fraction faster in others.
  
  --
  const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
  SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
13. Re:power consumption? by swb · 2014-09-12 22:40 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  in the way that they like to mention how it has a new processor. since uh, there's not that much to mention about the iphone6 except nfc.
  Not much except a much larger screen size, which is obviously the big new feature for iPhone users.
  The smartphone as a concept across any brand hasn't done anything new and different since the iPhone first came out. It's all been incrementalism -- faster CPUs, more pixels, bigger screens, faster wifi, etc.
14. Re:power consumption? by Eunuchswear · 2014-09-12 23:19 · Score: 1, Interesting
  
  When going from a 32-bit to a 64-bit architecture, you certainly need the code to be properly optimized for the new target architecture. For instance, if you do not use the new instructions, it is unlikely you will see a major performance improvement.
  
  There is absolutely no reason to expect a 64 bit architecture to be faster than a 32 bit architecture unless you are doing a lot of 64 bit operations, or need more than 4G of RAM.
  
  --
  Watch this Heartland Institute video
15. Re:power consumption? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · 2014-09-12 23:20 · Score: 1
  
  Ops per joule is a performance figure, too.
  
  --
  Ezekiel 23:20
16. Re:power consumption? by gnupun · 2014-09-12 23:24 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Who cares about performance anymore. Fast enough is fast enough.
  If you upgrade your phone frequently, it doesn't matter. But if you want to use it as long as possible, high performance is a must. Let's say iphone 7 or 8 is 2x-4x faster than iphone 6. Apps developed for iphone7/8 will lag heavily on the iphone 6 forcing you to upgrade your phone. That's what's happening today -- latest apps don't work on iphone two generations behind.
17. Re:power consumption? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 00:31 · Score: 0
  
  Jeez, FAndroid much?
18. Re:power consumption? by aliquis · 2014-09-13 00:48 · Score: 1
  
  OnePlus One vs iPhone 6+
  Begin! .. oups it was already over.
19. Re:power consumption? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 00:51 · Score: 0
  
  The iPhone 5S is about as fast as a Nexus 5, a fraction slower in many tests and a fraction faster in others.
  Until the Nexus 5 has to throttle the CPU to avoid overheating.
20. Re:power consumption? by acoustix · 2014-09-13 01:43 · Score: 1
  
  According to Apple, the A8 draws 50% of the power of the A7. So it is a significant improvement. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A...
  Citing wikipedia? I'd rather see an Apple statement.
  
  --
  "A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
21. Re:power consumption? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 02:15 · Score: 0
  
  Lovely. At this point Apple could make up whatever they want and you guys will believe it. Who needs to actually check?
22. Re:power consumption? by jon3k · 2014-09-13 02:17 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  It's why I never understand comparing Android and iOS benchmarks. We run benchmark software on them, compare the two, then run completely different operating systems and applications on top of them. Android benchmarks routinely show better performance than IOS. But everytime I use an Apple iPhone it "feels faster" and is completely stutter free.
23. Re:power consumption? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 02:20 · Score: 1
  
  No, they said they improved battery efficiency by 50%. Big difference.
24. Re:power consumption? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 02:27 · Score: 1
  
  Thats only the case if future generations improve performance considerably. There hasn't been that much of an increase of CPU speeds on the desktop side for quite some time - and thats part of the reason why a first gen i-series CPU will still usually deliver good performance in games. Thats despite those CPUs being nearly 6 years old now.
  Even a Core 2 will sometimes manage. A Core 2 will manage with ease in 'regular' or 'casual' usage cases.
25. Re:power consumption? by gnasher719 · 2014-09-13 03:00 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  There is absolutely no reason to expect a 64 bit architecture to be faster than a 32 bit architecture unless you are doing a lot of 64 bit operations, or need more than 4G of RAM.
  Except if you know a few details of the Objective-C implementation in MacOS X and iOS. For example, in 64 bit many NSNumber and NSDate objects don't actually allocate any memory, but the 64 bit in the pointer contain all the data. In 64 bit, C++ std::string up to 22 chars in size don't allocate any memory. Retain/release are faster in 64 bits. memcpy or memset or memcmp or strlen run twice as fast.
26. Re: power consumption? by mark-t · 2014-09-13 03:16 · Score: 1
  
  Perfectly valid as well... but either way, the increased size can have a practical functionality that the owner may have a legitimate need (beyond wanting to be superficially showy about their phone, or otherwise draw attention to themselves) which cannot be met by a smaller phone. I would even suggest that such reasons are possibly much more common than superficial ones, and the fact that someone would imagine that an owner of a phablet-sized phone must necessarily be "overcompensating for something" speaks volumes about their lack of imagination.
  
  --
  File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
27. Re:power consumption? by Munchr · 2014-09-13 03:20 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  For some weird reason, wikipedia has chosen to source that statement to an article from Verge, rather than the direct Apple source. Apple's statement can be found at http://www.apple.com/iphone-6/...
28. Re:power consumption? by Hamsterdan · 2014-09-13 03:44 · Score: 1
  
  ^this
  I'm still using an old Core2Duo (2.53 running at 3.8). It *only* has 4GB, but I put in and SSD and an ATI 6770 a couple years ago. Does everything I need, the only things it has problems running are recent games, not a reason to upgrade in my case. Many components got upgraded from machines found in the trash.
  For the last 6 years the only part I paid for was my 3TB HDD (recording OTA TV takes around 8GB/hour)
  
  --
  I've got better things to do tonight than die.
29. Re: power consumption? by Dr_Barnowl · 2014-09-13 04:09 · Score: 1
  
  Phablets will have a longer battery life too because of the larger battery ; while the screen (and therefore it's battery consumption) increases with the area of the phone, the CPU, radio, etc, have fixed power consumption.
  OK, so if you have a phablet, you may use it more... but that's the point, more *useful* battery life.
30. Re:power consumption? by Dr_Barnowl · 2014-09-13 04:11 · Score: 1
  
  Wasn't that the Nexus 4? As I understand it, they left a heat spreader out between the CPU and the chassis (and there are hacks to replace it with graphite tape out there online).
31. Re:power consumption? by GrahamJ · 2014-09-13 04:15 · Score: 1
  
  That's what's happening today -- latest apps don't work on iphone two generations behind.
  iOS apps will run on any device supported by the OS they run on. For iOS 7 and 8 that's three generations.
32. Re:power consumption? by WheezyJoe · 2014-09-13 04:46 · Score: 1
  
  I'm still using an old Core2Duo (2.53 running at 3.8). It *only* has 4GB, but I put in and SSD and an ATI 6770 a couple years ago. Does everything I need, the only things it has problems running are recent games, not a reason to upgrade in my case. Many components got upgraded from machines found in the trash.
  I applaud you, sir. An evening of tech dumpster-diving with a friend of mine some time back was a real eye-opening experience, particularly where we found some office or government building chucking mass quantities of "older" equipment. Tons of working, capable silicon, heading for landfills, when a lot of it maybe a year ago would have been tempting on newegg. There was a time when the latest OS or application release would make your hardware seem terrible, prompting you to pine for an upgrade, but not any longer, with the narrow exception of cutting-edge games, or professional apps for which you should get your employer to pay for anyway.
  What you miss out on with older hardware is size and power-consumption. If performance is not your goal, then with modern gear you have the opportunity to build a silent, fanless system and/or an entire PC that fits in a 5" square box. It surprises me that this remains a niche market for do-it-your-selfers or small shops online. It would be worth it to me to pay a few bucks for a noiseless rig that fits on my desk. But as long as my older rigs are running fine, no worries.
  
  --
  Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...
33. Re:power consumption? by Bogtha · 2014-09-13 05:28 · Score: 2
  
  there's not that much to mention about the iphone6 except nfc.
  
  That's a ridiculous thing to say.
  
  it costs less for apple to make the 6 than what it cost for them to make 5 when 5 came out. much less.
  
  What's your source for this? The profit margin on the iPhone 6 is lower than for earlier iPhone models at the time of release.
  
  --
  Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
34. Re: power consumption? by B1ood · 2014-09-13 05:46 · Score: 2
  
  Neither device has a CPU that supports the x64 instruction set. These both have arm chips, though they are both capable of 64 bit operation.
  
