[MrSuper]

To be announced allegedly on March 15th and released in 2nd week of April. Available in black and white.

Alleged specs - Exynos 5 Octa (8-Core) CPU, Mali-T658 (8-Core) GPU, 4.99' Super AMOLED Full HD resolution display, 2GB of RAM, 13MP rear facing camera capable of shooting 1080p Full HD videos at 30FPS, 2MP front facing camera capable of shooting 720p HD videos and running Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean.

http://www.sammobile.com/2013/02/06/...m-early-april/

[BrightSparks]

My contract ended in December and have been waiting for this but very nearly ended up going for the new sony cos I though the s4 would not be here while May/June time,
Just EE to bring out a decent 4G tariff/allowance now at a normal price at the same time and i'll be happy!! lol

[denyo1977]

Not saying the specs don't sound better, but (thank god) it doesn't exactly make me feel I'm using an old phone when the S4 is available.
Why, at the moment, would a phone need a 8 core processor?

[slick1two]

Originally Posted by denyo1977

Not saying the specs don't sound better, but (thank god) it doesn't exactly make me feel I'm using an old phone when the S4 is available.
Why, at the moment, would a phone need a 8 core processor?

4 cores for light tasks and 4 HARDCORES for the intensive stuff, gaming, video playback etc.Dunno if its going to have any real gain in real world use, but I think the point is, it will be better for battery life, the 4 lower powered cores will not use up so much battery. So for your basic phone use, emailing etc, you won't need the powerful cores handing a process.

From a marketing perspective, it will be great! Introducing OCTOCORE!!! We kept him dormant at the bottom of the ocean for millenia, Now we, Samsung have brought him back. Can you handle the power?? Can you??? Cue the Advert with a huge shadow rising behind little iphone hipsters running for their lives, Maiden's Run to the Hills as the soundtrack. .

[konebyvax]

8-core processors will be mainstream before you know it lol. Rumours are that Huawei's new P2 will be packing an 8 core processor (as well as a 4.7-inch Full HD screen, 2 GB of RAM, a 13 MP rear-facing snapper, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and 3,000 mAh battery) and cost 'just' $480/£306. That should put the cat amongst the pigeons. My prediction is Huawei will eventually go on to be a massive player in the mobile market. Once the Chinese take a market seriously other makers can kiss their large profit margins goodbye.

[denyo1977]

Originally Posted by slick1two

From a marketing perspective, it will be great! Introducing OCTOCORE!!! We kept him dormant at the bottom of the ocean for millenia, Now we, Samsung have brought him back. Can you handle the power?? Can you??? Cue the Advert with a huge shadow rising behind little iphone hipsters running for their lives, Maiden's Run to the Hills as the soundtrack. .

Ha, ha! That was a good one!

And I do not doubt at all that eight cores will be mainstream. But we just got four and it seems like they are doubling them every year.
Ah well!

[funlovingirl]

Think I'll pass on this one until the Note 3 is released then I'll make my decision then.

[MrSuper]

Originally Posted by konebyvax

8-core processors will be mainstream before you know it lol. Rumours are that Huawei's new P2 will be packing an 8 core processor (as well as a 4.7-inch Full HD screen, 2 GB of RAM, a 13 MP rear-facing snapper, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and 3,000 mAh battery) and cost 'just' $480/£306. That should put the cat amongst the pigeons.

I think you could be right!

To be announced Feb 24th at MWC.

http://www.gsmarena.com/huawei_ascen...-news-5487.php

[John_Patrick]

I think we are been brainwashed into thinking that more cores = better phone.

Is that really the case?

Is there anything lacking with the current high end phones that mean we cant watch HD video from Youtube or stream it to a TV? They seem to be up to the job dont they?

Personally I feel they need to spend far more time reducing the size and power consumption of existing processors and increasing the size/capacity of the batteries.

Also, think that they have made a mistake increasing the screen size. I have a Note 2 and I can see that for many people its too big. My wife has the S3 and like the HTC One X I had before the Note2, its a good size to suit the masses. Big enough to be able to play games and watch video, browse etc yet small enough to manage and carry.

[calico_pie]

Originally Posted by denyo1977

Not saying the specs don't sound better, but (thank god) it doesn't exactly make me feel I'm using an old phone when the S4 is available.
Why, at the moment, would a phone need a 8 core processor?

It will make scrolling smoother.

[JasonWatkins]

With a spec like that, I imagine you'd need a very long extension lead to have it on charge all the time

[denyo1977]

Originally Posted by calico_pie

It will make scrolling smoother.

Not sure if that was meant to be a joke or a serious comment, as I think scrolling is pretty smooth on the Nexus 4.

[MrSuper]

Originally Posted by John_Patrick

Personally I feel they need to spend far more time reducing the size and power consumption of existing processors and increasing the size/capacity of the batteries.

I wholeheartedly agree with this. This is what should be important but it seems everyone's afraid to put in bigger batteries for fear of making the phone that slightly bit thicker.

