Samsung Galaxy Nexus specs leaked

[destrekor]

You mean, "not when Fudzilla says that someone at Google anonymously told them otherwise".

It's a known fact and has been reported everywhere in the Android world: TI is the official SoC partner for ICS.

For better or worse, it's what we're getting in the next Nexus. Why would a Nexus ship with any SoC other than one manufactured by the official SoC partner? Considering the Nexus is, at least up until now (all things can change, and Verizon is bound to screw something up somewhere too), the officially unofficial (yet official) developer phone, it's going to have the main pieces that Google deems important for the developer community to support.

I said "for better or worse" because I am a fan of the OMAP SoCs, and with Cortex A9, clock for clock the OMAP 4 series performs better than Samsung's Exynos series.

However, TI dropped the ball with the GPU and for the currently-available OMAP4 SoCs, have reused a GPU that has been available for about two years now iirc (SGX 540).

The SGX544 will be in the OMAP 4470, but as of August, that model isn't supposed to be around until early 2012... and by that time, TI should be somewhere close to OMAP5 releases (which will also house the SGX544).

As for the upcoming Nexus, I'm hoping to be surprised. I'm going to have to be surprised to pick it up, since I do currently have the Bionic (I just couldn't wait and was tired of playing the "wait based on rumors and then have dreams crushed" game.
But if the Nexus turns out to be a great phone, because of the guaranteed developer support I will likely sell my Bionic and hope to escape paying an extraordinary amount for the new phone.

But yeah, SGX540 at 720p could have a few issues keeping up with the bigger games, but I don't expect I'll play too many of those. But it would be nice to at least have a better GPU available in the event I find the perfect entertaining yet phone-killing game.

Not sure if it was mentioned yet, but there's another set of specs for a distinct GSM version of the Nexus. I find it odd that the Exynos would land in any device labeled the Nexus. Sure, it's a Samsung phone and a Samsung SoC, but Google pretty much runs the Nexus game and they've voiced their preference for the OMAP series.

Of course, Google could be playing this game with the full intention of breaking its own policies... so we could yet be surprised.

But regardless, I'd find it very odd to find one set of hardware specs for Verizon's Nexus and an entirely different spec sheet for every other Nexus - notably with the SoC being extremely different.

If the Nexus is going to be a developer phone, and it's all supposed to be the same 3rd Nexus release, why further muddy the fragmentation waters by having what ends up being two completely different models (versus merely having different radios, which would be expected for a multi-carrier phone released around the world)

 

[slayer202]

I'm sure whatever they put in it will be able to hold its own. I doubt google would release something that has obvious flaws or issues. I really can't wait, I have to assume I'm buying it either way, unless the droid HD seems like it's a must wait

 

[Fire&Blood]

Fudzilla is ran by a Fuad Abazovic, him and Charlie Demerjian used to be considered tech world gurus, they left the inquirer which used to be a site favored by those speculating about the next best thing. He had a decent track record in the PC hardware.

It's perfectly possible that the SGS2 may be the better buy here compared to Prime but I certainly wouldn't take his or BGR's word for it. While logic dictates that Samsung would use in house components for the Prime, they put a Qualcomm in the SGS2 version for T-Mobile because T-Mobile asked for it. By the same logic, they would use (the inferior) OMAP4 if Google did just that, which is plausible.

OMAP4 is a very competitive SoC the CPU front, it's GPU solution is it's weakness. While implementing the PowerVR SGX543MP2 with the OMPA4 seems iffy, it would certainly eradicate it's inferiority.

I agree with poofy though. Android had a 16 month break from Apple and only SGS2 took advantage of it. If what's rumored about the Prime is true, Android dropped the ball, took a step in the wrong direction instead of nailing the iphone 4 rehash with a top phone.

 

[MrX8503]

Which specs?

Also, do you thread crap in every ICS Nexus/Galaxy Prime/Nexus Prime thread?

If the Prime doesn't have a Mali or MP2, then the processing power of the Prime is inferior to that of the SGSII or iP4S. Especially if its pushing more pixels at 720p and if ICS isn't optimized, expect lag to come back.

 

[Fire&Blood]

If the Prime doesn't have a Mali or MP2, then the processing power of the Prime is inferior to that of the SGSII or iP4S. Especially if its pushing more pixels at 720p and if ICS isn't optimized, expect lag to come back.

