[kneeman]

I know nothing about the tech stuff, but everything else coming out now has 1ghz. So is this phone just already way behind or will it not need the extra speed. Seems to me you want all the speed you can get if you are gonna try and use flash in a few months.

[PrimalYeti]

There's only really 2 problems with the Torch.
The processor is a little slow and the screen resolution is a little low.

I can get around both, my dads 9700 is plenty responsive for me, and my 9000 is only starting to feel sluggish now. As for the screen, it would have been nicer if it was a "little" higher res, but I still think the iPhone 4's display is a little overkill (unless you're gaming).

They probably went with what they did because of battery.
Not reasons enough imo for me not to buy it.

[Plazmic Flame]

To be honest, Blackberry devices don't really need the 1 GHz processors because their UI and apps aren't that graphic intensive. It should do just fine. What does suck though is that the OS and applications you install use the same ROM space, which isn't much and limits you to how much you can really install.

Makes it seem kinda pointless that they're touting 4GBs of storage space when you can't even put apps there...

[Steve Rizla]

Which mobile phone features require a 1Ghz processor?

[Najo]

Which mobile phone features require a 1Ghz processor?

+1 None...

[Radius]

You guys are confusing clock frequency for processor speed. 1Ghz isn't necessarily a faster processor than a 624Mhz CPU.

[kneeman]

Like I said, I don't know much about the numbers. It is odd thought how when you read about the specs on most sites and even on AT&T's site it lists all the specs except the processor speed. Weird.

[Radius]

Like I said, I don't know much about the numbers. It is odd thought how when you read about the specs on most sites and even on AT&T's site it lists all the specs except the processor speed. Weird.

Because that number is completely useless. Look at it this way, a 500Mhz RISC processor will outperform a 1Ghz CISC processor any day. Meaning a Motorola CPU is faster than an Intel CPU even though the Motorola part has a lower clock speed.

It's not the clock frequency that defines how fast a CPU is, it's what they are doing on the inside architecture-wise.

[mahen915]

You guys are confusing clock frequency for processor speed. 1Ghz isn't necessarily a faster processor than a 624Mhz CPU.

Ummm ... Processor Speed is measured by clock frequency....

[Radius]

Ummm ... Processor Speed is measured by clock frequency....

I'm talking overall "speed". The frequency is merely what the clock runs at. My basic point is a slower frequency CPU can run more operations and be much faster than a higher frequency CPU.

And the other thing to remember is even if you are running at a lower clock frequency the CPU itself could be running at a much higher frequency than the clock input. Just because you have a 100Mhz clock input doesn't mean it runs at 100Mhz, it could actually be running at 400Mhz.

I have no idea if the processors RIM uses have this ability though.

[grahamf]

it may be a little slower, but RIm has found it sufficient. the processor most likely supports OpenGL ES, which means that RIM is able to optimize the OS to use the more powerful features of the chip in less steps. think of it as comparing a cheap intel graphics card to a slightly more expensive Intel graphics card with HD decoding built in. with the cheaper one the OS has to execute more code to decode HD video, but with the latter the OS just has to push the video to the chip which can use it's decoding feature in a more efficient process.

so yeah RIM COULD use a 1Ghz processor, but if they have take advantage of a slower processor they can make their device cheaper and more power efficient without a very noticeable difference.

[kilted thrower]

Is there a reason why they couldn't have put a 1 ghz processor on it and given it a better battery without increasing the size of the battery?

[Rob.Elliott]

I haven't seen the processor speed listed anywhere official, just speculation on forums like this. The processor found in the 9700 can be clocked to 800Mhz (Marvell PXA930 - CPUlist | PDAdb.net - Comprehensive Database of PDA, PDA Phone, Smartphone, PNA & Mobile Device Specifications) although I'd imagine this would drain the battery pretty quickly.
I agree it would be nice to have a faster CPU, just to futureproof the device a little.

For those that are confusing clock frequency with processing power just look at the difference between some of the Intel and AMD chips, Intels clock speeds are normally lower but the FLOPS (Floating point operations per second) are higher.

[mahen915]

I'm talking overall "speed". The frequency is merely what the clock runs at. My basic point is a slower frequency CPU can run more operations and be much faster than a higher frequency CPU.

