[kingbernie06511]

Source code snooping points to upcoming quad-core Apple processor

just stirring the pot here, in an attempt to prevent RIM from dozing and missing another CPU cycle on their phones and tablet. Its sad that their latest high-end phones are still single core, but lets hope that future PB will not bring a knife to a gun fight in terms of hardware (like the 9900 without a front camera and single core)

its a war out there.

[yauchunh]

its not about how many cores you have, its about how smooth the system runs. And playbook runs very very smooth.

besides, would you be willing to sacrifice battery life to get an additional cpu thats not needed?

[UnknownError507]

I dont think so PB need any more hardware Upgrade, for most users it does the job Well ! the only concern it is the soft updates what make a difference at this moment, so lets hope we gonna see an update soon on PB.
Oh and i have to say this PlayBook is a POWERFUL device.

[Blacklac]

its not about how many cores you have, its about how smooth the system runs. And playbook runs very very smooth.

besides, would you be willing to sacrifice battery life to get an additional cpu thats not needed?

Wouldnt the same OS be more efficient on a Quad core using less CPU overall than with a dual core that would tax the CPU more?

[brucep1]

To answer your question, No, Rim is not working on quad core. They have every resource possible on QNX dual core and Playbook 2.0

[lnichols]

TI OMAP 5 is pin-for-pin compatible with OMAP4 software compatible too. QNX will already scale to a large number of cores, so it would be easy for RIM to upgrade to this new chip.

As for the OS7 phones not being dual core, what would be the point with BBOS?

[shootsscores]

Wouldnt the same OS be more efficient on a Quad core using less CPU overall than with a dual core that would tax the CPU more?

Depends on how clever/efficient the OS is and that is QNX's forte.

[samab]

Source code snooping points to upcoming quad-core Apple processor

just stirring the pot here, in an attempt to prevent RIM from dozing and missing another CPU cycle on their phones and tablet. Its sad that their latest high-end phones are still single core, but lets hope that future PB will not bring a knife to a gun fight in terms of hardware (like the 9900 without a front camera and single core)

its a war out there.

Except that Armada XP is a SERVER chip --- nothing to do with iphone and ipad.

Marvell unveils 1.6GHz quad-core Armada XP processor for cloud computing - SlashGear

[trsbbs]

Wrong forum I would think.

Tim

Sent from my BlackBerry

[CrackedBarry]

Depends on how clever/efficient the OS is and that is QNX's forte.

No, not really. And don't try to change the subject. An operating system doesn't have to be terribly advanced to support multi core multitasking, both iOS and Android does so, thanks to their Linux/Unix roots.

QNXs forte on the other hand, are simple monolithic tasks (look where QNX is normally used. Powerplants, traffic systems and pipelines, that demand robustness and prioritize simple tasks running on simple hardware) that are the very opposite of modern, multitasking entertainment devices. Yes, there was a reason why RIM was the only company bidding for QNX. All of their competitors already have operating systems that are a more natural choice for mobile devices.

And to the op, I'm afraid your warning to RIM is a little too late. The first quad-core phones and tablets are coming out before Christmas, so by the time that RIM gets around to release their dual core devices next year, quadcore Android and ios devices will have been out for awhile, and dual core devices will be available mid-range.

[CrackedBarry]

Except that Armada XP is a SERVER chip --- nothing to do with iphone and ipad.

Marvell unveils 1.6GHz quad-core Armada XP processor for cloud computing - SlashGear

(Sigh)

You're new at this, eh? It's an ARM processor. It doesn't matter what Marvell intended to market or sell it as. Apple can still put it in whatever device they please. So yeah, it has everything to do with iPhones and ipads.

[blackjack93117]

Source code snooping points to upcoming quad-core Apple processor

just stirring the pot here, in an attempt to prevent RIM from dozing and missing another CPU cycle on their phones and tablet. Its sad that their latest high-end phones are still single core, but lets hope that future PB will not bring a knife to a gun fight in terms of hardware (like the 9900 without a front camera and single core)

its a war out there.

"... is RIM working on quad-core PB, dual-core phones?"

Dunno, but it's a sure bet the Playbook hardware design group didn't just go take a nap after the Playbook hardware release....they must be doing something.

[samab]

No, not really. And don't try to change the subject. An operating system doesn't have to be terribly advanced to support multi core multitasking, both iOS and Android does so, thanks to their Linux/Unix roots.

QNXs forte on the other hand, are simple monolithic tasks (look where QNX is normally used. Powerplants, traffic systems and pipelines, that demand robustness and prioritize simple tasks running on simple hardware) that are the very opposite of modern, multitasking entertainment devices. Yes, there was a reason why RIM was the only company bidding for QNX. All of their competitors allready have operating systems that are a more natural choice for mobile devices.

And to the op, I'm afraid your warning to RIM is a little too late. The first quad-core phones and tablets are coming out before Christmas, so by the time that RIM gets around to release their dual core devices next year, quadcore Android and ios devices will have been out for awhile, and dual core devices will be available mid-range.

QNX can scale up to 32 cores --- because QNX is used as a giant distributed internet router by Cisco.

QNX Unveils Latest Generation of Operating System and Tool Suite

As I said it before, this Armada chip is for SERVER and it draws 10w of power. The ipad 2 has what? A 25 w/h battery. Couple that with a giant LCD screen --- you are getting less than an hour of battery life.

The really fun part of QNX is whether RIM would allow tether/dock the tablet with the handset --- with distributed computing. You can link 2 QNX computers together and make it work like a 2 CPU system. Theoretically you can "dock" a dual-core QNX handset (with a 1 GB RAM) with a dual-core QNX tablet (with a 1 GB RAM) with an USB cable --- and make it a quad-core QNX system with 2 GB of RAM. You would be killing your phone's battery. And there may be security concerns on that as well.

