Category: Chip provider

Samsung announces Exynos 5250, ARM Cortex-A15

Posted by Charbax – November 30, 2011
Category: Samsung

Here is the press release:

[SEOUL] Nov 30, 2011 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in advanced semiconductor solutions, announced today the industry’s first dual-core processor samples based on the ARM™ Cortex-A15 core. Designed specifically for high-end tablets, Samsung’s newest 2GHz dual-core Exynos 5250 utilizes 32nm high-k metal gate low-power process technology and will offer system-level designers an exciting new solution intended to meet the graphic-intensive, power-efficient requirements of these next-generation mobile products.

“The ARM Cortex-A15 brings unparalleled performance to our Exynos processor family and the exploding mobile marketplace,” said Dojun Rhee, vice president of System LSI marketing, Device Solutions, Samsung Electronics. “Designers need an application processor platform that delivers full high definition multimedia capabilities, fast processing speed and high performance graphics to meet end users’ expectation for a connected life on the go. The advanced low-power, high-performance processor technology of the new Exynos 5250 continues to deliver an unprecedented level of performance for users to enjoy a completely new mobile experience.”

Samsung’s new dual-core ARM Cortex-A15 based application processor, the Exynos 5250, is capable of processing 14 billion instructions per second (DMIPS, Dhrystone million instructions per second) at 2.0GHz, nearly doubling the performance over a current state of the art Cortex-A9-based dual core processor running at 1.5GHz capable of 7,500 DMIPS.

In particular, the Exynos 5250 design was architected to drive up to an industry leading 2560 x 1600 (WQXGA) display which reflects the significance of advanced display technology transitioning toward ever higher and sharper resolutions. These leading-edge features enable users to enjoy crisper video images on their mobile devices and deliver readability equivalent to real paper for an ultimate electronic reading experience.

To maximize power efficiencies at the system level, the Exynos 5250 has an embedded DisplayPort (eDP) interface that is compliant with panel self-refresh technology (PSR) applied to the timing controller (T-CON). The embedded PSR technology enables static images to be refreshed directly from the frame buffer memory incorporated in the T-CON, resolving the need for regular display refresh instructions to be made by the application processor in cases such as reading static web pages or e-books.

The 3D graphics processing capabilities, enhanced by more than four-fold over the 1.5GHz Cortex-A9 dual-core processor, and a stereoscopic 3D feature raise the bar of user experience on high-specification 3D gaming, user-interfacing and stereoscopic 3D video playback.

Moreover, the Exynos 5250 features a doubled memory bandwidth of 12.8 Gigabytes per second (GB/s) compared to current dual-core processors that support a maximum of 6.4GB/s to enable fast data processing features, superb 3D graphics and high-resolution display. This memory bandwidth is a key requirement for a processor to support WQXGA resolution displays.

Samsung’s Exynos 5250 offers a host of peripheral functions including an embedded image signal processor enabling 8 Megapixel resolution images at 30 frames per second, a full HD 60 frame per second video hardware codec engine for high resolution 1080p video recording and playback, a HDMI 1.4 interface for sharp and crisp multimedia content transmission, along with a diverse scope of embedded booting device interfaces such as SATA, UART, USB and external ports such as USB3.0, eMMC4.5 and eSD3.0.

The Exynos 5250 is currently sampling to customers and is scheduled for mass-production in the second quarter of 2012.

Rockchip RK2918 runs Ice Cream Sandwich

Posted by Charbax – November 29, 2011
Category: Tablets, Rockchip, Android

Rockchip is showing Ice Cream Sandwich running on their 1Ghz-1.2Ghz RK2918 ARM Cortex-A8 processor with the Vivante GC800 GPU. This may be one of the first demonstrations of Ice Cream Sandwich running on an ARM Cortex-A8 processor?

Thus expect some Ice Cream Sandwich firmware updates for the cool devices like the $149 Arnova 7 G2, $179 Arnova 8 G2, the $199 Arnova 10 G2 and the recently announced Arnova 9 G2 likely to be sold below $249 with a 9.7″ capacitive IPS touch screen, thus bringing nice single-core Ice Cream Sandwich tablet experiences for the low-cost market.

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Kyocera DIGNO ISW11K released on KDDI in Japan

Posted by Charbax – November 27, 2011
Category: Smartphones, Qualcomm, Android

KDDI, Japan’s second largest carrier is launching Kyocera’s first major Android WiMax smartphone for the Japanese market, the DIGNO ISW11K.

