ARMv4 rating

[Martin Bernreuther]

Hello,

the Neo 1973 (http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Neo1973_hardware#Processor) as well as
the Neo Freerunner (http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Neo_FreeRunner_GTA02_Hardware#Processor)
have Processors based on the ARMv4 instruction Set. Apparently one consequence (stated on
these pages) is, that Android, requiring ARMv5, will not run on the Neo.
(also see http://benno.id.au/blog/2007/11/21/android-neo1973)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_architecture#ARM_cores lists ARM architecture versions up to ARMv7,
which gives the impression that ARMv4 CPUs today might not be state-of-the-art and future-proof any more.
One the other side, quite a few devices today seem to be still build upon ARMv4 based CPUs.

Are there any OpenMoko compatible smartphone devices with an ARM achitecture >v4? (Any plans?)

Will OpenMoko and the Neos stick to the ARMv4 architecture in the future? If the next generation
Neos use ARM>v4 instruction sets, how long will OpenMoko distributions still support ARMv4?
(How about Qtopia?) There should be no problem, if the source code is available, right? (BTW, a
"gentoo-like" (http://www.gentoo.org/) distribution, which lets the user compile the packages, should always work.)

What are the main (dis)advantages of ARMv4 compared to its successors? Ratings?
(Is this comparable to x386, x686, x86_64,...?)

Thank you,
	Martin
-- 
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Martin Bernreuther	MartinBern at web.de