[samab]

(Sigh)

You're new at this, eh? It's an ARM processor. It doesn't matter what Marvell intended to market or sell it as. Apple can still put it in whatever device they please. So yeah, it has everything to do with iPhones and ipads.

Apple can do whatever they want --- except that that particular chip draws 10w of power. The ipad 2 has a 25w/h battery. When you include the power consumption of the giant 10 inch LCD screen --- you would be getting less than an hour of battery life.

[i7guy]

No, not really. And don't try to change the subject. An operating system doesn't have to be terribly advanced to support multi core multitasking, both iOS and Android does so, thanks to their Linux/Unix roots.

QNXs forte on the other hand, are simple monolithic tasks (look where QNX is normally used. Powerplants, traffic systems and pipelines, that demand robustness and prioritize simple tasks running on simple hardware) that are the very opposite of modern, multitasking entertainment devices. Yes, there was a reason why RIM was the only company bidding for QNX. All of their competitors allready have operating systems that are a more natural choice for mobile devices.

And to the op, I'm afraid your warning to RIM is a little too late. The first quad-core phones and tablets are coming out before Christmas, so by the time that RIM gets around to release their dual core devices next year, quadcore Android and ios devices will have been out for awhile, and dual core devices will be available mid-range.

You think running a power plant collecting millions of data points a second, and controlling complex machinery is monolithic and simpler than running an ipad? QNX is the modern o/s. If QNX is robust enough for a power plant, it can handle the playbook with ease. Not to mention the secure aspect of QNX.

[CrackedBarry]

"... is RIM working on quad-core PB, dual-core phones?"

Dunno, but it's a sure bet the Playbook hardware design group didn't just go take a nap after the Playbook hardware release....they must be doing something.

Actually its a pretty sure bet that they're working on the QNX phone, and are too busy to work on a Playbook 2. Not just because the Playbook has been such a massive flop, but also because of the absolute silence regarding a Playbook successor. If there was one in the works at this point, we'd have some kind of rumour or leak at this time.

[samab]

You think running a power plant collecting millions of data points a second, and controlling complex machinery is monolithic and simpler than running an ipad? QNX is the modern o/s. If QNX is robust enough for a power plant, it can handle the playbook with ease. Not to mention the secure aspect of QNX.

He doesn't understand that Cisco's top router with racks and racks of CPU's runs QNX (and each CPU runs blades and blades of custom ASIC's).

Cisco Launches Giant Router | eWEEK Europe UK

[s219]

besides, would you be willing to sacrifice battery life to get an additional cpu thats not needed?

Assuming Apple is even considering quad core, look at their history. They have a pretty solid track record of major leaps in performance (either via more cores, or faster cores) while maintaining or improving battery life. Heck, the iPad 2 doubled CPU and GPU cores compared to iPad 1, got smaller and lighter, and gets the same battery life.

[samab]

Actually its a pretty sure bet that they're working on the QNX phone. Not just because the Playbook has been such a massive flop, but also because of the absolute silence regarding a Playbook successor. If there was one in the works at this point, we'd have some kind of rumour or leak at this time.

It was never about the hardware. They need to make the UI scalable down to handset size --- but part of that work will also allow them to scale it up to a 10 inch tablet.

[Tre Lawrence]

Apple can do whatever they want --- except that that particular chip draws 10w of power. The ipad 2 has a 25w/h battery. When you include the power consumption of the giant 10 inch LCD screen --- you would be getting less than an hour of battery life.

RIM had the practically the same response to the unveiling of the iPhone in 2007...

"There is no way that would work! NO WAY!!!"

[samab]

Assuming Apple is even considering quad core, look at their history. They have a pretty solid track record of major leaps in performance (either via more cores, or faster cores) while maintaining or improving battery life. Heck, the iPad 2 doubled CPU and GPU cores compared to iPad 1, got smaller and lighter, and gets the same battery life.

Everybody is looking at quad-core because nvidia is making one right now --- and you can bet that there are a zillion android tablets going to be quad-core.

But that's not the point. The point is that this particular Armada XP chip is a server chip that draws 10w of power vs. handset/tablet chips drawing 1w of power.

[olblueyez]

Is Apple's software that bad?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[samab]

RIM had the practically the same response to the unveiling of the iPhone in 2007...

"There is no way that would work! NO WAY!!!"

This particular server chip draws 10w of power. Mobile handset/tablet chip draws 1w of power.

There is a reason why Marvell also design a tri-core ARM chip for handset/tablets.

Windows 8 is beginning to look like a mobile OS. OS X is beginning to look like iOS. There is nothing wrong with that. There is nothing wrong for Apple getting into the blade computing market with an iOS like server OS running on ARM server chips.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10079494-37.html

You people just assume that it is for the iphone/ipad when the perfectly logical explanation is that Apple is making ARM blade servers.

[blackjack93117]

Actually its a pretty sure bet that they're working on the QNX phone, and are too busy to work on a Playbook 2. Not just because the Playbook has been such a massive flop, but also because of the absolute silence regarding a Playbook successor. If there was one in the works at this point, we'd have some kind of rumour or leak at this time.

Its all speculation, but kinda doubt it's the same group...
hardware folks didn't drop phone development for the playbook development...

From my own design experience, generally at larger corporations like this, with multiple products, product design groups leapfrog over each other, it's an out of phase parallel effort.

It's not just one product group working on one product, then everyone on to the next....

[blackjack93117]

RIM had the practically the same response to the unveiling of the iPhone in 2007...

"There is no way that would work! NO WAY!!!"

and.. WHO exactly said that representing RIM's official viewpoint?
Quote your sources please when spreading "facts".
.