Quad-core phones just waste your battery says Nokia

By Rich Trenholm on 13 April 2012, 1:48pm

Nokia has blasted dual-core and quad-core phones like the Samsung Galaxy S2 and HTC One X, branding them a waste of battery.

Nokia top chap Stephen Elop says, "so-called dual-core, quad-core mobile phones can only waste batteries, but not be useful for consumers all the time".

That's why Nokia's smart phones, the Lumia range with Windows Phone software, aren't dual-core or quad-core. The budget Nokia Lumia 710, stylish Nokia Lumia 800 and new Nokia Lumia 900 all boast single-core processors.

Elop isn't the first to get hardcore on quad-core phones. Sony recently told CNET that it doesn't believe "the performance matches the battery efficiency". The company may consider quad-core next year if performance and battery life get closer.

It's true that dual-core or quad-core phones aren't automatically better than other phones -- the hardware and software has to work in perfect harmony to ensure that the extra grunt actually results in faster and smoother operation.

Elop's accusation that quad-core phones waste battery power unneccessarily when they're not doing intensive stuff that requires quad-core power is addressed by the design of some quad-core chips. The Nvidia Tegra 3 chip powering the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime only fires up all four cores for tough tasks like gaming or video, with an extra 1.4GHz processor handling the boring everyday stuff.

ITProPortal reports Elop's claims made to a Chinese newspaper that in everyday use, Windows Phones are just as fast as dual or even quad-core iPhones and Android phones.

Nokia has even put its money where its mouth is with a promotion entitled Smoked by Windows Phone, in which owners of other mobiles are challenged to complete everyday tasks like displaying the weather faster than a Lumia Windows Phone. Winners take home a laptop, but there has been controversy after one American Microsoft Store refused to award a Samsung Galaxy Nexus owner a prize.

To see what all the fuss is about with quad-core phones, check out our head-to-head battle between the HTC One X, Huawei D Quad and LG Optimus 4X HD.

Is Elop right? Are quad-core phones a waste of battery juice? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.

Comments 20

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anonymous 13 April, 2012 13:54

I'm an iPhone user and last weekend helped a friend buy a new phone.

CPW were selling the Lumia 710 Windows phone for £130 as an offer, and to be fair, the phone is lightning fast. Much better than any Android handset at this price point.

It might not be as customisable as most Android phones (bar HTC), but the interface was slick and integration/migration/syncing to a pc was a synch.

If I was a Windows PC user at home, I would seriously consider a moving to the Windows platform.

ace9988 13 April, 2012 14:01

as android goes, i think dual core handsets have a lot of potential, my evo 3d has no lag whatsoever, the system is fully optimised, the battery life is 2 days (yes all these are because i've rooted it and the custom ROM does help alot)

I think everyone is just playing the numbers game because for everyday tasks on a phone, I can't see much use for a quad core phone in comparison to a dual core one especially since your review shows how pitiful the battery life is on the htc one x for example.

now tablets.....that's a whole different argument favouring quad core sides

professerclever 13 April, 2012 14:09

I totally agree. Sometimes, MORE is LESS!

Peter Hudson 13 April, 2012 14:20

Yeah, My galaxy S2 zipped through applications and navigating which was all well and good, but the battery barely lasted a day.

And for single core processors, the lumia phones are lightning fast. You don't need to keep jamming bigger and bigger processors into the phones, just write good software.

anonymous 13 April, 2012 14:27

@anon 13:54

"It might not be as customisable as most Android phones"

Its Not

"integration/migration/syncing to a pc was a synch."

...................it doesn't even sync with Microsoft Outlook on my desktop...........as I found out.

Forget missing cores, the missing apps are worse..................ie no Skype (I tried the beta but was full of bugs and didn't work unless it was in focus ALL THE TIME :/)

I returned mine and got a galaxy S2, haven't looked back and battery easily lasts a day for me.

shauney3 13 April, 2012 15:26

My mate says his windows phone is no better than his old iphone (battery wise).
Fail.

hd7guy 13 April, 2012 15:27

@anon 14:27

> it doesn't even sync with Microsoft Outlook on my desktop

It easily syncs with Outlook via your mail account. Email, calendars, contacts, etc. Syncing across every device is easy and painless. If syncing doesn't work for you, you aren't connecting to your accounts properly. Use IMAP.

