[News] Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 features 10-core CPU, costs $135

[StyM]

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/53592/...135/index.html

Xiaomi's new Redmi Note 4 smartphone is the first to run MIUI 8 out of the box, and has a 5.5-inch 1080p display, with a metal unibody design and 2.5D glass on the front. Inside, we have a 10-core processor from MediaTek with the Helio X20 SoC. Redmi Note 4 includes dual SIM slots with a microSD card slot, a 13-megapixel f/2.0 rear-facing camera, and a huge 4100mAh battery.

Comparing it against the Galaxy Note 7 which has similar specs, and a smaller 3500mAh battery - the Redmi Note 4 is a formidable competitor. Where Xiaomi kills it though, is with the price - costing just $135 for the 16GB model, and $180 for 64GB of storage.

[AliG]

I still don't get the obsession with cores in phones.

I don't want a 10 core CPU. It'll have slow cores and consume a ton of power. Give me a fast quadcore with good power gating and a lot of RAM. That'll actually give me usable power.

[alpha0ne]

Nice to see the Chinese price killing the obscenely expensive (IMHO) crapple/samsung offerings

[madcho]

they don't talk about camera, that should be a crap.

Why Galaxy S7 is a success ? because a huge improvement in the camera sensor.

agree, low power, quad core and large ram is good. 100 cores is useless. Nobody run folding@phone ...

[AliG]

agree, low power, quad core and large ram is good. 100 cores is useless. Nobody run folding@phone ...

lol that gave me a good chuckle

[drmrlordx]

I still don't get the obsession with cores in phones.

I don't want a 10 core CPU. It'll have slow cores and consume a ton of power. Give me a fast quadcore with good power gating and a lot of RAM. That'll actually give me usable power.

Multicore SoCs in phones are not meant to run all their cores at the same time, nor are they all meant to run at the same speed. They're all big.LITTLE designs that attempt to replace hardware-based power-gating/throttling with extra cores meant to be run depending on what power state the phone is in at the time.

big.LITTLE is often 8c/4t or 10c/4t and the like. Since the cores are so small anyway, sometimes it makes sense to just add more of them than it is to include more hardware for power management. Or at least, it does to firms like Xiaomei.

[AliG]

I have never been a fan of big.LITTLE. The system just doesn't work as well as people hope it does.

[drmrlordx]

I won't disagree with you there. For whatever reason, SoC manufacturers have turned to it instead of trying to get their cores to throttle/turbo depending on workload. Why do they do that? I'm not 100% sure, but it may be that their custom ARM designs combined with their low-power manufacturing nodes lead to chips that only work properly within a very narrow range of clockspeeds and voltages, meaning it's just too damn hard to achieve desirable results with throttle/turbo strategies that you see in Intel chips.

Since the cores themselves are so small, they can just add some weak ones in there for low-power operation and call it a day.

[madcho]

The problem with big little is not hardware.


This is the software. Just look at the quality of the software on market. Just a simple torch lamp is cpu "instense" ... f*ck that java !!! Fast dev, but fast shiiiiiit

[zalbard]

For whatever reason, SoC manufacturers have turned to it instead of trying to get their cores to throttle/turbo depending on workload. Why do they do that? I'm not 100% sure, but it may be that their custom ARM designs combined with their low-power manufacturing nodes lead to chips that only work properly within a very narrow range of clockspeeds and voltages, meaning it's just too damn hard to achieve desirable results with throttle/turbo strategies that you see in Intel chips.

It's far easier to create efficient special-purpose designs than to make generic ones excel at every workload.
Power gating is also very efficient nowadays.

Read up about Dark Silicon if you are interested.