Palm OS 5 Will Be Up to Three Times Faster Than OS 4
When PalmSource decided to make the change from Dragonball processors to ARM-based ones, it was important to keep backwards compatibility to the thousands of existing applications written for the Dragonball processor. There has been a certain amount of nervousness that this process would make these applications run slower than they do now. According to Mike Mace, PalmSource's Chief Competitive Officer, nothing could be further from the truth. In an interview with the pdabuyersguide, he said "In preliminary testing, Palm OS applications are running up to about three times faster on Palm OS 5 than they do on the current systems."
However, this won't necessarily be true for all applications. "Performance varies tremendously from program to program, and some programs may be slower if the developer hasn't done any optimization."
Of course, Mr. Mace is far from the first person to attempt to reassure people that OS 5 won't have any speed problems. Last month, several prominent Palm developers said that their applications were running at least as fast under test boards running OS 5 as they are under OS 4.
In the pdabuyersguide interview, Mr. Mace, not surprisingly, declined to give any specifics on upcoming hardware running the new operating system, even declining to talk about release dates. He did mention that there would be handhelds with what he called "advanced multimedia" and also said Garmin plans to release a combination GPS/handheld.
I barely scratched the surface on this interview. I suggest everyone read the whole thing. -Ed
Related Information:
- PIC: Developers Say the PACE Is Fast Enough (July 23, 2002)
- PIC: Palm OS 5 Goes Golden Master (June 10, 2002)
- PIC: Palm OS Forum
Article Comments
(54 comments)
The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. PalmInfocenter is not responsible for them in any way.
Please Login or register here to add your comments.
Comments Closed
This article is no longer accepting new comments.
RE: Too much talking
"Well, we thought OS 5 was up to three times faster than OS 4, but in reality it is three times slower due to the OS 4 simulator. It was an honest mistake. We really believed it was going to be three times faster. We apologize for any convenience we may have caused."
Hah!!
RE: Too much talking
If Palm wasted a lot of time on OSLO and decided to drop it, that might explain why they are a bit behind schedule. But I expected Sony to have something out within a month of PalmSource finishing OS 5. Don't they realize the first one out of the gate will have a huge advantage?
On the other hand, I'd rather they take their time and do it right rather than just dumping something half baked on the market.
RE: Too much talking
RE: Too much talking
RE: Too much talking
Speaking of releasing new hardware without getting your ducks in a row, we have the Pocket PC platform as a prime example. At least I know the 400 MHz Palm OS models will run faster than the 200 Mhz ones!! Compaq didn't get nearly as much *** for that as they deserved.
RE: Too much talking
We are all waiting here since OS5 went RTM back in June. (tap, tap<<--fingers on table) Still waiting here to upgrade to a new color multimedia PDA running OS5. Maybe next month eh?
Careful Palm
Okay, is like the 16 bit color screens that are really 12 bit...is this over 3 combinations of faster speed?
I'd like to see one of these, we've heard about this for the last year.
Anyone think the hardware for OS5 is just vapor ...
How many future customers is Palm going to piss off before it steps up to the plate and says – ok here is version 1 of the new Palm and it will be released on this date.
Former Palm fan.
RE: Too much talking
RE: Anyone think the hardware for OS5 is just vapor ...
DO YOU HEAR US PALM
HERE HERE
Palm new logo "PALM PROCRASTINATORS - PISSING PEOPLE OFF"
RE: Too much talking
Bunch of whiners/naysayers
RE: Bunch of whiners/naysayers
RE: Bunch of whiners/naysayers
RE: Anyone think the hardware for OS5 is just vapor ...
RE: Too much talking
As for people whose lives revolve around checking this site every day and fereaking out like little children about how you 'just can't wait anymore' and now your jumping ship to PPC: fine - do it already and go post at PPCThoughts or something.
RE: Too much talking
You bitch when Palm announces products to early and you bitch when they don't.. For pete sake, shut UP!
Predicted Release Schedule
September -
Rumours : Rumours of an announcement date for new models from Sony and Palm in October.
Sony : Announce another new unit. Retire two others.
Palm : Acknowledge that new units will be released before the end of the year.
General : Back to school specials and college bundles.
Everyone else : Same old thing.
October -
Rumours : Leaked pictures for devies being announce in November appear on the net. Much speculation on the specs.
