It isn’t long back, when we started dreaming of a handheld computer smaller than a laptop still not compromising with the performance. Today we see those dreams come live with new dual core processors! Qualcomm, Samsung, Nvidia and other giants of mobile processing industry added dual core series processor to their portfolio this year. So, let’s understand what these Dual Core processors are good at and are these power monsters really worth the attention?
Dual Core Technology:
Dual core technology refers to two individual microprocessors on a single die cast chip. This is essentially two computer processing units (CPUs) in one. The advantage of a dual core chip is that tasks can be carried out in parallel streams, decreasing processing time. This is referred to as thread-level parallelism (TLP).
You can visualize dual core as running two separate CPU machines in co-ordination, where both the CPU are synchronized and co-ordinate each other in completing a task using multi-threading. Multi-threading is a process in which multiple small code segments of an application are executed almost simultaneously to get higher performance. To make it easier for you – Consider Microsoft Office Word application: As you type in a letter in Word several small micro programs are executed in background such as Spell and Grammar Check, Auto Save, Auto Formatting etc. These micro programs can be though of as threads and as the processor is running them simultaneously with the main program the process is called as multi-threading.
How Dual Core Technology works in Mobile?
In case of Computers and Laptops Operating System is “one man army” that governs the working of Processor by distributing it tasks, to optimize resource utilization. Similarly, modern mobile OS like Android also governs the working of Dual Core Processors. Mobile Operating System like Computer Operating System are intelligently designed to distribute jobs to Dual Core processors, but the challenge here is to efficiently utilize both the cores (CPU) of the processors. Mobile Operating System has several processes running in background while phone is ideal and adds several others when it is being used, although a single core processor is enough to handle the task, but a dual core processor adds various high-end capabilities which are hard for a single core processor to perform. Time scheduling techniques are used by Android OS to distribute jobs to both the cores, which together performs a single task in parts; accomplishing the task in half the time a single core processor would take. So by introducing high level of parallelism, Dual Core processors are way better than Single Core processors: To prove my statement here is an image showing Quadrant benchmark produced by Samsung Galaxy S II with dual core processor.
You see the difference – The score produced by this dual core powered device is 3053, which is more than twice as much to its nearest competitor i.e. Nexus One!
What can Dual Core do for you?
Have read a lot about this buzz word “Dual Core”, I doubt if it can impress me? Show me what it has got.
It will add a bunch of capabilities apart from speeding up your device namely-
- Full HD 1080P video playback and recording
- Smoother Internet Experience
- Drive Dual Display
- Better Graphic Capabilites
- High Speed Connectivity
Full HD 1080P Video playback and Recording:
Samsung Galaxy S II and HTC Sensation 4G are some of the devices available with new dual core processors offering super smooth Full HD 1080P video playback and recording at 30 fps(frames per second). Also 3D stereoscopic capturing, one of the features available to LG Optimus 3D and HTC Evo 3D is because of these dual core processors.
Smoother Internet Experience:
Loading of a webpage is not as simple as you might think it may be, it involves complex protocols, language conversions and command compilation at mobile’s browser. Dual Core processors are capable of extensively enhancing UX while surfing internet on mobile. Dual Core processors works well even with heavily scripted sites containing rich media and even flash! While one core keeps on rendering pages from the server, the other executes the script highly improving page load time.
Drive Dual Display:
One feature that is in demand since the day mobiles phones started to play videos and click images. Dual Core processors are capable of producing duplicate displays on TV or Other devices in Full HD quality, enabling you to watch movies, videos and pictures in Full HD on your TV using a HDMI cable. Some devices even offer you to duplicate all that you do on your device, on your TV – this can be used while playing games and surfing internet.
Better Graphic Capabilities:
With enhanced speed, dual core also brings enhanced graphics to mobile devices. Possibility to handle high-end graphic chip will enable more realistic gaming scene on mobile devices. Specially designed graphic processor to work with dual core processor are being introduced which will form the foundation of gaming in next generation devices.
High Speed Connectivity:
HSPA 21Mbps and LTE technologies are supported by dual core powered devices. The extra processing burden to handle HSPA 21 Mbps and LTE are easily handled by dual core processors. High speed WiFi, 3g and GPRS are supported along with better GPS connectivity.
Are you satisfied with the features that a Dual Core processor offers? Are you going to adapt it because of its capabilities? Share it with us through comments and stay tuned for my next post covering all the latest Dual Core Powered Devices available in market.
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