I've noticed that there are 533MHz and 1000MHz phones running Android, both ARM9. I've also noticed ARM9 laptops from Cherrypal running 533MHz, with Android.
This brings to mind an iPad competitor with Android. Effectively, a giant cell phone, with a GSM/3G chipset in it, accepting a SIM card, etc. The obvious problem here is that if it's a 3.2GHz ARM9 with 8 gigs of RAM, using the same app store as cell phones will create huge issues for cell phone users with 1000MHz and 256MB. Using a different store creates fragmentation. So I'm thinking, about phones, about netbooks, about netpads, about whatever, and I'm thinking that anything these things do should be feasible. This brings a few thoughts to mind: 1. My phone has a 533MHz CPU, and 256MB of RAM. I believe it'd be feasible to design an identical phone with 512MB of RAM and dual 533MHz ARM9 CPUs. To that end, a netpad with Android and 2 x 533MHz would be feasible and interesting. 2. I'm not sure if 2 x 1GHz would be infeasible for a phone; but if such a device was released, Android apps targeting it would have twice as much CPU power as the higher end 1000MHz ARM9 phones, and four times what a 533MHz phone has. That may be a step better taken cautiously. 3. As you can tell, I'm interested in the general concept of SMP on Android, especially on phones. I know the kernel can handle SMP easily enough (source code; not sure how Android itself is compiled). This may be lacking for the ARM platform (due to lacking hardware, possibly). I wonder how this would affect real-time response, GPS/ Bluetooth/phone call performance, etc. as well as power usage compared to just a single chip at twice the speed. Using multiple packages would dissipate heat better too; but of course the phone's a restricted box with no fans, so this becomes fruitless eventually. Of course, lower power usage overall means less heat produced. Thoughts? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Discuss" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-discuss?hl=en.
