Smartphones vs. laptops: Of mice and... touchscreens

10 May 2013
Greetings GSMArenians and welcome to an interruption in our usual program. No need to change the channel though. It’s still the familiar place and good old us, and no, we haven’t run out of phones to review. But are we likely to run out of laptops? Ludicrous idea...

Sort by:

  • D
  • AnonD-145622
  • DQn
  • 16 May 2013

Nuff' said! Everything that needs to be said has been said.

    • D
    • AnonD-29613
    • Pkn
    • 15 May 2013

    AnonD-90736, 15 May 2013You really are desperately clutching at straws aren't you ?... moreThis is why comparison is silly, people try to compare potatoes against tomatoes, and come saying potato is better because french fries sell better than salad, it's clearly a trend, regardless of the fact that everyone needs salad here and then.

    Mobile versions of apps don't count until they do the same things the desktop versions do, at least in terms of raw power.

    One last thing, Sony called, said the PS Vita is not a smartphone and its graphics are inferior to laptops anyway.

      • D
      • AnonD-29613
      • Pkn
      • 15 May 2013

      AnonD-96269, 15 May 2013"How is it that the 2 cores of the Ivy Bridge blow awa... more"...two 17-75W chip cores vs four 5-15W chip cores...
      "...two cores that are on a TWICE LARGER chip than the whole Octa core chip..."

      Power consumption and size is an issue for all devices, smartphones, laptops, desktops. As it is, the ratio of watts x performance on ARM processors might be all well and good but in raw power the laptop can eat a smartphone for breakfast. The fact that it's larger and has more energy input is irrelevant. I'm not raising an Intel flag, or saying the x86 architecture is better or more efficient.

      The fact remains that the two devices shine in different areas and this kind of comparison is futile, particularly up until multitasking and more powerful apps can appear on smartphones.

        • D
        • AnonD-96269
        • SH{
        • 15 May 2013

        Andrei, 15 May 2013Atom Z2760. 2 cores, 1.7-7W power, almost equall to the dua... moreAtom Medfield/Clover trail is a DISASTER.
        Here, learn:

        http://semiaccurate.com/2012/09/27/intels-clover-trail-is-a-bloated-nightmare/

        Ever wondered why 99.9% percent of this year phones picked up ARM over that POS?

          • A
          • Andrei
          • 0U0
          • 15 May 2013

          AnonD-90736, 15 May 2013You really are desperately clutching at straws aren't you ?... moreAtom Z2760. 2 cores, 1.7-7W power, almost equall to the dual A-15 which as you said has 5W-15W. now who's inferior? also bay trail will bring 2x better performance at 4x less power or 3x better performance at 2x less power than the current atokm chips. So 15-20 hour normal battery life and 2-3x faster. Simply put, that CRUSHES all current and future arm chips(even the A-57 which will be released months if not a full year after bay trail). And comparison to a i7 is just not fair, it has better performance and it's bigger becaus eit CAN be, it has the space, it has the case cappacity and cooling to be like that. nobody is saying to intel" hey you, make some 5W i7" because they don't need to, they aren't made for tablets. that's what atom is for, and it seems arm has some biiiig problems now, because their architecture is inferior

            • S
            • SAP
            • uv$
            • 15 May 2013

            AnonD-90736, 14 May 2013Isn't that interesting, there is a mobile version of Autoca... moreHow about making an ACAD drawing on your great mobile phone ?
            How about creating a design sheet in XL which has 25 different worksheets ?
            How about making a 100 page commercial offer on your iPhone ?
            I agree with many other opinions - comparison is simply not fair. Its like comparing aeroplanes with bicycles...

              • D
              • AnonD-90736
              • MJT
              • 15 May 2013

              AnonD-29613, 15 May 2013Yeah, too bad they forgot to develop Autodesk 3D Studio, Mi... moreYou really are desperately clutching at straws aren't you ? All of those you have mentioned have mobile versions apart from adobe after effects and with regards to modern warfare 3 there is no doubt that by next year they will have the mobile version. You only need to look at PS Vita to see how brilliant and breathtaking the graphics are, and remember that's a 2 year old device. Please also remember that smartphones have only been out a few years yet they have already caught up with laptops and desktops. Most companies are now bringing out mobile apps for their businesses, I have nearly 150 apps which have already filled up my internal storage and you can't deny anymore that mobile is the future.

