Android is quickly about to get a pleasant little efficiency increase that ought to make it sooner and extra environment friendly than earlier than. Particularly, Google is engaged on making its OS help {hardware} with 16KB web page sizes.
Right this moment, the corporate revealed a brand new submit on its Android Developer Weblog saying that Android will quickly be page-size agnostic. By page-size agnostic, the agency means Android will help each 4KB and 16KB web page gadgets. The corporate is opening up the choice for builders to change between 4KB and 16KB on the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Professional with Android 15 QPR1 Beta 1.
What precisely does this imply for the common consumer? Not a lot in the mean time, however when extra {hardware} begins supporting this, it can increase efficiency and effectivity. As Google explains, it ought to end in movies trying higher, video games performing higher, and apps working extra easily:
In most CPUs, devoted {hardware} known as reminiscence administration models (MMUs) translate addresses from what a program is utilizing to a bodily location in reminiscence. This translation is completed on a page-size foundation. Each time a program wants extra reminiscence, the working system must become involved and fill out a “web page desk” entry, assigning that piece of reminiscence to a course of. When the web page measurement is 4 instances bigger, there may be 4 instances much less bookkeeping. So, the system can spend extra time ensuring your movies look nice, video games play effectively, and functions run easily, and fewer time filling out low-level working system paperwork.
The motive of this announcement is mainly to say that they’re enabling help now so OEMs can begin getting on board. Google states that it noticed a 5-10% increase in total efficiency through the use of bigger web page sizes. Nevertheless, there’s a trade-off the place 9% extra bodily reminiscence is used. We’ll want to attend some time earlier than finish customers such as you and I get to see the advantages of this.