Sony : Announce another accessory that unfortunately wont fit a majority of PDAs their users are carrying.
Palm : Deny that the photos are for a model that is being released, but confirm that an announcement will be made soon. Real soon.
Everyone else : Same old thing.
November -
Comdex rolls around.
Sony : have already released their current suite of models and have them available for purchase.
Palm : Demos 5 new models - 1 high end PalmOS 5 device running on a XScale CPU that looks surprisingly like the Oslo they denied so heavily, 1 low end colour OS4 device running on a 66MHz DragnonBall (m115), 1 pda /w cell phones capability via a headset, 1 cell phone /w pda capability (stripped down PalmOS version, small colour screen), and 1 PDA/GPS hybrid by Garmin.
Handspring : New CDMA based Treo announced (where did that come from? No rumours??). Includes SD slot, builtin bluettoth, and Qualcomms gpsOne chip. Also runs BREW binaries. Could be the killer device. Also announce version for GSM/GPRS early 1Q03.
Handera : PalmOS 5.0 PDA. Its screen is big enough to be a tablet. Largest colour screen on market in a PDA (unfortunately to use it fully requires custom API's), builtin 802.11b, CF and SD. Microdrive and external power supply options. Cheaper than a laptop. Lighter than a PocketPC tablet. Becomes popular in educational markets. Comes with enhance WP, SS, DB, and email software.
December -
Sony : Devices on the shelves in Best Buy, Circuit City, Sears, and 7-11's across USA.
Palm : Production delays - but you can pre-order for delivery in time for Xmas (or maybe the New Year) on their web site.
Handspring : New model available at Verizon in the US, and also in Korea and Japan (Japanese version is bright pink with "Hello Kitty" logo).
Handera : Avialable online, through Sam's Club, and in college book stores.
Just postulating.
Anyone want to predict the ratio of OS4 to OS5 devices that will be sold?
Token.
RE: Predicted Release Schedule
I tried to read your predictions but...
RE: Predicted Release Schedule
I think the PDA market will get the biggest shock of their lives (go down in history) if Palm was to deliver on time.
Even knowing this, people still get pissed off. We all know that the new Palm device is NOT just around the corner, there will a multitude of OS5 devices by other manufacturers before Palm will be able to actually get their devices on the shelves. And of course the true loyal fans (as myself) go and buy one on pre order, and guess what? 3 months later an update with more memory, brighter etc, same price, same predicament as the m505 buyers(as myself), just not worth the upgrade, another $1000 Aus. Once again loyal customer get burnt.
Palm better hope to hell that Sony never put an SD slot on their devices, otherwise bye bye.
''Advanced multimedia features...
Ooh - there's a tantalizing teaser! :) I wonder which forthcoming hardware is going to use the ATI or MediaQ video accelerators? [g]
(and I'm also really looking forward to hearing some details on the Garmin GPS/Palm!)
Cool interview!
RE: ''Advanced multimedia features...
Palm might add some multimedia features but you KNOW Sony will. Entertainment is right there in the CLIE name.
I hope everyone doesn't emphasize multimedia at the expense of size and battery life, as all PPC devices and some Sony ones do. I don't want to watch movies on my handheld, I don't even do that on my laptop. I have a TV. I want the faster speed but I also want something not too much bigger than a Palm V.
RE: ''Advanced multimedia features...
It's a shame they couldn't keep up the battery life of the N760c.
Ah well.
I assume battery life will continue to dwindle.
Just the Beginning
> code that has been recompiled for ARM-based chips is 61 times faster
> on a 200MHz ARM processor compared to a 33MHz Dragonball one
It is great that we won't have to wait for new apps to get a speed boost with OS 5 but once OS 6 and fully ARM native apps are out, we're gonna be smokin'!
RE: Just the Beginning
Gavin.
So lame....
Meanwhile, no new devices. No multitasking. No standard multimedia API. No custom fonts. No bloody file system. But hey! I can use any one of the 350+ calculators that comprise that 14,000 total apps.
On the apps, how is it they have over 200,000 developers and only 14,000 apps? Are we to believe that each app is taking about 14 people to develop it or is their developer count so blown out of whack because they are tracking how many hits on the dev kit download page?
