While Google's Android devices are wildly popular and multiple cores look good on their spec sheets, chip giant Intel said the Android operating system is just not ready for multi-core CPUs, and not enough is being done to optimize it properly.
Intel is entering the market with single-core Medfield Atom processors, and lashes out against rival ARM and its dual-core and quad-core, claiming the chip maker needs to put more efforts into optimizing Android so it could properly handle multiple cores. According to Mike Bell, Intel's general manager of mobile and communications, multiple cores may actually be a disadvantage to Android, reported The Inquirer.
"If you are in a non-power constrained case, I think multiple cores make a lot of sense because you can run the cores full out, you can actually heavily load them and/or if the operating system has a good thread scheduler," explained Bell. "A lot of stuff we are dealing with, thread scheduling and thread affinity, isn't there yet and on top of that, largely when the operating system goes to do a single task, a lot of other stuff stops. So as we move to multiple cores, we're actually putting a lot of investment into software to fix the scheduler and fix the threading so if we do multi-core products it actually takes advantage of it."
The problem with multiple cores is that more heat is generated, because more cores need more power. "I've taken a look at the multiple core implementations in the market, and frankly, in a thermal and/or power constrained environment - what has been implemented - it isn't obvious to me you really get the advantage for size and the cost of what's going into the part," added Bell.
Intel has not revealed any plans for a multi-core Atom processor, but there will likely be one on its roadmap in the future, as multi-core silicon has a significant marketing advantage over single-core. In addition, although packing a multi-core processor within Android devices may not present a notable advantage, dual-core and quad-core chips do create a stronger impression on the spec sheet, appealing to increasingly more consumers.
