I use a snapdragon 820 with 4 GB RAM and 32 GB internal, with 128 GB for my media needs. A 2K screen, with a pretty quick fingerprint sensor and a 12MP/5MP combo camera.
This device is used for web browsing, casual gaming, some blogging, youtube, music. Most people I know use their phones for less if not the same. Everything is smooth but I always wonder, what amount of processor juice would I need to get these tasks done. I am sure that a SD820 is capable of doing much more complex and demanding tasks than these. A SD430 series too is able to do these things.
One area where I felt this power is needed is the operating system itself. Yes, I use split screen on my recently “Nougat’d” phone and running youtube and Whatsapp in parallel takes up some processor power. What if I didnt have the split screen functionality? What if I had to IM when I am IMing and YouTube when I am YouTubeing?
Android had the ability to do parallel processing from way back, and a very good version where this was combined with a brilliant battery life was KitKat. I still remember days where I could go well more than a day without charging my phone. I didn’t appreciate it enough back then. With the newer processors and the advancements in the OS capabilities we are given more power than really needed. I still have a device from the olden times, which runs on KitKat and it works like a charm. Many apps have stopped supporting that far but I can easily get my tasks done with it and not bother about charging it daily.
If only OS upgrades and security updates were not very much linked. I hope we will be given a chance to keep that simplicity while we use our devices everyday. Without the heaviness on the pocket and on the battery usage.