Qualcomm cuts 4,500 jobs, may spin off divisions

[coercitiv]

I have both an S6 and an iPhone 6, and the UI is still meaningfully smoother on the iPhone 6.

Apple is, IMO, untouchable when it comes to a fast and fluid smartphone experience.

I have both Nexus 5 and iPhone 6 and the real reason iOS UI is "smoother" is due to significantly longer animated transitions. Even scrolling speed is limited as to induce the sensation of "smoothness". Ever wondered why a strong finger flick barely scrolls half a page in Safari, while the same gesture in Android can scroll a few pages?

It's ok to prefer one experience over the other, but please don't invent performance metrics based on a clearly subjective experience. (and clearly crafted as to "fool the eye").

 

[CHADBOGA]

I have both Nexus 5 and iPhone 6 and the real reason iOS UI is "smoother" is due to significantly longer animated transitions. Even scrolling speed is limited as to induce the sensation of "smoothness". Ever wondered why a strong finger flick barely scrolls half a page in Safari, while the same gesture in Android can scroll a few pages?

It's ok to prefer one experience over the other, but please don't invent performance metrics based on a clearly subjective experience. (and clearly crafted as to "fool the eye").

I'm surprised Android doesn't follow suit, if most people feel the same way as Ashraf, and they probably do.

 

[Fjodor2001]

The bulk of the value is due to the licensing business, not because of the chip business, so the actual number for an acquisition is much, much smaller. The other issue is that Intel could engineer a merger, all-cash acquisitions aren't what we should expect from a deal of that size.

Regarding the issue that Qualcomm's high value is due to its "licensing business", I don't know how that would lower the acquisition cost of the complete company. The share price is what it is, because that's what the market values the company at regardless of what assets it has. If anything the share price usually goes up in case of a take over.

A merger would be possible though, but I doubt it will happen. And since both companies are about equally as big, it might as well be Qualcomm that takes the initiative for that.

 

[coercitiv]

I'm surprised Android doesn't follow suit, if most people feel the same way as Ashraf, and they probably do.

They did that somewhat, AFAIK animation duration increased with Lollipop, but even now default is still faster. The difference was even more apparent to me since I was running halved animations on Android when I first started to use the iPhone.

However, this cuts both ways: as an Android user the iPhone seemed painfully slow to me, I felt like I had to wait for my phone when doing basic tasks. Scrolling in apps was downright frustrating. Habit soon took over and after using the iPhone for a few months going back to the Nexus felt weird. Only after setting Android animations on 1x did the "choppiness" sensation disappear.

Also, I'd love to see someone explore how phone screen response times affect user experience on different phones. But this is a matter for other times / other threads.

 

[Puffnstuff]

I don't know if you guys have been paying attention but many smart phones have dropped QUALCOMM processors in favor of their own like Samsung. When I recently looked at the specs of their latest phones they'd replaced the cpu with their own which means that QUALCOMM is losing market share so going into crisis mode is the only prudent course of action to save the company. Their managers have a fiduciary responsibility to protect the company which is what they're in the process of doing.

 

[teejee]

Let me get this straight.

When the company makes a engineering/product mistake, the right way to correct that is to fire/retrench the people with the knowledge and experience to correct the mistake?

I've seen this several times at middle management in a large company. A specific department failed over and over again, and they always replaced second and third level of management. So they always start from scratch with a fresh (weak) management that don't understand the major changes that needs to be done. Been like this for 15 years...
(I just worked there myself for a few years).

 

[mrmt]

Regarding the issue that Qualcomm's high value is due to its "licensing business"

Because it generates more cash flows.

I don't know how that would lower the acquisition cost of the complete company.

If Qualcomm is going to break up itself then the value of each part is smaller than the current value of the company, unless you are implying a hell of a premium on the current management, so Intel could easily merge with, let's say, the design arm of Qualcomm for much less than 100 billion the overall company is valued today

 

[Fjodor2001]

If Qualcomm is going to break up itself then the value of each part is smaller than the current value of the company, unless you are implying a hell of a premium on the current management, so Intel could easily merge with, let's say, the design arm of Qualcomm for much less than 100 billion the overall company is valued today

Ok, but now you are assuming that Qualcomm will be broken up into two or more separate companies. That is pure speculation. I was of course talking about the Market cap of the company in once piece as it is today.

 

[dark zero]

There are tons of cheap Bay Trail notebooks that you can buy if you've got a thing for Netbooks...

But Bay Trail SUCKS on notebooks. The resolution is too much for a tablet chip!
Similar thing with the AMD E1 specially with the monocore E1 2100.

 

[ninaholic37]

But Bay Trail SUCKS on notebooks. The resolution is too much for a tablet chip!
Similar thing with the AMD E1 specially with the monocore E1 2100.

Yes. I think that is also the fault of Windows 8, I remember them hardcoding Metro to needing 768 height at first, and by the time M$ came out with a fix (to cram W8 on tablets) the good old netbook models like the Acer Aspire One faded into oblivion. Too much focus on "mobile first, laptops last". :thumbsdown:

It worked for AMD!

Lol.

 

[Arachnotronic]

But Bay Trail SUCKS on notebooks. The resolution is too much for a tablet chip!
Similar thing with the AMD E1 specially with the monocore E1 2100.

Have you ever used one?

It's no Core, but Bay Trail-M is competent for basic usage.

 

[Arachnotronic]

I have both Nexus 5 and iPhone 6 and the real reason iOS UI is "smoother" is due to significantly longer animated transitions. Even scrolling speed is limited as to induce the sensation of "smoothness". Ever wondered why a strong finger flick barely scrolls half a page in Safari, while the same gesture in Android can scroll a few pages?

It's ok to prefer one experience over the other, but please don't invent performance metrics based on a clearly subjective experience. (and clearly crafted as to "fool the eye").

I've noticed that stock Android on other devices is faster/smoother than TouchWiz on the Galaxy S6. When I talk about smoothness, I am literally referring to "lack of choppiness."

 

[Puffnstuff]

The BT in my Asus transformer T100 turns a WEI of 4.2 which isn't half bad for an all in one solution. I can run MS Office applications just like I do on my desktop and laptop, albeit not as quickly especially spreadsheets but it runs them giving me portable options that weren't possible prior to its release. I can also utilize my sprint 4g lte mobile internet device on it giving me web access anywhere a wifi isn't available just the same as my laptop only it only weighs a fraction of what my dell does. Now if I had to do some serious work, number crunching where time matters or graphics intensive work then I'd want my core i7 doing the work.