Two OMAP 3430 Phones: Nokia N900 and Motorola Droid
by Brian Klug on June 10, 2010 9:29 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- N900
- Maemo
- Motorola Droid
- Droid
- MeeGo
- Android
- Mobile
Two vastly different software stacks
Without knowing anything specific about either Android or Maemo except that they're both linux derived, you'd probably at first thought expect a lot of similarities. When I think linux derived, I think package manager, exposed terminal, window manager, and all the familiar goodies to keep *nix nerds satisfied, and all the configuration files ready for tweaking to my heart's desire. Suffice it to say, Android and Maemo couldn't be further apart in practice.
Motorola Droid - Pure Android
I'll talk briefly about Android, but for in-depth analysis I'd encourage you to read Anand's Nexus One review where he thoroughly discusses the Android 2.1 OS. What's really important to talk about regarding the Motorola Droid is that the packaged Android 2.1 experience is entirely stock Google. There's no Moto Blur, no HTC Sense, no UI skins or wrappers. What you're getting here really is a native android device. Whether or not you prefer one of those two UI skins is a matter of personal taste, but the native experience keeps the Moto Droid feeling relatively snappy without much distracting flash or pizazz.
In addition, Motorola recently announced that the Moto Droid will see at least one more major software update to bring Android 2.2 'Froyo' support, including Adobe Air, Flash, and the JIT compiler for the Dalvik VM which should speed things up considerably. Barring any outstanding features being brought to further Android releases that require further hardware, it's likely the Motorola Droid will continue to see incremental Android updates for some time - especially considering its blockbuster launch which hailed Android's impressive 2.0 release.
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DaveGirard - Saturday, June 12, 2010 - link
sweet Jesus, that Nokia phone is huge. Does it double as an ice cream sandwich cover?metafor - Sunday, June 13, 2010 - link
Cortex is the CPU designed by ARM. This is available as a hard-macro (layout already done) or soft-macro (just the functional RTL). Some companies license this in either version. For those who license the soft-version, such as TI, nVidia and Broadcom, they can do a customized place-and-route along with clock-tree optimizations and voltage partitioning to try to make the design run faster.However, the micro-architecture is the same.
A few companies have ARM architectural licenses (Apple, Qualcomm, Marvell) and instead of licensing the Cortex line of processors, they design their own. The micro-architecture is developed independent of what ARM did in their Cortex series albeit there will often be similarities.
Scorpion inside Snapdragon was developed in the course of years and while it has many similarities to the A8 from a power-point standpoint, the micro-architecture underneath was designed from the ground up. Everything from the branch predictors, the cache controller, exception handling, execution units and most notably, a partially OoOE scheduler and retirement buffer.
There's also the 128-bit, fully pipelined, partially OoOE SIMD/FP unit.
medi01 - Sunday, June 13, 2010 - link
Well, I find it very strange, that "incidentally" iPhone is never shown in bad light. Could you please update your side to side comparison?Impulses - Wednesday, June 16, 2010 - link
Personally I think there's better things for you guys to do or test with your time... Who cares if a phone's screen colors are more or less accurate, as long as they aren't outright flawed or ugly to look at it shouldn't be a big deal, not like anyone's gonna be doing any pro content editing work on their phones! (I don't even own an AMOLED screen so I'm not particularly biased one way or the other, I own an EVO atm)mojtabaalemi - Saturday, June 19, 2010 - link
I hate the design of nokia mobile phones . in my idea an iphone is far far better !paihuaizhe - Sunday, June 20, 2010 - link
(nike-alliance).(com)=>is a leading worldwide wholesaler company (or u can sayorganization)
arnavvdesai - Saturday, June 26, 2010 - link
I was just wondering if the author had installed AdBlock+ and then run the browser speed numbers or without it being on. If it was not installed which is what I am guessing from the photos, did you notice an improvement in the render times when it was installed. I actually bought the phone recently after seeing it on sale for 380$ and wanted to know the details. Also, I have heard that the current build of the OS allows potrait mode even for the browser(although it has to be activate through some setting) and not just the phone.drwiremore - Sunday, July 4, 2010 - link
Amanda, delighted to have found you. Given the issues in the title, affecting 20~50% of MOTO Droid users, was surprised to see no mention of it. The MOTO boards are alive with disdain and some feel an in you face attitude by Motorola Droid 2 and X announcements. Would you do an iPhone like analysis of voice, antenna and signal issues across Verizons Droids: HTC incredible and MOTO Droid. Your scientific analysis would be welcomed.