Here are the specs:

  • Android 2.3.5 (Gingerbred)
  • Dual Core Qualcomm MSM8655T 1.4GHz CPU
  • 1GB RAM
  • 4GB ROM
  • Size: 128 × 65 × 8.7mm
  • Weight: 130g
  • 4 inche (800 × 480 WVGA) LCD
  • 8.08MP Rear Facing Camera with LED flash
  • 0.32MP Front Facing Camera
  • CDMA2000 (800/2100MHz)
  • GSM (900/1800/1900MHz)
  • Radios: WiMAX, MC-Rev.A, GPRS
  • microSD
  • microUSB
  • 3.5mm audio jack
  • 1220mAh Li-Ion Battery
  • Colours: Graphite Black, Olive Green, Pink Blossom
  • Waterproof (IPX5/IPX7)

    • Source: au.kddi.com
    via: landofdroid.com

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    Samsung roadmap guesses

    Posted by Charbax – November 24, 2011
    Category: Smartphones, Opinions, Texas Instruments, Samsung, Android

    Here is my speculation for some of the upcoming high-end Samsung Android phones based on the recently rumored new Samsung Exynos 4412 Quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 at 1.5Ghz, and based on looking at the Texas Instruments OMAP4 roadmap and thinking the faster OMAP4 processors are fully backwards compatible requiring little design and software changes for Samsung to upgrade:

    – Galaxy Nexus 1.2Ghz OMAP4460 dual-core SGX540 308Mhz 45nm launching before Christmas
    – Galaxy Nexus 1.5Ghz OMAP4460 dual-core SGX540 384Mhz 45nm around January/February
    – Galaxy Nexus 1.8Ghz OMAP4470 dual-core SGX544 384Mhz 45nm around March/April
    – Andromeda (Galaxy S3) 1.5Ghz Exynos 4412 quad-core Mali-T604 32nm around May/June/July
    – Hydra (Galaxy Nexus 2) 2Ghz OMAP5 ARM Cortex-A15 SGX6 28nm around September
    – Quasar (Galaxy S4) 2Ghz Exynos 5 ARM Cortex-A15 Mali-T658 28nm around November

    I’m using the names Andromeda, Hydra and Quasar because I think Samsung may at some point stop using the Galaxy name in every new phone.

    Samsung will likely also continue to release high-end phones using the best that Qualcomm and Nvidia can come with. Thus expect some Qualcomm Krait and Nvidia Tegra3 in some new Samsung phones also. The reason being Samsung is so big they need to use all the major processors in their phone designs, thus spreading their reach further over the market.

    What do you think Samsung is going to release?

    Ice Cream Sandwich on the Tegra3 powered Asus Transformer Prime

    Posted by Charbax – November 22, 2011
    Category: Tablets, Nvidia, Android

    Nvidia just released this video demo showing Ice Cream Sandwich running on an Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime (click to pre-order for $499 on Amazon). It will be awesome to see if a full Chrome browser can be run on top of Ice Cream Sandwich for when a device like this is used in ARM Powered Laptop mode and using the HDMI output and USB/bluetooth keyboard/mouse in ARM Powered Desktop mode.

    Engadget.com: Qualcomm S4 MSM8960 development platform tablet

    Posted by Charbax – November 19, 2011
    Category: Tablets, Qualcomm, Android

    This is the new Qualcomm S4 MSM8960 Krait development platform with the Adreno 225 GPU, on a pretty high-end tablet development kit, with a 1366×768 capacitive screen, 13 megapixel camera, 3D camera, 2megapixel front-facing camera for 1080p video conferencing and a bunch of other new sensors, fingerprint reader, an MHL connector, full sized SD card slot and more.

    Source: engadget.com

    Qualcomm also announced a new bunch of their Krait S4 ARM Processors due to arrive in Smartphones, Tablets, Laptops and more starting early next year:

    The Krait CPU is the next generation of Qualcomm’s micro architecture and is purpose-built from the ground up for significant mobile performance and power management advantages leading to enhanced user experience and better battery life. The Krait CPU is an essential part of the Snapdragon S4 class of processors. Today, Qualcomm announced several new S4 chipsets, including the MSM8660A, MSM8260A, MSM8630, MSM8230, MSM8627, MSM8227, APQ8060A and APQ8030. These are additional chipsets to the previously announced MSM8960, MSM8930 and APQ8064. Snapdragon S4 MSM processors include Qualcomm’s leading-edge wireless modem technologies, including EV-DO, HSPA+, TD-SCDMA, LTE FDD, LTE TDD and Wi-Fi® standards.

