Inside the Motorola Droid, an iPhone likeness
Though the Motorola Droid and Apple iPhone have different chassis, their high-octane engines are similar.
The internal similarities begin with performance: both devices are fast. The iPhone 3GS is already distinguished for its speed. And the Droid is quickly garnering similar accolades.
The Motorola Droid has a radically different exterior compared with the iPhone but uses a speedy Cortex-A8 ARM chip like the Apple phone.
(Credit: CNET Reviews)"The Droid makes a big leap in internal performance. Compared with its rather sluggish Android predecessors," CNET Reviews said, citing the speed at which the Droid opens applications and menus and scrolls through lists and switches display screens.
"We're really pumped to see all the industry excitement it's created," said Jeff Dougan, the OMAP 3 product marketing manager at Texas Instruments, which supplies the OMAP 3430 processor that powers the Droid. "This is the first handset that truly realizes the full potential of Android," he said, referring to Google's Android 2.0 operating system that runs on the Droid phone.
The TI processor, like the one in the iPhone, is based on an a new architecture called Cortex-A8 from U.K.-based chip design house ARM, whose wide variety of chips populate most of the world's cell phones. Dougan says most smartphones currently on the market use an older, lower-performance ARM architecture than the Cortex-A8--with the exception of the Palm Pre, which opted for the newer TI chip. The Cortex-A8 provides a "two to three times performance boost" over older architectures, according to Dougan.
Max Baron, an analyst at Microprocessor Report, says the chips in the Droid and the iPhone (see not below) are so alike that differences are more dependent on the operating systems the two chips use and how successfully each phone maker optimizes the OS. "With chips that have near-similar specs, the optimum OS and the look-and-feel of the user interface may make or break the product," Baron said.
The core of TI's OMAP3 processor.
(Credit: Texas Instruments)"The caveat, however, is that even small differences in chips will surface and become important differentiators as soon as the market forces you to increase the screen size or add more pixels per screen, or execute more power-consuming applications," he added.
The raw MHz ratings on the chips are slightly different. The processor in the iPhone 3GS--which is believed to be based on the Samsung S5PC100 processor--runs at 600MHz, according to most accounts. The Motorola Droid's TI chip is rated at 550MHz though theoretically it can be run as fast as 600MHz, according to TI's Dougan.
Both phones also use PowerVR graphics from Imagination Technologies--a company that both Apple and Intel have invested in, testifying to how hot its ultramobile graphics technology is. The PowerVR SGX is renowned for its ability to process several million triangles-per-second--a key indicator of graphics chip performance--blowing away other phones and the previous version of the iPhone.
Other internal specifications are similar between the two phones, including memory capacity (either 16GB or 32GB) and communications chips that offer 3G, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth connections.
So, internally the Droid is every bit the iPhone's equal. And future versions of TI OMAP 3 chips that may appear in upcoming Droids will be backed by formidable ecosystems, according to Baron. "Investments in application software may lean more toward the TI components," said Baron, given TI's strong support of the entire chip ecosystem, including auxiliary chips and software development tools.
Note:: Apple's and Samsung's reluctance to release information about the processor used in the iPhone 3GS has made it difficult to determine if the chip is based on the Samsung S5PC100, according to the Microprocessor Report's Baron. Many iPhone 3GS reviews and teardowns, however, state explicitly that the iPhone's processor is essentially the Samsung S5PC100 processor.
Brooke Crothers has served as an editor at large at CNET News, an editor at Dow Jones' Asian Wall Street Journal Weekly, and a senior editor at InfoWorld. His CNET blog covers chip technology and computer systems, and how they define the computing experience. He also contributes to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. Follow Brooke on Twitter @mbrookec. 
(typed from an iPhone 3G)
(typed from an HTC Touch Pro2)
look! iMac and PC use the same hardware. that mean iMac is PC likeness??
(typed from my laptop).
No one (except insecure Apple zealots) are talking about this because it's a non-issue. Random_Walk is just spewing misleading FUD as usual.
The iPhone only has internal flash, so for each application the app executable (code) and the app resources (content) must be stored together on this internal flash.
Android supports external flash (SD in this case). That means app executables and app contents can reside on different storage areas. Even huge apps (say 512MB+ in size) have relatively small executables (say < 5mb packed). So on Android, the executables get stored on the internal flash, while bulk content (like textures, audio files, maps, etc.) can be stored on SD.
