I heard a rumor that Intel won some Tizen design wins with Merrifield. This would also explain the secrecy behind the SoC powering the Gear 2, although it could be a soon-to-be-disclosed Exynos part as well.
Continuously running Apps in an Java VM create some unique power management challenges. So at least there's potential that Tizen might be power efficient, but of course the proof is in the pudding.
Dualcore processors are more energy efficient than single core processors if their performance is identical. It is often better to have 2 lower clocked cores than one higher clocked core.
The fact that is is a single, dual or quad-core processor also does not tell you much about the complexity of the cores.
Because the designers are idiots who think it makes sense to put all the logic in the watch, rather than putting minimal logic in the watch and have it shunt all the hard work to a phone.
It's like thinking that your phone should have a 3GHz i5 Haswell in it, rather than an ARM so that it can do voice recognition locally. Sure, we can all imagine some scenario where that would be nice, but considered across the ENTIRE range of uses, it makes more sense to go with a weaker, lower-power core in the phone, and ship the hard jobs off to the cloud...
I'm still a little amazed at myself - everytime I read about one of these things, I go straight to the heartrate monitor, and ask myself, does it actually work? Watch-only heartrate monitors have a very poor reputation, but it's a bit of a holy grail, since no one wants to wear the full chest-strap Polaris setup.
Will have to wait a few months for the reviews to roll in on the heartrate monitor accuracy.
If it doesn't have integrated GPS it still won't capture the fitness market. I would love for samsung to develop a watch to compete with the Garmin 620.
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Homeles - Sunday, February 23, 2014 - link
I heard a rumor that Intel won some Tizen design wins with Merrifield. This would also explain the secrecy behind the SoC powering the Gear 2, although it could be a soon-to-be-disclosed Exynos part as well.Guess we'll find out in the next few days.
atpham.wpi - Sunday, February 23, 2014 - link
based on the specs tabledoes that mean Tizen is more energy efficient than Android?
Daniel Egger - Sunday, February 23, 2014 - link
Continuously running Apps in an Java VM create some unique power management challenges. So at least there's potential that Tizen might be power efficient, but of course the proof is in the pudding.hojnikb - Sunday, February 23, 2014 - link
Why the hell does a smartwatch need a dualcore processor ?!Darkstone - Sunday, February 23, 2014 - link
Dualcore processors are more energy efficient than single core processors if their performance is identical. It is often better to have 2 lower clocked cores than one higher clocked core.The fact that is is a single, dual or quad-core processor also does not tell you much about the complexity of the cores.
name99 - Sunday, February 23, 2014 - link
Because the designers are idiots who think it makes sense to put all the logic in the watch, rather than putting minimal logic in the watch and have it shunt all the hard work to a phone.It's like thinking that your phone should have a 3GHz i5 Haswell in it, rather than an ARM so that it can do voice recognition locally. Sure, we can all imagine some scenario where that would be nice, but considered across the ENTIRE range of uses, it makes more sense to go with a weaker, lower-power core in the phone, and ship the hard jobs off to the cloud...
ahduth - Sunday, February 23, 2014 - link
I'm still a little amazed at myself - everytime I read about one of these things, I go straight to the heartrate monitor, and ask myself, does it actually work? Watch-only heartrate monitors have a very poor reputation, but it's a bit of a holy grail, since no one wants to wear the full chest-strap Polaris setup.Will have to wait a few months for the reviews to roll in on the heartrate monitor accuracy.
Dentons - Sunday, February 23, 2014 - link
Part of Samsung's recent armistice with Google was that they drop Tizen. The agreement came too late for this product, it's grandfathered in.This should be the last Tizen product from Samsung.
cstring625 - Monday, February 24, 2014 - link
If it doesn't have integrated GPS it still won't capture the fitness market. I would love for samsung to develop a watch to compete with the Garmin 620.