Simon Segars, CEO of ARM Holdings, gives a keynote speech at Mobile World Congress 2016 in Barcelona. Talking about security for the Internet of Things, how ARM is working towards bringing solutions for the market to be mindful of cyber crime, implementing robust security for the IoT to really take off.
OPNFV Pharos Lab project deals with developing an OPNFV lab infrastructure that is geographically and technically diverse. The Pharos Lab is hosted in Kista, Sweden, it will greatly assist in developing a highly robust and stable OPNFV platform (see more: https://wiki.opnfv.org/pharos) OPNFV is a carrier-grade, integrated, open source platform to accelerate the introduction of new NFV products and services (see more: https://wiki.opnfv.org/start)
ENEA’s demo in ARM booth was showing a simple NFV application running on our operational ARMv8 Pharos lab infrastructure. The application demonstrates a simple NFV service chain integrating a DPI (deep packet inspection) VNF engine provided by QOSMOS (see more: http://www.qosmos.com).
Nordic Semiconductor provides ultra low power ARM processors, to enable Bluetooth Smart devices, they are in wearables, smartwatches, rings, pens, wireless chargers, bluetooth beacons, smart home IoT. Nordic Semiconductor partners with many module makers who take the Nordic Semiconductor chips to adapt it to every type of suitable market. They showcase their support of Apple HomeKit. Nordic Semiconductor and the community has answered over 10 thousand questions at https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/questions/ to support their customers.
Nordic Semiconductor just launched the nRF52832 SoC, which is a powerful, highly flexible ultra-low power multiprotocol SoC ideally suited for Bluetooth Smart, ANT and 2.4GHz ultra low-power wireless applications. The nRF52832 SoC is built around a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4F CPU with 512kB + 64kB RAM. The embedded 2.4GHz transceiver supports Bluetooth Smart, ANT and proprietary 2.4 GHz protocol stack. It is on air compatible with the nRF51 Series, nRF24L and nRF24AP Series products from Nordic Semiconductor.
Intel partners with Huawei to release Huawei’s first Intel consumer device, the Huawei MateBook running on an Intel Core-M3/M5/M7 processor, with different skews from 4GB/8GB RAM and from 128GB/512GB SSD storage, to be sold from $699 to $1599 without the keyboard dock. Kirk Skaugen talks about how Intel says that the 2-in-1 segment is their fastest growing consumer client market after the phablet with a 40% growth in 2015 compared with 2014 (but not saying how many units that represents). Kirk Skaugen also says Intel is looking forward to provide “full” Windows Continuum products also taking advantage of USB Type-C DisplayPort and other screen outputs and smart docks that add connectors also through USB Type-C like the MateDock.
Off camera I asked him (as I’ve been asking every Intel spokesperson that I see at tradeshows for years) when Intel would be making ARM Processors for consumer devices in their Fab, letting the market choose which architecture is best to use, but he smiled and didn’t respond. Check back later on my channel for more on that, probably.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 on 14nm is ready shown in LeTV Le Max Pro, LG G5 and the Sony Xperia X using their newest Kryo custom ARMv8 64bit CPU, their newest Adreno GPU and their newest Spectra ISP camera image sensor. Qualcomm also releases 3 new ARM processors, the Snapdragon 625 on 14nm, Snapdragon 425 and Snapragon 435 for the mid-tier and sub-premium tier. Those include the Snapdragon 500 series GPU, faster memory bandwidth and more. Qualcomm shows ultrasonic fingerprint technology that can go behind glass. Qualcomm shows 802.11ad for up to 7gbit/s Wi-Fi over the 60Ghz spectrum, and they show their newest LTE modems, the Qualcomm X12 LTE modem, and the Qualcomm X16 LTE modem that can go to gbit/s speeds over LTE.
HP shows the future of computing! HP’s vision for the future of consumer and enterprise pocketable electronics, the Windows 10 Continuum enabled HP Elite x3 running on the super fast 14nm (Samsung Fab) Snapdragon 820. HP offers DeskDock with USB Type-C, Gigabit Ethernet, 2x USB2, DisplayPort, USB Type-C. It outputs to a large display, with an RF or Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. HP Elite X3 has a 5.96″ 2K 2560×1440 Super AMOLED with 550nits brightness “best in class”.4GB LPDDR4 RAM. 64GB internal with Dual Nano SIM that can also be One Nano SIM and one MicroSD card slot. “Best in class” single touch fingerprint scanner. A second biometric authentication is the iris scanner. IP67 waterproof 1.5m for 30 minutes “all sealed”. Shock-proof with Gorilla Glass. 4150mAh battery. HP even shows their “empty” 12.8″ thin bezel Laptop Dock “mobile extender” under 1kg to be powered by this amazing phone! The Laptop dock also miracast wirelessly. Bang and olufsen sound. Pogopins on the back of the phone allows it to extend with Smart back-cases, a POS (point of sale) solution and I also suggest them in the video to do an E Ink back-case for long battery life sunlight readable e-reading. Everybody at Microsoft, Qualcomm, HP and even Marc Benioff CEO of Salesforce is excited about this product. HP talks about running their virtualization engine to run any x86 app through the cloud. This looks like they are all going to make sure this product gets successfully deployed on the market by Summer this year.
