Android’s Transition to x64 Has Finally Begun!

By Ananthu Kurup  | 2 Feb 2014   | News

 CPU Android

Android has been evolving at a tremendous pace since its creation, and that process might have slowed down some, but it hasn’t stopped. The latest commits to GIT suggest that Android will move on to 64-bit architecture in the very near future. This was an eventual transition that was bound to happen sooner rather than later. The move could mean significant performance and architectural advantages such as faster code execution and support for 4 GB and greater RAM. This also means that ARM v8 instruction sets would be supported. I believe that we can expect to see 64-bit hardware on new Android devices by 2015. With that said, we shouldn’t expect dramatic improvements at the beginning, because its will still be in process of being optimized, and it will take some time before we’d able to fully utilize 4GB of RAM too.

As with all other forms of spec wars, this too isn’t really a step towards a necessarily better experience. We have reached a sort of saturation level in terms of sheer processing power and RAM. Android apps are very memory efficient if coded properly ( errr……Facebook app anyone?), and they don’t really need that much RAM. Yes, maybe some games would eventually end up using that much RAM, but it wont happen any time soon. The manufacturers should really be concentrating more on the experience the device provides and battery life rather than making more powerful phones.

Another advantage of the move to ARM v8 is the new instruction it brings to the table. The changes could help with faster app loading and better responsiveness. But this would require a lot of effort and time as the app developers need to update and optimize their code to make use of these improvements.

More good news has surfaced in the form of new commits that suggests that the complete move to ART is quite close. So, the next version would move to ART as default, but still keep Dalvik to ensure we don’t run into too many compatibility issues.

 

Source: XDA Developers

 

Ananthu Kurup

About Ananthu Kurup

I'm you regular geek next door. A Computer Engineering student and addicted to information. I spend a lot of time keeping my self up to date about the tech world. Here to share what I know and learn more.

  • Rob

    android x86 is missing features a normal android rooted or unrooted for example the Samsung galaxy tablet has more interface to it than the android x86 port, on my Toshiba c655 laptop the 2013-07-25: Test build 20130725 of jb-x86 based on Android 4.3 works from usb, but the newest port 2014-02-14: The Android-x86 4.4-RC1 released (kitkat-x86) gets stuck on android logo on startup, it runs on vesa mode , but then missing the standard 3D support from intel hardware with 4.4, the desktop pc, one of them runs but since it has NVidia hardware in both my desktops, I can’t get games too run, crashes them compaired to my laptop, and google play books from that 4.4 build crashes on launch , otherwise it runs, but their port is missing features that a standard rooted or unroot port has, in the menu, you can’t turn on tablet mode either on the android x86 build , which I happen to think android needs some sort of desktop mode for desktops, and maybe a laptop mode too, for a android x64 build to work on a standard x86/x64 desktops and laptops, otherwise it sounds fine, I know intel has made some x86 computer ports, but I am not sure their going to run without a emulator on most pcs.