  --
  Note to self: pasty-skinned programmers ought not stand in the Mojave desert for multiple hours. -- John Carmack
35. Re:power consumption? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 05:51 · Score: 0
  
  according to apple it will also produce unicorns and world peace
36. Re:power consumption? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 06:23 · Score: 0
  
  There isn't a such thing as "fast enough". Are you really so stupid to think that software is going to just stop progressing to allow you to get your money's worth out of the outdated hardware in your phone or computer?
  According to you, I suppose we should all be content with ancient technology, because hey, people survived with it once upon a time and good enough is good enough. Fucking moron.
37. Re:power consumption? by CurryCamel · 2014-09-13 06:28 · Score: 1
  
  In 64 bit, C++ std::string up to 22 chars in size don't allocate any memory
  The compiler I tried with does.
  Would you have a link that explains this? And which compiler is this clever?
38. Re:power consumption? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 06:31 · Score: 1
  
  And what's with the crap screen resolution in the iPhone 6? Seriously, 1334x750? My G3 has more than 3.5X the resolution.
  I guess those "retina" displays have lost their importance now that Apple can't keep up.
39. Re: power consumption? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 08:02 · Score: 0
  
  Lol
40. Re:power consumption? by KozmoStevnNaut · 2014-09-13 08:05 · Score: 1
  
  I wish I could find dumpsters with working PC components in them. At the company I work for, everything that isn't covered by a byback deal with the manufacturer is sent directly to a reuse/recycling company. Good for the environment and all that, but it sucks for us crafty fellows looking for free upgrades.
  Luckily, my 2004-vintage Thinkpad T42 is still going strong (albeit on its third WLAN card, dunno what keeps frying them), but those Chromebooks are looking kinda tasty.
  
  --
  Eat the rich.
41. Re: power consumption? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 08:08 · Score: 0
  
  Yes, there is an app for that. The unicorns come out your ass so most people try it once because they are unaware. The world peace app is just a front end to sign up for the NRA and order guns and liquor.
42. Re: power consumption? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 08:21 · Score: 0
  
  Lol. This is a real mentality common in Europe. It's good enough. My car does what it needs. It's good enough. I don't need blue tooth. The acceptance if mediocrity should be severely painful.
43. Re:power consumption? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 10:33 · Score: 1
  
  That's just a user interface effect. They do have a reasonably well designed user interface (except very lacking on some aspects, they do feel polished on their target demographic, which is americans only - their internationalization is horrible).
  Anyway, Android has this bit of the interface running Java code (even though the renderer is native), and Java has GC pauses. And OOM pauses (Android relies heavily on the OOM killer/signaller, which is an awkward decision IMO, but hey).
  In essence, you're seeing the difference between Java and Objective-C. Those Java pauses happen also on server software mind you. Except servers have way more juice to make those pauses tiny.
44. Re:power consumption? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 10:53 · Score: 0
  
  All graphics, image processing, and file operations will be almost 2x faster moving data around in 64 bits at a time vs 32 bits.
45. Re:power consumption? by unixisc · 2014-09-13 12:48 · Score: 1
  
  If the watch works w/ my 5s, I'll get it after a while.
46. Re:power consumption? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 17:42 · Score: 0
  
  My iPhone 4s will disagree that the latest apps don't work. Have yet to run into any issues and have yet to see any reason to upgrade..
47. Re:power consumption? by cyn1c77 · 2014-09-13 17:49 · Score: 1
  
  Who cares about performance anymore. Fast enough is fast enough. Which one lasts longer on battery?
  Probably people who own an iPhone 5 and are debating upgrading to the new one.
  Especially so if they like the smaller form factor of the iPhone 5, but would be willing to trade it for increased performance.
48. Re: power consumption? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-14 01:25 · Score: 0
  
  Small string optimisation is common in many platforms (compiler+standard library vendor), but certainly available on Clang with libcxx, and I believe gcc and Visual Studio.
  Seen it commonly for over a decade, when copy-on-write (CoW) strings started going out of vogue due to complexity and overhead in multithread programs.
49. Re: power consumption? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-14 01:30 · Score: 0
  
  And in basic configuration for 64-bit on ARM, at least on Clang+libcxx, a std::string occupies three native 64-bit words (ie 24 bytes), and so small strings up to around 22 bytes will be stored within the string instance itself, without using the free store "heap".
50. Re:power consumption? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-14 01:50 · Score: 0
  
  On Clang+libcxx with standard settings, the default capacity of a std::string is 22 on 64-bit, and 10 on 32-bit, without using any heap. This can be checked by stepping into the implementation or using a custom allocator, or simply by querying the capacity of a default-constructed string via std::string().capacity().
  The capacity is 22 or 10 because libcxx's std::string implementation takes three native words, with is either 24 bytes in 64-bit, or 12 bytes in 32-bit, and with small string optimisation all but one byte is given over to the actual string byte sequence plus null. So this allows a string with size()==22, and takes 23 bytes to store including the zero terminator (not required, but stored internally so that c_str() does not require reallocation onto the heap).
  Many other platforms are similar.
51. Re:power consumption? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-14 04:22 · Score: 0
  
  That was most likely sarcasm. Of all possible sources, nobody in their right mind would trust Apple in producing fair reviews of their own products. I'd rather trust Microsoft(*).
  *) see? :)
52. Re:power consumption? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-14 04:37 · Score: 0
  
  All graphics, image processing, and file operations will be almost 2x faster moving data around in 64 bits at a time vs 32 bits.
  In the case of x86 and x64 on PCs the older 32 bit x86 processors already include some 64 bit features including some 64 bit registers (actually 80 bit in some cases) that are used for floating point and I think MMX SSE etc.
53. Re:power consumption? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-14 05:40 · Score: 0
  
  You mean "wasteful applications" by "powerful applications". What could be achived on earlier iPhone and current one hasn't gotten 50 times better, by a long shot.
54. Re:power consumption? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-14 06:44 · Score: 0
  
  All graphics, image processing, and file operations will be almost 2x faster moving data around in 64 bits at a time vs 32 bits.
  Not necessarily. The limiting factor for a lot of stuff like that is the speed of the bus between the RAM and the cache, it doesn't always make much difference how fast the CPU can move stuff about on the fast side of the RAM cache.
55. Re:power consumption? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-14 09:23 · Score: 0
  
  He's not a fanboy, you're just a mindless Apple shill.
56. Re:power consumption? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-14 13:17 · Score: 0
  
  there's not that much to mention about the iphone6 except nfc.
  That's a ridiculous thing to say.
  Why? He's right, there isn't much interesting about the iPhone6. This release matches what we have seen historically, predictably it had a new chassis design (nothing innovative), larger screen (nothing innovative), slightly faster internals (nothing innovative) and slightly improved power efficiency (nothing innovative). The only thing of any interest is NFC and that is only interesting because iPhones have never had it before, other than that it's Apple's same old iPhone formula repeated.
57. Re:power consumption? by Bogtha · 2014-09-14 13:33 · Score: 1
  
  I think you've misread "not much to mention" as "not much that is unprecedented". These are two very different things. There's a lot to mention about the iPhone 6. You yourself have already mentioned quite a bit about it.
  
  --
  Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
58. Re:power consumption? by Sockatume · 2014-09-14 20:21 · Score: 1
  
  I'm still using an iPhone 4, which is now four generations behind. I've had no problem with app performance outside of (of course) 3D games. This thing's aging better than my Nokia 3310 did.
  Most apps aren't all that technically demanding.
  
  --
  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
Who gives the fuck? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-12 16:31 · Score: 0

The screen is finally a proper size, rejoice!
Okay, so... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-12 16:36 · Score: 5, Interesting

It's like 3D Mark, for iOS?
Something tells me Basemark X doesn't take advantage of any of the Apple specific APIs. We've been seeing a solid ~30-40% increase in FPS when using Metal over the iPhone 5S. Everything else feels about the same though, but then again I haven't had access to our test units for any extended length of time to actually benchmark stuff (they've been kept in a locked up room with no windows chained to an unmovable desk bolted into the floor for the past two weeks). The hardware definitely is faster, but it seems like one of those things that won't matter unless you're targeting iOS specifically and writing Apple proprietary code, so I kinda question how that is going to play out in the future (especially when everyone wants their shit to run on Android and iOS and Blackberry and WinMo all at once).
Not early adopting the new big dog. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-12 16:36 · Score: 0

Counting down to the 6+S release date.
Keynote acknowledged this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-12 16:37 · Score: 5, Informative

We already know the gains are less from the keynote. If you look at the graph Apple showed of CPU speed it shows an exponential increase in speed until the 5, but then a noticeable levelling off to the 6.
What they're focussing on now is different. CPU is obviously almost good enough, battery is more important. Instead they're offloading functionality. The motion coprocessor and the GPU. Compare the GPU graph to the CPU one and you see much greater gains.
1. Re:Keynote acknowledged this by FlyHelicopters · 2014-09-12 16:56 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  What they're focussing on now is different. CPU is obviously almost good enough, battery is more important.
  This... I want a longer battery, lighter weight, etc...
  It is already fast enough and it will be awhile before apps catch up.
  They will, but not for a few years, then we'll need another jump.
2. Re:Keynote acknowledged this by grouchomarxist · 2014-09-12 19:01 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Yes, Apple is claiming that the A8 only draws 50% of the power of the A7, so the emphasis was probably on power reduction as opposed to performance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A...
3. Re:Keynote acknowledged this by purpledinoz · 2014-09-12 21:06 · Score: 2
  
  That sucks. I love the warm fuzzy feeling in my pocket after the CPU on my phone got a good workout.
4. Re:Keynote acknowledged this by StripedCow · 2014-09-12 23:36 · Score: 2
  
  Instead they're offloading functionality.
  God. How long before they introduce a "Twitter" or "Facebook" coprocessor (which they provide for a significant fee of course)?
  How long before we will be having the "cpu neutrality" discussion?
  