Even 256mb internal flash is sufficient to store dozens of large apps, with their content on SD. The vast majority of users will not get close to this limit during the phone's useful life. Users who have tons of huge apps can also selectively sync which apps to keep on the phone.
256MB for executable files is not enough and this will turn out to be a mistake for the device. Steve Jobs couldn't have fathomed that people would be downloading apps at the rate they are from the app store and we have seen the storage on these devices jump from 4GB in 2007 to 64GB in 2009 for the latest iTouch. I have 250+ apps right now and I know of others that have even more.
Now Google wants people to download apps (and lots of them) and use their market place (the whole reason for this Open Source debate). Limiting the amount of apps you can have "installed" at one time is a major drawback. Who wants to continue to install and uninstall apps because you simply don't have the onboard space to use what you have downloaded? That my friend is a major drawback and will hurt it in the end considering people with iPods and iPhones literally have 100s of apps on their devices now.
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/11/01/motorola-droid-headed-to-germany-as-the-motorola-milestone/
So just because both phones are fast means that the Droid is like the iPhone? This is yet another sad attempt to get page views.
As for the same amount of memory comment in the article, the Droid has removable flash, which rocks. Apple could do this with a slot similar to the slim card slot. Then again, my Sony Phone had a flash slot, and while it worked well with a 2GB card, it started to fail in things like music sorting when I used an 8GB card. One assumes that the Droid would handle future larger memory cards better, but who knows? If the larger cards use a new technology, than the replaceable nature of the current cards is mooted by the fact that the 32GB is large as it can go anyway. I guess you could buy two, and put videos on the other, but then you'd be swapping, have to worry about taking photos and such between the two cards, etc.
Agreed, though the Droid does have some limitations that need fixing.
OTOH, calling something an "iPhone killer" seems to be a swift and sure way of insuring that it never accomplishes that goal.
I am a huge huge fan of Android and have been following this particular phone for so long.
At my job with two staunch iPhone fans I said when the G1 came out that it was a different creature and comparing it to the iPhone would be a mistake.
I've never liked Apple's business tactics and their close platforms. Android to me (as a tech guy) is the quintessential OS that the cell phone market needs, not because of user interface but because of openness. iPhone is a great phone and fighting over which one is better is useless (IMHO). They're different phones and mean different things to each person.
in addition, I am actually very glad with this droid phone (although, disappointed that it is only with Verizon) that will force Apple to up their game or release what ever they are holding back. Because, by holding some of the specs or features, they are able to sell every new releases of iPhones with success.
Motorola has a long history as a good company. The phone market was theirs to lose, and they did. This gift of screwing things up is a recent innovation at the company.
1. The biggest difference between iPhone and Droid is that iPhone is GSM phone which means I can carry it with me anywhere in the world and still be able to use it just by replacing the SIM card unlike the Droid which is CDMA I might as well just dump it in the Atlantic.
2. With iPhone I can do tethering (even though AT&T does not officially support it, but then what does AT&T support). Can the Droid support tethering?
3. iPhone users have the option to choose from 85000 apps, how many Apps are supported on Droid?
Concerning your comments:
1. This is a valid concern for the small percentage of us who actually do travel overseas and need the use of a PERSONAL phone and not the company supplied GSM phone.
2. "With iPhone I can do tethering" - This is not officially supported and this is not a differentating factor when the mass majority does not have access to this feature. On top of that, if they did, the ATT network would slow to a crawl. I would be happy if i received my voicemails, texts, etc within a week of them being sent....
3. Who cares how many apps the iPhone has. I also have 1000 channels on my TV; does that mean they are all good? Of course not. # of apps is clearly not a differentiating factors between these phones.
1) Only applies if you have an unlocked iPhone, which I don't believe at&t officially does. You might be able to "hack" it, but that would be breaking several "terms of service". Otherwise, you will pay at&t's GSM roaming rates (0.99/minute in London, etc, so not too bad).
2) Again, you cannot tether unless you break at&t's ToS - not an iPhone issue exactly, except that Apple chose to only get in bed with at&t.
3) To paraphrase what some Apple folks say about Windows software (and it can be valid) - how many of those applications are "good" and how man programs of a different type do you need...