StrongARM vs. XScale
If you are concerned the Palm OS will have the same problems Pocket PC 2002 has with XScale processors, you need to read this article:
Palm OS 5 Can Take Full Advantage of Intel's XScale
www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=3676
You also might be interested in this one:
Palm to Release XScale Powered Handheld in 2003
www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=3679
---
News Editor
RE: So lame....
Easy.
At least 1/2 of these are just wanting to run POSE with different roms.
Then cut it in half again to cover those who are just playing around with the tools.
Then double the number of apps to take into account that many of them are
custom in-house only apps.
This gives roughly a 2:1 ratio between developers and apps.
Todd.
RE: So lame....
RE: So lame....
"Gina Clark, VP of Marketing for PalmSource, said when the PXA250 was announced, "Intel's high-performing, low-power processors coupled with the Palm OS, make for a compelling and powerful platform. Palm OS licensees and the broad base of Palm developers will be able to take advantage of the full benefits of the Intel XScale technology." "
Uh huh. Right after they get their color combinations jiberish resolved, we'll see if it takes "full advantage."
How can you take full advantage of a 32bit processor that addresses well over 256MB of RAM with an OS that doesn't allow you to multitask, much less multithread?
RE: So lame....
----------------------------------------
Senioritis: The chronic inflammation of the Senior.
RE: So lame....
RE: So lame....
"With Palm OS 5 coming out running on the more powerful StrongARM processor, what would you say Palm's competitive edge will be?"
I think the interviewer over there should be fired for not knowing his facts (it is a site about PDAs afterall) but thats just my harsh opinion. Why? NEWSFLASH: Palm or PalmSource HAVE NEVER SAID that OS5 runs on StrongARM - EVER. I don't why this is so confusing but it goes to show how badly researched a lot of reporting/media is (except PIC - the best site for trying to get to the bottom of this confusion). Even WIRED said this in different articles - all perpetuating this notion that 'Palm is just getting to StrongARM, while PPC is moving on to the next generation'. In fact the opposite is true: Unlike the neandrathals at M$, Palm came up with the idea of HAL (hardware abstraction layer) - which each CPU manufacture writes to optimize there particular variety of ARM chip (XScale is ARM btw) for the OS. M$ shortsitedly hardcoded optimization for 1 chip - StrongARM - into the OS. Thus the whole XScale problem we've been hearing about in the PPC camp.
Anyway - just wanted to reclarify that and point out that Michael Mace was 100% correct and that PDABuyersguide got there facts completely wrong. The only problem with Michael Mace's response was not pointing out that the interviewers question was factually incorrect.
RE: So lame....
LOL! No kidding. Here is what you wrote:
>Unlike the neandrathals at M$, Palm came
>up with the idea of HAL (hardware abstraction
>layer) - which each CPU manufacture writes to
>optimize there particular variety of ARM chip
>(XScale is ARM btw) for the OS. M$ shortsitedly
>hardcoded optimization for 1 chip - StrongARM - into
>the OS. Thus the whole XScale problem we've been
>hearing about in the PPC camp.
MS uses a HAL too. the PPC isn't hardcoded to the StrongARM, it is coded to ARM. The new HP 928 WDA Pocket PC 2002 Phone selling in Europe runs on a TI OMAP *ARM* processor, not StrongARM. The X-Scale issue is an optimization issue, like moving from a PIII to a PIV. Remember that until Intel fixed some the the PIII emulation issues how many PIII's would blow the doors off of a PIV? No, of course you don't. You were too busy reading the Zen paperwork.
OS5 faster assuming same MHz?
RE: OS5 faster assuming same MHz?
Dragonball is based on 68000, CISC-type processor which require multiple clock to run single instruction. ARM, is RISC by name, required only one clock to run one instruction. At the same clock speed, supposely, ARM should run faster than Dragonball.
Newer version of ARM could run multiple instruction in single clock. So, it should be way faster than Dragonball. Same as PowerPC 1GHz perform better than Pentium 2GHz.
Click here for the full story discussion page...
Latest Comments
- My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST((SELECT/**/CASE/**/IS_SRVROLEMEM
- My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST((SELECT/**/CASE/**/IS_SRVROLEMEM
- My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST((SELECT/**/CASE/**/IS_SRVROLEMEM
- My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
- My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
- My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
- My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
- My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
Too much talking