  --
  If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
5. Re:Keynote acknowledged this by Shadowmist · 2014-09-13 01:55 · Score: 2
  
  I guess you'd rather be back in the days when all system graphics had to go through the CPU instead of being offloaded to things like graphics and sound cards. Offloading to coprocessors is what enabled Amigas to run Mac OS faster than the Macs using the exact same CPU .
6. Re:Keynote acknowledged this by Khyber · 2014-09-13 04:02 · Score: 1
  
  "I guess you'd rather be back in the days when all system graphics had to go through the CPU instead of being offloaded to things like graphics and sound cards."
  Take a guess where the APU is taking us.
  
  --
  Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
7. Re:Keynote acknowledged this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 06:28 · Score: 0
  
  We survived math co-processors pretty well...
8. Re:Keynote acknowledged this by hawk · 2014-09-14 03:51 · Score: 1
  
  toggling the speaker by poking a memory address was good enough for the Apple ][, and it should be good enough for, uhh, . . . :)
  hawk
9. Re:Keynote acknowledged this by exomondo · 2014-09-14 14:12 · Score: 1
  
  Take a guess where the APU is taking us.
  To having a CPU and GPU on the same die, that doesn't mean all the graphics is now processed by the CPU using general purpose CPU instructions rather than GPU ones.
Modest Gains for everyone but Apple by Nyder · 2014-09-12 16:43 · Score: 3, Insightful

I'm guessing Apple didn't get modest gains, I'm sure they are making money hand over fist.

--
Be seeing you...
1. Re:Modest Gains for everyone but Apple by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-12 21:18 · Score: 0
  
  So?
2. Re:Modest Gains for everyone but Apple by SternisheFan · 2014-09-13 01:03 · Score: 1
  
  I'm guessing Apple didn't get modest gains, I'm sure they are making money hand over fist.
  Pre-orders are large. Seems iPhone owners do want a large screen, despite years of Apple saying they didn't.
3. Re:Modest Gains for everyone but Apple by Bing+Tsher+E · 2014-09-13 03:13 · Score: 1
  
  But the flood of older small screen iPhones into the used market will crater Apples general sales. They don't make ANYTHING on the sale of a used iPhone. I guess they'd better accelerate the release of iOS updates to force the 5s into obsolescence faster.
4. Re:Modest Gains for everyone but Apple by guruevi · 2014-09-13 04:19 · Score: 1
  
  Yes they do, they make money on the apps and the music and all the other side businesses in the ecosystem.
  
  --
  Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
5. Re: Modest Gains for everyone but Apple by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 08:31 · Score: 0
  
  Capitalism is wrong! Wrong to make money! Lol. Douchebag kill yourself. The only people that think it's wrong to make money are people that simply can't - the idiots
6. Re:Modest Gains for everyone but Apple by the_B0fh · 2014-09-13 14:23 · Score: 2
  
  Seeing that the iPhone 4S runs iOS 8, and iOS 9 will be out next year, this means the iPhone 4S will have 4 years of iOS updates.
  iPhone 5S is one year old, and based on track record, will be running iOS 10 fine.
  How do you propose they force the 5S into obsolescence faster?
  As opposed to Android phones, half of which are sold pre-obsolescenced? How many Android phones are running 4.4 again, and why are there still Android phones sold today that is running 2.x?
7. Re:Modest Gains for everyone but Apple by Bing+Tsher+E · 2014-09-14 04:17 · Score: 1
  
  The Android app stores tend to reach further back. There isn't a team behind Android app development vigorously encouraging app developers to recompile all updated versions against the latest API. So people aren't forced into OS updates because of their apps leaving them behind. But thats exactly one of the things Apple makes sure to do.
  It makes good business sense to force your customers to upgrade as often as possible. And I bought an iPod Touch new at the store that it wasn't possible to OS upgrade slightly more than a year later. So cut with the bullshit about 5 years.
8. Re:Modest Gains for everyone but Apple by the_B0fh · 2014-09-14 06:19 · Score: 1
  
  You understand that users of older versions of iOS can download the older versions of the iOS apps, right, if the developer chooses to make it available.
  http://support.apple.com/kb/ht...
  How is this forcing customers to upgrade as often as possible? Also, I said 4 years, not 5 years. You might want to re-read what I wrote, instead of what you think I wrote.
does that mean Siri will be faster? by cornswaggle · 2014-09-12 16:50 · Score: 0

Siri's deficiencies drive me up the wall. Just when I think it kind of works, it fails. Hopefully, it'll be faster and not need the network to run.
reading the results wrong by dnaumov · 2014-09-12 16:56 · Score: 4, Interesting

If you are comparing A8 performance vs A7 (as the title would imply you are), then you need to take into account the different screen sizes and pixel counts. The iPhone 6 has a fair bit more pixels that have to be pushed by the GPU.
1. Re:reading the results wrong by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-12 17:06 · Score: 0
  
  True but, despite the pixel pushers, some of us aren't pixel addicts. We care about other performance.
2. Re:reading the results wrong by AaronW · 2014-09-12 18:13 · Score: 2
  
  The problem with phones and tablets is they're pushing more and more pixels despite the fact that they're already smaller than what you can see. The drawbacks of having more pixels are that less light passes through and it takes more processing power to manage all of those pixels. My 7" tablet does 720P resolution. I can't see a discernable difference between a tablet with more pixels. The differences I see are things like how well they display color and viewing angle and brightness.
  
  --
  This post is encrypted twice with ROT-13. Documenting or attempting to crack this encryption is illegal.
3. Re:reading the results wrong by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-12 20:08 · Score: 0
  
  I want more pixels for better font rendering.
4. Re:reading the results wrong by AmiMoJo · 2014-09-13 00:19 · Score: 1
  
  I'm in my mid 30s and wear glasses, but I can see a difference. I'm one of those people who can see a difference between 1080p and 4k too, so maybe I'm lucky.
  One thing I've noticed varies a lot between phones is how well motion is rendered. Some phones are very clear when scrolling, especially AMOLED displays but also some LCDs. Others are just a smeared, blurred mess.
  
  --
  const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
  SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
5. Re:reading the results wrong by thogard · 2014-09-13 01:52 · Score: 0
  
  Oddly enough, pushing pixels is the only sane reasons for doing 64 bit operations on a hand held device. If your not using more than 4 gig address space, going from 32 bits to 64 tends to mean you spend far more time moving pointers that have all zeros in the top half. Old stats showed the best a 64 bit PCU tends to do is about 6% worse based on average loads but operations with lots of indirect operations (like Java) it can be far worse.
6. Re:reading the results wrong by tlhIngan · 2014-09-15 03:00 · Score: 1
  
  Oddly enough, pushing pixels is the only sane reasons for doing 64 bit operations on a hand held device. If your not using more than 4 gig address space, going from 32 bits to 64 tends to mean you spend far more time moving pointers that have all zeros in the top half. Old stats showed the best a 64 bit PCU tends to do is about 6% worse based on average loads but operations with lots of indirect operations (like Java) it can be far worse.
  Not on ARMv8.
  ARMv8 only runs 32-bit (AArch32) code moderately faster than ARMv7. But if you can recompile the code for 64-bit (AArch64), you get an immediate speed boost because AArch64 makes several optimizations by getting rid of some legacy cruft in the old AArch32 architecture. (Some things, like conditional execution of instructions were great back in the day, but modern superscalar processors make that very inefficient because you're going to have to speculatively execute everything)
  So one reason is pure speed.
Not GCD by SuperKendall · 2014-09-12 17:10 · Score: 1

Apple's done a lot of work with Grand Central Dispatch (is that the right technology?)
GCD helps manage tasks across multiple cores pretty well.
The GPU leverage though, is handled either by writing OpenCL code, or normal code that uses the Accellerate framework to do a variety of math, which internally hits the GPU when it makes sense.
OpenCL is kind of involved to get into but it's often very easy to fix up the math in heavier calculations to use Accellerate.