> Forget missing cores, the missing apps are worse
Yes, the current Skype beta is a huge yawn. Other than than just about every must-have app on the other platforms is avaialable one way or another. For example, everyone screams there is no app for Pandora, and yet some enterprising individuals built one that works as well or better than what Pandora provides to the other platforms.

All in all, your choice of phone OS is up to you and your preference. Personally, I like the middle ground between Apple's over-control and Android's tweak fest. I have a first gen Windows Phone, and I can still beat the pants off coworkers with their iPhone 4's and quad-core Androids on same tasks.

alfstar 13 April, 2012 16:02

Over here in the UK the 'Smoked By Windows Phone' campaign is called 'Smoked By Lumia' and winners only win a fiver (I think). So Nokia hasn't really put it's money where it's mouth is.

anonymous 13 April, 2012 17:18

I think you'll find that the main reason Nokia isn't using dual and quad core processors is because wp7 doesn't support multi core processors, if it did Nokia would be trying to cram in as many cores as possible, just like everyone else, they are only saying this to try and defend the fact that their hardware is way behind everyone else's. I am willing to bet any money that when windows phone eventually does support dual-core processors, Nokia will forget they ever said this and bring out phones with dual-core processors

anonymous 13 April, 2012 17:19

@hd7guy

"> it doesn't even sync with Microsoft Outlook on my desktop

It easily syncs with Outlook via your mail account. Email, calendars, contacts, etc. Syncing across every device is easy and painless. If syncing doesn't work for you, you aren't connecting to your accounts properly. Use IMAP."

I think it means he has the problem lots of WP7 users have discovered, If you have a pop3 account on your desktop (not exchange) to pick up your mail, you cannot sync your calendar or contacts to your phone from your desktop outlook.

anonymous 13 April, 2012 17:58

once again Nokia mouths off about superior technology

What's he gonna say when Nokia go dual core ?

hes a fool and his WP7 phones suck

anonymous 13 April, 2012 18:14

I agree that is both because they don't need any more cores and Windows Phone 7.5 doesn't support it.

anonymous 13 April, 2012 22:29

So why oh why do Lumia's have battery issues out of the box Mr Flop oops Elop???

ponyman 14 April, 2012 02:02

If you only drive in town then it makes no difference whether you are in a Land-Rover or a Skoda. But if you need to tow a caravan across a muddy field then only the Land-Rover will be up to the job. Similarly if all you are going to be doing is checking your emails and chatting on messenger, then a single core phone will do the job just as well as a quad core version. At the moment most software is developed for single or quad core applications, but once quad core phones become more prevalent then more sophisticated applications will be developed to take advantage of the extra processing power. If you are the sort of person who likes to push the envelope then you can never have too much power.

anonymous 14 April, 2012 03:19

At the rate hardware technology is improving, i would say a quad core will use less energy than a single core in 5 years from now. By then, I don't see what will be the problem with the battery life. If we stayed content on a phone being just a phone, you and I would still be using nokia 3310. Why Nokia even bothered to move to a window based phone?

The argument given by Nokia marketing team:- BS from people who do not know about technology.

anonymous 14 April, 2012 07:06

Is S.Elop another captain Ahab?

His obsession with the MS eco system will be Nokia's downfall.

These rants seem to be attemps to prove his decision to go alone with WP7 right.

The uses to what smartphones are put to are changing but his mind seems locked to a golden age that MS never had.

Nokia shareholders only hope is to find a replacement who has a good track record in the mobile business and a vision for the future not the past.

moroboshi 14 April, 2012 14:10

Nokia are only saying that because they're unable to offer dual or quad core, as Windows Phone doesn't support them.

The next iPhone will most likely have the A5X, which has a quad core GPU - the same chip used in the PS Vita in fact. As gaming on phones is rapidly growing, who wouldn't want Vita levels visuals on something which fits in a pocket?

anonymous 16 April, 2012 12:01

Just addin my 2 cents here.. I think it all depends on the os.. Atm windows dont os dont need dual core or quad cores to run their os smoothly but some android handsets do because the manufacturers add their own garbage on top of it.. For now it is a waste of time for windows, bb and even iphone to go for quad core but who knows..

anonymous 14 June, 2012 08:09

it might be true that multiple core are not efficiently used, but Mr elop u r not eligible to complain coz u dont even have the damm software to run multiple cores.