                • D
                • AnonD-96269
                • dPT
                • 15 May 2013

                "How is it that the 2 cores of the Ivy Bridge blow away the 8 Cortex cores"

                Fist of, it's 2 cores vs 4 cores (the a7 units are off in CPU intensive tasks).

                Secondly, it's two 17-75W chip cores vs four 5-15W chip cores (combined minimum and maximum power draw)

                Thirdly, it's two cores that are on a TWICE LARGER chip than the whole Octa core chip is, despite of 22nm vs 28nm process!!

                Read this, one after another. Hahaha.

                http://www.extremetech.com/computing/113123-how-intels-medfield-will-dismantle-arm

                http://semiaccurate.com/2012/09/27/intels-clover-trail-is-a-bloated-nightmare/

                If anyone is inferior here, it's Intel

                  • D
                  • AnonD-29613
                  • Pkn
                  • 15 May 2013

                  AnonD-128067, 13 May 2013In terms of resolution, the yoga isn't the best laptop to u... moreThat said, the comparison between a laptop and a smartphone is still silly.

                    • D
                    • AnonD-29613
                    • Pkn
                    • 15 May 2013

                    AnonD-128067, 13 May 2013In terms of resolution, the yoga isn't the best laptop to u... moreThere's really several better laptops and ultrabooks suited for comparison.

                      • D
                      • AnonD-29613
                      • Pkn
                      • 15 May 2013

                      AnonD-90736, 14 May 2013Isn't that interesting, there is a mobile version of Autoca... moreYeah, too bad they forgot to develop Autodesk 3D Studio, Microsoft Excel, Adobe After Effects, Modern Warfare 3 and Windows right?

                        • D
                        • AnonD-29613
                        • Pkn
                        • 15 May 2013

                        *sigh* This is one of the less terrible articles to deal with comparisons between smartphones and laptops because it did serious performance testing and posted the results, instead of relying on the general impression of the masses and specsheets alone. That said, comparing smartphones and laptops is silly.

                        The focus of this kind of comparison is always wrong. This article said all there was to it a few times: they have differences, they serve different purposes, one is used for serious productivity, the other for communication and media. Yes, long ago, email and media on the go was laptop's ground, it's not anymore, great, now move on.

                        Comparing CPU performance is always bullshit. Comparing number of CPU cores is close to amateurish in a site that actually cares about specsheets. Did smartphones CPUs actually reach or come close to laptops'? The Intel Core i5-3317U within the laptop tested is dual core, the Galaxy S4 is octa-core, they're both clocked below 2GHz (as opposed to 2.6GHz as informed in this article, the 3317U has a turbo mode that overclocks it but it is nominally clocked at 1.7GHz as far as I know). How is it that the 2 cores of the Ivy Bridge blow away the 8 Cortex cores? You explained they have different architectures, great, now why are we comparing them then? Can I do serious multitasking in a smartphone yet? Can I load up Windows? Can I load up Firefox with extensions? Can I port DOSBox and expect it to run late DOS games adequately? (Notice I won't even mention real life work applications or serious gaming.) Is web browsing and movie watching really all there is to it? Does it really compare?

                        Until the day comes that Adobe, Microsoft, Autodesk, Nvidia, EA Games and Ubisoft start at least trying to do the same grade of work on ARM processors, give up. I don't even think it's impossible, but they're not doing it, so why expecting it? I love smartphones much more than any gadget today, but it doesn't compare. Next thing we know, people are going to try to hook up Android gaming consoles to large TVs. Oh wait, someone already had that idea. Yeah because if there's something we want now, is games with less processing and graphic power than last gen consoles.

                        Try again in ten years, shoot me an email if something changed.