--
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
iBrick by dprimary · 2014-09-12 17:16 · Score: 5, Funny

I though the real race was to be the first company get their phone back up to the size of the analog Motorola bricks with a bonus for a 12" whip antenna.
For far ahead anyway by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-12 17:21 · Score: 0

Raw power seems a bit lost on the consumers right now.
You don't hear much mention of iPhone & iPads being the only 64bit mobile devices on the market right now.
So knowing Apple they are probably ignoring gains in performance and concentrating on power drain (the A7 draws twice the current that the A6 did).
That and SOC features like secure areas for storing finger prints, credit card transaction stuff, etc.
That's where they really have the upper hand on the other handset manufacturers.
1. Re:For far ahead anyway by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-12 18:25 · Score: 0
  
  The need for a larger battery for the A7 cores and the need for better heat dissipation is why Apple went with the larger sizes. The fact that ARM64 is available on the iPhone 5S and latest generation iPads isn't really a big deal. Most consumers are more interested in that their apps work. The people interested in noodling around with that either wait for a JB, or wind up using Android devices where a new CPU can actually be used for various things.
  Is the iPhone 6 a bad phone? Nope. As always with Apple, their fit and finish is almost always leading the pack. However, if one has an iPhone 5S, unless the Apple Pay feature or the better camera is so overwhelming a need that it is worth the cost, it isn't that much of a jump from a 5S, or even a 5C, although the fingerprint scanner is useful in a busy area so one's PIN doesn't get shoulder-surfed.
Not so in IOS by SuperKendall · 2014-09-12 17:29 · Score: 1

You can't offload anything onto the GPU. Only certain specific types of things, and certain math.
It's not very specific, it's pretty broad. The Accellerate framework includes quite a lot of stuff...
We could offload more still if OpenCL was on iOS (which contrary to another post I jet put up, it is not quite yet - it's just lurking under the public API surface).

--
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
what about more ram? by Joe_Dragon · 2014-09-12 17:29 · Score: 4, Informative

1gb is low next to other systems.
1. Re:what about more ram? by paulkoan · 2014-09-12 18:13 · Score: 2
  
  iphone users have no need for multi tasking
  
  --
  This signature intentionally left blank
2. Re:what about more ram? by roc97007 · 2014-09-12 18:48 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  At least, that's what apple tells them.
  
  --
  Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
3. Re:what about more ram? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-12 18:50 · Score: 1
  
  Android apps each need to have their own VM running the Java interpreter. I would expect it to require memory for that overhead. iOS on the other hand runs native code. At least that is my understanding of the scenarios.
4. Re:what about more ram? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-12 21:46 · Score: 0
  
  It's more or less true. The motivation behind buying an iPhone and buying a phone isn't necessarily the same. In my experience there are people who buys an iPhone to fit in with a specific social circle. In those cases a cheaper but more capable phone isn't a substitute, that would be like bringing a modern car to a veteran meeting.
  Given a customer like that there is little need for functionality apart from showing off a single program at a time. Swapping out from a strategy game to check if there are any e-mails that needs immediate attention isn't part of the things you need to do.
  The people who need a specific functionality doesn't need a specific brand, they can consider all alternatives (Including windows phone) and see what the cheapest thing that actually fulfills their needs are.
5. Re:what about more ram? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-12 23:16 · Score: 0
  
  So it has come to this.
  I remember the times (not to long ago) when my PC had only 512 MB RAM and yeah, it was not to good, but okay for the most workloads.
  And now the "tiny" devices everyone cares around with him are expected to have more than twice the amount of working memory.
  Somehow technological advancement makes me feel old.
6. Re:what about more ram? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 01:19 · Score: 1
  
  No, that's not what he said, what he said is that iOS software is more efficient than android software, and hence needs less RAM at any point in time. That's a fair point. Just the overhead of having a garbage collector is typically enough to cause a 2 times blow up in the amount of RAM used.
7. Re:what about more ram? by zeroduck · 2014-09-13 01:54 · Score: 2
  
  This works just fine on my iPhone. When I'm playing a game, notifications will pop up for important emails. Or if I just want to check for any emails, I can always switch to email from the game and switch back. Were you expecting to have both open and visible on a phone screen?
8. Re:what about more ram? by roc97007 · 2014-09-13 07:20 · Score: 2
  
  My daughter has been out of high school for a couple years, but during her junior and senior years, she said that kids tended to prefer android over the iphone because you could change the look and feel of the phone by customizing the desktop or substituting a completely different desktop, which they referred to as "bling", whereas every iphone was like every other iphone. Individuality was important, and the iphone was considered generic and boring.
  Of course, it was an art magnet school, and kids tended to be more quirky and individual than your standard public school student in America.
  For awhile she was in a retro phase. We found a "geek junk store" that had a bunch of older Blackberrys for something like five bucks apiece. She had a collection of different models and would swap the sim card back and forth depending on her mood that day.
  I appreciate that the above describes a market segment that Apple has no interest in pursuing.
  
  --
  Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
9. Re:what about more ram? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 09:35 · Score: 0
  
  Har har.
  iOS has had multitasking since iOS 5. iOS 5. We're on 8 now. Your meme has gotten stale with age.
10. Re:what about more ram? by roc97007 · 2014-09-13 09:48 · Score: 1
  
  So has the iphone. It's just an iphone. Other than color, all iterations of a model are, and must always be, exactly the same. I guess there's a lesson for kids in there somewhere.
  
  --
  Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Are you joking? by bussdriver · 2014-09-12 17:47 · Score: 2

When Siri came out people figured out right away they just encode and send the audio to the "cloud" to do all the work.

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Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
1. Re: Are you joking? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 00:38 · Score: 0
  
  And yet, for some magical reason, older phones were suddenly incompatible with it despite all the heavy lifting being done online.
2. Re: Are you joking? by reanjr9417 · 2014-09-13 02:03 · Score: 1
  
  What else did people expect? Android had the same feature for over a year before Siri came out.
3. Re: Are you joking? by BasilBrush · 2014-09-13 09:04 · Score: 0, Informative
  
  That is the very opposite of the truth.
  Siri was included with iOS 5 which came out in Oct 2011.
  The Android equivalent didn't come along till Jelly Bean, which came out in July 2012.
  It's possible that you are thinking about an app that came out for Android earlier. But if so you are forgetting that such apps were available for iOS first. Siri itself was available as an app on iOS in Feb 2010.
4. Re: Are you joking? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-14 02:36 · Score: 0
  
  The Android equivalent didn't come along till Jelly Bean, which came out in July 2012.
  Android was doing the voice to cloud thing since at least eclair in 2010 when I started using it. Google now is what came with jb in 2012 and is more than just voice to cloud processing, its things like contextual awareness to let you know when to leave to avoid traffic. Or whats going on in the area around you.
Who cares about specs ... by MessageDrivenBean · 2014-09-12 18:33 · Score: 0

Nobody cares about specs when it comes to iPhones, certainly not the speed of the CPU. They don't matter, trust me, they don't. Buying and owning an any iPhone is an emotional decision, not a rational one. Yes. I have them all.

--
Quisque verborum suorum optimus interpres...
1. Re:Who cares about specs ... by Kkloe · 2014-09-12 20:31 · Score: 1
  
  but there are always the ones that want to compare their external penis
2. Re:Who cares about specs ... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-12 21:56 · Score: 0
  
  but there are always the ones that want to compare their external penis
  As a male I would say that comparing an internal penis would feel a bit gay.
stands to reason by roc97007 · 2014-09-12 18:47 · Score: 2

We're reaching the flat end of the curve. It'll all be marketing from here on out.

