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Droid RAZR HD lands on the bench, shows off Snapdragon S4 in continued striptease
Sometimes it can feel like you're being sold a book one page at a time. The latest in the Droid RAZR HD's story comes via some benchmarks. A NenaMark2 report clearly shows what claims to be the Verizon phone with a Qualcomm Adreno 225 GPU. Not the most exciting plot twist, but this does, by association, reveal that it's a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 running the show, as rumors have been suggesting. The resolution (1196 x 720) and Android version (4.0.4) also got an outing, with an overall score on the test of 59.1. Ready for the next chapter? We guess we'll just have to wait.
ASUS PadFone gets benchmarked: a mere teaser of what's to come
It was only last week that we learned of the varied battery life of ASUS' phone that would be a tablet that would be a laptop. Now, a further trickle of its performance might has passed our way, giving us insight into the real-world chops of its dual-core S4 processor and companion Adreno 225 GPU. The tests, carried out by the fine folks over at Netbooknews, highlight the device's strengths across a swath of the usual benchmarks, putting it just below AT&T's One X variant in Quadrant with a score of 5,057 and Sunspider at 1,917ms. The company's hybrid did, however, manage to eke out a victory against its similarly CPU-equipped smartphone rival in Vellamo, as well as NenaMark 1 and 2, coming in at 2,554 and 60.4fps / 60.5fps, respectively. We'll have our own comprehensive review of the PadFone ready for your eyes in the days to come, but for now, sate your appetites with these various nuggets.
HTC Ville to run on a dual-core Snapdragon S4?
Well looky here. A phone bearing the alluring name of "HTC VLE_U" just cropped up on NenaMark2 with a healthy 57.50 average frame rate. More interesting than the score, however, is the reference to a Qualcomm Adreno 225 GPU, which -- assuming this is legit -- strongly implies the presence of a powerful Snapdragon S4 sitting in the Ville's engine compartment. This tallies with earlier hints of the Ville carrying a 1.5GHz dual-core processor along with a (roughly) qHD display, and it also lines up with another MSM8960 benchmark from a reference handset spotted a few weeks ago. By extension, all the Tegra 3 smoke that's been billowing out of HTC recently must come from an entirely different fire -- namely the Endeavor or One X. Either way, it's certainly nice to see HTC hotting up.
Qualcomm's MSM8960 Snapdragon S4 benchmarks pop up online
We put Qualcomm's S4 development platform through its paces (twice, no less) at CES, but shorn of the glitz of Las Vegas, does it have the oomph to wow us? Someone at the company loosed Nenamark 2 on the slate, producing a score of 54.90. Given the fact that its producing graphics for a 1024 x 600 screen, we're excited to see it comfortably edge the Galaxy S II Skyrocket (54.1) and Galaxy Note (32.8) -- with our mouths watering at the thought of what this 28nm CPU can do in a smartphone. We've included the benchmark in full after the break, if you're ready for such exciting revelations.
ASUS PadFone crops up in benchmark database, hides its S4 SoC out in the open
Late last spring, we got hands-on with dummy units of the PadFone and its companion dock, but aside from potential form factors and a Christmas release window, details of its glorified guts were scarce. That's all changed now thanks to GLBenchmark's public results database, which outs the category-straddling device as having a Krait S4 MSM8960. Yes, the first in a line of uber-performing Qualcomm SoCs will be embedded in the heart of ASUS' smartphone, bringing support for a global range of frequencies (including blazing HSPA+ and LTE speeds) and an Adreno 225 GPU. What could very well be disheartening is evidence the handset's running Gingerbread 2.3.5, but we'll chock that up to early testing and cling tightly to the company's hard ICS-laden wink. If you've been eagerly anticipating this mobile power couple, you shouldn't have to wait long -- that target holiday release is surely creeping up. So, expect to see an official announcement of the dual-core goods any day now.
Qualcomm announces Snapdragon S4 Liquid mobile development platform tablet on The Engadget Show, we go hands-on (video)
At its investor conference earlier today, Qualcomm unveiled a variety of new Snapdragon processors to join its recently-announced MSM8960 S4 chip. But we got an exclusive first look at the 8960 in New York City this evening, in the form of a mobile development platform (MDP) tablet demo during The Engadget Show. The tablet the company had on hand isn't much to look at -- it's not the slimmest we've seen, and it feels a bit clunkier than models destined for consumers -- but its specs, which include an on-die LTE modem (the first of its kind -- we were seeing download speeds of around 45 Mbps), dual 1080p cameras (and another two for 3D), seven microphones, a spattering of sensors and a handful of connectors make this the ultimate platform for Android developers. Not convinced? Join us past the break for a hands-on walkthrough with Raj Talluri, Qualcomm's VP of Product Management, and stay turned for his segment from The Engadget Show.%Gallery-139648%
Qualcomm outs Snapdragon S4 SoC details, promises improved battery life and true world capability
Qualcomm has laid out its details of the upcoming S4 SoC, and yes, there's definitely reason for excitement with this next generation Snapdragon. First, it'll usher in a new 28nm manufacturing process alongside the company's Krait CPU and Adreno 225 GPU. The move from 45nm to 28nm promises smaller components, lower power consumption and improved thermal performance, while Krait will introduce a new pipeline architecture that promises a full 60% boost over the current Scorpion lineup with clock speeds ranging between 1.5 and 2.5GHz -- along with support for asynchronous multiprocessing and dual-channel memory. As for the GPU, the latest chip flaunts 50% greater performance over the current Adreno 220, where it also provides support for DirectX 9.3 for Windows 8, in addition to OpenGL ES 1.1 and 2.0. Should be quite the gaming experience, eh? It doesn't end there, as the S4 MSM8960 promises multi-mode world capabilities with support for all the commonly used frequencies from 700 to 2600MHz -- quite a feat, indeed. It handles Cat. 3 LTE (up to 100Mbps) and Cat. 24 HSPA+ (up to 42Mbps), along with EV-DO Rev. B, 1x Advanced and TD-SCDMA, as well as GSM, GPRS and EDGE. Oh, and there's also simultaneous support for GPS and GLONASS, along with Bluetooth, WiFi, FM radio and NFC. With samples already being sent to manufacturers, we're quite excited for what 2012 may bring.
Qualcomm Snapdragon roadmap leaks, Krait slithering on the scene soon
We've gotten a few peeks at Qualcomm's next-gen Snapdragon chips, codenamed Krait, but now we've got a proper roadmap, including time frames for release, model numbers, and even details about the memory channels. Glancing at the slide above doesn't reveal anything terribly surprising -- the dual-core 8960 (LTE), 8270 (HSPA), and 8260A (HSPA+) will all be shipping to manufacturers later this quarter, in speeds ranging from 1.5GHz to 1.7GHz and come packing the latest Adreno 225 GPU. In Q3 of next year Qualcomm's 28nm tech will trickle down from the high-end to mid-range phones, just ahead of the launch of those quad-core, 2GHz mobile monsters the company teased back in February. Check out the full PDF presentation at the source for more nitty-gritty details. Update: Qualcomm has asked us to remove the link to the documentation in question. [Thanks, Gadgeteer]