And the other thing to remember is even if you are running at a lower clock frequency the CPU itself could be running at a much higher frequency than the clock input. Just because you have a 100Mhz clock input doesn't mean it runs at 100Mhz, it could actually be running at 400Mhz.

I have no idea if the processors RIM uses have this ability though.

I think you're referring to an architecture technique called Dynamic Frequency Clocking. Most modern processors are capable of it. Either way, when it comes down to it, 1Ghz means you can execute more instructions per unit time than you can with 624Mhz. But you're right, it's a lot more complicated than just that

[Pearl9100]

To be honest, Blackberry devices don't really need the 1 GHz processors because their UI and apps aren't that graphic intensive. It should do just fine. What does suck though is that the OS and applications you install use the same ROM space, which isn't much and limits you to how much you can really install.

Makes it seem kinda pointless that they're touting 4GBs of storage space when you can't even put apps there...

im tired of these "just fine" specs. i want a premo phone that has great specs, especially when the competition is offering more (hardware wise) for the same price.

[TheOne01]

You guys are confusing clock frequency for processor speed. 1Ghz isn't necessarily a faster processor than a 624Mhz CPU.

In this case, I'm sure it is.

[Pearl9100]

I'm talking overall "speed". The frequency is merely what the clock runs at. My basic point is a slower frequency CPU can run more operations and be much faster than a higher frequency CPU.

And the other thing to remember is even if you are running at a lower clock frequency the CPU itself could be running at a much higher frequency than the clock input. Just because you have a 100Mhz clock input doesn't mean it runs at 100Mhz, it could actually be running at 400Mhz.

I have no idea if the processors RIM uses have this ability though.

Here is one wrong assumption that i think you forgot to address.

you are assuming that rim's 624mghz is faster than other competitor's 1ghz. that is not necessarily true.

while it may be true in other cases where processors clocked at lower speeds are faster than other processors clocked at higher speeds, we do not know if this is the case with rim.

so, everything you say is moot until you can prove that is the case

[grover5]

I think his point is you cannot go on the number alone.

[mke67]

Other things to consider too are the clock rate and width of the CPU's data bus, memory latency, and cache architecture. In short until some sort of SOFTWARE benchmarks are run, we won't know.

[kb5zht]

Which mobile phone features require a 1Ghz processor?

Evidently a lot of them if the OS is lagging and hiccuping and clunky.

what is so hard to understand about that?

If your software is lagging, why wouldn't a faster processor help?

Duh? I mean is this rocket science?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[kb5zht]

Ummm ... Processor Speed is measured by clock frequency....

Oh I am almost in shock that this had to be clarified.

Megahertz is just a unit of speed.... Use to be mega cycles , as in one million cycles per second. It can refer to the number of radio waves passing a certain point in one second or number of ticks of the processor per second.

1,000,000,000 cycles per second > 640,000,000 cycles per second.

Time for the Darwin Awards.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[kurtl218]

@ Radius-- you are completly correct.

@ the remainder, simply put, comparing 2 processors in 2 different mobile phones, running different OS is like trying to compare a 3000 mhz p4 to a 3000 mhz core2. Both run at 3000mhz but their architecture is radically different. Even a 1600 mhz atom is likely to run circles around the "faster" p4

[TheOne01]

@ Radius-- you are completly correct.

@ the remainder, simply put, comparing 2 processors in 2 different mobile phones, running different OS is like trying to compare a 3000 mhz p4 to a 3000 mhz core2. Both run at 3000mhz but their architecture is radically different. Even a 1600 mhz atom is likely to run circles around the "faster" p4

Ok, let me get this straight. Using your example it would seem as though you are trying to imply that the bb's processor is actually faster the the 1GHz? Just checking.

[jeffreii]

Evidently a lot of them if the OS is lagging and hiccuping and clunky.

what is so hard to understand about that?

If your software is lagging, why wouldn't a faster processor help?

Duh? I mean is this rocket science?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

A faster processor does not always help. I'm not saying this is the case in this situation, but if the bottleneck is not the processor, it won't help.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[SevereDeceit]

Everyone wants a 1ghz processor on the BlackBerry. You have no idea the amount of Android users I know who purposely underclock their processors to save on battery life, just so they can make it through the day...