--
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Custom software by ponos · 2014-09-12 20:03 · Score: 1

Apple has absolute control of the software ecosystem and can probably gain significant performance from appropriate optimizations. The android landscape is much more heterogeneous and probably less optimized for each individual device. Think consoles vs PC.
Raw benchmarks like this one may not properly reflect user's perception of performance when different ecosystems are compared. In the end, I expect the iPhone 6 to feel at least as fast as the fastest Android devices in real use cases.
1. Re:Custom software by the_B0fh · 2014-09-13 14:31 · Score: 1
  
  According to this: http://results.rightware.com/b...
  The iPhone 5S, with a dual core 1.3Ghz, is performing comparably to 2.3 Ghz quad cores, coming in at #8.
  Can you imagine what the phone market would be like if Apple decided to say "eff the lot of you" and doubled their clock speed and then double the number of cores...?
  All of a sudden, that 1019 will turn into 4000. Wonder how the other phones will even try to keep up...?
Good news for those who still like small phones by Torp · 2014-09-12 20:42 · Score: 1

If the 5S and 6 have comparable performance, it means the 5S remains a long term option across OS upgrades. No need to keep a tablet in your pocket...

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1. Re:Good news for those who still like small phones by Teresita · 2014-09-13 01:28 · Score: 1
  
  If the 5S and 6 have comparable performance, it means the 5S remains a long term option across OS upgrades. No need to keep a tablet in your pocket...
  
  Is that a tablet in your pocket or are you just moving higher on the Mohs Hardness Scale?
2. Re:Good news for those who still like small phones by Bing+Tsher+E · 2014-09-13 03:23 · Score: 1
  
  I'm sure Apple will be able to come up with artificial means of obsoleting their older hardware when the bottom line demands it. It's something they have an expertise in.
The most important features... by Savage-Rabbit · 2014-09-12 20:45 · Score: 3, Interesting

What they're focussing on now is different. CPU is obviously almost good enough, battery is more important.
This... I want a longer battery, lighter weight, etc...
It is already fast enough and it will be awhile before apps catch up.
They will, but not for a few years, then we'll need another jump.
Yes, longer battery life would be nice but it's the bigger screen size and the fingerprint sensor that are motivating me to trade my iPhone 4S in for an iPhone 6+, I've decided that I want a phablet. It takes more effort to crack the fingerprint sensor than it takes to just sitting in your couch and punching in four digit pin-codes until you unlock the phone. I could put a password on my phone but punching in a password every time I get an e-mail is way too bothersome and I can't read Google maps in landscape mode on my iPhone 4S anymore because the display is just too small. As long as the device has adequate processing power to run the latest apps and games for the next 5 years and gets OS updates (which previous experience with Apple devices tells me it will) I don't really care that much about whether it has benchmarks and a processing speed that trumps those of the latest offering from Samsung, LG, HTC et al. In fact the majority of the features that I really value the most are software features ranging from the 'Continuity' OS X integration, 'HealthKit', App services and Universal Touch ID authorization for all apps to the little stuff you almost don't notice like, the revamped keyboard, built in phone calls over wifi, an overview over which app is using the most power, reply notification for especially important messages, ... the list goes on. Now if they'd only get around to putting a folding bookmarks menu in the little wizard you use when you add a bookmark in Mobile Safari... this is iOS version 8 for Christ's sake and Apple still hasn't gotten around to fixing it.

--
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
1. Re:The most important features... by AmiMoJo · 2014-09-13 00:17 · Score: 1, Interesting
  
  Sounds like what you want is a Nexus 5, or wait a bit and get a Nexus 6. Consider this:
  The PIN code weakness seems odd, as most phones have some kind of rate limit that makes it basically impractical to do before you notice someone has stolen your phone. As for everything else, the Nexus 5 does it pretty well, and costs less than half the price. In fact the 32GB model is 1/3rd the price of an equivalent iPhone 6+. With the massive saving you can easily replace any apps you paid for on iOS. Updates should keep coming for years, although realistically 5 years is a stretch. Apple tend to release crippling updates after a couple of years so that you either get stuck on an old version or are "encouraged" to upgrade your device.
  Unless you are absolutely set on an iOS device it's hard to justify an iPhone 6.
  
  --
  const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
  SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
2. Re: The most important features... by Karlt1 · 2014-09-13 00:51 · Score: 3
  
  Updates should keep coming for years, although realistically 5 years is a stretch. Apple tend to release crippling updates after a couple of years so that you either get stuck on an old version or are "encouraged" to upgrade your device.
  Google only promises upgrades for 18 months. Apple provided security updates for 3GS released 6/2009 in 2/2014. The iPhone 4 released 6/2010 will have the latest OS until 9//2014. I used iOS 7 on an iPhone 4 and it works fine.
3. Re: The most important features... by FlyHelicopters · 2014-09-13 01:26 · Score: 2
  
  Google only promises upgrades for 18 months. Apple provided security updates for 3GS released 6/2009 in 2/2014.
  There is something to be said for that. :)
  When I buy a phone like a Galaxy, it rarely gets updates and for sure doesn't get them for 5 years.
4. Re:The most important features... by FlyHelicopters · 2014-09-13 01:28 · Score: 2
  
  Unless you are absolutely set on an iOS device it's hard to justify an iPhone 6.
  What is wrong with that?
  The Apple App Store is well developed and more or less everything is on it.
  The iPhone 6 Plus is $300 on contract, but since the price of on or off contract is more or less the same, then that is what it is. (Verizon or AT&T are my only two real choices, the service of Sprint and T-Mobile suck where I live, I've tried both)
  I currently have a pair of Galaxy S4 phones, but my wife and I are finally looking at iPhones. We already love our iPads, but the iPhone 5's screen is too small, the 6 Plus fixes that.
5. Re:The most important features... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 02:04 · Score: 1
  
  I thought a fingerprint sensor had about a 1/200 false-positive rate. A four-digit pin code has 1/10000. Scanning random palm locations at various angles can be done sitting in a couch too.
6. Re: The most important features... by master_kaos · 2014-09-13 02:40 · Score: 2
  
  I woudn't say "fine", it runs fairly slow and laggy on my iphone 4.
  O well with the iPhone 6/6+ coming out, the market will be flooded with used 5 and 5s. Probably pick me up a 5.
7. Re:The most important features... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 03:18 · Score: 0
  
  The fingerprint scanner is why I don't want it. The same with Apple Pay and other conveniences, which we have already seen compromise the privacy of users. Bigger screen and better battery, all good.
  As things develop I'll re-evaluate my position, but for now it will wait.
8. Re:The most important features... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 03:21 · Score: 0
  
  Jebus, the article is about an Apple product benchmark and you had to try and turn it into an Android fanboi sales pitch... *sigh*
9. Re: The most important features... by HagbardCeline6909 · 2014-09-13 04:08 · Score: 1
  
  Even with the fingerprint sensor, you still need a password
10. Re:The most important features... by Savage-Rabbit · 2014-09-13 04:40 · Score: 2
  
  Sounds like what you want is a Nexus 5, or wait a bit and get a Nexus 6. Consider this:
  The PIN code weakness seems odd, as most phones have some kind of rate limit that makes it basically impractical to do before you notice someone has stolen your phone. As for everything else, the Nexus 5 does it pretty well, and costs less than half the price. In fact the 32GB model is 1/3rd the price of an equivalent iPhone 6+. With the massive saving you can easily replace any apps you paid for on iOS. Updates should keep coming for years, although realistically 5 years is a stretch. Apple tend to release crippling updates after a couple of years so that you either get stuck on an old version or are "encouraged" to upgrade your device.
  Unless you are absolutely set on an iOS device it's hard to justify an iPhone 6.
  My friend does it as a party trick, he checks where the fingerprints or slide marks are and surprisingly often he manages to guess the the pin or symbol on Android phones.
  
  --
  Only to idiots, are orders laws.
  -- Henning von Tresckow
11. Re:The most important features... by jo_ham · 2014-09-13 05:49 · Score: 0
  
  There is no PIN code weakness. You can set it to wipe the phone after 10 failed attempts, or set it to not do that, allowing infinite attempts, but if it is set this way then it will lock out after a few failed attempts and force you to wait to try again.
  The level of security you choose is up to each user.
  You can also set a PIN that is longer than 4 digits, and if you do so then you can use letters as well as numbers.
12. Re: The most important features... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 07:59 · Score: 0
  
  In reality you'll get updates much longer if you use CM. One of my old phones is a Nexus One with KitKat running on it. That is a six year old phone running the latest version of Android.
13. Re: The most important features... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 10:37 · Score: 0
  
  I have consistently been getting exactly one update on Galaxies.
  I'm expecting my MilkyWayPlus I got on pre-order now.
  Nah, but really. Galaxy models tend to get exactly one update.
14. Re: The most important features... by rbgaynor · 2014-09-13 11:27 · Score: 1
  
  Rarely though - most of the time the fingerprint scan is enough. Because of this it becomes quite reasonable to use a longer password on the phone instead of a 4 digit pin code for better security/encryption.
  