Where did you get $700 as the price of the Droid? Im sure even an unlocked GSM version of it would cost less. The Droid's going to be $199 with contract and includes a 16gb micro sd card to be competitive with the 16gb iPhone 3GS which ALSO happens to be $199. Seems like an even match when it comes to price and capacity except for the fact that Droid can't save apps on an sd card. Apple fanboys these days. PCs outnumber you at least 6 or 7 to 1 but they are not nearly as annoying as you guys.
Overall, I really have a hard time seeing the level of polish getting up to the iPhone level. There are just too many players involved. I already see that there are differences among carriers & Android phones: Why does the HTC phone running 1.6 support multi-touch when the Droid doesn't with 2.0? It's like the PC platform where Dell installs their own menu system because they think they can improve on Windows.
Nonetheless the Android phones seems poised to take off. I think that the AT&T exclusivity is working against Apple now that these phones are being released.
The other day I was trying to use my Macbook to so some Facebook tasks and Copy and Paste wouldn't work on Kanji. There is some more of that polish. My XP machine (about 7 years older than the MacBook) did the job just fine.
Polish is nice but these things have a job to do, and if they can't do it, they aren't the right piece of equipment.
As for the other problem, I have no idea what you are talking about and you very likely did not HAVE to deauthorize 5 computers, but chose that path.
For the mobile web to reach its potential, the Iphone must die... we need to get past this single piece of equipment as the benchmark. I've owned every model of iphone and love them, but every time I see a new phone come out, I hope that it will be the one that will finally level the playing field and force apple to raise the stakes again. http://m.seego.com/
Copy and Paste is an OS function. Facebook has it's own issues. However to solve a problem you actually have to understand the problem The problem was OS X didn't support copy and paste of kanji. Simple as that. Maybe Apple had a language pack update. It doesn't matter. XP just worked.
As for iTunes, You are right in that I didn't have to de-authorize all 5 computers (other than that's the only option you get from apple), However all paths foward result in a loss of applications because I did mix and match computers trying to get my music library working right and the apps are authorized on 2 different computers (even though you can only sync with 1 iTunes on 1 Machine without some work and I haven't done the work).
I like my iphone because of the user experience I get from it. The droid could have 100000000x the RAM, and 100000000x the CPU power. If it doesn't equate to a better user experience, what's the point?
They have very plain, but very fast "user experience's".
@ ikramerica - Google does not make the phone that costs money. Google makes the OS;,which is free. Google's Maps and Navigation is free as well; the software provided by Google through the phone are free.
--
Apple IS the queen of: "Here, I'll do that for you. What? Ha. Uhh, no you can't do it that way because it has to be this way. Oh, you could upgrade to a new phone to do it the way you want, if you'd like. But... you can't do a few other things you want unless you wait 6 months to upgrade to the next phone."
If this ridiculous idea of carrier specific phone crap went out the window, then we could start really comparing apples to apples (pun) but until then, iPhone is a great portable internet device with an handicapped phone due to its coupling with AT&T. Droid looks to be a great portable internet device with hopefully a PHONE component that's more reliable due to Verizon.
That's what matters to me. I think this whole phone craze has become too much about "Look at me blending into a trend".
If I could use the phone part reliably off my old iPhone I'd still have it. End of story. If Droid has a better phone, I'm sold.
I don't think I ever had much respect for CNET but this takes the cake.
I too know where I want to go, what I want to do and sure as hell is not with the 90% of the unwashed hoi polloi that use Windows
I guess for someone who's used to boring Window boxes that looks colorful.
The iPhone is the most recent success in the phone market. They came, they saw, they carved out a chuck of the market from everyone else and became the darling of the industry. For good reason, the iPhone showed us what a touch screen interface could do. It has limitations but so does everthing else. Until something else comes along and does the same thing the iPhone is the one to beat. That's why everone hopes to make an "iPhone Killer".
Meanwhile we all get better phones out of the resulting competition.
And don't even get me started on the iPod touch which effectively doubles the iPhone OS market and opens up iPhone development to anyone over the age of 10 years and allows everyone who has sucky AT&T coverage to buy into the Apple mobile universe.
However with cell phone carrier plans being the purgatory that they are, it will be interesting to see if the markets actually alter with this phone. It will likely not lure that many people away from at&t since many of at&t's customers have paid to break contracts to get to iphone in the first place. The iPhone really stepped into a new realm of smartphone. The droid may be an equal or better alternative, but it isnt a groundbreaking product in terms of ingenuity. This is just another feature-packed smartphone, one likely to simply add to the enjoyment of its carrier's already loyal customers.