                          • a
                          • alsocurious
                          • 0VG
                          • 14 May 2013

                          Refreshing pick of subject, gsmarena!
                          The last few words "...and hold in hand", reminded me that Newt Gingrich the other day was looking for a better name for smartphones and logically it would have to be
                          desktop->laptop->palmtop

                            • D
                            • AnonD-96269
                            • dPT
                            • 14 May 2013

                            Also, Andrei, the article mentions no A-50 mobile licenses yet?
                            What about Samsung. They were one of the first to apply, and I don't think that was with servers and workstations in mind

                              • D
                              • AnonD-96269
                              • dPT
                              • 14 May 2013

                              Slim, 14 May 2013Thanks for your comprehensive list. I suppose that emphasi... moreAnd I appreciate the reply. In fact, I agree with your observation :)

                                • D
                                • AnonD-96269
                                • dPT
                                • 14 May 2013

                                Andrei, 14 May 2013Again, think that the intel cpu(which isn't even released y... moreInteresting..
                                Because they seem to contradict themselves

                                http://www.extremetech.com/computing/139455-cortex-a57-takes-arm-to-64-bit-will-enter-the-server-room-in-2014

                                And the ARM seems to disagree:

                                "SMARTPHONES are transitioning from content consumption devices to content creation devices. Now that smartphones are able to capture high quality video and photographs, consumers want to edit and share this content, driving the need for further processing power delivered by the Cortex-A57 processor."

                                About the GPU..wow really?
                                More than A57 can ever dream of?
                                Absolutely wrong.
                                I'll just say that Iris, with up to 2x improvement compared to HD 4000,(150-250gflops depending on max clock speed and variant) it sounds like a hollow hype.
                                PowerVR Rogue scales over 1Tflop, and Mali t 678 should score around 250-300gflops.
                                And have you seen my link about Kepler based next gen ULP GeForce?(Tegra 5, ARM, next year)
                                It runs Battlefield 3 without a sweat

                                  • A
                                  • Andrei
                                  • 0U0
                                  • 14 May 2013

                                  AnonD-96269, 12 May 2013Alright. A decent phone you have, but 4.3 inch diagonal i... moreAgain, think that the intel cpu(which isn't even released yet so we don't yet know the die size for the tablet cpus) packs a 4x more powerful GPU than the A-57 can even dream of(and the iGPU is huge, 30-40% of the whole die. Heck, it even occupies more space than the cores).
                                  BTW, sorry to cut your wings, but it seems theese aren't even gonna reach smartphones after all in the next 2 years and if they do, they will be much weaker.
                                  http://www.extremetech.com/computing/152382-arm-tsmc-complete-16nm-cortex-a57-tape-out-chip-launching-no-time-soon
                                  "The other major misconception we want to address is the idea that the Cortex-A57 is going to be a smartphone processor. As with the Cortex-A15, yes, there will be smartphones that use these chips — but it’s quite telling that all the major product announcements to date have targeted server hardware. Scaling a chip as powerful as the A57 down to smartphone TDPs and thermals is going to be difficult; there simply is no free lunch in this context and the challenges of scaling to smaller nodes and dealing with increased gate leakage are only getting worse as time goes by."

                                    • D
                                    • AnonD-90736
                                    • MJT
                                    • 14 May 2013

                                    Isn't that interesting, there is a mobile version of Autocad and Matlab available for both android and ios, so there you have it, I will say it again, laptops and desktops are now dead, it's official. Please don't come back with some desperate replies because it will not work, smartphones and tablets rule now and forever.

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • v$y
                                      • 14 May 2013

                                      Does anyone remember a story about a CEO who forsook his laptop for a Galaxy Note for an entire year?

                                      Between my GNoteII and my N7 I only ever pick up my laptop now at LAN parties; THIS is a function I see Laptops ruling for a time yet.

                                        • S
                                        • Slim
                                        • uEA
                                        • 14 May 2013

                                        AnonD-96269, 13 May 2013Again, I'm adding a thing or two to your list: - Wi-Fi h... moreThanks for your comprehensive list. I suppose that emphasises the point. Most people have no need for all of this stuff, will never use it, and are not prepared to spend hours of lives taken up trying to find something useful and advantageous with the S4. I can well appreciate the superb work of Samsung, particularly their marketing department. But I dont have a romance with my mobile phone and spend the majority of the day trying to find something sexy it can do. I would rather spend my time with my girlfriend. Look at people on the trains, in cafes, home or at work, all playing with their mobiles, on facebook living their lives through the lives of others, playing games, taking a multitude of photos to show each other, maybe check a bank balance on line. The smart phone is not smart. It is making us dumber because we dont think and create our own lives. Just my observations.