  --
  "Good things don't end with eum, they end with mania or teria." - H. Simpson
15. Re: The most important features... by the_B0fh · 2014-09-13 14:16 · Score: 1
  
  I have the original Motorola Droid. Find me a damned CM for it. I haven't been able to, and have given up on it. It's stuck at 2.3.whatever that Verizon had deigned to leave it at.
16. Re:The most important features... by the_B0fh · 2014-09-13 14:18 · Score: 1
  
  you realize you don't have to use the fingerprint scanner, right?
17. Re: The most important features... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 16:22 · Score: 0
  
  Is the original Samsung Galaxy S prone to attacks or something?
  I'm sure there's *something* to be said for that. There's something to be said for anything. But does it matter?
18. Re:The most important features... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 17:07 · Score: 0
  
  Sounds like what you want is a Nexus 5
  Jeez, are you a salesman for google or something?? why would he even consider a nexus, it doesn't meet like half his criteria. here's the stuff the nexus is missing:
  1. fingerprint reader
  2. 5 years of updates...nexus gives you like 2 years of updates usually
  3. no integration into his iComputer ecosystem
  4. healthkit
  5. phone calls over wifi
19. Re: The most important features... by AmiMoJo · 2014-09-14 01:21 · Score: 1
  
  Google keeps providing security updates for older devices. I'm not sure how far back it goes but Gingerbread still occasionally gets patches, so that's 2010. They are provided via the Play Store app, and can patch OS level issues just like iOS updates.
  Unlike iOS you are not forced to upgrade the OS to a version that cripples your phone with slowdown just to get these updates. That's why Google doesn't always port new versions of the OS back to older devices - they consider them unable to run the new version adequately. Take your pick - an frustratingly slow but up to date OS, or an out of date (but secure) OS.
  
  --
  const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
  SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
20. Re:The most important features... by AmiMoJo · 2014-09-14 01:30 · Score: 1
  
  It doesn't make financial sense. As I pointed out, you can buy a similar to better phone for less than half the price even after you re-bought your apps. Even on contract it's expensive, since the contract itself will be more. I can buy a Nexus 5 for 40,000 yen and then the contract is 1000 yen/month, or I can get an iPhone on contract for 30,000 yen plus 8,000/month for two years. With the latter I'd be locked in to that carrier as well.
  
  --
  const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
  SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
21. Re: The most important features... by Karlt1 · 2014-09-14 03:49 · Score: 2
  
  Google keeps providing security updates for older devices. I'm not sure how far back it goes but Gingerbread still occasionally gets patches, so that's 2010. They are provided via the Play Store app, and can patch OS level issues just like iOS updates.
  That only helps for frameworks and API's that are covered by Google Play services. Anything else is up to the vendor/carrier to actually send updates to your phone. How many vendors would send a security update to a phone released in 2009 four years later?
22. Re:The most important features... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-14 04:42 · Score: 0
  
  Please don't expect your iphone battery to last you 5 years. Or to be able to change it easily.
23. Re:The most important features... by FlyHelicopters · 2014-09-14 08:22 · Score: 1
  
  Depends on your local carrier situation... Sounds like in your case, all else being equal, the Nexus 5 makes more sense.
  Where I live, it really doesn't make much of a difference in the monthly cost. The low cost carriers suck, the service sucks, the signal is terrible, etc...
  What I need out of a phone is it to work all the time, every time, everywhere.
  Verizon and AT&T do that, Sprint and T-Mobile do not, at least in the North Texas area.
  My Galaxy S3 phones were from Sprint, the service was almost useless inside large buildings.
  My current Galaxy S4 phones are from Verizon, they work everywhere. The service costs more, but perhaps that is why. :)
  So from my point of view, I'm looking at $200 each for Galaxy S5 phones or $300 each for iPhone 6 Plus phones, with the monthly service costing exactly the same either way.
  It is a very minor difference, not one that I'll make my decision over.
  Frankly, I'll likely spend the $400 each to get the 64GB version, 4 times the space for 25% more is worth it to me.
24. Re: The most important features... by strikethree · 2014-09-14 18:42 · Score: 1
  
  Apple provided security updates for 3GS released 6/2009 in 2/2014.
  
  There is a bit of a lie in what you say: As soon as the 4 was released, the updated to IOS pretty much killed the 3GS off by making it unusably slow. I "restored" it to an earlier version and never updated it anymore. What was that, IOS 3.2 or somesuch? Yeah. You can claim updates but that is essentially a lie.
  
  --
  "Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
25. Re: The most important features... by AmiMoJo · 2014-09-15 00:09 · Score: 1
  
  Can you point to a security issue that hasn't been mitigated by a patch from Google?
  FWIW my Galaxy S3 is still getting updates, three years after it was released.
  
  --
  const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
  SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
26. Re: The most important features... by i.kazmi · 2014-09-16 15:40 · Score: 0
  
  XDA Forums
  
  The phone has a 550MHz processor and 256MB of RAM...the performance will probably be abysmal in today's world of multicore CPUs but you asked for a ROM and here is a jellybean ROM...
Top of what? by Shag · 2014-09-12 21:28 · Score: 5, Interesting

Basemark X results across all vendors are at http://results.rightware.com/b...
The iPhone 6 is around #17. iPhone 5s, #21.
Of course, everything else in the top 25 is running quad-core CPUs at 2+ GHz.
iPhones? Dual-core at 1.3-1.4 GHz.
That's some crazy math right there.

--
Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
1. Re:Top of what? by GrahamJ · 2014-09-13 04:25 · Score: 1
  
  That's not what I see. Hit All for Basemark OS II and the iPhone 5S is number 7.
  But you're right, one through six are all double the clock speed and quad core.
2. Re:Top of what? by GrahamJ · 2014-09-13 04:26 · Score: 2
  
  Actually, the next 22 slower phones are all double the clock speed and quad core as well!
3. Re:Top of what? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 18:31 · Score: 0
  
  Perhaps GPU performance is more important to a gaming benchmark than CPU performance?
No, iBag! by swb · 2014-09-12 21:54 · Score: 1

No, I want an iBag with a 12" retina display on the bag!
1. Re:No, iBag! by ganjadude · 2014-09-13 01:15 · Score: 1
  
  pfft, get with the times. Its all about the iPants with 2 7 inch screens on each thigh
  
  --
  have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
Still not your phone by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-12 22:15 · Score: 0

You can still only buy software through Apple's online store, and it plagues your with advertising. CPU speed is the least of your worries.
I always feel that with Apple products, Apple should pay your to use them, rather than you paying Apple. The whole impression I have had, throughout ownership, is that Apple owns my phone, and will only let me control it in a very restricted way - mostly to get my self milked by the 'app store'. It is certainly nice to see a bigger screen, but I was really hoping it would be OLED, but iOS still sucks badly. I also am seriously concerned about using any product developed by an US based company, given the Stasi State situation right now in America, and the problems with democracy and human rights there.
1. Re:Still not your phone by the_B0fh · 2014-09-13 14:33 · Score: 1
  
  Why would you want an OLED screen over a sRGB accurate screen?
Can't wait to hate... by frnic · 2014-09-12 23:07 · Score: 0

Everyone is standing inline to get one and Slashdot is posting anything and everything it can to put it down...
As usual, can't wait to hate.
Geek care about performance, configurability, expandability, etc. Geeks make up almost 0% of the Apple market. It's as if garbage truck drivers were complaining about the latest Porsche Carrera because there was very limit load carrying capacity...
1. Re:Can't wait to hate... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 00:28 · Score: 1
  
  I'm a geek. I do very involved hacking of hardware and software, fixing tech issues, debugging, etc, all day at work. To me, I just want a phone that works, doesn't take any mental effort to use as I want, when I want. If I retire some day, I might have fun with an android. I just value simplicity where I can get it.
2. Re:Can't wait to hate... by master_kaos · 2014-09-13 02:51 · Score: 2
  
  Exactly, same here. I original did have an Android for OPs reasons, but then after I got one, I was like you know what I don't give a shit, give me something that works well that I don't need to tinker with and that also has a decent interface.
  And even though on paper my android phone specs blew the iPhone out of the water, it didn't matter android 2.x was laggy as shit and the UI was fucking horrible.
  You can also do a lot with jailbreaking, but I don't even bother doing that. The iPhone just works. Now the new Androids with 3.x+ release looks a lot better, but meh.
3. Re:Can't wait to hate... by Redbehrend · 2014-09-13 11:11 · Score: 1
  
  Apple = 90% marketing / 10% features lol
  NFC is the most amazing new tech.... wait a min it's been around for like 10 years..
  OK it has a bigger screen, oh wait that's already been around for a couple years.
  OK we have a payment system now, well with itunes prices we know it's going to be a rip-off lol
  Our display is even better but please be aware websites might not look right because we can't stick to standards.
  The battery you can't replace now even lasts longer! (How many people are buying one because they don't want to pay to have a new batt put in? lol)
  
  I'll probably get hate over this but eh I think it was a huge disappointment.
  
