NVIDIA unveils 12 Tegra devices, 25 days of music or 10 hours of 1080p video on single charge (updated)
By Thomas Ricker 
posted June 2nd 2009 4:22AM
posted June 2nd 2009 4:22AM
Now, get this; NVIDIA is using the term MID unlike Intel uses MID even though the terminology is of Intel origin. Instead of referring to handheld devices for consumers, NVIDIA's MIDs are classed as Tegra-based netbooks and tablets. In other words, the 8.9-inch Elan is a MID. Ugh.
Semantics aside, the platform is smokin' hot with promise offering the following benefits:
- 25 days of music or 10-hours of 1080p video playback on a single charge
- video games play at up to 46 frames per second
- GPU accelerated Adobe Flash animations (huzzah for Hulu!)
- always-on processors for instant access to the network
- 3G, WiFi, and WiMax solutions support
Update: Tegra devices are expected to land before 2009 is through, priced around $200 or less with carrier subsidies.
Tarex,
There's no way that Tegra based chips can be anywhere near as high performance for non-media based functions. The CPU they use is much slower. The CortexA8 and CortexA9 also have lower power consumption than the chip Tegra uses.
Re: The Toshiba G1 phone's choppy UI. You seriously think that's likely to be representative of performance for the final product? Besides, that video was from CES when it was first presented. Had a look at any recent videos, perhaps? Also, that's for Toshiba to sort out - they're not the ones that designed the hardware platform. Did you take a look at the videos of Tegra based hardware powering android? It was a lot less responsive than the Snapdragon based ones which were shown yesterday.
Oh, and if you really believe 25 day music playback, you must be insane.
All NVIDIA have done is to present a load of eye-candy and PR. They have a previous generation CPU platform teamed with a current generation GPU (which remains to be seen how it compares with PowerVR and ARM), and they claim that it's better than everything else. Sorry, I don't buy it.
Don't try to argue with him - he's a 100% NVidia shill, mentioning his beloved Tegra in every phone section since it was announced a year ago.
But it's certainly good to see a voice of reason on here, somebody not blinded by NVidia marketing nonsense...
Having looked at a couple of other threads, I now see that ...
What do you want from a smartphone? Are you running Photoshop or Crysis on it?
Tegra is great at what is does, where it does it. If Tegra can render Opera 9.5 in 3D waves while scrolling through the page, WHILE running a 720p movie in the background, WHILE running a youtube video, WHILE maintaining a silk smooth 3D UI, with about 5 big apps running in the background, then yeah, I think there's no more power I'd like to have.
Watch all those running simultanously, and watch him render Opera in 3D flag with everything else running in the background
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0U_Zzcwc10&fmt=18
And if all of that is not enough, he overlays it with OpenGL ES 2.0 animated widgets that continuously update....
Snapdragon 3 months ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaIgnVJroH4
Tegra 18 months ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0U_Zzcwc10&fmt=18
TareX, you don't seem to understand his point. We agree that Tegra has a better GPU then SnapDragon and the OMAP3. PowerVR doesn't compete on pure performance terms and NVIDIA has the upper hand. All the examples you have shown, leverage this powerfull GPU.
The problem is Tegra as a SoC, is designed with a CPU spec that is 2 generations old now. There are a lot of web pages that would not be able to leverage the GPU and would full completely on the CPU. The Opera site isn't one of the harder pages to render. Hell, Gmail would be more web heavy and would tax the Tegra's CPU far more then those examples. This is the condition that could cause problems.
There's also the fact that there are lots of programs that could not take advantage of the GPU. We're not talking Photoshop, etc., but simple stuff like GPS, will tax the CPU. It's important thus to have a strong CPU as well as a GPU. Tegra right now is akin to putting a GTX280 into a A64 3000+ System. Sure it will run fast, but I can make a better system that will run faster with less resources.
As for that Toshiba Video, it doesn't tell us much. As far as I can tell, it looks like the problem is from a less then responsive touch screen and not the CPU being overtaxed by the transitions.
Let's also remember that Nvida is ahead of the game in GPU optimized software, so you're going to see better optimized software on the Tegra platform initially then you will on other platforms. This will change with time and is going to further complicate how you judge the performance of the platforms.
"Car battery and tote bag not included"
@CJ +10
convergence potential at it's best, add a qwerty slider keyboard to any APX 2600/2500 (HDMI out) equipped mobile phone, give it some android love... which would let me do somethings like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLMks1NElFk and I'm sold ( plus if i could use the mini usb to hook up a ps2 joystick i'tll be heaven ).
....preparing for the justified wallet hemorrhage I am.
If there is one thing I have learned as a developer over the years it is this simple rule. End users do not really care about the technical inner workings of a device or the gadget. They are solely focused on their user experience and what they can do with the gadget. I don't think I have ever read about a study that has analyzed sales against this type of logic, but I can tell you that the user interface and how the user embraces it--is absolutely critical. And for that reason I think that is one of the reasons why windows mobile devices have done so well over the years and will likely continue in the future.