Core Values: The silicon behind Android
By Anand Shimpi 
posted Oct 14th 2009 3:30PM
posted Oct 14th 2009 3:30PM
Core Values is our new monthly column from Anand Shimpi, Editor-in-chief of AnandTech. With over a decade of experience poring over the latest in chip developments, he's here to explain how things work and why our tech is the way it is.
I've got nothing against Qualcomm, but a big reason most Android phones feel slow is because they're running on slow hardware. The ARM11 core was first announced in 2003. It's old and creaky, and it's used so frequently because it's cheap. But the basic rules of chip design mean that things are about to change fast.
The present Qualcommfest is partly due to Android's maturity on the Qualcomm platform. Remember that the chips used in these smartphones are SoCs (system-on-a-chip), meaning that the CPU, GPU, I/O and a bunch of other functions are all integrated onto a single piece of silicon -- so driver support is crucial. Until recently, running Android on other SoCs required a bit of legwork, but Android 1.6 adds in native support for non-Qualcomm processors. The Samsung Moment on Sprint uses an undetermined Samsung SoC, while the Motorola Sholes is expected to use a TI OMAP SoC.
Our industry would be doomed if it weren't for a third rule, though: transistors get smaller every 12 - 24 months.
Rule three doesn't happen magically -- it takes a lot of very smart people and a great deal of work. But it does happen, almost like clockwork, and ultimately it's the basis for Moore's Law.
Want to build faster chips? Gotta make 'em bigger. Want to build faster chips without increasing cost? Wait two years and then you can use smaller transistors to build faster chips at the same cost (size) as before. That's really all there is to it. So -- how does this relate to Android?
The 528MHz figure refers to the clock speed of the general purpose CPU core in these phones. There's much more to the Qualcomm SoC, but that's beyond the scope of this article, and it's really that 528Mhz ARM11 core that makes launching applications or interacting with your phone slow.
I present you with two boxes:
(Oh, and just for kicks let's throw a Core i7 into the mix just to give you all an idea of scale here:)
Like any other microprocessor company, ARM has to keep innovating, but since it doesn't make the chips, it takes a while for the design to go from ARM to incorporation in some manufacturer's SoC design, then to production, and then finally to actually being used in a smartphone. To make a long story short, while Cortex A8 debuted in 2005, it wasn't until 2009 that Apple used it in the iPhone 3GS and Palm used it in the Pre. The original iPhone and the 3G both used an ARM11 based SoC -- the same as in all these Android phones. (I've written extensively about the difference between ARM11 and Cortex A8, if you're interested.)
Apple and Palm had more motivation to go the performance route with their handsets. They were sold at a premium and performance had to be as high as possible to enable the sort of usage models Apple / Palm were targeting. But the Cortex A8 is built using 65nm transistors, which makes it roughly twice the size (and thus twice the cost to manufacture) of an ARM11 core. That means expensive phones get to use it, while cheaper phones don't.
Move to 45nm transistors and now the Cortex A8 ends up being around the same (manufacturing) cost as a 65nm ARM11. Of course, ARM is also expecting manufacturers to make 45nm ARM11 cores, which will be even cheaper and thus enable even lower cost handsets (or higher profit margins), so we won't totally escape ARM11 anytime soon.
In either case, we find ourselves in a sea of 528MHz ARM11-based Android phones because Android is still in its infancy and keeping costs low forces us into the open arms (pun) of a slower microprocessor.
If the rumors hold up, we'll see support for TI's OMAP SoCs in this next generation of Android phones. Samsung is also going to be making an appearance, obviously -- it'll be interesting to see if the Moment has a Cortex A8-based chip or just uses the higher-clocked ARM11 SoC that Samsung already produces. We're also seeing Qualcomm's Snapdragon chips arrive in Android phones, like Acer's Liquid and the rumored HTC Dragon. At the same time we'll see Cortex A8 SoCs moving to 45nm over the next 12 months and getting cheaper. The combination yields faster Android phones in 2010. It's about time.
Anand Shimpi is CEO and Editor-in-chief of AnandTech. Contact him at anand AT anandtech DOT com. Views expressed here are his own.
I think 2010 is the year of Android. For it to shine with 1.6 Donut and 1.7 Pancake ( and the rumored 1.8 Empanada that is going to intro Language Kits)
Crap! They are going to run through every damn pastry out there!
I thought releases were in alphabetic order... Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, etc... Where are you getting this Pancake from?