  Hopefully they have something to combat the new samsung / lg screens that are coming soon.
4. Re:Can't wait to hate... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 16:25 · Score: 0
  
  You mean it's as if Porsche Carerra drivers are complaining about the latest garbage truck because of the low top speed.
  See, we can make stupid and meaningless yet entirely equivalent analogies too.
5. Re:Can't wait to hate... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 16:30 · Score: 0
  
  Out of curiosity, what Android 2.x phone did you have that "blew the iPhone specs out of the water"? As a follow-up question, you mention that Android that hasn't been used in 4 years looks a lot better. Have you tried looking at modern operating systems? When comparing your 2.x system to the iPhone, was it also 4 years old?
  Since you're clearly not lying, this should be pretty easy to answer.
What about the camera? by Mistakill · 2014-09-13 00:32 · Score: 1

I'd never buy an iPhone, sorry, I don't like the idea of being locked into the Apple way... but I've seen little mention of how the camera compares to current flagship Android phones
1. Re:What about the camera? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 01:54 · Score: 0
  
  Then this phone wasn't made for you. Enjoy your android phone.
2. Re:What about the camera? by Shadowmist · 2014-09-13 02:00 · Score: 2
  
  I'd never buy an iPhone, sorry, I don't like the idea of being locked into the Apple way... but I've seen little mention of how the camera compares to current flagship Android phones
  I'll take the Apple way over the Malware Range that passes for an app ecosystem in Droid land. It's either that or apps that don't free memory when they're not working. At idle, my Samsung Galaxy is still using 75 percent of it's built in RAM. And that's AFTER running the garbage collection application.
3. Re:What about the camera? by SternisheFan · 2014-09-13 07:04 · Score: 1
  
  http://timesofindia.indiatimes...
4. Re:What about the camera? by Redbehrend · 2014-09-13 10:41 · Score: 1
  
  The top android cameras blows the iphone's out of the water, from what I read they didn't really change the camera much or add more MP so it will probably be the same with this one. Apple doesn't really develop much anymore they basically have to strike a deal or find someone to buy the tech from, that's why they switched to intel hardware with the computers.
5. Re:What about the camera? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 16:35 · Score: 0
  
  Honest question - what is the point of having RAM if you don't use it? Are you actually maxing out your memory? I would guess not, because if you were, you would probably notice that the operating system (like any modern operating system) frees and uses memory from the idle processes as necessary.
  I honestly can't imagine why someone would run a memory monitoring tool if they had no idea how memory works or what it's used for. Is it something that your grandson who knows computers told you about?
6. Re:What about the camera? by Shadowmist · 2014-09-26 12:49 · Score: 1
  
  I don't mind using my RAM. When I quit using an application however, it should be releasing ALL of the resources that it uses. the only reason not to is crappy programming either in the OS, the App, or both. Bad memory management leads to bad performance.
First 64bit by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 00:36 · Score: 0

"Certainly that was true of the A7 SoC, the world's first 64-bit smartphone processor."
What's the point of a 64bit processor with 1 GB of RAM?
1. Re:First 64bit by Shadowmist · 2014-09-13 02:23 · Score: 1
  
  "Certainly that was true of the A7 SoC, the world's first 64-bit smartphone processor."
  What's the point of a 64bit processor with 1 GB of RAM?
  If nothing else, it lays the groundwork for future phones with more memory as well as ensuring that the I6 phones will be running the same OS as the iphone 7 and possibly 8.
2. Re:First 64bit by Bing+Tsher+E · 2014-09-13 03:32 · Score: 1
  
  That just means Apple has to come up with new reasons to obsolete the current-2 versions of devices running their iOS. Which won't be a problem. They're good at that.
3. Re:First 64bit by wchin · 2014-09-13 03:32 · Score: 1
  
  Many make the wrong assumption that 64 bit processor means only increasing the memory pointers to 64 bit. This is not the case with the transition from the A6 to the A7. The instruction set changed from ARMv7s to ARMv8 (or ARM64). There are performance gains to be made moving to a new, revised ISA for which 64 bit is but one of the characteristics. Further, Apple has been working on their toolchain and they can leverage certain software compiler improvements especially within the Objective C runtime, like tagged pointers and inline reference counting that are made possible with 64 bit pointers.
  See: https://www.mikeash.com/pyblog...
4. Re: First 64bit by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 04:23 · Score: 0
  
  Absolutely! With Android at least you know what to expect: "Devices may not receive the latest version of Android if they fall outside of the update window, traditionally around 18 months after a device release." (https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/4457705?hl=en)
  Well, at least for Nexus devices, with other phones YMMV.
5. Re: First 64bit by Redbehrend · 2014-09-13 11:19 · Score: 1
  
  Rom's > All My friend has a galaxy s2 that runs 4.4.4. custom rom fine lol.
6. Re: First 64bit by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 13:44 · Score: 0
  
  Thats's lovely! I am sure she dual-boots into CP/M on it, too. I don't think this level of involvement is what the majority of phone users are into, though.
7. Re:First 64bit by Shadowmist · 2014-09-16 05:40 · Score: 1
  
  That just means Apple has to come up with new reasons to obsolete the current-2 versions of devices running their iOS. Which won't be a problem. They're good at that.
  IOS 8 is going to be pushed as far back as the iPhone 4S. Now go ahead, wrap that up in your canard, and smoke it.
Basemark X is the GAMING Benchmark you idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 00:57 · Score: 0

It tests the GPU in the phone, not the CPU.
God what a bunch of fucking idiots are running Slashdot these days?
I eagerly await by koan · 2014-09-13 01:27 · Score: 1

All the security related faux pas

--
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
Dissapointment by argontechnologies · 2014-09-13 01:31 · Score: 0

I personally find the release of the iphone 6 and 6 Plus a great disappointment. Other than a larger screen, they really did not do much at all worth mentioning. I still have not seen a review of the PHONE functions. I've always felt the iphone series a piss poor telephone device. Even a Moto Razr was a better telephone.
1. Re:Dissapointment by Redbehrend · 2014-09-13 11:22 · Score: 1
  
  That's a low blow since the Razr is considered their worst phone ever made internally lol
  But yes I agree, this was definitely a catch up device.
32 vs 64 by Ottibus · 2014-09-13 01:46 · Score: 5, Interesting

There is absolutely no reason to expect a 64 bit architecture to be faster than a 32 bit architecture unless you are doing a lot of 64 bit operations, or need more than 4G of RAM.
Right in theory, wrong in practice. If the only change was the width of the registers then it would make little difference to performance, but both the leading 32-bit architectures also gained more registers and new instructions when moving to a 64-bit architecture. ARM, in particular, made a number of performance-increasing changes to the architecure such as the removal of condition codes from most instructions.
So in practice 64 bit code usually runs faster. But don't take my word for it, look at the benchmarks for A7 running in 32 mode vs 64 bit mode.
1. Re:32 vs 64 by Khyber · 2014-09-13 03:53 · Score: 1
  
  " both the leading 32-bit architectures also gained more registers and new instructions when moving to a 64-bit architecture."
  When AMD introduced x86-64, there were no new instruction sets added, only registers. It even already supported SSE and SSE2, and in fact is GOT RID of some instructions while operating in 64-bit mode, such as saving/restoring of segment registers on the stack, saving/restoring of all registers, decimal arithmetic, BOUND and INTO instructions, and "far" jumps and calls with immediate operands, plus in 64-bit mode the x87 FPU register stack isn't even utilized.
  Intel had an actual instruction set change with the Itanium (IA-64)
  
  --
  Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
2. Re:32 vs 64 by sexconker · 2014-09-13 05:23 · Score: 2
  
  I just want to point out that you're talking out of your ass again. If you hadn't been so eager to shit on APK for no reason, I wouldn't have bothered to check your post. But here we are.
3. Re:32 vs 64 by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 06:54 · Score: 0
  
  Indeed. In addition to that, Apple made optimizations to the ObjC runtime that only exist in the 64-bit variant (because they couldn't be made to the 32-bit variant without breaking backward compatibility). This article explains it in some detail.
4. Re:32 vs 64 by Khyber · 2014-09-14 00:38 · Score: 1
  
  Yet you fail to provide proof I'm talking out of my ass.
  But you couldn't prove me wrong, as ANYONE with any clue about programing x86-64 ASM can testify - I'm fucking right.
  Protip: I've done both x86-64 and IA-64 programming.
  