I think that HP should try to price the full bundle at below the current price of a high-end iPhone/Samsung, thus below $700 including the Desktop, keyboard/mouse and also including the “empty” 12.8″ Laptop Dock. The Desktop Dock needs a HDMI output. Of course I’d like to finally see Google supply an Android Continuum UI alternative solution at Google I/O. I also perhaps think that Microsoft’s Continuum dock is better with a cable and the phone on the table than having it docked upright.
The USB Implementers Forum comprises companies like Google, Samsung, HP, Intel and many others work together on specifying the spec of USB Type-C. It’s easier to use (it can be flipped on both sides), it goes faster (up to above 40Gbit/s). Alternate modes can be supported such as Thunderbolt, DisplayPort and the proprietary mode Slimport, the standard mode MHL by the MHL Consortium. Devices shipping without display, with the 3 different ways to do display, with some shipping USB2 speed and others USB3 speed, it just seems to be a bit of a fragmentation in the implementation of USB Type-C here in the beginning. Basically consumers must make sure to understand what each device supports “behind” the USB Type-C connector.
This video compares the Haier Chromebook 11E on Rockchip RK3288 with the Samsung Chromebook 2 on Intel N2840. They are also being compared by Moor Insights and Strategy at https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/key/cor4EPWfvP97lt There are several other “latest” Intel Chromebooks from Dell, Toshiba, Lenovo, Asus, Acer, HP which all are running on N2840 Celeron, or N2830 Celeron, and thus for all these, Rockchip can claim to have better value, better performance and better battery life. Thus to be best suited for the worldwide education market.
Here are some of the numbers claimed in favor of the ARM Powered Chromebook in the case of RK3288 vs N2840:
80% better video performance
32% faster multi-tasking
37% faster app loading
265% faster 3D graphics
31% better power consumption for online video, Google Docs and Gmail
I have already been testing the Haier 11E as my main laptop over the last 6 months, and I can tell you that it performs absolutely great. There were some WiFi disconnect issues but I think those have been solved by Google’s automatic software updates to the Chromebook. I will post a new video with my Haier 11E Chromebook soon so check back for that.
Acer is about to sell an awesome Windows 10 Continuum package that includes a nice 22″ LCD display monitor, wireless keyboard and mouse, a docking station to use with the included Acer Liquid Jade running Windows 10 Mobile with Windows Continuum, designed to support all professional users full desktop usage requirements, with many more apps being added to Microsoft’s Windows 10 platform. For example Facebook just added their app. The Acer Liquid Jade Primo has a nice 5.5″ super AMOLED display, 3GB RAM, 32GB Flash. The idea for the pricing is that this Acer might cost about the same as a high-end iPhone or Samsung but it is to include the whole bundle of external 22″ display, the keyboard/mouse and Continuum dock. Acer is trying to launch this premium package worldwide. The target market is small to medium to large size companies who can give one of these to each of their employees, and thus get all their employees to switch to ARM Powered productivity!
DisplayPort has been implemented over USB Type-C, showcased in products such as the Microsoft Continuum products, Apple, Dell, Lenovo also have laptops that output video using DisplayPort over USB Type-C. Then the dock or adapter outside may then convert DisplayPort to HDMI, VGA and DisplayPort output.
Skyworth releases their dual 2K OLED display VR headset powered by Rockchip RK3288 Quad-core ARM Cortex-A17 with Mali-T760 GPU. It’s ready for high pixel density VR video, for example with more than twice the pixel density compared with using VR of a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge with Samsung Gear VR. This Skyworth VR headset costs about $600 as the bulk factory price with a minimum order of 1K.