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    Ice Cream Sandwich works on ST-Ericsson Nova A9500 ARM Cortex-A9

    Posted by Charbax – November 19, 2011
    Category: ST-Ericsson, Android

    Using a small modification to ICS to use software GL from Vishal Bhoj, Linaro engineer Mathieu Poirier was able to get ICS running on the Snowball board. This may be the first demonstration of Ice Cream Sandwich running on another SoC than the OMAP4?

    FXI Cotton Candy, Exynos 4210 computer in a USB stick

    Posted by Charbax – November 19, 2011
    Category: Laptops, HDMI Sticks, Samsung, Android, Ubuntu

    Norwegian FXI Technologies is showing their new Exynos 4210 ARM Cortex-A9 based computer in a 21 gram USB stick form factor. It has HDMI output, it powers from USB, has a built-in MicroSD card slot, WiFi and Bluetooth. It’s to be released next year.

    Video by: booredatwork.com

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    Liliputing.com: Google Marketplace works fine on the Amazon Kindle Fire tablet

    Posted by Charbax – November 17, 2011
    Category: Tablets, Texas Instruments, Android

    Liliputing.com just posted this video showing how nicely the full Google Marketplace can be made to work on the $199 Amazon Kindle Fire. For the next step, I expect Amazon will update it to Ice Cream Sandwich, and when they do, I expect Amazon to pre-install the full Google Marketplace and all the Google Apps, just because that’s what is better for the consumer. And I think Amazon will figure out that it’ll actually increase their own content sales in terms of revenue per tablet to simply fully unlock the Kindle Fire.

    It still doesn’t have HDMI output, kick-stand, MicroSD card slot, USB host, webcam, legal Mpeg2/AC3/DTS codecs up to 1080p legally either.

    Source: liliputing.com

    Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich running on the OMAP4 Pandaboard

    Posted by Charbax – November 17, 2011
    Category: Development Boards, Other, Texas Instruments, Android

    Texas Instruments released this video showing that Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 now already boots fine on the OMAP4430 based $179 Pandaboard which you can buy at http://pandaboard.org. I expect that we might see Desktop-optimized user interfaces and a full Chrome web browser soon, maybe with Android 4.1 or 4.2. As I also think it’s important for every ICS smartphone to turn into a “desktop mode” when using the HDMI output and when a keyboard and mouse are detected.

    ZiiLABS ZMS-20 playing 1080p High Profile

    Posted by Charbax – November 16, 2011
    Category: Tablets, ZiiLABS, Android

    ZiiLABS released this video demonstrating 1080p high profile level 4.1 H.264 with CABAC, deblocking and 8×8 transforms. Played on the ZMS-20 based JAGUAR platform.

    NewGadgets.de: Samsung Galaxy Nexus Hands-On

    Posted by Charbax – November 15, 2011
    Category: Smartphones, Reviews, Texas Instruments, Android

    This is obviously the best phone ever released. I’ll try to get it soon so that I can test Ice Cream Sandwich and film my own video-reviews. Until then, check it out here:

    Source: newgadgets.de

    List of my ARM Powered devices used for video-blogging:

    Posted by Charbax – November 14, 2011
    Category: Tablets, Laptops, Smartphones, Wearables, Smart Glass, Reviews, MediaTek, Texas Instruments, Marvell, ARM TechCon, Archos, Pixel Qi, OLPC, Kopin, Android, Ubuntu, Windows

    Andy Frame is interviewing me on ARM’s official YouTube Channel about my ARM Powered devices used for video-blogging and live video streaming from consumer electronics trade-shows.

    List of devices featured in this video:

