HTC Flyer 7" Android Tablet, 16 GB Running On Qualcomm Snapdragon
CES 2012 is in full swing as we enter the last day of the event. During the whole event, we have seen fairly good number of tablets and smart TVs. Almost every large computer maker has a tablet out here and almost all TV makers have a smart TV on display. Apart from that, there are many new entrants in both categories. And amongst many of them, the common thread is a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chip.
The Snapdragon S4 from Qualcomm is an ARM based chip that is found on a multitude of smartphones now. It is one of the industry favorites for current generation smartphones, especially high-end ones. During a press conference at the CES 2012 venue, Qualcomm showed off their Snapdragon S4 on a Windows 8 tablet. Apart from the fact that it showed how well Windows 8 will run on ARM, it also showed a very capable S4 processor running an OS of the future. The tablet was a reference model that will help manufacturers expand their market through producing LTE enabled models.
The S4 is a particularly good bet for tablets because of its powerful features both as a CPU and GPU. This SoC features a 1.5GHz quad-core ARM processor that is ready to handle a lot of multitasking and heavy lifting without draining the battery dry. Graphics are handled for smooth and crisp video performance by the Adreno 320 GPU inside the S4.
This chip (the Snapdragon S4 MPQ8064) powers Lenovo’s first Smart TV effort. It has specific features like WiFi connectivity that can help build smart TVs that not only play back online content but also allow multiplayer online gaming and other activities in sync with the local TV content. These TVs will be powered by Google’s Android 4.0 OS and will have access to the Android app store, giving users a plethora of apps to choose from. Together with other features of Android, this will completely change the way we see and use our TV. No more can it be called the idiot box. It has gotten a whole lot smarter and is not competing for attention with our laptops and tablets.
This does not mean that smartphones are out of the picture entirely. The full range of Snapdragon S4 processors will be available for use on smartphones and tablets alike. Qualcomm is in fact expecting some of these devices to show as early as next month at the Mobile World Congress 2012 — where the company will no doubt have a big presence this time.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon is one of the main reasons behind ARM’s massive presence in the current smartphone market. It is possibly the single most popular mobile chip and it is usually the first to bring the fastest features on board like dual-core and quad-core designs. It is often quoted as the fastest chip with each revision.