It was a good Android Develop joke :P I heart that Green Robot
Just like 2009 was going to be the year of Android, and 2008 was going to be the summer of Android? :D
(For the record, I'm not anti-Android in general, but it needs quite a bit of work still, in my opinion, and a nice UI like SenseUI that's integrated into the OS for all to use would be a great start. It does finally seem to be maturing some though.)
But it is different now. We have more than the G1 now :D Just as the chart shows, and the upcoming ones. Plus, Android is more than phones. There is the Acer netbook running it. Archos devices.
@Joe H
Must be a Linux thing. :P
Now imagine Android on a Tegra based device :-D
@ Joe H
You must be talking about the PS3
@Mr.T
ENOUGH with the Tegra HYPE! It uses two ARM11 cores @600mhz, and the graphics are not much better than the latest PowerVR SGX series. Hardly revolutionary.
@loosely_coupled
I agree entirely. CPU is way more important on a smartphone, since it's 99% of what you generally use the phone for, and that's where Tegra just plain fails.
Tegra helps for video and gaming, sure, but I'd rather have worse games and faster webpage rendering like with Snapdragon or the Cortex A8 instead of having an Nvidia video chip in a smartphone.
@Joe H
It's cool that manufacturers can customize Android all they like, but I think the default Android UI is pretty fantastic as-is, and it really isn't in need of being replaced. It has the best notification system in the business, it's totally extensible through third party widgets, and completely customizable by the user to put shortcuts anywhere they want. I guess it's not nearly as flashy looking as Sense, but it isn't bad looking by any means and it's extremely functional in all the right ways.
@chefgon_ign
Well, I'd personally say Android has the second best notification system now, I'd put the Pre's notifications just a tiny bit ahead of it. While the default Android interface is okay, it's got a severe lack of polish like everything Google does. It's like it goes most of the way to the finish line and then just stops, in my opinion.
As for widgets, they're a personal preference, but I can't stand them. They make the interface look cluttered and you have to remember what page everything is on.
That was a good read. I'm glad Anand is contributing to engadget. In my opinion, he is the most insightful and interesting technology commentator out there.
I ditto that!
Anandtech is often the first place I go to read up on the latest PC hardware (otherwise it's Tweaktown or HardOCP) ... it's really cool that Anand contributed to engadget, hopefully this continues.
Agreed on both counts.
But I'm confused by Anand at the same time... does this mean the HTC Hero I so desperately want will suck in a matter of, oh, 4 months?
good thing because im a huge poster over there (8000+ posts)...seriously, his site is the best, especially the forums.
It would have been nice if he mentioned, the G1 is also underclocked. It doesn't run at the processors full capability of 528mhz. Google devs have casually mentioned that in testing that due to bus limitations, there is no significant performance benefit between the underclocked speed they set (was it 384mhz?) and the full 528mhz. Also, underclocking the processor provides greater battery life. If this is true for other Android devices than the G1, I don't know. But it does help explain why the G1 seems sluggish, and newer devices using the same processor appear to have better performance.
It's also annoying the G1/Dream was still advertised as a 528mhz device, without actually being clocked at 528mhz for full performance, even if the benefit gained was meager.
Yup.. when I used to play a lot of PC games come upgrade time or new wave of video cards Anandtech was always the spot.
Slow, I just played with the Hero and Mytouch when I was out shopping today. They aren`t slow. They aren`t bad at all. The (Sprint) Hero had 5 pages full of widgets running and it responded well. It wasn`t boom as soon as you hit it it pops up instantly maybe a 1.5 second delay to launch an app, no big deal. A 528mhz cpu is still pretty good, as long as the software isn`t a bloated mess. It`s not blazingly fast, but it certainly not dog slow, if the software is good. I have a Touch Pro using a 528 mhz qualcom chip. I have run a miriad of custom roms on it, optimized software is the key. Some roms were dog slow and others are super fast, while at the same time increasing in features.
The ARM 11 is last gen I`ll admit it. And since I cant wait for the HD2, and want Android I am going with the Hero, I tried it out today and the speed was fine. And I know that it wasn`t running alot of background processes, but I won`t either.
Not to try to be an Apple hater, but now that the 3gs has come out with a faster chip, these, for the most part, Apple loving blogs are dogging the Qualcomn 7 series as unbearably slow when it is not the case at all. The 3g was in the same level as they are, but no one every thought it was slow. Why all the basing now, because a new generation is just starting to arrive now within the last 6 months
Just read up on his ARM Cortex A8 / ARM11 comparison article.. insightful and engaging.
Definitely need to read up on his stuff more.
awesome! I love anandtech, great addition to Engadget!