You can contact Skyworth here:(Please let them know if you watch this video)
Johnny Zhang, Deputy General Manager zhangguojian@skyworth.com
Ubuntu is being used around the world, on servers, to power the cloud, switches, routers, base stations and Snappy Ubuntu works on drones, robots and more for the IoT world. Snappy 3.0 will be on Ubuntu 16.04. Ubuntu also shows off Ubuntu on Smartphones, Tablets, and their Nexus 4 showing convergence running “the same” Ubuntu on the phone and on the external display as a dekstop. Check back for my Ubuntu booth tour video coming up.
Alcatel OneTouch Xess is an All-in-One big screen tablet BigTablet to function as an Android computer for family home use, it comes with 17.3’’ Full HD 1080p IPS display and 10 point capacitive touch, powered by MediaTek MT8783 64bit Octa-core ARM Cortex-A53 with ARM Mali-T720 GPU, 2GB RAM, 32GB Flash, with 10000mAh battery the battery life is up to 6 hours doing Full HD video playback, with front 5MP camera, 3-watt JBL stereo speakers, dual microphones. There is a hiden pop-up dock in the back with USB and earphone port, and a nice stainless adjustable carrying handle and multi-angle stand, supports gesture control using the front camera for kitchen use. Alcatel OneTouch Xess runs a windows-like GUI on Android 5.1 called Phoenix OS developed by a team in Beijing, ARMdevices.net also published similar Android UI in Remix OS and the Rockchip LightBizOS
Cavium’s ThunderX 48-core ARMv8 64bit SoC is being implemented in dozens of ARM Server designs, by partners as Pegatron, Asus, Mitac, Gigabyte, Wiwynn, Acer and even for for super computing by E4 and Cray. Cavium and their software partners have optimized their ARM Server platform for variety of workloads, including NFV (Network Function Virtualization), Cloud RAN (Radio Access Network) for Virtualizing the access network, moving all the physical base stations to the cloud, which will save the industry a lot of money, hyperscale datacenter, web hosting like RunAbove (a subsidiary of OVH) at https://www.runabove.com/armcloud.xml, Ceph storage clusters. This can only be done using ARM and Cavium ThunderX SoC processors, providing a much better TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) and efficient alternative to Intel x86. Cavium and partners, as Linaro and the open source community also are showing progress in the OPNFV, OpenStack, ODP (Open Data Plane), DPDK, fd.io, etc. for the networking and telecom industry.
ARM Cortex-A32 is the most power efficient 32bit processor, 25% more efficient than ARM Cortex-A7 (performance per mW) in the same process node. ARM Cortex-A32 takes advantage of the ARMv8-A instruction set, it is designed to be the smallest, lowest-power 32bit processor to bring efficiency and architectural improvements to next generation rich embedded 32bit applications, to drive innovation across diverse embedded markets including wearables, consumer, industrial, and IoT. You can read more about it at: https://www.arm.com/products/processors/cortex-a/cortex-a32-processor.php
Seshu Madhavapeddy, VP of Product Management, responsible for the mobile compute product line at Qualcomm shows us a Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 Powered Tablet, it’s an octa-core quad ARM Cortex-A72 and quad ARM Cortex-A53 on 28nm process node, with Cat6 LTE. The Qualcomm SD652 based tablet is now fully mass produced on the market, can be sold through different brands, with better specs at half the price of the iPad mini. It also features Immersive Audio for 3D audio and Adaptive Display that adjusts the color palette based on the light situation significantly improving the video playback quality, what Qualcomm calls the Tablet Home Theatre on the go experience. You can read more about the Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 here: https://www.qualcomm.com/products/snapdragon/processors/652
Zopo Speed 8 is to be one of the world’s 1st 10-core Smart Phones to be shipped powered by MediaTek Helio X20 deca-core, dual ARM Cortex-A72, quad ARM Cortex-A53 at 2Ghz and quad ARM Cortex-A53 at 1.4Ghz, 5.5″ 1080p IPS display, 4GB RAM, 32GB Flash, runs Android 6 Marshmallow, features a 21MP rear camera with a SONY IMX230 sensor and dual LED flash, a 8MP front camera with own LED Flash, supports finger-print authentication, comes with USB Type-C and 3600mAh battery with up to 10-hour talking time or 5days standby. Zopo presents Speed 8 with the MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo.
Some highlights of the Samsung MWC 2016 press conference, launching Samsung Gear 360, S7 and S7 Edge, with also a special appearance by Mark Zuckerberg. You can also see the full official video of this event here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6KeASdz2AI
ARM announces ARM Cortex-R8, twice the performance of ARM Cortex-R7. This means we are going to get faster modems for 5G, faster hard drives and many other things that require a faster realtime processor. You can read more about ARM Cortex-R8 here: https://www.arm.com/products/processors/cortex-r/cortex-r8-processor.php