back to article Samsung puts eight-core processor IN A WATCH

The chip which powers the Galaxy S6 is finding its way into Samsung’s next watch. It’s an eight-core beastie, with four cores running at 2.1GHz and four at 1.5GHz, with an ARM Mali T760 GPU. The Exynos 7420 is a high-performance processor and it seems a little bit over-the-top for a device which has telling the time as its …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Typo

    "battery life from the 1-2 days of rival (cough, Apple)"

    isn't more like 1 - 2 hours?

  2. Jimmy2Cows Silver badge

    Really!?!

    Eight cores in a watch, just because the chip happens to be low power?

    Nothing to do with willy waving about how much grunt their watch has over the competition, then. No sir. All about the low power use.

    I mean what the hell could you need to do on a watch that'd need eight different things running absolutely concurrently, instead of task scheduling like a single core device has to?

    If Sammy really wanted to increase battery life why not create a new chip on the same 14nm process with, I dunno, say a dual core 1GHz? Seems like plenty for a watch. Nah. Can't slap anyone with your dick with those specs.

    Eight cores is trying to win a pissing contest. Nothing more, nothing less. The endurance gains are incidental.

    1. Archaon
      FAIL

      Re: Really!?!

      "If Sammy really wanted to increase battery life why not create a new chip on the same 14nm process with, I dunno, say a dual core 1GHz? Seems like plenty for a watch. Nah. Can't slap anyone with your dick with those specs."

      Because that requires the design, tooling and fabrication of a new chip. It might be more appropriate to the project but how may billions of monies would it require to actually produce it? And how big is the market for such a chip? Smart Watches are an untested niche market and phones, printers etc are already covered pretty well by all the other options available. How would you justify the viability of that project when you've already got a suitable chip?

      Naturally it also grants e-peen privileges which will no doubt be appropriately leveraged by Samsung marketing, but that's just a bonus.

  3. Alister

    a quartz watch which will last five years or a mechanical self-winder which never needs to be charged at all.

    Or my steam powered watch, which never needs charging either, (although it wants a shovel full of coal every day)...

  4. Khaptain Silver badge

    Whisky in the jar

    I sometimes put a double or even a triple dram of GlenMorangie in my glass in the evening. Does it help the taste, not even remotely, it's fine with a single dram.

    8 cores will not help the watch tell the time any more than a single core. Shit my desktop machine is only a double core and I have 15 heavy applications open at this moment and all of them run fine...

    Just like the article on removing the bloat from Windows 10 it would be far more interesting to see what you can do with less rather than with more.

    1. joeW

      Re: Whisky in the jar

      It's unlikely to alter the taste of a smartwatch either.

    2. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: Whisky in the jar

      >8 cores will not help the watch tell the time any more than a single core.

      My portable Citizen/Tandy word-processor is just fine as it is. It doesn't need anything faster than its Zilog Z80 CPU or its 14 x 80-character monochrome display in order for me to write documents.

      Your phone isn't a phone any more than a Thinkpad or Macbook is a portable word processor; your 'phone' is a connected pocket computer. Similarly, the device Samsung is making is not a watch, it's a wrist-mounted terminal.

      From Iain M. Banks, Look To Windard:

      "Sorry to disturb you, Ambassador. Hub here. You're closest; would you let Mr. Olsule know he is speaking to an ordinary brooch, not his terminal?"

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    More cores = Less power

    The faster you can get a task done the sooner the processor can go back to sleep and consume almost no power at all...

  6. Dazed and Confused

    Does it keep you hands warm?

    I might buy the Misses one.

  7. Unicornpiss
    Meh

    Reminds me...

    ...of the V8-powered rocking chair they had on Top Gear once...

  8. TitterYeNot
    Coat

    Brain the size of a planet and you ask me to tell the time...

    I've seen it.

    It's rubbish.

    </Marvin>

  9. Jarndyce

    A typical Marvin

    For those few (on the Reg) not versed in "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy", the subtitle is an altered quote from the Paranoid Android character Marvin.

  10. Sir Runcible Spoon
    Coat

    Sir

    If they put a camera on it, I hope they remember to configure the software to allow you to flip the camera vision upside down ;)

  11. Frederick Tennant

    Some people will never learn

    Well what a powerful watch, 8 processors (or cores, who cares) and how much ram? hold on, will I need my phone or computer? please Samsung try and get it right, its all about design, take the crap out of the phone and make it as thin as possible, just alerts and great battery life. our phones will do the rest.

    Most users have left their watches at home since the smartphone and now you want to bring them back? they had better be slim, lightweight and last longer than a day between charging.

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: Some people will never learn

      >please Samsung try and get it right, its all about design, just alerts and great battery life. our phones will do the rest.

      Casio (Edifice or G-Shock Bluetooth) and Citizen (Proximity) already make such watches. Conventional sports watch design, indefinite battery life, simple phone notifications.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Battery life

    The Citizen Eco drive Proximity never needs a battery replacement as it's solar powered - still has bluetooth 4.0 and the usual functions but doesn't have a power draining display.

    1. AbelSoul

      Re: Battery life

      The Citizen Eco drive Proximity never needs a battery replacement as it's solar powered - still has bluetooth 4.0 and the usual functions but doesn't have a power draining display.

      Nor does it have anyway of letting you know who is calling you, meaning you still have to fish your 'phone out of your pocket/bag/orifice to check whether you want to answer it.

      That makes it completely redundant for the only use-case that appeals to me so far but each to their own.

      It's a nicer looking watch than most of the others though.

  13. Joey M0usepad Silver badge
    WTF?

    overclock!!!!

    When i get mine I'm gonna overclock it! and watercool it . using my blood .

  14. Tromos

    Any Ports?

    USB? SATA? HDMI? Ethernet?

  15. Joe Harrison

    what are these watches actually for

    To me any watch function that replicates what already happens on your phone is not much use. For example if it displays an incoming SMS on your wrist, OK but so what, you could just look at your phone screen in the traditional way.

    A watch definitely has the edge over your phone when it comes to sensing things from your body such as pulse/temperature or movements. If there is a good camera though then that is one more thing; covert recording not so easy using your phone but a lot more natural via your watch.

    1. The Crow From Below

      Re: what are these watches actually for

      "To me any watch function that replicates what already happens on your phone is not much use."

      Like displaying the current date and time?

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