This type of article is an occasional thing. Every month, I will make a new article like this about android an post it to the internet.
- Android 5.0 aka Key Lime Pie
- Motorola X phone (Moto X)
Both are to be great, revolutionary products. I will speak about both of them, but I want to state why I'm more excited about Android 5.0 KLP.
Moto X
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| This seems like the Moto X based on FCC reports too |
I personally think the Moto X, a widely distributed phone from Google's child company Motorola Mobility, will bring some new concepts to the table hardware wise.
Defending the Rumored hardware
Rumors are coming in stating the device will be a dual-core Snapdragon processor with 2 GB of RAM and a base of 16GB of storage, believed to be expandable. Seems there's second processor inside to control the components of the device to give the phone extra battery life. Sure this seems seems unimpressive in this year's line of devices (competing with devices that have 4 - 8 cores), but in reality this actually still has a chance to wipe out the competition. I know what you're saying, "Dual-core porocessor defeat a quad-core or octo-core processor? That's retarded." I would like to teach you why it's not. After doing some research, I found out how you could realistically determine speed with certain devices. On wikipedia(Which is a good source) I found this:
Edit: I have just been notified by a reader that the model about speed is wrong. Arm chips are more affected by clock speed than Intel's chips are. Krait architecture is so good, that the chips can clock at a higher rate than most others, therefore they more likely to move faster. Again, later on I state something about ignoring the intel part. Ignore that and QPI, that's an Intel specific bus.
So I know what you guys are thinking this looks like random crap thrown on a screen, but trust me it's not. Despite the Intel title, there's a formula that's pretty much the same no matter what processor you look at, which is for the data flow rate. It's a rate that pretty much determines the overall speed of the processor. As you can see, number of cores isn't the only part of the picture here. There are things like the bit/Hz rate, QPI link, which is size of the bus (The link between the CPU, I/O ports, and the memory) on the processor and the bit rate (android runs 32) are all more important than the number of cores. The number of cores are there to amplify the speed by 40% - 60% per core. The model explains why no two dual-core processors are equal, it's because inside the processor more things are present than just the number of cores. Plus the Nexus 7 problem is a good indicator that ram quality is still a very important factor.
That and if Motorola was able to convince Qualcomm to place one of their(Qualcomm's) best GPUs in a dual-core processor, you're looking at a device that could easily outperform the competition.
Contextually Aware device
The device is also supposed to be contextually aware, meaning you can take your phone out of your pocket and instantly snap a photo because the device will initialize the camera for you, saving you seconds of time. This seems like something a Google employee thought of. Maybe because they were annoyed with the current process of the device.
Extreme Battery Life and Build quality
I'm not the first to say that Motorola is amazing with the quality of their devices. I still have the old Droid Bionic, and I have been able to throw the device around without it breaking. After getting my hands on all their devices there after, like the Droid Razr, Razr HD, Razr Maxx, I can firmly state that they have the best build quality out of all the manufacturers, including Apple and their iPhone. Their Battery-life has also been amazing too, with the longest life I've seen is 3 days on the Droid Razr Maxx, something difficult to reach with almost any other smartphone.
Everything better
With the good build quality, things like camera quality and the screen are supposed to be amazing. I really don't have much of a comment on that, but I can only hope that this is true.
All of the above explains why I can't wait for the Moto X. I firmly believe it will be the best device of the year, with a reduced price because their parent company, Google, will likely subsidize them. I can hardly wait. I now want to state why I'm more excited for KLP.
Key Lime Pie
Key Lime Pie is supposed the be the pentacle Android OS that nerds have been looking forward to for a long time. And they have a reason to be excited.
Design
With the introduction of Google Now a new style of android apps have come about called the Card Style. So far, we have seen this lighter than Holo style take over in applications like Google Play Music, Google Drive, Gmail, Hangouts, Google+ and even the Play Store. I think Google is going to revamp their design to this lighter happier style in the KLM addition of Android. Being a front-end User Experience Designer like I am, I have to say that I'm very excited for this. But there's more.
In 2012, Google released their device with project butter. Project butter is the project that is meant to give the android OS a constant 60fps, and help resolve the lag in the devices as much as possible. While they did a phenomenal job, the lag is still there. I'm expecting project butter to be extended to near perfection in with this release. I think they will reduce the memory of the OS using the linux kernel 3.8, then give extra memory to the graphics end which should greatly help the smoothness of the OS. I love smooth animations, if they can make things smoother than they are, I'll be super happy.
Project Roadrunner
Remember Project Roadrunner? Well the project was first conceptualized by the Android community to solve the problem of battery-life in 2012 before the launch of Android 4.2. Sadly it didn't come to be, I think however that they will make some move towards that point. I only believe this because I saw a patent that seemed to make steps to resolve the issue here.
