The techno world is buzzing with frenzied news of Ipad2-it looks, performance and upgrade applications. But the standout improvement everyone is talking about is the new A5 dual core processor. Apple has embedded this powerful engine to fuel its upcoming marquee products-Ipad2 and Iphone5. And the consumers aren’t complaining.
What is the A5?
The A5 dual core processor is designed and manufactured by Apple in collaboration with Samsung. It is made of an integrated circuit combining almost all the functions or signals (digital, analog, mixed or radio frequency) in a single substrate chip and then stacking a couple of these to form a component dense packaging. A single circuit like this forms a core and two such cores result in dual core. These are connected to the different parts of the device (i.e Ipad) and with each other for communication. This is allows for seamless allocation of functions within the chip like control, execution and memory allocation. This consequently leads to hence higher performance characteristics like faster processing and less load on the chip. Technically these arrangements are called System on chip and Package on package.
The A5 is actually an inspired outcome, combining the best aspects of like processors dual-core Cortex as well as the dual core PowerVR.
How good is it?
The result of such chip architecture is faster computing power. The A5 processes at 1Ghz speed which is phenomenal. Now how does this stack up against its older sibling, the A4 of Ipad1? Tests were conducted and the verdict is that the A5 works 50 percent faster than the A4 chip. In laymen terms it is twice as fast as the previous version-A4. The tests also reveal that individually the two cores have a lower processing speed (890 MHz) but together the output is remarkable. The cores also vary their processing speed depending on the load between them. This happens when user is running a rich graphical application or a data intensive application that involves enhanced memory and work allocation between the cores.
Part of the reason why Ipad is appealing is that it has rich attractive user interface, that is, graphics. The A5’s graphical processing unit (GPU) works nine times faster than in the A4 thanks again to its dual cores. One core handles streaming data while the other pitches in with faster loading or changing of applications. And if this is not enough the A5’s image signal processor unit (ISP) further enhances images by detecting them (Ex: face detection), adding relevant color balances (Ex: white balance) and stabilizing them. You can definitely note this change while running a game application or watching a video especially high definition videos. Should we say Hurrah?
Other benefits
If you are wondering what all this is going to bear on the battery then take heart. Apple has ensured that the power consumption is maintained at the same levels as that of the A4. Which means that even with dual core processors, with enhanced graphics and image units, the battery can last up to ten hours. We don’t know if Apple has packed in a more efficient battery or pruned some memory thirsty widgets to free up power consumption. This should be determined in real time performance to ascertain the truth.
The A5 has a random memory of 512mb in a low power DDR2 RAM.
Conclusion
The dual core A5 chip imparts faster performance with enhanced graphics processing and low power consumption. These are of course traits that a consumer finally looks forward. For Apple’s diehard fans this could be like manna from heaven. For others, they might just get become to Ipadoholics!
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About the author: Kate is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on luxury and technology. Beside this she is fond of mobile games. In her free time she loves playing game on her cell phone. These days she seems to be developing interest towards field of electronics.