While your motives for saying that are suspect at best, that's correct. Though it wouldn't lag in general usage but playing high quality video, games and other GPU intensive tasks at 720p should expose the GPU.

Why would they up the resolution but use the same damn GPU from the Nexus S a year later?

 

[Spoooon]

Man, I hope this phone lives up to the hype, or at least comes really, really close. As long as it's >= Bionic than I'm getting it.

 

[alent1234]

Fudzilla is ran by a Fuad Abazovic, him and Charlie Demerjian used to be considered tech world gurus, they left the inquirer which used to be a site favored by those speculating about the next best thing. He had a decent track record in the PC hardware.

It's perfectly possible that the SGS2 may be the better buy here compared to Prime but I certainly wouldn't take his or BGR's word for it. While logic dictates that Samsung would use in house components for the Prime, they put a Qualcomm in the SGS2 version for T-Mobile because T-Mobile asked for it. By the same logic, they would use (the inferior) OMAP4 if Google did just that, which is plausible.

OMAP4 is a very competitive SoC the CPU front, it's GPU solution is it's weakness. While implementing the PowerVR SGX543MP2 with the OMPA4 seems iffy, it would certainly eradicate it's inferiority.

I agree with poofy though. Android had a 16 month break from Apple and only SGS2 took advantage of it. If what's rumored about the Prime is true, Android dropped the ball, took a step in the wrong direction instead of nailing the iphone 4 rehash with a top phone.

if you look at isuppli the bills of materials of each high end phone are about the same. that means if you ship a phone over 4" and a high resolution you have to skimp somewhere else to keep the same margins

 

[Mopetar]

BGR once again reporting vzw exclusive.

i'm tired of this shit so I'm ordering my SGS2 now.

Well it's BGR, so take that with a pound of salt.

If it does turn out to be true, it would definitely shed more light on why Verizon decided to get involved in the Samsung/Apple cases.

 

[s44]

Ok, I thought about it more. Both are wrong, but in a way that together it looks like the 4460.

No, that's one way of reconciling the data. Doesn't mean it's the right one.

I tried to put it together with an OMAP, and none of them made sense. Why? Because none of the production models except A5 have a dual-core GPU. That's not the sort of thing you misremember. And 4460 is from *neither* source (the first one says 4430, which is in fact lower-clocked.)

More likely: Google intended to go with TI, but during the summer realized that all of them sucked. Also, TI is stuck on the 45nm process, while Samsung's 32nm process is mature (suck it, Apple). Furthermore, only Motorola (pre-acquisition) has built a LTE device on the OMAP. Result: look at the SGS2HDLTE. New Exynos (with never-announced GPU; we know Samsung has used PowerVR before in Hummingbird and A4) + LTE + HD... sounds like a proof of concept to me.

 

[Fire&Blood]

SGS3 will probably be the first with a 32nm, Samsung said sampling in Q4 so it fits the timeline.

I don't like it but it's certainly a possibility that Prime has the OMAP4. Hoping they prove me wrong in 5 days.

More likely: Google intended to go with TI, but during the summer realized that all of them sucked. Also, TI is stuck on the 45nm process, while Samsung's 32nm process is mature (suck it, Apple). Furthermore, only Motorola (pre-acquisition) has built a LTE device on the OMAP. Result: look at the SGS2HDLTE. New Exynos (with never-announced GPU; we know Samsung has used PowerVR before in Hummingbird and A4) + LTE + HD... sounds like a proof of concept to me.

I hope you are right.

 

[badb0y]

No, that's one way of reconciling the data. Doesn't mean it's the right one.

I tried to put it together with an OMAP, and none of them made sense. Why? Because none of the production models except A5 have a dual-core GPU. That's not the sort of thing you misremember. And 4460 is from *neither* source (the first one says 4430, which is in fact lower-clocked.)

More likely: Google intended to go with TI, but during the summer realized that all of them sucked. Also, TI is stuck on the 45nm process, while Samsung's 32nm process is mature (suck it, Apple). Furthermore, only Motorola (pre-acquisition) has built a LTE device on the OMAP. Result: look at the SGS2HDLTE. New Exynos (with never-announced GPU; we know Samsung has used PowerVR before in Hummingbird and A4) + LTE + HD... sounds like a proof of concept to me.