I'm sure there will be more modifications to the than what's in the link, like Bluetooth 4.0 LE or better Wifi radio performance, but the patent is the first clue that Project Roadrunner may soon exist. The Second Nexus 7 also has a smaller battery than the original, Project Roadrunner could be reason. Remember this mostly my thoughts right now, take this with a grain of salt until the tides of the technology world shows more.
Solving Fragmentation
Let's be honest, trying to develop an app for hundreds of devices at one time is difficult. It's even more difficult when you're trying to create a OS for a bunch of different devices. So much that even Apple, a veteran company, has a problem doing so, which forces them to keep their OS closed and just sell a lot of one type of phone. Google has managed to do it somehow, but they generated a bit of fragmentation over the years. Gingerbread still holds the largest share of the green pie (See what I did there?), compare to iOS, where most of the users are on the most resent version. While more people have Jelly Bean than ever before, most people haven't enjoyed that Jelly Bean goodness. Based on reports from VR-Zone, a Singapore tech news site, Google looks like they are to bring those on ICS on board, and maybe even some of the people on GB. Froyo and Eclair are both a lost cause, sorry you two. They say that the new version of android should be able to run on just 512MB of ram, which is barely possible with 4.1 Jelly Bean. Letting this OS run on weaker hardware should make an opening for phones to perform well for a cheaper price. This could allow for the end of fragmentation and allow manufacturers to focus less on heavily powered hardware and more on quality and brand, which should help bring profits up for more manufacturers. It should also give power to the low and mid end cell phone market, meaning everybody in developed countries will have an amazing device for the cost of $50 - $100.
Contextually Aware Hardware Support
Just as Google brought NFC with their Galaxy Nexus in Android ICS and that spread, I think they will add support for contextually aware hardware. This would make sense, when you consider that Motorola's CEO Dennis Woodside did state the features will be in their device, why wouldn't Google want the feature to be in all devices with their OS. I don't have much proof for this one, but I think Android devices with contextually aware hardware seems to follow trends. If I can buy a device from a different manufacturer with contextually aware hardware support, I would be very happy.
More Google Now Integration
So you know how Apple tots more siri integration? I'm thinking Google will add a personality to Google Now (almost like how Siri has one) and integrate it throughout the system. Perhaps it would be used with the contextually aware hardware. This would be cool since I already use voice commands for simple things like writing short post to Google+ and Facebook, or telling my phone to do something.
Likely, yet unlikely features
If you're an avid Android fan, then you've probably heard of the MIUI operating system, a popular variation of android in China. If you're not, check out the OS here. You'll notice I sent you to a feature page, beside the obvious features that the OS will bring like the ones under the privacy protection category, you'll notice their theming abilities. You can change your lock screen, icons and, status bar colors, and setting panel using a theme artist create and submit to the MiStore store. I don't think Google will have this, but I do know it's possible, and I want this feature default with stock android, not with only Cyanomoganmod.
Conclusion
Overall, I'm ecstatic for both the Moto X, and Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie. I'm, however, more excited about KLP because of all the new features that will set an entirely new standard across all devices. I hope you enjoyed the article, feel free to ask questions or comment, I'll try to respond.
QuickPath Interconnect frequency specifications
QPI operates at a clock rate of 2.4 GHz, 2.93 GHz, or 3.2 GHz. The clock rate for a particular link depends on the capabilities of the components at each end of the link and the signal characteristics of the signal path on the printed circuit board. The non-extreme Core i7 9xx processors are restricted to a 2.4 GHz frequency at stock reference clocks. Bit transfers occur on both the rising and the falling edges of the clock, so the transfer rate is double the clock rate.
Intel describes the data throughput (in GB/s) by counting only the 64-bit data payload in each 80-bit "flit". However, Intel then doubles the result because the unidirectional send and receive link pair can be simultaneously active. Thus, Intel describes a 20-lane QPI link pair (send and receive) with a 3.2 GHz clock as having a data rate of 25.6 GB/s. A clock rate of 2.4 GHz yields a data rate of 19.2 GB/s. More generally, by this definition a two-link 20-lane QPI transfers eight bytes per clock cycle, four in each direction.
The rate is computed as follows:
3.2 GHz
× 2 bits/Hz (double data rate)
× 20 (QPI link width)
× (64/80) (data bits/flit bits)
× 2 (unidirectional send and receive operating simultaneously)
÷ 8 (bits/byte)
= 25.6 GB/s
Edit: I have just been notified by a reader that the model about speed is wrong. Arm chips are more affected by clock speed than Intel's chips are. Krait architecture is so good, that the chips can clock at a higher rate than most others, therefore they more likely to move faster. Again, later on I state something about ignoring the intel part. Ignore that and QPI, that's an Intel specific bus.