Dammit, sense!
Out of those 5, I'd pick the Hero. It's looks to be the one I would want if I had to choose.
Why not the galaxy? (too bad a price isn't listed) you have the all-you-need-for-a-long-while 8GB storage.
Sense.
I agree, the Hero makes SENCE.
Why would you not include the Sholes in that list?
Also, why would you not include memory in the comparison?
Sigh, if only I ran a tech blog. I would do things right.
Because it's not even officially announced and we actually know next to nothing about it?
Then why don't you make a nob.noob.odyTech and prove that you're better than the professionals who have been doing this for years?
Mark, you must have your head up your ass if you don't know the specs by now.
Engadget doesn't do shit. They aggregate news and go to conferences. Looking up specs for devices and putting them in a chart and releasing it as a PNG is trivial shit. I could do, but I'm lazy as sin. Adding memory to that table is obvious and anyone with a brain would think to include it in a comparison of phones.
You don't know what you're talking about. Why don't you just go back to ruining threads over on Hofo?
Although interesting, did anyone else find that article very unstructured?
It's a column, rather than a news report, so less structure can be expected.
Great article. Give a really good explanation of the economics and timescales involved.
Wow. You guys suck at learning release dates and availability... It's on rogers too, and easily unlocked from what i've heard. Should probably include that you can get it for AT+T if you go talk to someone from Canada.
Seriously, We are physically bigger than you. Time to stop ignoring canadas existence on your site ;)
If they didn't teach us about you canadians in our fine public learning institutions, then you don't officially exist. All we know here South of the border is your square car wheels and fully detached upper heads.
Interesting read, but I'd call the Sprint Hero anything but sluggish. Even as a stock rom, the thing runs incredibly. HTC optimized Sense extremely well.
im sure it is optimized we have already seen them running xda roms on the dragon htc phone what makes you think they aren't poaching code from xda if a hero rom was optimized to run on a g1 how do u think it would run on an actual hero it would be fast as hell right(but its open source so its kinda ok mabye)
Well, by the looks and features on the spec sheet, I would choose Samsung Galaxy over other ones ;)... But again Idk anything about the real usage...
Yo Seriously the I-Phone Fanboy comments are getting old.....just let us be with our phones that do more than one task at an time....kay... e
I like the name of the series. Core Values... very punny!
now if anand would only take the same dedication and apply it to his forum community...
All the same applies to Windows Phones as well.
True!
I think the bottom line with WinMo and Android is that the UI is easier to customize on one vs the other. (Android)
And as of now, Android is more finger licking friendly, but that is supposed to change with WinMo 7 ** crosses fingers it does ***
Surely there is a market for a higher end Android phone? If Apple (and much, much smaller Palm) can afford the A8 at 65 nm and Android 1.6 works on other chips, then, handset makers, please don't abandon Android to the low end.
So the original iPhone used the same processor as all these phones. Nobody complained about them being slow. Perhaps it has more to do with Dalvik being particularly slow:
http://www.koushikdutta.com/2009/01/dalvik-vs-mono.html
Yes, but that was two plus years ago - eons in handset time. People compare current phones with current OS's.
Actually I did point out that it was slow in my review :)
"There are many complaints that you can levy on the iPhone, it's too slow, expensive, it can't do X Y or Z..."
http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3027&p=28
Something I reiterated when the 3G launched the following year. Just like Atom, ARM11 is "good enough" for many users but by no means is it fast.
Take care,
Anand
Also the iPhone doesn't multitask user programs. A lot of the sluggishness people may see in Android is because of background processes. Also dalvik is a virtual machine so it isn't going to perform as well as a native OS (though it does pretty well for a VM). The G1 was clocked lower than the iPhone 3G, so that may also be a reason.
However in general I don't believe the iPhone/iPhone 3G really blew away the existing Android phones in speed. It was the 3GS and Palm Pre that did.
Plenty of people complained about them being slow.
@Truth: "no compass "
HAHAHAHA You do realize the G1 shipped with a compass, right? That puts it before the iPhone in having a compass by what? 9 months or so? Idiot.
I'm not sure if this custom is popular amongst ilosers fanboys but you should try proof reading your comments before posting.
While informative, the post does not really address why there is zero variety in chips. Below, I summarize:
A. Partially, Android wasn't updated to support the newer chips.
B. A brief history on Moore's law and chip design.
C. Android must be cheap, and faster chips are too expensive.
Price is certainly a variable but like all other phones being designed, produced, and sold _today_, they make better use of the newer SoCs. We haven't seen evidence of Android being a low-end phone. In fact, some of them are positively sexy.