How does this matter? Apple releases 1 tablet and 1 phone a year. nVidia and AMD say they will ship 28 nm cards by Q1 2012.

If we follow the 1 year cycle then that means iPhone 5 is probably going to be released next October. iPad 3 or 2S or whatever they want to call it should be around March/Aprilish time-frame.

 

[the DRIZZLE]

Fudzilla is ran by a Fuad Abazovic, him and Charlie Demerjian used to be considered tech world gurus, they left the inquirer which used to be a site favored by those speculating about the next best thing. He had a decent track record in the PC hardware.

It's perfectly possible that the SGS2 may be the better buy here compared to Prime but I certainly wouldn't take his or BGR's word for it. While logic dictates that Samsung would use in house components for the Prime, they put a Qualcomm in the SGS2 version for T-Mobile because T-Mobile asked for it. By the same logic, they would use (the inferior) OMAP4 if Google did just that, which is plausible.

OMAP4 is a very competitive SoC the CPU front, it's GPU solution is it's weakness. While implementing the PowerVR SGX543MP2 with the OMPA4 seems iffy, it would certainly eradicate it's inferiority.

I agree with poofy though. Android had a 16 month break from Apple and only SGS2 took advantage of it. If what's rumored about the Prime is true, Android dropped the ball, took a step in the wrong direction instead of nailing the iphone 4 rehash with a top phone.

The smartphone market is not being driven by the small performance difference between various chipsets. Android is still gaining market share a rapid pace. You realize that 99% of smartphone buyers don't care what gpu is in their phone right?

 

[evident]

Not necessarily. LTE is not just another checkmark feature, it makes a huge difference.

not if ur area isn't planned to have it within the 1.5 year life span of the phone...

 

[Fire&Blood]

The smartphone market is not being driven by the small performance difference between various chipsets. Android is still gaining market share a rapid pace. You realize that 99% of smartphone buyers don't care what gpu is in their phone right?

Who's discussing the market in this "Samsung Galaxy Nexus" thread"?

We are discussing the SoC and the potential value of it, not what 99% people care about or not.

 

[Red Storm]

not if ur area isn't planned to have it within the 1.5 year life span of the phone...

True, but I live in an LTE market, so it matters to me.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

OMAP is probably the wrong move. Shrug. Given that HTC continues to go with Qualcomm chips, the only reason they're doing OMAP is probably because TI is paying them off... like Motorola got a huge hookup with VZW cuz it's from the US. Other than that, no one gives a rat's ass about Moto apparently....

So I guess it's the same with the OMAP processor. No one uses them but Moto at the moment. Will this affect development given other popular handsets are based on other SoCs? This fragmentation kinda divides our developers.

 

[Fire&Blood]

I know it's just a mock up but... hod damn:

 

[Red Storm]

Hot damn indeed.

This phone - a Nexus on Verizon - needs to happen.

 

[s44]

I just hope I can put those buttons back in the proper order (menu first!).

 

[Bateluer]

I just hope I can put those buttons back in the proper order (menu first!).

Err, you mean the Back button right? Proper order.

 

[s44]

Err, you mean the Back button right? Proper order.

Moto + Samsung > HTC

 

[Fire&Blood]

No need for mock ups anymore, live shot:

Video here too:

http://stiri-telefoane.mobilissimo....lara--in-premiera-pe-mobilissimoro_11172.html

 

[s44]

These guys can play with the phone (clumsily) and make videos, but can't be bothered to install this app? C'mon, man!

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I'm not sure how I feel about the lack of real buttons.

Yes it gives you MORE screen real estate, but here's my concern.

If you're playing Angry Birds, how do you get out ASAP? You know, like when you're at work and you need to hit the Home button fast so your boss doesn't know you're not paying attention at a meeting?

Yes you may be right there's some gesture or whatever we have to do to invoke the menu, but when something's full screen like a video, how do you get the navigation buttons to come out? There's obviously an intermediate step to get there, which will slow us all down. Knowing Google, it won't be the best UI, but I'm praying it will be. I hope they really thought this one through. I'm not so anti pure capacitive buttons... but I will be if they can't implement it right. There are certainly concerns, and if they address them and implement them properly, I think we'll all be satisfied.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

yeah i like the dedicated buttons as well. its one of the things thats better about android. not having buttons decreases the screen space significantly