    – Headmounted Display: Kopin Golden-i, OMAP3530 based, provides SVGA screen at eye-level for real-time monitoring of an IRC chat for asking better questions
    – Headmounted Logitech c910 Webcam connected to the ARM Powered One Laptop Per Child XO-1.75, Marvell Armada 618 based, live-streaming the webcam video feed to http://ustream.tv (an optimal Headmounted computer, maybe Motorola’s next version, can include the webcam and Android based software to live-stream the video to any live video streaming service built-in)
    – Archos 101 G9, OMAP4430/OMAP4460 1Ghz to 1.5Ghz tablet, similar specs as in the Galaxy Nexus but in a 10.1″ tablet form factor. Starts $269 unlocked no contract for 8″. This is probably my favorite high-end tablet at the moment. I’ll post my full video-review of the Archos 101 G9 in the next few days.
    – Archos 70 Internet Tablet, OMAP3630 1Ghz single core, released about 13 months ago. I use this tablet every day as 7″ tablets fit in any jacket pocket. Thus I mostly use this for checking emails, web browsing, watching video, playing games, using apps when I am outside. I am looking forward to upgrade this to a dual-core 7″ tablet.
    – My $87 FG8 Android Smartphone, it’s my main smartphone for the past 7 months since I found it in Shenzhen China. It supports Dual-SIM cards (so I can use my home and foreign SIM numbers at the same time, or use voice SIM and data SIM at the same time), has a decent 3.5″ capacitive touch screen, uses the wildly popular in China Mediatek MTK6516 ARM9 processor. I’m looking forward upgrading this to a Galaxy Nexus (because I am eager to try Ice Cream Sandwich) or to a newer faster 3G-capable sub-$100 Android phone.
    – ZTE MF61 T-Mobile USA 4G HSPA+ Hotspot, $50 for 3GB/month pre-paid, $141 for the device, no contract.

    Nvidia Tegra3, what is the performance?

    Posted by Charbax – November 9, 2011
    Category: Opinions, Nvidia

    Nvidia is launching the Tegra 3 next month in the $499 Asus Transformer Prime (with a $149 optional keyboard dock). This is an amazing new Quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 with a lower-power “companion chip” for reduced power usage.

    They are publishing a lot of claims about the performance.


    Nvidia published several other new videos on their YouTube Channel showcasing the Tegra3 processor: 1, 2, 3, 4

    How does a Dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 clocked at 1.5Ghz like in the TI OMAP4460 and Qualcomm MSM8660 and at up to 1.8Ghz like in the upcoming TI OMAP4470 compare with a Quad-core Tegra3 clocked at 1.3Ghz?

    Nvidia probably claims that the Quad-core design performs faster. And in my video with Freescale talking about their upcoming i.MX6Quad it’s being said that running a higher frequency Dual-core can introduce potential leakage and higher power consumption, but what is it really? How is the performance going to compare for most popular Android tasks, for most common Android usage scenarios, for most current Android apps?

    I am looking forward to testing these “second generation” ARM Cortex-A9 processors, I want to believe that these can provide for the full performance required to replace x86 for a full ARM Powered Laptop and Desktop experience. I want to believe that Nvidia improved their ARM Cortex-A9 design enough to provide for an amazing new faster memory bandwidth.

    Basically, what I expect that we are getting now is enough performance, fast enough memory bandwidth, that we can run as many tabs as we want in the Android and Chrome web browser on ARM, that we can even expect to be able to begin to do things like video-editing (HTML5 cloud based), photo-editing (HTML5 cloud based), console-quality gaming (with cloud powered engines like OnLive if needed), all through this new class of ARM Cortex-A9 processors coming out now.

    Which one do you pick among OMAP4460 Dual-core 45nm 1.5Ghz (December), OMAP4470 Dual-core 45nm 1.8Ghz (next 3 months?), Qualcomm MSM8660 Dual-core 45nm 1.5Ghz (now), Qualcomm Dual/Quad-core S4 Krait 28nm 1.5Ghz (next 6 months?), Freescale i.MX6Quad 1.2Ghz (next 6 months? higher clock speeds later?), Exynos 4210 45nm 1.2Ghz (now), Exynos 4212 32nm 1.5Ghz (next 6 months?), Apple A6 (32nm? dual or quad?) (next 6 months?), Marvell Armada PXA2128 (next 6 months?), ST-Ericsson U9500 45nm 1.2Ghz (now), ST-Ericsson U9540 32nm 1.85Ghz (next 6 months?) and Nvidia Tegra3 40nm 1.3Ghz (December, higher clock speeds later?)? And don’t forget that the ARM Cortex-A15 designs at 28nm are going to arrive within a few months after that.

    I think we are going to have a lot of fun with these new faster ARM Powered devices, do you agree?