Originally Posted by John_Patrick

Also, think that they have made a mistake increasing the screen size. I have a Note 2 and I can see that for many people its too big. My wife has the S3 and like the HTC One X I had before the Note2, its a good size to suit the masses. Big enough to be able to play games and watch video, browse etc yet small enough to manage and carry.

I'm also worried about the increase in screen. I would have bought the Note 2 in an instant if it wasn't so bloody damn big! I've seen people with it and it just looks huge. Way too big for me personally. So hope the S4 isn't that big.

More evidence to support the screen size and display:

http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_migh...-news-5490.php

[The Lord Lucan]

Having more cores is actually better on the battery life. As long as they have good algorithms for when they cores need to kick in (Samsung & Apple do) then the work is done faster by a less stressed under clocked( more efficient) set of CPU cores. Add in completing tasks quicker allows the phone to 'rest' more often too so even less battery.

[calico_pie]

Originally Posted by denyo1977

Not sure if that was meant to be a joke or a serious comment, as I think scrolling is pretty smooth on the Nexus 4.

Don't get me wrong, I agree completely that scrolling is already pretty smooth. But presumably it will be a bit smoother still.

[denyo1977]

And soon the fingers will slide of your phone, because it's so smooth

[TheBilly]

5 inch screen? That's creeping up on the note.

[jabbamk1]

Originally Posted by konebyvax

8-core processors will be mainstream before you know it lol. Rumours are that Huawei's new P2 will be packing an 8 core processor (as well as a 4.7-inch Full HD screen, 2 GB of RAM, a 13 MP rear-facing snapper, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and 3,000 mAh battery) and cost 'just' $480/£306. That should put the cat amongst the pigeons. My prediction is Huawei will eventually go on to be a massive player in the mobile market. Once the Chinese take a market seriously other makers can kiss their large profit margins goodbye.

Bear in mind that is going to be the Chinese price (plus it's not even 100% confirmed yet) It'll cost a lot more in the UK/USA.

[ajh94]

It NEEDS to have DC-HSPA+! With the S3 I was like oh it doesnt have DC-HSPA+?? okay fine, then with the note 2 I was like STILL no DC!?!? So this has to! I know the LTE versions do but they should add LTE only, the 3G version sould have DC-HSPA+ included as it's a 3G standard

[The Lord Lucan]

Originally Posted by ajh94

It NEEDS to have DC-HSPA+! With the S3 I was like oh it doesnt have DC-HSPA+?? okay fine, then with the note 2 I was like STILL no DC!?!? So this has to! I know the LTE versions do but they should add LTE only, the 3G version sould have DC-HSPA+ included as it's a 3G standard

The chip they would have needed to do the DC at the time probably wasn't ready or ready in the quantity they needed.

[Step666]

Originally Posted by John_Patrick

I think we are been brainwashed into thinking that more cores = better phone.

I think you need to take a second look at the SoC that has been mentioned, if you do you'll see that your 'more cores = better' comment has no bearing on it.

That said, I'd still be a little surprised if they put the Exynos5 Quad or Octa into a handset.
So far only the Exynos 5 Dual has been used in any devices and they've been much larger devices which can more efficiently deal with the heat produced. A smaller device with a potentially hotter SoC doesn't sound like a great combination.

Originally Posted by John_Patrick

Also, think that they have made a mistake increasing the screen size. I have a Note 2 and I can see that for many people its too big. My wife has the S3 and like the HTC One X I had before the Note2, its a good size to suit the masses. Big enough to be able to play games and watch video, browse etc yet small enough to manage and carry.

Increasing the screen size and increasing the size of the handset as a whole are not necessarily one and the same.

[whoever,hey]

Originally Posted by konebyvax

8-core processors will be mainstream before you know it lol. Rumours are that Huawei's new P2 will be packing an 8 core processor (as well as a 4.7-inch Full HD screen, 2 GB of RAM, a 13 MP rear-facing snapper, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and 3,000 mAh battery) and cost 'just' $480/£306. That should put the cat amongst the pigeons. My prediction is Huawei will eventually go on to be a massive player in the mobile market. Once the Chinese take a market seriously other makers can kiss their large profit margins goodbye.

Matter bugger all if the software doesn't use the cores.

[Step666]

Originally Posted by whoever,hey

Matter bugger all if the software doesn't use the cores.

Android has supported multi-core CPUs since Honeycomb (3.0).

[Thine Wonk]

Originally Posted by JasonWatkins

With a spec like that, I imagine you'd need a very long extension lead to have it on charge all the time

Not really as the chips usually operate on 1 core, but for gaming or using the 8 cores they wake up and are in use only when needed.

The question is, will there be an LTE version I can buy that will work with UK frequencies. As I want to buy it in April ready for the LTE launches so I can be first to test (not bothered about EE, looking for 3's budget deals and the low frequency launches).

[ajh94]

Originally Posted by The Lord Lucan

The chip they would have needed to do the DC at the time probably wasn't ready or ready in the quantity they needed.

Well Apple did it, samsung did it for their LTE version, sony have done it, LG have done it, so have Nokia so i'm not sure that's the case and if it is, would it be ready now