Mobile tech journalists (ourselves included) will shout from the hilltops about the benefits of having a dual-core processor in your smartphone. The chances are the iPhone 5 will have one too. Its multimedia benefits are fairly easy to define, but how will it help boost your productivity?
Multitasking
Perhaps the most common word associated with dual-core processors is ‘multitasking,’ and it really only comes into effect when you talk about productivity. Being able to swap between applications instantly is a common practice in the work environment – our days would be painfully inefficient and unproductive if we had to close our email down every time we wanted to boot up a spreadsheet or close said spreadsheet when we wanted to edit an image.
Apple has been very hesitant to implement full multitasking in its iPhone up to now, and not without reason. The relatively low-power single-core processors in previous iPhones haven’t really been up to the task of running multiple apps simultaneously while carrying out the usual tasks of a smartphone – at least not without a hit to performance and battery life, and Apple just isn’t willing to make such compromises.
The A5 dual-core processor likely to make an appearance in the iPhone 5 should help change that. Thanks to the presence of a ‘second brain,’ handling multiple apps simultaneously and efficiently will be possible. Of course, Apple will need to make the required changes in its iOS operating system, but the potential will be there to boost your productivity.
More complex apps
Another way the iPhone 5′s dual-core processor will be able to increase your productivity is through the complexity of its apps. Right now, we’d probably define an app as a small, limited-function program – like something you’d run on your computer but with less flexibility. The app largely exists in this state for the purpose of accessibility, but it’s also because smartphones just haven’t had the processing power to offer something more detailed at acceptable speeds.
The iPhone 5′s dual-core processor will allow for bigger, more complex apps that offer something closer to a full program’s functionality. This is thanks to greater multi-threading capabilities – or the ability to run multiple processes simultaneously (a bit like multitasking, but within a single app).
Of course, it will be down to productivity app developers to create bigger and better applications for the new iPhone, but with the popular iPad 2 also offering the benefits of a dual-core processor and the iPhone 5 set to sell like hotcakes over the Christmas period, we can’t imagine those developers will be hanging around to see how things develop.
Faster web browsing
We often think of web browsing on our mobiles as a casual way to pass the time, but it’s incredibly important for productivity too. Being able to retrieve complex information while out and about is an essential tool – if only the process was as smooth as on our desktops.
While that’s unlikely to come about just yet, the addition of a dual-core processor will enable Apple to improve the iPhone 5′s web speed significantly. Just as importantly, it will be able to load up complex, multimedia content-rich HTML5 sites far quicker.
The end result: less time spent waiting for websites to load, less time spent looking for information and more time to put that information to good use.
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