Is it worth the wait for an internet tablet with an arm a9 processor. I said I would wait but now im not sure with the new Itouch at 200 bucks and likely other cheap a8 devices to follow.
I suppose it depends what you're looking for. In terms of Apple devices, you're probably not going to see an A9 proc until at least the next version of iPhone/iPad is released which may be 8 months away.
If you're looking for Android devices, then there should be some Tegra 2 (cortex A9) tablets coming to market toward at the end of this year.
In the end it depends how patient you are and how much you want A9.
It'll be a while until integrated in a device, like the good captain pointed out, plus, IMO, it'll be a while before it'll be used. Right now the biggest slowdown is waiting for a time consuming task to finish.
Intensive ops, like apt, will only take the boos from a single core, and still take a hit from the link, the gain would be minimal. Searches could be done in dual core, UI could remain more responsive, but for that a lot of things have to be dual/multi core and that also brings bugs, race conditions and expose new bugs that stay hidden in emulations and single core implementations.
I doubt a stable, commercial, safe use of A9 is going to be available under a year. Maybe it's just me.
...and the next CPU will be "just around the corner" when the A9 devices come to market, so you'll find yourself waiting for it instead. I'd just go for the devices currently on the market and be happy with them. Of course if you don't actually need a new device and have a chance of waiting, you'll save a lot of money by upgrading only when you actually have to
The biggest performance advantage is not a new A9 vs A8 but memory speed and size. With modern software it is a critical to keep all stuff in memory vs moving it back and forward to slow (!) flash devices. At least this is a biggest drawback of N900 - it's 256MB can't keep all applications and Nokia forces an intensive swap with slow (19MByte/sec) eMMC.
With application sizes around 100MB it takes epoch to reload a running application after some daemon forced it's swap out to eMMC.
The first Omap4 based devices are anticipated to be released within 6 months, and certainly by this time next year. That's not long off. If you haven't already, you should watch some of the videos of the TI Blaze; it will give you an idea of the technology jump we're about to see in performance and power efficiency. If you're satisfied with what you have now, then I think it's worth waiting. Today's top-of-the-line phone will probably feel really dated sooner than we think.
I think a more accurate question is how much better the A9 is when comparing to the 1ghz A8. If it is a big step in performance and it will come pretty soon it would be really stupid to buy the N9(I suppose A8) when it comes in december(or something arount it).
The biggest performance advantage is not a new A9 vs A8 but memory speed and size. With modern software it is a critical to keep all stuff in memory vs moving it back and forward to slow (!) flash devices. At least this is a biggest drawback of N900 - it's 256MB can't keep all applications and Nokia forces an intensive swap with slow (19MByte/sec) eMMC.
For sure, only more memory demands more power to keep it refreshed. It is my understanding that this drives the decision for smaller amounts of memory more than physical size or component cost.
So as usual we are back to waiting for the next big thing in batteries. Which is next year apparently. And has been for the last two decades.
IMO it's never worth waiting the next gen unless it's confirmed to be released less than 1-2 months away with strikingly significant upgrades.
After all's said and done (the expected delay, the initial shortage, waiting out the initial reviews, waiting out forum reviews, holding out for some promos, etc...) 6 months have probably passed, and the initial bugs will still be there.