I think (A) is right on the money; personally, I would've loved to expand on that aspect of Android development. The amount of work typically going to supporting various chips would be an interesting read, and more relevant.
TRUTH DIE!!!!
report him and move on. He's posting almost the exact same thing over and over again.
Ok, so now we're on compasses? Seriously?
This is worse than iKurt X talking about how much the Adamo failed because it has, and I quote "ugly vents".
Please go shoot yourself in the head/jump off a skyscraper.
I got the Hero last week and nothing is sluggish whatsoever.
You need something fast to compare it with then because it is slow.
It's not Qualcomm's fault that the phone manufactures are still using their 2 year old chips, The snapdragon platform is much faster than the ones in android phones today, but companies like HTC hasn't moved to them yet.
The funny thing about this chart is that all of these phones are 20 times as fast as my first computer.
Weird.
I have a G1, and must admit, it is slow. It is painfully slow. I am also really surprised that the new Motorola phone went with the same gimpy amount of memory. As far as I can tell, the only real upgrade, is a larger battery.
Give me a phone that runs a bit faster, and on more memory. I would like to see 1 gig. I am also annoyed at the lack of slide-out keyboards. That is my form factor of choice.
the moto phone has 256mb of mem the g1 has like 196 and the moto has a 512mb rom 256 accessible bye users and(256 reserved for android growth future proof atleast up to eclair)
Sweet potatoes and Banana Creme pie !! Someone get his kid to a TRUE doctor cuz he is his Apple fever has him talking anything but the truth.
I guess Apple also invented the apple on your view right. So every time you eat the rad, green or yellow fruit from the tree you have to close your eyes and thank St. Jobs.
Truth likes to eat eat eat Apples and Bananaaaasss..... Truth likes to eat eat eat Apples and Bananaaaasss.....
You're just like Alaska though. Alaska is more than two times larger than Texas, but has a smaller population than Rhode Island. Canada has a lot of landmass, but I think over 90% of the population lives within 200 miles of the Can/US border.
Damn-it! This post was supposed to be @0mega!
@t you sound so .. communistly close minded....
Aside from the atrocious grammar...
AFAIK, all Android devices have had electronic compasses since the G1, and had one long before any iPhone did.
Interesting that of all the things you could name to try and hold over a non iPhone user's head, you pick something that the opposing platform had from the beginning..
Cool story Anand.
Very nice article... I'm looking forward to more articles from Anand Shimpi
my G1 with Cyanogen on it is more responsive than my friend's 3GS and that's while my G1 is running more than one program. Cyanogen makes Android super fast.
I went to a Sprint store last night to play around with a Hero, and it seemed plenty fast to me. Once the optimized builds get out there, this thing will fly. It's a shame about the body colour, but oh well; no phone is perfect. At least the body coating is a soft one, like my CDMA Touch (though not _quite_ that soft).
Great job showing a picture of Snapdragon silicon in an article about the MSM7xxx series, Engadget. You amuse me every time.
Interesting post, thanks for clearing things up. But it still didn't answer my burning question: what's with all the Android touchphonez?
Palm seems to be the only manufacturer who can see that customers want smart candybar phones (Pixi) with a hardware keyboard. Surely if manufacturers of Android handsets are using old and cheap SoCs, then I'm sure there's a place in the market for a cheap but smart candybar Android phone for the massez.
Who say what?
I expect you will see fewer and fewer physical keyboards. They make the phone clunky, in some cases take up valuable screen space, are prone to breakage, and some on screen keyboards have gotten quite good. I can fly on my iPhone 3GS keyboard especially in wide mode. Androids on screen keyboard needs work though. Its slow and the keys are too close together.
I love Android....it is slow though. And I need a damn Android 3G phone for AT&T!
Got the Hero last week too - it was for my wife who had an old Moto-Q. She's no geek, but she's really getting into it. It feels fast and very useful/productive. I'm looking toward either the HD2 or Dragon (same phone, different OSs) and I heard that the HD2 was supposed to ship with the Hero to Sprint the same day... so I'll have to wait. I'd like an iPhone because of the toys, but I just can't abide AT&T. Android is looking really good now!
I too laugh at the thought of a cell phone with the same clock as a desktop from less than a decade ago.
Good article.
Anand, would you happen to have more information about the SoC used in the Palm Pixie, the Qualcomm MSM7627?
Very interesting article - I am also a big fan of anandtech.com - who would build a new rig without reading up first?