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    AppliedMicro X-Gene ARMv8 64-bit Server-on-chip shown on FPGA

    Posted by Charbax – November 9, 2011
    Category: Servers, FPGA, Ampere, ARM TechCon

    At ARM TechCon 2011 last week, Applied Micro was able to show their ARMv8 platform design already running on an FPGA, to be sent out to their partners in January so they can start working on the software for when they can have working silicon of their ARMv8 64-bit Server-on-chip platform, they say as early as in the 2nd half of 2012 already. Here is the full keynote presentation featuring Paramesh Gopi, president and CEO of Applied Micro, Lance Howarth, EVP Marketing at ARM, Dr. Christos Kozyrakis of Stanford University, Andrew Feldman, Founder and CEO of SeaMicro and Vinay Ravuri, Vice President of AppliedMicro’s Embedded and Processing Business Unit, presenting the worlds first ARMv8 64-bit processor demo running on an FPGA. I recommend that you watch the full webcast with slides on Applied Micro’s own website (enter a name and email to start watching in full screen with the synchronized slides), and here is the YouTube version without the slides as published by youtube.com/cnxlinux:

    One can thus possibly understand from this that the ARM Powered Servers are going to be upgraded twice in the next year. Powered by Quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 now such as the HP Moonshot project powered by Calxeda EnergyCore, likely upgraded to ARM Cortex-A15 solutions (up to 8 cores) as soon as those are ready (2H 2012) and then again upgraded to ARMv8 64-bit running at up to 3Ghz which is what Applied Micro is saying that they can deliver early silicon of in just about a year from now. Thus ARM Powered Servers are going to run at up to full performance levels, not only being suitable for lower power consumption and lower price but also aiming to deliver the full maximum performance that some people building servers say they need.

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    $5 Sitara AM335x ARM Cortex-A8 and BeagleBone

    Posted by Charbax – November 1, 2011
    Category: Development Boards, Other, Exclusive videos, Texas Instruments, ARM TechCon

    Texas Instruments is launching a $5 ARM Cortex-A8, it’s re-optimized for specific tasks, it can go in tablets, but it can also be used in industrial and medical applications, and certain custom uses, where this can be thought of a high-end microprocessor yet very low cost, it starts at $5 for ordering 100 thousand units. It’s an ARM Cortex-A8 performance for industrial applications at the cost and power usage of ARM9 Microprocessor. TI’s Beagleboard.org community is launching the new $89 BeagleBone to develop on this platform. Watch this 20-minute presentation of this project by TI’s Jakob Alamat, director of marketing for TI’s ARM Microprocessor Sitara platform:

    Read the full press release.

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    MHL Consortium shows some of the latest MHL features

    Posted by Charbax – October 30, 2011
    Category: Laptops, Smartphones, Set-top-boxes, Other, Exclusive videos, Samsung, Android

    There are now 2 HDTVs that are MHL compliant, the Toshiba WL800A and the Samsung UN46D7000 now also got a firmware update that ads MHL support. Possibly that all new HDTVs will include this functionality. It allows for charging MHL compliant phones and tablets and to remote control them with the TV remote through one simple cable and one Micro-USB connector. Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich might add new MHL features to the UI, otherwise the MHL Consortium is trying to convince app developers and smart phone makers to design the apps and the OS to take advantage of the 1920×1080 resolution of the HDTV when using the HDMI output, to provide higher resolution user interfaces, higher resolution games, the ARM Processors and GPU in those phones and tablets are now getting powerful enough to output full 1080p UIs, videos and graphics, it’s time for the industry to take advantage of that! One pocketable phone can now combine the features of Android, Chrome OS and Google TV, it’s now a phone, a desktop, a set-top-box and a home console all in one!

    OLPC XO-1.75 hands-on

    Posted by Charbax – October 30, 2011
    Category: Laptops, Exclusive videos, Marvell, ARM TechCon, Pixel Qi, OLPC

    I got to play with the new Marvell Armada PXA618 powered One Laptop Per Child XO-1.75 laptop during the ARM Technology Conference. It seems to already be very stable and run very fast, although this is still a beta prototype, with beta software, OLPC, Red Hat, Marvell still have some work to do to optimize the software and complete the hardware so that it can be mass produced and shipped to children around the world starting early next year. Here in this video I walk around with it outdoors for a few minutes and show you some of how it looks like.

    B Labs demonstrates Virtualizating 2 OS on ARM

    Posted by Charbax – October 30, 2011
    Category: Software, Other, Exclusive videos, Texas Instruments, ARM TechCon, Android

    B Labs can run 2x Android OS, for example one secure business install and one for personal use, or to run Android and a version of Linux.

    FirstView pre-approves outsourcing partners in India for US

    Posted by Charbax – October 30, 2011
    Category: Other, Exclusive videos, Freescale, ARM TechCon, Android

    FirstView pre-approves potential outsourcing partners and suppliers in India and elsewhere, to enable reliable outsourcing of ARM related PCB design and other ARM optimizations work, tablet, set-top-box designs and more.