  --
  Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
5. Re: 32 vs 64 by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-14 01:21 · Score: 0
  
  Pro tip: on ARM (not AMD) general purpose code in 64-bit typically runs 15-25% faster than the same code compiled for 32-bit.
  This is due to having more registers (not just wider registers, which only helps certain tasks), as well as overall improvements to the instruction set and cycle counts (latency and throughput).
What is the purpose of all this? by Ronin+Developer · 2014-09-13 02:05 · Score: 4, Insightful

Okay Fanboys and FAndroids - what is the point of this discussion?
I am a survivor of the PC Wars, the Clone Wars and the OS Wars. I saw the evolution of the mobile phone - starting with a Panasonic Bag phone myself.
We are talking about smartphones and which is faster, better. We are talking about putting down people who like the way does things because we don't agree with their priorities or policies.
The fact is, we are talking about a device that is, inherently, a phone. What do most of you use your smart phones for? Email reading? Sending messages? Gaming? Watching video? Productivity? Solving world hunger?
It's a phone with two different ways of approaching the world. Android is free for download. It works until the software can't keep up with the hardware evolution. Same goes for iOS. It's free (comes with the phone and updates are free) and it works until the software can't keep up the hardware evolution.
The choice between Android and Apple is a personal one. I am not a gamer and don't watch videos on my phone. My kids are. They are quite happy with the iPhone 5s and, until now, the 4s. iOS 8 will probably not work well, if at all, on a 4s. So, they may be getting an upgrade.
We have Apple devices in our household. They just work. We have Windows devices as well. My boys' Windows laptops continue to get viruses and malware despite having taking all the necessary "precautions". I spend several days every few months fixing their Windows devices. So, tell me...is Windows better than Apple? I would say "yes" when considering which has more productivity applications or in wider use for business. But, for what I do and need, Apple is perfect. I design systems for a living.
Yes, I used to code down to the metal and build my own PCs. No time for that now. I want something that just works.
All this applies to these Apple/iOS and /Android battles. It doesn't matter.
I use my smartphone, an iPhone 5, to do the things I need to do. I am not rendering games so I don't care about rendering rate. I take pictures, but most can't see the difference between 8 and 16 megapixels anyway...unless you are creating posters. I send and receive email and texts (from time to time). I use it to handle my calendar. I like the way iOS behaves and how to develop for it. Maybe, you don't. That's your choice. I also like the way Apple focuses on fit and finish. Until recently, Android devices were plastic.
A year ago, Apple came out with their Gold finished iPhone. All the FAndroids made fun over this. A year later, Samsung is pushing a gold finished phone like it's all the rage. WTF?
They are phones with the ability to help us get other things done. Android has found its way into embedded systems. iOS isn't ever going there. And, if I start programming embedded systems again, I will worry about it. I can code native Object-C and Java. But, I use other tools to develop across both iOS and Android platforms rather than getting down to the metal.
For me, a phone is little more than a phone right up until it makes it me money and helps put food on my table and roof over my head. If it means I have to code to make money and I *actually* make money. That's good. If it is smart enough to make money for me by watching the stock market and buying and selling for me automagically so I get rich? Well, I am all for that. I won't care what platform it's on..I will want one. I bet you will too (unless you're earthy crunchy).
Until then, stop worrying about what Apple does if you don't like Apple.
Buy what you like. If you have to discussion over the devices, do so in a civil tongue. If not, I can get as much discourse and hatred reading the political posts on CNN.
1. Re:What is the purpose of all this? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 03:45 · Score: 0
  
  Damn, I was with you, right up to the CNN part.
2. Re:What is the purpose of all this? by jazzis · 2014-09-13 22:44 · Score: 1
  
  Mod up + 10 Insightful. Unfortunately no mod points at the minute.
No expensive phone for me by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 03:08 · Score: 0

I must be the only person using an old 1 GHz single-core Samsung Galaxy from 2012 for Boost Mobile. All I use is Facebook app and weather app. I don't stream music or video. I just feel weird when everyone else has an iPhone or the Samsung Galaxy s5/Note or the new LG phones (forgot the latest model number).
So yeah, I'm spending $35 for 3G data that I hardly use. I don't even upload pictures or video to my Facebook page. I guess I'm not into high-end smartphones nor do I have the money to spend $200 or more on a phone.
Not quite as silly as you might think. by queazocotal · 2014-09-13 03:46 · Score: 1

Moores law is hitting a wall - and sharply limits the possibility of simply improving the speed of increasing the performance of single-core processors.
Interestingly however, one alternative - in addition to magical as-yet-unthought of technology is single purpose cores that remain switched off most of the time, and are only powered up to do a specific task very efficiently.
Re:First by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 04:04 · Score: 0

Who cares about performance anymore.
People who want a better phone and aren't marketing for Apple.
After the U2 nonsense, fiance not upgrading by Khyber · 2014-09-13 04:06 · Score: 0

The 4S will be his last Apple phone. He was not pleased to find the newest U2 album suddenly breaking up his electronica mix, and having eaten about 3% of his monthly data plan, all without his permission.

--
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
1. Re: After the U2 nonsense, fiance not upgrading by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 06:45 · Score: 0
  
  This is FUD. You had to selectively add that album to download. It wasn't automatic.
2. Re:After the U2 nonsense, fiance not upgrading by BasilBrush · 2014-09-13 09:46 · Score: 0
  
  Unlikely. He would have had to select both "Automatically download purchased content" and "Automatically download via Cellular". Neither of which are the defaults. The latter being rather stupid if you have a limited cellular data plan.
3. Re: After the U2 nonsense, fiance not upgrading by Khyber · 2014-09-13 18:06 · Score: 1
  
  No, you don't have to selectively download it. It can come in with the automatic crap which is turned on by default.
  
  --
  Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
iPhone 5S is already 8th fastest by GrahamJ · 2014-09-13 04:29 · Score: 1

(source note 1-7 and the next 22 are all double the clock speed and quad core)
so indeed, few will care about whatever speed increase the 6 brings.
1. Re:iPhone 5S is already 8th fastest by tlhIngan · 2014-09-15 03:12 · Score: 1
  
  (source note 1-7 and the next 22 are all double the clock speed and quad core)
  so indeed, few will care about whatever speed increase the 6 brings.
  Actually, the problem is the benchmarks don't run long enough because you cannot achieve the speed usefully on quad-cores.
  The problem is thermal - if you try to get all 4 cores going full tilt (and most of the time, you don't), you're going to hit the thermal limit within a minute. (Most benchmarks run under 30 seconds for that test). And once you hit that, performance and drop rather substantially. From thermal models I've seen, in free space with best cooling possible, you're going to hit max junction temperature in a minute and you have to throttle back two cores to 50% to keep it at max.
  But that's ideal conditions - where you effectively only have 3 cores available. Most of the time you won't have that, and you'll find those two extra cores are clocked to 25% or slower of the top speed.
  I'm sure the numbers are going to be more interesting if the benchmarks were re-run over and over again without letting the CPU cool down to see what the max sustained processing speed is.
what about more ram? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-13 17:49 · Score: 0

I thought the same when buying my first Android tablet, a Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 with 3GB and 2x 4 cores! WOW surely this would beat the pants off of my iPad... First and last time buying Samsung. Once the Surface Pro doesn't sound like a jet engine I might look at buying on of those, hopefully with Broadwell.
Re:First by Plumpaquatsch · 2014-09-14 06:05 · Score: 2

Who cares about performance anymore.
People who want a better phone and aren't marketing for Apple.
Only on Slashdot they can turn the fact that the Iphone 6 bumped the iPhone 5s from spot one to spot two, while still beating the now spot 3 by being only a little less than twice as fast into a slam on the performance.
Oh, and one thing the surprised-by-the-result article doesn't understand is that they completely ignored that Apple's goal was to increase performance durably and not just for the first few minutes of demand, followed by a large drop afterwards.

--
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
APK sure proved you wrong 8 times by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-14 17:17 · Score: 0

On hosts files here this week alone bigshot http://mobile.slashdot.org/com...
Looks great! by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-15 02:57 · Score: 0

Looks like I made the right choice upgrading to a iPhone 6 from a 4S, the benchmark shows the "6" as being over 4 times faster than the "4S". Hopefully this means I can tap the Simpsons faster in TSTO.