I am very excited to get my first Android device, and now seems a good time to jump in. I am not that offended that the processor is relatively unchanged, as it forces better (read: well designed and more efficient) ROMs and better coding in general for Android apps.
My g1 came with a 1gb Micro SD card not 256mb as indicated by this chart. Just throwing that out there.
Pay attention mate...
Not only a great (first on Engadget?) column, but I see Anand has even waded into the comments. Props!
I don't have any speed issues with my HTC HERO. It is very snappy.
Also note augmented reality was first demoed on a G1.
iPhone fanboys rewriting history as usual. It's funny, I wrote an iPhone app and was released this week, and my co-author (a Apple fanboy) sent me 10 emails saying how we got our 1st rating (5 stars of course), but I was like so what? that's $1.99 BFD! Where's my thousands of downloads like you promised, Apple? There is way too much hype.
Anand chez Engadget?! I didn't know it was my birthday.
can someone please explain this...
if the Hero is running 1.5 with sense UI and 1.6 comes out can u update directly? or no?
you can only update to 1.6 when a new version of sense UI with the 1.6 features comes out?
im interested in this because it would be a big down side to all this sense UI stuff.
Donut (1.6) is out already for Tmo phones. Looks like Sprint may be waiting till 2010 for non-OTA updates
http://androidandme.com/2009/10/carriers/more-info-on-the-sprint-ota-problem/
It is really slow.
The on screen keyboard needs work.
App/OS fragmentation is looking like a real issue. As in too many different versions of the OS and skins.
There isn't any reason right now to think Android will take off. Maybe it will but it's been underwhelming so far.
Apparently the kids you get to reply to you don't realize you are f*ing with them. Gullible aren't they? You would think so you post this kind of thing all the time they wouldn't keep falling for it. But they do.
People used to get confused with the. 528Mhz Qualcomm, the 600 Mhz Omap3 and the 800Mhz Moment processors. This article came at the right time. One thing Missing was the Moment has a samsun SOC with 800Mhz ARM11. Which makes it slower than the TI OMAP3 SOC. So 800Mhz is not as fast as the 600Mhz Iphone/Pre/Droid.
It took someone from Anandtech to explain this stuff. Engadget should have done this when Pre/3GS got released. Not wait until people start hating the 528 Mhz MSC chipsets fro Qualcomm. the 528 Mhz processors from Qualcomm are good cores too. They do stuff what they are indented to do. They will be around for a long long time. ARM7 is still there why not ARM11.
Well, there's nothing wrong with ARM11 or Qualcomm chips. They're adequate and have everything to run multimedia apps at reasonable speed. C'mon 500MHz!? This was enough to run 3D computer games on desktops not that long ago!
The real problem with Android is Java which a) has slow UI libs, b) still not optimized for small devices. Yes, you hear this right, Java for mobiles still suck big time even after 20 years of development!
iPhone is a living proof that even monkeys can write good native apps if good API is provided. Java, on other hand, is crippled with its own multi-level layered architecture.
You also have to remember that original Android was specifically developed for ARM11 platform. Porting and optimizing the same core even for other ARM's proved to be very complicated. In case of Android, besides just porting core OS, Google has to port Java VM and other high level crap. Apple does not care about that as it basically uses same revision of ARM. Eventually they will have to port it to a new platform but it will be somewhat easier as it still owns hardware business and will not have to deal with high level stuff like Java VM or Flash runtime or whatever...
Fantastic article. What it needs now is costs attached. If a 500MHz ARM 11 is too slow then Android will never make it into the volume market which is only just moving from 50MHz ARM7s to 100MHz ARM9s. Android also needs an MMU and graphics accelerator. That's before you add really expensive bits like a touch screen and camera. I guess an Android phone costs north of $250, built boxed and tested. ZTE will sell you a basic GSM talk and text phone for $25.
It of course makes a nonsense of using Android because it's free, there are so many other costs the $2.50 Symbian used to charge before becoming a foundation is irrelevant.
Simon
Awesome to see Anand on here! I have been a long time reader of anandtech and think he will bring some really cool insight to engadget.
Yea.. Finally have someone that know how tech works.
notice no one is mentioning that the Galaxy has teh superior AMOLED screen while supporting 8 GB of Ram and a 1500 Miliamp battery. It is also one of the lightest phones in this comparison. Actually it's kind of noticeable to see the superiority of Hardware that the Galaxy gives to the consumer compared to the others. I do not know the price ranges though. The biggest determing factor is the price/performance ratio. So far Galaxy is winning this comparison but it might be much more expensive than the others.