So I know what you guys are thinking this looks like random crap thrown on a screen, but trust me it's not. Despite the Intel title, there's a formula that's pretty much the same no matter what processor you look at, which is for the data flow rate. It's a rate that pretty much determines the overall speed of the processor. As you can see, number of cores isn't the only part of the picture here. There are things like the bit/Hz rate, QPI link, which is size of the bus (The link between the CPU, I/O ports, and the memory) on the processor and the bit rate (android runs 32) are all more important than the number of cores. The number of cores are there to amplify the speed by 40% - 60% per core. The model explains why no two dual-core processors are equal, it's because inside the processor more things are present than just the number of cores. Plus the Nexus 7 problem is a good indicator that ram quality is still a very important factor.
That and if Motorola was able to convince Qualcomm to place one of their(Qualcomm's) best GPUs in a dual-core processor, you're looking at a device that could easily outperform the competition.
Contextually Aware device
The device is also supposed to be contextually aware, meaning you can take your phone out of your pocket and instantly snap a photo because the device will initialize the camera for you, saving you seconds of time. This seems like something a Google employee thought of. Maybe because they were annoyed with the current process of the device.
Extreme Battery Life and Build quality
I'm not the first to say that Motorola is amazing with the quality of their devices. I still have the old Droid Bionic, and I have been able to throw the device around without it breaking. After getting my hands on all their devices there after, like the Droid Razr, Razr HD, Razr Maxx, I can firmly state that they have the best build quality out of all the manufacturers, including Apple and their iPhone. Their Battery-life has also been amazing too, with the longest life I've seen is 3 days on the Droid Razr Maxx, something difficult to reach with almost any other smartphone.
Everything better
With the good build quality, things like camera quality and the screen are supposed to be amazing. I really don't have much of a comment on that, but I can only hope that this is true.
All of the above explains why I can't wait for the Moto X. I firmly believe it will be the best device of the year, with a reduced price because their parent company, Google, will likely subsidize them. I can hardly wait. I now want to state why I'm more excited for KLP.
 |
| Android Eating a Pie Picture from a Googler |
Key Lime Pie is supposed the be the pentacle Android OS that nerds have been looking forward to for a long time. And they have a reason to be excited.
Design
With the introduction of Google Now a new style of android apps have come about called the Card Style. So far, we have seen this lighter than Holo style take over in applications like Google Play Music, Google Drive, Gmail, Hangouts, Google+ and even the Play Store. I think Google is going to revamp their design to this lighter happier style in the KLM addition of Android. Being a front-end User Experience Designer like I am, I have to say that I'm very excited for this. But there's more.
More Project Butter
Project Roadrunner
Remember Project Roadrunner? Well the project was first conceptualized by the Android community to solve the problem of battery-life in 2012 before the launch of Android 4.2. Sadly it didn't come to be, I think however that they will make some move towards that point. I only believe this because I saw a patent that seemed to make steps to resolve the issue here.
I'm sure there will be more modifications to the than what's in the link, like Bluetooth 4.0 LE or better Wifi radio performance, but the patent is the first clue that Project Roadrunner may soon exist. The Second Nexus 7 also has a smaller battery than the original, Project Roadrunner could be reason. Remember this mostly my thoughts right now, take this with a grain of salt until the tides of the technology world shows more.
Solving Fragmentation
 |
| KLP could take 80% of the android chart |
Contextually Aware Hardware Support
Just as Google brought NFC with their Galaxy Nexus in Android ICS and that spread, I think they will add support for contextually aware hardware. This would make sense, when you consider that Motorola's CEO Dennis Woodside did state the features will be in their device, why wouldn't Google want the feature to be in all devices with their OS. I don't have much proof for this one, but I think Android devices with contextually aware hardware seems to follow trends. If I can buy a device from a different manufacturer with contextually aware hardware support, I would be very happy.
More Google Now Integration
So you know how Apple tots more siri integration? I'm thinking Google will add a personality to Google Now (almost like how Siri has one) and integrate it throughout the system. Perhaps it would be used with the contextually aware hardware. This would be cool since I already use voice commands for simple things like writing short post to Google+ and Facebook, or telling my phone to do something.
Likely, yet unlikely features
If you're an avid Android fan, then you've probably heard of the MIUI operating system, a popular variation of android in China. If you're not, check out the OS here. You'll notice I sent you to a feature page, beside the obvious features that the OS will bring like the ones under the privacy protection category, you'll notice their theming abilities. You can change your lock screen, icons and, status bar colors, and setting panel using a theme artist create and submit to the MiStore store. I don't think Google will have this, but I do know it's possible, and I want this feature default with stock android, not with only Cyanomoganmod.
Conclusion
Overall, I'm ecstatic for both the Moto X, and Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie. I'm, however, more excited about KLP because of all the new features that will set an entirely new standard across all devices. I hope you enjoyed the article, feel free to ask questions or comment, I'll try to respond.
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