That by itself will cost AT&T customers. Not as many as when the iPhone finds another carrier though.
I'm scrapping my perfectly functional BB Curve for the Droid because I am one of the Verizon faithful seeking a feature-packed smartphone with apps built to take advantage of Google's services. As a Google Apps customer, I've been suffering from iPhone envy for nearly 3 years; however, nothing short of a true nationwide rollout of 4G could convince me to go back to drop-call-prone AT&T.
It`s definitely going to push Apple to up their game , hardware and UI.
The iPhone screen has looked the same for over 2 years , and looks like 1990`s.
Devices that run the HTC Sense/Touch Flo have been noted by iPhone users to be really cool.
(The Droid doesn`t run Sense UI but is still much more customizable compared to iPhone)
iPhone won`t die but Android will lead in market share in the next couple of years.
The thing that is going to make Android is worthy competitor is the fact that is will run on multiple phones and the apps that run on one phone should theoretically run on another phone. Of course you have the problem of different hardware which is the same thing Microsoft runs into with Windows, but overall it's going to give Android a way to capture a lot of market share. It won't be at the expense of the iPhone though. I see the other OS's taking a massive hit. I predict (and I could be completely wrong) that we will see the titans become Apple, Android, and RIM.
There will be a phone that is an "iPhone Killer" it may not actually kill the iPhone but what it will do is become the next must have device and carve out a nice chuck of the market just like the iPhone did. The iPhone wasn't first, nor will it be the last to do this.
Does iTunes let you get a refund on your app within 24 hrs ? (get to try it out)
Do they let you re-DL your app if you delete it or lose it some how ?
Does Apple let you pay once and use the same app on multiple phones on the same account ?
Just wondering because Android Market lets you do all the above according to the T mobile support forums.
2) Yes, iTunes lets you re-download your app should you delete it. For instance, should you need to restore you iPhone back to factory settings, you can reload any of the programs you purchased.
3) Yes, you can use purchased apps on up to 5 devices I believe. I've only shared on two devices myself. Brian Tong of CNET has a video on how to share purchased apps.
All your apps are backed up on your computer.
Only if you sync your apps - I usually forget sync to my computer as I download apps from iPhone itself - and do not always remember to sync my apps or music. ITunes still can re-download purchased apps without additional charges.
So, in summary, you don't have to sync it with iTunes and it doesn't matter how many computers you've used, once you've purchased an app you'll always be able to get it and you'll never have to pay again (unless there's a new 2.0 version of the app that they are charging for of course, i.e. Real Soccer 2010 isn't free to Real Soccer 2009 owners).
How is Google Voice , Google Latitude and Google Maps Voice Navigation working on the iPhone ?
(Natively and not Jail broken)
Oh, d@mn...
(as an aside, even if Google Voice was on the iPhone I wouldn't care about it, same with Latitude and according to the guys at Google they are making an iPhone version of Voice Navigation right now so, umm, your point is?)
- by ron_thompson November 1, 2009 11:21 AM PST
- It is not going to matter much if the Droid has equal or better handset technology than the iPhone. Any technology gap will be quickly closed by Apple. The battle for supremacy will be won on the applications front. Until the Droid can claim that it has applications like NeuroMobile and others I would not even consider it. It does not need the 100K apps that apple "claims" but it will need to offer some of the more popular ones like NeuroMobile.
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- by muadib42 November 2, 2009 9:17 AM PST
- Unfotunately, all the apps in the world don't do someone much good without the coverage to use them. (I agree on the app quality front too -- eagerly waiting for a Slacker app for Android)
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- by smrtone4u November 3, 2009 5:27 AM PST
- @maudib42
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Showing 1 of 6 pages (247 Comments)I like your statement about all of the apps in the world don't do anything without coverage to use them. In response to that, all the features of the droid wont do someone good if they cant use it around the world. Think before you speak about a phone limited to CDMA network....because all of verizons """"5x more coverage 3g network""" wont do any good to you if you are using voice at the same time and need to get on the net for email, nav, or anything else.... "oh...sorry i have to hang up to google that phone number real fast" I have never had one problem with my att coverage and i do extensive traveling. I have to admit the overseas plans can rack up a little $.....but i prefer actually being able to use my phone pretty much anywhere in the world then being limited to a slowly phasing out technology(cdma). on a side note, i love being able to listen to my slacker radio in the car on my 3gs, in my office, and pretty much anywhere i need too.