IPhone 4S: Anandtech review
anandtech.com
IPhone 4S: Anandtech review
1–10 of 16 posts
Re: IPhone 4S: Anandtech review
#2[deleted]
Re: IPhone 4S: Anandtech review
#3Now that an 800mhz A5 gets better scores than 1.2Ghz chips... are we going back to the PPC vs Intel days?
Re: IPhone 4S: Anandtech review
#4Now that an 800mhz A5 gets better scores than 1.2Ghz chips... are we going back to the PPC vs Intel days?
No, it's just the javascript engine is different (which you would think would make it a pretty bad benchmark by AnandTech's usual standards).
Though the shift from A8 to A9 and single to dual core and the emphasis on GPU means the CPU speed isn't the key metric it might have once been.
Re: IPhone 4S: Anandtech review
#5Now that an 800mhz A5 gets better scores than 1.2Ghz chips... are we going back to the PPC vs Intel days?
No, it's just the javascript engine is different (which you would think would make it a pretty bad benchmark by AnandTech's usual standards). Though the shift from A8 to A9 and single to dual core and the emphasis on GPU means the CPU speed isn't the key metric it might have once been.
Yep, hopefully these will be the days where we understand that comparing numbers such as processor speed when literally everything else in the stack, both hardware and software, is different is a completely pointless exercise.
(EDIT: I know that a JavaScript benchmark isn't an example of this, this is more a general comment on people comment on phone specs at the moment).
Re: IPhone 4S: Anandtech review
#6Now that an 800mhz A5 gets better scores than 1.2Ghz chips... are we going back to the PPC vs Intel days?
No, it doesn't. It's still mostly a software issue. As you can see a dual core 1.2 Ghz GS 2 gets 3300 ms, while a dual core 1.2 Ghz Droid RAZR gets 2000 ms. And that's just the stock browser. It can even get 1300 ms in Firefox.
The A5 still uses 2 Cortex A9 cores. Whatever optimizations Apple has done to it will have a minimal impact on performance. The biggest gains will still be obtained on the software side.
Re: IPhone 4S: Anandtech review
#7Now that an 800mhz A5 gets better scores than 1.2Ghz chips... are we going back to the PPC vs Intel days?
The "Apple A5" SoC still uses ARM Cortex-A9 cores like nearly every other mobile SoC. Only one that doesn't is Qualcomm's Snapdragon, which uses their custom (but still based on ARMv7 like the Cortex chips) "Scorpion" design, soon to be succeeded by "Krait". They're still ARM though, the difference isn't near as drastic as PPC v. Intel; it's closer to Intel v. AMD.
Re: IPhone 4S: Anandtech review
#8I like seeing an in-depth review.
These days it feels like all the major sites rush out the reviews right before launch day with less than a day of actually testing being done. The reviews often sound like just a re-hash of the press release specs.
Re: IPhone 4S: Anandtech review
#9I like seeing an in-depth review. These days it feels like all the major sites rush out the reviews right before launch day with less than a day of actually testing being done. The reviews often sound like just a re-hash of the press release specs.
I, as I assume most on this site, only considers Anandtech the one true tech product reviewer on the web. The only other equal is John Siracusa's review of the latest Mac OS release.
Re: IPhone 4S: Anandtech review
#10Now that an 800mhz A5 gets better scores than 1.2Ghz chips... are we going back to the PPC vs Intel days?
No, it doesn't. It's still mostly a software issue. As you can see a dual core 1.2 Ghz GS 2 gets 3300 ms, while a dual core 1.2 Ghz Droid RAZR gets 2000 ms. And that's just the stock browser. It can even get 1300 ms in Firefox. The A5 still uses 2 Cortex A9 cores. Whatever optimizations Apple has done to it will have a minimal impact on performance. The biggest gains will still be obtained on the software side.
> "Whatever optimizations Apple has done to it will have a minimal impact on performance."
I agree in general, though I think Apple is going to continue adding custom DSPs to their package. And that will provide an advantage in those targeted areas that software alone will not be able to bridge.